Discourse

Dear Discoursers:

Tom Sneeringer, who identifies himself as a new reader of themail, has some comments about themail below. I’d like to address them. First, don’t stop being clever. There’s a noticeably higher level of writing and of discourse in themail than in many other online discussion outlets. You’re smarter, better informed, and more polite in your disagreements than your counterparts elsewhere. Don’t stop that, and don’t dumb yourselves down.

Second, however, Tom would like themail to focus exclusively on government watchdog issues. That’s not really what we’re about here. When it was founded as DCStory umpteen years ago, it was a neighborhood newsletter, in which people shared news about store openings and closings, restaurant tips, and so on. It was essentially an outlet for people from all neighborhoods in the District to share among themselves the kind of close-to-the-ground, very local, community news and events that didn’t make it into the daily city newspapers, or even into neighborhood weekly newspapers. That’s still a useful function, and I’d like to see more submissions from people who say, “We had a problem with PEPCO on our block,” or “There’s a water main leak at my corner that has gone unfixed for weeks.” When we share information like that, we often find out that our problem isn’t as small, local, and individual as we thought, and that people in many neighborhoods around the city have had the same experience.

Because of the growth of local community Yahoo groups and listservs, a lot of that kind of neighborhood discussion now goes on within specific community groups. And my obsession with writing about government affairs in the introductions to issues of themail has undoubtedly tended to steer discussion to broader, citywide issues. But there’s still room here for general observations about living in Washington, about what it’s like to be a resident of this city, about the joys and the pains of getting through it all in this place.

Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com

###############

A General Comment from a New Reader
Tom Sneeringer, Ward 3, tmsneeringer@uss.com

The entries in these E-mails are way too long and too much attention is given to flowery writing style and being clever. This is the web, I know, with its unlimited space capacity, but we readers do not have unlimited time capacity. I myself am looking for quick-hit useful information that helps me be a better citizen. If this was being edited for publication, most of it would hit the floor.

One other note — it doesn’t do anyone (other than the writer) to use this precious space for extraneous issues — like the wallet and the Park Police. I understand why the writer would be in a huff about that and would want to vent, but that’s dinner conversation at best. Or go ahead and use this for your personal stuff, just precede it with the warning that it has nothing to do with keeping the DC government under surveillance and holding it accountable, so I can jump to the next item.

###############

Close, But No Cigar
Ed T Barron, edtb1@macdotcom

I mailed my re-registration form to the Department of Motor Vehicles on December 1 for my vehicle’s registration that would expire on December 10. I cut it a bit too close, and the new registration arrived on December 15. I was lucky to not get a ticket (challengeable now only by mail). Looks like you have to get the renewal in at least two weeks before the registration expires.

###############

GOP Effort to Collect over Three Thousand Signatures
Paul D. Craney, press@dcgop.com

December 14 was the deadline for the Republican Presidential candidates to submit their petitions in order to secure a spot on the February 12, 2008, Republican Presidential Primary in DC. Each candidate is required to submit approximately three hundred signatures of registered Republicans from the District of Columbia.

Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Governor Mitt Romney, Senator John McCain, and Congressman Ron Paul are each expected to submit over five hundred signatures. Governor Mike Huckabee is expected to submit four hundred fifty signatures. Additionally, incumbent Republican National Committee members Betsy Werronen and Anthony Parker are expected to submit over five hundred signatures in their reelection campaign. The DC Republican Committee Slate will be placed on the Republican Primary Ballot with over four hundred signatures collected as well

In a last minute scramble this week, the DC Democratic Party successfully asked the DC city council to pass a law to allow Democratic candidates to purchase ballot access instead of mobilizing a grassroots effort to collect signatures. DC Republicans were hitting the streets educating voters about the candidates, while the DC Democratic Party was busy trying to circumvent the law.

###############

Mother Nature Foils Leaf Pickup
Ed T Barron, edtb1@macdotcom

Due to the late arrival of cool weather this year, leaves are still falling from trees in American University Park long after the end of the scheduled leaf pickup on AU Park streets. It’s a real mess now with the leaves raked in piles at the curb being matted down and soaking wet. Even had one pickup on Massachusetts Avenue this year, avoiding moving the early leaf droppings ’round the corner to 48th Street. Had to move the latest batch though — another ten bags worth — since it is unlikely that there will be another scoop up on Mass. Ave. Can only hope that it doesn’t snow and the leaf pickup is renewed before the end of the year.

###############

Which is More Likely: Losing the American Dream, or the Public Trust?
Len Sullivan, lsnarpac@bellatlantic.net

Brookings has recently published a study, funded by the Pew Family Trust, purporting to demonstrate that the “American Dream” is shot because only two thirds of US kids are making more money than their parents (is the dream really that simple?). NARPAC reviews this costly effort at http://www.narpac.org/PERENTS.HTM#ecmobstud in its December web site update. None of the three scholarly reports (Families, Men & Women, Black & White) mentions the word or raises the topic of the educational attainment of either the parents or their kids. Further, the "upward economic mobility" methodology requires, by its quintile formulation, that for every kid who goes up the ladder, one must come down. Work like this can give analysis a bad name.

But the public trust in DC is far more likely to be lost by the cavalier management attitude of the new Fenty administration. Officials seem bent on alienating all the sectors of the active DC community required to accomplish purposeful change. NARPAC frets about this in its monthly editorial at http://www.narpac.org/EDIT.HTM#712 and gives one example from a talk by the self-proclaimed Chief Rectum of the DCPS facilities modernization effort, summarized at www.narpac.org/CMR#lewtalk. This combination of ignorance, arrogance, and extravagance among top city officials can wreak much more havoc on the public trust than a poorly written and easily misinterpreted analytical report.

###############

December 2007 InTowner
P.L. Wolff, intowner@intowner.com

This is to advise that the December 2007 on-line edition has been uploaded and may be accessed at http://www.intowner.com. Included are the lead stories, community news items and crime reports, editorials (including prior months’ archived), restaurant reviews (prior months also archived), and the text from the ever-popular “Scenes from the Past” feature (the accompanying images can be seen in the archived PDF version).

The complete issue (along with prior issues back to January 2002) also is available in PDF file format directly from our home page at no charge simply by clicking the link in the Current and Back Issues Archive. Here you will be able to view the entire issue as it appears in print, including all photos and advertisements.

The next issue will publish on January 11 (the second Friday of the month, as always). The complete PDF version will be posted by the preceding night or early that Friday morning at the latest, following which the text of the lead stories, community news, and selected features will be uploaded shortly thereafter.

To read this month’s lead stories, simply click the link on the home page to the following headlines: 1) “City’s Preservation Board Orders Landmarking for Christian Science Church Near White House — Decision Viewed by Many as Incompressible”; 2) “Outer Walls Brick Rehab Underway on Dupont East’s Historic Cairo Building”; 3) “Over 50% of Libraries Closed Sundays Through January, Staffing Cited — InTowner’s Area Spared.”

###############

CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS

DC Public Library Event, December 19
Kandace Foreman, kandace.foreman@dc.gov

Watha T. Daniel Book Club Meeting, Wednesday, December 19, 7 p.m., Watha T. Daniel/Shaw Interim Library.

###############

Second Annual Christmas Procession for Bethlehem, December 22, 2007
Ann Loikow, aloikow@verizon.net

On Saturday, December 22, at 10 a.m., the Second Annual Christmas Procession for Bethlehem begins with a worship service in the Bethlehem Chapel of the Washington National Cathedral. This service will be simulcast as joint service with an ecumenical congregation in Bethlehem, West Bank. A procession led by Mary and Joseph, with donkey, will follow the service at 10:30 a.m. on Woodley Road. Behind the wall that separates neighbor from neighbor, patient from hospital, student from school and farmer from the land, Palestinian Christians continue to bear witness to their faith this Christmas, as they have done for over two millennium. Join them in seeking hope for a better future. The service and procession is sponsored by the Ad Hoc Committee for Bethlehem, the Washington Interfaith Alliance for Middle East Peace and Sharing Jerusalem. For more information, go to http://www.wiamep.org.

###############

themail@dcwatch is an E-mail discussion forum that is published every Wednesday and Sunday. To subscribe, to change E-mail addresses, use the subscription form at http://www.dcwatch.com/themail/subscribe.htm. To unsubscribe, send an E-mail message to themail@dcwatch.com with “unsubscribe” in the subject line. Archives of past messages are available at http://www.dcwatch.com/themail.