Decorum and Disgrace
Dear Decorous Readers:
Under the chairmanship of Vincent Gray, this is the worst city
council that the District of Columbia has ever had — and we remember
the abysmal city councils of the 1970’s and 1980’s. But even in
those days, when city council members were irresponsible and several of
them were seriously stupid, at least they understood how to run public
hearings, and they realized that public hearings were intended to give
citizens of the District an opportunity to speak with their elected
public servants. Their meetings maintained a certain minimum level of
civility, decorum, and respect toward citizens. By contrast, this
council is angry and mean. It is contemptuous of and hostile toward
citizens, and its members don’t want to hear anything that differs
with their preconceived opinions. Last week, columnist Adrienne
Washington described councilmembers’ misbehavior during their hearing
on Mayor Fenty’s school takeover bill: “witnesses, especially
Superintendent Clifford B. Janey, were berated, badgered, interrupted,
and not allowed to answer questions during a kangaroo-court-style
inquest" (http://washingtontimes.com/metro/20070201-105011-2766r.htm).
But the hearing last week was just a warm-up for the disgraceful
behavior of councilmembers today. The public witnesses today were
overwhelmingly opposed to Fenty’s takeover, though there were some
takeover supporters who were warmly welcomed by the councilmembers.
Councilmember Mary Cheh, who is rapidly shaping up to be the nastiest
and most disagreeable councilmember in DC history, made a point of
assailing every witness who opposed the takeover with the dishonest
argument that if they didn’t support Fenty, they supported the status
quo and didn’t want the schools to improve. She deceitfully argued
that the burden was on those who opposed the mayor’s takeover to
explain why they did not support it. Councilmembers Barry, Thomas, and
Catania weren’t far behind Cheh. They tried to outdo each other in
their rudeness; they yelled at witnesses, misrepresented their
testimony, refused to confront or even admit their arguments, and
refused to let witnesses respond when they mischaracterized their
testimony and subjected them to personal abuse. Council Chairman Gray’s
chairing of the hearing set the atmosphere and encouraged the hostile
attacks on citizens. Gray tolerated the most vicious of personal attacks
from the councilmembers upon those who dared to testify, and he denied
anyone who had been attacked, or whose testimony had been distorted and
misrepresented by councilmembers, the right to respond.
The council is shirking its job. It’s not doing its own research
into the failures of urban school systems that have had mayoral
takeovers; it’s deliberately turning a blind eye to the failure of the
Bloomberg takeover in New York City; and it’s ignoring the many
examples of urban school systems (for example, Charlotte, Austin, and
Houston, among others) that have progressed and improved markedly under
independent school boards. It has refused to seek the advice of the
numerous educational organizations headquartered in Washington, because
it doesn’t want to know the facts. Instead, it’s ignoring and
insulting citizens, students and their parents, teachers, and anyone who
knows anything about the school system, and rushing headfirst into a
debacle — all because it wants to control the money and the contracts
and the land that the Board of Education controls now.
This meanness of the council and its mistreatment of citizens will
have long-term consequences for the government of our city. The
degradation of public hearings of the city council is designed to
discourage citizen participation in and control of our government —
just as the takeover of the school board is designed to eliminate
citizen participation in and control of our schools. The behavior of
these councilmembers is not just a disgrace; it is a deliberate attempt
to denigrate, if not destroy, an important component of our city’s
governing process.
Gary Imhoff and Dorothy Brizill
themail@dcwatch.com and dorothy@dcwatch.com
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Proposed New Regulations for Bars and Clubs
James Treworgy, jamietre@yahoo.com
The “Protection and Safety of Underage Persons Amendment Act,” as
described in the Post article (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/05/AR2007020501606.html)
seems pretty silly. Rather than having people provide a “plan,”
wouldn’t it make a lot more sense to tell people what they have to do?
If there are no such guidelines, then how is an establishment supposed
to know what to put in their plan in order to have it accepted? Does it
even have to be accepted?
This whole mess started with a homicide that took place at a club
that apparently has an extensive history of incidents. The question I
can’t help asking is, why do we need to pass new laws every time
something bad happens around here, instead of just dealing with the
people who are irresponsible directly? Ninety-nine percent of the bars,
restaurants, and clubs in this city operate problem-free for the most
part, yet all will be punished as a result of a handful of incidents at
known trouble spots. Wouldn’t it make a lot more sense to worry about
the trouble spots than suddenly have to enforce a slew of new
regulations citywide, at places that are mostly not a problem?
Beyond the logistical absurdity of this, any legislation that makes
it more difficult for adults legally to go to clubs that provide
entertainment seems simply unfair. Entertainment should be available to
all adults equally, and creating new draconian measures because of a
handful of irresponsible clubs just ruins it for everyone. It’s simply
unnecessary.
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I Hate to Say I Told You So
Richard Layman, laymandc@yahoo.com
One of my major complaints about approving the revised DC
Comprehensive Plan last December was that Transportation Demand
Management was barely discussed in the Transportation Element and that,
in fact, TDM should provide the primary organizing framework for
transportation planning in DC. (Although as an agency, DDOT also has to
be focused on supply — infrastructure, including transit and roads).
The only substantive (and barely substantive at that) provision for TDM
in the Comp Plan is that it is required now for PUD matters. But since
planned unit developments comprise such a small proportion of new
projects, and because, frankly, TDM matters just as much if not more,
for extant projects and institutional uses, this bumping up from a
suggestion to a requirement has little impact. (Although I suppose I can
say that I helped change one word in the Comprehensive Plan!)
The impact of this failure can be seen day to day in actions by the
Board of Zoning Adjustment. Yesterday, BZA ignored virtually all the
comments by DDOT submitted in regard to a matter on H Street NE
(#17521). DDOT asked that 1) 7 percent of parking spaces (34 of 487) be
reserved for car/van pools; 2) spaces be reserved for carsharing
vehicles; 3) carsharing access be open to registered users 24/7; and
that 4) the developer work with DC Department of Employment Services
(the only tenant of the building) to have workers participate in Transit
Check programs (this provides transit benefits to interested people
instead of car parking). The developer agreed to provide five spaces for
car/van pools and four spaces for carsharing, but not 24/7 access to
those spaces. The developer refused to participate in TransitCheck. (I
don’t know if DOES workers will get free parking. Probably.)
According to someone at the meeting, “[Board of Zoning Adjustment]
Chairman Griffis commented on the community support for these parking
facilities.” Leaders lead. Or not. One of the reasons that so many
land use planning processes are contentious is that most of the people
involved don’t know much about land use, placemaking, and
transportation. I don’t blame the average citizen for that lack of
knowledge. It’s up to public officials to help build the base of
understanding. After all, they are professionals and paid to inform and
educate. The BZA Chair has been nominated to become the chair of the
Zoning Commission. There is outcry about this in certain quarters, which
has been reported in the City Paper and the Examiner. I
tend to think that such citizen outcry doesn’t matter, because this is
about development and the Growth Machine, not about mediating citizen
concerns and developer desires to build the biggest, most profitable
project possible. But this abject failure to understand the necessary
intertwining of land use and transportation planning makes me wonder how
qualified Mr. Griffis really is to become the chair of the Zoning
Commission. In fact, this matter alone might make me stand up and
testify (against) at the confirmation hearing.
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Amazing Boilerplate Text in Fairfax County
E-mail Received Today
Gabe Goldberg, gabe at gabegold dot com
The following hard-to-believe text speaks for itself. Fairfax County,
Virginia, prides itself on being techno-savvy, on the cutting edge of
the new economy, and other similar blather. Looks like the “cutting
edge” is severing Fairfax from the Internet. Being offline would be
bad enough, but bouncing E-mail? For three or four days? Amazing. I
wonder how many people won’t know in advance and will be
baffled/frustrated/angered/outraged?
“Fairfax County information technology services will be unavailable
beginning February 17 and resume on February 20. My account will be
inaccessible during this time frame and any incoming E-mail will be
bounced to the sender. In effect, Fairfax County will temporarily cease
to exist online for this period. We apologize for the inconvenience.”
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[Re: Aaron Lloyd, “What Happened to DC’s First Abraham Lincoln
Statue?,” themail, February 4] The statue is currently located at the
corner of 4th Street and Indiana Avenue, NW, near Court Building C. It
was moved in order to allow for the renovation of the historic Old
Courthouse which is being restored and will house the DC Court of
Appeals. Once renovation is complete (scheduled for December 2008), the
statue will be restored to its original location.
Local historians have told us that this statue was the first public
monument to the fallen president and was constructed with funds
contributed immediately after his assassination. The Old Courthouse
itself also has a fascinating history. Daniel Webster and Francis Scott
Key were among the eminent Americans who practiced law in the building.
John Surratt was tried there as a conspirator in the assassination of
President Abraham Lincoln. Pierre L’Enfant set aside the area now
known as Judiciary Square in his 1791 plan for the city of Washington.
In 1820, architect George Hadfield’s neoclassical design won a
competition for the District of Columbia’s first City Hall in
Judiciary Square, which housed both the local government and also
federal courtrooms. A north wing, including an ionic portico facing
Judiciary Square, was designed by Architect of the Capitol Edward Clark
and constructed in 1881-1883, by which time the building housed only
judicial functions. Congress authorized a major renovation in 1916,
which was completed in 1919. This renovation stripped away the north
ionic portico and clad the building in limestone. The current renovation
will restore the building to its original use: it will house the
District’s highest court, the DC Court of Appeals.
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Per Brigid Quinn’s posting [themail, February 4], we still have a
number of Christmas trees along 47th street in American University Park.
I guess if they are never picked up, these trees can be used again next
year — a little spray paint, and who knows?
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[Re: "Christmas Trees," themail, February 4] My response to
this article is that the Department of Public Works did not bring the
Christmas tree into your house. You did, therefore dispose of it
yourself. I understand that citizens have expectations for municipal
services, but we the citizens create too many problems that often
overwhelm the city government. Hence, take your Christmas tree to the
nearest city dump and leave it there.
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Historic Preservation
Laurie Collins, Mt. Pleasant Neighborhood Alliance, lauriec@lcsystems.com
In response to Jack McKay’s question on the hardship provision to
the Historic Preservation Law, “Why is the historic preservation
bureaucracy so up in arms because the Mount Pleasant ANC passed a
resolution calling for such a provision?” [themail, February 4] There
appears to be no justification for a hardship exception in the Walbridge
Place case, since solutions are available to the applicant that would
provide the Lucas’ with two legal and accessible means of egress,
without the need for an exception to historic preservation law. The ANC’s
stated rationale for passing this resolution was as follows: “This
failure to allow exceptions for personal hardship may force residents of
historic districts to live under cramped or unsafe conditions, or even
to leave their longtime homes.”
This statement does not apply in this case. The Lucas’ chose to
live in the basement apartment, where they have resided for some time
under cramped, yet safe, conditions; and because the project involves a
complete overhaul of the house: 1) the Lucas’ will have to relocate
during the renovation of the property; and 2) the architect has complete
flexibility to plan a new layout for the elderly couple that addresses
concerns of safety and accessibility and that also complies with the
Americans with Disabilities Act, the DC Building Code and Historic
Preservation Law.
In addition, ANC1D left many important players out of this discussion
— an oversight that portrays the ANC as one-sided. No public agenda
was publicly posted listing this as an item to be discussed, no
representatives of the Historic Preservation Office, the Office of
Planning, or Historic Mount Pleasant were consulted or invited to appear
to discuss this case, before the ANC acted. All of these entities have
worked with the family on this matter and could have provided valuable
factual information. In fact, had these people been consulted, this
resolution may not have reached the floor for consideration. Since the
ANC asked them for no input or comment, the facts were never presented.
The resolution (passed 3-2 with one commissioner absent) appeals to
emotion, but the facts provided by the Historic Preservation Office show
there is no reason to change the law. Therefore, we asked that the ANC
rescind its resolution as well and work quickly to resolve these issues
with the city’s professionals, who have offered their services to the
family, as well as to the ANC. The response by our ANC Chair to the
Chair of the Historic Preservation Review Board? “Of course, as a
public official you [Tersh Boasberg] will be welcome to make your five
minute statement in our Public Discussion period, 7:00 to 7:20 on 6
February 2007.”
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Don’t you just love it when you discover someone is trying to con
you, like when supporters of illegal immigration deliberately omit the
word “illegal” when they speak of their right to work in our
communities, as if the only issues to be discussed are their rights and
how being denied these opportunities is racist? I’ll agree that our
immigration laws need some work, but you would be hard-pressed ever to
convince me that their breaking our laws is somehow good for us in the
long run. This isn’t a time to pussyfoot around and be politically
correct. The message should be sent: come here legally or be deported.
The rights of Washingtonians must be first and foremost.
Nothing was more ridiculous than seeing those pictures in the Metro
section of The Washington Post on February 6 of a group of these
con artists lobbying Virginia lawmakers for rights for illegal
immigrants. Are they serious? I know I’m not the only one who thinks
this nonsense has gotten out of control. Just think, if we were to allow
amnesty to all the illegals, what would prevent corporate America from
seeking a new, cheaper illegal work force tomorrow? Not one thing,
because this addiction is about the bottom line — profit. At this
rate, this madness never ends, and therefore illegals will never stop
taking jobs from our local labor force. These illegal workers are
criminals who blatantly flaunt our immigration process and break federal
laws right at our nation’s doorsteps. They should all be arrested and
deported along with their 14th amendment-protected progeny. These
children should be citizens of their parents’ native countries, not
ours; that constitutional loophole must be closed. And don’t tell me
that if we were to enact such a policy that our economy would collapse
— that’s baloney. The plain truth is Americans held these jobs
before and want them back, but refuse to be exploited. Unimpeded illegal
immigration only hurts the most at risk members of our community, people
who are trapped on the lowest rung of our economic ladder; they deserve
our empathy.
The second point that was missed was from a piece I wrote called
“DC’s Field of Dreams.” The summary of my argument, and I used
baseball to make my point, was that our local professional sports
franchises should reinvest in the community. Their return on investment
will be generated from the field of public opinion and goodwill. This
means the owners of the Washington Nationals, Wizards, Mystics,
Capitals, DC United, and the mayor should enter into a partnership to
adequately fund and maintain a first-class sports academy for promising
youth; where they will live and receive professional coaching, academic
tutoring, mentoring, and a balanced diet. The sport is immaterial; it’s
the environment and the opportunity, currently being offered to foreign
children, that will save our own. How many more crime emergencies will
it take before our elected officials realize curfews alone aren’t
getting it done? I challenge our leaders to demonstrate their vision and
exercise their power to demand results.
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Clarification on Blacks and Janitorial Work
Roger Scott, roger.scott@earthlink.net
[Re: Cecilio Morales, “Blacks and Janitorial Work,” themail,
February 4] I would like to preface my comments by pointing to the
article in the Washington Post on this issue. “Lawn-Care
Entrepreneur Faces A Changing Racial Landscape” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/04/AR2007020401088.html.
I believe that this article discusses this issue quite well.
My comments in themail, January 31, were a direct response to a
specific question regarding African Americans in the cleaning industry.
By no means was I limiting the scope of African Americans to ”cleaning
white professionals’ toilets,” nor do I believe that the author of
the original question had such an intent either. Please reread my
comments, in the context of the question to which I responded. I pour
libation to all the ancestors that you have mentioned, and many more,
for the contribution they have made with their minds, bodies, and souls.
Just as any human being on this planet, personal/professional
achievement is not curtailed by the quantity of melanin in your skin.
To slightly expound on the issue as you have presented it. The
original discussion was related to low-income earners and hiring
practices in this region. While income is not a preface for
“success,” the issue refers to the opportunities available for those
people who may not have the socially established credentials to obtain
higher paying positions. Thus they have no other option than to vie for
the jobs in question. There are much larger issues at play here that are
not appropriate for this venue and that have been covered by published
authors such as Welsing, Akbar, and A. Wilson. One such item would be
access to education, which is a hot-button topic these days. I would be
happy to discuss this matter with anyone outside of this forum, but I
wanted to clear up any misunderstandings regarding my response.
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Blacks and Janitorial Work
Malcolm Wiseman, mal@wiseman.ws
[Re: Cecilio Morales, “Blacks and Janitorial Work,” themail,
February 4] If the discussion has shifted from socioeconomic to racial,
it mustn’t. Mr. Alexander’s seminal post is about a certain Yankee
addiction and the negative impact of illegal labor on DC’s population.
It is not about the aspirations of "DC Blacks," past or
present, to anything. He is talking about what has happened to all of
the legally hyphenated colonial-American residents of DC, especially the
ones who are out of work now, due in some measure to illegal immigrant
labor. That, and what (if anything) we can do about it. By the way, we
do all know that all illegal aliens aren’t in the janitorial business,
don’t we?
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I’m piping in once again on this issue, most recently addressed by
Leo Alexander on January 18, Roger Scott on January 31, and Cecilio
Morales on February 4. Mr. Scott was talking about employment with a
janitorial service, which presumably doesn’t pay very well. What about
construction jobs? Almost everybody who has worked on my house and my
neighbors’ houses has been Latino; we were paying the contractor
plenty, although I don’t know exactly what he was paying the men. What
about domestic service jobs? I do know that when I was working full time
at a mid-level government job my cleaning lady (first a Filipina, later
a Latina) charged as much (in cash) for less than three hours work as I
earned in an eight-hour day, making her hourly wage $25-$30. I assume
that nannies charge a comparable amount.
So, despite the relatively good pay, perhaps there are too many
reminders of the bad old days when service jobs were the only work
available to black people. As I said in my earlier post, it is my
impression that the black citizens of DC now have higher aspirations.
The recent immigrants who cleaned my house eventually moved on to better
jobs — one became a medical technician, one a teacher. I’d really
like to hear the opinion of the African Americans in our community.
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Well, Gary, your arrogance comment [themail, February 4] sort of
invites nihilism to the extreme or conversely simply abject surrender to
failure. You have to do better than that, so does Colby with whom I
mostly agree and admire. I have no expertise in this area, but I do have
my powers of observation. When I grew up in Detroit in the 1930s in a
low income neighborhood, a lot of us dumb guys (about 80 percent white)
weren’t doing too well in school. We hung out a lot on the streets and
reinforced each others’ belief that school wasn’t going to do much
for us anyway. The toughest, strongest, and fastest talking among us set
the tone. They also seemed to be the guys who had the most dysfunctional
families, and if there was a man in their house they got banged around
the most. (I could outrun my father.) The classrooms where success
occurred were the ones lorded over by tough, strong-willed teachers,
male and female. I didn’t like them until years later, when I realized
what they had accomplished. This was when we were eight, nine, ten years
old; after that it was too late.
How does all this relate to our situation? First, if what we have
doesn’t work and hasn’t worked, then why not try yet another way.
But I do agree that running the system isn’t where it’s going to
impact. It’s in the classroom, on the street, and in the home. I at
this point don’t see what’s being brought to bear on that. Colby a
few weeks earlier in another article said what was needed was to teach
these youngsters how to think and communicate. He missed the boat there.
My experience policing the tough streets of Washington taught me if
anything that most of these kids knew how to think well enough that they
knew how the police functioned, how stores operated, how to cut deals
pedaling dope and goods, how to count and make change with big bucks.
And they could communicate; we just couldn’t understand their
language. Running the schools is only part of the problem. Getting a
handle on leading these kids out of their low-income culture is the real
challenge.
[Ron Linton chaired the Public Safety Committee of the Fenty
Transition. — Gary Imhoff]
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Fixing DCPS Schools by Name-Calling and
Impugning Motives
Len Sullivan, lsnarpac@bellatlantic.net
DC’s nationally-embarrassing education problems cannot be fixed by
venting paranoia, claiming democracy denied, or impugning your new mayor’s
efforts to get a grip on this persistent, largely sociological, problem
(Imhoff and Pearson, themail, February 4). One portion of DCPS’s
problems eminently qualifies for strong executive action. Since various
school boards, parents and third party activists have been unwilling for
twenty years to down-size the physical plant, and unable to fix the
plumbing and other disrepair in right-sized facilities, it’s high time
to resort to authoritarian measures. DC’s kids should at least benefit
from attending schools in equal or better condition than their homes.
As NARPAC has repeatedly illustrated over the past ten years of
analyses, the receptivity of kids to learning is more a function of
their living rooms than their school rooms. Census Bureau and NCES
statistics can demonstrate conclusively that kids’ test scores are
directly related to the presence of, and educational achievement of,
their parents. Single parents and undereducated, sometimes functionally
illiterate, couples often live in poverty and generate progeny that
follow in their footsteps. Newer data correlation across a sample of
urban school districts, using 2005 testing and demographic data,
confirms this relationship. These correlations are independent of skin
color, though lifestyles (marriage rates, mom’s age-at-first-birth,
and number of kids) do reflect ethnic customs. Police Chief Ramsey and
Superintendent Janey both recognized these factors to be well beyond
their control. Clearly, city government has far more tools to encourage
lifestyle changes than does a school board. Both Mayor Fenty and
Chairman Gray point to the key ingredient of family quality in their
inaugural addresses. Even a serious second effort to educate school
dropouts (i.e., likely parents) must be driven by forces beyond the
school system.
Those unwilling to wait for our next web site data update, can find
these earlier analyses at http://www.narpac.org/PEPI.HTM;
http://www.narpac.org/PERENTS.HTM;
and http://www.narpac.org/PESTPLAN.HTM.
Why not forsake amateur psychology, name-calling, and red herrings, get
a factual grip on the root problems, and accept a better way for your
local government to solve them?
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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
Draft Obama Watch Party, February 10
Eric Marshall, mshall77@gmail.com
Senator Obama is about to make an historic announcement that he’s
running for president. Please come out, meet like-minded individuals,
have fun, and hear the Senator’s speech. Draft Obama is hosting a DC
watch party at Busboys and Poets, this Saturday, February 10, at 10:30
a.m. at Busboys and Poets (2021 14th Street, NW). RSVP to mshall77@gmail.com
or 380-5523.
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DC Public Library Events, February 13-14
India Young, india.young@dc.gov
Tuesdays, February 13 and February 27, 12:00 p.m., West End
Neighborhood Library, 1104 24th Street, NW. West End Film Club. Bring
your lunch and enjoy these films. February 13, Malcolm X; February 27,
The Color Purple. For more information, call 724-8707.
Wednesday, February 14, 1:00 p.m., Juanita E. Thornton/Shepherd Park
Neighborhood Library, 7420 Georgia Avenue, NW. Shepherd Park Wednesday
Afternoon Book Club. Enjoy a lively book discussion of The Story of
My Experiment with Truth by Mohandas Gandhi. For more information,
call 541-6100.
Wednesdays, February 14 and February 28, 7:00 p.m., Petworth
Neighborhood Library, 4200 Kansas Avenue, NW. Black History Month
Program. Lecture and book signing by author and historian C.R. Gibbs:
February 14, Black Inventors; February 28, The Forgotten Legacy. For
more information, call 541-6300.
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Tolu2Books Reading and Discussion Club,
February 14
Tolu Tolu, tolu2books@aol.com
Tolu2Books Reading and Discussion Club will meet every second
Wednesday of the month at the Northeast Library, 330 7th Street, NE,
12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. in the meeting room on the second floor.
Starting Wednesday, February 14. Please join us and bring friends. For
more information, call 331-4418.
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UDC Founder’s Day, February 22
Michael Andrews, mandrews@udc.edu
The University of the District of Columbia will begin a yearlong
celebration of thirty years of distinctive service to the citizens of
the District of Columbia at the UDC Founder’s Day Convocation. The
Convocation, which will be held in the University’s Auditorium, is
scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m., Thursday, February 22, and is open to
all students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends of the University. As
part of the convocation, the University will also present four awards to
honor excellence in educational leadership and service, as well as a
lifetime achievement award for sustained and exceptional commitment to
the University’s mission. The theme for this year’s Founder’s Day
Convocation will be “Celebrating Thirty Years — Reclaiming Our
Alumni.” The University’s first Board of Trustees publicly announced
on August 1, 1977, the consolidation of the District of Columbia
Teachers College, the Federal City College, and the Washington Technical
Institute into the University of the District of Columbia under a single
management system. Founder’s Day 2007 will mark the kickoff of a
University campaign to attract graduates of UDC and all her predecessor
institutions to return to their alma mater.
Prominent civil rights leader Thomas N. Todd will deliver the keynote
address for this year’s convocation. An activist attorney widely known
as “TNT” for his oratorical skills, Thomas N. Todd, who will be 68
when he addresses the UDC Opening Convocation, served as a lawyer in the
US Army from 1964 to 1967 and joined the staff of the US Attorney’s
Office in Chicago in 1967. In this capacity, Todd made history when he
developed the first criminal case against a Chicago policeman for
deprivation of an individual’s civil rights in 1968. Todd organized
and established the first Civil Rights Office in a local US Attorney’s
Office in 1969. United States v. Gorman, the first federal
criminal case against a Chicago police officer, ended in a hung jury in
1971. Todd was the first full-time black law professor at Northwestern
University, where he taught from 1970 to 1974. Todd has been admitted to
practice law before many courts, including the Louisiana Supreme Court,
the US Court of Military Appeals, the Illinois Supreme Court and the US
Supreme Court. A powerful spokesman for civil rights, Todd was president
of the Chicago Chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
in 1971 and president of Operation PUSH from 1983 to 1984.
The seeds for higher education that grew into the University of the
District of Columbia were first planted in 1851, when Myrtilla Miner
founded Miner Normal School, a “school for colored girls.” In 1955,
Miner, by then known as Miner Teachers College, united with Wilson
Teachers College to become District of Columbia Teachers College. DC
Teachers College merged with Washington Technical Institute and Federal
City College in 1977 to form the new institution, the University of the
District of Columbia. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, DC City Council Chairman
Vincent C. Gray, and other members of the District Council, as well as
Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, have all been invited to share in the
University’s commemoration.
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CLASSIFIEDS — VOLUNTEERS
AARP DC Volunteer Leader Position
Grier Mendel, gmendel@aarp.org
Are you a DC resident who knows the city, is committed to improving
the experience of aging in the District and has advocacy or outreach
experience? Have you held a leadership position in a community group,
government advisory body, fraternal or religious organization, social
welfare organization or trade association? If so, we may have the
perfect volunteer opportunity for you. AARP DC seeks two leadership
volunteers to join its Executive Council, help set annual priorities and
guide efforts to benefit our community. If this seems like a great match
for you or someone you know, please visit http://www.aarp.org/dc,
E-mail cpage@aarp.org, or call C.A.
Page at 434-7703 for more information.
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CLASSIFIEDS — RECOMMENDATIONS
Can someone please tell me how I tune in to BBC. Until last week I
went to bed reading my Guardian with BBC radio in the background
(are there any other real international news media?) — a habit I
developed twenty years ago when working in the Sahel. WAMU does not have
the same coverage WETA gave us, and now instead of “Speaking of
Faith” I have to listen to some airhead named Faith Salie and her
so-called irreverent take on the politics of the day. (It seems we need
to attach an entertainment factor to everything we do). So I went down
to Radio Shack yesterday and paid $150 for a shortwave radio and stayed
up until 1 am trying to tune in to BBC. Today I tried contacting the
British Council and all I got was a recording directing me to their web
site. I realize classical 90.9 is a more soothing path to slumberland,
but I miss the richness of BBC. Help!
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