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June 24, 2007

Debt

Dear Debtors:

On Wednesday, Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi sent a letter to Mayor Adrian Fenty and City council Chairman Vincent Gray warning about the dangerous level of debt that the city government had accumulated — “The District has the highest debt per capita of any major municipality in the nation: $10,429 per person. . .” — and warning against increased borrowing for additional ambitious monuments to politically favored developers (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/20/AR2007062002299.html). Actually, he didn’t use exactly that phrasing, but that was his point.

The Fenty administration’s reaction, or lack of reaction, has been illuminating. The only public comment on Gandhi’s letter came on Friday from Neil Albert, the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, on the DC Politics Hour on WAMU-FM. Albert said that the letter was simply the “CFO’s recommendation,” and that “it’s really the starting point of a dialogue that the CFO is going to have with the Fenty administration on how we finance the infrastructure support for the development functions of the District of Columbia” (http://www.wamu.org/audio/kn/07/06/k1070622-16175.asx, starting at about 13.30 minutes). “We just see it as an invitation from the CFO to start a dialogue about how we meet the infrastructure needs of the city and continue the economic development that was started a few years ago in DC.”

In other words, responsible financial behavior is just an opening gambit from the CFO, something against which to negotiate in order to support all the giveaway plans on the table. Governmental debt of $10,429 a person is just the starting point; let’s see how much it can be increased in four years.

We’re still experimenting with sorbets and ice creams. The most unusual flavor in the past couple weeks has been avocado coconut ice cream, which is actually quite good; but the most successful flavor was cantaloupe sorbet. Sorbet is a good and very simple way to improve any melon that isn’t quite sweet enough on its own. (Blend together any melon, sugar, lemon juice, and optional vodka, and put it in an ice cream freezer. That’s all there is to it.) Who needs meat, fish, or vegetables, when ice cream is on the table?

Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com

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Community Policing in PSA 107 Falters Once Again
Bryce A. Suderow, streetstories@juno.com

PSA 107, located in southeast DC near the Potomac Avenue Metro, is in the midst of its worst crime wave in ten years and thing are only going to get worse when summer comes. Last Thursday evening a large number of concerned citizens went to the PSA’s monthly meeting to find out what the police plan to do about it. The commander, inspector, and lieutenant didn’t show up. Sergeant Jones told the group that he and the rest of the PSA officers were leaving the PSA because of a new shift “matrix” or staffing plan. In July new officers will be assigned. The PSA won’t meet again until the third Thursday in September. Meanwhile the citizens wonder

Community policing can work. But it takes both the community and the police to participate to make community policing work. The community turned out for the PSA 107 meeting. What’s going on with the police in the First District? I have great respect for Commander Groomes. But I don’t think the citizens should have to wait until after Labor Day to hear how the police plan to deal with the rising crime and what information and action the police need from the community to keep the lid on crime during the hot summer weeks ahead.

Once again the citizens of PSA 107 have to start from square one with new officers unfamiliar with the neighborhood. They have done that dozens of times in the past. But it adds insult to injury to have to wait until September to start the process. Is this what we can expect from our new police chief? A continuance of what happened under Chief Charles Ramsey?

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Virtue
Karl Jeremy, mayandkarl@gmail.com

A week ago the city lost another stellar employee. Bill Crews was told to vacate the Zoning Administrator’s office, and it seems clear the mayor had problems with the scrutiny being paid to developers’ plans. After all, it takes money to run the city and this mayor is as deep in the pockets of developers as his predecessor.

What’s amazing is how quickly Mr. Fenty has been compromised after promising there would be changes in the way business is done in this town. Well, six months into his first term and it’s business as usual in Washington. Developers are running the mayor. Even the Ward Three councilmember ran on a platform of Smart Growth and, while she knows nothing about where growth is needed in the city, she knows development money got her to the Wilson Building. She is in good company. Her colleagues Jim Graham and Jack Evans openly promote their funders at every opportunity and don’t hesitate to let the mayor know when plans have hit an unacceptable snag. Friends, honesty, and integrity are virtues your grandparents embraced that are obviously not held high by the youthful Fenty administration. Men like Bill Crews and Merrit Drucker stand out because they refused to be compromised. Thanks to both of them for sharing their high standards with the residents of the city.

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Let’s Trade
Ed T Barron, edtb1@macdotcom

Metro wants to raise fares. Let’s trade. Retrofit the Metrorail escalators (all of ‘em) in exchange for raising the fares. All we are doing with the escalators we have today is replacing failed parts and assemblies. The basic design of the DC Metrorail escalators is seriously flawed and maintenance can never correct that. The bones of these escalators are bad and the only solution is a complete retrofit. There’s a very capable outfit in Finland named Kone that designs and manufactures people moving machinery. Kone recently retrofitted the escalators in the Trump Towers in NY and at the Moscone Center in San Francisco in a very short time. Metro should sign up for a prototype retrofit on one of the worst performing station escalators.

[And, Ed, as part of that deal require WMATA to do regular rat abatement in the stations. You know it’s bad when the rats are scurrying around the stations with the morning rush hour crowds. — Dorothy Brizill]

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E-filing of DC Tax Returns
Jack McKay, jack.mckay@verizon.net

Electronic filing of tax returns is pricey, but the cost may be justified by the elimination of the possibility of transcription errors by clerks keyboarding information from paper returns. But is the District Office of Tax and Revenue is still employing such clerks, typing in the numbers read off E-filed computer printouts?

I was dismayed to have my E-filed TurboTax return challenged by the District Office of Tax and Revenue, and our $280 District tax refund transformed into a $150 tax bill, plus penalty and interest. “Total credits do not match the amount claimed on the return,” the letter from the District Office of Tax and Revenue said, not very informatively. Well, off to 941 North Capitol Street to find out what this credit was that they were questioning (forget trying to resolve such problems by mail or phone; been there, done that, failed). The pleasant clerk there said that our tax forms were missing my wife’s Social Security Number. Um, how could that be, given that her SSN was right there on the TurboTax printout, page one, top and center? Somehow that essential and elementary bit of information got E-slipped. Then, after some mysterious fiddling at his terminal, the clerk announced that our original calculation was correct, and the District does indeed owe me and my wife the aforesaid $280. What was the problem? “It wasn’t coded right,” he explained, cryptically. How can an E-filed return not be "coded right," if the data is communicated computer to computer?

So if all goes well we’ll get our tax refund, just a few months late. Hm, on that tax bill they dunned me $18 additional for underpayment penalty and interest. Do you suppose that the District will pay us penalty and interest for their late payment, due to their error, of our tax refund? Yah, right.

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It’s Hard to Say
Ed T Barron, edtb1@macdotcom

It’s hard to say just how much Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s takeover of the New York City schools affected the recent surge in math proficiency for grades 3 through 8, but it sure beats the old top-heavy bureaucracy’s results of years past. According to the NY State Education Department, 65.1 percent of the city’s public-school students in grades three through eight demonstrated proficiency in a statewide math exam. That’s an 8 percent increase over the test results of 2006 in New York City. That’s quite a contrast to DC, test results and it will be most interesting to track scores in the DC schools over the next few years with Mayor Fenty controlling the schools.

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Adrian Fenty for President 2008
Jonathan R. Rees, jrrees2006@verizon.net

After reading Arthur H. Jackson’s comments on running Mayor Adrian Fenty for president of the United States [themail, June 20], I thought that the idea might have some merit if Mr. Jackson would sell that idea to the producers of the TV show “The Last Comic Standing.” DC has often been the butt of jokes around the country and a Fenty for President campaign would definitely have the entire USA in stitches, laughing at us once again.

Mr. Jackson, running Fenty for president based upon your logic would assure that DC won’t get a vote for a long time to come.

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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS

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

Monday, June 25, 6:00 p.m., Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Library, 901 G Street, NW, Enhanced Business Information Center (e-BIC), A-level, e-BIC Conference Center. How to Get an SBA 7(a) loan. Learn how to finance your business through the Small Business Administration (SBA) 7(a) loan guaranty program. Find out how it works, where to apply and what lenders look for on your application. For more information, call 727-2241.

Monday, June 25, 7:00 p.m., Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Library, 901 G Street, NW, Room 222. All the World’s a Stage Book Club. We will discuss The Bookseller of Kabul, by Asne Seierstad. For more information, call 727-1161.

Tuesday, June 26, 2:30 p.m., Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Library, 901 G Street, NW, Enhanced Business Information Center (e-BIC), A-level, e-BIC Conference Center. Starting a Home-Based Business. This session walks you through the tax and licensing requirements for a sole proprietor consultant who is doing business out of their home. Please call 727-2241 to reserve a seat.

Tuesday, June 26, 6:00 p.m., Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Library, 901 G Street, NW, Enhanced Business Information Center (e-BIC), A-level, e-BIC Conference Center. How to Find and Finance Commercial Property. This class will teach a step-by-step process to finding commercial real estate in Washington, DC You will become familiar with the DC real estate market and learn about the demographics of the various business districts in the city. For more information, call 727-2241.

Tuesday, June 26, 7:00 p.m., Takoma Park Neighborhood Library, 416 Cedar Street, NW. Takoma Park Book Club. To find out what book will be discussed, please call 576-7252.

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Kidsave Champions vs. the WHUR 96er’s, June 30
Susan Punnett, susan@kidsave.org

The Kidsave Champions will play the WHUR 96ers (a team of on-air personalities and staff) in a basketball game to help recruit volunteer host families and raise community awareness for the Weekend Miracles program, which helps older children in foster care find permanent, loving families.

Saturday, June 30; 4 to 6 p.m.; Turkey Thicket Recreation Center (1100 Michigan Avenue, NW; near the Brookland-CUA Metro station). Kidsave Weekend Miracles is a new program dedicated to helping older children in DC foster care find loving adoptive families. This innovative approach helps children find families through a combination of host family visits, advocacy and outreach. For more information: http://www.kidsave.org.

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