Predictions

Dear Forecasters:

Nearly five months ago, on December 18, I wrote in themail: “In 2006, we in Columbia Heights are sure to go through the fourth electoral cycle in a row in which politicians will stand in an empty lot at 14th and Irving Streets and proclaim that a Target store will open there in a few months, and that they deserve the credit for it.” On Friday, I attended that groundbreaking ceremony. No, don’t congratulate me for my predictive ability; it’s just that politicians in the middle of an election season are entirely predictable. The speeches went according to pattern, too. All the politicians congratulated themselves and thanked their colleagues for the hard work they did giving tens of millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money to the developer, and the developer congratulated himself for the hard work he did accepting the taxpayers’ money, and thanked the politicians for it.

Nobody thanked the city’s taxpayers, and nobody thanked the residents of Columbia Heights for putting up with the government’s nonsensical and ineffective development plans that kept the lots undeveloped for nearly four decades after the 1968 riot, or for tolerating its bungling of the contract awarding process that gave development rights eight years ago to companies that couldn’t do the job without massive public financing, thus prolonging the development period for several additional years.

It was quite a celebration. We all look forward to the ceremony opening the shopping center, which should occur sometime in the middle of the 2008 primary election season.

Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com

PS: If you tried to follow the link in the May 3 issue of themail to Jonetta Rose Barras’s complete article on the Department of Parks and Recreation, and you did it in the first few hours after themail was published, you got an error message. Please try it again. I fixed it after a few hours, when I found out that the link was broken. The article’s worth reading, so go to http://www.dcwatch.com/themail/2006/060503a.htm.

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Is a Publicly Funded Charter School Truly a Public School?
Richard Layman, rlaymandc@yahoo.com

The Zoning Commission has a hearing scheduled for May 11, at 6:30 p.m., on a proposed text amendment to the Zoning Regulations that defines a charter school as a public school related to zoning regulations. See Case 06-06, Charter Schools — Text Amendment, which was initiated by the Office of Planning. Public schools are for the most part “matter of right” land uses, which means that few if any opportunities for the public to weigh in on the matter are provided through the zoning or building regulations.

I have to presume that the intent of the public school treatment of "matter of right" in zoning regulations has to do with the fact that public schools have a publicly elected school board and a generally public process (if contentious) for dealing with school administration and site matters. There are ample opportunities for citizens to weigh in on decisions of the DC Public School System. This is absolutely not the case for Charter Schools.

The DC Public Charter School Board is not elected by the Citizens of the District of Columbia. This Board (as well as the DCPS School Board in some situations) has oversight over charter schools, and sanctions the creation (or dissolution) of the majority of charter schools operating in the city. Each individual charter school is a private, albeit nonprofit corporation, with a privately appointed board of trustees. While for the most part (but not completely) charter schools are funded by public funds and enjoy access to lower cost municipal bond funding, the buildings are considered to be owned by the nonprofit corporations, not the citizens of the District of Columbia, who for the most part have no legal call on the assets of these otherwise private, but publicly funded institutions. DC citizens do not have voting rights with regard to the nomination or selection of trustees of individual charter schools. There are no mandated public reporting and meeting requirements for charter school creation and provisioning outside of what is normally required under zoning regulations or the normal chartering process.

While creating and extending educational opportunities is good public policy, allowing fundamentally private institutions to enjoy the matter-of-right provisions earned by government agencies that for the most part are open to public scrutiny is a mistake and should not be approved. This further privatizes public functions and takes away from citizens involvement and participation in some of the most basic aspects of civic life — monitoring the practice and spending of local government.

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Appreciate Your Trees, People
Star Lawrence, jkellaw@aol.com

The nice tribute to Jane Jacobs [themail, May 3] reminded me to remind you to appreciate your trees and greenery. I was back in DC a year ago (I lived there thirty-five years and moved to Arizona a decade ago). I kept saying to cab drivers, “Look at the trees, you are so lucky.” Of course, they thought I was a wackjob. But you have no idea what a boon trees are until you live in Beige World. In a great New Scientist essay in August of 2005, Joan Maloof waxed on about the healing power of trees. The Japanese even make a point of breathing the oxygen-loaded “tree breath” in a process called wood-air breathing. When diabetics walk through forests, their blood sugar drops to healthier levels. Plants in general make you feel better. There is even an American Horticultural Therapy Association. These trees are awesome! And they are all around you. I’ll shut up now. I should have been a Druid. Do me a favor, though, look at one of those 100-foot beauties for me today?

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Library Update
Dorothy Brizill, dorothy@dcwatch.com

Last week, Mayor Williams forwarded the Library Transformation Act of 2006, Bill 16-734 (http://www.dcwatch.com/council16/16-734.htm), to the council. The legislation duplicates the mayor’s original proposal, which was contained in the Fiscal Year 2007 Budget Support Act of 2006, to lease out the current Martin Luther King, Jr., central library and build a new library on the site of the old convention center. In his letter which accompanied the legislation, Mayor Williams stated that he “agreed to introduce stand-alone legislation in order to have more opportunity to present my vision for the new central library and to address questions that have arisen from the Council and the general public. I would like to move forward with the Council to have this proposal considered and brought to a vote before the Council goes on its summer recess.”

The mayor further states that he is seeking support for his “vision for the new central library as a centerpiece and anchor of downtown, as an accessible public institution to residents in all areas of the city, and an architecturally exciting and multi-functional building whose main purpose is to serve the public.”

The mayor still plans to move quickly with an abbreviated period for council consideration, in order to get this deal done before the public has a chance to organize opposition, because he knows that his plan makes no sense financially or in terms of city planning, and is not in the best interests of the library system. Noted Washington architect Arthur Cotton More wrote a letter to the editor that was published in the Washington Post on May 1, which I’m quoting in full because it’s not available on the Post’s web site: "As the architect of the restoration and modernization of the Library of Congress, I was astounded to read that DC officials have concluded that the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library cannot be modernized. At the Library of Congress, we worked with a solid masonry, 19th-century building constructed before the widespread use of electricity — and now it can accommodate 21st century (and beyond) information systems. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s library is a late-20th-century building with hung ceilings and abundant clases permitting any number of new systems. The ‘consultant’ who said it cannot be modernized is wrong, and library officials should not try to justify a new building on the basis of such official vandalism.”

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Does Janey Have the Courage?
Ed T Barron, edtb1@macdotcom

School Superintendent Janey seems willing to tackle some difficult issues. Here’s one that needs to be tried if he has the courage to defy the Teachers’ Union. That issue is pay for performance. Let’s look at an urban school district, perhaps much like that in DC, that has tried pay for performance. The major city that has embraced pay for performance is Denver, Colorado. Since the beginning of this year, after a few years of pilot projects, Denver’s school district has been running a new classroom salary system. The system is based on the simple notion that some teachers are doing a better job than others and should be paid for it. After the successful pilot projects the majority of Denver’s teachers endorsed the system (I’m sure over the objections of the dumb-down Teachers’ Unions).

New teachers in the district are automatically enrolled in the new system. Teachers already working in the district can choose whether or not to enroll. Thirty percent of teachers already in the District have enrolled thus far. Test scores are not the only criteria for measuring performance. Twenty-five million dollars has been allocated for increasing teachers’ salaries who meet the standards for improved performance. This is a system that should be benchmarked by Janey and some of his key make-things-happen folks and begun as a pilot project in DC.

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Poll: Bring the Redskins Back to DC?
Joan Eisenstodt, jeisen@aol.com

From the Washington Business Journal. I know how I feel; perhaps others would like to vote. I’m hoping the link is active for a bit to the Business Pulse current survey: Should DC try to bring the Redskins back into DC? To vote, visit http://c.bizjournals.com/ct/c/22133901

[After you’ve voted, let us know how you feel. Should enticing the Redskins back from Largo be a high priority for, or be given any priority by, the District government? — Gary Imhoff]

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Dollars and Sense
Chuck Thies, chuckthies [at] aol [dot] com

With regard to my position as a consultant to Scott Bolden’s campaign for At-Large Council, Andy Litsky contends [themail, May 3] that I did not “come clean” about my "paid affiliation." He went so far as to impart an accusation of bias. Let me set the record straight.

Scott is my friend. Long before I ever came to work for his campaign, Scott and I built a friendship based on mutual respect and success as Democratic activists and advocates for positive change. Yes, I am compensated monthly by the Bolden 2006 campaign, yet that amount is half what Phil Mendelson paid me in 2002. Four years, more experience, and many success later, but only half what I was paid in 2002. Why? Because Scott Bolden is the right person for the job. DC is my home and I am raising a family here; this is not a campaign I’m working on for the money — it’s about our communities and a hopeful future.

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Placement
Ed Cowan, edcowan1114@yahoo.com

I think the last item this morning [themail, May 3], about Chuck Thies being a paid consultant to the Bolden campaign — and Thies’s not having disclosed that in a post slamming Mendelson (and I don’t work for or support Phil) — should have been much higher in themail today.

I’m not sure how you can spot all such undisclosed partisanship in advance but I do believe that prominent placement of ex post whistle-blowing would be a partial corrective.

[Here’s the usual order of item in themail. New topics and new posters will normally go first in the issue. Messages about the same topic will be grouped together, as much as possible. Responses to previous messages, and responses to responses, will normally be placed lower. Messages promoting other web sites, blogs, and newspapers will usually go next to the classifieds; and overly long posts will frequently go at the end. Andy Litsky’s message was a response to Chuck Thies’ earlier posting, which explains where he went in the issue. — Gary Imhoff]

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Candidate Forum Selectivity
Dave Bosserman, orilla@comcast.net

I agree with Artee Milligan (themail, May 4), that candidate forums must be open to all declared candidates. Otherwise they should advertise themselves as forums for selected candidates. Going further, most forums should be advertised as forums for selected candidates who are running as Democrats. I notice that DC residents seem to think the Democratic Party is the only political group in DC and refuse to include any other declared candidates, at least before the primary.

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Less Plus Less Equals More
Leo Alexander, Ward 4, leo_alexander1@yahoo.com

In my forty-two years on this planet, I’ve been called everything: black this, son-of-a-that, nonconformist, and militant. I will be honest with you . . . all are true. I have never accepted the status quo without some resistance. Now I can also claim divisive. In order to believe the divisive argument, you would have to believe that at some time the people of DC were all united. And if you believe that is the case, then you would also have to believe that we are all equal. On April 16, Gary Imhoff wrote in themail, “Alexander wants black candidates to run with an explicitly racial agenda and to frame issues like the National Capital Medical Center in racial terms, and he claims that he doesn’t understand why that should be seen as divisive.” Before I could respond to Imhoff, Andrew Willis began with this disclaimer on April 19, “I want to clarify that I am not writing in support of Leo Alexander. . . .” Nice move, Andy. Then he dropped the bomb, “White folks have long used the word ‘divisive’ to stifle any discussion of racism and racial inequality.” Imagine that. A white man has broken ranks and shared some white strategy. Back in the 1960’s, white folks called people who thought and looked like me militant, and the status quo Negroes followed suit, because if Mr. Charlie said it, then it had to be true. Now fast forward to 2006 — the buzzword is divisive.

I bring race up again in this piece, because on Saturday, May 5, I read for the umpteenth time another editorial in the Post on the tragic murder of David Rosenbaum. Here is how racist policies left unchecked come back to haunt all of us. At one time, there were seven vocational education schools in the District of Columbia. Today, there are none. Does that mean all of our children are now college bound? A generation ago, the Department of Recreation was an example of how things should be done in the District. They offered after school and summer programs, and youth sports teams competed on a national level. Today, after decades of budget cuts and management miscues (reported in themail on May 3, in a piece, What’s a Little White Lie Among Friends? by Jonetta Rose Barras), it’s a mere shell of its former self. Last summer I witnessed Greg Rhett, a civil servant, coordinate a youth program in Ward 7. His dedication led to a dramatic drop in juvenile crime for the surrounding community. But do you think this program will be implemented citywide? Don’t hold your breath. Today the DC recreation centers have bankers’ hours.

We are failing our children. You don’t need to be a criminologist to connect the dots between the cuts to recreation and vocational education to the rise in juvenile crime statistics. And it matters not that these kids don’t look like you, or live in your neighborhood. The bottom line is if we don’t get creative and spread the wealth in this city and properly fund vocational education and recreation, our children are going to be gainfully employed — either with legitimate jobs or crime. The next time we could be reading about you. The Rosenbaum case is a perfect example of how shortsighted cuts in education led to incompetence in the ranks of first responders. That same incompetence breeds the predator instinct in an individual who feels they have nothing to lose. Ultimately, we all lose.

Think about that when you go to the polls this September to vote for some fiscal and social conservatives who claim their plan to tighten the budget is the answer to all our ills. Watch what the candidates, who are currently sitting council members, are proposing for the working poor. After voting against measures to control rising rents, Fenty boldly pronounced he wouldn’t raise taxes on the business community. Who do you think will get stuck with this tab? Just remember this equation — less money plus less programs equals more Rosenbaums.

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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS

Greetings From NE, SE, and SW Washington, May 7
Jerry A. McCoy, sshistory@yahoo.com

The Washingtoniana Division of the DC Public Library observes National Postcard Week (May 7-13) with this unique collection of postcards depicting businesses and places located in NE, SE, and SW Washington, DC. The exhibit will be on display through June 30 at the Washingtoniana Division, Room 301, Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Library, 901 G Street, NW, 202-727-1213.

The DC Community Archives houses a collection of 2,000 Washington, DC, postcards, mostly tourist views, with fewer than a dozen postcards depicting non-northwest Washington. Additional postcards are on loan from the collections of Wes Ponder and Jerrry A. McCoy. The Washingtoniana Division welcomes donations of Washington, DC, postcards, especially non-northwest postcards from any period, to thoroughly document Washington, DC.

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Biodiversity in Mexico Month, May 13, 14, 21, 26, 27
Barbara Ruesga-Pelayo, bruesga@sre.gob.mx

Biodiversity in Mexico Month, sponsored by the Cultural Institute of Mexico, will be held at the National Museum of Natural History, 10th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW, Baird Auditorium, 1st Floor. May 13, 14, 21, and 27, at 2:00 p.m. and May 26 at noon. Saturday May 13, 2:00 p.m, lecture on the art of filming the biodiversity of Mexico by Fabricio Feduchy. Sunday May 14, 2:00 p.m., film, “Kuyima, Danza con Nubes” (“Kuyima, Dance with Clouds”) presented by Fabricio Feduchy. Sunday May 21, 2:00 p.m., film, “Travesias por el Mexico Azul” (“Passage Through the Blue Mexico”) by Fabricio Feduchy. Friday May 26, noon, plenary lecture on the biodiversity of Mexico by Dr. Jose Sarakhan. Saturday May 27, 2:00 p.m., film, “Cozumel, La Selva Submarina” (“Cozumel, The Submarine Forest”) by Fabricio Feduchy.

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