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August 26, 2007

Induction

Dear Heaters:

Larry Seftor and Robert Nevitt have some interesting criticisms of themail and of me, below. Because this is another short issue, during the usual late summer lull, I’ll take extra space and demote my reply to them to below their comments. Late summer and around the Christmas holiday are always good times to send your submissions to themail; there is usually plenty of room then.

As you know, I’m a sucker for electronic kitchen gadgets, and the gadget we have had the most fun with recently has been our new induction cook top. We had seen induction cook tops before, but had never used one until we ate at Bob’s 88 Shabu Shabu in Rockville. There, every table has a built-in induction cook top to heat the shabu shabu pot, the pot of broth in which diners cook the various ingredients that they order. An induction cook top begins heating the pot almost immediately, gets the pot hotter than a gas or electric range, and is immediately responsive; turn the thermostat down and a boiling pot stops boiling almost instantaneously. I was so taken with the technology that I went shopping for one. What I found is that, while full-sized induction ranges are affordable in Europe, they are ridiculously expensive, and therefore rare, in the US. However, single-burner induction units are affordable, but not widely available. They can be bought on the Internet, but no local kitchen stores have them. We didn’t shop the restaurant supply stores, but, since almost all induction cook tops are made in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and China, we looked at Asian supermarkets, and found that most of them stocked at least one model along with the rice cookers and teapots.

How does an induction cook top work? Here’s the helpful explanation given in the instruction booklet for the cook top we bought: “Induction cooker is working in accordance with theory of the electromagnetic induction. In the inner of the induction cooker, the alternative voltage of 50Hz is changed into direct volate by the commutate circuit, then the direct voltage converts into high frequency voltage for 25-35KHz, quick transformation of electric current will produce quick transformation of magnetic field through loop, the bottom of metallic pot produces innumerable small vortexes when magnetic string through it, the metallic pots will heat automatically and the food in the pot will be polied. Induction cooker has the advantage of high efficiency, no smoking, no fire and no unhealthy gas for the food is heated by the magnetic function. The magnetic field doesn’t produce vertexes and the pot won’t be heated as magnetic field through non-metallic objects, so it is very safe when it is put into use.” This is as clear and well-written as most government manuals, But what it means is that glass, ceramic, aluminum, and copper pots won’t work on an induction cook top; cast iron and most stainless steel pots (if the steel contains enough iron that a magnet will stick to it) will. With that restriction, it’s a wonderful way to cook.

Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com

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Sports and Education Commission
Dorothy Brizill, dorothy@dcwatch.com

On June 14, Mayor Fenty held a press conference on the steps of the Wilson Building to announce that he had selected Alan Lew, chief executive officer of the DC Sports and Entertainment Commission to serve as Executive Director of the newly created Office of Public Education Facilities Modernization for DC public schools (http://www.dcpswatch.com/mayor/070614.htm). He also announced that Gregory A. O’Dell, the chief development officer in the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, would replace Lew as CEO of the Sports Commission. Fenty praised Lew for his abilities in overseeing the construction of the new convention center, the renovation of RFK Stadium, and the fast-track construction of the $611 million Nationals baseball stadium. However, Lew’s departure from DCSEC raised concerns throughout DC government because the new stadium was on a tight construction budget and schedule, and many questioned whether O’Dell had the experience and ability to oversee such a large, complex project. Adding to these concerns was that Fenty had replaced Mark Tuohey, who had shepherded the project for the Williams administration as chairman of the DCSEC, with Matthew Cutts, an attorney with Patton Boggs.

It now seems that, while Lew may now be heading the school modernization office, he is still playing a major role at the Sports and Entertainment Commission, and, in fact, has never left it. Lew may have vacated the office of the Commission’s Chief Executive Officer, located into RFK stadium, but he and his staff at the Office of Public Education Facilities Modernization have merely moved a few feet away, into a gray construction trailer in parking lot 5A, immediately adjacent to the stadium (http://www.dcpswatch.com/mayor/070614.htm). Rather than move to the Wilson Building, in the complex of offices occupied by Deputy Mayor for Education Victor Reinoso, or to DCPS headquarters at 825 North Capitol Street, NE, with Chancellor Michelle Rhee, to any other vacant District government office, or to surplus space in a school, Lew has chosen to headquarters his office in a trailer at RFK.

Two other trailers in parking lot 5A serve as offices for Turner Construction Company and McKissick and McKissick, both of which are providing program management services both for the new Nationals stadium and for the DCPS school modernization program. McKissick was hired to work with Brailsford and Dunlovey as program managers for the $25 million “summer blitz” repair program initiative, and Turner is in charge of the DCPS athletic field modernization program.

Moreover, on July 10, at its final legislative session prior to summer recess, the city council adopted an emergency resolution amending the Omnibus Sports Consolidation Act of 1994 to increase the size of the Sports Commission by one and to approve Mayor Fenty’s designation of Lew as an ex-officio member of the Commission to fill that seat. The emergency resolution (PR 17-284) states, “With less than one year remaining before the completion of the Washington Nationals ballpark project, it is imperative that members of the Board be experienced in understanding the urgency and complexities regarding the timely completion of this project. Mr. Lew has invaluable experience with this project based on his previous position as the CEO of the Sports Commission.” Finally, Lew has hired two former DCSEC employees, Warren Graves and Tony Robinson, to handle press and public information. Both are using the same telephone numbers and E-mail address they had at the Sports Commission.

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Several Questions
Leo Hendricks, leo.hendricks@pol.net

1) Are members of DC Board of Education being paid? 2) What is the latest regarding Mayor Fenty and Ms. Rhee enrolling their children in the DC Public Schools? 3) Is Mr. Peter Nickles going to move to DC? Or is he going to continue to stay in Virginia? 4) Please explain the expression “No Jeremiah in themail.” Thank you for clearing these matters up for me.

[1) If my memory is not mistaken, and I’d welcome corrections, members of the DC Board of Education used to be paid a reasonable amount for high level but part-time government work, something just above thirty thousand dollars a year. Several years ago, when it instituted the hybrid elected-appointed Board of Education, the city council reduced their annual pay to fifteen thousand dollars. I don’t believe the recent mayoral takeover bill that eliminated the duties and authority of the Board of Education reduced their pay any further. 2) Mayor Fenty has no intention of sending his sons to DC public schools; Chancellor Rhee has said that she will enroll her children in a traditional, not charter, public school; we’ll know for sure soon. 3) Peter Nickles has no intention of moving to DC; if asked, the city council will almost certainly not enforce the residency law it passed, but grant him an exemption. 4) I titled the last issue “No Jeremiah” because I said I wasn’t going to write a Jeremiad, or a bitter denunciation of society for its failures, over low voter turnout in the special election — and Jeremiah was the Biblical prophet who gave his name to the genre of bitter denunciations of society. — Gary Imhoff]

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Get Off Her Back
Larry Seftor, Ward 3, larry underscore seftor .them757 at zoemail.net

I believe a few things to be true about the DC school system. 1) The problems and abysmal performance of the system are not due to lack of money. The DC school system, on a per student basis, consistently has one of the highest levels of spending in the country. (See, for example, http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/education/010125.html.) 2) The current problems and the abysmal performance of the system are not the fault of Michelle Rhee. She just arrived and is not responsible for past mismanagement. 3) Anyone taking over a large bureaucracy needs time to make changes. Any expectation otherwise is unreasonable and childish. 4) The process of change cannot be micromanaged by those who would look over Ms. Rhee’s shoulder, assessing each step along the way.

I understand that Ms. Rhee is attractive bait for local gadflies and passing up the opportunity to criticize is very painful. But everyone should leave Ms. Rhee and the schools alone for the next year. At the end of that time she will either have made improvements and deserve our admiration and appreciation. Or she will turn out to be more of the same and will deserve all the criticism that will doubtless come her way.

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Nonvoting
Robert Nevitt, robert.nevitt@verizon.net

[Re: themail, August 22] I think the starkest example of bad citizenship is to congratulate people for not voting in any election. Not voting itself is also bad, and you lose on both points.

Your reverence for the work of the school board is hard to understand in any context other than to justify repeating the mantra that anything Mayor Fenty does is bad. It was on the board’s watch that the enormous edifice of malfeasance, neglect, and criminality was built. Along with media stories of neglected records, undelivered text books, and embezzlement are stories of the mayor’s office taking steps to deal with the problems as quickly and thoroughly as they can. The account of school board indecision, inattention, and buck passing that allowed Brenda Belton free range in bilking the system would be, alone, enough to justify trying something, anything else. Now, at least, we know exactly who is responsible, although I would suggest allowing more than a few months for the mayor’s team to prove whether it can undo or correct the accumulation of problems they have had the courage to take on. In the meantime, I hope Ms. Lord (whom both my wife and I voted for) and her colleagues seriously undertake the definition of an agenda and a plan for achieving it. There is still much they can do, including proving they can be functional in pursuit of any goals, however modest.

I might take the time here to remind Mr. Penniman that the USPS is not a city, but a federal, service and Mr. Stewart that neither the mayor nor any other citizen is under compunction to prove they are innocent of unfounded charges, including Mr. Rees’ hysterical one of “rampant corruption.”

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Criticism
Gary Imhoff, themail@dcwatch.com

Robert Nevitt and Larry Seftor make some interesting criticisms of what I've written in themail. Actually, I agree with Larry’s first three points, but they don’t lead to the conclusion he reaches as his fourth point. Essentially, Larry is presenting a very common idea, that there should be a honeymoon period for elected and appointed government officials, during which they are exempt from criticism by the press and public. I don’t believe there should be, and this is why. Government officials are not our rulers, and we are not their subjects. They are public servants, and we are their employers. It is not only our right, but our duty, to oversee their work, to judge it and to judge them. Representatives of the Federal City Council and developers and other special interest groups are certainly telling Fenty and councilmembers what they want and expect them to do, and berating them in those few instances when they do not receive it. Is it only common citizens and average residents of the District who are supposed to remain silent? Specifically, when Adrian Fenty and the city council hold that it is Congress, rather than citizens of the District, who should have the last word on amending the city’s constitution; when Victor Reinoso presents a plagiarized education plan as the mayor’s own; or when Michelle Rhee says that she tells school district employees they should ignore the rules and regulations that govern their work, I believe that the people who employ them should criticize them. It doesn’t matter that they made these mistakes early in their terms. In fact, it’s better if they make their mistakes early, if they understand and appreciate the criticism of them, take it to heart, and improve their behavior in the future.

Larry, look at it this way. If you take a new job, do you think that your supervisor would be doing you a favor if he let you work for a full year before criticizing your job performance, or do you think that he should tell you as early as possible when you make a mistake or do something wrong, so that you can improve? Of course, nearly everyone in a democracy has high hopes for new elected officials, and wants them to succeed, even if they’re not in the same political party. That’s the impulse behind a honeymoon. But our hoping and wishing for the best does not imply that we should acquiesce silently in the worst.

Robert Nevitt argues that good citizens have a duty to vote in all elections. I don't think so. All citizens who are of age and who fulfill the requirements for voting have a right to vote, but they do not have a duty to vote when the election has been trivialized or its results rendered meaningless. Becoming well informed about public affairs and well acquainted with the records of public officials and participating as an elector are good and responsible things for a citizen to do. But citizens can reasonably judge whether it is worthwhile participating in an election. If an election is a sham or if there is nothing important at stake, not participating in that election is a reasonable decision. Since the DC Board of Education, now known as the State Board of Education, has been stripped of all its authority and power, since the mayor and city council have made it irrelevant, it’s unimportant and irrelevant to voters who sits on it. Robert doesn’t name anything in the current role of the Board that justifies bringing citizens out to the polls. Voting for a contestant on American Idol will have as much effect on our schools as voting for a Board member.

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The Tale of the Water Bills
Tolu Tolu, Tolu2Books@aol.com

[Re: John Olinger, themail, August 22]: The exact same thing has been happening to me. I even get bills twice a month with different amounts. I am so tired of the DC government mess-ups. When will it get better?

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The New School Team: Good on Photo Ops, but Avoiding the First Order Terms?
Len Sullivan, lsnarpac@bellatlantic.net

Recent articles in the press and by the city’s usual pundits and activists seem oblivious to the major first order terms in the ever-unfolding DCPS school fiasco. Whether the issue is the ability to shake up an unresponsive central office; hire good principals and teachers, order and distribute school books, or reduce the horrendous backlog of maintenance and repair, a common first-order problem is how many school sites are needed? The current 141 are twice the US norm based on kids per school, including major urban school districts. Surely these problems would be more manageable if there were only seventy schools.

Another first-order term is: how many kids are attending these run-down schools? The current answer of 55,000 is probably a full 5000 too high this school year, excluding the many kids bussed to special ed schools. Is that a quibble? Not when it amounts to another thirteen to fifteen principals, book sets, and central air conditioning systems, and maybe four to five hundred teachers.

A third first-order term is just how bad the school system output is. Lousy fourth and eighth grade reading scores are surely worth fretting about, but what about the impact of the schools’ “output” on the community? Twelve to fifteen hundred more kids (latent parents, really) dropped out in 2007, while another twenty-five hundred attended twelfth grade. The DCPS web site shows only 550 young women and 310 young men left high school this year proficient in reading, and about one hundred fewer proficient in math. That leaves another seventeen hundred marginally able to make their way. Even worse, almost eight hundred of them tested "below basic." DC law enforcement, health, social and unemployment services should all take note: here come three thousand more potential problem residents for our national capital city, to say nothing of more problem parents for its public school system.

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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS

DC Public Library Events, August 28-30
Randi Blank, randi.blank@dc.gov

Tuesday, August 28, 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 a home. Please call 727-2241 to reserve a seat.

Tuesday, August 28, 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.

Wednesday, August 29, 3:30 p.m., Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Library, 901 G Street, NW, 2nd Floor East Lobby. Have a Heart: Helping, Healing, and Parenting a DC Foster Child. Representatives from DC Child and Family Services Agency will discuss children in need of foster care. For more information, call 727-2014.

Thursday, August 30, 3:00 p.m., Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Library, 901 G Street, NW, Great Hall. All About Credit. Patrice Phillipe, financial advisor with the Capital Area Asset Builders, will discuss first-time credit, women and credit, qualifying for a mortgage, understanding your credit report, negotiating with creditors, and credit repair. This program is presented in cooperation with the Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking. For more information, call 727-1171.

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