Anger
Dear Furious Readers:
The cost of the proposed baseball stadium in southeast keeps
escalating, but the baseball boosters keep fiddling with the numbers to
pretend that the $535 million cap on the stadium’s costs set by the
city council is still intact. The mayor, the Sports Commission, and the
Chief Financial Officer keep tossing out expenses that were supposed to
be included in the $535 million and pretending that they no longer have
to be counted. Metro station upgrades, street and sidewalk improvements,
financing costs -- all of them are now outside and on top of the $535
million. To cap it off, the baseball boosters scammed the city council
last month when it passed “technical amendments” to the stadium
bill. Councilmembers who were skeptical of the stadium financing were
assured that the bill made no substantive changes, while the
administration and the Chief Financial Officer knew that their intent,
and their interpretation of the bill, was to raise the cost cap from
$535 million to $589 million.
At Monday’s city council hearing on the stadium, administration and
Sports Commission officials talked about the $535 million ceiling for
the first several hours, and revealed only in the last hour that they
now believed the council had authorized an increase to $589 million
(which still doesn’t include the cost of necessary infrastructure
improvements that they intend to hide in other departments’ and
agencies’ budgets). CFO Natwar Gandhi reacted angrily to
councilmembers who were disturbed by how they had been misled. Gandhi
ranted about the importance of his reputation, and he blamed the
councilmembers for not understanding the full effect of the “technical
amendments.” His reasoning seemed to be that he had no responsibility
to represent the bill fully and accurately to the councilmembers, no
duty to explain that he and the administration believed the bill would
raise the legislative cap on stadium expenses. He seemed to believe that
if the councilmembers hadn’t discovered the full effects of the bill
on their own, it was their own fault for letting themselves be fooled.
This is the rationalization of the con man, the contempt of the flim-flam
man for people foolish enough to trust him and be scammed by him, and it
is unworthy of a man who has previously been an honest and competent
CFO.
In the future the city council will not be able to trust Mr. Gandhi’s
word, and will always have to wonder what he is hiding from them and
what he is not telling them. This will be another major cost of the
stadium, one that will cost our city dearly.
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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The confluence of events over recent weeks has been especially sad.
The Inspector General’s report on Jonathan Magbie, as reported by
Colby King at the Washington Post, provides a lens on how
inhumane and incompetent our government is. Those qualities were
demonstrated again in the report on four deaths among mentally and
physically disabled residents in the care of DC government and yet again
in another report showing the city is moving too slowly in providing for
foster children. Rather than addressing those issues, the Mayor is
absent most of the time and his minions use their time to push
ill-conceived projects like the ballpark and the National Capital
Medical Center. Even the Mayor’s alleged strong suit — good fiscal
management — is a myth, as the Post documented in a series of
articles showing widespread mismanagement of public funds and arrogant
disregard for the public’s welfare. The Mayor has yet to respond to
the Post, apparently because his travel schedule keeps him too
busy. He is likely to spend more time in Washington, however, though
much of it may be with congressional committees investigating his
stewardship.
I have lived in Washington for more than twenty years. Taken
together, recent events paint a tragic portrait of a failed government,
not much different from when I moved here. Does anyone know what we
could do to fix it?
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The city’s long-standing, ongoing, severe procurement problems were
detailed in two articles by Dan Keating and David Fallis in the Washington
Post, as mentioned by Gary in the last issue of themail (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/26/AR2005112601139.html
and http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/27/AR2005112701055.html).
At his press conference today, Mayor Williams was visibly angry — not
at how his administration had failed the citizens, but at the Post
for reporting the problems. The mayor briefly acknowledged that the city
had contracting problems, and he made a pro forma statement that
he accepted responsibility for them, but he spent the most time
attacking the Post reporters and attempting to discredit their
stories. He claimed that the information in the stories was either
outdated or inaccurate. His press secretary, Vince Morris, explained
that the mayor had refused to be interviewed for the stories because the
Post had refused to give him all the information that would be in
the articles in advance.
The first step in reforming procurement would be to hire a seasoned
and experienced Chief Procurement Officer. Since the resignation of
Jacques Abadie in the aftermath of the exposure of multiple scandals
involving credit, purchase, and travel cards; the sale of District
surplus property; and sole source contracts, the District’s
Procurement Office has lacked a permanent head. Since September 13,
2004, Herbert Tillery, the Deputy Mayor for Operations, has also served
as the Chief Procurement Officer. DC Law is very specific about the
qualifications to fill this position, and Tillery does not have the
requisite qualifications. Tillery has served long beyond the 180-day
legal limit for temporary appointments, but the mayor has not forwarded
his nomination to the council for confirmation, nor has he recruited
anyone else to head the office and fill the vacancy. Today, Tillery and
Mayor Williams explained the failure to recruit a Chief Procurement
Officer by saying that there is just a year remaining in the mayor’s
term, implying that it would be difficult to find someone to fill the
job for just a year. Neither Tillery nor the mayor seemed to be aware
that the CPO serves a set five-year term, and can be dismissed only for
cause, so the length of the mayor’s term in office should have no
effect whatsoever on recruitment. Moreover, as with many other offices
for which the mayor has failed to make timely appointments, the mayor
and Tillery claimed that the 180-day legal limit on temporary
appointments didn’t apply if the appointee was called
"interim" rather than "acting" -- a distinction
without a difference, and a distinction that doesn’t exist in law.
The mayor needs to demonstrate that he is actually concerned about
the District’s contracting scandals, and not just give lip service to
accepting a theoretical responsibility for them. To forestall
Congressional action, he must take real, visible steps toward solving
the problems himself. The first step should be to recruit a seasoned
contracting and procurement specialist as the District’s Chief
Procurement Officer.
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At a hearing on November 30, Judge Eugene N. Hamilton announced he
will award final judgment in favor of the petitioners in the class
action filed by forty-eight other petitioners and myself against the DC
government in Tax Docket No. 8112-02. Under the judge’s proposed
order, cash refunds will be granted to all owners of residential
property in Triennial Group 1 who suffered an increase in their
assessments in Tax Year 2002 over Tax Year 2001 and who paid all taxes,
interest and penalties for Tax Year 2002. The refunds will cover any
increases in taxes for Tax Year 2002 plus 6 percent annual interest. The
District’s lawyers estimate that total refunds will be $15 million.
The final wording of the judgment is to be agreed upon by the parties
and submitted for the judge’s signature by December 10. The District’s
lawyers have announced that they will appeal to the DC Court of Appeals.
I am the lead counsel for petitioners in this class action, and I
anticipate that Judge Hamilton’s decision will be affirmed.
A second petition, contesting tax year 2003 assessments in triennial
groups 1 and 2, has been stayed pending final resolution of the first
case.
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Fixing Up Schools, Serious Business
William Jordan, whj@melanet.com
The debate, plans, actions, and consequences centered on our city’s
efforts finally to address the capital infrastructure needs of our
schools are serious business. It is crucial that as civic leaders we
bring the requisite thoughtfulness, creativity, and passion to this
issue and not settle for the specious carelessness and casual defeatism
exemplified by the Washington Post’s Marc Fisher in his
November 22nd column, “Fix Up Schools, But Not With A Faulty
System,” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/21/AR2005112101620_2.html.
Serious leaders should avoid Mr. Fisher’s willingness to allow
self-righteous indignation against the school system, or single-minded
efforts to rationalize and engage in culture war theatrics, or both to
hinder our ability to make the right decisions for our city and its
young people. As leaders, we must deafen ourselves to the siren’s call
of analysis by anecdotal tidbits. This analysis by tidbits may be fine
for a columnist; however, civic leaders must take up the challenge to
handle this as serious business.
So let’s get down to business: the primary business of schools is
to provide a quality educational experience for its young people and
others by providing the necessary programming and infrastructure.
Providing sites for condo development is at best a down-the-road
byproduct and should not be a priority if your goal is quality
education. A two billion dollar school modernization program is going to
require many creative partnerships, some new and some old, not just
because the school system alone can’t handle it, but also because no
sector — business, government, or community — has the knowledge to
do it alone. Any approach must not sacrifice the educational experience
of our current students, but must enhance it in both the long term and
short terms. Not an easy task but doable.
Mr. Fisher falsely offers fifty-nine thousand as the number of
students around which we must design this effort. This number is plain
dishonest. At a minimum the design must accommodate eighty thousand in
the short term if charter schools, dropouts, etc., are included. Given
the number of adults and young people needing additional educational
support, as well as the continuing educational needs of our modern
society, the number is even greater. This is truly the time and this the
issue on which committed civic leaders should step forward and develop
something that is good for schools and neighborhoods. Leaders must
reject the temptation to take the “it’s-somebody-else’s-fault-and-responsibility”
path espoused by Mr. Fisher. Civic leaders must take up the mantle and
demand others do the same.
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One piece of the latest under the table political scuttlebutt is that
Congress is considering creating another Control Board to take over the
DC Public School System. This would allow for the Federal City Council
supported new group [the DC Education Compact, http://www.dcec.org]
to take over managing the school property portfolio, and would allow
them to release properties to either developers or charter schools
without much interference.
This is very worrisome.
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Ward 6 Democrats Resolution Opposing NCMC
Frank Zampatori, frankz05@att.net
The Ward 6 Democrats, at their regularly scheduled meeting on
November 21, voted unanimously to go on record opposing construction of
the proposed National Capital Medical Center (NCMC) in Ward 6 on
Reservation 13. The approved Resolution calls on the City Administration
and the DC City Council to develop an alternative health care facility
proposal based on documented health care needs that can be supported by
objective health care data that will meet the needs of the residents of
the District of Columbia, especially those living east of the Anacostia
River. The Resolution also opposes efforts by the city administration to
circumvent the District’s “Certificate of Need” process. [A copy
of the complete resolution is available at http://www.dcwatch.com/issues/health051121.htm.]
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Daytime Residential Street Sweeping Will Be
Suspended
Mary Myers, mary.myers@dc.gov
As it does every winter, the Department of Public Works will
temporarily suspend routine residential street cleaning from January 9
to March 17, 2006. During this time, "No Parking/Street
Cleaning" restrictions will be lifted. Residents and visitors who
park along posted, alternate-side, daytime street sweeping routes will
not be required to move their cars on street-sweeping days during the
sweeper hiatus. Residential street cleaning resumes Monday, March 20,
2006.
However, overnight sweeping scheduled for the District’s major
arterials (such as Pennsylvania, Georgia, Constitution, Independence
Avenues, and others) will take place as usual all winter, with the
attendant parking ban during sweeping hours. Motorists are urged not to
park in these areas during the posted overnight hours. As colder weather
approaches, motorists are also reminded that during declared snow
emergencies, vehicles can be ticketed and towed if they remain parked on
designated snow emergency routes. Look for the red and white signs
before parking this winter.
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This is in response to the comment about DCRA’s hiring only people
who speak Spanish [themail, November 27]. Two people have told me of
cases in which black men applied for construction jobs and were turned
down because they didn’t speak Spanish.
###############
You are so right [“Good Business,” themail, November 27]. I was
appalled (but not necessarily surprised) by what I read. This is not to
say that all contractors are bad or deliver inferior goods and services.
Thank God for that, because otherwise we would really have a mess on our
hands. Nonetheless there are rules we have to live by if democracy is
going to work. On a separate but related topic, is there a way to use
the initiative petition process to force a vote of the people on the
stadium boondoggle? It is well on the way to becoming a billion dollar
deal when all the hidden costs of infrastructure improvements are added
up. And guess what soccer team owner is quietly biding his time and
keeping silent until the furor over the baseball stadium is past? Then
he will come asking for his subsidy from taxpayers for a new soccer
stadium across the river, citing the precedent set by the baseball deal,
and threaten to take his team elsewhere if we don’t ante up. And why
should he not get his share in the great taxpayer rip-off by millionaire
sports team owners? Bend over and grab your ankles, taxpayers, and then
remember this experience when you vote in the next District elections.
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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
Get Involved in Planning a New High School,
December 1
Sue Bell, bellsue@aol.com
Capital City Public Charter School will be opening an upper school
for grades 7 through 12 in the fall of 2007. There will be an
organizational meeting and information session for District of Columbia
parents interested in middle and high school, for community leaders who
want to be involved in the design of an innovative, small, public
middle/high school, and for those who would like to lend their expertise
in education, grant writing, facilities development, database
management, and fundraising. Current members of the design team will
share their vision for the school and representatives from their mentor
school, School of the Future, a New York City public high school, will
talk about their program. The meeting will be on Thursday, December 1,
at 6:45 p.m., at 3047 15th Street, NW, at 15th and Irving Streets. For
information call 829-3899, E-mail upperschool@ccpcs.org, or visit the
web site at http://upperschool.ccpcs.org.
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DC Public Library Events, December 6-7
Debra Truhart, debra.truhart@dc.gov
Tuesday, December 6, 7:30 p.m., Takoma Park Neighborhood Library, 416
Cedar Street, NW. Poetry readings by Patric Pepper, Colette Thomas and
Mary Wescott. Public contact: 576-7252.
Wednesday, December 7, 12:00 p.m. Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial
Library, 901 G Street, NW., Room A-9. "Deaf Communities Around the
World: In Celebration of Clerc-Gallaudet Week." Come learn about
how Deaf cultures, communities and sign language from around the world,
identify through language. Featuring deaf speakers who will discuss
Japanese, Puerto Rican and Lumbee English dialect variant of sign
language. Jan DeLap, an American Sign Language instructor and deaf relay
interpreter, will speak about her travels as a deaf person to Japan and
Japanese sign language. Ricardo Lopez, president of the National
Literacy Society of the Deaf, will discuss Puerto Rican sign language.
Native American Judy C. Stout, a political activist for deaf and hard of
hearing persons, will discuss the Lumbee English sign language. Public
contact: 727-2145 (voice and TTY).
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Hanukkah in Santa Monica: An Evening of Jewish
Songs and Tales, December 10
Brad Hills, bradhills@washingtonstorytellers.org
“I’m spending Hanukah in Santa Monica, lighting candles wearing
sandals by the sea. . . .” So begins one of the stories to be
performed by the award-winning team of Renee Brachfeld and Mark Novak on
Saturday, December 10, at 8:00 p.m., at the Writer’s Center in
Bethesda, 4508 Walsh Street. Their show, "City of Fools," is a
rollicking, touching, joyous romp through the heart of the Jewish
experience. Renee is a storyteller and juggler; Mark is a cantor and
musician. They make their home in DC but travel the country, delighting
audiences at churches, synagogues, schools, and festivals from Maine to
Alaska. Their highly acclaimed recording, “King Solomon‘s
Daughter,” was honored with the Parents’ Choice Gold Award.
Mark began his career as a child, singing with a professional Jewish
choir and appearing in the Broadway musical “Oliver.” He has
performed original theater pieces at Wolf Trap and the National Air and
Space Museum, among other venues, and formerly served as the music
director of the Living Stage Theater Company of Arena Stage. Renee’s
intergenerational storytelling programs have brought joy to young and
old, drawing her material from the warmth and richness of the Jewish
tradition.
The Washington Storytellers Theater, now in its sixteenth season, is
dedicated to promoting the art of storytelling for adults, both through
nurturing local performers and by presenting the top artists from around
the country. For tickets, $15, call 545-6840. Purchases can also be made
form our web site: http://www.washingtonstorytellers.org.
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Thinking Like a Storyteller: Performing
Stories with Power and Presence, December 11
Juliet Bruce, juliet@arts-for-life.org
This is a great opportunity for all you storytellers and aspiring
storytellers out there! Well-known New York-based storyteller Laura
Simms will give an intensive story performance workshop on Sunday,
December 11, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., in Frederick, MD. Cost: $120. This
workshop will explore how to uncover the hidden meaning in a story for
performance. We will work with the structure of story as a reciprocal
event, uncovering levels of meaning as we develop personal styles of
performance, and experiencing the full power of presence and compassion.
Beginning and advanced performers are very welcome. Each participant is
requested to choose a traditional story to work on during the day.
(Please bring your own lunch. Drinks and dessert are provided.) For
address, directions, more information about workshop content, or to sign
up, please contact Sue Gordon at 301-631-3431 or write SGordon@fredco-md.net.
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New Year’s Eve European Gala at the Embassy
of France, December 31
Michael Karlan, dc@prosinthecity.com
On Saturday, December 31, at 9 p.m., Professionals in the City
invites you to a New Year’s Eve European gala at the Embassy of
France. Celebrate New Year’s Eve 2006 on French soil at La Maison
Francaise! For your entertainment we have: the romance and intrigue of
Paris, city of light and capital of love, with “l’amour marqee (love
letters),” a three-minute dating event for singles; a live orchestra;
dance lessons for couples; and the excitement, energy, and groove of the
most hip Parisian nightclub. We will be tempting your palate with a
sumptuous French buffet, French wine tasting with premium open bar, and
international chocolate tasting. And to finish the night off there will
be a midnight balloon drop, midnight champagne toast, and live video
feed of the midnight countdown! Come join us at the Embassy of France,
located at 4010 Reservoir Road, NW, on New Year’s Eve. Tickets are
just $130.00 for a limited time. For more information or to purchase
tickets, please visit http://www.prosinthecity.com,
E-mail dc@prosinthecity.com,
or call 686-5990.
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CLASSIFIEDS — FOR SALE
Downtown Holiday Market, December 1-15
Joan Eisenstodt, jeisen@aol.com
Celebrate the holidays in an open-air festival market in the heart of
Washington, DC, featuring a diverse range of unique goods from local
artisans to handmade gifts from around the world. This outdoor seasonal
market will open Thursday, December 1, and will operate for a total of
fifteen days, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., on the site of the old Convention
Center. The market will feature artists, craftspeople, imported crafts,
handmade jewelry, ornaments, hats, scarves, toys, and more, with hot
food and drink, Xmas trees, entertainment, and plentiful parking.
The pedestrian entrance for the Market is at the corner of 11th and H
Streets. Adjacent parking available at the 9th Street entrance. Just a
block from Metro Center. A grand opening celebration event with special
guests and live entertainment will take place at noon on Friday,
December 2. The Downtown Holiday Market is produced by Diverse Markets
Management in partnership with the DowntownDC BID, The Washington
Convention Center Authority, and the District of Columbia Government.
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