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June 3, 2007

Think of the Children

Dear Adults:

The most cynical ploy in the debate over the mayoral takeover of the public schools is the plea to “think of the children,” as though the takeover had anything to do with the children. Let me be repetitive, since I’ve written all this before. The mayoral takeover of the schools will not do anything to hasten or speed up any improvement in the education of our children. It will, instead, inevitably slow down any improvement in the education provided by the public schools.

Here’s why. Adrian Fenty and his hapless, plagiarizing Deputy Mayor of Education, Victor Reinoso, don’t have any ideas of their own about how to improve education. Reinoso is building a duplicate school bureaucracy within the mayor’s office, but his young and inexperienced bureaucrats know much less about running a school system than the bureaucrats within the school system of whom they are so contemptuous. What Fenty and Reinoso have pinned their hopes on is that they will hire a super superintendent, a miracle worker who will come to town, wave his magic wand, and improve everything in a trice. There are a couple dozen such miracle worker superintendents. They wander the nation going from major city to major city, promising unimaginable wonders and staying in each city for two, three, or four years, or until just before their school boards catch on that nothing much has improved, and then they move on to the next market at a higher salary. Fenty’s biggest hope is that he will get Rudy Crew from Miami. Of course, Fenty’s model, New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, began his school takeover by firing Rudy Crew, but we’re not supposed to remember that.

Bringing any new superintendent into a school system delays movement toward improving the schools for at least a year, as the new superintendent replaces the ineffective old guard with his or her shiny new (and just as ineffective) assistants, subordinates, and cronies. If the new superintendent is content simply to implement any educational plans that were instituted by his or her predecessor, the delay will be only for that year, but if the superintendent comes with new ideas and new plans, in order to put his individual stamp on the system, the delay will stretch out to two or three years, to allow time for the new plan to be introduced and implemented. Over the past two decades in Washington, we’ve had enough experience with introducing new miracle worker super superintendents every few years to recognize and understand the whole sick syndrome. We’re in the empty promises phase now; the honeymoon with the miracle worker will last for about a year; and the disillusionment will start soon thereafter.

In any case, if you wanted to “think of the children”; if you wanted to improve the schools as quickly as possible; if you wanted to prevent delay, you wouldn’t propose a radical remake of the DC public schools or place your hopes in next year’s version of Smith-Becton-Ackerman-Vance-Massie-Janey.

The text of Referendum 007, “Referendum on Certain Provisions of the Public Education Reform Act of 2007,” is at http://www.dcwatch.com/election/ref007.htm; Mayor Fenty’s letter to the Board of Elections and Ethics requesting them to reconsider their decision that the referendum is a proper subject for a referendum is at http://www.dcpswatch.com/mayor/070531.htm; and the Attorney General’s complaint to DC Superior Court requesting that the court find it is not a proper subject for a referendum is at http://www.dcpswatch.com/mayor/070601.htm.

Gary Imhoff
gary@dcwatch.com

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Whoda Thunk It?
Ed T Barron, edtb1@macdotcom

As I sit here on Saturday I’m hoping that Barry will make an appearance at my house on Sunday or Monday. Who’d have thought that I’d some day be cheering for Barry? That would have been an irrational thought up until this week when tropical storm Barry made a first appearance in the Gulf of Mexico. It’s coming up the coast after putting out all the fires in Florida. I’m hoping Barry will dump some needed rain all over my place in the next couple of days. Bring on Barry.

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Crime by the Numbers
Dorothy Brizill, dorothy@dcwatch.com

Allison Klein had an important article in Saturday’s Washington Post, “New DC Data Alter Violent Crime Tally: After Reporting Drop, Police Cite 9% Rise” (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/01/AR2007060102648.html). “Police revised the yearly crime tally after turning up major discrepancies in their crime databases, officials revealed yesterday. An internal review uncovered crimes that were misclassified or not counted, officials said.” Klein reports Metropolitan Police Department explanations about “discrepancies” that result from the use of two different databases, but she also presents a clearer explanation from Kristopher Baumann, chairman of the Fraternal Order of Police Labor Committee: “‘They were playing with the numbers. Sooner or later, it catches up,’ Baumann said. ‘You’re going to find a lot of manipulation and cherry-picking of numbers.’”

What Klein didn’t report was the anecdotal experience of numerous citizens over the past decade who found that crimes against them or that they had personal knowledge of were either never officially reported or were minimized, reclassified, and underreported. When police performance reports, pay raises, promotions, and pay bonuses depend on ever-falling crime statistics — when District Commanders’ jobs are on the line unless their statistics are made to look good — why wouldn’t widespread fiddling with the reports and the statistics be expected?

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If Google Bought the Washington Post
Phil Shapiro, pshapiro@his.com

If Google bought the Washington Post, could our hometown paper emerge as the premier digital newspaper — the one that others around the country seek to emulate? Imagine the phone call to the newspaper’s paper supplier: “Thanks, you don’t need to send any more paper after the end of this month.” Two minutes later: “We won’t be needing any more ink after the end of this month. Thanks.”

A clean cut with the past would prevent the painful hemorrhaging happening at other newspapers. Screen resolutions will soon be approaching the quality of paper. Those who prefer reading their newspaper in print have the option of printing it out on their home printer. Want an affordable printer that prints 60 pages per minute? It’s coming soon (http://tinyurl.com/25oewl).

Guess what? With digital distribution, the cost of subscribing just went down to $5 per month. And the bulk of that subscription fee will go to reporters and editors, not to paper supplies, ink supplies, printing presses, delivery trucks, delivery persons, etc. You prefer to subscribe at less than $5/month? You can subscribe for 0 dollars per month if you care to write a few articles about your community, create video interviews with the people who are the greatest assets in your community, lend your time and creative talents to Creative Commons projects, participate constructively in your neighborhood wiki, and much more. Or we could continue on the current path.

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Relocation of Night Clubs
Clyde Howard, ceohoward@hotmail.com

It seems to me that if it is so important to relocate night clubs into a single area of the city, it should not be in the New York Avenue area of the city, which is the gateway to the city from the north. DC is not the Las Vegas of the east, and we do not need the glitter of neon to advertise that we are open to any and all matter of lurid entertainment. Why should Ward 5 be dumped on, and why should the clubs be centralized in one place? It looks like there is some kind of caballing going on to pick one area of Ward 5 for all of these displaced clubs to be built. DDOT has on the table a redevelopment plan for New York Avenue that would make it a grand artery into our capitol city and make it an extreme pleasure to enter the city through a beautified developed vista. Those who know what New York Avenue used to look like as a main route going south before construction of the Beltway and the Interstate system, certainly would not want a throwback to those dingy days of travel.

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Bicyclists Versus Cars
Richard Stone Rothblum, richard@rothblum.org

I think that DC law states that bicyclists should stay as far to the right as “practicable.” As a committed cyclist, I have found out the hard way that it is not a good idea to go around stopped cars at an intersection. They may try to exact revenge. I was almost killed in a tunnel by a Trailways bus driver who didn’t think I should have passed him as he was stopped for a light. When I was between him and the tunnel wall, he ran his bus right into the curb of the tunnel, actually bouncing off the curb from the impact. I barely escaped. Since then, if I do go around cars stopped at an intersection, I ride on the sidewalk (legal except for the downtown business district) for long enough for those cars to pass me. This is only fair. When I am motoring, I resent waiting behind a cyclist to pass safely, only to have the cyclist pass me while I am stopping for a light, forcing me to wait to get around him. This is clearly not fair. When this happens, it is tempting not to wait for as long as I should to ensure the cyclist’s safety as I pass.

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Pedestrians and Crosswalks
E. Chris Wells, echrisswells@yahoo.com

Just imagine what could have been accomplished if the money spent in the various studies was used for installing the appropriate devices saving lives and making it safer to walk in marked crosswalks. According to the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, pedestrian fatalities outnumber homicides in many jurisdictions.

George Bernard Shaw once wrote, “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” An interesting point is the lack of police enforcement, since they look the other way on this issue. (But they ticket a walker for having an unleashed dog.) The following MPD Newsletters might be of interest: June 3, 2005; June 17, 2005; and December 1, 2006. It is an uphill battle and only will be resolved after more people speak-up and make our stewards accountable. Governments work better when people communicate among themselves about public problems.

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A Review of Mark’s Kitchen’s Mango Curry Entree
Phil Shapiro, pshapiro@his.com

People who know me know my propensity to push the boundaries, so although themail focuses on DC, I just had to share this review — http://tinyurl.com/yucsde — of an exquisite dish at Mark’s Kitchen in Takoma Park, Maryland, a scant two hundred yards outside the DC line. I realize the venue of this review might get challenged on constitutional grounds, but I offer the review anyway as a Friend of the Court brief.

And if you want to talk appeal, let me tell you, this dish has wide appeal. The only way this dish could get overturned is with your fork.

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A Chance for Democracy
Harold Foster, Petworth, incanato@earthlink.net

Apparently there will be a chance, a slim one, for the citizens of DC to be heard on Fenty’s governance proposal. If you go to www.dcboee.org you can get the Board of Elections and Ethics proposed summary of the school governance proposal that would go to referendum. The referendum advocates have very little time as I understand it, about a week, to collect something like 20,000 to 27,000 signatures. And, of course, as we advocates of campaign spending limits have found out, the city council is under no obligation to respect the results of the referendum. But I am getting ahead of myself.

As with most polities, local and national, the city is clearly divided about this fairly radical reconstitution of the DC Public Schools. John Adams’ old one-third-one-third-one-third assessment of public sentiment towards independence from Great Britain seems applicable here also: some are desperate to change, some don’t think the advantages of this particular approach justify the extremities to which it goes, and some are just plain desperate, period, where public education in this town is concerned.

Well here’s everyone’s chance to get directly in the debate. The other opportunity is to attend the mayor’s town hall sessions that Fenty is holding around the city.

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Twenty Thousand Signatures, Yes, But
Ed T Barron, edtb1@macdotcom

The petition to hold a referendum on whether or not Mayor Fenty will take over the public schools will get more than the required 20,000 signatures. The petition will not succeed, however, because signature collectors will be unable, in one week, to collect the required distribution of signatures — 5 percent of the registered voters in five Wards of the city.

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Journalist’s Bias Blocks Free Speech on Democracy
Dennis Moore, dennis@DCIndependents.org

Self-styled journalist and analyst Jonetta Rose Barras truly must believe DC is an abbreviation for dumb citizens or docile constituents. Her unwarranted and biased attack on members of a citizens referendum coalition marks her clearly as having no journalistic integrity. There’s no doubt she’s volunteered herself as the unofficial spokesperson for the special interests and government elites who are intent on maintaining the District as America’s last political plantation — at the expense of democracy and due process.

Her nasty, immature and unsubstantiated rhetoric as a columnist for The Examiner newspaper (http://www.examiner.com/a-755990~_Sour_Grapes_Gang__fighting_takeover_ignores_the_children.html) and co-host on WAMU-FM radio’s Kojo Nnamdi Show brings into question whether she is a credible representative of legitimate news media. Even a fifth grader can understand that if we want to become a state, we need to start acting like one. Citizens of the other US states have the normal expectation of referendum rights on matters that govern them. Welcome to America, Ms. Barras. No doubt, her attempt to distort and dilute the actual message behind the citizens’ voices for basic democracy and due process, is standard operating procedure for people who have no link to journalistic integrity or the facts. We are hopeful that the editors and managers of The Examiner and WAMU Radio are more sensitive to the rights of District citizens, and the news consumers who believe democracy is not a doormat for the ignorant. Real news should not be smothered by the misinformation of uninformed scribes with a personal agenda.

Jonetta Rose Barras is entitled to her own opinion and agenda. But if Ms. Barras is presenting herself as a credible and credentialed member of legitimate news outlets, she is definitely not entitled to her own facts.

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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS

DC Public Library Events, June 5, 7
Randi Blank, randi.blank@dc.gov

Tuesday, June 5, 1:00 p.m., Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Library, 901 G Street, NW, Enhanced Business Information Center (e-BIC), 1st Floor. If you are starting a business or want to take your existing business to the next level, speak to experts from the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs and the Office of Tax and Revenue during special office hours at the Library. For more information, call 727-2241.

Tuesday, June 5, 4:15 p.m., Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Library, 901 G Street, NW, Room 215. Assistive Technology Users Group and Support. Assistive technology users meet to share information. For all levels who use assistive technology for the blind and visually impaired. For more information, call 727-2142.

Tuesdays, June 5-June 26, 6:00 p.m., Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Library, 901 G Street, NW. For more information about the series, call 727-1265. June 5, Deja Vu (2006). This slick mix of action, romance and science fiction stars Denzel Washington. Directed by Tony Scott. Rated PG-13. June 12, The Queen (2006). Oscar winner Helen Mirrin plays Queen Elizabeth during her public relations struggles after the tragic death of Princess Diana. Directed by Stephen Frears. Rated PG-13. June 19, Pan’s Labyrinth (2006). A young girl escapes from the harsh realities of fascist Spain in the 1940s into a fascinating fantasy world. Directed by Guillermo del Toro. Rated R. June 26, Stomp the Yard (2007). A street dancer from Los Angeles tries to fit in at a Black university in Atlanta. Columbus Short and Meagan Good star in this film directed by Sylvain White. Rated PG-13.

Thursday, June 7, 10:00 a.m., Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library, 901 G Street, NW, Enhanced Business Information Center (e-BIC), A-level, e-BIC Conference Center. The Business Planning Process. Learn the steps you need to take to start a business in DC This class is free and cosponsored by DC’s Small Business Development Center. For more information, call 727-2241.

Thursday, June 7, 12:00 p.m., Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Library, 901 G Street, NW, Room A-5. Brown Bag Recital Series. Join us for a performance by Cellist Vassily Popov, pianist Ralitza Patcheva, and guest artist Erich Ulreich, on guitar and electric guitar. Call 727-1245 more information.

Thursday, June 7, 1:30 p.m., Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Library, 901 G Street, NW, Enhanced Business Information Center (e-BIC), 1st Floor. Local, Small, Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (LSDBE) office hours. Are you eligible for LSDBE certification? Come to the Library during LSDBE office hours if you are a small business owner in the District, plan to become one, or currently sell to the District Government. Please call 727-2241 to sign up for this session.

Thursday, June 7, 2:30 p.m., Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Library, 901 G Street, NW, Room 221. Let’s Talk About Books. We will discuss Ibsen’s play "An Enemy of the People," as adapted by playwright Arthur Miller. Call 727-1264 for more information.

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National Building Museum Events, June 14
Lauren Searl, lsearl@nbm.org

Thursday, June 14, 6:00 p.m., VIP reception; 7:00 p.m., general reception. Join the National Building Museum for its 21st Honor Award Gala, which will salute Related, an industry-leading, fully integrated real estate development firm. This prestigious award will be presented to Stephen M. Ross, chairman and founder of Related Companies, and Jorge M. Perez, chairman of The Related Group, in recognition of their commitment to design excellence, affordable housing, mixed-use development, and community revitalization. The black tie gala will include tributes from David M. Childs, FAIA, partner of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP; Daniel L. Doctoroff, New York City’s Deputy Mayor for Economic Development and Rebuilding; and Bernardo Fort-Brescia, FAIA, principal of Arquitectonica. For more information and table/ticket prices please visit our website at www.nbm.org/honoraward.html or contact Tasha Passarelle, Development Events Manager, at 272-2448, ext. 3112, or tpassarelle@nbm.org. At the National Building Museum, 401 F Street, NW, Judiciary Square stop, Metro Red Line.

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CLASSIFIEDS — SERVICES

CreateAThon 2007
Alex Dickman, alex@mediastudio.com

Are you, or do you know, a DC-area 501(c)(3) nonprofit that urgently needs graphic design, web, or communications consultation but can’t afford to pay for them? CreateAThon, a twenty-four-hour marathon of design occurring this September, can help your group. Even if your group has participated in CreateAThon before, you still may qualify this year for new services: office, grant, and communications consulting. To apply for free services for your organization, download an application at http://www.mediastudio.com/createathon.

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