Takeover

Dear Takeovers:

Patrick Jordan, below, says that last week’s national election will have a great impact on the District of Columbia, and that, “Washingtonians are much more likely to have their concerns addressed by a Democratically controlled Congress since a vast majority of the city is composed of registered Democrats.” Has anyone seen any real evidence of that since the passage of the Home Rule Act, or is it merely a declaration of faith? I don’t think the national Democratic party cares about the District at all, or that the priorities of District voters concern it, because of the fact that we are such loyal Democratic voters. Democrats don’t have to do anything to earn our votes; they know they have them whatever they do or don’t do for us.

What do you think? When national politics has a direct impact on us living in DC, that’s when we discuss them in themail, and it’s time to place our bets on whether a Democratic House and Senate will have any real impact on us. The Democrats may well give Eleanor Holmes Norton a floor vote in the House, since that increases their majority, but that’s a purely partisan move. Will they do anything else that increases home rule, increases DC’s congressional representation, or moves DC closer to statehood? Will Congress abstain from interfering in local politics, or will it bypass local voters to advance Adrian Fenty’s proposed takeover of the school board?

On that matter, yesterday the Post editorialized that Adrian Fenty, Robert Bobb, and Vincent Gray should all cooperate in fixing the schools (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/10/AR2006111001474.html), but it neglected to specify whose plan they thought the next mayor, school board president, and city council chairman should cooperate in implementing. Probably that’s because as yet neither Fenty, Bobb, nor Gray has any school plan — except that Fenty wants to increase his power and diminish everyone else’s, including the electorate’s. Ed Barron, below, says that Bobb and, by implication, Gray, should support Fenty. I don’t see any reason why, or why Bobb or Gray should be blamed for supporting a democratically elected school board. Fenty is the one attempting a power grab and picking this fight. As I’ve written before, I haven’t been given any reason to trust either his or Bobb’s motives in wanting to take control of the school budget, buildings, property, assets, and construction fund and, incidentally, the education of our children, so for now I’m just happy that they’re fighting rather than cooperating to divide up the spoils.

Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com

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Unbridled Greed, Part II
Dorothy Brizill, dorothy@dcwatch.com

On Tuesday, the city council will hold one of the last few remaining legislative meetings of this legislative session. It is likely to be a lengthy meeting, since the agenda will be filled with emergency bills as well as bills that can be enacted only if they get two readings before January. Nearly one third of the councilmembers who will vote on Tuesday are lame ducks: Cropp, Ambrose, Patterson, and Orange. In addition, of course, Fenty will be mayor, and will not be returning to the council.

One bill that will be considered on an emergency basis, the "Mayor and Chairman of the Council Transition Emergency Act of 2006," Bill 16-965, was proposed by Mayor Williams. In addition to providing $250,000 in transition funds for the mayor-elect and $150,000 in transition funds for the council chairman-elect, the bill also raises the annual salary of the mayor from $152,000 to $200,000. Under the DC Charter, the council chairman’s salary is pegged at $10,000 less than the mayor’s salary, so it automatically raises the chairman’s salary from $142,000 to $190,000 a year. Ward One Councilmember Jim Graham is gathering votes to amend the bill to give a salary increase to all other councilmembers of $23,000 a year, increasing their pay from $92,000 to $115,000 for part-time positions. (Salary increases take effect only at the beginning of a term, so councilmembers who are halfway through their terms wouldn’t receive the higher pay rate until and unless they are elected to a new term in 2008.) An alternative bill that is being drafted by outgoing Ward Five Councilmember Vincent Orange, the “Councilmember Compensation Change Emergency Act of 2006," would "maintain the current pay differential between the chair and members of the Council,” Since that pay differential is $50,000, the Orange bill would raise councilmemberS’ annual salary to $140,000 — a $48,000 salary increase.

Citizens should be angry at the underhanded way in which councilmembers will be rewarding themselves. The amendment to Bill 16-965 and the Orange emergency bill will be introduced, publicly discussed, and voted on for the first time on Tuesday. There will be no opportunity for the public to debate or discuss it, or to weigh in with councilmembers on the issue, and the pay raise will be passed as an “emergency,” even though no one believes there is any actual emergency requirement for a pay raise. Councilmembers were elected on November 7 fully knowing the position’s salary, and, with the exception of the chairman, council positions are part time (under DC law, only the chairman is precluded from holding outside employment). And the introducers of these bills, Vincent Orange and Tony Williams, are both lame duck officeholders who are immune to retaliation from the voters.

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Motor/Voter Intrusion?
Kenneth Nellis, nellisks at verizon dot net

When I went down to 301 C Street, NW, last weekend to renew my driver’s license, the nice woman behind the counter said she needed to know my party affiliation before she could process my renewal. When I demurred she apologized for having to ask, but said the computer wouldn’t let her proceed with the renewal until she filled in that box. How is that appropriate?

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Election Results
Lindsley Williams, LWilliams@his.com

In the spirit of the introduction to the November 8 “Election Results” issue [of themail], have you heard or can you bring out any comments on DC’s electronic ballots? Fears of problems across the nation seem to have been either underreported or amounted to something far less than some projected. I seek the local component of the story. It may be the story is there is no story.

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Eminent Domain and Voting Rights in themail
Michael Bindner, mikeybdc at yahoo dot you know what

Gary suggests an initiative on eminent domain. While that may stop council action for a few years, it is not a permanent solution because citizens cannot amend the Charter by initiative. Until the voters of DC gain that right, real reform in eminent domain, campaign finance, and term limits will prove elusive. Since most council races are personality contests rather than dealing with substantive issues, I am not holding my breath.

Speaking of not holding our breath, Congress may consider the Davis-Norton voting rights bill in the lame duck session. In his press conference on November 8, President Bush indicated in response to a reporter’s question that this was the first he had heard about it. As you may know, this provision calls for a seat for DC in the House, nothing in the Senate, and a matching seat in Utah. Stand Up for Democracy in Washington, DC, is holding a Teach-In on the Davis Bill on Saturday, November 18, 3:00-5:00 p.m., at the University of the District of Columbia. At that teach-in, it will say why this is a bad deal for DC’s long-term prospects. The fear is that the Davis Bill may foreclose future action, particularly statehood. My personal opinion is that Nancy Pelosi may have a few things to say about this arrangement, especially given the events of this week. A competing bill, which does include senatorial representation through Maryland, is offered by Dana Rohrbacher. It may be more dangerous to the cause of statehood precisely because it contains a senatorial solution, while the Davis Bill leaves that injustice in place, leaving the door open to further action. Of course, if statehood depends on a sixty-vote Democratic majority in the Senate, it is unlikely to occur unless the District elects Carol Schwartz or some other Republican as one of its two Senators — so Rohrbacher may be the best deal for voting rights for the foreseeable future.

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Big Mistake
Ed T. Barron, edtb1@macdotcom

The Post reports [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/08/AR2006110802311.html] that Robert Bobb, the newly elected president of the DC school board, intends to fight Mayor Fenty’s efforts to take over the school system. That’s a huge mistake for Bobb. He should cooperate with the mayor in putting together a good plan to reform the DCPS. In the long run Bobb has nothing to fear, since he would wind up with a major role in making that reform happen, regardless of his title.

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Motor Vehicle Thefts
Michael Andrews, mandrews@udc.edu

The Institute for Public Safety and Justice at the University of the District of Columbia recently completed the first phase of a comprehensive analysis of motor vehicle theft in the District of Columbia. This is a pervasive crime, constituting a major quality of life issue in our communities that is often overlooked amidst a background of other more publicized offenses. Dr. Angelyn Flowers, a professor of Criminal Justice in the Department of Urban Affairs, Social Sciences, and Social Work at UDC and the author of the report, observes that “the conditions contributing to the escalating incidents of stolen cars when unchecked form the breeding ground for other more serious crimes. Strengthening neighborhoods enables communities to better resist crime and its effects.” Future reports will analyze neighborhood asset and deficit mapping to facilitate an analysis of the dynamics of particular neighborhoods to support intervention and prevention strategies.

In an analysis of more than 48,000 motor vehicle thefts occurring in the District of Columbia over a 79-month period, characteristics of neighborhoods with high numbers of motor vehicle thefts as compared to those neighborhoods with low numbers have been preliminarily identified. Population: neighborhoods with high numbers of motor vehicle thefts were more likely to have high percentages of juveniles, an adult population lacking either a high school diploma or GED, low participation in the workforce and high unemployment among those adults who are participating. Households: neighborhoods with high numbers of motor vehicle theft hold households that were primarily occupied by people unrelated by blood or marriage, family households are more likely to be single-parent households, household income is below the poverty level (a family of four with an annual household income under $19,350 would be considered to be living in poverty under the 2005 poverty guidelines issued by the US Department of Health and Human Services). Housing Stock: neighborhoods with high numbers of motor vehicle thefts were more likely to have a housing stock that is: renter rather than owner occupied, consists of large multiunit buildings, has a high vacancy rate.

The Institute for Public Safety and Justice is the research, training, and evaluation arm of the Administration of Justice Program at the University of the District of Columbia. It is under the direction of Dr. Flowers and Dr. Sylvia I.B. Hill, also a professor of Criminal Justice. For further information, contact Dr. Angelyn Flowers, 274-5689, or aflowers@udc.edu.

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MLK Library Works Fine
Mike Livingston, mlivingston@greens.org

“Libraries are an anachronism.” [Sean Bean, themail, November 8] This is the most depressing and misguided thing I have ever read in the history of themail. To answer Sean Bean’s question, I still use MLK library for personal and professional interests, even though I’ve left my native colony for Ward 9 (Silver Spring). Yes, it needs work. But if libraries are an anachronism, so is democracy, which cannot exist without an educated and informed public. Anyone who thinks MLK Library is just a place to borrow the latest Kim Stanley Robinson novel (the one about killer flooding in DC) is long overdue for a fact-finding visit.

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MLK Anachronism?
Malcolm L. Wiseman, mal@wiseman.ws

Sean Bean asks when anyone here last used the library. I can’t tell if Mr. Bean’s post is asking for the elimination of his "anachronism" or what, but I for one use my Petworth Branch library regularly enough (a week ago to pickup Chomsky’s Hegemony or Survival, recently recommended by Hugo Chavez during his visit to the United Nations). Although I still buy a few books that may be special, most of my reading-for-enjoyment sources come from my local branch library. Like medicine, books are necessary and expensive. Since I’m in the mode of lightening my load of personal belongings, I no longer buy many books, but instead borrow them from DCPL. I often make donations of books from my personal library, and sometimes I pick up one or two of the donated books that someone else has left there.

Whenever it’s inconvenient to make a leisurely visit to the branch library, I often order books from DCPL’s CityCat web site and pick them up when they notify me via E-mail that they have arrived, usually within days. This is an online catalog of all DC branch libraries, and if you need your book fast, they’ll hold it for you so you can go to the remote branch and get it, or you can wait for delivery to your local. The system works well. Oh, I forgot to mention the friendly library staff members, at Petworth Branch as well as other branches I’ve visited. Their smiles and helpfulness enhance the whole experience of going to the library and getting, seemingly for free, good medicine for my mind. I often observe mothers bringing young children to the library to get their first library card, and I never fail to recall a similar trip that I made with my mother to the Northeast Branch library on Maryland Avenue.

As long as people continue to record their ideas and fantasy onto pages in books, those books should be presented to the public in a quiet, neutral environment. Perhaps libraries and books will someday become Mr. Bean’s anachronism, when writers stop writing and printers and photographers no longer produce images on paper, when others will do our thinking for us, and we won’t need to read economically. Until then, we should publicly fund, promote, and properly maintain our libraries.

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The Importance of National Elections for the District
Patrick Jordan, patjordan1@gmail.com

In the last issue of themail [November 8], Gary characterized the national elections as having no implications on the District of Columbia. This common misperception ignores the fact that our city’s laws, budget, court system, and entire governing structure are completely at the behest of Congress. The national elections from this past Tuesday will have a profound effect on our city, regardless of the fact that we have no representation by voting members of Congress. Washingtonians are much more likely to have their concerns addressed by a Democratically controlled Congress since a vast majority of the city is composed of registered Democrats. Beyond Congressional races, even the gubernatorial election in Maryland effects the way the Metro is financed and operated, the cleanliness of the Anacostia River (or lack thereof), and a host of other issues that affect our city.

The District of Columbia has shown over the past several years that it is fiscally responsible (much more so than our national government), has improved city services, and is in a great position to start pushing Congress to give us the rights that other Americans take for granted. Whether in the form of statehood, strengthening of the Home Rule Act, or by other means, we as District residents should be lobbying the new legislature for voting representation in Congress, control of our laws, budgetary autonomy, and the power to appoint or elect our own judges and attorney general.

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Shelving or Amending the New Comprehensive Plan
Len Sullivan, lsnarpac@bellatlantic.net

In Wednesday’s issue [themail, November 8] Sue Hemberger raised a number of important issues sidestepped in the current Comprehensive Plan "final draft." NARPAC has a different list, but with significant overlap. Our solution is different however, and possibly more realistic. As Linda Cropp has often repeated, the new plan can be reopened for amendments the day after it has been adopted, and we think this is the better alternative. Adopt the current plan as the Williams/Cropp Edition, and then begin work on the Fenty/Gray Edition as soon as they make time to focus on it. The current plan cannot be fixed with word and phrase changes deep in the four-hundred-odd pages. In fact, most of those pages are harmless. Let the hard working guys who put this massive effort together put it to bed. Don’t try to settle these issues in overtime. Start a new game with new rules and the new team.

What’s missing in the Comp Plan is a sense of policy direction on the big picture items, and these can’t be resolved by more meetings of neighborhood and single-issue activists. Top leadership attention must be directed to the overarching goals for this, the national capital of the United States of America. They need to mull over what’s really required to make this the best city in the world, and to listen to a different set of advisors. So far, there doesn’t seem to be any transition interest in fleshing out that big picture. The risk is that the new players may prematurely commit themselves to an inconsistent set of ad hoc objectives based on stovepipe transition guidelines. Time’s a’wasting!

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No, Jack. Not Again.
Ed Delaney, profeddel@yahoo.com

From http://www.georgetowner.com/PDF/Issue_11.01.06.pdf: “The Redskins would once again be in DC where we could all attend games without committing an entire day of our lives. Think about it.” In the current Georgetowner, Jack Evans maps out a nightmarish trip to FedEx Field to see the Skins. While his tale is indeed harrowing, it is far less scary than the notion of the city’s embarking on yet another stadium chase, this time to snag the Redskins under the guise of a better commute to the stadium for Jack and his constituents. Jack might have built a better case had the current stadium debacle helped even a little. Thanks to the machinations of Evans and his ballpark legislation-drafting buddy Herb Miller, the entire region is all but certain to be tied to one of the most unworkable and overburdened ballpark treks in the country, one that even with proper planning (which Evans obviously didn‘t execute whatsoever in his dubiously-told FedEx Field odyssey) will present challenges to almost all ballpark visitors.

Even though the Brigade managed to finagle $20 million out of federal funds allocated to the District for Metro work after the boosters conveniently moved the costs for the improvements to the ballpark Metro stop out of the stadium budget (despite Evans‘ garbage assertion that no such monies would be used towards the ballpark project), the pre-Katrina estimate for Metro’s original barebones expansion plan was $47 million. To save ever-dwindling ballpark funding dollars (except when it comes to luxury items costing millions that the team should be paying for but that the city is covering, from entire concourse levels of seats and suites in individual toilets inside each luxury suite contrary to the final ratified agreement), the plan was slashed to $20 million by eliminating the originally proposed new station entrance. A key factor is that the platform at the Navy Yard cannot be widened (Post, November 14, 2004). The Stadium-Armory platform is 2,400 SF wider than the Navy Yard platform. Yet the Stadium-Armory platform gets jammed for games at the old ballpark, and officials predict many more will attend games at the shiny new place. This looks to be a real problem even to city officials. “That plan, officials acknowledge, might create a logjam on sold-out game days that could keep hundreds or even thousands of fans milling about South Capitol Street and the surrounding area” (Washington Business Journal, February 21, 2005). The significant bottleneck was played off as a shopping opportunity by Steve Green: “We’re trying to balance the desire to move people in and out with the idea that we want people out on the street.” That’s great, but after having spent a significant amount of time navigating the overburdened Metro stop plus two to three hours for the game, many people, especially older fans and those with children, can’t be killing even more time close to midnight downtown, even if the moribund ballpark entertainment district ever gets off the ground! On weeknights, this scenario is completely unworkable, and on weekends, people who are casual fans and have heard about the transportation issues, along with the cut-rate nature of the “Buick or Ford” greenhouse, may very well decide to spend the extra travel time going to Camden Yards to a park with all the bells, whistles, and surrounding ambiance that DC‘s value-engineered gem lacks or had to sacrifice to save costs at the current joke of a site. Not a great way to start out.

A closer look at the options offered by the Brigade, of taking Metro to the ballpark or walking from the potential parking locations, could make Evans’ FedEx Field trek seem tame by comparison. Estimates for Metro ridership to the ballpark remain a mystery, as an estimate of 40 percent of ballpark patrons taking the Metro was used in early 2005 when the Metro expansion question was being resolved, and that estimate jumped to 60 percent by the DCSEC’s count when parking woes became a more pressing matter. The single-line Metro station is a Green Line stop, which will mean a transfer for the vast majority of riders, given that the current team fan base generally comes from the more affluent parts of the city north and west of the area, as well as Montgomery County and Northern Virginia. The Brigade’s facile suggestions of utilizing other Metro stops were meant merely to distract from the upcoming problems, as the closest stops all have physical barriers involved (at South Capitol Street, the SE-SW Freeway, and the river). These stops are located several blocks from the stadium, and involve traveling through spots deep in SW or SE that are not locations targeted by the area’s revitalization and are not likely to be braved by the most physically capable and intrepid of stadium goers, let alone the rest of us!

The parking options — or lack thereof — are, as of November 2006, sketchy at best, with the only specifically planned parking consisting of 1,225 spaces adjacent to the ballpark, about ten times fewer spots than the RFK Stadium site offered. The remaining parking options reported by the DCSEC range from four to twelve blocks from the stadium. Given their spread-out nature and the limited monies for extra security and police overtime associated with the ballpark project, make these options far less appealing than at the RFK Stadium site. Also at issue is getting the thousands of cars to those spaces spread out over this extension of downtown DC in the middle of rush hour, with very few traffic options for patrons coming from north and west of the city. Worse, money to improve the infrastructure of the surrounding streets, widen sidewalks, and add lighting had been within the stadium budget, only to be moved out of it with promises that the mixed-use development of the ballpark district would more than cover those costs by the time the ballpark opens. As we all know, much of that is in limbo, while the primarily office and residential development slated for the area will be occurring in locations that don’t line up with the routes that fans would be taking to get to potential satellite parking lots. At least the RFK Stadium site had a dedicated extended exit off of I-395 as well as one off of I-295 (which had been closed due to lack of use from patrons east and south of the city in Maryland); the current site with its spread-out parking could jam up scores of city streets. This could happen even if the Brigade puts forth a major effort to resolve this situation, in contrast to the threadbare attention to detail that the Brigade has paid to this matter this late in the game.

This ballpark experience was sold to us as being to be vastly superior to the suburban model that FedEx Field represents, a model that the Brigade started comparing to a trip to RFK Stadium as identical. Ironically, at the new ballpark, the Brigade are now forced as a result of their insistence on the current horrible site to play up as a viable and reasonable option for patrons to park or even take Metro to the RFK Stadium site and then be shuttled to the new stadium. Of course, this could mean more public money ends up being spent on the ballpark project, as Metro provides shuttles for Washington Redskins games that are paid for by the Redskins. People might be a little more willing to do the shuttle thing for a Redskins game, which happens ten times less frequently than a baseball game. But it will be hard to get fans to pay top dollar (as a result of the city‘s passing on the cost of the shuttle service) for the unappealing option of getting to the downtown stadium on a shuttle from the much-maligned RFK Stadium lot. And the shuttle option will consume a lot of the time that planners said people would spend at ballpark stores and restaurants. This seems to suggest that the thing should’ve been built at the RFK Stadium site to begin with.

"In two years, we will be finished with RFK Stadium." Not if the still-conceptual DC United mini-park plan -- one that‘s so barebones it will likely not be appealing for any other uses, while at least the fixed-up RFK Stadium can double as an adequate venue for other sporting events and major outdoor concerts -- doesn’t get off the drawing board. I’ve got a better idea: how about getting out of the stadium building business (especially since the Brigade has shown they can‘t handle it) and using the existing stadium with its tens of millions of dollars in improvements for DC United and other events? Let’s finally see some benefits out of all the baseball spending and utilize the modernized RFK Stadium for a while longer.

“We could demolish this facility and lease the land for $1 per year to Dan Snyder.” Wow, that’s a great idea! The same thing could’ve been done with nearby land for the baseball stadium and saved several hundreds of millions of dollars over the current site, especially when the final land compensation and penalties due the previous landowners are tallied. In fact, it almost happened in December 2005 until Evans, Herb Miller, the outgoing mayor, and the rest of the Brigade double-talked the council into believing the ballpark could be workable and affordable at the current site under a set cost figure, two things which are not the case. In fact, the comments from Evans and the others at the time were that an environmental impact study of the site — one that already had a full environmental impact study done on it, unlike the current site with its 53 oil tanks (many of them leaking) and the presence of asbestos, none of which yielded a single independent environmental study — would uncover “heavy environmental problems that would trigger [stadium construction] delays of up to three years” (Washington Times, December 7, 2005) and “federal and congressional approval, [including] approval from the Park Service, the National Capital Planning Commission and the US Commission of Fine Arts,” (Washington Post, December 2, 2005). What a difference a year makes, especially when the Brigade isn’t trying to artificially inflate costs and create delays at the RFK Stadium site because they want to put something there and make the land suddenly viable again! This point nails the hypocrisy of the Brigade and their information machine, and shows why the DC council still needs to commission independent studies of the stadium project and its costs rather than continue to exceed the cost cap on the parking issue for the first of many times.

“All I had were my Ward 2 City Council license plates, which did me absolutely no good in Maryland.” Oh, Willow, weep for thee. . . . If only the rest of us had the problem of straying outside of the boundaries of our municipal playground and having our license plates, which Evans implies are extremely useful even in non-governmental activities, do us “absolutely no good”! But getting control of the goodies and perks was what started the Brigade’s baseball pursuit, and guaranteed parking spaces seem to be the major impetus for the Brigade’s next stadium play. This pursuit of stadiums driven by perks to the city’s elite needs to stop now. Hopefully, the election returns for the city show that this sentiment is strong enough to stop this nonsense.

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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS

DC Public Library Events, November 13, 16
India Young, india.young@dc.gov

Monday, November 13, 6:30 p.m., Chevy Chase Neighborhood Library, 5625 Connecticut Avenue, NW. Dr. Jeffrey Ian Ross, coeditor of the recently published book, Native Americans and the Criminal Justice System, will discuss the plight of Native Americans in the US criminal justice system. Adults. For more information, call 282-0021.

Thursday, November 16, 2:00 p.m., Chevy Chase Neighborhood Library, 5625 Connecticut Avenue, NW. A lecture on the life and works of Oscar Wilde by University of Maryland professor William Cohen, author of Sex Scandal: The Private Parts of Victorian Fiction.

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Green Building Act, November 14
Mary Vogel, maryvogel at yahoo dot com

The “District of Columbia Green Building Act of 2006” describes its purpose as “to establish high-performance building standards that require the planning, design, construction, operation and maintenance of building projects which help to mitigate the environmental, economic, and social impacts of built structures in the District; to update the Construction Code to include green building practices; to establish a Green Building Incentives Program that includes an Expedited Construction Documents Review Program; to establish a Green Building Fund; and to establish the Green Building Advisory Council.” The Committee on Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, to which Bill 16-0515 was referred, reported favorably on this bill and recommended that the council vote in favor of this legislation on Thursday, November 9.

The bill would significantly reform the way buildings are built in the District. Green, high-performance, or sustainable building is the practice of creating healthier and more resource-efficient models of construction, renovation, operation, maintenance, and demolition. Green buildings enhance the quality of air, water, land, and climate; are constructed from environmentally preferable materials; and are sited within a well-planned infrastructure that serves the community, economy, and ecosystems. They also maximize energy efficiency, the use of rainwater and reuse of gray-water, prevent pollution from storm water run-off, and are reused or recycled at the end of their useful life cycle. Finally, they provide a healthy and productive indoor environment.

I initiated the first version of this bill over two years ago. I am happy to say that the version reported out of Committee retains the requirement for the private sector, though that requirement is phased in over the course of five years. The DC Buildings Industry Association and the Affordable Housing community were involved in shaping the final version. The full bill is on the council’s web site, http://www.dccouncil.washington.dc.us. I understand that its first reading is Tuesday, November 14 at 10 a.m. I hope readers will call their council members and tell them to pass the bill recommended by the Task Force and the Committee intact.

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Greenovation, November 18
Lauren Searl, lsearl@nbm.org

Saturday, November 18, 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Greenovation: An Expo for the Home. With exhibitors like Amicus Green Building Center, the American Society of Landscape Architects, and the US Department of Energy, plus seminars on "Dream Green Kitchens," "Stylish and Sustainable Residential Interiors," and "Saving Green by Going Green," Greenovation will fully equip visitors to make their home renovation projects environmentally friendly, stylish, and cost effective. At more than thirty display booths visitors can interact with experts, watch demonstrations, sample green products, and collect information on green home renovation. Five 45-minute seminars led by nationally-recognized experts like Dean Hill, ASLA, Jennifer Roberts, LEED, Jim Sargent, GMB, CGG, Victoria Schomer, ASID, and Annette Stelmack, ASID, will be offered on a drop-in basis. In addition, DC secondary school students will unveil the innovative green structures they created in the Museum’s Design Apprenticeship Program. Special tours of the exhibition The Green House will also be available and the Museum Shop will offer an array of books on green remodeling. Free. Drop in program. At the National Building Museum, 401 F Street, NW, Judiciary Square stop, Metro Red Line.

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CLASSIFIEDS — FOR SALE

Help Wilson Crew by Purchasing a Wreath for the Holidays
Allegra Penny, fexo_fenodine@yahoo.com

I am a member of Wilson Crew. We are the only DC public school that has a crew team, and therefore, the DCPS gives us no funding. We raise all the money ourselves, primarily through fundraising done by the rowers. Each rower has a fundraising goal of $400. Some of you may be familiar with the annual wreath sale, and this year I hope to do especially well, as it is my last season. To help achieve these goals, Wilson Crew is selling wreaths for the holidays. The wreaths are 24" in diameter, double-sided balsam fir, from Nova Scotia. Each wreath comes with a red bow, and they sell for $20. Wreaths will be delivered to your home on Saturday, December 2, and Sunday, December 3. If you are interested in purchasing a wreath to support us, you can send your order and cash or a check payable to Wilson Crew Boosters, to 3205 38th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20016. Orders should arrive by November 17. If you have any questions, please contact me at 244-2142.

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