Maimonides
Dear Guides:
Actually, I’m not much of a follower of the philosophy of
Maimonides, but it’s hard to argue with the greatness of the title he
chose for his signature work: Guide for the Perplexed. Maimonides
tried to reconcile faith with reason by arguing for metaphorical and
allegorical, rather than literal, interpretations of the bible. This is
very like the approach that the wise civic activist will take to the
promises, plans, and budgets for the baseball stadium giveaway, which
are certainly not meant to be taken literally and which cannot be
reconciled with rationality if they are read literally.
But I didn’t intend to write about baseball; I meant to write about
the sole remaining local elections that will be decided in November
(since Democrats and Carol Schwartz will sweep all the other races), the
nonpartisan elections for District 1 (Wards 1 and 2) and District 2
(Wards 3 and 4) Board of Education seats. The Washington Post
took some ribbing for its editorial on these races, which said only that
voters should pay attention to them, but didn’t offer any opinions or
guidance of its own about the candidates. But who among us can improve
on that? Who can offer a guide to the candidates for the perplexed
voters, and give us a good reason to vote for one or the other? The
subject is opened, below, by Ed Dixon, who discusses the District 2
race; and Julia Gordon, who offers a voters guide from the perspective
of her organization. We need more, though — we need to hear your
advice on who among the candidates can do a good job on the school
board. Please help.
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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Four DC branch libraries are scheduled for rebuilding. It would be
interesting to hear the ideas of people on this list on what these new
libraries should look like to best serve the needs of our communities.
I've jotted down a few of my own ideas about this on my blog at http://teachme.blogpost.com.
The main idea that insinuates itself on my mind is that new libraries
should be designed to be flexible spaces. In the next twenty years,
libraries are going to be about much more than books. Though a difficult
task, we need to design libraries for purposes that haven't been
imagined yet. Further info on the rebuilds can be found on the DC Public
Libraries site at http://www.dclibrary.org/rebuilds.
Note that the rebuilding design process is fairly well advanced for
these libraries. This discussion may of may not have relevance to these
current library rebuilds, but this discussion will have relevance for
future library rebuilds in our city — and others.
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Splitting the Vote for the District II School
Board Seat
Ed Dixon, Georgetown Reservoir, jedxn@erols.com
Board of Education watchers have commented that District II (Ward 3
and 4) representative Dwight Singleton is the most distracted from his
duties. His attempts at winning larger political prizes (like an
at-large Council seat) have left many cynical of his aim to better
children's education. But with so many critics running for his seat, the
vote is likely to split as it did in 2000 and leave the incumbent where
he is.
One would think that the practical matters of politics would
influence the candidates to reel in their egos and limit the choices on
the District II slate. But with all the names officially on the ballot
at this point, a pretty loud noise needs to be made to redirect those
voters who are actually paying attention and have committed to one
candidate or another. Ironically, those wanting to change the status quo
will in effect enforce it.
What the District II seat requires is someone to regulate and enforce
policy or regulations as established by the Board of Education. Also
raising money outside of a legislative capacity is essential (i.e.,
fundraising). Lastly, consensus building, a broad schools experience and
the ability to negotiate with a wide range of power brokers would be
ideal. The incumbent is not up to the task, but with so many contenders
in the race who will wrest his seat from him?
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Fenty Running Citywide in 2006?
David Sobelsohn, dsobelso at capaccess dot org
City Councilmember Adrian Fenty (D-Ward 4) is running for citywide
office in 2006. Is this news to anyone? I infer he's running for
citywide office because, even though I live in Ward 6 and Fenty
represents Ward 4, and had no real opposition in the primary, and has no
real opposition in the general election, his campaign called me before
the primary to solicit my vote, and is now soliciting my participation
in a big-bucks fundraiser (minimum suggested donation $50) on October 20
at a fancy private home. A glance at his host committee suggests mayoral
support.
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Excellent Reasons to Avoid Enterprise
Rent-A-Car in DC
Mark Eckenwiler, themale at ingot dot org
I recently rented a car from Enterprise (not my choice; I was sent
there by the insurer of a driver who rear-ended me) and became embroiled
in what can only be called systematic corporate fraud. When I returned
the car, the manager at the L'Enfant Plaza location (970 D Street, SW)
claimed that two utterly trivial nicks (about 1/4" each) in the
rear bumper were reportable "damage." I have no idea whether
the scratches were there when I took the car out, because no rational
person would bother looking for such microscopic flaws, nor insist that
they be listed as existing damage at the start of a rental. For the
record, I'm talking about a car that already had 24,000 miles of
wear/tear on it.
Enterprise sent me an astonishing, brazen work of fiction: a bill for
$428.30. Their “soak the customer” repair estimate claims it will
take two hours of sheet metal labor and 3+ hours of refinishing labor to
set things right. On top of that, they've added junk fees for “loss of
value,” loss of use, and “administrative costs.” (If they actually
spent so much as $10 for a bottle of touchup paint, I'll eat my hat. On
television. Naked. Singing show tunes.) In three decades of renting
cars, I've never had rental company pull this sort of stunt. According
to a Capitol Hill online discussion forum (http://www.voiceofthehill.com/Discus/messages/8/1056.html?1095953887),
this scam has been sprung on others besides me. Coincidentally, the Post's
consumer protection writer also covered this problem shortly after my
encounter; see http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7236-2004Oct4.html.
As with the renter in the Post story, I succeeded in getting the
bogus claim waived by lodging a complaint with the company's national HQ
in St. Louis.
Anyone targeted by this scam should be sure to complain, as I have,
to the local BBB and relevant DC and Maryland agencies. (The local
Enterprise outfit is based in Maryland.) Links to the BBB and government
agencies are posted in the Voice thread linked to above. Everyone
else, consider yourselves warned; if you absolutely must rent from
Enterprise, I strongly recommend that you spend the time to document on
the rental form every inconsequential nick, chip, and scrape before you
take a car out.
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Where Do City Councilmembers Stand?
Bryce A. Suderow, Streetstories@juno.com
Who on the city council is for the stadium, who is against it, and
who is sitting on the fence?
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Baseball Promises Made, Promises Broken
Dorothy Brizill, dorothy@dcwatch.com
When Mayor Williams spoke at the City Museum on September 29 to
announce the return of major league baseball to Washington, he said,
“Over the coming days, I’ll be reaching out to the Council and
community to get your input on our plan. To be ready for Opening Day, we
need to move forward -- but we want your input and we’ll seek it
actively.” A press release issued that day by the Deputy Mayor for
Planning and Economic Development promised, “Over the coming weeks,
the Mayor and members of the Council will be consulting with residents,
community leaders and civic and business leaders to get their input and
to finalize the necessary legislation.” And at a press conference on
September 30, Mark Tuohey, the chairman of the DC Sports and
Entertainment Commission, stated that the city was committed to “an
open process” and would be meeting with community groups to discuss
the baseball project.
But over the past two weeks, I’ve repeatedly tried to find out
about the city’s public outreach on the project and to get an accurate
schedule of which community meetings city officials would be attending
to discuss the stadium contract. I’ve dealt with Anita Bonds, the new
director of the Mayor’s Office for Community Outreach; Chris Bender,
the Public Information Officer in the Deputy Mayor’s Office; Sharon
Gang, the Mayor’s Press Secretary; and Alfreda Davis, the Mayor’s
Chief of Staff; and I’ve even asked the Mayor at his weekly press
conference for his help. It hasn’t worked. There’s a tentative list
of community meetings at http://www.dcwatch.com/calendar.htm,
but it’s impossible to find out in advance whether city officials will
really show up at a particular meeting to discuss their baseball plans.
The one important community meeting on baseball last week was with ANC
6D, in which the stadium will be located, on October 14; several high
level city officials showed up. But earlier that week, and even on the
day of that meeting, some of those same officials denied to me that any
community meeting was planned that evening or for the rest of the week.
Officials don’t really want public input, of course; their position is
that the city’s contract with Major League Baseball is set in stone,
and can’t be amended in any way. They are keeping their attendance at
public meetings to a minimum and reducing advance notice of those
meetings to prevent well informed opponents from attending and asking
embarrassing questions, and to keep the press from covering the
meetings. They are packing the public meetings they do attend with
baseball supporters whom they bus in from other neighborhoods. But don’t
they find it embarrassing as well not to put on even a show of
pretending to listen to public opinion?
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Baseball Brigade Members Admits City Business
Suffers from Preoccupation
Ed Delaney, profeddel@yahoo.com
The Post reports that “DC Mayor Anthony A. Williams
yesterday asked the Washington Convention Center Authority to halt a
scheduled vote on recommendations for a new hotel site, delaying action
for at least another two weeks” (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30843-2004Oct13.html).
What’s troubling is the story’s implication why the matter was
delayed: “Some board members, who spoke on condition of anonymity,
said they were frustrated by the last-minute delay, which Williams
requested just before leaving today for an 11-day trip to China. Others
said it was understandable given the number of development issues the
city was dealing with, and they wanted to make sure proposals were
thoroughly considered. Council member Harold Brazil [D-At Large] said
part of the problem is that the city has been preoccupied by efforts to
win a baseball team. ‘[The city] can't focus on so many big items at
once,’ he said. ‘You kind of lose your way. He [the mayor] wanted to
concentrate on baseball, so to have another big issue [like the hotel]
at the forefront right now, it's probably best to deal with one at a
time.’”
Unreal! Baseball brigade member Harold Brazil actually confirms what
we’ve suspected all along, that he and the city officials inside the
baseball brigade have been spending so much time and energy on the
baseball scheme, not to mention the money already spent and what is
proposed to be spent on this sweetheart deal, that it’s negatively
affected overall service and effort on real work in the city that must
be done. I certainly agree with Brazil’s comment that, “You kind of
lose your way,” because that’s precisely what has occurred with the
city officials inside the Brigade, whose lust for shiny luxury boxes
under their control, as well as a massive development project that they
and their hand-picked developers can spend their time and energy on, has
apparently clouded their fiscal judgment and led to massive waste of
their time and effort on a project that a private entity could fund
itself were the enterprise truly so lucrative.
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Whether or not you like the idea of a stadium, the tax proposed is
not a small business tax. The Arena tax reached people with $200,000
gross receipts, as I recall, and it truly hit small businessmen.
Businesses in Virginia pay twice that fee each year on their gross
receipts if they exceed $10,000! So let's breathe some oxygen, everyone.
This is the only way DC can tax commuters.
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Displacing Small Businesses
Margaret Feldman, mefeldman@aol.com
In regard to the stadium, many small businesses are located around
the area to be demolished. Many of these provide services, particularly
auto-connected ones. It seems to me that every city needs these types of
service which by virtue of what they do, they are messy. If these
services are not available in a city they have to move away — in the
case of DC, they have to move to Maryland or Virginia. That of course
takes jobs away from city residents as well as makes keeping your car in
repair more time consuming.
What would you think of a “car park” that would consist of a
large open-top enclosed area ( to enclose the unsightly activities),
with a number of shops, each privately owned, in order to allow
continuity of the present privately owned establishments? Please don't
write me — just write themail.
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Baseball Equals Greed
Greg DuRoss, Dupont Circle, internetgreg@aol.com
I am still not sure whether our District leaders bribed Major League
Baseball with a deal they could not refuse, or gave in to the extortion
demands of MLB. I have two questions. First, how does Mayor Williams
justify a half billion dollar handout for a new baseball stadium when
the owner of DC United is willing to build a new soccer stadium with his
own money? Second, the Montreal Expos were for all intents and purposes
in bankruptcy. As a businessman I have no problem with making the other
owners financially whole as part of the deal to bring the team to DC.
However, it has been estimated that the owners will make an estimated
$200 million profit when they hold an auction to sell the team (over and
above the estimated $100 million the other owners had to invest to keep
the Expos in business). How do our District leaders who support baseball
justify lining the pockets of the other MLB owners — most of whom are
multimillionaires — with this windfall profit instead of insisting
that this money be used to help finance a new stadium? Part of the bribe
or part of the extortion? If this goes through, Jack Evans and Anthony
Williams are two of the politicians that will lose my support.
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Human Needs First General Election Guide
Julia Gordon, julia@juliagordon.net
The Human Needs 1st General Election Voter Guide is ready and can be
downloaded from http://www.legalclinic.org.
As far as I know, it's the only publication that compares the Board of
Education candidates across a range of issues. It includes the US
Presidential race, the Council races, the Board of Education race, and
the Delegate/Shadow Representative races. If you'd like it in PDF form,
please let me know. Thank you so much to all of you who signed onto this
guide and helped make it possible!
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NARPAC has probed the WMATA's FY04 operating and capital budget to
see how funds are raised and spent. On weekdays, almost 1,200,000 riders
use one of its 1500 buses, 1000 subway cars, or 250 handicapped vans.
Rail is by far the most efficient people-mover, but is heavily penalized
by having to build, guard, and maintain its own infrastructure. Rail
spends more on station utilities, escalators, and police ($80M tot) than
on maintaining its trains. Less efficient buses and vans get their
infrastructure free (http://www.narpac.org/METROBUD.HTM#funxbrk).
Neither bus, rail, nor van fares and fees cover operating expenses
and debt servicing, though they could surely raise more from parking and
advertising. WMATA has devised a perverse subsidy system to make up the
difference from general revenues of participating jurisdictions. It pegs
the subsidies to the rate of Metro ridership rather than to the rate of
not riding Metro. This penalizes public transit, and results in DC's
annual share exceeding Fairfax County's by over $100M Is that smart
growth (http://www.narpac.org/METROBUD.HTM#subsidy)?
But these oddities pale by comparison to the failure of WMATA's
political leadership to face up to the real needs for capital
investment. The pathetic current and just-approved rates of capital
spending will not support required system 'renewal' or expansion in the
higher density areas where it is most needed. Look at Metro's genuine
financial structural imbalance, and expect a national embarrassment at
the end of the tunnel (http://www.narpac.org/METROBUD.HTM#capvest)!
Our findings are in October's update of NARPAC's web site at http://www.narpac.org/INTHOM.HTM.
Our latest editorial is a blunt open letter of advice to Marion Barry as
he returns to the political stage in our nation's capital. You too
should think about the need to stimulate smart politicians and smart
growth in our national capital city.
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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
Meet the candidates for the school board in District One, Monday,
October 18, 7 p.m.-8:30 p.m., Snyder Community Center, 3rd District
Police Station, 1620 V Street, NW. Meet the candidates: Eleanor Johnson,
Keenan Keller, Chris McKean, and Jeff Smith. Each candidate will be
given time to address the group and then answer questions from the
audience.
The Ward One Democrats is an organization founded to inform Ward One
residents about Democratic issues, register voters and provide community
service. Questions? E-mail: Kathie Boettrich, Wardonedems@yahoo.com.
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National Business Museum Events, October 18,
20-21
Brie Hensold, bhenhold@nbm.org
At the National Building Museum, 401 F Street, NW, Judiciary Square
stop, Metro Red Line: Monday, October 18, 6:30-8:00 p.m. The
Vancouver-based firm Patkau Architects uncovers “found potential” in
a building's site to inspire architecture that reflects the
circumstances of its location. Nearing completion is the firm’s major
addition and renovation to Montreal’s 350,000-square-foot
Bibliothèque Nationale du Québec. John Patkau, FRAIC, will discuss
this project and the firm's other work, including the Agosta House and
the Shaw House, both recent recipients of the Royal Architectural
Institute of Canada's Governor General's Medal in Architecture. $12
Museum members; $17 nonmembers; $10 students. Prepaid registration
required.
Wednesday, October 20, 12:30-1:30 p.m. Stephen Kieran and James
Timberlake, partners at Kieran Timberlake Associates, argue that the
time has come to reevaluate and update basic design and construction
methods, incorporating transfer technologies. The result will be a new
architecture that is not about style, but rather substance and the very
methods and processes that underlie the making of buildings. Free.
Registration not required. This lecture is presented in conjunction with
the United States Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and
Renewable Energy.
Wednesday, October 20, 6:30-8:00 p.m. James Rouse (1914-1996) had a
profound influence on American development over the past half century.
Author Joshua Olsen will discuss Rouse's transformation from a young man
with an innovative plan to facilitate Baltimore's residential mortgages
into a visionary master planner and city builder celebrated on the cover
of Time magazine. After the lecture, Olsen will sign copies of
his book Better Places, Better Lives: A Biography of James Rouse
(Urban Land Institute). $10 Museum members and students; $15 nonmembers.
Registration required.
Thursday, October 21, 2:00 p.m. Liquid Stone: New Architecture in
Concrete. Enjoy a docent-led tour of this Museum exhibition that
explores the history and future of concrete, presenting nearly thirty
innovative projects that display the material's strength, versatility,
and potential. Free. Registration not required. Participants meet
outside exhibition entrance on first floor.
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Southwest Neighborhood Assembly and ANC 6D
Baseball Forum, October 25
David Sobelsohn, dsobelso@capaccess.org
The Southwest Neighborhood Assembly and Advisory Neighborhood
Commission 6D will cosponsor a community meeting on the proposed
baseball stadium from 7:30-9:30 p.m. on Monday, October 25. The location
is yet to be determined, but the meeting will take place within walking
distance of the stadium. This will be this first community meeting in
the neighborhood most affected by the proposal. We expect the mayor's
office to send representatives. Contact me for further information.
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Election Sleep-In, November 1
Regina Andrews, ahjgroup@earthlink.net
DC businessman and former Ward Eight Democratic State Committeeman,
Arthur H. Jackson is leading a group of Democrats in camping out all
night on election eve, to be one of the first to vote to retire George
Bush and retain Eleanor Holmes Norton as DC Delegate to Congress.
Jackson, Chairman of the New Democratic Alliance, a coalition of
progressive democratic organizations seeking to force the next President
and Congress to restore funds for affordable housing; small, minority,
and women business assistance; HIV-Aids; youth services; full democratic
representation for the District of Columbia; and an end the growing
homelessness among families and military veterans.
Jackson and the Democratic Activists will arrive at Voting Precinct
126, Bald Eagle Recreation Center, at 9 p.m. On Monday, November 1, and
will sleep in front of the entrance until the polls open at 7 a.m. on
Tuesday, November 2. The group has asked Democrats and independents to
schedule sleep-ins for Kerry-Edwards at all of the city's voting
precincts. To volunteer, call 271-5522.
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