Swing Vote
Dear Voters:
Here’s where the baseball deal stands. Last week, Mayor Williams
won the first vote on the ballpark financing legislation by promising
Council Chairman Linda Cropp that he would meet with Major League
Baseball and renegotiate some of the worst aspects of the lousy deal
that he had made. He assured Cropp that meetings would be held before
the second vote on the legislation, which will be next Tuesday, December
14. At the Council meeting prior to the vote, the mayor was in the
audience in the council chamber. Cropp spoke to him from the dais and
got him to acknowledge the promise he had made, in order to assure her
colleagues that the mayor had indeed given his word. But the mayor, true
to his history of dealing with the council, broke his word almost
immediately after the first vote was held and he had gotten what he
wanted. Now he’s again saying that he won’t go back to MLB and that
the city can’t renegotiate anything with MLB, but must accept the deal
exactly as MLB dictated it.
That would seem to mean that the ballpark financing legislation will
fail on second reading, since only six councilmembers (Evans, Orange,
and Ambrose, and lame duck members Brazil, Chavous, and Allen) are for
it and the other seven against it. As Dorothy and I have written in
themail before, Cropp, Patterson, and Mendelson abstained on first
reading of the bill only because of the mayor’s promise to open
renegotiations before the second reading. It would seem that the mayor
himself is sabotaging the baseball deal that he wants so desperately.
But the mayor is betting that he can buy off or bully a seventh
councilmember into voting for giving MLB the key to the DC treasury. The
administration, MLB, and its supporters are concentrating especially on
Phil Mendelson, trying to find the right mixture of bribes and threats
to change his position. They think he’s the swing vote.
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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The Ten Percent Sales Tax on Meals in the
District
Henry Thomas, hbthomas@comcast.net
We’ve endured this onerous special sales tax for quite some time.
As I recall, it was enacted as a temporary measure to help pay for some
big District project like the MCI Center. It was supposed to be rolled
back to 6 percent or whatever when that project was completed. Well, it
hasn’t been, and doesn’t show any sign of being, rolled back. Can
anyone remember why this special tax was enacted and what was being said
at the time about its permanency?
Is the fate of this tax a harbinger for what we can expect with the
proposed special baseball taxes?
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What About Motorcycles
Paul Wilson, Ward 6, Dcmcrider@gmail.com
How about a big Bronx cheer for the DC Council? No, it’s not the
baseball stadium caper this time. In legislation approved on Tuesday,
the Council cut registration fees for so-called hybrid automobiles,
dropping the annual registration fees by half, from $72 to $36 (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45272-2004Dec7.html;
“so-called” hybrids because they still derive 100 percent of their
go-juice from burning petroleum.)
While that may be praiseworthy, here’s the point of my letter: $36
is substantially less than the motorcycle registration fee of $52 per
annum. Reasons cited for the break: lower emissions and better fuel
economy. If that’s the case, my motorcycles get 40-45 mpg in city
traffic, better than some hybrid drivers claim in similar, real world
driving conditions. Scooters (registered as motorcycles if they exceed
49 cc’s in displacement) do even better in terms of fuel economy. My
motorcycles are not toys, by the way; they are my daily transportation.
Also included in the legislation were increases in fees for SUVs
greater 5,000 pounds, citing size, and wear and tear on the roads. If
that’s the criteria used, let’s compare two hybrids with my
motorcycles: 2005 Honda Civic hybrid, 175" length, 67.5"
width, 2,449 lbs. curb weight; 2005 Toyota Prius hybrid, 175"
length, 67.9" width, 2,890 lbs. curb weight. 1995 Honda VFR750F
motorcycle, 83.7" length, 28.3" width, 523 lbs. curb weight;
1990 Kawasaki KLR650 motorcycle, 87" length, 37" width, 392
lbs. curb weight (figures from manufacturer’s web sites). It seems to
me that the Council’s rationale for taxing motorcycles at rates 44
percent higher than hybrid cars is seriously flawed, both in terms of
sound policy and simple fairness.
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The Anacostia Waterfront Corporation was established in August as a
“corporate body and independent instrumentality of the District
government” with sweeping powers. In coming years it is going to
dispense literally billions of dollars of land, contracts, and
development rights to politically favored developers, and use the power
of government to sweep inconvenient and uninfluential District residents
and businesses out of the way of the projects it approves. In the first
few days of the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation, though, the mayor and
council seem determined to set the precedent that District laws don’t
apply to it. On November 17, I wrote in themail that the mayor had
nominated Stephen Goldsmith, the former mayor of Indianapolis, to chair
the Corporation. Goldsmith is legally disqualified to serve because the
Anacostia Waterfront legislation requires all board members to have
their primary residence in Washington, and his primary residence is
still in Indianapolis, where he votes, pays income taxes, and intends to
return when he finishes his present job as chairman of the federal
Corporation for National and Community Service. It now turns out that
that job is a second disqualification that legally should prevent
Goldsmith from serving on the AWC board. To preserve the independence of
the Corporation from the government, members of the Corporation’s
board cannot be employees of the District or federal governments. But
Goldsmith is a federal government employee as chairman of the
Corporation for National and Community Service, as is made clear by the
bylaws of that organization.
The mayor and the Council Committee on Economic Development, under
the leadership of Councilmember Harold Brazil, are aware of those two
disqualifications, but believe that they can flout the law. In addition,
the mayor’s initial nominating resolution for Goldsmith, PR 15-1171,
only named him as a member of the Anacostia Waterfront Board of
Directors, and failed to specify that the mayor was naming him as the
chairman of the board. The mayor rectified that mistake on November 29
by sending the council a second nominating resolution, PR 15-1213, that
names him as “chairperson.” There has never been any public notice
that that second nominating resolution existed, and the Committee on
Economic Development has never held a hearing on it, but on Thursday,
December 9, Brazil intends to mark up the second resolution, ignoring
the council rule that requires a public hearing before a bill or
resolution can be marked up and a Committee can hold a vote on it.
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[With regards to] the story in the Post about the Metro Rail
board members who received free Smartcards but who don’t use either
the Metrorail or MetroBus, you’d think they might show a little
humanity and donate them to either some senior center or homeless group
and make life just a little easier to navigate around the city. I am not
working right now, and an unused Smartcard would certainly come in handy
until I am gainfully employed.
I really do get tired of hearing about their lack of concern for
anybody except themselves. But I am glad that they are exposed for their
insensitivity to the very people they rely on the WMATA for their
everyday transportation.
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Phil Shapiro (themail, December 4) wants news “to become more of a
conversation and less of a lecture.” He says there is a worldwide
movement in this direction. What does this mean? Does Mr. Shapiro
believe that one person’s (unverified) sense of events is as reliable
as any other? Is he more interested in personal opinion than in accounts
based on conscientious checking and careful writing by a professional?
Does he care about the distinction between fact and opinion?
Is his idea New Age squishy thinking? I am a retired newspaperman who
is wary of what passes on the Internet for news. Let Mr. Shapiro explain
what he means so that those of us who are not part of the movement can
make an informed judgment about his idea.
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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
DC for Democracy’s Holiday Party and Food
Drive, December 10
Charles Allen, DCforDemocracy@gmail.com
Join DC for Democracy for our second annual holiday party and food
drive. We’ve all worked hard during the primary and general election
season, and we have a lot more to do, but let’s take a moment to
celebrate the season with good friends. We’ll have music,
entertainment, and maybe even some door prizes. Cost of admission? Free,
if you bring two cans of nonperishable food or an article of clothing
for local shelters. Bossa Restaurant, 2463 18th Street, NW, right in the
heart of Adams Morgan, Friday, December 10, 8:00 p.m. RSVP at http://www.partyhostcenter.com/dcfordemocracy/parties/index.cfm?Fuseaction=EventDetail&e=Holiday.
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DC Public Library Events, December 10-11
Debra Truhart, debra.truhart@dc.gov
Wednesday, December 10, 1:00 p.m. Juanita E. Thornton/Shepherd Park
Neighborhood Library. Shepherd Park Wednesday Afternoon Book Club. This
month the club will discuss The Last Juror by John Grisham.
Public contact: 541-6100.
Saturday, December 11, 3:00 p.m., Mount Pleasant Neighborhood
Library, 3160 16th Street, NW. Punto Vivo: Introduction to Peace Poetry.
The DC Guerilla Poets’ Insurgency uses hip-hop and spoken word to
familiarize young people with literary movements for peace and justice
taking place around the world. Public contact: 671-0200.
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National Building Museum Events, December 15
Brie Hensold, bhenhold@nbm.org
Both events at the National Building Museum, 401 F Street, NW,
Judiciary Square stop, Metro Red Line. Wednesday, December 15, 12:30
p.m.-1:30 p.m. Protecting Water Resources: Smart Growth and Low Impact
Development. John Tippett, executive director of Friends of the
Rappahannock, will present current best practices in the integration of
low-impact development design techniques with smart growth projects.
Free. Registration not required.
Wednesday, December 15, 6:30-8:00 p.m. US Capitol: Its Lessons for
Today. Henry Hope Reed will discuss the design history of the U.S.
Capitol, often regarded as the finest example of American neoclassical
architecture. After the lecture, he will sign copies of his book The
United States Capitol. This lecture is held in collaboration with
the Institute of Classical Architecture. $12 Museum and Institute of
Classical Architecture members, and students; $17 nonmembers.
Registration required.
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CLASSIFIEDS — FOR SALE
Hoops Sagrado is a Washington, DC, based nonprofit that each year
takes inner city DC kids to Guatemala for a month, where they spend
their mornings learning Spanish and in the afternoons they travel to the
surrounding villages to run basketball camps for the local Mayan
children. This year as a fundraiser, we’ve created a 2005 wall
calendar featuring artwork from area artists. If you would like to
support not only a local charity, but also local artists (who generously
donated their works), please send a check to Hoops Sagrado Attn:
Calendar, 1812D Calvert Street, NW, Washington, DC 20009. Calendars are
$10 each, and checks should be made out to Hoops Sagrado. For more
information about Hoops, which is a 501(c)(3), please visit www.hoopssagrado.org.
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CLASSIFIEDS — HOUSING
Housing Needed in January
Rebecca Arnold, rearnold@hotmail.com
I am a graduate student in public health with an internship at NIH
January through June, and I am looking for temporary housing during that
time. I am 26 and a nonsmoker and would appreciate any suggestions or
offers.
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CLASSIFIEDS — RECOMMENDATIONS
I have a sewing desk with a built in White sewing machine. It was
left over from my grandparents’ estate. It is the only item I have yet
to fine a home for. I’m looking for suggestion as to what to do with
it.
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