Firings
Dear Long-Lost Friends:
Before we were so rudely interrupted, I promised (themail, September
30) to say why I disagreed with Colbert King’s op-ed article (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/28/AR2007092801399.html?sub=AR)
supporting Chancellor Michelle Rhee’s and Mayor Adrian Fenty’s plan
to fire a lot of DC Public School teachers and administrators. Let me
start with teachers. We all know, or at least we have been told, and we
all (except for some teacher union officials) agree, on two points: DCPS
has some bad teachers, and it’s hard to fire them. On the basis of
that agreement, Rhee and Fenty are promoting a plan built on a
stereotype: the senior teachers in DCPS are ill educated,
unenthusiastic, tired, and uncaring. They should be removed to make room
for the new, young teachers that Rhee will recruit, all of whom will be
well educated, enthusiastic, energetic, and caring. Think of Jon Voight
in Conrack or Edward James Olmos in Stand and Deliver, and imagine a
school system with thousands of teachers like them. This is, of course,
a crock. Schools need both older teachers, who have gained some wisdom
from their experience as they have been worn down by the system, and
younger teachers, who still are naive enough to try to conquer the world
through their homerooms (think of Sandy Dennis in Up the Down
Staircase).
Rhee’s and Fenty’s mistake is to try to institutionalize their
stereotypes of teachers, and to resolve the difficulty of firing those
teachers who really are bad teachers by eliminating the protections that
teachers have against being fired arbitrarily, capriciously, and for
improper, political, or personal reasons. What will happen if those
protections are eliminated -- I guarantee it — is that teachers will
be fired arbitrarily, capriciously, and for improper, political, or
personal reasons. Soon arbitrary, capricious, improper, politically and
personally motivated firings will outnumber the firings that are done
because teachers are incompetent. That will happen unless school
administrators are uniformly and unfailingly good, and Rhee and Fenty
have assured us that the school system is filled with bad and
incompetent administrators. After two or three years of these firings,
the word will spread that teachers have no protection in the DC school
system, that good teachers are let go because administrators take a
personal dislike to them or for no reason at all, and then the DC school
system will be unable to recruit all of the thousands of heroic,
enthusiastic, but most of all young teachers (think of James Franciscus
in Mr. Novak) that will be needed to replace our old, tired, disposable
ones. Rhee and Fenty will be able to skate for a few years, but
eventually the press will begin to take notice of some of the
egregiously unwarranted and unjustified firings, and will begin to ask
why DC is unable to recruit new teachers, or why new teachers leave the
DC system for nearby jurisdictions after just one or two years, and the
story will begin to unravel.
The other group Rhee wants to begin firing is administrators, and she
wants to do some arbitrary and capricious firings there herself.
Certainly, the DCPS central office is bloated; it has been for decades.
But Rhee hasn’t been in office long enough to know who’s good and
who’s not, whom to fire and whom to keep. One of the most popular
anecdotes she tells to community groups is of her asking DCPS
administration officials to describe their jobs, and finding them unable
to tell her clearly what their job description is, and what they do.
From that, she draws the conclusion that they’re unnecessary, and
should be fired. That gets her applause, but she’s actually picturing
herself as an inexperienced, clueless public manager by drawing that
conclusion. Workers in a government bureaucracy don’t write their own
job descriptions and give themselves job assignments. Their bosses do
that. If workers in DCPS central office don’t have clear job
descriptions and assignments, the blame belongs not to them, but to
people two, three, or four levels above them in the bureaucracy. What
Rhee is describing is actually a public administrator’s dream —
extra workers, extra bodies who don’t have anything in particular to
do. Fenty and Rhee have told us that the amount of work that has to be
done at DCPS is far beyond what they originally thought. Well, give
these people jobs to do. Give them new job descriptions and assignments,
doing what Rhee thinks needs to be done. Train them to do these jobs,
and give them an opportunity to do them. If they fail at their jobs,
then is the time to fire them. But don’t come in starting your
administration by swinging a meat ax, when you don’t have any idea
whom to cut.
Why has themail been absent? It’s been a comedy of errors, and you
don’t want to hear about it. Okay, since you insist, I’ll tell you.
The Pepco line between the street and our house failed about three weeks
ago, so we didn’t have electricity. The line finally got fixed last
Friday (only through the intervention of the Public Service Commission
and the People’s Counsel -- Pepco originally gave us a repair schedule
of two months, and then tried to claim to the PSC that their line to the
house hadn’t failed, but that we had had a fire inside the house). In
the meantime we brought in a generator, so we had electricity to send
out one issue of themail, and I was able to send out a second issue to a
small portion of subscribers before my outgoing E-mails got blocked
again. But every time we shut down the generator at night, the router
for broadband service got reset with a new IP address, so the setting
that gave me permission to send mass E-mails through Comcast got lost.
When I tried to get that restored, I ran into a succession of rude and
hostile "customer service" people at Comcast who basically
called me a liar for telling them that I had been using the Comcast
service for years to send themail. I decided to send themail through
DCWatch’s web hosting service, but that required upgrading the service
plan and moving the web to a new server at the web host. The web hosting
service misconfigured the new server, and it took several days to get
that straightened out. It just got fixed (cross your fingers for luck)
today. Now I believe I can send themail through that server, but this is
the first experiment. The remaining problem is that I can send only
plain text, not HTML, messages to mass mailing lists -- so goodbye
color, goodbye bolding and italics, goodbye different-sized fonts. I’ll
include the web address of each issue right under the title, so if you
want to read themail with all those clues for easier scanning, just
click on it.
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
###############
Resolution on Charter Schools
Joseph Fengler, fengler6a02@yahoo.com
[A resolution of Advisory Neighborhood Commission 6A]: We strongly
request that the Public Charter School Board (PCSB) reconsider their
stated position on enforcing the DCMR [DC Municipal Regulations] prior
to approving charter schools in the District of Columbia. Accountability
and transparency are critical to ensure that charter schools are opened
in our city in accordance with the law. Abdicating the oversight role
inherent in the approval process is a recipe for disaster. We believe
PCSB can accomplish this task of oversight by developing a simple check
list that required each applicant to certify they are in compliance with
all relevant zoning, health and safety regulations. This check list
could be included with the existing paperwork required to approve a
charter school. Effective coordination is the underpinning of any
successful government function. Passing responsibility is not the
hallmark of effective leadership. We encourage this be minor policy
change be implemented immediately.
At our regularly scheduled meeting on September 13, 2007, we voted
unanimously to ask the Public Charter School Board to abide by the
current regulations of the District of Columbia in siting new and
expansion charter schools. The Zoning Commission has promulgated two
changes to the zoning regulations governing the siting of public schools
in residential neighborhoods (ZC Orders 06-06 and 07-03). The new
requirements specify minimum lot size (9,000 sq. ft. in duplex and row
house neighborhoods), the number of street frontage parking slots to be
required (six), the number of parking spots for staff, and a required
minimal length of street frontage (120 feet).
At its hearing of March 19, 2007, the Tri-Community Public Charter
School came before the PCSB for review of its status of "charter
warning." As part of that review Chair Tom Nida proposed expansion
of the school into a nearby residential property. Mr. Nida had been part
of the Zoning Commission charter school hearings and the subsequent
briefings by the Office of Planning. At the PCSB meeting of July 16,
2007, Mr. Tom Nida advised the local ANC, Brookland residents, and
concerned citizens to direct concerns regarding zoning, traffic, fire,
health, and safety issues to the other entities of the government. This
is the same response ANC 6A earlier received regarding the proposed
location of AppleTree PCS.
We believe strongly that the PCSB should ensure by its own
investigation whether or not a particular proposed school site meets
current regulations. There should be no possibility that a failure by
the city’s inspectors or a change of building use without notice to
the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs could result in the
inappropriate location of a school. The PCSB should not simply say that
health, safety, and legality of a school site selection are not its
problem. A simple bright-line checklist can easily be developed and used
by your staff. We urge you to do so. In summary, ANC 6A requests that
the PCSB honor the city’s laws and regulations, and publicly state
that no charter school shall be permitted to site a new charter or an
expansion campus in violation of the District of Columbia regulations.
Please contact either Commissioner David Holmes (251-7079) or
Commissioner Nicholas Alberti (543-3512), if you have further questions.
###############
Black and White at DCPS
Ralph J. Chittams, Sr., minchittans@gmail.com
Why is it that a white principal at a DC Public High School who has
received a ranking in the 30s gets to keep his job and black principals
with higher ratings get fired? I am not presenting a hypothetical
situation. Neither is this a rhetorical question. It addresses a factual
situation currently existing within DCPS. According to DCPS policy,
principals achieving such low scores are to be terminated. Why this
exception? For those who care, presenting this information here does not
violate privacy or personnel policy because the principal in question
has admitted publicly to his dismal ranking. The more things change the
more they stay the same at DCPS. The Chancellor wants the city council
to suspend personnel policy so that she can terminate under-performing
staff. She does not need council action to remove an under-performing
principal; she is already vested with that power. All she has to do is
exercise it. Well?
###############
1880 Street Railway Lines of the City of
Washington now on Google Maps
Nikolas R. Schiller, Ward 1, Cartography [ at ]
NikolasSchiller [ dot ] com
Using Statistical Map #10 of the City of Washington (1880) from the
Library of Congress’ Geography and Mapping Division, I was able to
retrace the roughly thirty miles of street railway that existed 127
years ago. The idea behind this Google Mapplet is to show Washington’s
mass transit system in its infancy (it was fewer than twenty years old
in 1880) and to hopefully elicit support for the construction of new
lines. If I could wave a magic wand and have a streetcar line be built,
I’d put the line where the Columbia Railway Company had their line
(hint: H Street, NE).
Add the Google Mapplet to Google Maps: http://maps.google.com/ig/directory?synd=mpl&pid=mpl&url=http://nikolasschiller.com/gis/1880street_railway_mapplet.xml
or http://tinyurl.com/25qumc.
For comparison purposes, you can add the DCist.com Metro Map to show a
then and now perspective: http://maps.google.com/ig/directory?synd=mpl&pid=mpl&url=http://dcist.com/map/mapplet.xml
or http://tinyurl.com/yqszow
Lastly, Wikipedia has a great article about the history of streetcars
in Washington, DC at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streetcars_in_Washington%2C_D.C.
###############
Worth Emulating
Ed T. Barron, edtb1@macdotcom
Here’s something worth emulating. The Big Apple (NY City) has
eliminated sales taxes on clothing and shoe purchases in NY City. Any
items (with a limit of up to $110 for any single item) will be exempt
from city sales taxes. Any clothing items or shoes costing more than
$110 will require paying sales tax. Now, here’s a way to keep shopping
dollars in the District and even attract shoppers from MD and VA to do
some of their shopping in good ol’ DC.
###############
Examiner:
City’s Lie about Parking Threatens Opening Day
Tom Monroe, tmonroe77@yahoo.com
From http://www.examiner.com/a-966746~City_s_lie_about_parking_threatens_Opening_Day.html?cid=rss-Washington_DC:
“Why does it seem so hard for DC to figure this out? Why are the
Lerners, the family that owns the Nationals, spending more time on
bringing in cars than luring great players?” Quite simply, because
private concerns overrode any serious discussion of the one viable site
the city had to offer at RFK Stadium, because it wasn’t downtown-y or
sexy enough for them. We’re all reaping the fallout form that, which
includes issues that could make a trip to and from FedEx Field look like
a breeze!
“The city lied about parking in 2003 when it chose to locate the
new stadium by South Capitol Street.” And it’s been keeping up the
spin ever since on just about every aspect of the new ballpark. “Cap?
What cap?”
“Being resourceful, the Lerners have come up with a temporary
solution: Offer free parking to fans at RFK Stadium lots and bus them in
seven minutes on back roads to the new stadium.” Unless the shuttles
have propellers, it’s almost certainly too good to be true.
###############
Using RFK Stadium Lots
for Ballpark Parking
Ed Delaney, profeddel@aol.com
From: http://washingtontimes.com/article/20071004/SPORTS02/110040088/1005/SPORTS:
“Nationals fans likely will be able to park near RFK Stadium and take
a shuttle to the team’s new ballpark next year, but it’s still
unclear how much they will be charged. The DCSEC revealed yesterday that
it will allow fans to park near RFK but has asked the team to pay as
much as $5 a spot for the rights on game days. The DCSEC has offered to
provide 1,000 spaces for free, while charging the team $5 a space for
2,500 additional spaces. The team, however, has argued against the $5 a
space charge because it likely already will incur costs by operating the
shuttle service.” Since the city failed Logistics 101 by siting this
stadium where it is deep within the city grid with parking, access, and
infrastructure issues aplenty, and is now depending on the parking at a
rejected stadium site over two miles and two dozen blocks away, it’s
not surprising that an analysis of this shuttle plan shows that it falls
short of being a significant help to the parking and access fiasco, let
alone a realistic solution. First, a shuttle is only worthwhile if it’s
going to provide a timely alternative for a significant number of
ballpark patrons. However, what is proposed is likely to prove much more
time-consuming on both weeknights and weekends than the seven-minute
time mentioned in this week’s Examiner piece on the parking
debacle. After those wishing to take the shuttle reach the RFK Stadium
parking lot (which is time-consuming enough for the majority of those
heading in on the congested SE-SW Freeway either at rush hour during the
week or over the weekend), fans will wait for shuttles, and the length
of the wait will depend on how many shuttles the Lerners spring for and
how long it takes them to make the round trip. (Given their spending
track record, their reported attempts to force the city to pay for
several items outside of the baseball agreement, and their reported
dickering over $5 a space at the RFK Stadium lot even with the parking
situation in crisis mode, I doubt the Lerners are going to go overboard
on the number of shuttles they use.)
On top of the commute to the lots and the wait for the shuttles, fans
will then be transported somewhere near the ballpark (where exactly
remains a mystery given the limited options for shuttle staging areas on
the narrow and congested streets surrounding the ballpark district) as
the shuttle buses merge with the rest of the buses and cars caught up in
the rush hour/ballpark crush on M Street, SE. As nice as the image was
of the shuttles making tracks on “back roads,” we’re still talking
a considerable distance to be traveled from the RFK Stadium lot on roads
that already get congested without a ball game and that will be feeling
the effect of twenty to forty thousand fans pouring into southeast on
Metro and on the roads. After the game, one wonders how many shuttles
will be allowed to stage near the ballpark with the limited space to do
so and transport the hoped-for thousands of shuttle patrons back to the
RFK Stadium parking lots. There will also have to be someplace where
these fans can gather and line up for the shuttles that will work
efficiently, but I’m sure the ballpark planners are all over that
solution like they’ve been on top of everything else, right?
Though the rush hour issue is not in play on the weekends, congestion
in the city and around the stadium can still be a factor for those
planning a trip to the ballpark. This becomes more of an issue because
on the weekends the ballpark will actually be competing with Camden
Yards for many planning a fun day trip centered around major league
baseball within driving distance of our metro area. In this scenario,
Camden Yards already has the upper hand with the well-known appeal of
the ballpark itself and its proximity to the Inner Harbor, so it was
even more critical for DC’s new ballpark to deliver on the convenience
side of things to draw the local fans rather than have them travel
northwards instead for their fill of the MLB experience. Unfortunately,
the extra steps involved to get to DC’s ballpark for those who want to
drive there, what with the parking and lining up and waiting for
shuttles before and after the game, might look more like an unnecessary
hassle to some than an appealing solution in comparison with the
well-planned parking and infrastructure that Camden Yards is known for
in this region. The weekend is the time when MLB teams especially hope
to lure the causal fan, and the Band-Aid that is the RFK Stadium lot
shuttle is hardly going to turn the tide in DC’s favor.
There’s also a Catch-22 in play here, as finding places for
anything less than 1,000 cars at the RFK Stadium lot makes the shuttle
program almost insignificant in helping alleviate the parking and access
crisis at the ballpark, while shuttling the amount of fans brought by
1,000 to 3,500 cars will likely be impossible to do in a timely fashion
given the logistical challenges inherent in such an undertaking as
explored above. Given that cars usually carry two to four fans to a
game, 1,000 cars could mean a realistic average of 2,000 to 3,000 fans
needing efficient shuttle transportation to the game, while 3,500 spaces
would mean that the shuttles would need to transport possibly 7,000 to
10,000 fans from the RFK Stadium site. The greater the numbers, the less
likely it is that the shuttle option will be anything but a lengthy
alternative that people will not want to endure on a regular basis.
It’s an awfully big chance the city and team are taking, counting
on a plan with so many variables as this one. It all comes down to
convenience. People might be more willing to do the shuttle thing
infrequently for an event such as a sold-out Redskins game which happens
generally on a Sunday and ten times less frequently than a baseball
game, but getting fans to pay on a regular basis for the privilege of
being shuttled to a downtown stadium and wasting a lot of time that
could’ve been used at ballpark district stores or restaurants (if they
existed instead of the massive parking garages the city had to put up
instead) seems questionable. It certainly makes it clear that the thing
should’ve been built at the RFK Stadium site to begin with. How we
could be this close to Opening Day with such dubious transportation
options for the stadium after so much money has been spent by the city
on site evaluation studies and transportation consultants is an
embarrassment.
What’s clear beyond a shadow of a doubt is how nearsighted the
public officials were in keeping the issue-laden current site over the
RFK Stadium site on the premise that it would take less work to finish
the stadium at the current site rather than change sites because many of
them thought it was easier to just continue plans for the current site.
Instead, more public funds and city work-hours continue to be tossed at
this white elephant with its cut-rate design and accessibility
nightmares trying to fix basic transportation problems that would not
have been a factor at the RFK Stadium site. Almost every person who
chooses to cram onto a shuttle to the concrete greenhouse is going to
wonder why the stadium didn’t get built at the RFK Stadium site, and
the answer will be because city officials listened to developers and
other private concerns rather than stick to their guns and switch sites
when the first cost cap for the current site was exceeded. Thanks for
the legacy of missteps and regrets, baseball brigade! You’ll have to
excuse the skepticism that will accompany your future plans to build
soccer and football stadiums on the public’s dime.
###############
District regulatory agencies can become weapons for disgruntled
residents to persecute their neighbors. A case of that sort is under way
in Mount Pleasant, where a Latino restaurateur has been ordered to
remove all “non-permitted” structures from public space, by order of
the DDOT Public Space Administration. On the surface this seems
reasonable, but the order is impracticable. The problem here is that
this restaurant, due to its location at the convergence of a diagonal
street with a north-south street, has no service alley, so the trash
bins behind the restaurant are in plain view of residents across the
street. The restaurateur has done what he can to placate his neighbors,
swapping his mini-dumpster for a couple of smaller trash bins tucked up
close to his back wall, and constructing a little stockade-fence
enclosure to hide those trash bins from view. Certain hostile neighbors,
far from being pleased by his efforts, denounced him to the authorities
for an illegal fence.
Because the city right-of-way for this street is much wider than the
actual street, a common situation in the District, the land right up to
the restaurant’s wall is public space, a so-called “parking.” This
puts the land under the jurisdiction of the DDOT Public Space Committee,
which is authorized to permit any use of this space if “the proposed
additional use will not adversely affect the public interest.” This
Committee, which works in total obscurity (leaving no trace of its
actions in, e.g., the DC Register), upon hearing bogus complaints from
this band of hostile neighbors, has ordered that all
"non-permitted" structures be removed. They ignored the Mount
Pleasant ANC’s argument that a proposal by the building owner to build
a solid masonry enclosure for the trash, on the "parking," was
a reasonable solution to the problem. They did not offer any answer to
what the restaurateur is supposed to do with his trash. The mayor has,
unfortunately, gone along with this decree, rejecting an appeal by the
ANC to allow the restaurant, and the owner of the building, some slack,
for the benefit of the neighborhood at large.
Beware of neighbors who know how to manipulate the regulatory system.
Are any of us so perfect that our properties are totally in compliance
with every regulation that exists?
###############
A Voluntary Agreement Can Be Win-Win
Alexander M. Padro, PadroANC2C@aol.com
Every few years, a business owner or trade association that feels
that a community is asking too much of an ABC establishment in
negotiations regarding new or renewal ABC licenses complains about the
agreements used to settle disputes being called “voluntary” and a
statement to that effect makes it into print or online media.
Clyde Howard’s characterization of voluntary agreements (themail
September 30) between ABC licensees and neighborhood organizations as
“the worst form of legal blackmail that can be fostered on a business
owner” is a bit extreme. In the hands of reasonable ANCs and civic
associations, these agreements can help set benchmarks for the operation
of establishments so that the potential negative impact of such
businesses, if any, on the surrounding neighborhood can be minimized.
But when those who oppose liquor licenses for businesses at all costs
try to throw everything including the kitchen sink into agreements
simply because they think they can get away with it, some owners decide
to take their chances with the ABC Board rather than hamstring their
businesses in such a manner that it makes their operations
unsustainable. These agreements are voluntary in the sense that an
operator has a choice to risk the imposition of unacceptable conditions
by the ABC Board if a compromise cannot be reached with community
stakeholders. It could also be argued that neighborhood residents, ANCs,
and civic groups “voluntarily” end their objections to a new license
or renewal as a result of reaching a compromise, and choose not to allow
the ABC Board to decide what is in the community’s best interests.
Mr. Howard is in the midst of a dispute between the Elks Lodge in
LeDroit Park and the surrounding community, represented by ANC
Commissioner Myla Moss and the LeDroit Park Civic Association. Concerns
about noise and other impacts apparently emanating from or associated
with patrons of the lodge, which Mr. Howard is advocating for, are
nothing new. The responsible thing for the lodge to do is to see what
they and their neighbors can agree upon, and put that in an agreement.
Other matters that cannot be resolved via mediation can and should be
addressed by the ABC Board. Both sides have a choice as to whether or
not they want to “voluntarily” settle some or all of their
differences by mutual agreement before the ABC Board meets to consider
both sides’ arguments. I must say that either the Board, or the
council when the ABC laws are next revised, should strike the adjective
“voluntary” from the term for these agreements. An agreement is an
understanding between two parties, ideally one where both sides
compromise and benefit to varying degrees by the terms thereof. That’s
what these agreements should be about. Just call them what they are.
###############
I have to disagree respectfully with Mr. Howard’s assessment of
Voluntary Agreements entered into between the community and liquor
licensees [themail, September 30]. ANC 6C has recently taken a stronger
stance on seeking Voluntary Agreements with applicants for new liquor
licenses, and we consider seeking Voluntary Agreements for license
renewals on a case-by-case basis, depending on whether there have been
problems that have arisen from the licensee’s operation.
In the case of liquor stores, Voluntary Agreements are often the only
way to ensure that negative impacts, if any, are minimized. In the past,
we have entered into Voluntary Agreements that impose reasonable
restrictions on licensees such as not selling “go cups” (that enable
more public drinking), not permitting loitering in front of the store,
regularly cleaning up trash around the store, and reporting problems
with patrons promptly to the Metropolitan Police Department. With
respect to tavern, restaurant, and nightclub licenses, we have addressed
issues such as cleanliness and safety around the establishment, parking,
procedures for admitting patrons and dealing with problem patrons,
protections such as soundproofing to protect neighboring residences,
hours during which music and entertainment may be provided. It is
important to remember that licensees are seeking permission from the
District to conduct their business. Liquor establishments are businesses
that have been deemed to have a higher likelihood to impact the
surrounding community than say, a shoe store. This is why there is an
added level of licensure required, and why the community is entitled to
seek to have legitimate concerns handled appropriately. Without a
Voluntary Agreement, the community is essentially powerless to get the
business owner to take care of problems. Conversely, business owners
have an interest in fostering a good relationship with the community.
Both long-term and new residents, and most of the business owners,
have appreciated the thoughtfulness we have displayed in ensuring that
legitimate concerns are addressed up front, so that there is a means to
work with the owners to handle situations if they arise later. Neither
our goals nor our methods have been vindictive or without sensitivity to
the business owner’s need for their business to succeed. Are there
people or groups who might have bad intentions? Sure, but that is
certainly not always the case, and has not been a factor in our
dealings.
###############
I served on one of those committees in Ward 6. I agree with
everything Clyde Howard said [themail, September 30] and complained
about those issues and many others to the point that the group and
process made me sick to my stomach, and I resigned. Of course, they were
probably delighted that I did resign.
###############
Be prepared to see an empty lot where the Tenley Library used to be
for several years. Yes, the city has plans to replace the old library
but you know what happens when it comes time for the District to
implement their plans. On the other hand their are proposals, in
response to a city Request for Proposals, from developers who would
build a new library and also some condos above the library, as well as
expanding the Janney School. My pick would be for one of the developers
to create a whole new complex in Tenleytown, along with a needed library
and improved Janney School in a much shorter time frame than the
District can accomplish.
###############
Public Land Deals in
Tenley and West End
Sue Hemberger, Friendship Heights, smithhemb@aol.com
As someone who has spent months investigating the option of a
public-private redevelopment project at the Janney School/Tenley-Friendship
Library site, I couldn’t disagree more with Bill Coe’s analysis of
the public land issues in West End and Tenleytown [themail, September
26]. In a way, Coe’s confusion is understandable — until very
recently, media coverage of these controversies has ranged from
virtually nonexistent to grossly misleading (for example, a Channel 4
news segment that left viewers with the impression that DC Public
Libraries had no plans to renovate the Tenley-Friendship branch and that
Roadside Development was offering to pay for the project itself). And
the abuse of process in West End was so outrageous (a sole-source
contract with no specified terms, a bogus emergency, a public hearing
without citizens) that it has threatened to overwhelm a more substantive
debate about which public lands should be sold and why. This is why the
Tenleytown controversy will have citywide significance. The Deputy Mayor’s
office is preparing to make the land that houses DCPS’s most
overcrowded public school and what has historically been one of its
busiest branch libraries available for commercial, presumably
residential, development. It made the decision to put this land on the
auction block unilaterally — without a public hearing, without council
approval, without giving the local ANC an opportunity to weigh in.
Clearly, the land isn’t surplus in any normal sense of the word. In
fact, DC government hasn’t even done the facilities planning necessary
to ensure that this campus can accommodate a residential building and
still have enough land left over to meet DCPS’s educational
specifications for an elementary school of 550 students. This "make
a deal first, figure out the logistics later" approach is a
surefire way to guarantee that public needs are sacrificed to private
profit. The developer who is chosen will certainly be entitled to build
the residences. The school will get whatever land remains available
after that -- undoubtedly not enough to provide the multipurpose playing
field for physical education and the various playscapes that DCPS
standards call for. Tough luck -- there’s no room -- you live in a
city and have to learn to make compromises.
As I’ve written previously in themail, Tenleytown is being held up
as a model to the rest of the city. There will be a veneer of public
input (but only after the crucial decision has been made) and the
appearance of competitive bidding. The developer whose unsolicited
proposal led to the issuance of an Request for Proposals will have spent
a year lobbying and making plans and everyone else will most likely be
given forty-five to sixty days to figure out both the physical and the
economic logistics that will enable them to double the size of the
school, build a library, and fit both affordable and for-profit housing
on this hilly site.
What will the community get out of this deal? Odds are, a multi-year
delay in the reopening of our branch library (which has already been
closed for three years and is currently on track to come back on line in
early 2010) and no guarantee that the school renovations will be speeded
up. If the library and school parcels are combined, the library is
likely to be part of a mixed-use building that includes the for-profit
component of the project. For a variety of reasons, it seems unlikely
that the school project can begin until that building is completed,
especially since the goal is to keep Janney students on campus during
the school’s renovations.
So is there money in it? Not for the city. The highest plausible
estimate I’ve seen on the land’s value (and this assumes that the
developer is authorized to build 125 luxury condos on the site) is about
$9 million dollars. If the mayor and council are serious about their
pledge that 30 percent of the housing built on public land must be
affordable, that figure plummets. And take another $3 million off the
top to provide the underground public parking required to free up land
for residential development. Construction delays on the library will
increase the costs of building it, and a mixed-use project imposes
additional expenses as well. We’ll be lucky to cover these new costs
in making this transaction. The school and the library’s construction
costs will be paid for by the public out of the capital funding -- over
$40 million -- that has already been budgeted for these two projects.
Hopefully, after the West End emergency legislation is rescinded,
people will start taking a closer look at what’s happening in
Tenleytown. The experience in both neighborhoods suggests the urgent
need this city has for better facilities planning and for a more clearly
defined (and more scrupulously followed) process for making decisions
about the sale or lease of public lands. The mayor has to be reminded
that the city’s land isn’t his land to dispose of at will. And the
council needs to step up to the plate and exercise some oversight on
this issue.
###############
In themail of September 30, Ms. Levine roundly excoriates my “many
inaccuracies” in trying to keep the proposed Tenley public-private
partnership (PPP) separated from the fiasco in West End. Let me just say
that, of the errors and excesses undoubtedly committed by both sides in
the Tenley argument, inaccuracy ranks as a minor sin. In support of her
accusation, all Ms. Levine can offer is one written timeline compared to
another, but both are just pieces of paper. More substantive and, in my
opinion, more persuasive is the actual history behind the missing
library in our neighborhood. How can one look at what’s happened in
recent years and seriously believe the city will deliver a finished
library on time? I would bet a dollar to a donut that the new Tenley
library will be opened for business faster as part of a project done in
partnership with creative private-sector operators — people whose
business is building communities, and who are motivated (horrors!) by
filthy gain.
I make the same prediction for planned improvements at Janney
Elementary School, also part of the proposed Tenley PPP. The official
projection has these done in 2014 (just in time to be enjoyed by
children born next year). Now, though, I read in the Post
(October 2) that the District is ready to fire a school-construction
contractor for falling at least a year behind schedule and $12 million
over budget. The report states that twelve of eighteen building projects
currently underway for DCPS are running up to five years late. Five
years. Let’s see: That would extend completion of the work at Janney
to about 2019 (just in time for all those lucky children born six years
from now). It’s time to look past the promises of DC government,
earnest as they always seem. I suggest, again, that we examine the
history unfolding before our very eyes. We have before us a proposal for
a mixed-use development on the Tenley site that would produce the
desired library, as well as early improvements to Janney, plus
additional housing in a thinly populated neighborhood (something rarely
mentioned by opponents of the PPP) — all in an area served by a major
transit hub. Does this not conform to the very definition of smart urban
growth? Does it not deserve at least a good, hard look?
Ms. Levine is free to dismiss those interested in the Tenley PPP as a
minority consisting merely of “some Janney parents, politicians, and
developers.” This group is larger than she thinks. To it she might add
the hordes of future Janney parents living around her, along with many
of our best and brightest urban planners, plus those neighbors who would
like to enjoy big-city life in a Tenley crowded with people, bustling
with activity night and day, livened with diverse retail choices -- all
connected to a first-class system of mass transit. We already have the
transit. Now we want the mass, and the Tenley PPP just might offer a
step in that direction.
###############
CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
Dr. Frank Kameny at UDC David A. Clarke School
of Law, October 11
Wayne Turner, actupdc@aol.com
Thursday, October 11 is National Coming Out Day. Outlaw, the Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual and Transgender law students association at UDC David A.
Clarke School of Law, will host a talk by gay rights pioneer Dr. Frank
Kameny. The event will begin at 12:15 p.m. in room 201, Building 39 at
UDC, 4200 Connecticut Avenue, NW (Red Line Metro to Van Ness/UDC —
wheelchair accessible, free, and open to the public).
Dr. Franklin E. Kameny (born May 21, 1925, in New York City) is one
of the major American gay rights activists. Dr. Kameny launched the
first public protests by gays and lesbians with a picket line at the
White House on April 17, 1965. In 1971, Dr. Kameny became the first
openly gay candidate for the US Congress when he ran in the District of
Columbia’s first election for a nonvoting delegate to Congress.
Following that election, Dr. Kameny and his campaign organization
created the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington, DC, an
organization that continues to lobby government and press the case for
equal rights.
###############
Behind the Scenes with Building Professionals,
October 13
Sara Kabakoff, skabakoff@nbm.org
This year, the Festival of the Building Arts takes you behind the
scenes of the building arts and asks, "How do building
professionals do that?" Join as many as twenty-five master
craftspeople at the National Building Museum annual Festival of the
Building Arts to take part in hands-on activities during an interactive,
fun-for-all ages celebration of the built environment. Visitors can:
thatch a roof, build a brick wall, or finish dry wall; examine the tools
used by stone carvers, woodworkers, blacksmiths, gilders, and glass
designers; climb aboard construction vehicles at the outdoor “petting
zoo”; compete in a nail driving contest; construct a gigantic pipe
sculpture; and more. The Festival of the Building Arts is presented by
The Associated General Contractors of America.
National Building Museum, 401 F Street, NW, Saturday, October 13,
10:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Free; $5 donation suggested. Registration for
individuals is not required. Scouts and other large groups should call
272-2448 or E-mail youthgroups@nbm.org
to register. Coming soon to the Building Zone, a brand new life-size
custom playhouse, constructed by Pardee Homes as part of HomeAid’s
National Project Playhouse, will debut during the Festival. Please join
us for the ribbon cutting ceremony at 10:15 am.
We apologize for any inconvenience, but due to installation of the
playhouse the Building Zone will be closed from October 5-12. The
National Building Museum Project Playhouse is sponsored by HomeAid and
built by Pardee Homes.
###############
DC’s Transportation Dilemma, October 13
George Idelson, g.idelson@verizon.net
Will traveling around DC get to be more and more of a hassle as the
city grows? Will parking problems just get worse? Does
"transit-oriented development" make sense in a dense urban
environment? Is Metro getting hopelessly maxed out? Are there plans to
deal with unique transportation problems in Cleveland Park? These and
other questions will be discussed at the Saturday, October 13 meeting of
the Cleveland Park Citizens Association — “DC’s Transportation
Dilemmas: Are We Up to the Challenge?” Speakers include: Ward One
Councilmember, Jim Graham, who chairs the committee that oversees the DC
Department of Transportation; Karina Ricks, DDOT Citywide Planning
Director, and Freddie Fuller, DDOT Acting Association Director for Mass
Transit. The meeting will be at the Cleveland Park Library (Connecticut
Avenue at Newark Street, NW) starting at 10:15 a.m. The meeting is
cosponsored by the Woodley Park Community Association. All welcome.
###############
Upcoming Talk for Change Toastmasters Meeting,
October 17
Corey Jenkins Schaut, tfctoastmasters@gmail.com
Please join us this Wednesday, October 17, at 6:45 p.m. for our next
meeting of Talk for Change Toastmasters. We meet at the Teach for
America offices, located at 1413 K Street, NW, on the 7th floor. At Talk
for Change, we believe in the power of education. By following the
Toastmasters curriculum, we have an opportunity to continue to develop
and improve our leadership and speaking skills in a safe environment.
Many of us our former teachers and alumni of Teach for America. Many
of us are making a difference in our community through work in the
nonprofit sector. And many of us just value the opportunity to keep
learning. We welcome anyone to join our friendly, fun-loving group. Are
you curious what Talk for Change can do for you? We welcome you to join
us at an upcoming meeting to see what we are all about. We meet on the
first and third Wednesdays of every month.
How Toastmasters works: as your improved communication skills become
obvious within the workplace, increased visibility, recognition and
promotion will follow. Your improved presentation skills will win you
the respect and admiration of your colleagues and employees — and make
them wonder what you did to change! Leadership skills acquired through
participation in Toastmasters will increase your management potential.
You will acquire an increased ability to motivate and persuade, making
you more effective as a supervisor or manager. You’ll have access to a
wide range of educational materials, including books, CDs, DVDs and
seminar programs, available at reduced cost through the Toastmasters
International Supply Catalog. We look forward to welcoming you as our
newest member. If you have questions, feel free to send us an e-mail at tfctoastmasters@gmail.com.
###############
Stand Up for DC, October 19
Anise Jenkins, anisej@hotmail.com
Join the Stand Up! for Democracy in DC Coalition (Free DC) for an
evening of inspiration, food, drink and a bit of history as we celebrate
our 10th anniversary as the voice for full democratic rights and
statehood for DC residents. Honorees will include a Free DC movement
founder, DC Councilmember Marion Barry, and grandmother of the DC
Statehood movement, former DC Councilmember Hilda Mason. For
information, contact Anise Jenkins, 361-9739, or Bill Mosley at
232-2500.
Friday, October 19, 6-9 p.m., The Carnegie Library, 801 K Street, NW
(Mt. Vernon Square Metro). Donation: $51 ($15 student/senior/low
income). Advance tickets available on-line at http://www.FreeDC.org.
###############
Vassar FilmFest, a scholarship benefit, will be held on Saturday,
October 20, from 1-9 p.m. It will include a selection of three
documentaries, screening of the new film “Rough Cut,” and feature
the prize-winning “Open Window” by director Mia Goldman, with Cybil
Shepherd and Elliot Gould.
Vassar FilmFest will be held at Jack Morton auditorium, George
Washington University, 805 21st Street, NW. $35 for all films; $100 for
films and a reception with filmmakers. For more information, telephone
301-299-4855 or go to http://www.filmdc.org.
###############
Fall Household Hazardous Waste and Electronics
Recycling, October 27
Nancee Lyons, Nancee.lyons@dc.gov
The DC Department of Public Works (DPW) will hold its fall household
hazardous waste and electronics recycling drop-off day Saturday, October
27, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Trash Transfer Station at 3200 Benning
Road, NE.
Residents may bring old cleaning and gardening chemicals; pesticides
and poisons; acids, varnish and oil-based paints; solvents; aerosols;
wood preservatives; spent batteries of all kinds; roofing tar; chemistry
sets; automotive fluids, computer monitors, and TV screens to the
collection site for free, environmentally safe disposal or recycling.
Monitors and TV screens must be intact, not cracked, punctured, or
shattered.
For more information, including a list of acceptable and unacceptable
items, please visit DPW’s web site at http://www.dpw.dc.gov.
###############
Legacy of Great Jazz, October 29
Michael Andrews, mandrews@udc.edu
Join us for an evening of great jazz as the legacy continues with a
showcase of the outstanding musicians and ensembles from the University
of the District of Columbia Jazz Studies Program. On Monday, October 29,
at 8:00 p.m. the UDC Jazz Ensembles under the direction of Allyn Johnson
kick off another year of JAZZAlive with the third annual showcase
celebrating the legacy of Calvin Jones. Jones was director of the Jazz
Studies Program from 1976-2004 and is a legendary figure in the
Washington, DC, community.
The evening will feature the University’s powerhouse big band,
always "in the pocket" as Jones would say, and once again
treat jazz lovers to UDC’s exciting resident group -- the Calvin Jones
Legacy Ensemble. Produced by the Jazz Studies Program and the Felix E.
Grant Jazz Archives, the event opens this year’s Scholarship Benefit
Series and caps off UDC Homecoming 2007.
Tickets are $15 and are available in advance at the Music Program,
Bldg. 46-West, UDC Van Ness Campus, 4200 Connecticut Avenue, NW, or
online at http://www.InstantSeats.com.
Tickets will also be available at the University Auditorium door on the
night of the performance. The University Auditorium (Bldg. 46-East) is
conveniently located on Metro’s Red Line at the Van Ness–UDC stop.
Contact Judith Korey at 274-5803 or JazzAlive@udc.edu
for more information.
###############
Ethnic Dining Talk at Cleveland Park Branch
Library, October 30
Beth Meyer, lmeyer8090@aol.com
Tyler Cowen, the author of Discover Your Inner Economist: Use
Incentives to Fall in Love, Survive Your Next Meeting, and Motivate Your
Dentist, will give a talk on “Every Meal Counts: How to Get the
Best Food Possible in Washington, DC” on Tuesday, October 30, at 6:30
p.m. in the first floor auditorium of the Cleveland Park Branch of the
DC Public Library, Connecticut and Macomb Streets, NW. A book sale and
signing of the book, courtesy of the Trover Shop, will follow the
program.
Mr. Cowen is a professor of economics and director of the Mercatus
Center at George Mason University. He writes for MarginalRevolution.com,
the number one economics blog, and writes a monthly column for the
business section of The New York Times. He also authored an
online guide to ethnic dining in Washington, DC. He will give tips to
finding the best restaurants and the best dishes on the menu and why the
words “foodie” and “economist” boil down to the same thing.
The Cleveland Park Branch of the DC Public Library is located near
the Cleveland Park Metrorail Station. All District of Columbia Public
Library activities are open to the public free of charge. For further
information, please call the Cleveland Park Library at 282-3072.
###############
CLASSIFIEDS — RECOMMENDATIONS
Friend Needs an Oncologist
Joan Eisenstodt, jeisen@aol.com
A friend who has been diagnosed with lymphoma is not pleased with the
oncologist referred. If you’ve had experience in DC with someone who
specializes in lymphoma, please let me know.
###############
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