Back at Bat

Dear Pitchers:

Sorry about the lapse of a week in sending out themail. Thanks to those who asked about it. My laptop was fried, and of course I hadn’t backed everything up that recently. I’ve reconstructed the address list for themail with the most recent copies I had, but some of you who had subscribed, unsubscribed, or changed your mailing address recently will have to do it again; and the messages that you sent for last Sunday’s issue of themail were lost. I regret the inconvenience.

If you’re looking for information on the baseball stadium scam, the contract with Major League Baseball, the proposed legislation, the city’s arguments for the deal, and the No DC Taxes for Baseball press release are all available at http://www.dcwatch.com/govern/sports.htm.

Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com

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Superintendent Janey’s First Half Month
Erich Martel, ehmartel at starpower dot net

DCPS School Superintendent Clifford Janey’s quick action to adopt good, existing state subject area standards in mathematics and English is a positive sign that academic improvement in DCPS may become a reality. This past week, the Washington Post reported that the superintendent convened a meeting of teachers, parents and curriculum specialists at Georgetown University to review K-12 mathematics and English subject standards from California and Massachusetts and will then review their suggestions and recommend the adoption of one of them to the Board of Education in November. In the two subject areas of English and mathematics, the standards from California and Massachusetts are the best. California’s math standards are probably the better of the two, while the English standards from Massachusetts are the better of the two. Hopefully, social studies and science will be next, both are very much in need of reform. Both California and Massachusetts offer excellent models for social studies. California’s science standards are considered the best. Anyone interested in the California standards, esp. in math, should visit www.mathematicallycorrect.com.

The superintendent’s standards initiative is notable for several reasons: 1) his decision to make the adoption of quality standards a first priority reflects an understanding that standards are the foundation of systematic academic improvement. Until good standards are in place, good curricula, textbooks and teacher preparation/certification standards will not be supporting (aligned to) a common set of standards. 2) His decision to adopt existing state standards rather than develop them in-house shows his understanding that quality standards already exist and don’t need to be reinvented. His choice of California and Massachusetts reflects an understanding of what differentiates good from bad standards. Among the 49 states that have completed or initiated subject area standards (Iowa is the exception), many are bad; some are mediocre and only a few are very good. In a world of education filled with false advertising, feel-good fads and diversionary agendas, knowing the difference is an important sign of professional competence. 3) Giving teachers a role in the selection of the standards makes the real world of the classroom part of the goal-setting world of subject-area standards. Successful and experienced teachers, along with curriculum specialists, must be a part of the standards adoption and development process.

These three steps (quick action on standards, selection of the best state standards as candidates for adoption and making teachers part of the decision-making process) give us reason to hope that the superintendent and his central staff will be what DCPS sorely needs, educational leaders who are connected to the classroom and concerned about the educational effects of their decisions.

Good standards and supporting benchmarks should: 1) broadly describe the actual content knowledge and related skills that students are expected to master from grade to grade; 2) clearly and objectively describe the content knowledge to be mastered so that student achievement can be measured on objective tests or assessments; 3) guide, but not be confused with, the more detailed subject-area curricula; 4) guide the pedagogy (teaching methods), but not confuse it with subject-area content; 5) differentiate (especially in social studies and English) subject-area content from related analytical skills, and offer examples of how to combine the two in a lesson plan; 6) reflect well-documented research; 7) guide the selection of textbooks and supporting materials; 8) guide teacher certification standards and, ultimately, the teacher preparation standards of local area universities.

The DC Public Schools have many problems, ranging from deteriorating buildings, financial mismanagement, the absence of due process in adverse actions proceedings, uneven preparation of new teachers, student discipline, continuing violations of special education mandates, mismanagement of student academic records, ineligible students certified for graduation, etc.

Although each of these requires immediate attention, the decision by Superintendent Janey to make standards and curricula his first public initiative signals an understanding that student achievement is the primary mission of public schools and that improved test results start with sound standards, not endless hours of test preparation. The challenge facing him is to sustain the focus on academic achievement and developing workable and reliable mechanisms of accountability in support of it.

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Speed Camera
Bob Levine, rilevine@cpcug.org

There is a brand new speed camera on at 3100 Benning Road, NE. It was installed on October 3. Does anybody know when it’s due to go active?

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Strange Trailer
Annie McCormick, amccormick@itic.org

At Massachusetts Avenue between 15th and 16th Streets, I noticed that the same trailer has been parked there for over three months. It is similar to a trailer used as a construction office. I don’t know the street’s name, (could never find a street sign) but it is a tiny one block street between Massachusetts Avenue and Rhode Island Avenue between 15th and 16th Streets. It’s across from the Holiday Inn. There is a memorial there in a tiny park (forgive me — I don’t know what it is). The trailer has no license plate, and there is no indication or signage anywhere explaining what it is doing there or what project it is attached to. There are no company signs and no phone number contact. This trailer and accompanying material take up at least five parking spaces in an area where parking is impossible to find to begin with. Does anyone have any idea what this trailer is there for and what project it is supposed to be supporting? Or will this be yet another sneaky project that disrupts everyone’s lives and that we find out about when it’s too late to offer our opinion?

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The Washington Team’s Name
Phil Carney, philandscoop@yahoo.com

The honor of naming our new baseball team will go to whichever rich white Republicans pony up the most money in MLB’s latest money grab. Just as DC residents have no voice in our federal government, we will have no voice in naming our new team. However, I would like to suggest an appropriate name.

The Expos are so bad that they have no respect in Montreal, much like someone. . . . The Expos are not concerned about mundane matters like educating children, much like someone. . . . The Expos are only obsessed about baseball and business, much like someone. . . . The Expos have no permanent home in DC, much like someone. . . . The Expos spend half the season out of town, much like someone. . . .

Let’s cheer for a name that symbolizes our new team — the Washington Tonys.

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Laughing All the Way to the Bank
Ed T. Barron, edtb@aol.com

In the great celebrity poker game to land a baseball team in DC, there were two losers and one winner. Tony Williams must feel five feet nine inches tall as he struts around celebrating his “victory” in luring a Major League baseball team to DC. The real losers, of course, were the spectators at this game, the taxpayers of DC who will be footing the bills for more than $600 million for a new stadium and infrastructure.

And, on the other side of the table, we have Bud Selig, wiping his brow and gloating that he dodged an implied law suit bluffed by an outraged Peter Angelos. A law suit could well have resulted in Major League Baseball losing its antitrust exemption status. And just look, thinks the Baseball Commissioner, we’ll be making at least $150 million in profit in a $300 million sale of the lowly Expos to some dumb bunch of new owners. My advice to Selig is to invest his $300 million wisely because he won’t have it forever. The real winner, walking away from the table in this high stakes poker match, is that ugly chap from Balmer, Peter Angelos. With his bluffing and whining he blackmailed Major League Baseball into a guaranteed value deal for the Orioles and Camden Yards that will make pale the $600 million that DC will lose. And, when Angelos decides to dump the Orioles and Camden Yards, he’ll suck that $150 million profit right out of the coffers of Bud Selig’s bank account and walk happily to the bank. You have to give Angelos a lot of credit. He pulled off a caper that makes puny the one that John Cusack pulled in the movie “The Runaway Jury.”

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Hidden Historical Cost of the Stadium
Richard Layman, rlaymandc@yahoo.com

We need to make the case for a Section 106 review for the baseball stadium. Since Major League Baseball has a Congressionally granted waiver from antitrust law, we should be able to make the case that this is a "federally licensed undertaking" subject to Section 106. (As an example, national banks which are regulated by the Comptroller of Currency are subject to Section 106. Why should baseball be any different?)

DC does a pretty good job in protecting buildings in historic districts. But unfortunately, equally worthy buildings in non-listed areas have absolutely no protections whatsoever under current law and there is no movement to change this tremendous gap in historic preservation protection. We need anti-demolition laws that cover all eligible buildings. In the meantime, every month, our historic building stock slowly diminishes. Activists constantly have to scramble, usually unsuccessfully, to attempt to save buildings. There are many reasons not to tear down the 1880s row houses that are impacted by the proposed baseball stadium, just like there are many reasons not to tear down similar buildings in eligible neighborhoods.

At the Annual Meeting in Louisville, one of the exhibitors was Edwards Moving and Rigging, which has successfully moved brick buildings weighing as much as 743 tons. We need to move buildings instead of tearing them down. It is a crime to truck in kit built modular junky housing for infill, but yes, it’s happening. Let’s just move these buildings to other appropriate sites. The Office of Planning and Economic Development is busy building a portfolio of properties and empty lots in the “Home Again” program. Let’s move buildings such as those impacted by the baseball stadium site to appropriate sites with comparable adjacent historic fabric. Losing buildings worth as much as $750,000 makes no sense. Let’s capture the value and use it to maintain and strengthen architecturally distinctive neighborhoods and housing stock in Washington, DC.

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Our Government Equals Our Taxes
Ed Dixon, jedxn@erols.com

Clyde Howard makes a good point on how much corporate subsidies like the stadium end up costing all of us in the long run. The cost of living in this city will go up as a result of “our government’s” building this stadium. This city has a weak delivery of public services as it stands and our resources are going to be plunged into the infrastructure and services for this stadium. Chinatown and Shaw redux. Folks should reevaluate why we have government and taxes. In this case, many people would agree in theory it is our government that has been hijacked by corporate interests, but do people agree that the taxes that our government is proposing to raise are also “our taxes”?

Some leaders have been proffering that the money for the stadium would not exist but for the fact that big business is willing to pay for it. We’ve been listening to big business so much that we’ve learned to parrot them quite well. In fact, if one wants to see exactly how big business phrased it, go to the Hotel Association of Washington’s web page on governmental affairs (http://www.hawdc.com/indexnew.htm). One letter signed by several big business PACs to the mayor and Council in the early spring of 2003, claimed the economy was too risky to increase spending to improve health and education service delivery (http://www.hawdc.com/govtaffairs042003.htm). In this case, big business seemed to think that “our taxes” were actually “their taxes.” The budget passed without adequate funding for, among other things (as big business proposed) a teachers’ pay raise, even though the Mayor and the Council passed legislation agreeing to it.

Just six weeks later, Frank Otero testified on behalf of the Hotel Association before Jack Evans’ Finance Committee in favor of a big business tax to build the stadium (http://www.hawdc.com/govtaffairs06142003.htm). He also encouraged the city to keep union workers from getting the contracts to limit the size of the levy. Colby King provides a good quote from big business rep Bob Peck on how little big business will pay (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1772-2004Oct1.html). And so our leaders backing the stadium have played a shell game on us. The tax that big business is offering to pay is completely self-serving, and no one should be too surprised by that. But our elected leaders have also taken from our pockets to make it happen. Further, in lieu of being able to provide the votes in favor of these proposals, big business has provide hundreds of thousands of dollars to elected officials campaign coffers. No one should be surprised by that either. But, the fact that leaders, who are elected to stand up for and represent the needs in our neighborhoods, are so easily caught up in presenting this shell game to us is disturbing and should be an issue worth organizing against. Remember September 14. After all, in the end they are “our taxes.”

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DC Baseball and the RICO Act
Richard Mendel-Black, rmb@dymaxionweb.com

Pasquino, my colleague at the Dymaxion Web, has recently posted a column entitled “A Tale of Two Cities.” In this piece, Pasquino suggests that Congress may have to extend immunity for Major League Baseball well beyond the present antimonopoly laws. He argues that they may want to take a quick look at also moving Major League Baseball and Peter Angelos out from under the threat of the RICO Act, which was originally written to cover the activities of organized crime but has been extended in the courts to cover corporate malfeasance. The article can be found at http://www.dymaxionweb.com in the BlowBack column. DCWatch readers are invited to add their comments.

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October 2004 InTowner
Peter Wolff, intowner@intowner.com

This is to advise that the October 2004 on-line edition has been uploaded and may be accessed at http://www.intowner.com. Included are the lead stories, community news items and crime reports, editorials (including prior months’ archived), restaurant reviews (prior months’ also archived), and the text from the ever-popular “Scenes from the Past” feature. Also included are all current classified ads. The complete issue (along with prior issues back to March 2002) also is available in PDF file format directly from our home page at no charge simply by clicking the link provided. Here you will be able to view the entire issue as it appears in print, including all photos and advertisements. The next issue will publish on November 12. The complete PDF version will be posted by the preceding night or early that Friday morning at the latest, following which the text of the lead stories, community news, and selected features will be uploaded shortly thereafter.

To read this month’s lead stories, simply click the link on the home page to the following headlines: “Water Main Valve Saga Flows On”; “Mt. Pleasant Neighbors Set for Their ‘Fall Fiesta’ Saturday, October 16”; “Corcoran’s Expansion Challenges Preservationists.”

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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS

ANC Candidates Forum, October 12
Laurie Collins, mpna@mtpleasantdc.org

On Tuesday, October 12, All-Ways Mt. Pleasant and the Mount Pleasant Neighborhood Alliance are sponsoring an Advisory Neighborhood Commission Candidates Forum to be held at the Mount Pleasant Library beginning promptly at 6:30 p.m. We expect the candidates to arrive by 6:15 p.m., and ask that others arrive a few minutes early so we can keep our schedule. To make this public forum available to more people, we will be recording the evening for possible broadcast or publication. In addition, we will consider publishing questions (with light editing for clarity if needed), including those that could not be used, for the candidates to answer online. Further, we have set up individual candidate discussion forums at http://www.mtpleasantdc.org/forum. Please feel free to post other questions and follow-ups to all candidates there.

The candidates will be: SMD06, Dominic K. Sale, unopposed race; SMD01, Wayne Kahn and Steven P. Millar; SMD04, Gregg Edwards, unopposed race; SMD03, Todd Kutyla and Jack McKay; SMD05, Richard A. Wysocki, Jr., unopposed race. We will provide a table for a single letter-sized handout from each candidate. We are seeking volunteers to help Spanish speakers to follow the forum.

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Robert Redford at Center for Association Leadership Speakers’ Series, October 18
Joan Eisenstodt, jeisen@aol.com

If you live in or near DC, or find yourself visiting over the dates of any of the Speakers’ Series programs, go! They provide an opportunity to learn from some very diverse people. The link for information on the Robert Redford evening (October 18, 2004) is http://www.centeronline.org/programs/program.cfm?ProgramID=1478&SeriesID=73. Orchestra seats are $85 each, first tier balcony are $75 each, second tier balcony are $55 each. Individual tickets will be on sale through the Kennedy Center Box Office starting Monday morning at 10:00 a.m.; 467-4600 or 800-444-1234.

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Road Map to Universal School Readiness, October 19
Susie Cambria, scambria@dckids.org

You are cordially invited to the public briefing on the new strategy Road Map to Universal School Readiness in the District of Columbia. The Road Map is a consensus strategy designed to improve the quality of and access to early care and education resulting in universal school readiness. The briefing will be held on October 19 from 9:30-11:00 a.m. at the University of the District of Columbia Student Lounge, 4220 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Building 38, 2nd floor. At the briefing you will receive an abbreviated copy of the strategy, learn more about the strategy from its authors, and be asked to endorse the strategy. RSVP to GCH Endowment, gchendowment@aol.com, 234-2273. This meeting is being sponsored by the authors of the plan: DC Action for Children, GCH Endowment to Promote Quality Early Childhood Education, National Black Child Development Institute and SPARK, Washington Child Development Council, and Calvary Bilingual Multicultural Learning Center.

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DC Preservation League Events, October 23, 26, 30
Rebecca A. Miller, rebecca@dcpreservation.org

Name That Row House: Washington, DC’s, row houses come in many different shapes and sizes, but what can their outward appearances tell us about their ages and histories? In this slide show lecture, Sally Berk, former president of DCPL, row house owner, and expert on the prolific Washington row house developer Harry Wardman (1869-1938), will explain the various styles and forms of Washington’s row houses from the late 18th century to the present. Following the lecture, Shaw resident and ANC Commissioner Alex Padro will lead participants on a walking tour of the neighborhood, highlighting its architectural styles and history. Participants will have a rare opportunity to view interiors of some recent row house renovations. Saturday, October 23, 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., The Emmaus Services for the Aging, 1426 9th Street, NW, McPherson Square or U Street Metro. Members $10; nonmembers $15. Reservation are required: info@dcpreservation.org or 783-5144.

Research Row House Histories: Have you ever wanted to know more about your house than its age? Join local historian Matthew Gilmore for a hands-on workshop, in which he will show you how to utilize the resources of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Library and other public records to uncover the mysteries of your home’s past.. Tuesday, October 26, 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Library, Washingtonia Room, 9th and G Street, NW, Gallery Place Metro. Admission is free. Reservation are required: info@dcpreservation.org or 783-5144.

Washington’s Power Houses: Discover the row houses that some of Washington’s most famous (and infamous) residents called home during this fun-filled, citywide bus tour led by local historian, Brian Kraft. Saturday, October 30, 1:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., National Building Museum, 401 F Street, NW, Judiciary Square Metro. Members $25; nonmembers $35. Reservation are required: info@dcpreservation.org or 783-5144.

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CLASSIFIEDS — RECOMMENDATIONS

Moving and Storage Company
Joan Eisenstodt, jeisen@aol.com

Desperately seeking a fabulous, reliable moving and storage company locally, a company with whom you’ve had personal experience in the last six to nine months. E-mail me, please.

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Pruner
Victoria McKernan, victoriamck@mindspring.com

A misguided “gardener” massacred my young weeping cherry tree, whacking all the branches off, taking it from Cousin It to a bad Beatles cut. Now it is sprouting frantic witchy twigs in all directions. Help! Even before that I was having trouble figuring out how to trim and train it; books and online advice just don’t translate to the actual unruly tree. I would love to have someone who knows what they doing come show me what to do.

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