Blogging
Dear Bloggers:
If I blogged, and offered daily off-the-top-of-my-head thoughts
rather than the well considered and moderate opinions I normally write,
I’d have plenty of things to write about in this issue. For example:
Former Mayor Williams has taken a job heading a new real estate
investment trust company, Public Properties Realty Investment Trust,
Inc., which has been created by Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group, Inc.
The main purpose of this company is to buy real estate from governments
and quasi-governmental organizations, and then lease the properties back
to the original owners. This is, of course, a lousy long-term
proposition for taxpayers and citizens. Politicians will sell off land
assets that their governments need and use in order to get quick cash
for short-term purposes, and then lease back the land, thus saddling
future generations with long-term debt. Williams spent the last few
years of his administration setting up DC government to divest itself of
its assets, but he’s legally forbidden to do business with the
District government for two years after leaving office. No doubt, he’ll
be back then.
The last time that Democrats had a majority in the House of
Representatives, they inflated their majority by rewriting House rules
to give Committee of the Whole voting rights to the five nonvoting
delegates in the House. All five delegates were Democrats then, as they
are now. They represent the District and four territories (American
Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands). It was a purely
partisan move, and when Republican gained the majority in the House,
they returned the partisan favor and quickly took the Committee of the
Whole vote away from the delegates. Afterwards, Delegate Eleanor Holmes
Norton admitted that it may have been a mistake to lump the District in
with the four delegates from territories whose citizens do not pay
federal taxes. Well, they never learn. Although the bill to give the DC
voting status in the House along with giving Utah a new Congressional
district (HR 328) had bipartisan support and would probably pass this
year, today the Democratic majority again revised the House rules to
give Committee of the Whole voting rights to all five nonvoting
delegates. This move imperils, and may doom, bipartisan support for HR
328, and it guarantees that the next time Republicans have a majority in
the House they will strip Committee of the Whole voting rights from the
DC delegate along with the other four delegates.
If Fenty gets his school takeover plan approved, the next
superintendent (with the new title of chancellor) may be Rudy Crew, who
passed up the DC job in 2004 to go to Miami. At least, that’s what
David Nakamura speculated in DC Wire (http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dcwire/2007/01/is_fenty_courting_new_schools.html).
But Crew gets a salary of $350,000 in Miami, with a total compensation
package approaching $550,000 a year, and DC would have to beat that
deal. How do you feel about paying over $550,000 a year for a school
superintendent? Of course, DC could do like Miami does, and have the
salary subsidized by corporations and interest groups, like the ones who
are promoting the school takeover plan in the first place. How do you
feel about having the superintendent’s salary paid by interest groups,
presumably the same ones that will benefit from the takeover? The other
rumored superintendent candidate is James Shelton (http://www.newschools.org/portfolio/entrep_jims.html),
who is supposedly being promoted by Terry Golden of the Federal City
Council.
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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Community Takes Ongoing Stand Against Violence
Kathy Henderson, khenderson027@aol.com
Residents of the Carver Terrace community, located in northeast DC,
are unwilling to serve as a backdrop for violent crime. The community is
standing up against the ravages of two quadruple shootings and other
shootings that have resulted in four homicides within the last four
months. Recently, a law-abiding and peaceful contractor working to
rehabilitate a building was shot nine times after asking a group of
youths to get off of his car. The community has joined forces with the
Guardian Angels and police to participate in regular community patrols
to restore law and order.
Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, affectionately known as the
District’s “warrior on the hill” recently braved the cold to march
with neighbors to promote peace. WOL 1450 AM radio personalities
"More Better Man" and "Mary" were also on hand to
help raise community awareness and braved the cold to march with
residents. Ronald Moten, founder of the Peaceaholics, an organization
dedicated to ending gang violence will participate in the next
neighborhood patrol on January 24 at 6:00 p.m.; the patrol will begin at
the corner of 18th and L Streets, NE. All are welcome to join this
effort.
Fourteen Carver Terrace youth were recruited for neighborhood patrols
as a direct result of the first Carver Terrace/Guardian Angels community
march on January 10. Commissioner India Henderson, the District’s
youngest elected official, will continue to help lead the neighborhood
patrols.
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Maybe New York Schools Aren’t All That Good
Pat Bitondo, pbitonda@aol.com
See this week’s Economist on Bloomberg’s takeover
[“Education in New York: Mayors and Schools,” http://www.economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=E1_RVSDTDN&CFID=111361102&CFTOKEN=35e2ce5-9dddae68-f522-4fff-a1fa-24855949322f
(requires subscription)]. How can we convince the council that it’s a
bad idea?
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A Video on Everyday Mathematics
Barry Garelick, barryg99@yahoo.com
As you know, DCPS adopted Everyday Mathematics for DC schools. You
may be interested in a fifteen-minute video prepared by a group in the
Seattle, Washington, area, which is concerned about EM as well as a
program called Investigations in Number, Data, and Space. The original
message announcing the video reads: “We have just finished making our
first video. One of our members, M.J. McDermott, Q-13 TV Weather
Forecaster, was kind enough to put this together for us. M.J. explains
the differences between teaching standard (traditional) algorithms and
teaching with Investigations/TERC and Everyday Math, two common reformed
math programs used in our state.”
The link to the video is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tr1qee-bTZI.
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How to Win Friends and Influence Enemies
Jonathan R. Rees, jrrees2006@verizon.net
With Mayor Fenty accepting Speaker Pelosi’s invite to President
Bush’s “State of the Union Address” and snubbing First Lady Bush’s,
I think it is safe to say that Mayor Fenty isn’t the brightest crayon
in the box.
Mayor Fenty knew on the issue of a vote in Congress that Speaker
Pelosi, was on his side but he showed his lack of mayoral qualities by
snubbing First Lady Bush. Accepting First Lady Bush’s invite would
have been a smarter move. Be it as it may, I’d rather not pay my
$14,800 a year in federal taxes than to have a meaningless vote in
Congress, as that vote won’t put money in my pocket nor make life any
better in DC for its residents. Not having to pay federal taxes makes
more sense.
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Standards of Consent
Timothy Cooper, worldright@aol.com
Gary Imhoff, Sam Smith, and others get it right when they note the
inherent contradiction and regrettable irony of Mayor Fenty’s and DC
Delegate Norton’s antidemocratic position regarding a mayor/council
takeover of the DC public school system without first seeking a citywide
referendum.
To insistently advocate for congressional representation, yet deny an
up-or-down vote to the people of Washington on altering the Home Rule
Charter runs contrary to principles of good governance and standards of
consent. The twin goals of preserving the fragile integrity of DC’s
very limited democracy and improving DC public schools are not mutually
exclusive. Mayor Fenty should put his case directly to the people for a
vote. It will only serve to enhance the legitimacy of his plan, should
the referendum come to pass.
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DC Vote Gets $250,000 Grant
Kevin Kiger, kkiger@dcvote.org
DC Vote has been awarded a $250,000 grant from the Public Welfare
Foundation, and the investment comes at a critical point in the DC
voting rights movement where city leaders are united to bring
congressional voting rights to the District of Columbia. DC Mayor Adrian
Fenty, DC city council members, and members of Congress announced
upcoming advocacy events designed to engage and activate District
residents. These events include a Congress Day on February 15 and a DC
Voting Rights March on April 16. Mayor Fenty also said during a press
conference on January 19 that DC voting rights is the top priority for
his administration.
The advocacy efforts combined with a generous infusion of financial
resources create a unique opportunity to pass the DC Voting Rights Act,
a piece of legislation that would give Washingtonians a vote in Congress
for the first time ever. The Public Welfare Foundation has helped garner
over the past few years a great deal of exposure and support from
foundations and the philanthropic community for DC Vote. It has held
multiple meetings to raise awareness of the issue, including a DC Voting
Rights Summit in January 2005. Deborah Leff, President of PWF, believes
the timing is right for DC Vote. Continue checking in at www.dcvote.org
for the latest information regarding Congress Day and the Voting Rights
March on Capitol Hill.
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Managing Street Parking
Cheryl Cort, cheryl <at> smartergrowth dot net
Selling special on-street parking permits to essential city workers,
like firefighters. is not necessarily a bad idea. But certainly the cost
of a monthly permit should be more than riding the Metro or bus to work.
The city offers many workers, especially firefighters and teachers, free
parking, but does not offer them any subsidy to ride transit, walk or
bicycle to work.
The city’s de facto parking subsidies turn play areas at
schools and basketball courts at firehouses into parking lots for city
workers. This gives the signal that if you want to be subsidized, you
better drive, not take transit to work. The very worst thing the city
can do is build costly new parking garages (upwards of $20,000 per
space) for its workers and then not charge them the cost or market rate
for the use. Why should the city spend millions of dollars to encourage
more people to drive when it hasn’t bothered to offer them free or
discounted transit passes?
A far better option is to manage on-street parking more efficiently
and provide some flexibility in who parks there. Market-rate charges are
a reasonable and efficient option to get us what we want — parking
that is available to priority users. In Ottawa, on-street residential
parking permits cost $30 per month, except in the winter when they cost
$100/month. Their on-street car-sharing parking is not tied to a
dedicated space, but designated to a whole block because there’s
always parking available due to good management. Currently we charge
residents $15 a year to store each private vehicle on the street (with
no limits as to how many vehicles a resident would like to store). That’s
about the cost of riding the bus for a week. Charging the true value of
the privilege to store a private vehicle in public space could provide
new revenues to subsidize residents so riding transit or living in a
walkable/bikable neighborhood is more affordable.
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No Free Parking
Lisa Swanson, Petworth, melatar@yahoo.com
On firefighter parking: a couple months ago, I applauded a DC parking
officer writing up a double-parked car that happened to be in front of a
day care center. A woman walking by said, “You must not have
children.” Had we been in front of a Safeway, she might have said,
“You must not require food.” The implication is that all drivers
have a right to park a car in front of the property they would like to
visit — their own houses, their friends’ houses, their jobs, their
churches on Sunday morning, their children’s schools, their video
stores, on and on, whenever they would like to visit.
We must agree that this is a false premise. The price of automobile
purchase does not include these real estate parcels. Washington, DC,
cannot afford to give workers -- even firefighters, elevated as they may
be in some minds — free parking on the public streets. City
councilmembers should not be exempt from traffic and parking rules
either.
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Our Addiction to Illegal Immigrants
Malcolm Wiseman, Washington Free DC!, mal@wiseman.ws
Leo Alexander is 100 percent correct in writing on our addiction to
illegal immigrants [themail, January 20]. His proposal for its remedy is
reasonable, though I’m sure it would produce many temporary hardships.
However, his ninety-day get-out-of-Dodge amnesty is more than fair.
Throughout the 1980’s I had housecleaning people to do my home, and
they were all African-American women who spent about four to five hours
doing a good job for which I paid them $50-$60. My deceased aunt used to
do similar work in the 50’s and 60’s, spending all day and perhaps
cooking the evening meal, for about $10 or $15 per day plus carfare.
Since the beginning of the 90’s, all of my house cleaners have been
Latinas, and they charge typically in the range of $90 to $120 for less
than a half day of cleaning, including no windows, cooking, or clothes.
I am just one of two or three jobs that they have on their day’s
schedule, and if I want a thorough, all-day cleaning, it’ll cost me
$150 or more. Ridiculous! I talk with my younger neighbors about these
prices, and they don’t think it’s all that high. I think maybe they
are overpaid, too.
Over the past twenty years or so the growing numbers of illegals have
completely crowded out the indigenous laborers we once knew. Now that
they own our business, it seems their prices have increased much faster
then they would have in the previous market. I have empathy for them and
the bad conditions in their native lands, but I feel more for my
neighbors who have been pushed out of their low income jobs right here
in their own country. I know my helpers are all in this country
illegally because I talk with them and hear their stories. So I’m part
of the problem. Like Leo says, I’m addicted. But, it’s gotta stop,
if we want to save ourselves.
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Immigration
Michael Bindner, mikeybdc at yahoo dot com
Leo Alexander, with the moderator’s blessing, writes a long article
about illegal immigration [themail, January 21]. He echoes the
Republican approach, which is to enforce our way out of the immigration
crisis. The problem with this approach is that, unless we pay big bucks
on enforcement, it won’t work. What will work is the repeal, that is
right, the repeal of immigration restrictions. These restrictions
insulate employers from complaints from their illegal employees, making
them preferable. Along with right to work laws in the south that block
union organizing, this is a problem of our own making. If right to work
laws and immigration restrictions were repealed, domestic workers would
be preferred and illegal immigration would vanish. As to repealing
automatic citizenship, no, that will not happen and it should not.
Originally, this provision granted freemen citizenship and indeed
humanity under the law. It would be tragic if it were repealed for what
amount to, as Leo says, borderline racial intolerance.
A shout out to the moderator for suggesting that all amendments to
the charter be voted on, including those passed by Congress. Such a
provision (which the council might even be able to pass) would take the
fun away from Congress in its relationship with the District. Statehood
would not be far away if such a provision were to pass. As Gary points
out, in every state, the citizens get a vote to constitutional
amendments, or at least the chance to throw out the legislature who
proposes a noxious amendment before it takes affect (the latter being
impossible here vis-a-vis Congress).
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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
New Era for DC Rights!, January 25
Eugene Kinlow, info@dcvote.org
Join us for a seminar on DC’s relationship with Congress on Capitol
Hill on Thursday, January 25, from 2:00-4:00 p.m. We will hold a lively
panel discussion at the Lutheran Church of the Reformation, 212 East
Capitol Street, NE. Refreshments will be served. Two members of
Congress, political experts, professors, and Hill staffers will come
together to discuss hot issues buzzing through the halls of Congress,
with a focus on DC voting rights, structural deficit, and home rule
issues.
The first panel will feature Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC),
Representative Albert Wynn (D-MD), and Jim Moore, a senior staffer from
the office of Representative Tom Davis (R-VA). A second panel will
include Dr. Michael K. Fauntroy of George Mason University and Dr. Gary
Young of the George Washington University. Both panels will be moderated
by Walter Smith of DC Appleseed. The event is sponsored by DC Vote, Our
Nation’s Capital and League of Women Voters of the National Capital
Area.
Learn more about the history of the complicated relationship between
the District of Columbia and Congress. We hope to see you Thursday for
an enlightening seminar and discussion!
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DC Public Library Events, February 1
India Young, india.young@dc.gov
Thursday, February 1, 12:00 p.m., Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial
Library, 901 G Street, NW, Room A-5. Brown Bag Recital Series. Cellist
Vassily Popov and guest artists perform the music of Boccherini and
Marcello. For more information, call the Music Division at 727-1245.
Thursday, February 1, 1:30 p.m., Capitol View Neighborhood Library,
5501 Central Avenue, SE. Black history story hour and arts and crafts
for children ages 2-12. For more information, call 645-0755.
Thursday, February 1, 2:30 p.m., Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial
Library, 901 G Street, NW, Room 221. Let’s Talk About Books. The
Known World by Edward P. Jones will be discussed. March’s
selection is Mother Courage and Her Children, a play by Bertolt
Brecht. For more information, call 727-1264.
Thursday, February 1, 6:00 p.m., Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial
Library, 901 G Street, NW, Room A-5. John W. Franklin will discuss his
book, My Life and Era: The Autobiography of Buck Colbert Franklin.
Franklin co-edited this book with his father, John Hope Franklin. For
more information, call the Black Studies Division at 727-1208.
Every Thursday in February, 6:30 p.m., Takoma Park Neighborhood
Library, 416 Cedar Street, NW. Movie Nights. Call 576-7252 for movie
titles.
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Green Design: The Myth and Reality, March 7
Lauren Searl, lsearl@nbm.org
Wednesday, March 7, 6:30-8:00 p.m. Lecture, Green Design: The Myth
and Reality. The Viikki Community of Helsinki is the world’s largest
and most ambitious green housing development project. Markku Siiskonen,
SAFA, the Viikki project manager from the Helsinki City Planning
Department, will present the background, planning, execution, and
results of the Viikki project. Markku Komonen, SAFA, partner at
Heikkinen-Komonen Architects, will discuss the application of green
design principles in Viikki and in his firm’s work. Following the
lecture will be a reception will be hosted by the City of Helsinki. This
lecture is held in conjunction with The Green House, which will be open
for viewing. $12 Museum members and students; $20 nonmembers. Prepaid
registration required. Walk-in registration based on availability. 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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