Improving Attitudes
Dear Improvers:
Jeff Norman writes about Comcast’s completely inadequate web site
below. He’s right. Comcast doesn’t even sell its own product very
well, because it doesn’t think it has to. Try to find the differences
among its cable television packages, as he did; then try to find out the
differences between its home and business Internet packages, what the
specifications and limitations and costs of different packages are. Good
luck. That’s why I’m looking forward to Verizon’s Fios’s moving
into the District. Obviously, RCN isn’t giving Comcast enough
competition to make it clean up its act; perhaps Fios will.
Verizon has worked out a franchise agreement with the DC Office of
Cable Television to bring Fios into the District, and the proposal has
been submitted to the city council. The Committee on Public Services and
Consumer Affairs will hold a hearing on the proposal on October 31; for
the relevant documents go to http://octt.dc.gov/news_room/2008/october/release101408.shtm.
I’m not happy with the proposal because of where I live. Under its
terms, Verizon will wire the District for Fios service with all the
speed of those easily distracted turtles in the Comcast commercials, the
ones who prefer Verizon’s DSL service because of its comparative
slowness. By 2014, there still won’t be any Fios service in my
neighborhood, and there’s no indication of when, if ever, there will
be. Probably there’ll be a better cable television and Internet
option, maybe even AT & T’s U-Verse, available long before Fios
gets to Columbia Heights.
Early reports on Verizon nationally are that it isn’t much better
than Comcast on service and billing issues; when Fios works well it’s
a dream, but when there’s a problem with the service or with getting
billing straightened out, it’s a nightmare to deal with the company.
That sounds just like Comcast. But I’m still hopeful that Fios will
start stealing customers from Comcast in the neighborhoods where it will
be introduced, and that that will encourage Comcast to try to improve
its service. Right now, all I get from Comcast are notices that say, “Good
news and congratulations, we’re increasing our price and reducing what
you get for it.” Maybe if Comcast has to start fighting for customers,
if it can’t act like a monopoly any longer, it will improve its
attitude throughout the city.
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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The Giant Food Store development has gone from a simple headache to a
full-blown migraine. How much longer must the neighborhood suffer? While
I wholeheartedly support the development and expansion of the Giant Food
Store location at Wisconsin Avenue and Newark Street, I support
responsible and informed planning for development first and foremost.
However, based on what I have heard over the last five and more years
from neighbors, ANC members, and DC city council staffers regarding our
Wisconsin Avenue development efforts, including the Giant
development/expansion, there is not much about planning for the Giant
Store expansion that sounds responsible or informed. By this I mean that
the current uses and community infrastructure should be taken fully into
account during the planning phases of this project. Too little too late?
Has that horse already left the starting gate? I think not. It is never
too late to put the brakes on the developers’ irrational exuberance
and demand a prudent, judicious planning effort that recognizes the
community’s needs.
The fact that a zoning waiver is being sought by the developer on the
number of commercial parking spaces is suspicious. On what grounds is
this waiver being sought? Is it the lack of available space to meet the
zoning guidelines’ ratio of spaces per degree of development? Not
enough space for adequate parking? Then adjust the level of expansion
downward or make provisions for adequate additional parking.
Transportation, traffic flow, and parking are critical issues to almost
any development project in the District. It is one of the primary
factors that must be taken into full account for any development
planning in DC. Remember — traffic flow and parking were the main
issues that killed the Home Depot’s plans for occupying what is now
the Best Buy store at Wisconsin and Albemarle Street. Yet the Giant area
developers want a waiver? Why? So we can be more miserable than we
already are with traffic congestion? How is that good for the community?
Yes, a new and improved Giant food store would be great for the
community, but not at the expense of poor planning and resulting traffic
and parking nightmares.
I would like to know if there is (or has been) a proposal to
construct an underground parking garage beneath the current aboveground
parking lot for the Giant, similar to the one at Whole Foods south of
Calvert Street. Was that idea ever part of any development plans? If
not, why not? Have geotech and traffic studies been done to see if an
underground garage is feasible? If not, why not? If so, then what were
the findings? I see underground parking with ingress and egress directly
from and to Wisconsin Avenue as the only viable solution to the ongoing
objections and complaints that the project will present too many
insurmountable traffic and parking problems. Those objections and
complaints are well-founded, but can be overcome with sound and
responsible community development planning that appears to be so lacking
under the current development proposal.
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Protect Your Vote
Carol Waser, waser@waser.us
The September 9 District of Columbia primary election was notable for
the recording of more than fifteen hundred “phantom” write-in votes
and for the failure of the Board of Elections and Ethics (BOEE) to
communicate to the public adequately on election night and thereafter.
The Investigation Special Committee, headed by Council Member Mary Cheh
(Ward 3), released a Preliminary Report on October 8, that maintained
that the “election process in the District is in need of comprehensive
reform.”
One of the most important of the Committee’s recommendations was
for the BOEE to encourage voters to use paper ballots and the
optical-scan voting machines in the November election. For the first
time ever, manual audits of optical-scan machines were conducted for
five precincts by the BOEE after the primary election. These audits
compared paper ballot counts with optical-scan results and were able to
assure voters in the questionable Precinct 141 that their votes had been
counted accurately. Those paper ballots produced the same number of
votes as the optical-scan machines. If the problem in Precinct 141 had
occurred on a touch-screen machine, which in DC has no voter-verified
paper trail, no authentic recount could have been conducted. Probably
the single most important act that voters can take in November toward
ensuring that their votes are counted accurately is to use the paper
ballot and the optical-scan machine. I urge you to cast a paper ballot
and to spread this message to every voter that you know in the District
of Columbia. The full report can be found at http://www.marycheh.com/Press%20Releases/Report.pdf.
If you are a poll worker and would be willing to participate in a
nationwide effort to report problems observed on election day, please
contact me. The commitment will be to note any problems and then respond
later to an E-mail questionnaire.
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Comcast Channel Information Missing
Jeff Norman, jeffrey.norman@att.net
Nowhere on Comcast’s web site does it tell you which channels you
get with each TV service package (such as Limited Basic, Expanded Basic,
etc.). All you get is a list of all channels in the entire Comcast
system, not the specific channels for each package. Comcast gives you
the prices for each package, but not the channels that you get for that
price. There is one place where the channels are broken down into
categories, but the names of the categories do not match the names of
the various packages. I think that this is deceptive advertising. It
should be easy and simple to get a list of all Comcast TV packages with
the current prices and a list of the specific channels that come with
each specific package, all together in the same place on the Comcast web
site. And you should not have to call Comcast (which can take a half
hour or more to get through to an operator) to get these lists sent to
you by mail (which Comcast may or may not send you).
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Maude Hills, Statehood-Green Candidate for US
House of Representatives
Maude Hills, indigenousfirstpersons@yahoo.com
My name is Maude Hills, most people are familiar with my name as
Louise Thundercloud, so Louise it is. My platform will address the two
serious ills in the District of Columbia; each will only be addressed by
being granted unequivocal statehood. One is the fact that for years the
autistic population in DC has had to put up with one size fits all
services, no behavioral interventions, no autism waiver (that would
enable parents to access needed services of the very expensive support
that autistic children and adults will require for their entire lives.
This city has a bad record for squeezing the vulnerable autistic
spectrum clients into inappropriate services. Now we are being faced
with returning out of state placements to the District to save money,
when the clients are returning to the same nonexistent services. This
treadmill has to stop.
As your DC Statehood Green Party Candidate for Delegate to the House
of Representatives, I will fight to remedy this sad situation that
exists in this city 1) by forcing cross training with success proven
agencies in other states, 2) by fighting the practice of changing
diagnosis to fit the District’s inability to create services for
clients with accurate diagnosis, and 3) by forcing an autism waver to be
routinely offered by DC.
The second issue is truly affordable housing, not housing that
targets moderate to high income earners, but housing hat serves the very
low income and homeless. I will do this by first working to limit the
mayor’s ability to grant contracts to developers who service only
moderate to higher income populations. I will fight to limit the council’s
ability to make back door deals with developers of condos, townhouses,
or any dwellings that do not serve very low income or homeless people
who need housing. How will I work for this? By fighting for full
statehood, by granting DC statehood, the mayor and council will have to
follow the law of the land. I will work for legislation that will force
the mayor and council to have to meet in front of no fewer than five
community town hall meetings, to accurately address the concerns and
desires of the entire community when it comes to issues of disposing
public property that could be used for affordable housing. In closing, I
am willing to work with advocates for the autistic spectrum community,
as well as homeless and housing advocates to make sure these needed
changes happen. And remember DC will be a much better place for all of
us if we have statehood now!
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Curbside Parking for Commuters
Denise Wiktor, denisewiktor@yahoo.com
When this idea [themail, October 12] was presented to the local
residents it was presented as an opportunity to get visitor parking
permits for nannies, workmen, etc., coming to one’s home. As a person
who lives adjacent to the Mt. Pleasant Commercial corridor and whose
block petitioned for 24/7 Residential Parking Permit parking (we only
got until 9:30 p.m., despite what the regulations allow), I am appalled.
Since when has the District decided to open its streets to commuters?
How are they going to determine who is an actual employee? Across the
street from me is a Hair Salon which, despite its zoning, often stays
open until midnight. My portion of the 1700 block of Park has no parking
on the south side, two large apartment buildings, and the ten or so
zoned spaces are occupied by the three houses and the residents of two
large apartment buildings. There is also a convenience store open until
11:00 p.m., so commuter parking for me means business owners and
employees until midnight.
What is the city thinking? At this same time zoning regulations to do
away with mandatory parking spaces with new condominiums are being
contemplated. We either want commuters or we don’t. I foresee a whole
lot of people using business addresses to commute in from Maryland and
Virginia to use the Metro — which is what was happening before Park
Road was zoned. I attribute a lot of this to our ANC’s refusal to post
its agendas in advance of meetings so we know what is going on.
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Reply to “ANC’s and Alcoholism” by Mary
Beatty
Naomi J. Monk, nmonk10501@aol.com
Ms. Mary Beatty, I cannot agree with you more in regards to your
comments [themail, October 12]. I am most thankful to have individuals
like you; your ANC6A; my councilmember, Tommy Wells; the minority of
commissioners that voted for single sales ban in ANC6D (my ANC); and
others who truly know that it is the right thing to do to ban single
sales. Why? Banning single sales cuts down on loitering (hanging around,
loafing, prowling) of individuals in public. It cuts down on the
littering and urinating in public. It cuts down on negative behavior by
adults who are role models for our children and families. It cuts down
on the increase in crimes. It cuts down on having an undesirable
neighborhood.
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InTowner
October
Issue Released
P.L. Wolff, intowner@intowner.com
This is to advise that the October 2008 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 November 14 (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) “Hilton Washington Hotel’s
Plan for Major Condo Tower Addition and Expanded Meeting Spaces Well
Received by Preservation Board”; 2) “Dupont Circle House Tour to
Show Vintage and Modern Living and Art Throughout”; 3) “Four New
Liquor Licenses Approved for West Dupont Circle Moratorium Zone.”
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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
Historical Society of Washington, DC, October
18
Ed Bruske, euclidarms@yahoo.com
Saturday, October 18, 10 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Historical Society of
Washington, DC, 801 K Street, NW, at Mt. Vernon Square. Free admission.
Urban Gardening Series: Not Your Grandmother’s Canning. Canning or “putting
food by” has gotten a whole lot more interesting than just stashing
tomatoes in the pantry. Not that there’s anything wrong with canned
tomatoes — or canned tomato sauce, or green beans, or all the other
good things from your garden that you store for the winter. But there
are many other ways to preserve food that will add zip to your larder,
or your holiday dinner table. Think pickled figs, fermented kimchi, or
green tomato and apple chutney. Flame grapes pickled with tarragon might
be just the thing for your Thanksgiving relish tray. How about homemade
gravlax for hors d’oeuvres? Or sage jelly for your favorite biscuits?
Pears in Calvados, perhaps, for dessert? Homemade preserves add a
personal touch to gift giving. Food writer, gardener, and personal chef
Ed Bruske leads a culinary tour of traditional food preservation methods
updated for a hip urban kitchen with a minimal amount of fuss or
equipment. Ed writes for Martha Stewart Living and Edible
Chesapeake magazine, as well as maintaining a daily food blog, The
Slow Cook (http://www.theslowcook.com).
This presentation is given in collaboration with DC Urban Gardeners. Ed
is president of DC Urban Gardeners. RSVP@historydc.org
or 383-1828.
Saturday, October 18, 1:30 p.m. Historical Society of Washington, DC,
801 K Street, NW, at Mt. Vernon Square. Free admission. Film series:
Muxe’s: Autenticas, Intrepidas, Buscadoras del Peligro, (Muxe’s:
Authentic, Intrepid Seekers of Danger), Mexico, 2005, 105 minutes,
Spanish, Color. In this provocative documentary, Mexican writer and
director Alejandra Islas, sets out to uncover the stories of ten Mexican
indigenous and mestizo homosexual men who call themselves “muxe.”
Muxe, a zapotec word derived from a colonial Spanish term for woman, is
the name of choice for the gays of Juchitan, Oaxaca, México. Muxe’s:
Auténticas, Intrépidas, Buscadoras del Peligro has been viewed in more
than twenty film festivals and cultural presentations in Mexico, the
United States, Canada, Latin America and Europe. RSVP@historydc.org
or 383-1828.
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DC Public Library Events, October 19, 22
George Williams, george.williams2@dc.gov
Sunday, October 19, 1:00 p.m., Watha T. Daniel/Shaw Library. So You
Want to Write a Novel? Join us for this informative session about novel
writing and sign up to be a part of the National Novel Writing Month
club at Watha T. Daniel.
Wednesday, October 22, 2:00 p.m., Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial
Library. Introduction to Feng Shui by Katherine Grace Morris.
Introduction to the practice of organizing environments to promote
health, happiness, and prosperity. The DC Public Library is not
responsible, nor does it endorse information given to participants
during the program.
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Does Green Make a Livable Community, October
21
Jazmine Zick, jzick@nbm.org
Tuesday, October 21, 12:30-1:30 p.m. Building for the 21st Century:
Does “Green” Make a Livable Community? And How Do You Build One?
Dave Feldman, CEO, Livability Project, defines a livable, green
community and discusses how to build one. Free. Registration not
required. At the National Building Museum, 401 F Street, NW, Judiciary
Square stop, Metro Red Line.
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At-Large DC Councilmember Candidates Forum,
October 23
Thomas M. Smith, tmfsmith@starpower.net
The Ward Three Democratic Committee and the Ward 4 Democrats of
Washington, DC, will cosponsor a community meeting featuring a special
forum of all seven candidates for the DC Council at-large seats to be
elected on November 4. All seven candidates, including incumbent Council
members Kwame Brown and Carol Schwartz, have agreed to participate.
Thursday, October 23, 7:00 p.m.-9:30 p.m. (forum begins at 7:30
p.m.), in The Great Hall of St. Columba Episcopal Church, 4201 Albemarle
Street, NW (one block off Wisconsin Avenue at Tenleytown Metro)..
Moderator: Kathy Patterson, former Ward 3 DC councilmember; citizens
panel: Dorothy Brizill, Executive Director, DC Watch; George Clark,
Former President, Federation of Citizens Associations of the District of
Columbia. For more information, contact Thomas M. Smith, Chair, Ward
Three Democratic Committee, 364-7130 or tmfsmith@starpower.net.
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The Howard Brown Foundation’s Peaceful
Event, October 25
Doreatha J. Bush, djbush007@verizon.net
The Howard Brown Foundation, a nonprofit elderly advocacy group,
building strong communities through prayer, persistence, and peace,
doing community outreach to all and specifically to our senior citizens,
will hold a peaceful event on October 25, from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.,
on the 3000 block of Clinton Street, NE. (Rain date: November 1.) Fun,
food, information, and awareness. Speakers to include Dr. Clarence
Brown, DC Office on Aging; Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr.;
Thomas Blagburn, Institute for Public Safety and Justice, UDC; and
Reverend Tim Warner, Montgomery County Executive’s Office of Community
Partnerships Liaison for Faith Communities and African Americans. We
have partnered with Peaceoholics for this event.
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Public Schools Hearing Amendment Act of 2008,
October 28
Cherita Whiting, cherita_whiting@yahoo.com
The council has released the following hearing notice. “Council
Chairman Vincent C. Gray announces a public hearing by the Committee of
the Whole on Bill 17-942, the ‘Public Schools Hearing Amendment Act of
2008.’ The public hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, October 28, at
10:00 a.m., in Room 500 of the John A. Wilson Building , 1350
Pennsylvania Avenue, NW. An abbreviated notice is given to comply with
Council Rule 501(a)(2). Bill 17-942, introduced by Chairman Gray, would
require the Chancellor of District of Columbia Public Schools to make an
estimate of the amount of money that will be required to operate the
public schools in the upcoming year available on its web site and in
each school no later than twenty-one days prior to the mayor’s
submission of the District’s budget and financial plan to the council;
require the Chancellor to solicit public input prior to the submission
of the District of Columbia Public Schools budget to the mayor and
require the mayor to conduct a public hearing on public school funding
prior to the mayor’s submission of the District’s budget and
financial plan to the council; and to delineate the allocations of
monies required in the District of Columbia Public Schools budget
submitted by the Chancellor.
“Individuals and representatives of organizations who wish to
testify at the public hearing are asked to telephone Aretha Latta,
Administrative Assistant to the Committee of the Whole, at 724-8196, or
send an E-mail to alatta@dccouncil.us,
and furnish their names, addresses, telephone numbers and organizational
affiliation, if any, by the close of business on Friday, October 24.
They should also bring with them twenty copies of their written
testimony or submit one copy of their written testimony by October 27.
Persons presenting testimony may be limited to three minutes in order to
permit each witness an opportunity to be heard. Written statements for
the record are encouraged and will be made a part of the official
record. All statements should be submitted to the Committee of the
Whole, Council of the District of Columbia, Suite 410, 1350 Pennsylvania
Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20004 . The legislation may be reviewed at http://www.dccouncil.washington.dc.us/images/00001/20081014113047.pdf.”
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