Memorial Day

Dear Memorialists:

You may have heard that last week there was a report of gunshots in my neighborhood. Dozens of police officers came immediately, closed down the neighborhood, and searched house by house for hours, looking for a possible shooter and making sure that everyone was all right. Schools were locked down for miles around.

No, actually, that was the reaction to a false report of gunfire in a Senate office building. In my neighborhood, when a report of gunfire is called in to 911, the operator stifles a yawn and dispatches a police car that drives through the neighborhood fifteen or twenty minutes later, slowing down to thirty miles per hour to see whether any bodies are easily visible. Is there any chance of a middle ground, both for the Hill and for our neighborhoods?

Does anyone have a reaction to Susan Carpenter’s suggestion, below, of turning themail into a blog or a listserv? Any other suggestions for improving the format of themail? I know it’s dangerous to ask, because you’ll probably tell me, but I’m asking anyway.

Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com

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Blogging themail
Susan Carpenter, susancarpenter@verizon.net

Have you ever considered migrating themail to a blog? Occasionally I would like to see some chatter about a posting, usually because I don’t know enough about DC politics to ferret out the truth and I’d like to see what others think. At other times I would like to make a comment — a short comment, not worthy of a headlined item in themail. You’ve got a lot of obviously well-informed readers and submitters, and it would be great to hear some real-time back and forth on a topic.

The difficulty might be in monitoring, but if we check with ongoing political bloggers I suppose you could make a decision whether you actually monitor the comments or just let the chips fall where they may (my preference). Having seen some crudeness in the early days of the web, I know there are lots of wackos out there, but there also may be a quick way to ban them. You have created a wonderful, very well-respected voice in DC politics. Maybe I’m just hooked on it and want to see it fresh everyday.

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Our Wonderful Town
Petra Weinakht, pweinakht@kontidy.com

So the Capitol is shut down for four hours because someone heard a nail gun and thought it was a handgun. Honest mistake, but four hours to sort it out seems excessive.

Then “they” (who?) decide to lock down the schools. Why? Why not.

How are the schools notified they are locked down? By E-mail. Brilliant.

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Paranoia Reigns
Ed T. Barron, edtb1@macdotcom

The tourists are getting some real entertainment value watching all the Homeland Security police running around like chickens with their heads off when someone reports gunfire in the Rayburn Building. Turns out that the noise was some dropped pipes of construction folks working in the building. Just shows how paranoid folks in the Congress are. They will soon have to hand out Beano tablets to all those working in the government office buildings, lest someone pass gas and we have a bomb threat alert.

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Democracy Is Alive and Well
Dorothy Brizill, dorothy@dcwatch.com

Many residents and politicians often lament the limited democracy and home rule that DC residents enjoy. They lament the sometimes intrusive Congressional oversight, representation by a single nonvoting delegate in the House of Representatives, and the few policymaking elective offices (a mayor, thirteen Council seats, and five elected school board representatives. However, this year there are many open political seats because of incumbents who are not seeking reelection, and there is a plethora of people vying for office in a very competitive political environment. Since May 12, when the Board of Elections began issuing petitions for candidates in the September primary, sixty-two people from all parties have picked up petitions (see http://www.dcboee.org). There are fifteen candidates in the race for mayor, including nine Democrats, four Republicans, and two Statehood-Greens. The ward races are also highly competitive: there are four candidates in Ward 1, nine in Ward 3 (including one Republican), fifteen in Ward 5 (including one Statehood-Green), and five in Ward 6 (including a Republican).

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Comcast Versus MASN
Christopher Jerry, jerrydc@gmail.com

In light of the city council legislation that the Mayor signed compelling Comcast to carry the Mid Atlantic Sports Network (MASN), the question should be asked why should Comcast be pressured to carry MASN? Comcast has been double crossed by MASN as a business partner, so why should they give them a outlet on their cable system? Simply because Comcast cable subscribers can’t see the Nationals games? The city, in my view, should not have a hand in telling any business what to do with their competitors. And how many channels should Comcast give to them? It’s doubtful that had anyone asked the council members or mayor, until they read this of course, that any of them would know that more than half the Nationals and Orioles games, maybe as many as 75 percent of games, will overlap on the same game days and time frame. What happens then? I’m sure the didn’t write legislation covering that.

The legislation calls for Comcast to put MASN on its system. Did the legislation also call for Comcast to put it on the non digital channels? What percentage of people in the city with Comcast also have digital cable? If Comcast were to assign MASN a digital channel, then everyone who would want to see Nationals games who don’t have digital cable would be compelled to do an upgrade and with that an additional $20 a month. In other words, Comcast, in meeting the wishes of the council and mayor, could pass on a $240 yearly increase to subscribers in order to get their Nats fix. At the end of the day, the Nationals could very easily be on Comcast right now the same way they were last year. WDCA Channel 20 aired as many as 70 MASN produced games last year and wanted to do as many as 100 or more games this year. But MASN, not Comcast, stopped that, in order to do exactly what they are attempting to do now -- paint Comcast in a bad light and hope political and subscriber pressure will force them to air games so as not to appear to be the bad guy.

DC politicians, as well as blowhards in the suburbs like congress member Tom Davis, would do well to stay out of the Comcast-MASN dispute and let things play out in negotiations between the two. The best scenario would be what exists in all other Major League Baseball areas with two teams. That is a coexistence or sharing between the two regional sports station which allows both networks to carry both teams’ games, or one team exclusively. There is more than enough air time and money to go around.

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Physician Heal Thyself: HUH In Denial
Samuel Jordan, Health Care Now!, samunomas@msn.com

The debate on the National Capital Medical Center (NCMC) has entered a new stage with its transfer to the deliberations of the Mayor’s Task Force. Advocates for health care consumers are hoping that a timeline for a comprehensive health services plan will emerge replete with a strategy leading to improvement in the health status indicators of the District’s residents. Not since 1989 has a comprehensive health plan for the District been the objective of substantive planning by a panel or agency having the slimmest prospect of implementation. Another issue meriting examination by the Task Force is the fate of Howard University Hospital (HUH). Much of the dispute on NCMC has served to obscure the concern expressed by Health Care Now! (HCN!) repeatedly since last spring that the NCMC is a preemptive bailout scheme for HUH. Whether NCMC is pursued or not, the fate of HUH must be addressed directly.

At the March 13 DC council hearing on the dedication of Tobacco Settlement Funds to the NCMC project, I testified that the Exclusive Rights Agreement (ERA) and its related documents created rather than settled disturbing questions regarding HUH’s fiscal strength and the intentions of the signatories. Although explored in my remarks, issues regarding compliance with the financing guarantees of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and the transfer of HUH liabilities to NCMC, including employee pension obligations and anticipated long-term deficit operations, were unfortunately avoided by the Howard University panel that testified immediately afterwards. “Hear no evil, speak no evil” seemed the guiding strategy of the Howard panel, which offered an uninspired defense of the project when challenged by members of the council.

The issues avoided by the Howard University panel are the issues that will make or break the project. If the university leadership will not address critical issues of fiscal viability and institutional mission while in the possession of a generally favorable public image, when will they be addressed? The growing background rumble we hear is the sound of accreditation failings, consecutive annual financial deficits in spite of a $30 million federal subsidy, loss of key clinical and administrative personnel, and discontent among students, staff, and faculty coming home to roost. They can’t be far off. Forewarned is forearmed.

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Robin Hoods, Beware
Ed Dixon, Georgetown Reservoir, jedxn@erols.com

Public school finance lawsuits are frequently referred to as Robin Hood lawsuits, as they force governments to redirect financial resources to equalize the amounts spent on rich public school districts and poor public school districts. It is these types of lawsuits that current Councilmember Jack Evans and his henchmen are so afraid of that they refuse to consider putting the idea of “free high quality public schools” into writing. For one reason more than others: the rich might actually lose in this city.

If there are Robin Hoods lurking in the public sphere, there are also Sheriffs of Nottingham, and Jack Evans is a perfect example. Before the School Modernization Bill, Sheriff Evans and others on the council made sure that by reducing the taxes on the rich, the elite’s private schools had the resources available to provide high quality schools for the children of the Lords and Ladies of the kingdom. Public policy can manipulate the flow of capital in many ways and the Sheriff created such a system where rich folk who want to use private schools can save money by paying less in city taxes.

Rightly, some could point to the recent School Modernization Bill as a good faith effort by Sheriff Evans. However, the Sheriff has not been shy about saying that the money is doomed not to be spent correctly. Adding to the irony, the passage of that bill has come at the expense of the education in the schools. Schools are being closed, teachers’ rising salaries are eating up stagnating operating budgets, and outsourced special education services continue to absorb at least a quarter of the local expenditure. Because the Sheriff approved the public school modernizations after many of the elites’ private schools received city financed modernizations, the contrasts in quality are very clear. Of course, the Sheriff and his henchmen are fully aware of those contrasts because they helped arrange them. Those private schools have heavy loans to pay back. Attracting parents away from them with “free high quality public schools” might not only threaten the private schools ability to pay back their bonds but the city which decided they were financially credible.

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Giveaway to MLB Allows New Owner to Cut City’s Revenue Options
Ed Delaney, profeddel@yahoo.com

From the Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/24/AR2006052402507_pf.html): “The Washington Nationals’ ownership group is pushing District officials to build massive parking garages for the baseball stadium aboveground, contrary to the wishes of city planners, who say the structures should go underground to make way for a potentially lucrative entertainment district. The outcome of the negotiations, which could be decided in a few weeks, could drastically affect the look of the ballpark area and determine whether the city, which has committed $611 million in public money to the stadium, reaps as much tax revenue from related development as promised by Mayor Williams.” What a shock — the new owners are doing whatever they like with the stadium project to squeeze out every last dime no matter how it affects city revenues! Good job, DC council!

‘Everyone has legitimate interests here, and people feel strongly about their own perspective,’ said Stephen Goldsmith, chairman of the Anacostia Waterfront Corp., chartered by Williams to oversee development of the area. ‘It’s not surprising that an owner would want structured parking close to the stadium. But at the same time, we’re trying to create a place where the District can capture retail dollars lost to the suburbs. Our interests are slightly different.’ Then perhaps the city shouldn’t have ceded so much say, control, and outright revenue to MLB and the team owners via the horrific lease rammed through in the gutless DC council midnight boondoggle at the prodding of developers like Lerner and Herb Miller. Otherwise, the city’s interests will be as ever subservient to those of such developers.

In architectural drawings released by the sports commission in March, two boxy parking structures shown just beyond the outfield drew sharp criticism from city leaders and architecture critics, who said the garages were unsightly and a poor use of space. But the Lerners, developers of suburban shopping malls with surface-level and aboveground garages, have told city officials that they believe such structures are safer and easier to access than underground lots. Please. They’re honestly trying to tell us that 1200 spaces worth of underground lots, of which there are scores in the city, are more difficult to access than above ground lots? Last time I checked, you just follow the ramps and the signs for both, which isn’t exactly rocket science! That flimsy excuse along with the maintenance canard (since a standing structure is more likely to deteriorate faster than one in the ground) does not cover up the fact that this is all about money for the developers, as the structures will go up more quickly and for far less cost.

Once again, we have a multi-billion dollar ownership group taking the cheap way out despite having a sweetheart revenue deal of unprecedented proportion by sticking parking garages in the outfield, no matter that it wastes the aboveground space that would’ve been used to direct revenue directly into the city’s coffers (one of the city’s only key revenue sources in this giveaway). It also further obscures the unique opportunity to create appealing vistas from the ballpark, which lessens the long-term appeal of the ballpark. This is especially ridiculous since the Baseball Brigade insisted that the stadium had to be at the current site with its exorbitant costs and accessibility nightmares over the RFK Stadium site due to the opportunity to capitalize on the site’s vistas of first the river (which it will not have) and then the Capitol and downtown Washington (which will be almost totally obscured for all but a handful of patrons).

For all of the hassles and loss of transportation and parking advantages that this poorly placed ballpark will bring after the team moves into it from RFK Stadium, DC’s taxpaying citizens and businesses should have at least been able to get an amazing and unique Washington panorama from inside the ballpark as well as the chance the maximize the limited areas where the city could share in the development revenue. However, the city left itself and its coffers open to be dictated to by an owner who seems more concerned with a few personal short-term dollars via a cheaper parking garage than the city’s long-term welfare. This election day, let those responsible for this boondoggle feel your sentiments at the ballot box.

“Vince Morris said the mayor ‘believes that putting cars underground is a little more appealing, but he’s also open to an aboveground structure. . . . Our main goal is to make sure we get this stadium built on budget and on time.’ Jack Evans said it would be better in the long run to build the parking structures underground, but agrees with the Lerners that the garages should be built aboveground if they cannot be completed underground by April 2008.” Great; you push for a train wreck of a site in terms of access and costs, which led to the cut-rate greenhouse whose aspects are still being value-engineered into the ground, to please the developers, and then you let the timeline at this horrific site to dictate whether a huge part of the development plan gets shelved for a significant amount of parking which the head scheming developer Herb Miller says “defeats the whole objective.” If it defeats the whole purpose, then it cinches it that the ballpark should’ve been built at RFK Stadium or abandoned totally and left to NOVA rather than let the shortcomings of the current site lead to huge compromises that at the same time defeat the development objective and deal death blows to the ballpark’s appeal.

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DC Archives
Pamela Duncan, Annapolis, pjtduncan@cs.com

In the interest of fairness, I am pleased to let you know that after sending a complaint about my visit to the DC Archives to identify potential source information for a prospective book — at which I was turned away with little or no real assistance — (as I reported to you in themail, April 30); I received a call from the staff within 24 hours. Since, I have had several conversations with Clarence Davis and William Branch on my subject area, and am scheduled for a meeting with Mr. Branch on Tuesday morning.

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Gordon Campaign Responds
Shelley Cohen, scohen@gordon2006.org

On behalf of Robert Gordon’s campaign for DC city council, Ward 3, I wanted to respond to a recent posting in themail by Stephanie Clipper [May 24]. Ms. Clipper’s post states that Robert Gordon’s campaign has received campaign contributions from The JBG Companies. Just to clarify, the campaign has not received campaign contributions from anyone employed by the JBG Companies. All campaign contribution information is available to the public. You can check who has supported the Gordon campaign with a financial contribution by going to http://ocf.dc.gov/index.shtm. The next filing date is June 10. I hope this information is helpful.

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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS

Walking Tour of South Silver Spring, June 3
Jerry A. McCoy, sshistory@yahoo.com

Saturday, June 3, 10:00 a.m.- 2:00 p.m. Discover the old in the new Silver Spring! Silver Spring Historical Society member Karen Kail will conduct a walking tour of South Silver Spring. The tour starts from the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Station, 8100 Georgia Avenue (corner of Sligo). The tour will run from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. (the station will be open for self-guided tours until 3:00 p.m.).

Cost is $5.00 per person. Children under 13 free. Free for SSHS members with membership card. Friendly dogs are welcomed! Reservations are not required. For additional information E-mail sshistory@yahoo.com or call 301-537-1253.

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DC Public Library Events, June 3-5
Debra Truhart, debra.truhart@dc.gov

Saturday, June 3, 12:00-4:00 p.m., Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Library, 901 G Street, NW, Second Floor West Lobby. Hook, Yarn, and Needles. Informal knitting and crocheting workshops for all levels from beginner to advanced. This program was made possible with a grant from the DC Public Library Foundation. Adults. Public contact: 727-1291.

Monday, June 5, 10:30 a.m., Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Library, 901 G Street, NW, Room 110. Storyteller Mark Spiegel brings Scientist Albert Einstein to life in an interactive program entitled Einstein Alive! Students are introduced to the Theory of Relativity through song, narration, and audience participation. Ages 12-19. Public contact: 727-1151.

Monday, June 5, 10:30 a.m. Chevy Chase Neighborhood Library, 5625 Connecticut Avenue, NW. Derek Riley “Mr. Derby” provides an engaging and moving song and dance experience. Ages 4-8. Public contact: 282-0021.

Monday, June 5, 1:30 p.m. Palisades Neighborhood Library, 4901 V Street, NW. Tales unfold magically as Megan Hicks, the Empress Storyteller, makes origami creations. Ages 8 to 12. Public contact: 282-3139.

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HIV in America’s Capital City: A Clinical Update, June 5
Clifton Roberson, clifton.roberson@dc.gov

A conference for HIV clinicians, case managers, social workers, and other health care professionals will be held at George Washington University, Marvin Center, on June 5. CEUs will be available for nurses and social workers for a fee of $10 at registration. Register by calling 671-4900.

Agenda: 7:15 a.m., registration and continental breakfast; 8:05 a.m., HIV clinical update and the future; 9:05 a.m., HIV routine testing and primary HIV infection; 10:05 a.m., HIV, reproductive health, and women’s health; 11:15 a.m., break; 11:35 a.m., HIV and adolescent medicine; 12:45 p.m., HIV treatment and antiretroviral medicines; 1:45 p.m., box lunch break; 2:30 p.m., HIV rapid testing practicum.

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National Building Museum Award Gala, June 8
Lauren Searl, lsearl@nbm.org

Thursday, June 8, 7:00 p.m. 2006 Honor Award Gala reception, dinner, and program. The Museum’s Honor Award recognizes institutions and individuals who have made a significant positive contribution to the built environment. Clark Construction Group LLC, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2006, will be honored for its work in Washington, DC, and across the nation. The company has helped shape the commercial, residential, public, and infrastructure sectors of our cities while upholding the highest standards of safety, craftsmanship, and technical excellence. This black-tie celebration raises funds to support the Museum’s exhibitions and education programs. Advance registration required. At the National Building Museum, 401 F Street, NW, Judiciary Square stop, Metro Red Line. For more information, or to purchase tables and individual tickets, visit www.nbm.org/honoraward.

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Council Hearing on MLK Library, June 15
Dorothy Brizill, dorothy@dcwatch.com

Councilmember Kathy Patterson, chair of the Committee on Education, Libraries, and Recreation, will hold a public hearing on the Library Transformation Act of 2006, Bill 16-734, on Thursday, June 15, at 10:00 a.m. Mayor Williams is seeking quick action on this bill to dispose of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Library by leasing it for 99 years and building a new central library on part of the old convention center site. Anyone wishing to testify should E-mail Evelyn Bourne-Gould at egould@dccouncil.us. Oral testimony will be limited to three minutes, but written testimony can be sent to Ira Stohlman, Acting Secretary to the Council, 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, 20004. The record will close on June 22.

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CLASSIFIEDS — FREE

Light Table
Richard Layman, rlaymandc@yahoo.com

I have a light table, about 19"x24", that is no longer used. If anyone wants it, please let me know. You’d have to pick it up.

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