Strange Endorsements
Dear Endorsers:
As you know, DCWatch doesn’t make political endorsements or support
candidates, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t send your
endorsements — and non-endorsements — to themail. There have been
surprisingly few election-related messages in themail during this
relatively quiet local primary season, but if you have anything to say
about candidates or election issues before the November general
election, don’t be shy.
DCWatch doesn’t make endorsements; however, I’ll still criticize
the grounds on which others endorse candidates, and there have been at
least two particularly strained and strange endorsements in the past
week. Before I get to that, however, I want to compliment Colbert King
on another great column yesterday (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/05/AR2008090502985.html?sub=AR).
In last Wednesday’s issue of themail, Dorothy wrote about the court
hearing that was held that day on DC Public Schools’ failure to comply
with the consent decree that requires improved special education
services and programs. King attended the same hearing, and wrote about
it yesterday: “The city’s top lawyer [Peter Nickles] and education
leaders had to listen as the judge scolded them for not keeping their
word to implement hundreds of settlements and hearing-officer decisions
involving children who require special education services. ‘A consent
decree,’ [Judge] Friedman lectured, ‘is not something you agree to
for the fun of it.’ Over and over, Friedman threw Fenty’s campaign
watchword, ‘accountability,’ in their faces. At one point, Friedman
charged that Fenty’s special education program lacked ‘someone to be
held accountable.’ Rhee, who is used to being the one who does the
upbraiding, clearly wasn’t having a good time. Her stoic posture at
the defendant’s table was betrayed by impatient foot-tapping.” King
doesn’t mince words: “Friedman, in a gesture I consider too
soft-hearted, gave notice that he would issue a court order containing
questions that [Chancellor] Rhee and [State Schools Superintendent] Gist
must answer at a future hearing. Then he let them go. Somebody should
have left in handcuffs.”
King’s wisdom and experience, and his willingness to hold the city
government responsible and accountable for its failures, has been sorely
missed on the Post’s editorial board. That was most recently
demonstrated in that paper’s endorsements in the city council primary
race, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/02/AR2008090202444.html.
The Post editorially endorsed Patrick Mara as Carol Schwartz’s
opponent in the Republican primary for at-large councilmember. Mara’s
pitch to Republicans is that Schwartz is too liberal, and that he
represents a more conservative brand of Republicanism. But the Post,
although it routinely denies its obvious political bias, is a liberal,
Democratic paper. Why would it prefer a more conservative Republican
candidate? The fact is that it doesn’t. What it likes about Mara is
this: “Unrelentingly negative, Ms. Schwartz opposed no-smoking laws,
open-meeting reform, and, most notably, the mayoral takeover of the
schools. No more urgent issue faces the District than the improvement of
its public schools, and as much as we salute Ms. Schwartz’s past
contributions to the city, we fear the consequences of her continued
presence on the council.” In other words, Carol Schwartz doesn’t
march in lock step with Adrian Fenty. She asks too many questions of
him, and demands accountability and transparency in his school takeover.
The Post’s editorial board wants a councilmember more in its
own mold, someone who will be an uncritical cheerleader for Fenty’s
school takeover and who won’t ask inconvenient questions about it;
that’s what it thinks Mara will be, and that’s why it supports him.
I can’t image that Republicans would find that a convincing
recommendation. It’s telling that Metro columnist Marc Fisher, who
himself has been a staunch supporter of Fenty’s takeover, was so taken
aback by the editorial board’s position that he used his column to
refute it on that very point: “I don’t know whether Schwartz was
right to stand up as one of only two council members opposing Mayor
Adrian Fenty’s takeover of the school system — the jury will be out
on Chancellor Michelle Rhee’s efforts for a good deal longer — but I
do know that without Schwartz, hardly anyone would be keeping tabs on
where the torrent of new school money is really going” (http://tinyurl.com/6bdmoz).
The other strange endorsement is Loose Lips’ recommendation, in the
Washington City Paper, of Jack Evans in the Democratic primary
for Ward Two councilmember, http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/display.php?id=36131.
“Over the years, from challenger after challenger, Evans has faced
pretty much the same line of attack — that he’s a toady for the
developers who’ve built the Verizon Center, the convention center, and
the baseball stadium, not to mention various hotels and other projects.
Again, it’s a fine set of talking points. But whoever lands in the
Ward 2 slot is going to have a built-in relationship with real estate
moguls, and geography explains why. Ward 2 spans downtown plus the lion’s
share of the city’s hip and close-in neighborhoods. It’s a place
where upscale development is going to happen even if Karl Marx is
sitting on the dais.” In other words, Loose Lips argues, any
councilmember from Ward 2 will be a toady for developers, get reelected
by taking their donations, and represent their interests, so why not
stick with Jack? All I can say is: huh?
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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September 9 Primary Endorsement
Jeffrey Norman, jeffrey.norman@att.net
Vote for the Obama4UnityBeatsMcCain slate of candidates for the DC
Democratic State Committee on Tuesday, September 9. These folks have all
been on the front lines for Senator Obama here in the District of
Columbia, and they represent the future of our party. Its candidates
were assembled with the help of DC for Obama and other local activist
groups. They were called to action by the glaring deficiencies that were
witnessed in our party throughout this election.
We need change from the top to the bottom, from the White House to
our local Democratic Party. This election cycle has certainly
illustrated the fact that the current leadership of the DC Democratic
Party is in need of some new blood. New party activists need to be
welcomed into our party if we are going to lead the way in the
twenty-first century. Being an active member of our party should not be
based on who you know, and for how long you have known them. All should
be welcomed in, or we risk becoming just as out of touch as the
Republican party. Unfortunately, the culture of the DC Democratic Party
has become an insular one, riddled with members of the old guard who see
new community activists as an affront to their status. Luckily for us,
we know that membership on the DC Democratic State Committee is not
about status at all, but serving the will of the people. The outcome of
our primary has shown that America is ready to shake off this old style
of politics and embrace change. This insiders game must come to an end.
Read for yourself in the Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/14/AR2008081403471_pf.html.
So, I ask you to vote for change on Tuesday, September 9. Vote for
the Obama4UnityBeatsMcCain slate of candidates for the DC Democratic
State Committee. Vote for transparency in governance, and together we
will chart a new course for our local Democratic Party. You vote as you
normally would in any election, at the same polling place. The hours are
7 a.m. to 8 p.m. To find your polling location and verify your
registration status, you can visit http://www.voteforchange.com.
###############
Under Deputy Chancellor for Special Education Phyllis Harris’ new
special education model many DC public school students diagnosed with
emotional disabilities reported to newly created self-contained
programs. Little did DC parents know that many of these special
education programs lack special educational teachers, educational aides,
and the much needed textbooks which somehow just haven’t been ordered
by the Office of Special Education. In many of these programs, DC
teachers and school social workers work outside of their area of
certification. To date, multiple complaints have surfaced from the Shadd
Center, which some contend has become an institutional warehouse of
disabled students. In lieu of having adequate special education teachers
and support personnel for these programs, some central office staff are
regularly performing as fill-in substitutes. Could it be that the DC
Special Education Office is awaiting the callback of the 269 terminated
teachers, 78 terminated probationary teachers and the 500 terminated
educational aides who were recently separated from DCPS?
Other complaints have surfaced from Davis, Ferebee Hope, Garfield,
Kimble, and Smothers Elementary schools and Anacostia Senior High
amongst a host of other programs where self contained classrooms lack
special education teachers, educational aides, related service providers
and textbooks still. A DCPS service provider writes: “Hi Candi. It is
truly a travesty, the disservice that our young children, especially
black males, are being subjected to across this city. The E.D.
(emotionally disturbed) programs are grossly understaffed and in total
chaos and disarray. The conditions at Shadd are widely known, which is
why central office personnel have been detailed; but the local school
citywide programs are just as bad. Examples include Ferebee-Hope, which
has a primary and intermediate class on paper. Only one teacher and no
aides have shown. The school is supposed to have a full-time social
worker but does not have one at all. The classes for students with an
emotional disturbance are combined and the atmosphere is extremely
confrontational. Students are aggressive with one another and the
teacher. Davis, Garfield, Kimble, Smothers, and Thomas are also under
staffed. My concern is that we are on the brink of a major catastrophe.
This is a class-action lawsuit waiting to happen. Do we really wait
until someone, child or staff, gets seriously injured before we address
the issue? Unfortunately there are multiple issues of equal importance
within the school system that need to be addressed. Please give this one
some thought before it erupts and encapsulates us all.”
If you know of a situation in which DC programs lack special
education teachers/educational aides, lack textbooks and appropriate
resources, utilize school social workers as substitutes or aides, and/or
DC teachers/providers who are working outside of their certification
area, drop me a line at: saveourcounselors@gmail.com.
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Upon Further Reflection
Ed T Barron, edtb1@macdotcom
My counterproposal to the DC Public School proposal to pay middle
school students for coming to school and behaving was to, instead, pay
the parents, which would result in more parental involvement in the
education process. Upon further reflection I see that this might, in
instances where there is parent/student conflict, result in being a
disincentive to the student. Perhaps splitting the payment (for those
who have earned it) equally between the student and the parent, might
achieve the best result.
My youngest son is in his third year of teaching in a blue collar
school in upstate NY. Not much enthusiasm for education by parents in
that community, either. What my son has done is to create a weekly
lottery. Students who try to learn, come to school prepared, and behave
in class can get lottery tickets for each and every performance
measurement. They don’t need to get good grades to earn chances in the
lottery; they need only to participate, do their homework, and behave in
the classroom. At the end of each week there is a drawing with all the
chances eligible for a prize. Several small prizes (of very nominal
value, since they are paid for by my son) are given out. The process
seems to be working well.
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The District Council is about to pass a “single sales” bill
(B17-0903), prohibiting the sale of single containers of alcohol in
Mount Pleasant and parts of Wards 2 and 6. On September 2, the Mount
Pleasant ANC, by a 5 to 0 vote, called for the deletion of Mount
Pleasant from the bill. The reasons that were given for wanting Mount
Pleasant to be excluded from this ban were: 1) such single-sales bans do
not mitigate the problem of public drinking, but merely persuade alcohol
abusers to take their behavior to nearby, ban-free neighborhoods; 2) the
legal ban would prevent any trial suspension of the existing,
voluntary-agreement based ban in Mount Pleasant, to find out if it is
today really beneficial, eight years on; 3) a recent George Washington
University statistical analysis of alcohol-related calls for police
service before and after the imposition of the singles ban in Ward Four
showed no decrease due to the ban; 4) while the District council spends
time on politically popular but ineffectual single sales bans, more
serious efforts to deal with the problem are neglected. Our
councilmembers seem not to realize that the core of the
indigent-public-inebriate problem is the policy of homeless shelters to
put their clients out on the street every morning, and allow them back
in only in the evening. These unfortunate men have no place to go during
the day but to our parks and streets, and no place to deal with their
bodily functions but in our alleys. Banning singles does nothing to
mitigate that public nuisance problem.
Ward One has an ample share of the homeless, many of whom are alcohol
addicts and abusers, but not one of the four Ward One ANCs supports
single sales bans as a legitimate approach to this problem.
###############
How Tommy Wells’s Engrossed Original “Single-Sales”
Bill Makes ANC Participation Irrelevant
David Sobelsohn, ANC6D02@capaccess.org
Tommy Wells’s original single-sale bill (Bill 17-797) had a central
role for Advisory Neighborhood Commissions. As introduced, the bill
prohibited Ward 6 single-sales of beer, ale, or malt liquor unless the
local ANC specifically exempted a liquor licensee through a voluntary
agreement. As amended on first reading, however, the (“Engrossed
Original”) bill makes ANC participation inconsequential. First, the
bill no longer gives ANCs power over exemptions. That power now would
reside exclusively in the Alcohol Beverage Control Board. The bill does
provide that, in granting an exemption, the ABC Board must give “great
weight” to the “input, if any” of the local ANC (new §
25-344(c)(2)(A), p.2 lines 11-l2). But the bill goes on to list three
specific factors the ABC Board must consider in deciding whether to
grant an exemption (new § 25-344(c)(2)(B)-(D), p.2 lines 13-22).
Courts have interpreted the “great weight” requirement to mean
only that city agencies must respond to an ANC’s concerns. But as
amended, Bill 17-797 doesn’t specify — aside from the three factors
the bill enumerates — an ANC may consider in providing its “input.”
If an ANC included some nonenumerated factor in its advice, the ABC
Board could “respond” by saying that’s not a relevant factor
because it’s not specified in the bill. In other words, the ABC Board
might limit the relevant factors to those specified in new §
25-344(c)(2)(B)-(D). But if passed in its current form, the bill will
already require the ABC Board to evaluate the enumerated factors. Since
the “great weight” requirement only means the ABC Board must
evaluate relevant concerns raised by the local ANC, if the ABC Board
limits the relevant factors to those specified in the bill — factors
the bill already requires the ABC Board to consider — the position of
an ANC would have no effect. The ABC Board would have to consider those
factors in any event.
Historically, the ABC Board has given inconsistent respect to the
views of an affected ANC. If the ABC Board can disregard the views of an
ANC, it will. The bill’s current language permits them plausibly to do
so. Since ANCs can’t file lawsuits, and since the DC attorney-general
in any event would refuse to represent an ANC in litigation against the
ABC Board, there would be nothing an ANC could do about it. As one of
the specified factors, the bill lists “licensee participation in the
community, such as attendance at Advisory Neighborhood Commission and
Police Service Area community meetings” (new §25-344(c)(2)(C), p.2
lines 17-19). It would give ANCs some role in the process if the council
amended this factor to add the phrase “and other community
participation deemed relevant by the ANC in which the licensee is
located.” Otherwise, in its current form, Bill 17-797 makes
inconsequential any ANC involvement in determining exemptions to a Ward
Six single-sale ban.
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On Wednesday, members of the ANC 5B10 community valiantly defended
our right to a safe, orderly and peaceful community by protesting the
liquor license renewal of Jimmy Valentine’s Lonely Hearts Club,
located at 1103 Bladensburg Road, NE. Google Jimmy Valentine’s Lonely
Hearts Club and you will find references to “. . . a dive located in a
hood called Trinidad. . .“ along with an ode to a dead drug dealer,
“Goon,” and other indications that the establishment is not a family
oriented business. The business (and I use the term loosely because I
presume they pay taxes) has no identifiable signage, a cracked window
facade, and has been observed to have trash strewn in the front and rear
of the location on numerous occasions. On August 31, a Great Dane eating
food trash in front of the establishment deterred some patrons from
entering the establishment. The unleashed dog went inside the
establishment after eating the food trash. The police have responded to
the establishment for apparent violations of the law. Further, a sworn
member of the Metropolitan Police Department testified at yesterday’s
hearing that the owner of the establishment, Mark Thorp, confronted him
in an angry and aggressive manner when said officer (who has since been
promoted to the rank of sergeant) examined a parked vehicle with
Maryland tags and a missing window. The vehicle in question belongs to
Mr. Thorp, who identifies himself as an ardent supporter of the police.
The business has negatively affected the peace, order, and quiet of
our community by operating outside of their stated business hours of
4:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m., Sunday through Thursday, and 4:00 p.m. to 3:00
a.m., Friday and Saturday. Neighbors have heard loud music emanating
from the establishment at approximately 6:00 a.m., and several patrons
were observed noisily congregating in front of the establishment early
on a Sunday morning. Further, the owner provided limousine service to
the club until said limousine was ticketed, booted, and towed for
violating residential parking restrictions and street cleaning posted
signs. According to Chapter 4, section 400.1(b) of the General Licensing
Requirements “The establishment will not have an adverse impact on
residential parking needs, considering available public and private
parking and any arrangements made to secure such parking for the
clientele of the establishment; ”
Finally, one board member presiding over the protest hearing asked
witnesses whether the business looked as bad as or worse than existing
businesses in the area? Another asked would you rather have an empty
building or one with a cracked facade and no signage? The location, 1103
Bladensburg, was vacant before opening as a tavern/dive. It appears that
law-abiding citizens acting in good faith to protect their communities
from negative elements that adversely affect peace, order, and quiet
have an uphill struggle to protect the community. Increasingly, this
community, which is partially located in Trinidad, has endured horrific
levels of violence, forcing our police to respond strongly and often. We
believe the police cannot fight crime alone and we must address all
elements that contribute to crime and disorder, including protesting
alcohol establishments that operate contrary to the law. I would be
interested in hearing if other communities have experienced similar
difficulties in protesting similarly situated establishments. Please
respond here or feel free to contact Commissioner Henderson and me if
you support our efforts to protect our community. The phone number is
397-2777. Mr. Thorp stated on the record that he actively sought and
received support for his establishment from Councilmember Thomas. The
majority of the ANC 5B10 community does not support this establishment.
###############
Response to Sylvia Brown
Robert A. Levy, rlevy@cato.org
In her September 3 E-mail (“Bilking the City to Bear Arms”),
Sylvia C. Brown is long on rhetoric and short on facts. First, the Cato
Institute had nothing to do with paying for Dick Heller’s successful
Second Amendment challenge to the DC gun ban. Two attorneys worked for
free. One attorney worked for less than $10 per hour, which I paid him
out of my pocket. I also covered the other legal costs — personally,
not from Cato Institute funds. Ms. Brown characterizes the three of us
as “well-to-do.” Regrettably, I am the only one who might qualify,
and any legal fees that I recover from DC will be donated to a 501(c)(3)
charity. So much for Ms. Brown’s ill-informed accusation about “fat
cats getting fatter and double dipping.” To put it bluntly, she just
doesn’t know what she’s talking about.
As for what Ms. Brown calls “strong-arm tactics” that we are
allegedly employing to “squeeze” legal fees out of DC taxpayers,
those “tactics” are approved under federal law to encourage
attorneys to pursue worthwhile civil rights litigation on behalf of
persons whose rights have been violated. If DC wanted to conserve funds
for repairing alleys and sidewalks in Deanwood, as Ms. Brown urges,
perhaps the city should not have fought for five and a half years
through three federal courts against six residents who wanted no more
than to exercise their constitutionally guaranteed right to possess
suitable firearms within their homes for self defense.
###############
DC Gun Litigation Costs
Jeff Knox, The Firearms Coalition, jeffknoxfc@gmail.com
I understand Sylvia Brown’s frustration, but it was the same “don’t
give an inch” attitude that got the city into the mess in the first
place. Leaders of the Brady Campaign and the Violence Policy Center —
the two leading national gun control organizations — begged the city
to back out of the litigation long before it went to the Supreme Court,
but Mayor Fenty, et al, refused and kept fighting to save their
ridiculous gun ban. Now they have instituted new rules, including the
impossible zoning regs, that flout the SCOTUS order and they’re going
back to court — spending your money — to fight for these new,
untenable rules.
Don’t blame the “greedy lawyers” for the city leaders’
mistrust of their citizens and their stubborn refusal to make reasonable
changes to their draconian gun laws. The lawyers put in a lot of time
and effort and they won a landmark case. The law says that when you win
a case like this, the loser pays. It also says that when it is a case
with major, far-reaching significance, the lawyer can ask for double his
normal fee. The city knew all of this from the beginning and still
refused to take steps to avoid the litigation. Residents should also ask
how much the city spent for their own lawyers in the case. Even though
some big law firm “donated” some services, I’m sure that the bill
to taxpayers was still significant. If you want to blame someone, blame
the city council, the mayor, the city’s lawyers, the police chief, and
the other advisers who insist that residents of DC are less trustworthy
and require more government supervision than the residents of any other
city in the country.
The best thing for the city to do now — now that they’ve dug the
hole — is to adjust its laws to comply with the letter and spirit of
the SCOTUS order and to cut the best deal it can manage with the lawyers
who beat them. Any other course of action is just likely to lead to more
expenses and costs to DC taxpayers, not less. And, for the record, the
Cato institute did not pay any legal fees. One of the attorneys, Robert
Levy, is closely associated with Cato and Cato provided moral support,
but Levy initiated and funded the whole case privately.
###############
CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
Rally to Save Franklin Shelter, September 8
Peter Tucker, pete10506@yahoo.com
Please rally at the Franklin Shelter, 13th and K Streets, NW, one
block from McPherson Square, on Monday, September 8, at 11:00 a.m. The
Franklin Shelter is scheduled to be closed by Mayor Fenty by October 1,
in less than one month, at the beginning of the hypothermia season. This
comes despite Mayor Fenty’s previous public commitments this year to
keep the shelter open, “until an alternative, 150-bed, men’s shelter
is open downtown and 400 units of permanent supportive housing are open
and online.” Neither of these commitments has been fulfilled. The
Franklin Shelter had a capacity of three hundred until earlier this
summer. However, the capacity of the shelter is being reduced on a
nightly basis by dismantling beds each day. This is taking place despite
the fact that there is not adequate, available space at other men’s
shelters in the city, leading to increasing numbers of men being forced
to sleep on the street. Roughly one month ago Franklin housed three
hundred men, yet it now sleeps fewer than two hundred forty-two.
Mayor Fenty claims that there is an alternative plan to make
available four hundred units of permanent supportive housing as the
Franklin Shelter closes, but this housing does not come on-line until
2010-2011 at the earliest, 2010-2011, if it does materialize. Further,
the four hundred units of permanent supportive housing will not be set
aside for men who use the Franklin Shelter, but rather from homeless
individuals across the city. The Franklin Shelter was opened after a
particularly brutal winter that saw several homeless men die from
exposure. How many men will freeze to death this winter if Franklin
closes?
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DC Public Library Events, September 10-11
George Williams, george.williams2@dc.gov
Wednesday, September 10, 1:00 p.m., Capitol View Neighborhood
Library, 5001 Central Avenue, SE. Wednesday Afternoon Book Club.
Thursday, September 11, Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Library,
Great Hall. Adult Literacy Volunteer Fair. An estimated 37 percent of
the District’s adult population read at or below a third-grade level.
This means that more than a third of the city’s residents may have
difficulty managing the daily tasks that require reading. The public is
invited to find out how to help an adult learn to read, prepare for the
GED exam or learn English. Representatives from several adult education
providers will be on hand to provide information about their programs,
needs and training requirements. The event is sponsored by the DC Public
Library in partnership with DC Learns. For more information contact
727-2431.
Thursday, September 11, 11:00 a.m., Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial
Library, Adaptive Services Division, Room 215. Talking Book Club.
Members of the DC Regional Library for the Blind and Physically
Handicapped adult book club will discuss the book, My Lord, What a
Morning: An Autobiography by Marion Anderson. For more information,
call 727-2142.
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Smart Growth, September 11
Jazmine Zick, jzick@nbm.org
September 11, 12:30-1:30 p.m. Smart Growth: The Problem with Codes,
and the House on the Corner. Jeff Speck, AICP, LEED-AP, former director
of town planning for Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co. and co-author of
Suburban Nation and the forthcoming Smart Growth Manual, discusses the
often anti-urban nature of today’s land-use codes and proposes
alternatives that promote the creation of more livable communities.
Free. Registration not required. At the National Building Museum, 401 F
Street, NW, Judiciary Square stop, Metro Red Line.
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