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June 27, 2007

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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Debt
Allan Jirikowic, chiefike@earthlink.net

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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Red Circulator Buses
Kerry H. Stowell, kerrystowell@mac.com

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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Let Them Laugh
Bill Coe, bceedeec@aol.com

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

Ice Cream Freezers
Michael Williams, mwilliams@golfdc.com

What brand/model do you recommend?

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