Sound Advice
Dear Advisors:
The letter about the District’s debt burden that Chief Financial
Officer Natwar Gandhi sent to Mayor Adrian Fenty and City Council
Chairman Vincent Gray, which I wrote about in the last issue (June 24),
is now posted at http://www.dcwatch.com/govern/cfo070620.htm.
As a helpful reader reminded me, when Adrian Fenty was running in the
primary election he pledged, "I would heed Dr. Gandhi’s sound
advice and abide by a cap on the ratio of debt service to expenditures.
In order to sustain the improved bond rating, the district must continue
to spend, raise, and borrow money wisely" (quoted in the Bond
Buyer, September 5, 2006). Campaign promises, however, seldom last
longer than the campaign. If meaningful spending limits are going to be
placed on wasteful government giveaways that are justified in the name
of “economic development,” those limits will have to be imposed by
the city council, since the mayor and his administration clearly have no
wish to spend responsibly.
This council, however, does not wish to say no to Mayor Fenty. Does
Fenty appoint as his Deputy Mayor for Education a person who doesn’t
have the qualifications to do the job -- except for his sponsorship by
the Federal City Council — and who committed plagiarism while he was
in the position in an acting capacity? The city council doesn’t see
either of those things as a disqualification for the job. Did Fenty
appoint as the school chancellor a person whose organization (the New
Teacher Project) has contracts with the DC public schools that account
for a tenth of its income? (See Jim McElhatton’s well-researched
article in The Washington Times, http://www.washingtontimes.com/article/20070626/METRO/106260037/1004).
Certainly, the city council will say, no one can see a conflict of
interest there. Did the contract that the New Teacher Project has with
DCPS get written as two separate contracts, each one just under the
$500,000 limit that would have required the Board of Education to
approve them? Well, what could possibly be wrong with that, the city
council will rationalize. Did the chancellor appointee then appoint as
her chief deputy the person who had been the vice president of the New
Teacher Project, the same person who had also been on the board of
EdBuild, the spin-off of the Federal City Council that had $50 million
in contracts approved by DCPS? Can’t see anything to question there,
the city council will say. Was Neil Albert, now the Deputy Mayor for
Economic Development, the Chief Executive Officer of EdBuild? What’s
the relevance of that, the city council will ask, as it reaches for its
big rubber stamp.
We have a city council that won’t perform oversight at the very
time when we have an administration that needs oversight as much as or
more than any previous administration.
Michael Williams asks below for recommendations for brands and models
of ice cream freezers. I don’t know about brands, since we’re using
a fifteen- or twenty-year-old freezer whose manufacturer I can’t even
find on the Internet. But I do have a recommendation for what type of
freezer to get. If you’re going to make ice cream rarely, once or
twice a year as a centerpiece for a family picnic, make it an occasion.
Get an old-fashioned hand-cranked wooden bucket that uses ice and salt
to freeze the ice cream, and celebrate tradition on the Fourth of July.
If you’re going to make ice cream more often, get a motorized machine
that gets the mixture cold by using a pre-frozen metal container. If you
get one of these machines, you may want to buy a second container so you
don’t have to wait another day to refreeze the container before you
can make a second batch or a different flavor. If you’re going to make
ice cream frequently, get a model with a built-in freezer, even though
it will be much more expensive. You won’t have to plan ahead and
pre-freeze the container, and you can make batch after batch without
waiting. Know yourself before you spend that much money, though; how
often have you used your other specialty kitchen gadgets after the
novelty wore off? When’s the last time you used your yogurt maker,
your bread maker, your pizza heater, and so on? With that said, what
current brands and models do readers recommend?
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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What are the individual government projects that have generated such
debt for the city? You know that most Washingtonians have no idea their
city has such a large level of debt owed per capita. How does this debt
break down? I know the heralded Convention Center is a big one. How
about the Baseball Stadium or the old convention center. There must be
few more in there that we know not of. It’s just thievery in my book.
[For some leads, see Gandhi’s letter, http://www.dcwatch.com/govern/cfo070620.htm.
— Gary Imhoff]
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How many Red Circulator buses are there? Twenty-nine in the total
fleet, and no more than twenty-four in service at any one time. How many
does each bus seat? Twenty-four seats, plus standing room for another
thirty to forty standing. How many gallons of gas does each take?
Ninety-eight.
Let’s see. That would be 98 gallons x 3.5 = $308 per bus per day;
24 buses x $308 = $7,392 per day for gas. In thirty days, the cost of
gas would be $221,760 per month; in twelve months, the cost of gas would
be $2,661,120. This does not include the cost of drivers’ wages,
insurance, and maintenance.
Average ridership on a Red Circulator bus is one to five passengers.
Average vacancy is nineteen to twenty-four seats per bus.
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In response to Mr. Rees’s jab at Mr. Jackson in themail (June 24),
I agree that a move to run Adrian Fenty for president as a favorite son
from DC might raise a few chuckles in East Jesus, Kansas (and other such
burgs), but what’s the harm? Better they be laughing at us out there
in the heartland than completely ignoring us, as they’ve done for so
long. The best thing that could happen to our democratic cause is to
become the nightly whipping boy of Jay Leno or David Letterman. As the
butt of their jokes, we would at least be on the nation’s radar
screen, which we are not now.
As for the risk of DC’s not getting a vote “for a long time to
come,” I think the danger of this can’t be much worse than it
already is. Notwithstanding the noble efforts of Eleanor Norton, Tom
Davis, Joe Lieberman, and others on the Hill, we Washingtonians are not
going to be fully represented in Congress anytime soon. My prediction is
that, before DC gets that vote, everyone reading this text will be dead
and gone. There are just too many hurdles to jump — the last of which
would be getting support from five justices on the same Supreme Court
which (s)elected our current President. If you’re looking for jokes,
that one’s hard to beat!
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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
Hip-Hop Ministry Tour, June 28
Dorinda White, dorinda@rindimedia.com
Hip-Hop Ministry Tour featuring Kurtis Blow and The Trinity on
Thursday, June 28, from 7-10 p.m. at the Patricia R. Harris Educational
Center, 4600 Livingston Road, SE. The event is free and open to the
public. DC councilmembers, business and community leaders have been
invited to attend. The nationwide Hip Hop Ministry Tour is sponsored by
Visit Florida and the HipHop Church and will feature special guest
appearances by Noah, General X, and other guest artists. The tour began
on May 12 in Orlando, Florida, and will end on July 8 in Burlington, VT.
For additional information, please contact Rindi Media at 508-3897.
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C.R. Gibbs Lecture, June 30
Randi Blank, randi.blank@dc.gov
Saturday, June 30, 2:00 p.m., Francis A. Gregory Neighborhood
Library, 3660 Alabama Avenue, SE. Historian C.R. Gibbs will present a
lecture on the “African Origins of Christianity.” For more
information, call 645-4297.
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Kidsave-WHUR Basketball Game, June 30
Gina Marr, gina@kidsave.org
The Kidsave Champions will play the WHUR 96ers in a basketball game
to help recruit host families and raise community awareness for the
Miracle Weekends program, which helps older children in foster care find
permanent loving families. An afternoon of family fun, a great
basketball game, special guests, and refreshments. The 96ers have a 10-2
record, but the Kidsave Champions plan to play them to win. Saturday,
June 30, 4 to 6 p.m., Turkey Thicket Recreation Center, 1100 Michigan
Avenue, NW, near the Brookland-CUA Metro station. For more information
about Kidsave, visit http://www.kidsave.org.
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CLASSIFIEDS — RECOMMENDATIONS
What brand/model do you recommend?
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