Writers
Dear Writers:
Thanks for writing. And for those who haven’t written, thanks for
reading.
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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Simple Steps Toward Accountability
Ed Johnson, mvcorderito at yahoo dot com
In the spirit of election season, I submitted drafts of two bills to
all the current councilmembers running for reelection or higher office.
The first bill simply states that the National Capital Revitalization
Corporation (NCRC) and the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation (AWC) will
be subject to all DC and federal requirements of the Freedom of
Information Act (FOAI). The second bill takes away their ability to
initiate eminent domain in the names of the “corporations” and it
directs the mayor to prohibit the Zoning Commission from hearing a
Planned Unit Development (PUD) proposal that involves eminent domain
until after the city council approves the taking.
These are small steps towards making our government open and
accountable, and I intend to ask every candidate for office at every
opportunity if he or she intends to support these first, simple steps by
cosponsoring the bills. As Gary said recently, “when the government .
. . ignores or bypasses the people in making its decisions, it is no
longer a legitimate government” [themail, August 24, 2005]. These
bills are an opportunity for those candidates to walk the walk instead
of talking the talk.
When I was an ANC Commissioner for 6D-01, we testified at the
committee hearing on the creation of the AWC that it should be subject
to FOIA, and that Council should not delegate any power of eminent
domain to the corporation. Since then, the ANC has passed resolutions
calling for both entities to be subject to FOIA, and my Commissioner
wrote to the attorney general months ago asking if, pursuant to the
ruling on the illegal H20 loan, those findings meant NCRC was indeed
subject to the law. All that has fallen on deaf ears. I hope all of you
who are interested in open, accountable, and legitimate government will
take the opportunity to push for this legislation that holds the mayor
and council accountable for their actions. Please contact your
councilmembers and urge them to introduce this legislation, ask the
candidates where they stand (preferably at large public meetings) and
ask your ANC to pass resolutions supporting these bills. It was Bella
Abzug who introduced the Freedom of Information Act to Congress and
said, “Never underestimate the ability of a small group of people to
change the world.” I think we can all be a Bella for a few hours each
and make this happen.
###############
On this cool, generous Sunday afternoon, my neighborhood came alive
with the sort of camaraderie and vibrancy usually only felt
post-apocalypse (which I suppose, after weeks of the crushing smudge of
summer torpor, it rather was). Everyone was feeling a sort of
incredulous, born-again delight, like nook fish wondrously emerging to
see the barracuda really has vanished. Everyone was outside today,
scootering children with Popsicle colored tongues, grannies liberating
petunias from weedy clutches. Old men playing chess, church ladies (hats
off by now) chatting on stoops, young men shooting hoops, young women
shooting looks, everyone talking trash, no one getting riled.
In Meridian Hill park, the drummers circle was so crowded, elbows
must have been chafed. A couple of hundred people hung out, listening,
picnicking, in a scene of easy integration found nowhere else in DC, or
probably the world. There were courting couples in a hundred shades of
skin. There were families stuffing cantaloupe cubes into bobble headed
babies. There were homeless people and J. Crew condo people with
befuddled Midwestern parents in tow. There were hipsters and hustlers,
posers and prophets, and woe-begotten souls who live their lives with
neither praise nor blame. There were glory-hipped Latinas in tight
studded jeans and brave little mules, and a skinny, dreadlocked white
girl dancing with hoops. There were tightrope walkers. Yes. There were
ferocious Frisbee games, a doomed kite, soccer players from Addis Ababa
to Zanzibar, and children zipping through all of the above, like random
electrons and glitter. There were, alas for my poor dog Kelly, no
squirrels.
But as I walked the five blocks to the park and back, the thing I
noticed the most was, there were no police. Well, actually I saw a total
of seven cruisers driving around. But not a single officer out and among
the people. Not one strolling through the park, petting babies, or
booting back the errant soccer ball. In the context of so sweet a day,
it was especially creepy to see them crawling along the streets, removed
and isolated. As they crept by the basketball court in air-conditioned
isolation, I saw the reaction in the young men — pathetic, useless,
nuisance, whatever. Stopping violent crime, particularly in a city like
this with such entrenched social strata and cultural isolation, requires
trust and connection between citizens and police. You want to subdue the
crime in DC? Give us some cops who can drum in the circle. Give us some
cops who know the corner boys well enough to know when they’re just
hanging out and when trouble is brewing. Give us some cops who just walk
around the neighborhood with a nice dog and talk to people (Mine isn’t
even all that nice and she always makes me friends!) Adrian Fenty
heartened me when he was brave enough to refuse the lame,
window-dressing “crime bill,” but I’m hoping to see a real plan
from our next mayor to establish the sort of community policing that
might just turn this city around.
###############
A fifteen year old was mentioned as being arrested along with adults
for the murder in Georgetown. Repeat: a fifteen year old. Another young
teen doomed. So many young teens doomed. It’s insane.
###############
One of our summer guests brought her car to Washington on the tenth
of July and had it stolen off of Park Road on the twelfth. She left it,
locked and windows up, next to the tree side for fifteen minutes at
about 6 p.m. while she came in to change clothes. The police were called
and responded immediately. Her parents came and took her back home to
West Virginia, away from the big bad city, over the weekend.
The police recovered her car on Tuesday the eighteenth in southeast.
It had been stolen by four youths from ages nine to fifteen. Here in our
neighborhood at 6 p.m., four kids from southeast (whom I can’t
describe any further without offending someone) used a coat hanger to
get in and punch an ignition, and drove away in a Jeep Cherokee with
West Virginia plates during rush hour activity and no one noticed
anything odd?
It is happening in Mount Pleasant now. They had stolen the car of the
lady in southeast who found the Jeep to get over here to this side of
town. She went outside when she heard some noise and hoped it was kids
bringing her car back. Unfortunately for her, they stole a different car
to get home. Kind of like Flexcar for the incorrigible.
Do what you want with this information.
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I Was Blessed with Outstanding Police
Protection
Steven Seelig, steven.seelig@watsonwyatt.com
Pardon my facetiousness to illustrate a small point. I, for one, have
had outstanding police protection in my Ward 3 neighborhood without even
making a ruckus. That is because love has blossomed between a
Metropolitan Police Department officer and a young lady who lives next
door. At first, when we saw the officer’s squad car parked in the
driveway, we were concerned there was some domestic trouble next door.
When we asked the officer if there was trouble next door, he said he was
just helping the family get adjusted to the neighborhood.
Being a giving sort, the officer continued to visit, sometimes three
times a day, in uniform and in his squad car. We soon saw him taking the
young lady of the house, in the squad car, on runs over to the Safeway
and Filene’s Basement (yes, a sale was in progress). As his
relationship with the young lady deepened, the officer would visit on
his off hours, often providing us an overnight police presence For over
six months, we always knew where to find a cop. When we mentioned the
on-duty, in-uniform visits to one of the police supervisors for our
area, we were told that officers are often left to their own devices on
their activities, as long as they are available for dispatcher calls.
Really? Alas, our neighbors have since moved, so we hardly see any
uniformed officers on our block.
I am not an expert on police deployment or personnel management, and
would be loathe ascribing the behavior of one smitten officer to that of
an entire police force. But I do have to wonder how symptomatic this
behavior may be of larger problems. I would hope community involvement
and presence on the street does not only take place when you’ve got a
girlfriend on the block.
###############
My response to the mayor’s crime proposal is that, in lieu of
removing our civil liberties, the police should walk the beat so that we
get to know them and they get to know us. We are their greatest resource
and we are ignored. Areas with higher crime, from where, it seems, crime
is generated throughout the city, should have the most police presence.
But with respect to the murdered (who are, sadly, included in this
statement), the biggest crime in this city is the crime of this
government against all of us.
I propose that in this election year we campaign to vote out all
incumbents. Start over from scratch. We are governed by an oligarchy and
we need to break up the club.
###############
Cameras
Paul Dionne, news at paul dionne dot com
With cameras in the streets, soon DC will be as crime free as every
7-11 across the country.
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One Vote They Can Actually Win
Timothy Cooper, Worldright@aol.com
If voting rights champions had any illusions prior to Saturday’s
hapless vote that the Democratic National Party was miraculously going
to lift DC out of its long-standing political impoverishment by putting
it up at the head of the presidential primary pack in order to help draw
attention to DC’s egregious lack of voting rights, they can forget
about them now. We’re on our own, as usual. Which means only one
thing: DC’s elected officials, and in particular the DC Democratic
State Committee, should lead the city forward and vote to make DC’s
presidential primary the very first in the nation. At least, that’s
one vote they can actually win.
Out of 55 votes, DC got exactly two. One was cast by hometown
activist, Donna Brazil; the other was given for obvious reasons by Kathy
Sullivan, New Hampshire’s First-in-the-Nation supporter and chairwoman
of the New Hampshire Democratic Party. It wasn’t remotely close. In
fact, it was a humiliating defeat for DC and a resounding demonstration
(as if it needed yet another one) of how little national Democrats, by
and large, care about DC’s celebrated cause: equal congressional
voting rights.
###############
I saw a brand new large truck just outside the Spring Valley Shopping
Center the other day. The yellow and black truck has a big sign
identifying it as a Pothole Blaster. In my daily spazieregehen walks
around AU park in the early a.m., I have been finding several filled
potholes. They are clearly distinguished from regular pothole fillings
by what looks to be a sandblasted area that is filled with black goop
and a lot of small, gravel-like, stones.
There are only two men on the truck, in contrast to the normal five
or six I have seen filling potholes. I am anxious to see this truck in
operation. It just might be a more permanent fix for the local potholes
and it may be much cheaper to perform the repair operation.
###############
Off to a Good Start
Ed T. Barron, edtb1@mac.com
The new Washington Nationals owners are off to a good start. They
have made a substantial investment in improving the fan experience at
RFK Stadium by adding better food vendors and stations and also by
discounting ticket prices in the upper deck.
They’ll have to keep up the good work to develop a strong fan base
with a mediocre team. One of the things that the new owners should
consider is providing family packages at discounted prices to get the
whole family to the ball park on weekends. Also, discounted group
tickets that will get large numbers of teenagers into the ball park for
night games would be a big help in many ways.
###############
It is a fact that youth who come from homes where the father is
absent, which account for about 80 percent of all homes in many areas of
DC, are more likely to commit serious crimes, drop out of school, be
arrested, be sexually active, and use drugs or alcohol. All of these
risk factors are interrelated, and all have to do with the breakdown of
the two-parent family. It is amazing that there is little or no
discussion about the extreme state of dysfunction of many families here
in DC. Does that mean that single moms, grandmas, and even single dad’s
are not doing their best to raise healthy and productive children and
citizens? Of course not. But it does mean that DC should become serious
about interventions that will provide for the long-term health of
families and children, such as sexual health education that emphasizes
abstinence from sex before marriage.
Abstinence from sex before marriage is an especially crucial issue
because it effects the formation of families in the near future. The
more youth that can wait until marriage, the more stable families that
will be formed, and the less crime that will occur. An added bonus will
be a decline in the rate of HIV infection, which is currently the
highest of any city in the nation here in DC.
###############
Amidst the efforts to get all DC council meetings open and on the
record, it’s stunning that the council would unanimously vote to sell
a city asset to cover ballpark costs in clear violation of existing city
legislation with no debate. Not coincidentally, the sale (to be made at
some uncertain point in the future given the murky language of the
resolution, which interestingly singles out the mayor and gives him
incredible latitude over the entire deal) would yield $61 million, or 10
percent of the supposed ballpark cap (which was brazenly breached by
making this deal and allocating dollars from the land sale to parking
overruns that could have gone to other city projects, based on the land‘s
proximity to the Navy Yard/Department of Transportation revitalization
in SE without the ballpark). It’s as if the council decided — or was
sold on the idea — to give itself a funding buffer in the short term
in exchange for surrendering both the present and future value of a city
asset directly adjacent to the ballpark. In addition, the council gave
up to a private entity the revenue from future development at one of the
only places where the city was entitled to every penny of the revenues
generated — a place that would likely have been the most profitable
swath, given its location (again, all to cover parking overruns that the
council assured us would not occur thanks to their laughable “cap”).
It’s especially stunning following the whole lease approval
debacle, in which it was subsequently reported that private meetings
with Herb Miller in between votes were instrumental in flipping members
of the council (even some of the most vocal opponents of the one-sided
lease up to that point, like Marion Barry) to join the Brigade in
prostration before Major League Baseball by accepting every lease
provision and penalty. Before the midnight knee-buckling on the lease,
the DC council had conducted most of the discussion of matters
pertaining to the boondoggle in public and at length, during which time
the public and the council were finally privy to details of the
sweetheart deal to which the Brigade was committing the city. The
closed-door meetings, concurrent with the council’s midnight
knee-buckle and the media’s abandonment of holding the council
accountable, led to the recent no-debate vote in which the council
reached its only unanimous decision on ballpark legislation, despite
many points raised publicly by city officials from the CFO to Marion
Barry that demanded public debate over the noncompetitive land and
development rights sale to Miller. It stands to reason that private
discussions on a large scale, such as those that Linda Cropp demanded,
not be recorded at the most recent council breakfast yielded the
decision to stand together as a united front against MLB and the Lerners
(a stance that coincidentally had been loudly encouraged by both the
mayor‘s office and Herb Miller as they used their media cronies to
sell their latest boondoggle). Given what has been leaked and reported
about the council’s growing evasion of public discussion of the
ballpark debate on the record in favor of closed-door sessions starting
with the lease debacle and ending with their approval of Miller’s
“Yuppies and Yugos in the Outfield” scheme, we can be fairly certain
that the debate occurred in private and with the ever-persistent Miller,
fresh from the lease victory that ensured the current site would be used
despite the environmental, parking, and transportation difficulties and
uncertainties there, promising whatever would get the deal done and
flashing just enough cash and advice on keeping this from getting too
contentious and political to seal the deal.
One of the most amazing parts of this, aside from the ethical and
legal morass surrounding the council’s action, that has enveloped
other parts of city government (from the DCSEC‘s legal and ethical
collapse a couple years back to the mayor‘s All-Star Ticketgate and
multiple meltdowns and rants against any "jackasses" who
opposed his deceit-laden giveaway) is what the council has set itself
for by this action. Yes, as always on the ballpark boondoggle, what the
Brigade and the developers have pushed and what the DC council has
eventually rubber-stamped essentially unchanged has contained hidden
perils and costs that the media glosses over but which come out in the
end anyway. In this case, the council has left itself wide open to incur
financial charges and penalties as much as or greater than those MLB is
seeking via its legally dubious action of seizing property from private
concerns via eminent domain for purportedly public purposes (which are
still in debate given that every in-house dime goes to a private entity,
and a monopoly at that) and then flipping it non-competitively a few
months later to a private developer cozy with the council to the point
of his lawyer’s drafting ballpark legislation to be introduced by the
finance chair that would‘ve committed the city to build a ballpark at
a site — Banneker Overlook — that had been rejected by two
comprehensive and costly site evaluation studies undertaken by the city.
The action is especially dubious when it comes in the form of simply
declaring a portion of land on the ballpark footprint seized via eminent
domain as “no longer required for public purposes” in the same
council resolution that grants it to another private entity for the
purposes of private development and a $61 million sale price. Whichever
way you look at it, the city shouldn’t be handing out sticks of
dynamite like this to the lawyers for the landowners if the council’s
interested in capping costs of the ballpark boondoggle and covering up
paper trails with their no-debate machinations!
Unlike other parts of the ballpark process which the Brigade’s
cronies in the media could help the boondoggle along, this significant
portion of the ballpark process will not be hashed out in the court of
public opinion but in actual court, where cases are pending and
preventing the city from having “clear title to the stadium site until
next year or later,” according to WTOP. This last item was listed as a
concern by MLB in its list of defaults and breaches by the city, and the
overall land costs and potential penalties that await the city after all
of the current legal uncertainties are resolved in were minimized by the
Brigade as they tried to keep the current site and trash the RFK Stadium
site (which remains viable and much more cost-certain, especially as
fifty plus gasoline tanks and who knows what else are removed form the
current site). The council could use part of the $61 million to finally
commission a comprehensive and independent environmental impact
statement on the current site, but I’m guessing they’ll need that
and many other pennies for overruns and court judgments at the end of
the day.
###############
A couple weeks ago, I read a story in the Washington Post by
columnist Courtland Milloy about the juvenile crime wave in the District
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/11/AR2006071101391.html).
Milloy quoted Metropolitan Police Chief Charles Ramsey, “So far this
year, we have had a 95% increase in juveniles arrested for robberies. We’re
dealing with adolescents who have no remorse, no regrets, and they are
well armed.” Milloy’s most striking statement was: “The latest
trend in armed robberies includes the most volatile mix in the annals of
American crime: black-on-white violence. I guess that period when white
men were running rampant through the black community with relative
impunity, lynching men and raping women just for kicks — doesn’t
qualify in the annals of American crime. The very next day the editorial
board at the Post placed the blame squarely on the shoulders of
the underprivileged community that created this pipeline of poor
parenting, inferior education, lack of values, a drug culture, and an
environment where bad behavior is tolerated, if not encouraged. How
different is that from MPD Inspector Andrew Solberg’s wanting to turn
back the clock by implementing the old sundown code in Georgetown by
stating, “If you see three or four black men standing on the corner at
night in this neighborhood, call 911”? Very little. The Post
just left race out of their declaration. If members of our white
community want to think these thoughts or share them in private that’s
their business, but when a city employee says them in public he must be
fired. This is not an issue of pointing out bias and playing gotcha —
this is about justice. These statements are purely racist and create a
dangerous atmosphere of racial tension in our city. After reading the
editorial, the next morning I called Colbert King, the sole African
American editorial board member at the Post, to get his response
to the pipeline statement, and he supports what was written because,
“I’m primarily concerned with preventing these kids from taking it
to the next level . . . their death; because the kids I spoke to are
already in the system.” That’s real, but where’s the mention of
the history behind this problem. I called the Post back to find
out what is the racial diversity on the editorial board, wouldn’t you
know, the woman who answered the phone, after finding out why I wanted
to speak to the editorial page editor, with an irritated tinge to her
voice said, “That’s not important.”
In the days that followed, one thought kept crossing my mind — how
did we get into this mess? In order to begin to understand what is
happening with this generation’s young, you have to go back some
twenty years and peer into the social conditions. These were nostalgic
times for the privileged class of the District. We were right smack in
the middle of the reduce big government by slashing all spending on
social programs movement. On the streets, it was a literal Mardi Gras
— cocaine, champagne, and caviar for everyone. Then crack showed up,
and with crack came guns. Almost overnight the District of Columbia was
the new murder capital of the country. What was big brother’s
response? “Just Say No,” mandatory minimum sentencing, and three
strikes you’re out. During this same time frame, the DC Public School
Board began to phase out vocational education. Let’s review those wild
and crazy times — the first move was to allow the ghettos to be
flooded with drugs and guns, lock up everyone for every infraction, and
then cut alternative programs in the public school curriculum.
Checkmate! Now fast forward to the twenty-first century. Does anyone
know what happened to the generation of children this era of crack
babies, broken homes and wasted lives produced? Well let’s see. They
are dropping out of high school at a rate of 50 percent or greater over
the last decade, nearly 75 percent of black males ages 15 to 24 in DC
have some kind of police record or are currently in the system, and
black women are testing positive for HIV at an alarming rate. Should you
be concerned? Of course not, especially if you’re not bothered by the
fact that they are right outside your front door, cruising across town
into your neighborhoods, and they are angry. They are angry because they
see everything, but have nothing; therefore, they have nothing to lose.
Do you really need to ask why? Politicians may as well have dropped a
bomb in the poor community. Any recent graduate with a degree in
sociology could have predicted what we are currently experiencing. The
question is are we willing to fix it, or simply turn our backs and hide
behind gated communities and armed private security?
Mayoral candidate and DC City Council Chairman Linda Cropp answered
this call back in 2005 by sponsoring a revolutionary piece of
legislation called the Grandparents Caregivers Pilot Program, which was
designed to give grandparents, who had legal custody of their
grandchildren, some financial relief. This was desperately needed
because of all the children, casualties of the crack epidemic, were
abandoned at their doorsteps. In most cases, their parents were killed
in the mayhem on the streets, incarcerated, or turned into nodding,
methadone-addicted zombies. You need evidence? Just check out the scene
at the northwest corner of the intersection of North Capitol and New
York Avenue, within clear sight of the Capitol Dome. Stand there among
the junkies and immerse yourself in their hopelessness. This is the path
poor school children take everyday, and you wonder why they have lost
their innocence? Another positive step Cropp proposes is to establish
some form of adult vocational training to make up for the nearly two
decades this curriculum wasn’t offered to those who needed it most.
Following Cropp’s lead, and the intense lobbying effort of the DC
Federation of Civic Associations President Gerri Adams-Simmons and other
community activists, freshman At-Large City Councilman Kwame Brown
sponsored an amendment to the billion dollar schools modernization plan
to provide guaranteed funding for vocational education, and the
designation of a school primarily for that curriculum.
Our problem with this generation of young adults can be solved, but
it’s going to take more visionary legislation. Bold leadership that
recognizes building bigger prisons to warehouse more of our poor, hiring
more cops, and DC Congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton calling
out the National Guard to install lighting on the National Mall isn’t
the answer. Compassion is a quality we need in our next chief executive
for the last and least among us. Whether we like it or not, we owe these
young people a fair chance. It’s the right thing to do. It’s the
spiritual thing to do, and if that doesn’t work for you . . . do it
because they too are Americans. Life is cyclical. If we don’t end it
here, we leave this mess for our children. By then, it is certain to be
worse.
###############
Fenty Demonstrates Leadership on Crime Bills
Mary C. Williams, ANC 6D03, mslaw1121@aol.com
Councilmember Adrian Fenty showed enormous courage and great
leadership when he stood alone among his peers in opposing the mayor’s
crime bills. He was right, and a majority of those on the council also
know that he was right. This administration has lost touch with the
people in the neighborhoods. Those of us who live and work in
neighborhoods where murders and robberies are almost daily occurrences
know that cameras and the sporadic show of law enforcement will not
address the problem. For several years now, we have proposed a police
substation be located in our neighborhood recreation center to ensure a
consistent presence. But that idea has been rejected because of costs.
Yet the city is willing to spend millions on overtime and cameras for a
temporary fix? Great leaders would have had a plan to attack the root of
the problem, and that is the lack of a decent education. Councilmember
Orange was right on point when he noted that this city’s education
system has left the young people equipped to do very little else but
commit crimes to survive. Councilmember Fenty demonstrated great
restraint when he called the crime bills a “knee-jerk” reaction to
our recent high-profiled crime spell.
###############
My Present Choice for Candidate for Mayor and
Why!
Naomi J. Monk, nmonk105@aol.com
Presently, I am with Councilmember Linda Cropp. If I did not see it
in black and white in the Washington Post Metro Section, page 1, on
Friday, July 21, I would not believe that Councilmember Fenty stated
that the crime bill was a “knee-jerk” bill and that the city’s
elected leadership instead needs to demand more of the city’s police
department (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/20/AR2006072001968.html).
Our city police department officials and employees do not make
individuals commit crime and have bad behavior. You have read my beliefs
in regards to crime a few times recently in themail, so I will not waste
your time repeating my views in this E-mail.
A number of individuals that I come in contact with have stated that
Councilmember Fenty does not have enough experience to be a mayor of DC.
I have come to believe that it is not so much experience but rather all
too often it is the choices that he makes. This last choice is the straw
that has broken the camel’s back, in my view. In my view, he needs to
apologize for his mistake and hopes that residents will buy into it. I
cannot believe that Councilmember Fenty believes that it is better to do
nothing rather than do something to fight crime!
###############
I appreciate the open forum provided by themail, and generally
applaud you for the courage it takes to print such diverse opinions and
perspectives, especially on matters concerning the fine line between
old/new DC and black/white. I’m disappointed, to say the least, to
find the site being used for blatant racial divisiveness by the two
people who wrote about Councilman Adrian Fenty’s campaign aide,
Sinclair Skinner. It is amazing how easily the “race card” slips out
of the deck when those who invented it are at the table. Johnson Murphy
refers to Skinner as “Adrian Fenty’s black sheep” and Larry Seftor
suggests that Fenty is “really Marion Barry’s son.” Both are
inflammatory, racist, personal attacks: they make thinking people turn
into fighting people.
Seftor whines, “I really liked Adrian Fenty,” and I want to ask,
“When?” When you thought he was just another nice biracial kid who
lived to please and be accepted by white people? It reminds me of the
acquaintance who cheered Mayor Williams’ election, saying, “It’s
about time we had a white-friendly mayor in this town, even if he’s
only half white.” (No, I’m not making it up.) Seftor’s veiled
reference to “Skinner’s constituency” is equally offensive. Who
might that be, Mr. Seftor? Can’t you think of a single important issue
you might want to debate instead of ranting about one individual who you
are making your centerpiece? There is an unspoken truth that may never
be measured, or even acknowledged, but I know that if you counted every
white DC resident who felt alienated and homeless during the years
between Walter Washington and the Williams administration, they wouldn’t
be a drop in the bucket compared with the black people today in DC
feeling frightened, unwelcome, and disrespected in the town where they
have lived in many cases for generations. It may not be Gentrification
Again at all, but Reconstruction Again.
A few years back, there was a t-shirt/bumper sticker that read, “It’s
a black thing; you wouldn’t understand.” I was astounded to learn
that the idea of not being considered understanding offended so many
white people. I was saddened that so few people took the challenge and
tried to understand what it meant. Instead of a more enlightened
community that embraces diversity, we now have a town where people like
the unnamed two-year resident who created the dumpskinner web site
actually feel at home. I hope themail doesn’t give too much
credibility to people on either side of the aisle who are not interested
in getting along with those on the other side. They don’t deserve the
soapbox, and we don’t deserve the disruption. And a heads-up for
Seftor and Murphy and their “kind”: It’s not just impolite to talk
about peoples’ families where my “peoples” live; it can also get
your feelings hurt a lot worse that you think you earned. It’s a DC
thing . . . understand?
###############
Bolden Getting It Done
Kathryn A. Pearson-West, wkpw3@aol.com
“Get it Done, Bolden. Make it happen,” seems to be the public’s
new mantra for A. Scott Bolden, candidate for At-Large DC Council.
Bolden is winning at citizen-sponsored, grassroots candidates’ forums
in the wards. Bolden’s victories at the Ward Five Democratic Committee
straw poll as well as with the Ward Eight and Ward Six straw polls
demonstrates that voters are looking for a go-getter, driven person to
serve their interest on the council of the District of Columbia. Bolden
was in striking distance of the DCDSC-sanctioned Ward One Dems, while he
actually won the Ward One Dems, Inc., straw poll. The public seems to be
signaling that they are growing tired of the laid back, but nice, well
meaning. two-term at-large incumbent that doesn’t get the job done.
Results and leadership matter. Voters are determined in 2006 to have a
say in their circumstances, their destiny, the future of their city and
want true, capable, visionary, proactive, skilled leaders in office.
Voters are ignoring the desperate attempts of Bolden’s opposition
to paint him as something he is not, and they disregard the negative
attacks for what they are — desperate measures to save their fledgling
campaign efforts and their disconnect with the public. DC residents are
looking to elect a councilmember that will join with their councilmember
and help ensure that constituent services are delivered by the
government in a timely fashion as well as advocate and pass legislation
on their behalf. Citizens believe that if they get Bolden they will
virtually have two councilmembers working on their behalf and that of
their ward. They view their vote for Bolden as strengthening their power
at the ward level and giving more meaning to the at-large seat, which
some tend to wonder what they are supposed to do. Voters recognize that
Bolden is their best chance to ensure that the city moves in the right
direction and in a way that benefits the majority of residents. They
know that they need a leader on the council that has the acumen and
savvy to work with all sectors of the city, people from all walks of
life, and all communities. They know that crime is a problem throughout
the city, now even moving into the wealthy enclaves and the Mall.
However, residents watch in angst as the chair of the Council Judiciary
Committee is prodded into calling for more police on the street,
bringing important crime legislation to the council for a timely debate,
and getting on top of EMS Residents wonder how many deaths there have to
be before one calls for more cops on the street. They want more law and
order in addition to alternatives to crime programs that may curb
crime.. Perhaps that is why the public is clamoring for a candidate like
the results/action-oriented, tough on crime former prosecutor A. Scott.
Bolden.
Many in DC concede that whether one supports all the positions that
Scott Bolden has taken during his professional career or whether they
view him as their choice for bosom buddy, most agree that when he is
focused on a goal for his constituents, he goes after it with gusto and
is most likely to win at whatever he goes after. They want that in a
councilmember, as evidenced by some of the councilmembers that have been
elected or reelected. They want someone that is decisive and no
nonsense. Bolden sets the goal with the group and then goes after it
methodically, fervently, legally, ethically, and morally. He sets the
game plan in action to win on behalf of his constituents. While the
media tends to focus on the mayoral and council chair races at the
expense of the ward and at-large races, knowledgeable voters recognize
that they have a good 50-50 chance to get at least one of their chosen
leaders elected to office, and they are going with Bolden, their odds-on
favorite.
The public is reengineering, redefining Bolden’s “Leadership for
Change” slogan to be more reflective of their passion for this race:
“Leadership That Delivers,” “Proven Leadership with Results,”
“Action Leadership That Matters,” “Winning, Defining Leadership
for DC’s Future,” and “Anybody but Phil, the gentle legislator.”
More and more, Bolden continues to win support from grassroots, everyday
citizens and is humbled by their strong backing. More and more voters
see A. Scott Bolden as the candidate with the best chance to work with
other strong leaders in public office to help improve schools, reduce
crime, make healthcare more accessible, keep taxes under control,
provide alternatives to crime for young people, improve workforce
development, encourage more workforce/affordable housing, and change the
culture of government to better meet the needs of the citizens and its
workers.. The public boldly continues to chant, “Leadership matters.
Get it done, Mr. Bolden. Get it done. Make it happen.”
###############
People’s Property Campaign
Parisa Norouzi, parisa@empowerdc.org
I am writing in response to Mr. Thetus Boyd’s post regarding the
District government’s complete mismanagement of public property (themail,
July 20) Not only does the DC government lease space from private
developers while constantly disposing of public property, but it also
maintains a "process" for public property that favors
developers and those who have power and access to elected officials.
Empower DC launched the People’s Property Campaign last year to call
attention to this issue. We are calling for public property to be used
for public use and not private profit. For instance, our many vacant
schools should be utilized to promote community development much needed
in our neighborhoods -- things such as recreation centers to serve our
youth, senior centers, space for community-based nonprofit
organizations, job training, and all forms of community enrichment. If
the property is not suitable for these purposes, it should be dedicated
to providing affordable housing and shelter for the homeless -- these
are documented citywide needs that continue to be ignored.
A couple of examples: the Franklin School is currently serving as a
homeless shelter, but the city is leasing it to a developer to build a
hip boutique hotel -- but the city council never approved the
disposition resolution and it is very unclear whether this lease is even
legal. The Randall School was serving as a homeless shelter but was
"sold" to the Corcoran to house a few art students. It turns
out the Corcoran ran into financial troubles and has not paid the city
for the school, yet and still the taxpayers paid several million in the
DC budget for FY 2007 to have the roof of the school repaired. Several
other historic schools have been turned into loft condos for the rich --
Lovejoy, Pierce, Bryan, Lenox, Logan, Carberry, Eckington, and Gage to
name a few. Then there are communities like Ivy City that have suffered
for decades with their civic heart -- the historic Alexander Crummell
School -- left vacant and rotting by the District government. A little
history here. Crummell was built in 1911 to serve African American
children in Ivy City and Trinidad. Residents formed the Ivy City
Citizens Association also in 1911 to advocate for the best quality
school for their children, among other things. The school was the center
of community life, and by all accounts the shuttering of the school is
directly linked to the decline of the neighborhood. The same Citizens
Association founded in 1911 won historic designation for the school in
2002 and residents have long advocated for the school to be reopened to
serve as a community center. Just days before the crime emergency was
announced, a youth in Ivy City was killed right in front of this vacant
and deteriorating school. There are no positive community programs in
the vicinity, and no central meeting places. The only thing Ivy City has
for youth is the Youth Detention Center on Mt. Olivet Road. This is
shameful, and Empower DC is currently working with residents to generate
citywide support for their campaign for job training and recreation at
Crummell. Please contact me if you would like to get involved and help.
But the important point here is this: the current public property
laws promote disposition and favor developers. There is no process for a
public property to be rededicated to another public use with community
input. Basically you had better be prepared to launch a relentless
campaign, which could take decades, as in the case of Ivy City. To make
it even more complicated, throw in the charter schools that went through
the Congress to get preferential treatment in their quest for public
property. The issue here is not that a charter school isn’t an option
for public property -- but is it the thing that the community needs and
wants and has long been on record asking for? And is it appropriate for
charters to circumvent local home rule to get their hands on public
property? Readers of themail, be prepared to read some posts in response
to this singing the praises of DC letting go of rotting vacant buildings
to make way for shiny new development. But let’s be clear. What is
happening to our communities today has been long in the making. The city
government itself divested from our communities, created and perpetuated
blight and neglect, and created the unlivable conditions that make some
of us desperate for any improvement, even if it does only serve the
rich. But public property is the common trust of the people of the
District of Columbia, just as National Parks are the common trust of the
people of this nation. We cannot allow community needs to go unmet while
more condos mar the skyline, and more developers get rich. Public
property is one of our greatest assets with which to uplift the people
of this city. If you agree, please consider joining the People’s
Property Campaign. Call Empower DC at 234-9119.
###############
Rent Control Reform Hardly Myopic
Joel M. Cohn, Legislative Counsel to Councilmember Jim
Graham, jcohn at dccouncil.us
David Jennings, Jr., complains (themail, July 20) that “Graham’s
recent bill doesn’t allow” his father-in-law to recoup the costs of
renovations to the small apartment building he owns. Apparently, Mr.
Jennings is referring to the Rent Control Reform Act, which the council
recently passed unanimously and the mayor signed. He asks, “Doesn’t
everyone recognize that the result will be that landlords will not or
cannot keep the buildings up to date?” Mr. Jennings’ assertions are
simply false. The fact is the reform law preserves all the methods that
landlords now have to recoup the costs of renovating rental units.
These options include petitioning the Rent Administrator for 1) a
“capital improvement” rent increase of up to 20 percent, 2) a
“services and facilities” rent increase to reflect the value of
added services and facilities, or 3) a “substantial rehabilitation”
rent increase of up to 125 percent. Additionally, the reform law
preserves the landlord’s current guarantee of a 12 percent return on
equity. Aside from its substance, Mr. Jennings also appears to be
unaware of the process that Councilmember Graham initiated and stuck to
in pursuing meaningful rent control reform. The final version was forged
over the course of six months of intense dialogue with the mayor’s
office and stakeholders, including a broad-based group of tenant and
landlord advocates. Indeed, the typical costs of renovations — using
the numbers landlords presented — were fully discussed and taken into
account. It is no accident that what had been a highly controversial
bill became a consensus measure. This consensus emerged only because
everyone recognized that it carefully balances the competing interests;
it preserves both the affordability and the profitability of
rent-controlled apartments; it in no way impairs the ability of
landlords to keep the buildings up to date; and the legislative process
itself was inclusive and untiring. That Mr. Jennings should describe
this as “Jim Graham’s myopia” could hardly be more ironic.
Mr. Jennings also distorts the facts as to Councilmember Graham’s
Condominium Warranty Bond emergency bill, which the Council also passed.
This bill changes nothing about the adjudicative process where the
purchaser of a condominium unit alleges structural defects after taking
possession. All it does is clarify that DCRA may immediately release the
relevant portion of the warranty bond after a sufficient showing has
been made that a structural defect in fact exists. The reality is that
structural defects can and often do pose immediate "life and
limb" hazards to recent condominium purchasers, but the
adjudication process including appeals can be endless. This
clarification is a very necessary and long overdue consumer protection
measure.
###############
CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
Metro Fare Increase Meeting, July 25
Dennis Jaffe, DennisJaffe@Gmail.com
The Metro Riders’ Advisory Council, http://www.MetroRAC.com,
will hold a special meeting open to the public on Tuesday, July 25 from
6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on the FY08 Budget at Metro Headquarters at 600 5th
Street, NW. There is official talk that Metro is considering a fare
increase for the FY08 Budget, which will begin in less than one year on
July 1, 2007. Might this apply to Metrorail, Metrobus, and MetroAccess?
Do you want to have input into the shaping of the budget? The Metro
Riders’ Advisory Council is working to ensure that there is a
meaningful voice for riders in the budget process for the first time
ever. Getting that meaningful voice won’t be easy. We need to
effectively impress upon the Metro Board of Directors and the General
Manager that citizens have strong interest in seriously participating in
the budget process.
Would a fare increase be justified, or bad public policy? What about
increasing train and bus fares during rush hour and decreasing them
during other times to reduce overcrowding? Which expenses can be
reduced? Or can and should local government funding for transit be
increased to avoid an increase? An increased federal investment may be
on its way — but it isn’t likely just yet.
This briefing is expected to be a detailed presentation that will
provide a useful foundation for the public to understand and evaluate
the FY08 Budget. Actual expense and revenue projections are not yet
fully available. We continue to impress upon Metro the importance of
timely, public availability of the agency’s fiscal projections for
FY08. The Board of Directors is currently scheduled to issue to staff in
September its official “Guidance,” which includes whether or not to
increase fares. The briefing will include presentations by Charles
Woodruff, Chief Financial Officer, and Rick Harcum, Budget Director; a
question and answer session with the Riders’ Advisory Council; and a
public question and answer session.
###############
Public forum: July 26, 6:00 p.m. refreshments, 6:30 p.m. program. WRN
presents a public forum with Michelle Pourciau, DC Department of
Transportation; Michael Madden, Maryland Transit Administration; and
James Hamre, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority and formerly
with Arlington County. At NCPC, 401 9th Street, NW, North Lobby, Suite
500 (Metro Center /Gallery Place/Archives Metro stations). To RSVP,
E-mail staff@washingtonregion.net
or call 244-1105. This event is free of charge. For more information,
see http://www.washingtonregion.net.
###############
Community Dialogue on HIV/AIDS with Mayoral
Candidates, July 29, 31
Kilin Boardman-Schroyer, kschroyer@dc-cares.org
DC Fights Back! and Greater DC Cares’ Citizen Academy will host the
third and fourth sessions in its Community Dialogue on HIV/AIDS series.
Join us and mayoral candidate Adrian Fenty on July 29 and mayoral
candidate Linda Cropp on July 31 as they meet with key stakeholders from
the community and the public at large to dialogue about HIV/AIDS and its
impact on the greater DC community. Statistics have shown that
Washington, DC, has the highest rate of HIV/AIDS infection of any other
major city in the country, with one out of twenty residents estimated to
be HIV positive. What’s more is that studies show that HIV
disproportionately affects African Americans and has gotten so out of
control in the metropolitan area, that some have suggested declaring the
District of Columbia in a state of disaster.
On Saturday, July 29, doors will open at 9:30 a.m.; the event will
start promptly at 10:00 a.m., and will go to 11:00 a.m. On Monday, July
31, doors will open at 5:30 p.m.; the event will start promptly at 6:00
p.m. and will go to 7:30 p.m. Opening remarks will be provided by Fenty
and Cropp, and they will then engage in a dialogue with members of the
communities most affected by HIV/AIDS. All District residents will be
encouraged to share their own personal experiences with the disease.
This in no way is an endorsement of any mayoral candidate; rather it is
a series that hopes to bring all candidates to the table one at a time
to discuss this crucial topic.
This event will be held at Greater DC Cares’ offices at 1727 I
Street, NW. It is free and open to the public, but reservations are
required! To register or for more information, contact Kilin
Boardman-Schroyer, 777-4457 or kschroyer@dc-cares.org.
###############
Free YMCA Camp, July 31 and August 14
Parisa B. Norouzi, parisa@empowerdc.org
Spread the word! There will be a free YMCA Day Camp for youths aged
5-15 in zip codes 20001 and 20002. Camp is from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. There will
be two sessions: July 31-August 11 and August 14-25. Camp takes place at
1711 Rhode Island Avenue, NW. Free transportation will be provided by
the North Capitol Collaborative from 113 Q Street, NW. For more
information, contact Melanie Conrad, 299-0031 or 588-1800. Respond as
soon as possible.
###############
CLASSIFIEDS — FREE AND WANTED FREE
A neighbor has a piano that she is willing to donate to someone, or
to a church or a nonprofit. She is even willing to pay to have it moved
to its new home. It needs about $2,000 of new pads, etc. It’s a Winter
& Company, New York, made in 1948, with a cast iron sounding board.
It’s an upright, not a spinet. If you are interested or have any
suggestions on where or to whom she can donate it, please contact her at
AltoSinger@earthlink.net.
You’ll be prompted by an online Earthlink anti-spam feature to fill in
your name and E-mail address -- and you can also write a message that
you’re writing about the piano.
###############
I need a handheld tape recorder so that I can read newspaper articles
into it. Can anyone give me one?
###############
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