Keys
Dear Keyholders:
In the past two days, the Washington Post has done a service
by publishing articles about two of the city’s more successful influence
peddlers, who usually work in the shadows. Kelvin Robinson, the mayor’s
former chief of staff, is now a consultant to Wal-Mart, helping the
company in its dealings with the city’s government (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17564-2005Feb11.html).
Max Brown, the former legal counsel and deputy chief of staff to the
mayor, now makes his living both as a lobbyist for companies who want to
do business with the city and as a city contractor himself (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19703-2005Feb12.html).
It’s good to have any light shown on the activities of the
lobbyists and influence peddlers who facilitate deals with the city’s
politicians and bureaucrats, but Robinson and Brown aren’t talking
much about the work they actually do. In fact, they minimize their
efforts, and claim to do very little in order to earn their large fees.
All they admit to doing is arranging appointments with public officials,
and anybody should be able to do that for himself.
Of course, we know that it is difficult, if not impossible, for
ordinary citizens of the District to get a meeting with the mayor. The
officers of the Federation of Citizens Associations, who represent
dozens of neighborhood and community groups, have been waiting over a
year for a meeting that the mayor promised them. But the clients whom
these lobbyists represent aren’t mere citizens of the city; they’re
the kind of special interests for whom this administration already has
an open door policy. The mayor doesn’t have to give them the key to
the city; they already own the key to the city. They don’t have to pay
any influence peddlers to get access. So what are they paying for?
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
###############
Some of DC’s best recent news is the favorable FY04 Comprehensive
Annual Financial Report (CAFR), as audited by KPMG, LLP. It shows a
budget surplus for the eighth year in a row, despite continued
overstaffing and overpaying of underperforming DC government agencies.
Some of DC’s worst news is the continued whining by DC’s supposedly
apolitical CFO that these heroics are achieved despite a towering
“structural deficit” certified by the GAO. His online summary of
this new CAFR contains inappropriate assertions, implying the CAFR
endorses the vaunted 2003 GAO report despite serious analytical and
arithmetic errors. In fact, as last year, GAO’s claims are not treated
or audited in the CAFR: they are “boiler plate” in its internal
letter of transmittal.
Here are some of these fatuous assertions: a) DC should be spending
$400 million more for a higher-paid police/FEMS force twice its current
size (due primarily to a murder rate that no longer applies); b) DC gets
no revenues from the influx of commuters (in fact, their employers pay
more in property taxes than 90 percent of DC’s taxpayers); c) DC
should tax federal properties like the White House and Capitol Buildings
(it doesn’t tax its own government buildings); d) DC spends more to
service federal properties than it gains from the gross Federal-related
presence (impossible!); e) DC should tax 7400 acres maintained by the
National Park Service (and freely used by DC residents); f) DC’s tax
burden is disproportionately high nationally (a sloppy $500M GAO
arithmetic error); g) DC’s tax burden is markedly higher than its
neighbors’ (not supported by the CFO’s own “DC Tax Facts”); h)
DC has a huge backlog of unmet school modernization needs (highly
inflated by using outdated rising enrollment forecasts which are
actually declining by two to four "schools-worth" per year); i)
the GAO-divined gap of $400 million to $1,200 million includes capital
investment needs (it was based on unmet operating costs); and j) this
imbalance is unique to DC. (The GAO methodology shows imbalances in
twenty-odd other states, some much worse off).
The DC Council’s inability or unwillingness to challenge such
superficially appealing hogwash fed to them by DC’s CFO is bad news
too. Concerned legislators and citizens should look again at NARPAC’s
analysis of these phony assertions at http://www.narpac.org/REXGAO.HTM
and urge the council to develop its own independent anti-spin analytical
capabilities. Even the hallowed Washington Post editorial staff
has turned “Ratheresque” by parroting unsubstantiated pap. Indeed DC
does have serious unmet capital investment needs and does deserve
federal help, but mainly in the public transportation area (where there
are no surplus properties to sell).
###############
Flashing Police Lights
Dorothy Brizill, dorothy@dcwatch.com
Since having been sworn in as councilmember-at-large, Kwame Brown has
been parking his black Mercedes station wagon on Pennsylvania Avenue in
front of the Wilson Building in an area specifically reserved for
councilmembers. In recent weeks, the dashboard of his car has been
sporting a set of official-looking flashing police lights, which has
caused some amusement among city hall regulars.
On Friday, when I asked Brown’s press secretary about the police
lights, she indicated that they had been provided by the city council’s
security office so that Brown could park without being ticketed until he
received his special council license plates, which would exempt him from
DC parking fines. I noted that the council doesn’t have a security
office or officer, and that it relies upon the Office of Property
Management’s Protective Services Division; that the other new
councilmembers who are also awaiting their license plates, Marion Barry
and Vincent Gray, didn’t have police lights on their cars; that the
council’s Office of the Secretary provides laminated placards for
councilmembers and staffers so that they could legally park in
designated areas around the Wilson Building; and that there were some
legitimate concerns about giving police car lights to people who didn’t
have legitimate public safety functions, such as police, fire, or health
emergency officials. I then asked Phyllis Jones, Secretary of the
Council, about the lights. She said that her office didn’t possess or
provide police lights to councilmembers, and she called the head of
Protective Services to verify that his office didn’t have or provide
the lights, either.
Late on Friday, Kwame Brown called me to correct the explanation of
the lights. According to Brown, he was touring housing in Ward 7 with
City Administrator Robert Bobb when a staffer in Bobb’s office whom he
could not name noticed that Brown didn’t have special council license
plates. That staffer provided Brown with police lights in an effort to
ensure that he could park illegally in the District without being
ticketed. But, Brown said, when the matter was brought to his attention
he decided to remove the lights so that there would be no future
misunderstanding.
###############
More gouging of the city’s residents. DDOT is now proposing that it
charge for the use of Emergency No Parking Signs and Reserved Parking
Signs. It says that there is a need to control the issuance of these
signs, and that therefore they will charge all those who use these signs
at the lowest metered rate for the number of spaces they need and by the
hours the spaces are needed. There is a graduated rate base on the
number of months the spaces will be needed. In other words, consumers
can expect additional pass-through charges on their electric bills,
telephone bills, gas bills, funeral bills, construction costs, etc. DPW
and MPD, the most flagrant violators of the use of these signs, will
continue to issue their own emergency signs, and DDOT has nothing in its
proposal to monitor these two abusive agencies. What this means is that
you will pay for reserving public space for legitimate purposes which
heretofore has not been paid for, a rip off. And, guess what, there is
also a DDOT proposal to give away public parking spaces to the Flex Car
and Zip Car automobile rental companies, while you and I must now pay
for the use of public space. Now ain’t that a kick in the you know
what.
If you need a copy of the proposal, contact DDOT on 671-2333; the
comment period ends on February 25, at the close of business.
###############
Bloggers and Community Media Movements Converging
Phil Shapiro, pshapiro@his.com
Big changes are afoot for community media and the use of the Internet
as a publishing medium. On the one front are the bloggers, the
“citizen journalists.” On the other front are community media
producers — often represented by public access television stations.
These exciting movements are merging — and that’s good for all of
us.
Last week an inspiring pioneer of the community media movement, Dirk
Koning, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, sadly passed away because of a heart
ailment. When I went to visit the web site of the Grand Rapids Community
Media Center (http://www.grcmc.org),
I asked myself, "What can I do for Dirk today?" When I spotted
the wonderful 75-megabyte QuickTime video interview with him on the
site, I thought to myself, “I need to make a slimmed down Flash
slideshow version of that, for dial-up users to see and hear.” So I
used a free Windows program named PowerBullet Presenter (http://www.powerbullet.com)
and with a few tricks on my iBook, I converted that 75 megabyte video
into a 3.6 megabyte Flash slideshow. You can view the Flash slideshow at
http://www.writersforliteracy.org/dirkkoning.htm
(use the red arrows at the bottom of the screen to navigate to the four
screens of this slideshow).
Why did I do this work? Inclusion. For inclusion. To bring more
people to the table. To leave fewer people out. Did Dirk Koning get me
to teach you something today? Yes, he did. Acting beyond the grave. That’s
what the best of them do. They teach us from beyond the grave. Regarding
what I described above, you’ll hear none of this from mainstream
media. They take no interest in this kind of stuff. No interest at all.
They disgrace the memory of Dirk Koning.
###############
Not surprisingly, my posting on the Hip-Hop Culture last week [themail,
February 6] provoked a lot of angry E-mail, mostly from furious but
intentionally ignorant whites. For the whites who wrote me and who had
unkind thoughts towards me, I’ve put together the Hip-Hop Bus Tour. On
a school day we’ll start at 7:30 at Duke Ellington Bridge, where the
90 bus begins its route. We’ll follow it to its terminus at Anacostia
Station. We’ll sit in back with the kids so we all have a close up and
personal encounter with the hip-hop generation. Once we reach Anacostia
Station we’ll visit Barry Farms, the housing project that’s been
feuding with its neighboring project for many years amid countless
homicides. Then we’ll visit Ballou High School, which many of the
murder victims attended. At 2 p.m. we’ll ride on the bus back to Duke
Ellington with the kids as they get out of school. Don’t forget to
pack a lunch.
In Friday’s issue of the Post’s Metro Section, there was
an article on a protest that bus drivers held over the dangers they are
faced with while doing their jobs (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15663-2005Feb10.html).
I spoke to one of the drivers who participated in the protest. I said
that the impression the article gave me was that the worst problem was
kids throwing rocks. He replied that assaults by passengers on the
drivers and on each other inside the busses were the real problem. He
mentioned that the worst news has not been reported. He said last summer
a passenger pretended to be asleep and when a female bus driver came to
the back of the bus to awaken him, he raped her. The driver I spoke to
also mentioned that a passenger tried to cut his throat while he was
driving the bus.
Yesterday I talked to a black woman after the two of us had just
gotten off the 90 bus. I asked her, “What do you think of those
kids?” She replied, “They should have their own busses because of
their language and everything. If you’re an old lady and need to sit
down, forget it. They won’t move.” I point this out because everyone
regards the kids from the ghetto as a menace. One time a bus driver put
off a group of girls who were misbehaving and everyone on the bus
cheered.
###############
Let Tony Buy His Own Keys
P. Walters, dcw@rpwalters.com
So Tony now wants to charge taxpayers $2,000 each for ceremonial keys
to the city for him to hand out to his buddies? As he told the Washington
Post, the keys are a “salute to someone of enormous impact and
stature.” Like, say, former Kennedy-and-Hollywood flack Jack Valenti,
or Aleksander Kwasniewski, the President of Poland. People who, it’s
obvious, are really important to the District’s future. Never mind
that New York spends less than $100 on its keys. Hey, we’re DC. We’re
building the most expensive stadium in the country. We print money here,
and we burn it too.
Our new key “represents the new technological world that the
District is a leader in,” according to Tony. Oh, like, the
cutting-edge technology DDOT uses to keep our crumbling roads crumbled?
Or the technology DCPS employs to institutionalize failure in our
schools? The Post story didn’t say how many keys the city
bought and has on hand, but the artist who designed them claims “it’s
an extraordinarily substantial object for the cost that was given.”
Huh?
Hey, Tony. How about getting Jack or Alek or one of your other
high-tech pals to foot the bill for the keys? We need to save our
pennies to build your personal monument, er, stadium.
###############
A Better Key to the City
Phil Shapiro, pshapiro@his.com
I’d much prefer a small plastic or cardboard key to the city. Or,
even better, a magnetized plastic card like they use in hotels. That way
if any dignitary disses us, we could change the combo to the lock
without even calling a locksmith. Think of the country music songs this
could spawn: “Locked Out of the City Again and No Place to Go.”
###############
Shortly after reading your report that the new stainless steel keys
to the city costs $2,000 each, I noted that the stainless steel version
of a Bosch dishwasher, viewed by many as the Rolls Royce of kitchen
appliances, can be had for about $1,700 each. Guess which I would rather
have?
###############
The Commerce Clause
Michael Bindner, mikeybdc at yahoo dot com
As to whether it is necessary to violate the commerce clause to
secure a hazmat ban through the Union Station corridor, the Constitution
is not a suicide pact.
###############
[To Gary Imhoff:] Unfortunately in your response on hazardous
materials [themail, February 9] you make claims about the my support of
the ban that are incorrect. I, for one, have never stated “that the
alternative routes must be revealed” — please do not put your words
into my mouth. I am arguing for a ban on the transportation of these
potential weapons-of-mass-destruction within two miles of a known
terrorist target, the US Capitol. Publicly stating that such materials
are not allowed in one area is a very thing from revealing where they
are. Second, I am not asking that the Constitution be suspended in any
way, shape, or form. I am arguing that the ban is a constitutionally
permissible use of local police powers. It does not prevent such
materials from entering the District of Columbia — it simply bans them
from an area around the Capitol similar to what we already do by banning
hazardous materials from the I-395 (3rd Street) tunnel. Again, please do
not put your words in my mouth.
[In case I wasn’t clear the first time: in the February 9 issue of
themail I wrote a single response to points made in four messages about
the Hazmat bill. Those four messages did not all make the same points or
say the same thing, and not everything that I wrote in my response
applies to all four messages. I do have a correction, however, on the
city council vote on the Hazmat bill. Councilmember Schwartz cast the
only vote against the bill, but Councilmember Barry was absent and
Councilmember Catania abstained because his law firm does business with
CSX, so the vote was 10-1 instead of 12-1. — Gary Imhoff]
###############
CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
DC Public Library Events, February 15-16
Debra Truhart, debra.truhart@dc.gov
Tuesday, February 15, 6:30 p.m., Southeast Neighborhood Library, 403
7th Street, SE. Lively book discussions with local authors
and writers held by the Capitol Hill Book Club. Book club members select
the book to be discussed. Public contact: 698-3377.
Tuesday, February 15, 7:00 p.m. Mount Pleasant Neighborhood Library,
3160 16th Street, NW. Girod Payton, aka Shekhem Tempriam SAA,
African priest, health lecturer, and nutrition counselor, will discuss
the causes of toxic communities and their health effects. The DC
Public Library is not responsible, nor does it endorse health
information given to participants during the program. Public
contact: 671-0200.
Wednesday, February 16, 12:00 p.m. Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial
Library, 901 G Street, NW, Main Lobby. Robert Beasley, data analyst for
the Mayor’s Office of Planning will discuss business growth in DC.
Public contact: 727-1171.
Wednesday, February 16, 6 p.m., Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial
Library, 901 G Street, NW, Room A-5. The Audiovisual Division of the DC
Public Library presents its sixteenth annual African American history
film festival that features documentaries on famous African Americans. Franz
Fanon: Black Skin, White Mask.
###############
Free and Affordable Sources of Finding the Law on the Web, February
16
Michael Karlan, dc@prosinthecity.com
Professionals in the City is hosting a seminar on free and affordable
sources of finding the law on the web on Wednesday, February 16, at 7:30
p.m. This program is for both lawyers and nonlawyers. This program will
provide an overview of the many new sources of legal information on the
web that are free or very affordable. In addition, all participants also
will receive a free month subscription to Fastcase, a premium legal
database provided by a local DC company. The speaker will be Philip
Rosenthal, the president and cofounder of Fastcase. He was an attorney
at Covington & Burling before starting Fastcase. Before entering the
law, he was a string theorist at Caltech, where he received his Ph.D. in
physics. Light refreshments will be provided. This event is Wednesday,
February 16, from 7:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. at 702 H Street, NW, Suite 200.
The price is $25. For more information or to purchase tickets, please
visit http://www.prosinthecity.com,
E-mail dc@prosinthecity.com,
or call 686-5990.
###############
UDC Founders’ Day Convocation to Honor Excellence in Education,
February 16
Mike Andrews, mandrews@udc.edu
The University of the District of Columbia’s Founder’s Day
Convocation, scheduled for Wednesday, February 16, at 10 a.m. in the
University’s Auditorium, will for the first time present four awards
to honor excellence in educational leadership and service, as well as a
lifetime achievement award for sustained and exceptional commitment to
the University’s mission. Civil rights attorney Thomas N. Todd will
deliver the keynote address.
John B. Childers, president and CEO of the Consortium of Universities
of the Washington Metropolitan Area, will receive the Ronald H. Brown
Distinguished Leadership Award. Mr. Childers is a highly regarded
education leader with senior executive experience in government
relations, communications, and higher education with national education
associations. As the chief executive officer at the Consortium, Childers
directs all joint programs in support of the fourteen universities that
are members of the Consortium and practices an inclusive and
collaborative management style that successfully draws out the best from
colleagues in a diverse workforce setting.
Darrell Watson, music teacher at Ballou Senior High School, will
receive the Cleveland L. Dennard Distinguished Service Award. Mr. Watson
received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Education in 1995 from UDC.
In 2004, the Ballou High School Band, the Marching Knights, gained
national recognition when vying for a spot in the Home Depot “Battle
of the Bands” in Carson, CA. One hundred ten bands entered the initial
tryouts for this competition with the Marching Knights becoming one of
eight bands selected to take part in the final contest. Most recently,
the Marching Knights received the high honor of being invited to march
in the 55th Presidential Inauguration Parade in January 2005. The band
has also performed before former President Bill Clinton and the
Ambassador of Taipei, China. Additionally, Mr. Watson has performed with
several well-known gospel artists, including Yolanda Adams, Karen
Clark-Sheared, Dorothy Norwood, Murna Summers, and Albertina Walker.
N. Joyce Payne, Ph.D., will receive the Marjorie Holloman Parker
Distinguished Educational Leadership Award. Dr. Payne is the Director of
the Office for the Advancement of Public Black Colleges (OAPBC) of the
National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULGC)
in cooperation with the American Association of State Colleges and
Universities (AASCU). Dr. Payne formerly served as President of Global
Systems, Inc., and as a senior staff member under the Carter
administration with the President’s Advisory Committee for Women;
President’s National Advisory Council on Women’s Educational
Programs; and the White House Conference on Families. She is an alumna
of the District of Columbia Teachers College, a UDC predecessor school,
and has also served as chairperson of the University of the District of
Columbia’s Board of Trustees.
Elma Redfern-Moore, Ed.D., Associate Professor of Elementary
Education at the University of the District of Columbia, will receive
the Paul Phillips Cooke Lifetime Achievement Award. Dr. Redfern-Moore’s
illustrious 55 years in education includes: elementary school teacher
and principal; mathematics resource teacher; supervising instructor at a
Laboratory School at DC Teachers College; and Coordinator of Teacher
Education Programs at UDC. Dr. Redfern-Moore was the coordinator of each
accrediting team for the accreditation of teacher education programs
from 1980 to 1998. More recently, she served on the Department of
Education’s team during the site visit by the National Council for
Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). Dr. Redfern-Moore is listed
in the first edition of The World Who’s Who of Women in Education. Dr.
Redfern-Moore is a graduate of Miner Teachers College, a University of
the District of Columbia predecessor institution.
###############
National Building Museum Events, February 16, 19, 20
Brie Hensold, bhenhold@nbm.org
All events at the National Building Museum, 401 F Street, NW,
Judiciary Square stop, Metro Red Line. Wednesday, February 16, 6:30-8:00
p.m. When the Woodrow Wilson Bridge connecting Maryland and Virginia was
completed in 1961, it was designed to handle 75,000 cars a day. Today,
that volume has almost tripled, and the bridge has become one of the
worst traffic bottlenecks in the country. Alex Lee, AICP, assistant
project coordinator for Potomac Crossing Consultants which is managing
the $2.4 billion infrastructure replacement project, and other senior
construction managers will explain the process and plans for replacing
the existing bridge and upgrading four interchanges, while maintaining
traffic during construction. He will also discuss how the bridge,
scheduled for completion in 2008, will improve traffic patterns. $10
Museum members and students; $15 nonmembers. Registration required.
Saturday, February 19, 10:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m. ZOOM into Engineering
Family Festival. The National Building Museum and The National Engineers
Week Committee welcome families, groups, and young guests to this
exciting engineering festival. Meet cast members of the hit PBS series
ZOOM and, through many stimulating hands-on activities, discover how
engineers make a world of difference. Free; $5 donation suggested. Ages
5 to 13. Drop-in program.
Sunday, February 20, 1:00-2:00 p.m. Millau Viaduct: this recent film
documents the design and construction of the Millau Viaduct located in
southern France and designed by Lord Norman Foster. Completed in
December 2004, it stands as the world’s highest bridge and forms the
last connection in a major highway linking Barcelona and Paris. The
viaduct project is featured in the exhibition Liquid Stone: New
Architecture in Concrete. Free. Registration not required.
###############
Recorder of Deeds Building Tour, February 17
Alexander M. Padro, PadroANC2C@aol.com
The fifth annual DC Recorder of Deeds Building open house and free
guided tours will be held on Thursday, February 17, from 6:00 p.m. to
8:00 p.m. Tours will be held at 6:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. The tours are
free and no reservations are required. The District of Columbia Recorder
of Deeds Building, completed in 1942, features seven WPA-era Black
history murals (depicting African American heroes including Benjamin
Banneker, Frederick Douglass, Crispus Attucks, Matthew Henson, and the
Massachusetts 54th Regiment) and other artwork, in a building designed
to house the only District agency led and staffed almost exclusively by
African Americans for 120 years. Come visit the ROD Building and hear
about the history of past recorders of deeds, including Frederick
Douglass and Blanche K. Bruce, the work of such prominent African
American artists as William E. Scott and Selma Burke, and see the
building’s intact 1940s décor, which was almost lost to demolition in
2001. The DC Recorder of Deeds Building is located at 515 D Street, NW,
just one block from the Archives/Navy Memorial Green and Yellow Line
METRO station and Judiciary Square Red Line METRO station. Sponsored by
the DC Preservation League and the DC Office of Tax and Revenue/Recorder
of Deeds. For more information, call the DC Preservation League at
783-5144.
###############
CLASSIFIEDS — WANTED
Good Used Inexpensive Kayak
Phil Greene, pgreene@doc.gov
If anyone out there has a good, basic kayak/rec boat they’d be
willing to sell, I’m on the lookout for one.
###############
CLASSIFIEDS — SERVICES
The AHJ Group is seeking District of Columbia businesses seeking to
bid on federal, state and District government contracts, from
construction trades to computer supplies and repairs. More than $250
millions in government contracts will be awarded in the next six months
to District-based certified businesses. If your business needs to become
certified, the AHJ Group will assist you in preparing your certification
package, business and marketing plan, and will lobby the commission to
approve your package. For information, call the AHJ Group, 271-5522. 99
percent of our clients are successfully approved.
###############
I am impressed with Strayer University’s quality of service in DC.
My initial request for information through their web site got a live
person’s response within hours. Today at 11:48, while walking to my
12:00 appointment with Admission’s Wakisha Riddick, I received a call
from her supervisor Irving Hodge: “Wakisha is out today and I’ll
meet with you.” When we met, my records from past Strayer course
activity were accessible and allowed us the facts to discuss my current
educational plans. The school’s staff as well as door security created
a professional image for today’s business world.
Courses are still $1,200 for four credit hours. Federal Student Loan
are an option. Some courses are via on the Internet 24/7 — no need to
be online at a particular date and time, nor at a particular location.
Visit http://www.strayer.edu.
###############
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