Housekeeping
Dear Housekeepers:
I’ve been receiving lately an unusually large number of
subscription requests from people who are already subscribed to themail,
as well as questions about whether subscriptions (or themail itself)
have been suspended. The problem seems to be that because themail is
being sent through a new system, from a different Internet address, some
peoples’ systems are filtering it out and sending it to their trash or
spam folders. The new system lets me check whether deliveries to any
E-mail addresses have bounced, and if an address shows more than a few
bounces, I’ll contact the subscriber. If you’ve been subscribed, if
you aren’t receiving themail by E-mail, and if I haven’t contacted
you -- and if you therefore are reading this online — please check
your trash and spam folders for the missing issues, and put themail@dcwatch.com
on your whitelist.
I’ve also received more than a few messages that said that E-mails
sent to themail@dcwatch.com
were bouncing, or that asked why I hadn’t used a message that I hadn’t
received in the first place. As I’ve said before, E-mail isn’t
perfect. If your E-mail to themail isn’t used or even acknowledged by
the time the next issue is published, resend it.
After this issue of themail is published, I’m not going to update
the DCWatch web site for a couple weeks, so even though I’ll still be
sending the E-mail version of themail, the next few issues won’t
appear online until the end of the year.
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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I don’t ordinarily hike in Rock Creek Park, but a flat tire on my
bicycle condemned me to a long walk on Glover Drive, off Broad Branch.
Plodding along, I spotted a wallet lying in the grass alongside the
road, an object I hadn’t noticed on my rather speedier ride up the
hill. It turned out to be a US Park Police officer’s picture ID
wallet, and I imagined some poor guy searching in vain for his lost, and
rather important, official police ID. So after finally making it home, I
quickly changed clothes, hopped in my Prius, and hurried on out to the
Park Police station on Beach Drive. Guess I thought that the owner would
be relieved to have a good citizen turn in his lost ID.
Well, guess again. The clerk at the Park Police station just couldn’t
be bothered. He fiddled busily with what appeared to be a malfunctioning
alarm system, utterly ignoring me, while conversing with somebody out of
view. I waited, he fiddled. He fiddled, I waited. After some time of
being totally ignored, not even my presence acknowledged, I decided that
I had better ways to spend my time, and departed. The jerk — excuse
me, clerk — ignored my departure.
Out in the parking lot, there happened to be a Park Police officer in
her car, who asked if she could help. Indeed, she could, and I turned
the wallet over to her, happy to be rid of the thing. But judging by the
behavior of the clerk inside the station, the Park Police don’t care
to be bothered by citizens trying to be helpful. Okay, next time I run
across a lost Park Police officer’s ID, I’ll leave it in the weeds,
undisturbed. Message received, Park Police.
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Despite reports that District of Columbia coffers are flush with
revenue, the reality is that many public services are stretched and
stressed for general operating expenses and hard cash. Beyond the
headlines and behind the lines is the ugly truth of DC’s fiscal
imbalances and stolen dollars. Confidentially ask the teachers of our
still faltering public schools, fire fighters still waiting for upgraded
lifesaving equipment, police officers stretched to the brink with
diminished street staff, and the everyday District citizen feeling that
sense of dread over the weak socioeconomic safety net of our city-state.
Stadiums, condos, and construction cranes don’t disguise the lies we
see on the streets.
Almost one year into the mayoral takeover of our public schools, the
actual evidence of measurable improvements is skimpy at best. Parents
are still effectively kept out of the real information and decision
loop, though it’s done with smiles and distractions. Now, it comes to
pass that the money needed for academic and structural improvements was
"underestimated." Nevertheless, many six-figure salaries have
been doled out for dubious duties and invisible results. DC firefighters
and EMS personnel answer daily emergencies risking their own lives with
substandard safety equipment, and numerous fire hydrants with
questionable states of operation. Lives and property are at stake
through finger pointing and excuses from DC’s Water and Sewer
Authority. Money for long overdue maintenance, repair and upgrades seem
to drown in the continuing politricks of shell game financing, panic
management, and so-called "emergency legislation." All hands
are on deck, but proportionately fewer hands are available to
permanently drive down and destroy the District’s crime spikes. These
spikes aren’t minor if you’re the victim. Random acts of violence on
DC streets and Metro facilities are still in vogue. MPD officers are
still expected to take a bullet while being insulted with a pathetic
paycheck, ever-demanding work schedules, plus an elusive respectable
twenty-year retirement package. Some may take former chief Charles
Ramsey’s recruitment offer as Philadelphia’s new top cop.
But wait! There’s more! While some so-called city leaders devise
new phony fiscal schemes to find the money they said we had, dollars
continue to fly out the doors of District agencies from corruption and
the usual crackhead budgeting. The real questions about DC’s systemic
corruption is what did or does District CFO Natwar Gandhi know, and when
did he know it? Better still, why didn’t he know it? Does the “No
Snitching” policy apply in DC government too? Hopefully, federal
investigators and prosecutors have embedded themselves deep enough into
the District’s caldron of corruption to discover the high and low
level perpetrators eligible for DC’s version of the perp walk. No
doubt, certain “Who’s Who” characters will try to make quiet deals
behind news headlines. Fortunately, for investigators, there are many
genuinely honest, competent, and overlooked District government
employees. All they need is a truly safe sign that it’s all right to
tell the true tale of our city. Make the true guardians of our public
resources and reputation an offer they can’t refuse. Provide full
immunity, absolute personal and career safety, plus a reasonable small
percentage of the public tax dollars saved or taken from the sticky
hands of numerous corrupt DC bureaucrats. Altogether, this is a real
savings of our hard-earned tax dollars and good long-term fiscal policy.
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Graffiti, OTR, and Cheh
Frank Winstead, Forest Hills, frank.winstead@gmail.com
Today, Councilmember Mary Cheh’s Committee on Public Services and
Consumer Affairs held a hearing on B17-270, the “Omnibus Graffiti
Reduction Act of 2007,” a.k.a. the "Borf Appreciation Act of
2007." Over 70% of the bill’s text is devoted to making victims
of graffiti attacks pay for the privilege of being abused. Bottom line,
this is a regressive tax. Cheh’s Ward 3 land owners could see liens
that are a far smaller proportion of their property values than owners
in less affluent Wards. This sinister Cheh-gressive tax could force
poorer owners to sell their properties when they can’t afford to
remove the graffiti. Land speculators/developers would be a spray can
away from a new source of DC properties. There is a brief, non-detailed
mention of a once-a-year paint voucher to be made available by the DC
government.
And who in the government will be water-boarding the already
victimized? The bill invests authority in the Deputy Chief Financial
Officer for the Office of Tax and Revenue (OTR refund scandal and the
Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH pants judge scandal). Buried in
the bill is even a mechanism to sneak graffiti revenue into the general
fund assuming the above agencies are careful and consistent in not doing
their jobs properly.
Graffiti artists and Cheh are united in their desire to desecrate our
city for their own ends. The former uses our structures as a medium for
their vile outbursts. The latter uses our legal system. I will not
detail how this bill seeks to nullify the First Amendment rights of
graffiti victims nor how it could be used to legitimize Fourth Amendment
rights violations against these victims by the city.
May we assume Mary Cheh, a former National Capital Area ACLU board
member, will clean up these little oversights? The councilmember claims
in her December 2007 newsletter, “The Council is committed to exposing
corruption throughout our government and has certainly committed itself
to ensuring the public trust is kept.”
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Youth Rehabilitation Services
Philip Fornaci, pfornaci@yahoo.com
Gary Imhoff and his buddy Colbert King have failed to explain just
what they propose doing about juvenile crime in the District.
Criticizing Vincent Schiraldi for his “1960s liberalism” in dealing
with kids and crime is hardly substantive, particularly when King’s
own knee-jerk “tough on crime” diatribes echo his no less
romanticized 1950s conservative attitudes. Do we need long prison
sentences (maybe in adult prisons?) for kids who steal cars for
joyriding? Maybe the same for truancy, shoplifting, and wearing baggy
pants? It will hardly “protect the community” to incarcerate
teenagers for long prison terms so they can become more embittered, more
alienated from the rest of society, and better-trained to commit new
criminal offenses when they get out. Mr. Schiraldi is trying to
intervene in these kids lives before things get worse, while Imhoff and
King (and Dino Drudi) want us to lock up “bad kids” for the rest of
their lives, or until they say “uncle,” whichever comes first. In a
city that already has the highest incarceration rate in the country and
one of the highest crime rates, it is not hard to predict the inevitable
failure of the latter approach.
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Everyone seems to be howling for the blood of Chief Financial Officer
Gandhi. The premise is that he should have detected the theft of forty
million dollars that took place at least partly on his watch. It might
be instructive to read Alan Greenspan’s book, in which he states that
during his years as a member of the board of directors of many companies
he does not recall boards of directors ever uncovering an act of
embezzlement by employees. He stated that this crime is almost always
uncovered through the actions of whistle-blowers. In the case of the
property tax refund fraud, it was a bank clerk who became suspicious and
tipped off the authorities. Merely looking at the numbers, without
launching a criminal investigation, would not have uncovered the fraud.
The schemers bypassed the managers whose job it would have been to
uncover the plot.
This is not to say that there was no management culpability.
Procedures were violated that should have been detectable at some level,
especially given the audit alarms.
A solution that holds higher and higher levels of management
responsible for more and more minor matters is actually
counterproductive. The high level managers don’t have time to
investigate or detect discrepancies in minor matters. Their secretaries,
who also have no time or qualifications for this duty, end up doing the
job. The employees previously responsible for review relax because they
no longer have liability. The result is less effective review and a less
responsive organization.
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“When,” not “if,” is Gandhi going to be fired?
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[Re: A Dilemma, themail, December 2] Thanks, Ed, for the story behind
Kosciusko street for us who are “short in the tooth.” By your own
admission, it shows that even DC citizens participate in illegal
dumping. While this seems like a convenient and simple solution to the
problem on Massachusetts Avenue, I’m curious to find out whether the
neighbors on 48th Street were consulted or appreciated the extra bags.
Rather than report such dumping, may I suggest two options that I
believe are well within DPW guidelines to remedy this problem. 1) Put in
a bulk trash pickup request, http://dpw.dc.gov/dpw/cwp/view,a,1203,q,518080,dpwNav,|31202|.asp.
If Ed and other residents have that many bags that cannot be picked up
via the vacuuming (at least on Massachusetts Avenue), a bulk trash
pickup request is in order. 2) Take them to the Fort Totten Station for
disposal. “If residents hire a landscaper to remove leaves, or don’t
want to wait for the DPW schedule, residents may dispose leaves for free
at the Fort Totten Transfer Station, located at 4900 Bates Road, NE,
from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on
Saturday. Call 576-6803” (http://dpw.dc.gov/dpw/cwp/view,a,1203,q,518164,dpwNav,|31202|.asp).
Worst case scenario, you can call the Mayor’s command center and
request some resolution, but all citizens should be respectful of others
and not infringe upon each other.
[Re: A Dirty Job, themail, December 2] The mere fact that Mr. Barron
calls closing schools a dirty job raises a great deal of suspicion, even
in his commentary. Surreptitious and clandestine government is neither
surreptitious nor clandestine. What is done in the dark is almost always
found out in the light. Even aside from the protection for Ward 3
schools, it is democratic that the public and the city council question
the decisions made. This is necessary because a “proposal” usually
means it is a done deal. All these public forums are to sell the public
on something that is already being done. If it really were a proposal,
the public or their representatives would be able to voice their
opinions and potentially influence the terms of the deal. This, Mr.
Barron, will not be done. Many of these public forums, ever since the
Williams days, are filled with plants who may ask questions or make
comments that are favorable to what is being discussed. It is almost
better not to have these forums than to lull the polity in believing
that they actually have a voice. I am certain that if there were no
opposition, these forums wouldn’t even exist.
I read the recent Fenty File that had an outline of the school
closures. While my child’s school is not in the list, it makes me
question some of the logic behind where students are being sent. In
reading Marc Boberly’s “Some Background to the School Closure
Proposal” (themail, December 2) the fact that “A[nother] decision
was made not to look initially at the percentage of students who live
close to the school (one thought was to consider whether a high
percentage of students live more than half a mile away, for instance)”
is a travesty and a disservice to the children DCPS is supposed to
serve. Just taking a simple map or using your online mapping site of
choice, one can easily pinpoint the schools and realize where some of
the kids are being sent are somewhat out of the way. DC does not have a
busing system, and relies heavily on students being able to walk to
school or in some cases catch public transportation. For example, Backus
to Taft is 1.5 miles, Hine to Eliot is 1.2 miles. The schools may be a
little over one mile apart linearly, but traversing through the
neighborhoods on foot can be a challenge. Likewise, why Rudolph students
aren’t being sent to Truesdell, which is literally six blocks away.
Once again, are we serving the children or are we serving the budget? By
the way, Rudolph has a mini-recreation center associated with it too,
something that saved Brookland. What folks don’t realize is that the
enrollment of DCPS needs to be addressed. Some are blaming vouchers,
charter schools, and other things. While all are valid reasons,
enrollment is down most notably because of gentrification. With all of
the condos going up, transient folks moving in, and affordable
single-family housing going down, where is a family expected to live?
Coincidentally, Ward 4 (where Fenty lives) and Ward 1 (adjoining Ward 4)
are taking serious hits in this DCPS school reorganization, and the kids
at Clark, Rudolph, Bruce Monroe, and Park View will suffer. Once again,
this reorganization would have a little more credibility if Fenty’s
sons were enrolled in DCPS.
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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
Writers Guilds of America Panel Discussion on
Hollywood Blacklist, December 13
Esha Udyavar, eudyavar@apcoworldwide.com
The Writers Guilds of America and the National Press Club will hold a
National Press Club Newsmaker panel discussion marking the sixtieth
anniversary of the Hollywood Blacklist. Two notable blacklisted artists
and two historians will reflect on this controversial episode in our
nation’s history and discuss the lessons learned. Panelists will
include Oscar-nominated blacklisted screenwriter and author Walter
Bernstein, blacklisted actress Marsha Hunt, noted historian and author
Victor Navasky, and WGAE President and television historian Michael
Winship.
The panel discussion will be held at the National Press Club Lisagor
Room on Thursday, December 13, at 1:00 p.m.
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Not All Wikis Are Encyclopedias
Barbara Conn, bconn@cpcug.org
Most web users are familiar with Wikipedia, the online free content
encyclopedia. But "encyclopedia" is just one of many types of
wikis. Large and small businesses, government agencies, and nonprofit
organizations have developed all kinds of wikis, and they use wikis to
enable collaboration among far-flung teams, manage meetings, and develop
presentations. Some have even replaced dead-end intranets with thriving
wikis. During this event, we’ll review various types of wikis and
discuss how a wiki might help your organization solve a communication
problem.
Gather your colleagues, and your questions, and bring them to this
Saturday, December 15, 1:00 p.m., gathering of the Capital PC User Group
(CPCUG) Entrepreneurs and Consultants Special Interest Group (E&C
SIG). These monthly events are free and open to all. This month’s
event is at the Cleveland Park Branch Library (first floor large meeting
room) at 3310 Connecticut Avenue, NW (between Macomb and Newark Streets)
-- just over a block south of the Cleveland Park Metrorail Station on
the Red Line. For more information about the seminar, the speaker, and
CPCUG (a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational organization), visit http://entrepreneur.cpcug.org/1207meet.html.
To RSVP, send E-mail to bconn@cpcug.org.
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DC Public Library Events, December 15, 18
Kandace Foreman, kandace.foreman@dc.gov
Winter wonderland festival/fun day, all ages. Saturday, December 15,
1 p.m., Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Library Children’s Division,
Room 200,
Capitol Hill Non-Fiction Book Club, Tuesday, December 18, 6:30 p.m.,
Southeast Neighborhood Library.
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DC Vote Tea Party, December 16
Kevin Kiger, kkiger@dcvote.com
DCVote will hold a symbolic reenactment of the Boston Tea Party with
elected officials protesting taxation without representation on Sunday,
December 16, 1:30-2:30 p.m., at Georgetown Waterfront Park, Washington,
DC (South of K Street between Wisconsin Avenue and 31st Street, NW).
Custom-printed tea packets with an “End Taxation Without
Representation” message will be distributed by activists in
Colonial-era costume. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, DC’s shadow
delegation, and local activists will attend.
On the 234th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, more than half a
million Americans living in our nation’s capital pay the second
highest per capita federal taxes yet still have no voting representation
in Congress. It’s well past time for an end to taxation without
representation.
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Recycling the Future, December 18
Jazmine Zick, jzick@nbm.org
For the Greener Good Lecture Series, Part IV: Living in a Disposable
World: Recycling the Future. At the National Building Museum, 401 F
Street, NW, Judiciary Square stop, Metro Red Line. Tuesday, December 18,
6:30-8:00 p.m. As our economy is increasingly supported by products with
shorter life spans, how do we put an end to the continuous growth of
landfills? How are engineers creating buildings that use recycled
materials and have a small ecological footprint? Can the market bear
"cradle-to-grave" products and buildings with a higher price
tag? Metropolis magazine’s editor-in-chief, Susan Szenasy,
moderates a panel that discusses our disposable world. Panelists
include, Julie Bargmann, D.I.R.T. Studio, Chris Jordan, Artist, and Tim
S. Kraft, AIA. $12 members, $20 nonmembers, free for students with valid
ID. Prepaid registration required. Register for events at http://www.nbm.org.
Walk-in registration based on availability.
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A Very Happy Challah-Day, December 25
Leah Gross, lgross@bnaibrith.org
I’d like to bring to your attention an upcoming event. On December
25, the Sixth and I Historic Synagogue, B’nai B’rith Klutznick
National Jewish Museum, and Jewish Historical Society of Greater
Washington will be sponsoring an event for local Jewish families
entitled A Very Happy Challah-Day. The program will run from 12:00-3:00
p.m., and will include a musical performance by acclaimed Jewish camp
musician Sheldon Low, challah braiding, the opportunity to make a
challah cover and participate in Aleph Bet yoga, and a variety of other
activities.
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CLASSIFIEDS — HELP WANTED
I am looking for someone living near Appleton Street and Reno Road,
NW, who would be willing to shovel our front sidewalks (small house,
short walks) regularly immediately after it stops snowing (even if it’s
a school or work morning). I pay $15/hour (it will take considerably
less than an hour, but the $15 is yours anyway). Please reply as soon as
possible, so we know whether to shovel ourselves next time the white
stuff comes down.
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CLASSIFIEDS — VOLUNTEER
Red Cross Project: Cards for Wounded Soldiers
Amy Slemmer, slemmera@usa.redcross.org
Volunteer with the American Red Cross this holiday season to help
bring a touch of home and comfort to wounded service members recovering
in military hospitals across the country. Each Saturday between now and
the end of the year volunteers will gather in the cafeteria of the
national headquarters of the American Red Cross to sort and bundle
thousands of cards and letters sent to wounded women and men in our
armed services. These messages convey hope and support for our soldiers
who have been injured during their military service. Please join us
Saturday December 15, 22, and 29 at 9:00 a.m. to noon at 2025 E Street,
NW. Parking is available in the building. Red Cross is accepting cards
and letters through December 27. If you need any additional information
please contact Amy Whitcomb Slemmer via E-mail at SlemmerA@usa.redcross.org
with “Wounded Soldiers” in the subject line, or call 303-4124.
To send your support and wishes for recovery to a wounded soldier,
write:
We Support You During Your Recovery!
c/o American Red Cross
P.O. Box 419
Savage, MD 20763-0419
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We are Mini Terri Mannarini and Angela Fedi, Italian visiting
researchers from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, running a
cross-cultural study on citizen involvement together with Ken Maton,
associate professor at UMBC.
We are looking for people who have been involved — as simple
citizens — in one or more initiatives of citizen involvement ran by
the District government, and who are willing to participate in the study
by completing a questionnaire or, alternatively, being interviewed on
the phone (about 15-20 minutes each). The study is designed according to
the requirements of the International Review Board of the University of
Maryland in terms of confidentiality, voluntary participation, and
informed consent; less than minimal risks are associated with the
procedures.
We will start to collect the data in the second week of January.
Anyone interested in participating in the study can contact us Mini
Terri Mannarini (minimann@umbc.edu)
or Angela Fedi (angelafe@umbc.edu).
Thank you very much for helping us with this study!
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