Credit
Dear Creditors:
This is just an observation. I’m not naming anybody, although I’m
sure there are several people who will think I’m writing about them.
There’s a familiar saying that has been quoted in many different ways
and attributed to several people, including at least two American
presidents. “There is no limit to what a man can do or how far he can
go if he doesn’t mind who gets the credit,” is the version that is
linked to Robert Woodruff, the longtime president of the Coca-Cola
company. It’s a wise saying, with a lot of truth to it. If your
purpose is to accomplish something, spending your time and energy
fighting for credit for it is counterproductive. But it’s not a saying
that appeals to many people in our city’s political life.
Politicians here spend most of their time claiming credit for things
they haven’t done and have no intention of doing. They’ll make a
terrific speech setting out an honorable and principled position on an
issue, just before voting the other way, and then expect to be praised
for the high-minded sentiments in their speech. Everybody knows the ward
councilmember who demands that anyone in the ward who runs any worthy
public program or does anything worthwhile for a community give all the
credit and obsequious praise to the councilmember, or the councilmember
will obstruct the program and prevent anything from being done.
Let me propose the obverse to the saying that may or may not have
originated with Woodruff: “There is a limit to what a city can do, if
its politicians mind most of all who gets the credit.”
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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Governing by Press Conference
Dorothy Brizill, dorothy@dcwatch.com
On Tuesday morning, Mayor Fenty is scheduled to hold an event that is
described as a “Nationals Ballpark Sod Press Conference.” At the
press conference, Fenty will announce and celebrate the laying of sod at
the new Nationals ballpark.
Anyone who has followed Fenty, both as councilmember and as mayor,
knows that he is addicted to press attention and that his work week
often consists of an endless series of press conferences and photo
availabilities. He will often have a press conference when there isn’t
anything really significant to announce. For example, in September he
held a press conference that was billed as an announcement that the
District was “partnering with Google, Inc.” At the press conference,
it turned out that the only news was that the District’s web site,
dc.gov, would use Google’s search technology, something that tens of
thousands of web sites, including DCWatch.com, have used for years. Also
in September, Fenty insisted on having multiple press conferences at
Condon Terrace following the death of DeOnte Rawlings, although his
remarks threatened to impede a police investigation and inflame a
community. Just the past week, on the Wednesday morning prior to the US
attorney’s press conference announcing the Office of Tax and Revenue
public corruption case, Fenty held a press conference at the
Metropolitan Police Department headquarters to announce a “new crime
fighting initiative.” The new initiative turned out to be simply an
announcement that new computers were being installed in some patrol
cars.
It is against this background that it should be noted how unusually
silent Fenty has been since news of the OTR corruption case broke. Even
the Washington Post, reliably supportive of Fenty, took notice of
his surprisingly low profile in an article today by reporter Nikita
Stewart, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/10/AR2007111001675.html.
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Cheh: Coming Soon, UWACS II?
Frank Winstead, Forest Hills, frank.winstead@gmail.com
At the Thursday, November 8, meeting of ANC 3E, a reading was
performed of Councilmember Mary Cheh’s letter to the mayor calling for
rescinding permits at the Commerce Bank site on Wisconsin Avenue. It was
an accurate rendition of previously stated concerns by the residents and
the ANC, except for the last paragraph of the two-page letter. Cheh’s
brief original content calls for a “small area plan” for Tenleytown.
After her designee finished the reading, Cheh explained that in regards
to the original Upper Wisconsin Avenue Corridor Study (UWACS) residents
should “forget about that.” Twice she voiced the ambiguous phrase
"get beyond height and density" to the assembled community.
She claimed that her goal, as stated in her letter, was for more input
from local residents and businesses. No mention was made of ANCs. But,
when someone from the audience expressed a desire for mom and pop retail
as opposed to chain operations, Cheh responded, “don’t worry about
the details.”
The strangest moment was when Cheh stated her need for one of those
memory erasers from a movie with a title she could not recall. An
audience member identified the movie as Men in Black. Does Mary Cheh’s
rapacity compel her to use mind-altering techniques on her constituents
just so she can recycle the unwanted UWACS for all of Tenleytown?
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Bidding on a Government Contract
Jonathan Rees and James Carter, jrrees2006@verizon.net
When contractors, developers, and the like submit bids to the
Government of the District of Columbia to do various jobs like the
remodeling of our schools, how do taxpayers know that the company that
got the contract offered the best bid, had the best reputation for
quality work and more, and was not a friend of the mayor or a city
council member who is being repaid for campaign support with a contract?
We don’t know. The fact is, taxpayers are pretty much kept in the
dark on the bidding process for government contracts. The Government of
the District of Columbia, as a part of its web site, should create a
section where all of us can see what projects are up for bid, who made a
bid, and who got the contract, and also be able to weigh in on any
contract up for bid in order to avoid another West End, Jack Evans, Joe
Sternlieb, and EastBanc sham on the taxpayers.
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DC Republican Committee on Tax and Revenue
Case
Robert Kabel, DC Republican Chair, press@dcgop.com
When you have two city employees from the District’s Office of Tax
and Revenue who alledgedly were so brazen in their corruption scheme as
to have bought a 2005 Benty and spent over $1.4 million dollars from
Neiman Marcus, the bottom line is the citizens of DC have to police
their public officials. Ward 2 Council Member Jack Evans, chairman of
the finance and revenue committee, said he and Council Chairman Vincent
Gray will hold oversight hearings. This is a start but not a solution.
Reform must take place and the first step is to set up an independent
office with subpoena power to root out waste, fraud, frills and abuse
within DC government.
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Can’t Say No to Chancellor Rhee
Leo Hendricks, leohendricks@pol.net
In Wednesday’s Northwest Current (November 7, http://www.currentnewspapers.com/admin/uploadfiles/1-181.pdf,
page 5), it was reported that Chancellor Rhee, speaking at a Washington
Rotary Club meeting, said Mayor Fenty told his cabinet members: “No
one is allowed to say no to the chancellor except me. . . . If I hear
that someone is standing in the way of progress, that person’s job
would be at risk.”
Mayor Fenty repeated his statement, Rhee said, when he learned that
some high-level city officials were turning down her requests.
Question: save for maybe Mr. Nickles, who else in Mayor Fenty’s
administration has this privilege? Where is it all this going? Oh, by
the way, what is the latest on Mr. Nickles moving to the District?
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Adios Natwar
Ed T. Barron, edtb1@macdotcom
Gandhi, the Chief Financial Officer in DC, has acknowledged that the
“buck stops here” after the revelation that his Tax and Revenue
Office employees have been raiding the till. Then Gandhi fired his top
managers in the Tax and Revenue Office for not watching out for abuses
of the rules. Well, the buck should not stop in the Tax and Revenue
Office. Gandhi should politely resign his office because he is
ultimately responsible for the criminal behavior of those who work for
him. This is just another good reason the council should give the school
superintendent, Rhee, the authority to fire incompetent personnel in the
DCPS.
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Corruption at the Office of Tax and Revenue
Richard Sundberg, rsundberg@dbmove.com
I think this sort of thing (most likely smaller in scale) will
continue until DC purchases a comprehensive MIS system. There is no
reason why this cannot be done. It would flag these problems early. Or
maybe that is why there is not much appetite for one.
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Re: introduction to themail, November 7: You forgot the city
auditors. Every year they gave the city a clean bill of health. What did
we pay them for?
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New York Taxi Meters Versus DC’s Zones
Gabe Goldberg, gabe at gabegold dot com
Pretty funny, a suggestion for New York to use DC’s zone system as
a model. From http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/04/nyregion/thecity/04traf.html:
“In the wake of Mayor Bloomberg’s proposal to calm Manhattan traffic
through a plan called congestion pricing, the City section asked its
readers to offer their own solutions for easing the borough’s traffic
woes. More than a hundred responded, proposing ideas ranging from the
wonky to the off-the-wall. Ban cabs. Ban private cars. Close streets.
Add lanes.”
The article includes this suggestion, with remarks by two NYC traffic
experts: “Allow cabs to pick up more than one fare at a time, using
"zone" charges rather than meters for such trips, the way they
do in cities like Washington. This might encourage more people to leave
their cars home. — Rita Tobin, Chappaqua, NY.
“Dr. Falcocchio: This plan would have little effect on reducing the
number of private cars on the street. Most taxi drivers concentrate
their business in Manhattan, while most trips made by private cars start
outside Manhattan.
“Mr. Zupan: Not bad. It’s done at the airports and should be
tried at high-use taxi locations like Penn Station and the Port
Authority Bus Terminal.”
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The Jesse Baltimore House
Michael T. Patric, AIA, mtpatric@mac.com
I am writing about the plight of the Jesse Baltimore House in the
Palisades. It would appear that the District’s deadline for
submissions to relocate the this house has come and gone and now things
appear to be moving down the path of demolition. I think this is a
terrible waste of energy and an unfitting end for this historic home.
But there is another option. There are people who would be willing to
take ownership of this house and raise the funds necessary to restore it
to its original condition. I am one of these people. It pains me that a
house like this sits vacant and deteriorating in a vibrant neighborhood
such as the Palisades.
My wife and I dream of raising a family in an urban environment where
children are able to walk to school, to the park, and to friends’
houses. We are capable of raising a large sum of money for a mortgage
(or renovations in this case), but still it is not enough to buy a home
in a family friendly neighborhood like the Palisades. In fact, we are
priced right out of the District. As an architect, I also dream of
owning a home with historic characteristics like those of the Jesse
Baltimore House. Houses of this nature do not exist in the outlying
suburbs where we will be forced to move. In fact, homes like this are
just not built anymore. In addition, the attention to detail in assembly
that Mr. Baltimore gave his own house is likely well beyond that given
to homes built more recently.
The District does not seem to be terribly interested in turning a
huge profit on this house. Why not sell it to someone in need of
affordable housing and who has the knowledge and desire to take on a
massive renovation such as this? No doubt the tax revenue gained from a
new owner taking possession of the house would be far more beneficial to
the District than the added expenditures required to actually maintain
the site. From where I sit, the benefits of restoring this house far
outweigh those of tearing it down and losing it forever.
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For a longtime ANC commissioner the only thing more exhausting than
walking only a few blocks and seeing and hearing twenty issues you
should go home and call downtown about is reading themail, where the
mega issues are sure to come up with all the pertinent documents,
references, etc., so concisely that a person really doesn’t have any
excuse not to expend some effort immediately in assaulting whatever
wrong is spelled out.
I can’t tell you, then, the pleasure it was to know via themail
that Fenty has rescinded that daft, but potentially very damaging,
E-mail destruction authorization, and I can only surmise that mechanisms
like DCWatch had a big role to play in that reconsideration. All of us
with privacy and freedom of information issues on our mind need to be
grateful.
While we are suffused with that good news, could we look into why
various DC government entities, without notice to callers, automatically
trace and do caller ID on all incoming calls? This applies to calls to
the mayor’s command center (727-1000), right down to unexpectedly
small sites like the receptionist desk at the DC auditors. I thought
there had to be a rational need to know in order for government agencies
to assemble information. A rational reasons, for instance, would be that
an incoming call to an emergency response number would be identified in
case the person is cut off and otherwise unable to complete the call.
Since the information is acquired at public expense, is there a public
right to know how it is assembled and/or utilized?
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It’s fair to say the Washington Nationals were politically
tone-deaf in selecting venues for their FanFest and annual Dream Gala
(this latter a charitable event). DC is footing the bill for the Nats’
new stadium, so they owe their business primarily to our community. In
fairness and our own self-interest, however, it’s worth noting that
much of the team’s fan base is located in suburban Maryland and
Virginia. It works in DC’s favor to encourage attendance at games by
folks from those two states -- whose money would, for a change, go into
our coffers when they enter the city. If the Nats can persuade a few
more spendthrift Virginians and Marylanders to patronize our stores and
vendors on game days by holding promotional events in those
neighborhoods, then maybe we should give Kasten and Company a chance to
do so.
As for the charity event, the Dream Gala: It was held in past years
at a DC hotel, which charged the team a hefty price for the use of their
services and facilities. There’s nothing wrong with this. It’s my
understanding, though, that this year’s Gala managed to book Gaylord’s
new hotel (at National Harbor in PG County) free of charge. By thus
reducing the Gala’s overhead, the Nationals presumably can net more
money for their charitable activities, many of which serve DC’s young
people. This strikes me as a no-brainer, both for us and them.
My only question is whether the Nats looked at all for a pro bono
arrangement to hold their Dream Gala here in town, before taking their
business across the river. Surely someone in DC’s government or
business sector might have helped them find such a deal. If Kasten and
Company did seek such terms here and had no luck, then it’s small
wonder they accepted an offer which yields the best return on their
charitable efforts.
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When You’ve Got to Tell the World about a
Book You Like
Richard Layman, rlaymandc@yahoo.com
Many years ago the marketing director job for DC Public Libraries was
open, and I thought about applying but I chickened out. In the process
of preparing, I came up with an idea that I am surprised escapes Mr.
Shapiro [themail, November 7]. Library system catalogs (software
platforms) can be reconceptualized along the same lines as a bookselling
database like Amazon.com. In other words, set it up so that within book
listings, patrons can post reviews, list their favorite books on various
topics, even have some digital space (I suppose it would have to be
monitored somehow) for publicly displayed work relating to printed,
aural, and visual media.
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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
Ward 5 Democrats Presidential Debate Party,
November 11
Hazel Bland Thomas, thomashazelb@aol.com
Join Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr., Ward 5 Democrats President
Timothy Thomas, and the members of the Ward 5 Democrats for a Democratic
presidential candidate debate watch party at the Love Club located at
1350 Okie Street, NE, from 8 to 11 p.m. on Thursday, November 15.
Everyone is invited to come out, watch the debate and participate in a
straw poll. Light buffet and cash bar. Donation: $20.00.
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Dominic Moulden on a Community Vision for Ward
Five, November 17
Dorinda White, dorindaw@aol.com
Premier Community Development Corporation presents Dominic Moulden,
executive director of One DC and Premier Community Development
Corporation, in a discussion on creating a community vision. All
neighbors, residents, stakeholders, and Ward Five business owners are
invited to attend. Saturday, November 17, 10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. at Mount
Calvary Family Live Community Center, 650 Rhode Island Avenue, NE. For
more information, call 252-7232 or E-mail premiercdc@yahoo.com.
This will be a discussion about our vision for our communities in
Ward Five, including an overview of the ward’s history, demographics,
economics, politics, and organizations.
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CLASSIFIEDS — DONATIONS
Kindly share this information with all coworkers, friends, and family
who are employed with the DC government and the federal government.
Neighbors of Seaton Place, Inc, is a part of both the Combined Federal
Campaign, CFC #27496, and the DC One Fund, #9573 National Capitol Area.
The goal of Neighbors of Seaton Place is to elevate all young people
as stakeholders; engage youth, adults, and community in a positive bond
built through educational experiences and exposure to relevant and
effective programs and practices; and inspire teens to participate in
enriching networking opportunities. For more information, go to http://www.seatonplacedc.org.
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