Rumors
Dear Rumor Mongers:
Rumor is that there were some races on Tuesday’s ballot that some
people paid more attention to than Advisory Neighborhood Commission and
Board of Education and City Council positions. There’s no accounting
for some peoples’ warped priorities, or for their allowing their
attention to be diverted that way. Luckily, in themail we keep our
focus. The only post-election analysis you’ll find here concerns
people you’ve probably met, and the only analysts who write it are
you.
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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DC Residents Have Highest Tax Burden in Region
Matt Forman, Matthew.Forman2@verizon.net
As required by law, the District’s Chief Financial Officer must
issue a report each year comparing the tax burden of DC residents to
residents of surrounding jurisdictions. The report is located on the CFO’s
website, http://cfo.dc.gov/cfo/cwp/view,a,1324,q,612643.asp
(the publication date is listed on the cover of the report as August
2004, but it was not posted until sometime in September). As usual, the
CFO erroneously concludes that DC’s tax burden is not the highest. And
the DC Fiscal Policy Institute has jumped on that band wagon as well.
They, along with several city councilmembers allege that DC’s
purportedly lower real property tax offsets its much higher income tax.
Wrong! As even the CFO’s report acknowledges, DC has the highest per
capita burden tax burden in the nation. The CFO study also compared
hypothetical families at different income levels, and even the study
concludes that DC residents had the highest or second highest overall
tax burden at most income levels. However, correcting for flaws in the
CFO’s analysis, the burden on DC residents is even greater than the
CFO’s report indicates, meaning that most District residents indeed
pay more in taxes than if they were living in the surrounding
jurisdictions. For my detailed analysis, please visit http://www.KaloramaCitizens.org/news.
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Like many District residents, I was unable to get a flu shot this
year. For many of us, the flu vaccine is part of our stay-healthy
lifestyle, along with exercise, good nutrition, and not stressing out
over who’s going to pay for a new baseball stadium. If you can’t get
a flu vaccine, you might want to pick up some Kleenex Anti-Viral
Tissues. This product, new for 2004, won’t keep you from getting the
flu, but it may help slow the spread of influenza and colds. This
anti-viral Kleenex is also the first tissue to display a government
warning: “It is a violation of Federal law to use this product in a
manner inconsistent with its labeling. Use only as a facial tissue.”
It’s an interesting feeling, knowing that you could go to jail if you
misuse a tissue.
I didn’t see the anti-viral Kleenex at our local CVS last time I
was there, and I don’t know if other area drug stores carry it. But
you can order Kleenex Anti-Viral Tissues from Drugstore.com. Disclaimer:
I don’t work for the Kleenex company and try never to misuse their
products.
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DDOT, Wasting Taxpayers’ Dollars, and a Great Opportunity
Leila Afzal, Leila.Afzal@noaa.gov
DDOT has missed a fabulous opportunity to combine the
reconstruction/upgrade of a street with lead water line replacement and
save money while doing it. Despite multiple promises, assurances, and
meetings, DDOT began road work and pouring new sidewalks on Ordway
Street, NW, without bringing in WASA to examine each water line from
main to meter and meter to house. (WASA for its part is ready, willing
and able, but just waiting for DDOT’s permission to come in.) Without
boring all you readers with an extensive discussion of the project, the
sidewalks have been a great matter of controversy in our neighborhood
with many pro and many con. It is my presumption that DDOT has been
under some pressure to get the sidewalks in (which includes cutting into
a hillside and building a five-foot retaining wall to the tune of
$500,000) to accommodate a private preschool that operates on the
street. To be fair, many of the residents want the sidewalk as well, but
many don’t. However, the worst part is not only succumbing to the
pressure, but wasting taxpayer money by rushing the job only to rip up
the new sidewalks to check for lead lines and then repour them at
significant cost. WASA confirms that this will have to be done.
Considering the amazing amount of publicity the city has received on
the issue of lead in the water, you would think it could manage to do
better.
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The Council Strikes Out
Dorothy Brizill, dorothy@dcwatch.com
On the eve of two council committee hearings held today to mark up
the ballpark stadium financing bill, Bill 15-1028, the Williams
administration delivered a new and revised version of the legislation to
the council (http://www.dcwatch.com/council15/15-1028b.htm).
The substitute bill made substantive changes to key provisions,
including the overall cost of the project (which was raised from $440
million to $550 million) and the gross receipts tax that will provide
the necessary funding. It also detailed how the administration plans to
create a community investment fund and a tax increment financing (TIF)
district in the area surrounding the proposed stadium (see http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19828-2004Nov2.html
and http://www.washingtontimes.com/sports/20041103-010606-6383r.htm).
While the Williams bill survived virtually intact, the markups before
the council’s committees on Finance and on Economic Development were
contentious. The staffs of the committees had gone to great lengths to
ensure that the markups would be held in rooms where they could not be
video recorded or televised, and what occurred in the meetings showed
why the committee chairmen did not want the public to see what occurred.
At the Finance Committee hearing, David Catania offered twenty
individual amendments, which angered and irritated Committee Chairman
Jack Evans. Evans insisted that even though the administration had
revised the bill, the council could touch nothing in it, and had to pass
it exactly as he presented it. "It is this or nothing," he
kept threatening. Although Evans had the votes in Committee to defeat
all of Catania’s amendments, Evans’ mood kept growing nastier, and
his treatment of Catania grew pettier. When Catania introduced his
seventeenth amendment, Evans went out of control and directed a shouted,
red-faced tirade at him. In a room filled with representatives of the
Washington Interfaith Network, Evans cursed, used the F-word, and told
Catania that if he didn’t like the strong-arm tactics that Evans was
using that he could resign from the council.
In the Economic Development Committee markup that immediately
followed the Finance Committee hearing, Chairman Harold Brazil sought to
restrict debate and discussion from dissenting Councilmembers Graham and
Fenty. He gave Graham only three minutes to speak and introduce
amendments. Brazil rushed the hearing, refusing to address any of the
councilmembers’ many unanswered questions about the bill. Brazil,
Evans, and Chavous, the majority on the Economic Development Committee
who voted for the bill, ignored the fact that the newly revised bill did
not have the required fiscal impact statement from the Chief Financial
Officer, and insisted that the bill be passed without it. While the tone
of this meeting was contentious and contemptuous, it failed to descend
to the bizarre behavior, personal meanness, and venom displayed earlier
by Evans.
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I agree with John Capozzi. What is wrong with refurbishing RFK
stadium? What is the rationale behind building a new stadium when we
already have one that can be (and will be ) refurbished?
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Down the Tubes
Ed T. Barron, edtb@aoldotcom
With the defeat of John Kerry, nationwide, Tony Williams’ hopes for
a spot in a Democratic administration have gone down the tubes. And,
despite his walking the fine line and romancing the current Republican
administration, Tony will not find many open doors in Congress for any
initiatives that require funding for DC. Hey, DC went almost ten to one
against Bush and then had the gall to put Marion Barry back in office.
If DC wants a helping hand, they’d better look at the end of their
own arm and boot strap. Spending $400 million of taxpayers’ monies for
a Major League Baseball ballpark makes absolutely no sense at all in
light of these election results.
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Response to Cheaply Bought
Nora Bawa, botanica@isp.com
I forwarded your recent issue on “Cheaply Bought” [themail,
October 27] to an activist friend. You might be interested in her reply:
“I don’t know all the ins and outs, but I do know a couple of
things. 1) WIN is anything but the bunch of polite and pious
bible-thumpers that this writer is trying to call up. They play hardball
politics in the tradition of Saul Alinsky (founder of the parent org,
IAF), and use churches as their base for community organizing because
they are stable, highly organized, and respected. Many of the people
involved are people of faith, but it’s in the Mother Jones vein, ‘Pray
for the dead and fight like hell for the living.’
“2) Special taxing districts, which is what this plan sounds like,
have been highly successful in a number of places. I’ve always
wondered why they aren’t in wider use. A few FL counties fund their
child welfare systems this way and they are beacons in a midnight sea.
Let’s wait and see! I’m as skeptical as the next person, but I have
seen IAF in action.”
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While I agree that there is little of architectural significance on
the proposed site of the new stadium that would suggest that the stadium
must go elsewhere, I disagree that the effects will be minimal. Remember
that stadiums are pretty darn tall already — and then think of how
tall this one will be when you add poles with lights on top. Does anyone
honestly think this monstrosity is not going to hugely overwhelm the
scale of the neighborhood just across South Capitol Street or even the
US Department of Transportation building going up at the Southeast
Federal Center? Even well-aimed or "minimally intrusive"
lighting will be a major disruption to the neighborhood — and it will
certainly shine brighter than the Capitol dome just ten blocks north.
And let’s not forget that the streets themselves are historic.
Those streets were part of L’Enfant’s plan for the city of
Washington and are, therefore, worthy of serious consideration before
they get obliterated.
Not that any of this is going to make any difference to the city
council. What a pathetic bunch — particularly “my” representative
on said body, Jack Evans. He’s so incredibly pro-development; I’m
sure he’ll be given a seat on the Federal City Council soon. There he’ll
be able to do the work he does best for the developers and their spawn,
and he’ll be able to do it without any meaningful public involvement
in the decision-making process, just like the city council (but without
the window dressing that last week’s meeting provided).
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The Baseball Mausoleum Down by the River
Harold Foster, Petworth, Ward Four, harold.foster@ppd.mncppc.org
I find myself in truly odd political company on this one, but I
suspect the name of the game from here on is to extract as much
compensatory funding from MLB and Williams’ crew as we can get.
Frankly, I am already tired of hearing Linda Cropp, Williams and the
rest of the Council who support this giveaway reminding us that the more
than $500 million (and counting) they plan to raise is not there for any
other needed infrastructure or social programs. That is only the second
question. The first question is why isn’t this kind of capital program
money (which is what funding a baseball stadium amounts to) available
for other, far more critically needed, public improvements and,
literally, public works? I mean, let’s smell the coffee (or, rather,
the agricultural byproduct that Williams is shoveling to justify this
municipal stickup). Businesses can be taxed for a virtually
single-purpose, limited use entertainment venue, which has no long-term
social improvement value to this City. But they can’t be taxed at,
say, one-third to one-half the proposed rate to fund a state-of-the-art,
open-admission public hospital. Or an eighth police district
headquarters. Or a 21st Century-class main campus for UDC. Or, since we’re
talking about recreation and entertainment, a couple of city sports and
recreation centers on the model of the Maryland-National Capital Park
and Planning Commission’s Sports and Learning Complex, which — by
the way — Prince George’s County successfully squeezed out of the
Cooks in exchange for the zoning approvals and permission they and the
NFL Unmentionables needed to construct FedEx Field in Landover.
Something is a little askew here, I should think. So. Since The
Marble Man Wrecking Crew are clearly bent on going ahead with this
project, we need to get serious right now about what we can and must
demand in exchange for approval of this blackmail arrangement. At a
minimum, any so-called community investment fund, which — right now,
anyway — is none of the three, should be able to fund within the first
three years:
1) Three sports-and-learning facilities on the Landover Park and
Planning model: one west of the Park, one west of the River and one east
of the River. 2) An open-admission, full service public hospital. 3)
Either a massive renovation of the current UDC campus or a new one (how
about on the site of RFK Stadium? Or, better yet, at Fort Lincoln?) 4)
An eighth Metropolitan Police District facility. We deserve a lot more
than what you just read, so we should certainly accept not a brick less.
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Enough Money Means Real Money
Ed Dixon, Georgetown Reservoir, jedxn@erols.com
“Everyone is complaining about DCPS not having enough money,”
says Jonetta Rose Barras [themail, October 31]. Perhaps there’s a
reason for that. It certainly is not only because high administrators
are getting high salaries, as Barras suggests. Barras tags the
superintendent as having the audacious (though not obscene by DC
standards) salary of $250,000. OK give Janey a custodian’s salary:
$29,000. How many more custodians could you hire? No where near enough
to cover a system that has building custodial staffing levels running as
low as 25 percent. If Janey worked for free, DCPS could send four to
five kids to a special education school like the Lab School or
Kingsbury. A mere dent in the real problem of the expensive out sourcing
of over 2000 students in special education. But with all the
adminstrators’ salaries that Barras (obscene or not) has added up, we
are looking at less than a thousandth (0.1 percent) of the total DCPS
budget. Less than a new house in Ward 3. It couldn’t pay for new
windows at Jefferson Junior High. It couldn’t reopen the public high
school pools that now sit dry and unusable. In the words of the
legislative masters, “a million here and a million there, and soon we’re
talking about real money.” But Barras isn’t talking about “real
money.” She’s just reporting on our leaders’ dream. A dream that
imagines if we pay the superintendent enough maybe the fact that the
real money’s not there won’t matter.
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Other spin aside, if I’m not mistaken this September was the
largest number of votes Councilmember Evans has ever gotten in a primary
in his elected life, so I guess “oh so many” people were withholding
their votes, eh? Ward 4 is and likely always will be a high turnout
ward, which Ward 2 has not been, and it is substantially larger in
population as well. Mr. Thomas’ suggestion [themail, October 31] is
just goofy, as are most things written about baseball in themail. As
Evans said at the hearing, you either do this deal or baseball doesn’t
come here. Other riffs on baseball (ala Fenty, play at RFK) or “make
them pay [more] for it” are just sheer pretense and nothing more.
Those are not options on the table that baseball would agree to. In
short, it’s either this deal or nothing, and nothing is personally
fine with me, but everything else is dancing around and blowing smoke.
[Please reveal your personal interests on a subject when writing to
themail. Until just recently, Jeff was the committee clerk to the
Committee on Finance and Revenue, chaired by Councilmember Jack Evans.
He now works at the Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration.
Unofficial results from the BOEE show that in the general election Jack
Evans got 17,363 votes from the 42,471 registered voters in Ward 2;
Adrian Fenty got 28,461 votes from the 54,358 registered voters in Ward
4. — Gary Imhoff]
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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
Shepherd Park Citizens Association Forum on Baseball Stadium,
November 4
Dwayne Toliver, dtoliver@nixonpeabody.com
With just one week left before the DC City Council is scheduled to
vote on the proposed baseball initiative, Bill 15-1028, many DC citizens
are still searching for a fair and balanced explanation of the financial
and social implications of our Mayor’s initiative. To help citizens
get more information, the Shepherd Park Citizens Association will host a
public forum at Shepherd Elementary School, 7800 14th Street, NW, on
Thursday, November 4, from 7:00-9:00 p.m. Mayor Williams,
representatives from the Office of Economic Development, and
representatives from the DC Fiscal Policy Institute have accepted our
invitation to participate in the forum.
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The Street Stage, November 6
Kim L.E. Bell, kbell@dckids.org
On Saturday, November 6, 3:00-5:00 p.m., The Street Stage will
welcome homeless and housed artists from around DC for open-mic
performances to include music, poetry, dancing, and drama. The event
will also feature displays of visual arts, including drawings,
photographs, and paintings by artists who are currently or formerly
homeless. At the Josephine Butler Parks Center, 2437 15th Street, NW.
Free. For more information contact info@streetstagedc.com,
http://www.streetstagedc.com,
or 301-233-2911.
Now in its fourth year, The Street Stage is an all-volunteer effort
to spotlight what unifies us rather than what divides us by providing a
creative outlet for those experiencing homelessness. Each event not only
serves as a stage, but also as a way to break down barriers by bringing
together artists and art enthusiasts regardless of their socio-economic
background. With the help of community residents, businesses, and
organizations this will certainly prove to be a wonderful event!
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Assault Prevention/Self Defense Class, November 6
Tony Daza, adaza@erols.com
An assault prevention and self defense class will be given on
November 6, 2-5 p.m., at St. Luke’s Church, Wisconsin Avenue at the
corner of Calvert Street, across from the Russian Embassy in Glover
Park. A law enforcement official will talk about the modus operandi and
trends in assaults in the greater DC area. The focus will be on assault
prevention.
Should prevention fail, we will show basic self-defense moves to
respond to an assault. This will be based on aikido, a form of martial
arts that is designed to deal with attackers who are stronger, bigger
and faster than you. Please wear comfortable clothes as you will on the
mat practicing basic self-defense moves. RSVP is required as spaces are
limited. Available for corporations as well. $30/person.
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National Building Museum Events, November 10, 13-14
Brie Hensold, bhenhold@nbm.org
All events at the National Building Museum, 401 F Street, NW,
Judiciary Square stop, Metro Red Line. Wednesday, November 10, 2:00
p.m., and Sunday, November 14, 2:00 p.m. Exhibition tour: 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.
Saturday, November 13, 11:00 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Artful Architecture
Family Day. During this two-part interactive program, the Museum and The
Washington Ballet join together to interpret architecture through dance
and design. From 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., explore Washington themes
featured in the Ballet’s new production of The Nutcracker that
celebrates DC history. After this presentation, design a piece of
architectural costume to wear on your head! Presented in conjunction
with Washington: Symbol and City. Free for dance presentation. $5 per
project. Drop-in program. All ages.
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Inclusionary Zoning, November 16
Washington Regional Network, staff@washingtonregion.net
Washington Regional Network announces a public forum, Inclusionary
Zoning: How Would It Work for the District of Columbia, with Robert Bobb,
District of Columbia City Administrator; John McIlwain, Urban Land
Institute; and Nina Dastur, Center for Community Change. November 16;
6:00 p.m., refreshments; 6:30 p.m., program. At the John A. Wilson
Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Room 412.
Requiring private residential developers to provide a certain amount
of affordable housing, called “inclusionary zoning,” assures that
private developers help meet low- and moderate-income housing needs. For
almost thirty years, hundreds of cities and counties throughout the
United States, including neighboring jurisdictions, have used
inclusionary zoning to help meet their affordable housing needs and
build vibrant, mixed income communities. This policy can potentially
make a significant contribution to providing housing for DC’s working
families in mixed-income buildings and neighborhoods. This event
explores the implications of the current inclusionary zoning strategies
proposed for the city.
RSVP (attendance only): WRN, 244-1105, or staff@washingtonregion.net.
This event is free of charge. In the evening, enter at the rear of the
building, bring a photo I.D. Closest Metro stations: Metro Center and
Federal Triangle. The Wilson Building is located next to the Reagan
Building where parking is available.
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Washington Storytellers Theater Season 04-05 presents Holiday Buffet:
A Celebration for Every Appetite at the City Museum of Washington, DC,
801 K Street, NW, on Friday, December 3, 8:00 p.m. Ticket price $15
(senior, student, and group rates available). Purchase at the door or in
advance by calling 301-891-1129 or on-line at www.washingtonstorytellers.org.
Street or garage parking nearby (check web site for details); Metro: Red
(Chinatown), Green/Yellow (Mt. Vernon or Chinatown), and Blue/Orange
(Metro Center).
Washington Storytellers Theater continues its fifteenth anniversary
season with a very special evening of holiday tales featuring some of
Greater Washington, DC’s, finest storytellers. Host Tom Stamp guides
us on a tour of the four corners of the world in search of all the many
unique and diverse Holiday Celebrations. Tom will be joined by four of
the area’s best-loved storytellers including Bill Grimmette and Ralph
and Margaret Chatham in this evening of wonder and enchantment.
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CLASSIFIEDS — SERVICES
Do you need a reliable, hardworking woman to keep your house clean? I
do windows, bathrooms, mop, wax and buff floors, and even take out the
trash. I’m also considered a very good Cajun-soul cook! Special
Holiday rates available. If you’re interested, please E-mail me at debbie_the_cleanup_lady@yahoo.com.
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