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May 24, 2006

Residents and Citizens

Dear Residents and Citizens:

Stephanie Clipper and Dorothy, in the first two items in this issue of themail, present the two complementary sides of politics in DC, the two interest groups to which DC politicians pay the most attention and pledge their support. Stephanie writes about the developers and large business interests that fund political campaigns; Dorothy writes about the special interest groups that promise manpower for political campaigns. (WIN qualifies as a special interest group because it doesn’t just ask for funding for social programs; it also demands that a lot of that funding be funneled through and controlled by the churches its members run.) What both groups want is the taxpayers money, and they get it. Some DC administrations have been run more on behalf of large businesses, some have been run more in the interest of special interest groups, and Barry’s second and third administrations added government employees as a third interest group.

What we haven’t had yet is an administration that was run in the interests of residents, citizens, and taxpayers, one that put us first.

Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com

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Wardman’s Tower and Woodley Park: a Case for Campaign Finance Reform in DC?
Stephanie E. Clipper, Ward 3, Armadillogirl@worldnet.att.net

The bulldozers are already grinding away in Woodley Park on what Bethesda-based developer The JBG Companies envisages to be a complete overhaul of the Marriott Wardman Park site. Not without coincidence, the Woodley Park Community Association leadership changed hands on May 11 after a year of infighting over the size and scope of the project, which calls for a number of curb cuts and staged construction that has divided the historic and leafy neighborhood. In November 2005, the District’s Office of Planning turned down the historic community’s request for a Large Tract Review that would gauge the project’s effects on traffic, the environment, and noise. Neighbors were not welcome at the meeting, which included JBG’s representatives, and they learned of the Williams Administration’s response in a letter to Councilman Jim Graham, who intervened on citizens’ behalf.

The Wardman redevelopment project is beginning to resemble a recent scandal in the town of Clarksburg, where citizen complaints over Montgomery County development were ignored. Residents found elongated wait times for meetings with officials, who had allowed developers to leverage clout through campaign contributions small enough to go unnoticed. A cursory check of campaign contribution records shows that for several years, nearly all of JBG’s chief executives have contributed to the campaigns of Mayor Williams, Linda Cropp, Harold Brazil, Jack Evans, Peggy Cooper Cafritz, Adrian Fenty, Carol Schwartz, David Catania, Kwame Brown, Phil Mendelson, and others, as well as Ward 3 candidate Robert Gordon. Its officers also fund national political action committees and candidates, and Open Secrets declared the company to be one of Eleanor Holmes Norton’s top contributors. (JBG is also a sponsor of the DC Preservation League and sponsors the Banneker Memorial.)

Given JBG’s well-accomplished lubrication of the palms of District fundraisers, it is little wonder citizen groups are finding out how tough it can be to fight City Hall. Board of Zoning Administrator Bill Crews has already green lighted several preliminary subprojects, but JBG has yet to show its biggest hand: renderings for a Goliath condominium it plans to build. Meanwhile, the ANC 3C’s unanimously approved Resolution 2005-062 calling for a Large Tract Review sits collecting cyber-dust. In Woodley Park, neighbors have overwhelmingly voted twice against planned new construction on the Wardman tract. What is most deflating is that their combined tax payments are no match for access to officials paid for by developers. And it is developers who are invited to participate in meetings with officials elected to address the concerns of residents in a fair and equitable way. Perhaps it is time to move the discussion of campaign finance reform from the national scene closer to home.

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Stick Up
Dorothy Brizill, dorothy@dcwatch.com

On Monday evening, the Washington Interfaith Network (WIN) held a meeting at Asbury United Methodist Church with the Democratic mayoral candidates -- Brown, Cropp, Fenty, Jones, and Orange — that had elements of a church revival meeting, a candidates forum, and a get-out-the-vote rally. The meeting was not the standard candidates forum, however. What was unique was not just the meeting’s format, but the fact that it had all the trappings of a big-time stickup — in a church, and by the city’s religious community. (See http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dcwire/2006/05/forum_update.html and http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/23/AR2006052300002.html.)

In a church filled with approximately eight hundred representatives from forty-eight churches, two community organizations, and the Metro DC Laborers Council, the candidates were asked to support WIN’s “2006 Vote Neighborhoods First Election Agenda.” That agenda includes $1 billion for neighborhood revitalization, 14,000 units of affordable housing, and $350 million for youth investment (e.g., libraries, recreation centers, and athletic and extracurricular activities in DC schools). Each of the candidates, in turn, pandered to the organization and the audience and pledged to support and fund WIN’s agenda fully, regardless of cost, other District policy priorities, or future revenue strains in the District. Each of the candidates also pledged to meet with WIN in March 2007 to discuss the implementation of WIN’s agenda. Not a single candidate hesitated or questioned a single element of the organization’s agenda; not a single one voiced any concern about how these expensive initiatives would be funded.

WIN makes a point of being a nonprofit, nonpolitical, nonpartisan organization, but in its briefing sheet it indicated that it will put “300+ election workers on the street to educate and turnout voters” about candidates who support its agenda.

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An Opportunity We Should Not Pass Up
Ed T. Barron, edtb1@macdotcom

With the mayoral elections coming up this fall we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We should elect Vincent Orange as our mayor and proclaim the city as the Big Orange. Let’s beat Miami to the punch.

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Wi-Fi At Georgetown
Monica Lewis, M.lewis@dc.gov

The District of Columbia Public Library has launched the first wireless fidelity network access (Wi-Fi) available within its system at the Georgetown Neighborhood Library. Wi-Fi allows any library patron with a laptop computer and a wireless Internet card that supports the Wi-Fi standard to log onto the World Wide Web without charge. As a Wi-Fi hot spot, the Georgetown Neighborhood Library is now able to provide patrons with Internet access beyond the seven public computers in the branch.

The Library system has plans to roll out Wi-Fi access to twenty more branches by September 30. The goal will be to eventually make all libraries hot spots so that patrons with laptops will find the DC Public Library more convenient to use. The installation of Wi-Fi at Georgetown was a joint effort by the DC Public Library Information Technology and Telecommunications Office and the Office of the Chief Technology Officer. This pilot project was funded through a grant from the DC Public Library Foundation, a 501(c)(3) corporation founded in 1985 to enhance DC Public Library resources and programs. Installation of wireless access at all other library locations will be paid for through the Library’s appropriated funds.

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’Fraidy Cat Councilmembers
Ed Dixon, Georgetown Reservoir, jedxn@yahoo.com

Certain members of the DC council are worried about raising the standards for public education in the DC Charter because they are afraid of a lawsuit. Parents United has helped research, draft, and propose legislation in the form of Bill 16-699, the “DC Education Rights Charter Amendment,” (http://www.parentsunited4dc.org/dc_charter_amendment.htm) which nine councilmembers have co-introduced in this election year. The radical premise of the amendment is that the DC Charter should include language that obliges DC to provide free high quality public education. If public education is your issue this election cycle, than maybe you should reconsider voting for David Catania, Phil Mendelson, Carol Schwartz, and Linda Cropp — all of whom are concerned that the DC government will not be able to meet that ridiculously high standard.. Sounds absurd in DC, but not in the 48 other states that have similar language in their Constitutions.

The notion that raising the standard for public education in the DC Charter will increase lawsuits suggests that DC Councilmembers are either unwilling hold themselves to the same standards they hold students, parents, and teachers to are unwilling to uphold the law in general. The language hasn’t been there and DC has had plenty of lawsuits regarding education. What were those lawsuits? Bolling v. Sharpe was one of the suits in the class action under the title Brown v. the Board of Education ending segregation based on race, Hobson v. Hansen that ended the tracking of African American students into classes for the mentally retarded, and Mills v. the District of Columbia School Board , which held that students with disabilities should have access to a free public education.

If this is the type of lawsuits that lawmakers don’t want, maybe we don’t want these lawmakers. Of course, there was the Parents United lawsuit that was so presumptuous as to claim that students should not be rained on in class and that fire codes should be observed in the buildings where our children go to school. Why would lawmakers want to keep the courts from stepping in on these issues? Feel free to call one mentioned above and find out why he or she is unwilling to support “free high quality public schools.”

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Bad Food at RFK
Ted Gest, tgest@sas.upenn.edu

Ed Barron had a funny line that the food is bad at RFK but there is plenty of it [themail, May 21]. Maybe so, but how about the good food? A couple of weeks ago, my wife came up with a grilled chicken panini sandwich. It looked pretty good to me as opposed to a hot dog, so I went to get one in the third inning. After standing through a semi-long line I had a Saturday Night Live experience (this was actually a Saturday night) in which the attendant announced, “We’re out of those.” Only two items were on that particular menu so, not wanting to miss any more of the game, I took item number two, some kind of barely edible fried chicken patty. Let’s hope our new owner can work on this problem.

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What Are You Really Worth
Jonathan R. Rees, jrrees2006@verizon.net

I believe that no DC government official should be paid more than the mayor or a city council member. Many of our agency heads are making more than the mayor, and that is disgusting. It is time that we revisit the compensation issue and pay our mayor $200,000 a year, a city council member equal to what a superior court judge makes, and $99,000 a year to all DC government agency heads. I’ve actually seen DC government agency heads starting off at $125k a year, control the bonus system, and have their own children hired to work summer jobs at another agency, while the children of the head of the other agency work . . . well.

Mayor Williams and our city council have done nothing to clean up the corruption and nepotism inside DC government but have turned their backs on it. I especially like the DC government head I am always running across on the taxpayer dime shopping at 11 a.m. in Hecht’s or the one with a super wide screen TV in the office watching Days of our Lives when I came a-calling. This is DC government at its best.

The average DC government worker on the lower end of the pay scale does actually work. The problems are taking place at the upper end, where we pay them big bucks and get less work out of them than we do from those at the lower end. Stories about Ginnie Cooper, Kimberley Flowers, et cetera are just the tip of the iceberg of what is wrong with an out-of-control DC government. If it weren’t for themail and others that inform the people, we would never know how much we are being ripped off and that corruption and nepotism are alive and well. When Mayor Williams leaves, all department heads and upper management need to leave too, because changing the mayor and not the heads of our agencies and upper management will result in changing nothing.

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Vehicles in DC Not Registered
Joan Eisenstodt, jeisen@aol.com

Ah, and so those who have indoor parking in DC are never seen enough by anyone in law enforcement to even raise an eyebrow. In our building, numerous people who moved in when we did or before we did still have out-of-DC plates — many from VA. Shall I report them?

Speaking of vehicles, does anyone among this group know who has DC plate 3? Inquiring minds. . . .

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Parking Enforcement
Clyde Howard, ceohoward@hotmail.com

The parking of non-DC vehicles overnight, as discussed in the May 22 themail by Mark Eckenwiler, is being done with impunity and with immunity from parking enforcement. Yes, Mark is correct, ROSA does not work, despite the denials of the officials of Parking Enforcement. And we certainly thank Carol Schwartz for removing the 72-hour rule as well allowing the wholesale warehousing of cars on the streets of DC. Every Friday and Saturday night, out-of-town cars impact the entire neighborhoods surrounding U Street, NW, by taking all available curb space between the hours of 6 p.m. and 3 a.m. in the morning. Not one parking aide can be found doing his/her job in the area, nor can ROSA be seen doing its job. I have said before that the money paid for residential stickers is a scam on the residents of this city. It has become another source of garnering money for the treasury of the DC government without providing the associated services. In one block of W Street, NW, certain individuals have removed the residential and street sweeping signs so that they can park their taxicabs for long hours when they are off duty. In another case, a white panel truck displaying a dealers tag from out-of-state has parked every night for a year in the area and has received no ticket for not having a residential sticker or DC registration. Yet we who live in DC must comply or we will be cited for failing to display a residential sticker, while out-of-town vehicles are not ticketed. We are quick to rant and raise hell about church parkers, but we do not open our mouths about the impact of out-of-town parkers on our streets, nor do we push for action by the city. I think there is something more sinister behind the raucous behavior of those who would rather harass and belittle churchgoing folks than go after the genteel clientele that frequents the bars and restaurants along U Street. And, to add insult to injury, what about the illegal parking along Florida Avenue, NW, between 8th and 9th Streets on Sundays? Not a ticket is issued, but it is OK to block a lane of traffic. There is no safety issue in that, or is there.

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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS

Book Signing at the Cultural Institute of Mexico, May 31
Barbara Ruesga-Pelayo, bruesga@sre.gob.mx

Wednesday May 31, 7:00 p.m., at the Cultural Institute of Mexico, 2829 16th Street, NW. Book presentations and signing by the authors of A Traveler’s Literary Companion by Catherine Mayo and The Hummingbird’s Daughter by Luis A. Urrea.

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Candidates’ Forum and Straw Poll
Jan Eichhorn, ward6dems@aol.com

On Wednesday, May 31, at 7:30 p.m., at Jefferson Junior high school, the Ward 6 Dems will host a candidates forum with candidates for DC council chair Vincent Gray and Kathy Patterson and candidates for DC council at-large A. Scott Bolden and Phil Mendelson. Moderator: Mark Plotkin. Jefferson Jr. High is at 801 7th Street, SW, one block east of Maine Avenue and three blocks south of the SE-SW freeway exit to 7th Street. Doors open at 7:00 p.m. Come early for parking and good seats.

Forum cosponsors: Voice of the Hill newspaper, Capitol Hill Restoration Society, CHAMPS (Capitol Hill Association of Merchants and Professionals), DC for Democracy, Hill East Waterfront Action Network, Stanton Park Neighborhood Association, Ward 6 Mini Commission of the Office on Aging, and the Ward 6 Democrats.

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Marking Smart Growth Work on the Ground, June 1
Lauren Searl, lsearl@nbm.org

Thursday, June 1, 12:30 p.m., at the National Building Museum, 401 F Street, NW, Judiciary Square stop, Metro Red Line. Marking Smart Growth: Work on the Ground. William Fulton, president of Solimar Research Group and senior scholar at the University of Southern California School of Policy, Planning, and Development, and a Ventura, California, City Council member, will analyze the political and technical difficulties many localities face when trying to implement smart growth. In particular, he will focus on how to develop effective local leadership on growth issues that leads to practical improvements rather than political stalemate. Free. Registration not required.

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DC Public Library Events, June 1
Debra Truhart, debra.truhart@dc.gov

All events on Thursday, June 1. 10:30 a.m., Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Library, 901 G Street, NW, Main Lobby. Summer Quest 2006 -- Clue Into Reading! Kick Off. DC Public Library kicks off its annual summer reading program for children up to twelve years old. The kickoff will feature a special appearance of McGruff, the crime-fighting dog. Elena Velasco tells folktales from Central America and South America in Spanish and English. Ages 6-12. Public contact: 727-4804.

10:30 a.m., Cleveland Park Neighborhood Library, 3310 Connecticut Avenue, NW. Derek Riley "Mr. Derby" provides an engaging and moving song and dance experience. Ages 2-8. Public contact: 282-3080.

10:30 a.m., Northeast Neighborhood Library, 330 7th Street, NE. Motivational speaker Adrienne Vyfhuis presents an interactive program that unleashes the creative energy in young audiences through song, music and spoken and written word. Ages 12-19. Public contact: 698-3320.

10:30 a.m., Petworth Neighborhood Library, 4200 Kansas Avenue, NW. B.J. Durham tells the story of Willie Lee -- A Little Slave Boy Who was Determine to Learn How to Read and Be Free through American Sign Language. Ages 12-19. Public contact: 541-6300.

12:00 p.m., Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Library, 901 G Street, NW, Room A-5. Brown Bag Recital Series: cellist Vassily Popov and pianist Ralitza Patcheva perform music of Schumann. Public contact: 727-1285.

1:30 p.m., Francis A. Gregory Neighborhood Library, 3660 Alabama Avenue, SE. Elena Velasco tells folk tales from Central America and South America in Spanish and English. Ages 6–12. Public contact: 645-4297.

1:30 p.m., Juanita E. Thornton/Shepherd Park Neighborhood Library, 7420 Georgia Avenue, NW. A representative of the US Small Business Administration will teach young adults how to become entrepreneurs. Teens will learn how to start and run a business, and how to develop characteristics of a good leader. Ages 12-19. Public contact: 541-6100.

1:30 p.m., Takoma Park Neighborhood Library, 416 Cedar Street, NW. B.J. Durham tells the story of Willie Lee -- A Little Slave Boy Who was Determine to Learn How to Read and Be Free through American Sign Language. Ages 12-19. Public contact: 576-7252.

2:30 p.m., Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Library, 901 G Street, NW, Room 221. Let’s Talk About Books: a group discussion of the play, Purple Dust by Sean O’Casey. Next month’s selection: Roman Fever by Edith Wharton. Public contact: 727-1281.

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