Accounting
Dear Auditors:
A “forensic” audit of the public schools’ finances? That’s
what Mayor Fenty demanded today. (Actually the mayor is appropriating
the call for an outside audit of the school system from the proposals
made by the Board of Education back in January to counter the mayor’s
takeover plan, and now he is claiming the idea as his own.) But the
mayor is calling it a forensic audit, implying that there was
wrongdoing. Because of all the crime shows on television, most of us
think of “forensics” as a scientific way of solving crimes. But that
newer sense of the word derives from its origin as applying to debate
and argument, as in a court or a legal proceeding.
There is no reason to assume that the audit will uncover criminal
activity or crimes. There is every reason to believe that the audit is
meant to be a weapon in a debate, in the argument over control of the
schools. The mayor intends the audit to prove that the school system’s
financial books are in terrible shape, that the problems can be
attributed to the schools’ lack of accountability, and that they will
be solved by giving control to the administration and city council. It
is intended to “prove” to the public that the takeover was
justified; to excuse slower-than-promised improvements because the
mayor, city council, and Chief Financial Officer could not have had any
idea how bad finances and management were; and to provide a reason to
fire many school system employees.
But the fact is that the schools haven’t had independent control of
their finances since Congress took it away from them in the legislation
that created the Control Board and independent Chief Financial Officer
more than a decade ago. Congress gave the city’s Chief Financial
Officer power over all the city’s finances, including those of the
schools. Since then, the CFO has named the financial officer for the
schools, and the schools’ financial officer has staffed his own
office. The schools have been accountable to the CFO ever since.
The Board of Education and the Superintendent of schools haven’t
controlled accounting for the school system since then. The mayor and
city council will blame whatever mistakes, errors, or foolishness that
is found in the forensic audit on the Board of Education and the
Superintendent, and use it as a debating point to support the takeover,
and the press will undoubtedly report it that way. But financial
reporting and accounting are one thing for which the Board and
Superintendent bear absolutely no blame.
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
###############
Yesterday afternoon, Crista Marie Spencer was killed while in the
crosswalk at 6th and Orleans Streets, NE, by a hit-and-run driver.
Yesterday afternoon, the mayor, the Ward 6 representative, and the
police chief were at the home of the grieving mother. By the 11 o’clock
news, the mayor had pledged that stop signs would be placed on 6th
Street, as well as speed humps to slow traffic down. By 7:00 p.m., a
makeshift memorial has sprung up by the accident. A candlelight vigil is
held, the family mourns, the neighborhood pauses, the city grieves. On
the 5:00 a.m. news, it is reported that Tommy Wells, the Ward
representative, pledges that temporary stop signs would be in place by
this afternoon. The city breathes again because promises have been made
and action will be taken.
On Friday, April 13, Ms. Covington was hit while in the crosswalk of
Minnesota Avenue and M Street, SE. The driver stopped. On Saturday,
April 21, Ms. Covington died as a result of the injuries sustained
during the accident. The family mourns, the neighborhood pauses. There
are no candlelight vigils, no curbside memorial. Only orange marking
show that something happened there. There are no TV cameras, no mayor,
no Ward representative, not even an “In Brief” mention in a
newspaper. Two weeks later, there are no stop signs. Two weeks later, no
temporary stop signs, no speed humps. Two weeks later, we have promises
that the situation will be “reviewed,” but they can’t promise that
action will be taken.
What is the difference in these two situations? In each case a
precious life was lost; in each case the street is notorious for
speeders trying to catch the light. In each case the pedestrian was in
the crosswalk. I can only think that the difference is that we are on
the wrong side of the river, or even the wrong side of the Ward. Where
are our voices crying out for equity? Where are our representatives
crying out for action? When will enough be enough?
###############
Am I the Only One Who Thinks We’ve Gone Too
Doggone Far?
Nancee Lorn, nanceelorn@yahoo.com
I just received an E-mail on my community listserv about an online
petition in support of public dog exercise parks. Does anyone know of a
petition that supports not having dog parks? Call me crazy, but I would
like to see more parks for children and adults. I don’t think there
are enough spaces here for children to run, exercise, roll around on the
grass, and just be kids without sliding in poo or poo residue or being
marginalized by the growing area now taken over by their four-legged
friends.
Everyone seems so up and arms about there not being enough spaces for
dogs to exercise, and I’m thinking, huh? What’s next, forcing
fitness centers to open their dogs and treadmills for Lassie and his
companions? It’s not enough that there are pet bakeries, day care
centers, and that pets have their own card section at Hallmark? Is it
really appropriate for people to bring their dogs into the
indoor/enclosed portion of the open air market at Eastern Market where
raw and cooked food is on display (hello, any health inspectors out
there)? What’s next? Will pets be allowed in Safeway? I remember
dining at a restaurant in Paris a few years ago, cringing while watching
the woman next to me feed her dog using the restaurant cutlery (and we
know what a good job they do of cleaning those things). I remember
thinking that I was glad that Americans weren’t as fanatical about
their pets as many Europeans. And now here we are.
I feel like this city is dividing into the dog owners — I forgot,
the correct term now is “care givers,” who are banding together and
making more and more demands on behalf of their pets, and the people who
believe there is a distinction between dogs and people but who are too
afraid to voice their opinion for fear of being called “dog Nazis.”
I don’t think the dog fanatics speak for all dog lovers and especially
not for those of us who yearn for the simple days when parks were filled
with happy, frolicking . . . children.
###############
The Ward 4 Bowser Who’s Qualified
Scott McLarty, scottmclarty@hotmail.com
Readers of themail who have expressed dismay over council’s
indulgence of Abe Pollin and other big business interests, the mayor’s
DC School Board takeover scheme, and the domination of city politics by
a single party should check out Renee Bowser’s campaign in the Ward 4
special election. Renee accepts no corporate contributions, which sets
her apart from Muriel Bowser (no relation to Renee) and Michael Brown,
who’ve received thousands of dollars from developers and other firms
seeking taxpayer-funded handouts and other favors from the council.
Renee has been elected to her ANC three times and is now chair, and has
also served two terms on the DC Human Rights Commission. For obvious
political reasons, the DC Metropolitan Area Central Labor Council
endorsed Muriel, who has negligible labor organizing background. Renee,
on the other hand, has worked as a union lawyer for over two decades
(Assistant General Counsel for UFCW International Union) and is also a
former shop steward for SEIU. (An earlier AFGE endorsement for Renee was
voided by the Labor Council’s decision.) From 1990 to 1997, Renee
served as a tutor in reading and math for homeless children DC, and she
helped organize the opposition to Mayor Williams’ plan to dismantle DC
General Hospital, the District’s only full-service public health care
facility.
Renee’s web site is http://www.reneebowser.org.
You can also read recent press releases from the Renee Bowser campaign
at the Ward 4 Special Election site, http://ward4specialelection.org/rbowser,
including “Top 10 reasons Renee Bowser is the best candidate in DC
Ward 4,” http://ward4specialelection.org/rbowser/rbowser-top10/view,
and at the Statehood Green Party’s web site http://www.dcstatehoodgreen.org.
Renee has testified before council numerous times on DC jobs, public
education, the School Board takeover, and other topics: read her
testimony at http://reneebowser.com/ward4.php/testimony/home.
Renee says she’s running to be the voice of Ward 4 residents. Wouldn’t
it be nice to have someone on council who isn’t a mouthpiece for the
mayor’s office, an operative for the Federal City Council, or a flunky
for developers, sports billionaires, and the charter school industry?
###############
Unions, Environmental
Groups, and Big Corporate Donors Endorse Wrong Bowser in Ward 4
John Hanrahan, johnhanrahan5@yahoo.com
I write as a union member of more than forty years (The Newspaper
Guild in earlier years and currently the National Writers Union), and as
a longtime supporter of Friends of the Earth and the Sierra Club, to
chastise my labor and environmental organization friends for their
inexplicable endorsements of business-favored candidate Muriel Bowser,
rather than labor attorney and progressive activist Renee Bowser, in the
Ward 4 Council special election next Tuesday.
Maybe the lion can lie down with the lamb, but the specter of local
unions and environmental groups lying down with big corporate campaign
contributors in support of Muriel Bowser makes my head spin. After all,
Muriel Bowser has shown no particular affinity for labor or
environmental issues. And she is the most corporate cash-laden candidate
in the Ward 4 race, with $371,254 in contributions reported to date (a
particularly obscene figure in a short, local ward race), great bundles
of it coming from outside her ward and even outside the District of
Columbia, as has been widely reported in the press.
Now, could it be that those generous corporate donors are looking for
legislation to toughen the city’s environmental and labor standards?
Could it be that, by golly, business and labor/environmental interests
have converged -- the lion with the lamb? Or, more likely, could it be
that the decision-makers among my labor and environmental brothers and
sisters in the Washington, DC, Metropolitan Central Labor Council, the
Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Friends of the Earth, and
Sierra Club have become seriously afflicted with that old DC political
illness — “access” — in this case supporting the candidate who
just happened to have been hand picked by Mayor Adrian Fenty, rather
than a candidate who more closely reflects their own interests?
I am astounded that the Central Labor Council and those two
environmental groups all claim to believe that Muriel Bowser will best
represent labor and environmental interests. Likewise, I fail to grasp
why Renee Bowser reportedly could get the endorsement of the American
Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) in early April, only to have
that endorsement voided after the Central Labor Council endorsed Muriel
Bowser. I am especially disturbed that these organizations gave no
substantive explanation for their puzzling endorsements beyond bland
press releases (and in the case of the environmental groups, won’t
release all the detailed questionnaires that the candidates filled out),
and chose to ignore Renee Bowser in this contest. Renee Bowser’s work
career as a union labor attorney (assistant general counsel for United
Food and Commercial Workers International Union, whose UFCW Local 400
has endorsed her), a former shop steward (with SEIU), a two-term
commissioner on the DC Human Rights Commission, and her political
activism over more than three decades — as well as her detailed
knowledge of the issues in her ward and citywide as an ANC chairperson
-- makes her the most qualified, pro-labor, pro-environment candidate in
Ward 4. And Renee is the only candidate who does not accept corporate
contributions, making her a rarity in a city where big money
increasingly talks too loudly in our local governance.
Just one of the examples of the disconnect between these union and
environmental endorsements and what the candidates stand for: I attended
a few candidates’ forums in Ward 4, and one of the environmental
questions I heard raised from the audience was whether the candidates
favored or opposed the opening of Klingle Road in Klingle Valley (a
stream valley that is an arm of Rock Creek Park), long a hot-button
issue for environmentalists and auto commuters since the road was
partially washed out and closed to auto traffic in 1991. In Friends of
the Earth’s “2006 Environmental Agenda for the District of
Columbia,” there is the following: “. . . the Sierra Club and
Friends of the Earth continue to support preserving Klingle Valley as a
park without automobile traffic.” At this particular candidates’
forum only Renee Bowser stuck to the environmentally supportive position
to keep the road closed. Muriel Bowser said she favored having Klingle
Road open — the traffic-flow supportive position.
I will continue to be a supporter of those labor and environmental
organizations that have made these colossal endorsement blunders, but
urge all union members and environmentalists — and all citizens — in
Ward 4 to ignore these endorsements, to go to various campaign-related
web sites and look at all the candidates’ positions on (and experience
with) labor and environmental issues — as well as on such issues as
the Mayor’s school takeover, the $50 million handout to Abe Pollin for
the Verizon Center, and Ward 4 development that protects residents and
small businesses — and vote for Renee Bowser. I also challenge the
environmental groups to shed some daylight on their mystifying
endorsement process by putting on their web sites the answers each Ward
4 candidate gave to their detailed questionnaires. And the unions, too,
owe Ward 4 voters more of an explanation for their endorsements than
sketchy press releases.
###############
Re: Use of City Property to Promote Muriel
Bowser
Dan Dugan, DC Firefighters Association, dandugan@comcast.net
The fire truck [that was used to campaign for Muriel Bowser] is an
antique owned by one of our members; it’s a 1971 Ward LaFrance that
came from Connecticut. They closed their company more than thirty years
ago. No one was on duty or in uniform. We did not race up and down the
streets as if we were on a response; we were traveling around slowly in
order to get the most exposure. We would pull into a block, blow the
siren a few times to get the pedestrians’ attention, call out our
support for our candidate, and throw out some T-shirts. We did our best
not to interfere with traffic, and I think we were fairly successful. I’m
terribly sorry for the confusion we have done this many times in the
past for other candidates and have never had anything but positive
feedback from the community. We are rethinking how we go about showing
our support for our candidates.
###############
I expressed my reasons for not marching in the April 16 march, and
why I am for statehood as the solution, not just representation, in a
commentary in The Politico. I would revise the headline they gave
me to say “DC needs statehood and a vote”: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0407/3624.html.
“So if a voting representative will not solve the puzzle of the
District’s unequal status, why are we fighting for it? If we ‘win’
this battle, and our newly empowered representative votes against
Congress controlling our local tax dollars, will we in the District feel
better that the bill passed by one less vote? Or will her vote instead
be providing legitimacy to a system that is fundamentally
discriminatory? I am a native Washingtonian who has been disenfranchised
all my life, never able to elect a voting senator or representative. I
could be an active, enthusiastic part of the movement to get a voting
representative for the District, if only I thought it satisfied the rule
of first doing no harm. But I fear that this drive to empower Del.
Norton distracts us from the real issues of the District’s unequal
status. And as long as the District is not a state, or incorporated into
another state, no vote of Norton’s will free us from inequality.”
###############
The Department of the Environment and George
Hawkins
Philip Blair, blair-rowan at starpower dot net
I am generally underwhelmed by Mayor Fenty’s appointments, and
Dorothy Brizill certainly does raise legitimate questions in her April
22 message about Fenty’s pick to be the founding head of the
Department of the Environment. I especially thank Dorothy for raising
the issue of eminent domain. Over here in Ward 5 the proposed “new
town” development at the Florida Avenue wholesale market looks to me
like a witch’s brew of illegitimate political influence and payoffs,
all because eminent domain is the only way to make the project work. And
when I hear the terms “smart growth” or “Brookings Institute” I
reach for my airsickness bag.
However, when I checked out things with some eco-buddies in New
Jersey to see if I could find some dirt on Hawkins of my own, I found
instead an appreciation for his “fact-based” decision-making and
solid environmental work.
But the real reason I am writing is this: if Harriet Tregoning, the
new Director of Planning, helped to recruit Hawkins, as Dorothy
suggests, that is a huge factor in his favor. Tregoning has worked
something of a miracle over here in Brookland in turning around a
perfectly dysfunctional small area planning exercise for the Brookland
Metro station area. Without pandering and without manipulation, she has
listened to Brooklanders and is acting on what she has heard. She has
given us a way to exercise our creativity and wisdom to make something
happen, rather than forcing us yet again to fight a rearguard action to
stop something unacceptable. Her take on smart growth seems to me to be,
um, smart. Tregoning is, unless I have been totally suckered, my idea of
an exemplary public servant. If Hawkins is someone she supports, more
power to him.
###############
A Little Context On Historic Districts
Mark Eckenwiler, themale at ingot dot org
I can’t help commenting on Laura Elkins’ broadside against the DC
Historic Preservation Review Board in the last issue [April 22]. Readers
of themail will be better able to put her comments into context if they
understand the personal history involved. Here’s how the Capitol Hill
Restoration Society’s president, writing in the July 2005 newsletter (http://chrs.org/newsletter/05.07-News.pdf),
described Ms. Elkins’ celebrated run-in with HPRB: “Purporting to
make roof improvements in the original application for permits, she and
her husband John Robbins, a[n] official of the National Park Service,
raised the roof in question and proceeded to create an extension to the
house that aroused the neighbors to ask CHRS to support their
objections. DCRA and the HPRB began the continuing process of trying to
make Ms. Elkins and her husband accountable.
“In Ms. Elkins’ upside-down world she casts herself as the
aggrieved and victimized home owner, when the opposite is true. . . .
The regulations requiring permits and conforming to HPO standards were
protection, not an invasion of anyone’s rights, except Ms. Elkin’s
perceived right to do what she pleased, neighbors’ concerns be damned.
She is anything but the good steward she claims to have ambitions to
be.”
Here’s the Post archives’ abstract of their story on
9/27/02: "[HPRB] Chairman Tersh Boasberg told John Robbins and his
wife, artist Laura Elkins, that they must reapply, retroactively, for
permission for the renovation, which is nearly complete and involved
doubling the height of an addition on the rear of their rowhouse, in the
unit block of Ninth Street, NE. Robbins and Elkins did apply for, and
receive, permission for the project. But board members said their staff
processed the application with minimal scrutiny because Robbins defined
the work as a simple roof repair."
###############
Historic District Designations
Laura Elkins, laura@3plystudios.com
Regardless of what Mark Eckenwiler thinks of me, the issue I raised,
or, more accurately, that Jack McKay raised, remains valid -- that we
should have council review of historic district designations. What is
the harm in that?
Mr. Eckenwiler’s old “news” about our project, by the way, is
not good news in more ways than one. He might ask his sources for an
update while they share a dish from crowbusters.com. I suggest Crock Pot
Crow, although the Summer Crow Kebobs might be more seasonal. Bon
appetit!
###############
Windows Boot-Up Disk
Gabe Goldberg, gabe at gabegold dot com
Bryce Suderow asked, "Does anyone have a Windows XP Professional
boot CD? I use an IBM clone with Windows Pro XP as its operating system.
The computer won’t boot up for some reason. All my belongings are in
boxes, so I can’t find my operating system or a boot-up disk. Without
a disk, can anyone give me advice on what to do?"
For technical questions/problems/resources, keep CPCUG (Capital PC
User Group, http://www.cpcug.org) in
mind. It’s an organization that is more than twenty-five years old and
has more than seven hundred members through the DC region; we have more
than a dozen meetings in the area every month, a HelpLine for members,
and many free discussion lists where you can post questions like this.
To subscribe to the Consultants and Entrepreneurs list, where I’ve
gotten help with requests like this, send an E-mail to listserv@listserv.cpcug.org
containing (in the message body, not the subject line)
subscribe conent-d firstname lastname
Follow the instructions for confirming the subscription, then post
the request.
###############
CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
DC Public Library Events, April 26-28
Randi Blank, randi.blank@dc.gov
Thursday, April 26, 6:30 p.m., Takoma Park Neighborhood Library, 416
Cedar Street, NW. We will watch the film version of Their Eyes Were
Watching God, starring Halle Berry. For more information, call 576-7252.
Thursday, April 26, 7:00 p.m., Lamond-Riggs Neighborhood Library,
5401 South Dakota Avenue, NE. Book discussion. For more information,
call 541-6255.
Saturday, April 28, 2:00 p.m., Southeast Neighborhood Library, 403
7th Street, NE. We will watch the film version of Their Eyes Were
Watching God, starring Halle Berry. For more information, call 698-3374.
Saturday, April 28, 11:00 a.m.-3:30 p.m., Martin Luther King, Jr.,
Memorial Library, 901 G Street, NW. Outside, on the sidewalk in front of
the main entrance, and inside the lobby. PoetryFest 2007, featuring
Robert Pinsky. PoetryFest 2007 will include a live Mother Goose for
children, poetry slams, readings, and music featuring local poets.
Former poet laureate Robert Pinsky will do a reading at 2:30 p.m. Wendy
Rieger, co-anchor and general assignment reporter at News4, is the
honorary chair of this event. For more information, call 727-1281. This
event is sponsored by the DC Library Foundation and the Library’s
Federation of Friends.
Saturday, April 28, 12:00-4:00 p.m., Francis A. Gregory Neighborhood
Library, 3660 Alabama Avenue, SE. The Friends of the Francis A. Gregory
Neighborhood Library host their annual Spring Flea Market, Book and Bake
Sale.
###############
Mystics General Manager Linda Hargrove, April
28
Hazel Thomas, thomashazelb@aol.com
The DC Federation of Business and Professional Women invites you to
participate in its fifty-eighth annual conference on Saturday, April 28,
from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., at the Washington Plaza Hotel located at 10
Thomas Circle, NW. The special guest speaker for the conference luncheon
will be Linda Hargrove, general manager of the Washington Mystics. Cost
of the luncheon is $32.00. To attend or for information about the
luncheon or the conference, call Mary Jane Wolcott at 301-279-5874.
Linda Hargrove will enter her third season as the Washington Mystics
general manger this year. Ms. Hargrove was formerly one of the Mystics’
assistant coaches and in 2003, prior to joining the coaching staff, she
was a scout for the Mystics. Ms. Hargrove will share her experience of
rising up through the ranks to become coach of one of the nation’s
most successful women’s basketball teams; and will comment on the
challenges facing women in professional basketball in light of the
recent negative portrayals by mass media personalities.
The Conference will include: the DC/BPW annual business meeting, a
presentation by a Young Careerist (rising professional under thirty-five
years old) and several workshops centered on BPW/USA’s theme: “Women
Work! Pay them Fairly!” DC/BPW has long been an advocate for fair pay
and pay equity for women. Sadly, today, even with numerous women in
managerial and executive positions, women are still paid only
seventy-seven cents for every dollar earned by men. The convention will
complete the week-long celebration which began on Tuesday with “Equal
Pay Day,” the day in 2007 when the average women’s salary is equal
to the 2006 salary of the average man.
###############
Rally to Save Darfur, April 29
Chuck Thies, chuck at savedarfur.org
The Save Darfur Coalition, Amnesty International, NAACP, American
Jewish Committee, Darfur Interfaith Network, and others are hosting a
rally in Lafayette Park on Sunday, April 29, 2:00-4:00 p.m., to call for
international peace keepers and an end to the genocide in Darfur. Meet
at 1600 H Street, NW, directly across from the White House.
###############
Working in Africa, May 2
Dorinda White, dorindaw@aol.com
Join us for Working in Africa, a WIFV Wednesday One event, on
Wednesday, May 2, from 6:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m. at Interface Media, 1233 20th
Street, NW, 1st Floor. Get various perspectives from media producers
with recent projects about the continent in Nigeria, South Africa,
Senegal, Swaziland, Namibia, Bostwana, and Kenya. Africa is a continent
of fifty-four countries and is home to more than a thousand ethnic
groups and languages. It’s rural in heritage, but urbanizing at rapid
rate. It has survived colonialism and celebrated independence. However,
in the west it continues to be portrayed as the “Dark Continent,” a
monolithic entity of poverty, backwardness, war, and disease. This
program will shed light on the opportunities and challenges of working
in African countries, as well as look into the responsibility to produce
balanced programming.
Panelists are: Carol Pineau, producer of “Africa Open for
Business”; Dapo Otunla, secretary of the Nollywood Foundation, which
supports the growth of the Nigerian media and entertainment industry;
Carolyn Projanksy, president of Five Star Films and co-producer and
director of “Breaking the Rules,” a feature documentary about the
white South Africans who opposed apartheid; Adrienne Brawley, producer
of “Moms on the Road Africa”; Ms. Juanita “Busy Bee” Britton,
founder of Random Acts Foundation and producer of Random Act’s
documentary filmed in three African countries. Dorinda White, President
of Women in Film and Video, will moderate the panel. This event was
chaired by Talaya Grimes, WIFV Board/WIFTI Board. For further
information contact Talaya Grimes at talayag@yahoo.com
or call the WIFV office at 429-9438 or visit http://www.wifv.org.
Free to WIFV members and $15 for nonmembers.
###############
The Italian Letter, May 7
Michael Andrews, mandrews@udc.edu
Peter Eisner, co-author of The Italian Letter: How the Bush
Administration Used a Fake Letter to Build the War in Iraq, will be
on campus of the University of the District of Columbia for a book
signing and reception on May 7 from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. in the Windows
Lounge, Building 38, 4200 Connecticut Avenue, NW. Mr. Eisner will
explore this very controversial subject in the context of how certain
international and domestic events can trigger war.
Peter Eisner is a deputy foreign editor at the Washington Post.
He served as a foreign editor at Newsday from 1985 through 1989
and as the paper’s Latin America correspondent from 1989 through 1994.
He was also a reporter, officer and bureau chief with the Associated
Press. Eisner won the American Press Association Award in 1981 for his
investigations of drug trafficking in the Americas. He lives in
Bethesda, Maryland. Mr. Ian Portnoy of the law firm of McKenna, Long,
and Aldridge is bringing Eisner to the University for a discussion with
journalism and other students, as well as interested members of the
community.
###############
And Then Came Love, starring Vanessa Williams, Eartha Kitt, Kevin
Daniels, Michael Boatman, Stephen Spinella, and Ben Vereen, will kick
off the 2007 Urban Film and Discussion Series hosted by Landmark
Theater, 555 11th Street, NW. Members of the public are invited to
attend the special sneak preview screening on May 10 at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets range from $10 (general) to $20 (VIP) and can be purchased
through advanced RSVP at UrbanFilmSeries.com or at the Landmark Theater
box office. Following the screening, there will be a discussion and
Q&A with the film’s writer-producer, Caytha Jentis, and other
members of the cast and crew. The discussion will be moderated by Corey
“CJ” Jennings, the Urban Film Series founder.
And Then Came Love is a romantic comedy about a successful single
mother who opens Pandora’s box when she seeks out the anonymous sperm
donor father of her young son. Tackling issues of motherhood, marriage,
and the choices and challenges of parenting, this movie strikes at the
heart of how, why, and whom we love. And Then Came Love promises to be
the “feel good” film of the summer. And Then Came Love will be
released in select theaters on June 1st, and nationally on DVD by Warner
Home Video under the American Black Film Festival DVD series label on
August 14. More information on the film can be found at http://www.andthencamelove.com
or http://www.urbanfilmseries.com.
The Urban Film Series is a programmatic arm of the Next Generation
Awareness Foundation (NGAF), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose
mission is connect urban communities with history and progressive
cinema, and provide exposure of the arts and the motion picture industry
to many communities across the United States. The Urban Film Series also
produces the annual Black Docs Film Series, Urban Film Series Tour, and
Black History Month Film and Discussion Series, and has received well
over six hundred films from across the world for its various
film-related programs.
###############
CLASSIFIEDS — FOR SALE
Original and Rare 1887 Hopkins Maps of
Washington
Paul K. Williams, dchousehistory@aol.com
We are selling our remaining original, large, hand colored, Hopkins
maps of Washington, DC, this week on eBay, including several that have
never been offered before (the large NW DC area that was then outside
the city limits). These are the first map that offers significant detail
of each and every house and structure, showing named streets, paving
types, building materials, even owners names in many cases. Find out if
your house was built before 1887 or if a house existed on your lot
before yours was built just by visiting the auction site! These have
never to my knowledge been offered on eBay before, so this could be your
last chance; I’ve never seen them listed before in my fifteen-year
eBay experience. Simply search for “Hopkins Map” on eBay.com to find
them all listed, with large pictures for each you can use for research
today.
I’ve also digitized all 44 of the maps in the complete set using a
full size scan (nearly 2x4 feet), and have full size prints of these
outstanding maps printed in full color on heavy photographic paper,
ready for framing as a cheaper alternative to the originals. You can
find them in our eBay store at http://stores.ebay.com/The-House-History-People_1887-Hopkins-Atlas-Prints-DC_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQfsubZ10286371QQftidZ2QQtZkm.
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CLASSIFIEDS — SERVICES
YouTube Training Offered
Phil Shapiro, pshapiro@his.com
Would you like to get up to speed putting your own videos on YouTube?
I can assist you in learning the ropes. The barriers to entry are very
low these days. If you use Windows XP, a $30 webcam is all you might
need. (See http://tinyurl.com/2nmr8q
for a video I shot with a low-cost webcam.) I teach on both the Windows
and Macintosh platforms. $25/hour for one-on-one or small group
trainings. I travel anywhere in the DC area. It’s important to
remember that you don’t need to have your own Internet connection at
home to be a video producer on the web. You can upload your videos to
YouTube from many places besides your home — at a friend’s house,
public library, etc. You can transport your video on a low-cost USB
flash drive or CDR disk.
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CLASSIFIEDS — RECOMMENDATIONS
Hilltop Exxon No Longer Recommended
David Haas, Davidjanice@verizon.net
In a 1999 edition of themail, Mark Servatius confidently recommended
Dave Knutson and his assistant Herman at Hilltop Exxon. 301-229-3350.
Dave is “honest to a fault,” he wrote. I took my car to Hilltop to
have a rattling exhaust fixed, and they did so quickly for a reasonable
price. However, they then told me I needed a transmission fluid
replacement and that my brake pads were dangerously low. I took the car
to the service center that did the original work and had them conduct a
thorough brake check. My brakes were in great shape with more than
enough pad life to last years. However, the mechanics did not see that
two of my tires were worn below specifications, which meant that I
needed an alignment and two new tires. The mechanic had to see the tire
situation, because he had to pull the wheel to inspect the brakes. I’ll
leave it to you, dear reader, to determine whether the mechanics were
simply inept or intentionally dishonest.
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