The Chicken or the Hatched Egg
Dear Hatchers:
How do we solve the problem created by the recent decision by the
Office of the Special Counsel that Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners,
even though they are elected officials and unpaid, fit into the category
of District government employees who are subject to the Hatch Act, and
thus cannot run for any other office without first resigning from the
ANC position? The easiest solution would be for Congress to amend the
Hatch Act; it would be a small, technical correction that no one would
oppose. But Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton has another solution that is
already in progress, and which she reminded us of in her press release
on June 5 (http://www.norton.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=370&Itemid=6).
Norton and Rep. Tom Davis have introduced HR 4969, which would remove
the District from federal Hatch Act jurisdiction. As a prerequisite for
this bill, however, the DC government has to pass its own local version
of a Hatch Act. Chairman Linda Cropp has, in fact, introduced a Hatch
Act bill that the city council would be happy to pass http://www.dcwatch.com/council16/16-674.htm).
The problem is that the city council would be happy to pass it because
the enforcement provisions are narrower and much weaker than those in
the federal Hatch Act, and would leave District government employees
much more susceptible than they already are to being coerced to work in
their bosses’ political campaigns.
There is no hope that the city council will do anything to protect
citizens against the use of the city’s eminent domain powers to
benefit private developers, as yesterday’s council vote on Sursum
Corda made clear. The operating theory of the Williams administration,
fully endorsed by the council, is that "a man’s home is his
castle" until somebody richer and better connected wants it. In New
York City, where Mayor Bloomberg shares Mayor Williams’s vision of
unbridled eminent domain, Columbia University is looking forward to
using eminent domain to get rid of the unwanted residents of Harlem who
are in the way of its expansion plans (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/21/magazine/21wwln.essay.html?ex=1149825600&en=2499b23800fd848e&ei=5070).
Just wait until George Washington University teams up with the
politicians here to clear out Foggy Bottom, with Georgetown University to ease its
way through Georgetown, with American University to take over whatever
it wants in AU Park, and so on and so on.
We’ve received questions from people who want to know what happened
to James Baxter, the third Washington Teachers Union official who was
convicted last year of embezzling millions of dollars from the union.
Jim McElhatton, who has been on top of the story in the Washington
Times, reported yesterday on his sentencing on Monday: “The former
treasurer of the Washington Teachers Union yesterday was sentenced to 10
years in federal prison for his role in the pilfering of millions of
dollars in teachers’ dues. James O. Baxter also was ordered to pay
$4.2 million in restitution. He is to report to prison Aug. 8.” (http://www.washingtontimes.com/metro/20060605-111151-9228r.htm)
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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When one thinks about some of the DC government ‘s strangest rules
and regulations illogically imposed upon its citizens, here comes one of
the worst illogical and nonsensical regulations, at least to me. Bulk
(heavy duty) items are no longer being picked up from alleys. Now where
is the logical, sensitive, convenient, and responsibleness of this newly
— not so publicly notified — regulation? Who in high places thought
this bulk pick-up should be changed from the alley to the front of the
house, discarding piles of bulk trash onto city street? The "bulk
pick up only in front" regulation certainly did not come from the
average senior citizen or the average citizen who does not have the
physical strength to lift these bulk items from his or her home, drag
them through the house, and put them onto the streets, thus bringing
more trash, litter, and ugliness to our streets. Pray tell, what is the
problem with alley-pick up? When the trash collectors and the plastic
trash collectors, both in the big orange trucks, can come through our
alleys — for those of us who have clear alleys — why is it that the
bulk pick up has to be reversed? What is the rationale; what is the
logic? Alleys are a natural.
My next door neighbors, who are senior citizens, called and had
confirmed a June 1st, pick-up of an outgrown child’s gym set, only to
be told by the pick-up men that they no longer pick up from the alley.
So they drove off. She and her husband had to bring in the set, and she
had to call for another date. When she called 727-1000, she was never
informed by the mayor’s call-in center of this change. (And neither
was I informed of it via newspaper, postal mailing, or television
announcement. We should not assume that everyone has a computer or has
access to a computer.) So, this senior citizen and her husband had to
drag this gym set from the back of their house to front of their house.
Now there will a large pile of bulk trash littering the front. And, what
about possible injury and/or damage to parked automobiles, as the bulk
pick-up men lift and toss this material into their trucks. Where is the
logic?
I am a older female citizen with serious knee injury and limited
physical strength. I was preparing for a bulk pick up because I have
heavy items resting in my garage (located in the back of my house)
ready, only to find out that I must become a weightlifter and lift and
carry these bulk items up fifteen backyard steps, through my kitchen and
living room, out through my front door, down four front steps,
delivering these bulk items -- what a physically challenging experience.
I do not live in an end unit house; I live in a house attached by other
houses on both sides. And what a visual mess, disfiguring a clean street
at the very least. And what about the possibility of physical injury and
increased damage to my already damaged and injured knee? Is there some
logic for this illogical situation? Were there public hearings? It
appears that someone in an isolated office, made this decision without
the benefit of public residents’ input. Why?
If big trash and plastic trucks can come through an alley and
maneuver very well, why can’t the drivers of these bulk trucks be
trained as well? This illogical regulation needs to be reversed. If
there is alley access, use it! And, by the way, how was the number items
to be picked up (seven) determined? Why such a low number? I understand
the DC government does not want to become household movers, but give me
a break, seven items! Can this regulation be changed to a more
convenient, less physically challenging process? We need help!
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Caveats on the Norton-Davis Bill for a DC Vote
in the House
Scott McLarty, scottmclarty@hotmail.com
Here’s the scenario: Congress passes the "DC Fair and Equal
House Voting Rights Act" (HR 5388), sponsored by Del. Eleanor
Holmes Norton (DC) and Rep. Tom Davis (Virginia), granting the District
of Columbia a voting seat in the House of Representatives. Republicans
vote for it because it also gives a new seat to Utah, a state they
dominate. After a few months (probably following the 2006 election),
someone files a suit based on the US Constitution’s provision of
voting seats in Congress solely to states. The Supreme Court (for which
there’s some evidence of bias in favor of Republicans) prohibits Rep.
Eleanor Holmes Norton from taking her new voting seat in the House.
Result: a new seat for Republicans; squat for DC and Democrats; the
movement for DC democracy set back by decades.
In fact, there are many reasons to be wary of the Norton-Davis bill.
The DC Statehood Green Party has published a list of ten reasons to push
for DC statehood instead of legislation that merely gives DC a voting
seat: http://www.dcstatehoodgreen.org/float.php?annc_id=128§ion_id=2.
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A Two-Woman Race for Mayor
Kerry H. Stowell, Ward 2 Coordinator, Johns for Mayor, kerrystowell@mac.com
If you think you are going to have any choice other than the two
women in the race for Mayor, you are sadly mistaken, and have not been
paying attention to the current wave of enthusiasm for candidate Marie
Johns. Do take a look at today’s Post Metro story by Lori
Montgomery (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/06/AR2006060601307.html).
Read it now and you’ll be ahead of the political forecast for
September 12.
It’s going to be a Marie Johns/Linda Cropp race, and indications
are that Cropp money has started to duplicate into the Johns campaign.
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Statement by Marie C. Johns on the Northwest
One Plan
Liz Rose, Johns for Mayor, lizrosej@aol.com
Today the city council is scheduled to act on the redevelopment plan
for the Northwest One/Sursum Corda community. I urge the city council to
approve the necessary legislation and to do it as soon as possible. The
plan preserves 520 units of housing affordable to very low income people
who live there today and want to remain. This community is historically
one of the poorest in Washington despite the fact that it exists within
the shadow of the US Capitol Building. That such poverty exists in such
close proximity to the symbol of our nation’s power and wealth is a
stain on our nation’s conscience.
I commend the city officials that have developed this plan. Low
income families should not be pushed out of Washington, DC. It is their
home too. We must fight to retain the remaining units of affordable and
low income housing in this city. In order to keep the units we have, it
is going to take the kind of creative, innovative, and compassionate
public sector action that has been demonstrated in this case. This is
exactly the kind of public sector action that will mark my
administration when I become mayor. The complexity of this kind of deal
underscores the need for a professionally run, well-managed development
process for the Mayor’s New Communities Initiative. My vision for the
future of DC is inclusive: economic development should benefit people,
while preserving a diverse, energetic and vibrant local culture.
Prosperity, the redevelopment of historically neglected areas of our
city, must include benefits for all our citizens, not just those at
upper income levels. We cannot allow our city to become a place where
only the rich can afford to live. To do so would be an example of
gaining the world but losing our soul. Prosperity can be made to work
for all our citizens with the rich, not so rich and the poor living
together in community, helping each other to achieve the aspirations of
a great city.
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The rants of Jonathan Rees, which have been filling up many people’s
E-mail in-boxes, should not be taken seriously. There is no reason to
believe that Kathy Patterson’s adoption bill (16-0590) is DOA [themail,
May ]. Several pro-gay bills recently passed the DC Council on unanimous
votes, survived congressional review, and are now law. If Rees were
familiar with the history of DC politics regarding gay issues, he would
know that equal adoption rights is not a hot-button issue here. Congress
has not even attempted an anti-gay adoption rider on the District’s
appropriations bill since such an amendment was defeated in 1999 on the
floor of the House, thanks largely to our friends at the Human Rights
Campaign.
If Rees does not think elected representatives are fit to make
decisions on important issues, he should not be running for the Council.
The demand for plebiscites as the only legitimate form of decision
making is an attack on the American system of government as pernicious
as the GOP’s attack on the judiciary with its phony trope about
"activist judges" -- the difference being that Rees’s
incessant, over-the-top statements are nothing but an effort to gain
attention, and pose no real threat to anyone.
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I know any way I phrase this, many will find it disrespectful, so I’ll
just ask it plainly. What good are churches? I’m not out to offend
anyone, but I feel it is an honest question. Beyond the current
hot-burner issues of Sunday double parking and gay-bashing, I honestly
don’t know much about DC churches. Churches are always being held up
as a cornerstone of the African American community, and I know they were
enormously instrumental in the civil rights movement, but as the mayoral
election season ratchets up, and the churches are positioning to assert
their power, I just started to wonder — what good do they actually do?
The Bible directs us to judge by the fruits, so that’s where I’m
looking. I know the issues that plague this city and the African
American community are enormously complicated, but if the churches want
to assert their power in the political arena, I think they have to
answer an essential political question. What were you doing for the past
twenty years while the city crumbled around you? Churches were here
during the riots that destroyed the heart of DC in 1968. They were here
while their communities succumbed to drugs and violence. During their
watch the schools failed in every way and a perverse anti-education
culture developed. I am certainly not blaming all the ills of
contemporary urban society on the churches, but since they themselves
have asserted a vigorous political voice, I think it is only fair to ask
for an accounting.
The Washington Interfaith Network is now strong-arming candidates for
a promise of a billion dollars for affordable housing. But while
developers and speculators were buying up cheap housing stock in
Columbia Heights as recently as three years ago, what were churches
doing? As a artsy fartsy liberal type, I chafe at defending big business
developer types, but I have to admit, the past fifteen years before
those developers swept in, Columbia Heights was a pretty rough place.
There were plenty of churches, though. Are we simply to assume that
conditions would have been far worse without the churches these past
twenty or thirty years? That the city would have plummeted into a
Brechtian dystopia? That instead of just murdering each other, young men
would have been roaming the streets actually gnawing the limbs off the
bullet riddled bodies? I have no quarrel with religion, but I believe if
churches want to assume a political role in this election, or in any
aspect of city governance, I believe they ought to account for
themselves. I’m open and ready for explanation.
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A Slight that Must Be Answered
Leo Alexander, Ward 4, Leo_alexander1@yahoo.com
The four-month countdown has begun in the District of Columbia for
Washingtonians to seriously begin to narrow down their choice for mayor
and at-large city councilmember. I mention these two races because of
how a couple of the candidates voted on a piece of legislation that
honors the legacy of Abraham Lincoln and my ancestors. Several have
thrown their hats in the ring for the top office, but I’ve decided to
only discuss the two front-runners — Linda Cropp and Adrian Fenty.
Cropp has a resume of thirty years of public service. Her titles have
included schoolteacher, guidance counselor, and school board member,
vice president of the DC public school board, city councilmember, and
finally city council chairman. During this time, she has built a
scandal-free reputation as being a steady force behind the scene, and as
city council chair she has been the consensus builder on critical
issues; i.e., Major League Baseball and the vote for keeping DC General
Hospital open. (The Financial Control board and Mayor Williams ignored
that unanimous vote). Her commitment to all the citizens of the District
is undeniable.
Adrian Fenty is in his second term as the Ward 4 councilmember.
During his time on the council, he has built his reputation with a
primary focus on constituent services. His youth gives him the stamina
to be a champion campaigner. Seven years ago he made a name for himself
as the unknown who defeated Charlene Drew Jarvis, a five-term incumbent.
Before this, he was a staffer for Ward 7 Councilman Kevin Chavous. In
this position, he was Chavous’ point man on the Committee for
Education. Fenty’s voting record over the last two years bears
mention. He successfully championed the modernization plan for DC Public
Schools. But in committee, he voted against a measure to protect rent
control, and before a council of the whole vote, he was one of three
councilmen who voted against a resolution to make Emancipation Day a
District holiday. Sharon Ambrose and Phil Mendelson were the other two
council members who joined Fenty in this no vote on Emancipation Day.
Since Ambrose is retiring, she’s a non-factor. However, Mendelson is
running for reelection as the at-large councilman. On Wednesday June 7,
I had an opportunity to ask Mendelson about his vote at the monthly
meeting of the South Manor Civic Association. Looking as if he’d been
ambushed, (Mendelson was one of only four white folks in this northeast
church basement meeting room filled with civically concerned and voting
African Americans) he answered, "I supported the recognition of the
Emancipation Day, but I voted no because this resolution would have
given District employees the day off at a cost of one million dollars to
the city’s treasury." Now here’s my spin on what he said. It’s
all right to celebrate Emancipation Day, but he’s not going to allow
his employees the time off to honor the sacrifices made by those of
African American descent. How insensitive can he be? Even Ward 3’s
Kathy Patterson, candidate for city council chair, got that vote right.
I’m not saying that I support Patterson, but in a majority black city,
isn’t it awfully shortsighted to potentially insult two-thirds of the
population?
We in the African American community should never forget this slight.
This brings me back to Fenty. I can’t imagine the repercussions an
Italian council member would reap after a no vote on Columbus Day, or a
Hispanic American voting no against Cinco de Mayo. Are we supposed to
just give him a pass because he’s black? Come September 12, we have no
choice but to vote no on Fenty and in two years vote no again to end his
tenure on the city council. That is how we can make them pay for an
unforgivable display of disrespect.
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ANC Commissioners and the Hatch Act
Thomas M. Smith, tmfsmith@starpower.net
I raised the issue a few weeks ago about the Office of Special
Counsel (OSC) ruling on whether ANC Commissioners must first resign from
the ANC before seeking a politically partisan position. This ruling
already has prompted one ANC Commissioner to drop out of the race for
council chair. Although this has prompted at least one person posting to
the site to suggest otherwise, I never said I agreed with the ruling.
But, nevertheless, the ruling exists — it is what it is. Do we just
dismiss such rules that we don’t like or don’t agree with or are
simply too inconvenient to accept? Given the OSC ruling, what does it
say about a candidate who ignores it? Should we as voters use this to
evaluate whether a candidate, if elected, will be accountable and
responsible in their decision-making on the Council? I don’t know the
answers to these questions -- but these are questions worth considering.
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DC, Iowa, and Iraq
Michael Bindner, mikeybdc at yahoo dot com
[Re: introduction to themail, June 3] Iowa has some wonderful cities
(my mother lives in one) and a superior school system, as well as a
vibrant Catholic school system (where my siblings and I had at least
some of their education). If you want to find the rubes and hicks, look
to Kansas, not Iowa.
Iowa and the District are not dissimilar. Both are full of colleges
and have a high percentage of people with advanced degrees. The District
also has a vibrant Catholic school system, many of whose students are
not even Catholic, but many who are. Both have their problems with
serious drugs and there are alcoholics in both places and the occasional
murder over sex or drugs, although Iowa schools don’t tend to need
metal detectors. I think the discipline in problem schools in Iowa might
be better, since the teachers don’t seem to be afraid. Iowa has its
poverty, especially where its locally owned meat packing plants have
been bought up by IBP, with benefits gutted for employees. If you walk
through most of Dubuque, you would swear from the architecture that you
were in Anacostia, except that the shade of the people is quite a bit
lighter in Dubuque. Howard University and Loras College have the same
kind of red brick buildings. Many Iowa schools look like Howard,
actually.
In the District, the bottom line is unless you live in or near an
open air drug mart or are engaged in the drug business, you are fairly
safe — the odd robber aside. Unless you are walking near public
housing after 11 p.m., you are likely safe. During the day you are
absolutely safe. There may be a few robbery hot spots, but these occur
in the suburbs as well. Someone was robbed in my neighborhood in west
Alexandria last month — and there is no public housing around there.
You should stay out of 7-11s, since no matter where you live, that is
the place you are most likely to be killed by some crack head or speed
freak in need of money for another rock or ice.
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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
DC Public Library Events, June 9, 12-13
Debra Truhart, debra.truhart@dc.gov
Friday, June 9, 12:00 p.m. Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Library,
901 G Street, NW, under the overhang. Music al fresco. Come and
listen to an outdoor concert performance of a variety of musical styles
presented on Fridays throughout the summer. This concert program is
funded by the DC Public Library Foundation in cooperation with Local
161-710 of the American Federation of Musicians and the Music
Performance Fund. Public contact: 727-1285.
Monday, June 12, 10:30 a.m., Lamond-Riggs Neighborhood Library, 5401
South Dakota Avenue, NE. Derek Riley, “Mr. Derby,” provides an
engaging and moving song and dance experience. Ages 2-8. Public contact:
541-6255.
Monday, June 12, 1:30 p.m. Tenley-Friendship Neighborhood Library, 4450
Wisconsin Avenue, NW. Xtreme Mobile Stop. Megan Hicks, “Empress
Storyteller.” Tales unfold magically as the Empress Storyteller makes
origami creations. Ages 8 to 12. Public contact: 680-9316.
Tuesday, June 13, 10:30 a.m., Palisades Neighborhood Library, 4901 V
Street, NW. Derek Riley, “Mr. Derby,” provides an engaging and
moving song and dance experience. Ages 2 – 8. Public contact:
282-3139.
Tuesday, June 13, 10:30 a.m. Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Library,
901 G Street, NW. The Maryland Science Center will thrill students with
the workshop entitled What’s the Matter? Chemistry with Fizz, Foam
& Flash. The center will also present Arcs and Sparks, a
workshop on the shocking truth about insulators, conductors, direct
current and alternating current. Ages 12 –19. Public contact:
727-1151.
Tuesday, June 13, 12:00 p.m. West End Neighborhood Library, 1101 24th
Street, NW. West End Film Club. Bring your lunch and enjoy the film, Mansfield
Park (1986), with Sylvestra Le Touzel and Nicolas Farrell. Public
contact: 724-8707.
Tuesday, June 13, 1:30 p.m., Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Library,
901 G Street, NW. Megan Hicks, “Empress Storyteller.” Tales unfold
magically as the Empress Storyteller makes origami creations. Ages 8 to
12. Public contact: 727-1248.
Tuesday, June 13, 1:30 p.m., Southwest Neighborhood Library, 900 Wesley
Place, SW. The Maryland Science Center will thrill students with the
workshop entitled What’s the Matter? Chemistry with Fizz, Foam
& Flash. The center will also present Arcs and Sparks, a
workshop on the shocking truth about insulators, conductors, direct
current and alternating current. Ages 12 –19. Public contact:
724-4752.
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Please join us for a whole-building, multifamily yard sale at The
Lambert (1791 Lanier Place, NW) on Saturday, June 10 from roughly 8
a.m.-noon. The rain date is Sunday, June 11. Among the items for sale:
furniture, books, appliances, kitchen items, clothing, knick knacks,
antiques, sports equipment, linens, and anything else you can imagine.
The sale is located on tony Lanier Place (didn’t he used to sing
with Dawn?), so you know it will be good! Hope to see you there!
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You are cordially invited to join Mt. Pisgah Center for Social
Justice as it hosts a special hurricane relief effort to benefit an
extraordinary institution of higher learning, Dillard University of New
Orleans, Louisiana. As a result of fire, wind, and flood damage caused
by Hurricane Katrina, Dillard suffered losses of more than $340 million.
A Song of Hope will be held on Sunday, June 11, at 4 p.m. in the Andrew
Rankin Memorial Chapel on Howard University’s main campus, Sixth
Street and Howard Place, NW. Guest artists are Dillard alumna and poet
Lorraine Williams Johnson and soprano Ellaina Pauline Lewis. Ms. Lewis,
who resides in Seattle, was born in Washington, DC, and grew up in the
Washington Metropolitan area. Award-winning civic activist and
television news anchor Andrea Roane, a native of New Orleans, will emcee
the event.
The adage is true: “What happens to one of us affects all of us,”
so we are counting on your support. Call 581-6514. Tickets are $25.00.
Make checks payable to Dillard University. In the memo field, please
write “Katrina Relief Fund.”
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Citywide Amplified Free Speech Day, June 11
David Klavitter, klav@questforquiet.org
The city council must balance free speech with peace and quiet. How
would you react if a group assembled twenty yards from your front door
and used an electric amplifier to blast free speech at 110 decibels for
more than four hours each and every Saturday afternoon? (You should know
that 110 decibels is about the sound level of a rock concert.) Forget
about calling the police. According to the Office of the Attorney
General, the DC law has no limits on amplified noncommercial speech
anywhere in the city from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. It’s been happening for
more than two years near the businesses and residential homes in and
around the 700 block of 8th Street, NE. Worse, the city council’s
continued hand-wringing, lip service, and inaction has left the NE
community and businesses withering under the weekly barrage.
Grab an amplifier and head to your favorite District of Columbia
street corner to make some noise! It’s the first “Citywide Amplified
Free Speech Day” in the District of Columbia. Anyone can participate!
You can help broadcast the message that the residents of the District of
Columbia demand the city balance free speech with the right to peace and
quiet. Urge the DC city council to act now and fix the broken noise law.
On Sunday, June 11, a small contingent of neighbors from the 700
block of 8th Street, NE, will gather at a corner in Georgetown, NW, to
exercise the right to free speech and the right to make all the noise we
desire using a very loud, battery-powered amplifier. Our group will be
blasting amplified free speech near a residential area at the corner of
Wisconsin and N Streets NW from 3-5:00 p.m. This unrestricted noise
activity apparently is permissible by the District of Columbia law,
according to a December ruling by the DC Office of Attorney General. We
want to illustrate the absurdity of the broken DC noise statute. The
city council says it’s a complicated issue. However, they need only
look at other municipalities’ best practices, as well as the 1949 US
Supreme Court decision in "Kovacs v. Cooper" for solutions.
That ruling upheld a municipality’s ability to regulate amplified
sound trucks.
The municipality of Washington, DC, must step up and be our
protector. The Quest for Quiet web site has more here: http://questforquiet.blogspot.com/2006/05/june-11-declared-citywide-amplified.html.
Also, check out yesterday’s Washington Post Express interview
online here: http://www.readexpress.com/read_freeride/2006/06/in_quest_for_quiet_noise_to_come_to_geor.php.
If you don’t have your own amplifier or have other plans for the day,
at least take a moment and ask the DC City Council to fix the broken
noise law: http://www.dccouncil.washington.dc.us/members.html.
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Office of Baseball Hearing, June 12
Deborah Hanrahan, debosly@aol.com
The mayor’s supplemental appropriation request, which includes the
$750,000 for the Office of Baseball, will be the subject of a public
hearing next Monday, June 12, at 2:30 p.m. before the Council Committee
of the Whole. Anyone wishing to testify should call Chairman Cropp’s
office, 724-8032. Remember, Mrs. Cropp has said many times on the
campaign trail and elsewhere that not one penny of taxpayers’ money is
going into the stadium.
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Prefabricated Houses, June 13
Lauren Searl, lsearl@nbm.org
Tuesday, June 13, 6:30-8:00 p.m. Symposium on prefabricated houses --
good and green design. Significant efforts are underway to improve the
reputation of prefabricated, or modular, housing. A growing number of
architectural firms now combine the economic and construction
efficiencies of factory-built homes with the benefits of customized,
green designs. The result is sophisticated architecture and interior
design that can be offered at reasonable prices and that incorporates
many environmentally friendly features. Michelle Kaufmann, principal of
Michelle Kaufmann Designs in California and creator of the Glidehouse
featured in the Museum’s new exhibition The Green House: New
Directions in Sustainable Architecture and Design; Joseph Tanney, AIA,
co-founding principal of New York-based Resolution: 4 Architecture which
designed the 2003 winning entry for the Dwell Home Design Invitational;
and Michael Sylvester, editor of fabprefab.com, a virtual resource and
newsletter for modernist prefab dwellings, will discuss this growing
housing trend. This symposium complements the exhibition The Green House
which will be open before and after the program. $12 Museum members; $17
nonmembers; $10 students. Registration required. At the National
Building Museum, 401 F Street, NW, Judiciary Square stop, Metro Red
Line. Register for events at http://www.nbm.org.
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DC Disability Community Mayoral Forum, June 15
T.J. Sutcliffe, tjsutcliffe@arcdc.net
Please attend and help spread the word about the DC Disability
Community Mayoral Forum, sponsored by the nonpartisan Disability Rights
Host Committee. Thursday, June 15, 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., at the True
Reformer Building, 1200 U Street, NW, 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. (doors open
at 6:00 p.m.). Moderator: Jerry Phillips, radio host for Metro Talk.
This will be the only 2006 Mayoral forum to focus exclusively on issues
that impact District residents with disabilities. All are welcome!
The True Reformer Building is fully accessible. Sign language
interpretation will be provided. Please submit additional accommodation
requests by 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, June 8. For information, flyers, or
accommodations, contact: T.J. Sutcliffe, 636-2963, tjsutcliffe@arcdc.net,
or Wanda Foster, 483-3383, fostertifflowa@aol.com.
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Our Stories, Our Voices, Our City: The DC Community Heritage Project,
will hold a community dialogue on collecting and preserving DC community
heritage and history, presented by the Humanities Council of Washington,
DC. Tuesday, June 20, 5:30-9 p.m., at Charles Sumner School, 1201
Seventeenth Street, NW. A light meal will be provided. Admission Free.
Reservations required. Call 387-8391, ext. 30, or E-mail dcnhistoryproject@wdchumanities.org.
How can we help local residents to collect, inform, and preserve the
heritage, history and culture of DC’s communities? The evening
includes panel sessions with local community, cultural, and historical
preservationists. Co-sponsors: NEH "We the People" program,
District of Columbia Office of Planning Historic Preservation Office,
National Trust for Historic Preservation through the Dorothea de
Schweinitz Preservation Fund for Washington, DC, and the Project on
Civic Reflection.
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CLASSIFIEDS — NONPROFITS
Are you involved with a nonprofit in dire need of graphic design or
web services, but with no way to pay for them? Mediastudio can help via
a unique program called CreateAThon. Hosted and sponsored by Mediastudio,
CreateAThon is a twenty-four-hour marathon of design, creativity, and
strategic thinking for good causes in the greater Washington, DC area.
It occurs annually in September, and over twenty organizations have
already benefited from this effort. Your downloadable application form,
case studies of past winners, and other information is available here:
www.mediastudio.com/createathon. Applications are due before noon, July
12.
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CLASSIFIEDS — RECOMMENDATIONS
Can anyone recommend a good statistics professor at CU for this
summer? I know a math-phobic student who needs a sympathetic teacher. On
another note, can we check on the prof she has signed up with? Are their
student reviews available?
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