It’s Murder
Dear Washingtonians:
In the last issue of themail, I wrote about voters’ “rational
ignorance” about conditions in the city and the operations of city
government. What I wrote prompted one writer to sent me a note about “rational
ignorance” of MPD performance. The writer has a current connection
with law enforcement, so asked me not to publish the message with any
attribution, but just to use it for my personal information if I wanted.
Instead, I decided that it may be interesting to you, so I’ll pass it
on anonymously.
“For the second year in a row, homicides are up in the District. In
fact, since Team Fenty and Team Lanier took over, lethal violence in the
city has shot up more than 10 percent (169 homicides under Ramsey’s
last year, at least 186 this year). This is happening at a time when
major cities such as Baltimore, Detroit, Philadelphia (Ramsey’s new
gig) and others are reporting significant drops in their homicides.
Lanier’s explanation of the 2008 homicide increase in the Washington
Times (http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jan/01/lanier-tempers-dc-homicide-count)
is laughable. Every year, police departments (here and across the
country) pick up ‘old’ homicides that are included in the current
year count; she makes it sound as if the first time that ever happened
in DC was in 2008.
“None of the facts on crime, of course, follows the Post
story line of how well Fenty, Lanier, Rhee, et al., are doing on
our behalf. So in the Post we get stories about useless stolen
property posted on the MPD web site, but nothing on homicides. To their
credit, the Examiner ran a pretty extensive story (for them) when
the 2008 murder count passed the 2007 number in mid-December, but I don’t
recall seeing anything from the Post regarding that milestone.
But as you point out in your most recent posting, people who are ‘rationally
ignorant’ of the facts don’t know that murders are up 10 percent
under Fenty, and they certainly have no way of knowing, when the main
news outlet in town ignores the story.”
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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I am not sure whether I should laugh or cry at Metro’s attempts to
explain what was supposed to happen today. I got the idea of the Smart
Card, but not the fact that it was not universally available, especially
to seniors, and that when it would be available, the benefits to seniors
would be so meager. I went to Metro Center to buy a senior Smart Card,
only to discover that the distribution centers were all closed on
Sunday, that being the day on which most people might be able to get to
any one of them. Metro Center is the most prominent sales outlet for
senior Smart Cards; the others, including some bus depots and a few
stations, are not so obvious. They are located primarily for people who
use Metro on weekdays for the journey to work. None (as Ms. Frankel
discovered, in the Post story in the Metro Section, http://tinyurl.com/92p6sa)
is actually open on Sunday and equipped for seniors.
The benefits to seniors (in particular) now seem diminished at any
period except the rush hours, when, I presume, retirees are least likely
to travel. I was informed that the 50 percent reduction for seniors was
only from the regular fare in the rush-hour. Rush-hour fares will be
reduced by half, sure enough, but not the fares for non-rush hours. For
example, seniors will save only fifteen cents off the fare from Metro
Center to Largo in non-rush hours. A senior traveling outside of the
rush hours will pay more than 90 percent of the non-rush fare, rather
than 50 percent of it. This is neither sensible nor generous to seniors,
who will already have given Metro $5.00 for the card, and who will then
be expected to feel privileged for a reduction of pennies, rather than
of dollars.
Can this be correct? If it is, then Metro is committing an immense
fraud on the area’s senior population. If I am mistaken, I would be
pleased to hear it. The problem cannot be with the machines, which can
surely be programmed to deal with the difference between the rush-hour
and the non-rush-hour fare. I should like to discover that someone had
blundered, rather than that the deception was deliberate.
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Happy New Year DC Public Schools
Richard Layman, rlaymandc@yahoo.com
The real issue, and this is tough, is to get schools to be
outcomes-based, and to develop the support and professional development
systems necessary to make schooling successful for all students
regardless of their household income status. And to engage civic
capacity in making these changes. Montgomery County, Maryland, is not
the only school system that is successful at doing this. There are
others. Hedrick Smith did some PBS programs on this topic. Anthony
Alvarado’s work in both New York City and San Diego is featured in one
of the Smith episodes and is another model.
I can speak to the DC experience with charter schools. I understand
why people are driven to that model as a last resort. However, it
consigns the regular school system to deeper mediocrity. When charter
schools get preferences in a variety of ways, that can trump
neighborhood and city planning in substantive ways that should be
opposed as a matter of course by people committed to sound planning
principles. For example, there is no real master plan for education in
DC that incorporates both “public” charter schools as well as the
traditional system. The charters get public monies but the public doesn’t
own the school buildings. And there is no master curriculum planning,
etc. But Congress mandated that charter schools get first dibs on closed
public school buildings, etc.
The DC Public Schools “reform” effort is a whole other issue
separate from the charter schools. The new mayor and the Chancellor get
great press, but it is clear that other than busting unions, firing
older teachers, and hiring young “energetic” inexperienced teachers,
that they don’t really have a plan for building solid, robust, and
resilient management and professional development systems along the
lines of successful school districts such as Montgomery County (or
Alvarado’s efforts), which manage to succeed without the destruction
of unions and wholesale teacher firings. Therefore, in a few years, it
is likely we will see continued failure in DC public education, except
for some charter schools and some public schools which, because of
special programs, including Montessori education, or because of being
located in higher income neighborhoods and having children from higher
income households as the primary students.
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DC Voting Rights: Where’s the Beef?
Samuel Jordan, samunomas@msn.com
The Washington Post’s December 27 editorial, “Call the
Vote” [http://tinyurl.com/6t6wbs]
urging early congressional action on DC voting rights, promotes a
triumph of symbol over substance. There is no substance because there is
no principle in the Post’s endorsement. What of the principle
of equality for all US citizens who pay federal taxes? Such equality is
not achieved with a single vote in the House and no votes in the Senate.
What of the principles of legislative, judicial, and budgetary autonomy?
The Post is silent. Of what benefit is one seat in the House of
Representatives if residents of the District of Columbia must continue
to be governed by the whim of Congress? Then there is Utah. What crisis
in democracy afflicts Utah? Why is the reddest, whitest state in the
union the charitable recipient of an additional seat in the House? The Post
answers with a nod to maintenance of the “existing political balance”
— a poor substitute for principle. Nothing short of statehood meets
the combined principle and substance test. Frankly, everything else
maintains the existing political balance.
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Street Closings Around the Hay-Adams
Joan Eisenstodt, jeisen@aol.com
The District Department of Transportation has sent the following
traffic advisory about parking restrictions and street closures around
President-Elect Obama’s hotel:
The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) advises residents
and motorists that the following street closures and parking
restrictions will be put into effect to provide for security and safety
around the Hay Adams Hotel during President-Elect Obama’s stay. These
closures will be in place from 1 a.m. on Sunday, January 4 until
midnight on January 15: 16th Street, NW, between I Street and H Street,
will be closed to vehicular traffic and parking will be restricted;
Connecticut Avenue, NW, between I Street and H Street, will be closed to
vehicular traffic and parking will be restricted; H Street, NW, between
17th Street and Vermont Avenue, will be closed to vehicular traffic and
parking will be restricted; parking will be restricted on I Street, NW,
between 14th and 17th Streets.
In addition, pedestrian access may be restricted on the streets
listed above. Residents will have access to their homes and delivery
trucks will be permitted to make deliveries to businesses in the area
after they are cleared through security checkpoints.
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Jack McKay claims (themail, December 28, 2008) that the historic
preservation office punishes non-wealthy homeowners who try to improve
their properties with “energy efficient” windows, etc. Oh? The
average sales price of a row house last year in Mt. Pleasant, where Mr.
McKay lives and cites historic preservation examples from, was
approximately $700,000. (I referred to million-dollar homes in Chevy
Chase, and Mr. McKay responded that Mt. Pleasant was different in that
regard, although apparently not by much.) If Mr. McKay would suggest
that the homeowners are house-rich and cash-poor, then how do they have
the resources to make all these improvements that HPO is so heavily
regulating? According to sources such as Consumer Reports
(http://tinyurl.com/8srry5), new windows probably won’t net enough
energy savings for twenty years or more. So if the homeowners are
cash-strapped, the last thing they should do is put in new windows. They
are better off weatherizing their existing windows and/or adding storms.
Yet, if the owner of a $700,000 home can afford the luxury of
money-losing replacement windows, then is it really too much to ask that
the windows be consistent with the architecture, i.e., not vinyl?
As to the elderly/disabled couple, I am still unclear as to the
story, and would be grateful for Mr. McKay’s elaboration. If they
could not climb stairs, how were they to live in their two or three
story row house, even with a ramp to the front door?
As to democracy, it is simply a difference of viewpoint. The
democracy is that the city council enacted the historic preservation
laws, which apply citywide to any neighborhood of historic merit. Mr.
McKay presumably prefers mini-democracies, where individual
neighborhoods can opt in or out. But land-use laws such as zoning and
historic preservation aren’t undemocratic just because they are done
citywide.
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Touch Typing
Dan Gamber, daniel at gamber.net
Phil Shapiro’s “Students Must Learn to Touch Type” in the
December 22 themail was right on. The most valuable class I ever took
was “personal typing” in the ninth grade. (That was nearly thirty
years before the term “personal computer” was invented.) I would
suggest only one change: his target of thirty words per minute is too
low.
Today, virtually all jobs above physical laborer require some
keyboarding. That includes trades like working on a car assembly line as
well as the traditional white collar jobs. Those who cannot touch type
are crippled.
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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
DC Public Library Martin Luther King, Jr.,
Events, January 7-8
George Williams, george.williams2@dc.gov
Wednesday, January 7, 10:30 a.m., Washington Highlands Neighborhood
Library, 115 Atlantic Street, SW. Dr. King Story Time. Enjoy stories,
films and reading activities about the life of Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr. Ages 1 – 5. Contact: 645-5881.
Wednesday, January 7, 3:30 p.m., Palisades Neighborhood Library, 4901
V Street, NW. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: Power with Words and Creating
Change. Create a zine, a hand-made, self-published magazine, of Dr. King’s
inspiring words and your own call for action. Ages 10-19. Contact:
282-3096.
Wednesday, January 7, 4:00 p.m., Northeast Neighborhood Library, 330
7th Street, NE. Practice Kindness: enjoy songs and stories in
celebration of the Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday. Ages 3-8. Contact:
698-3298.
Thursday, January 8, 4:00 p.m., Washington Highlands Neighborhood
Library, 115 Atlantic Street, SW. Poems of Dr. King’s Footsteps: read
and write poems on the events of Dr. King’s footsteps. Ages 6-12.
Contact: 645-5881
Thursday, January 8, 6:00 p.m., Washington Highlands Neighborhood
Library, 115 Atlantic Street, SW. Black History Movie Night: Thug Angel:
The Life of an Outlaw. This film explores the life of Tupac Shakur whose
work was deeply formed by his Black Panther heritage. Contact: 645-5881.
Thursday, January 8, 6:30 p.m., Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial
Library, 901 G Street, NW, Black Studies Center, Room 316. Dr. King: His
International Appeal, a discussion with columnist Joe Davidson of The
Washington Post Federal Diary. Among a number of world leaders,
Nelson Mandela has often cited Dr. King as a major source of
inspiration. Davidson assesses the leadership of both men and how they
became symbols of freedom and equality. Contact: 727-1211
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DC Public Library Events, January 8
George Williams, george.williams2@dc.gov
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10:00 a.m., Petworth Neighborhood Library,
4200 Kansas Avenue, NW, Literacy Resource Center, Room 302. Let’s
Speak English — English as a Second Language Conversation Circles.
English conversation circles for advanced beginners (adults who can
speak and understand basic English). For more information, contact
541-6300
Wednesdays, 7:00 p.m., West End Neighborhood Library, 1101 24th
Street, NW. Sahaja Yoga Meditation. The DC Public Library is not
responsible, nor does it endorse health information given to
participants during the program. For more information, contact 724-8707.
Thursday, January 8, 2:30 p.m., Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial
Library, 901 G Street, NW, Arts and Literature Division, Room 221. Let’s
Talk about Books. Discuss The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette
Walls.
Thursday, January 8, 11:00 a.m., Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial
Library, 901 G Street, NW, Adaptive Services Division, Room 225. Talking
Book Club. Members of the DC Regional Library for the Blind and
Physically Handicapped adult book club will discuss Blue Lonesome
by Bill Pronzini.
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CityVision Presentation of Penn Quarter Plans,
January 9
Jazmine Zick, jzick@nbm.org
January 9, 6:00-8:00 p.m. CityVision final presentation. Come hear
the students of Browne Gibbs Education Center and Howard Road Academy
present their innovative development plans, prepared in collaboration
with the DC Office of Planning, for the area near I-395 between Penn
Quarter and Union Station. Free; registration not required. Refreshments
will be served following presentations. At the National Building Museum,
401 F Street, NW, Judiciary Square stop, Metro Red Line.
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Cleveland Park Citizens Association, January
10
George Idelson, g.idelson@verizon.net
“The Proposed Giant and the Community: What’s at stake?” is the
subject of the next meeting of the Cleveland Park Citizens Association
on Saturday, January 10, 10:15 a.m. at the Cleveland Park Library
(Connecticut Avenue and Newark Street, NW). A panel of speakers will
address an informative discussion of the zoning process as well as the
history of the supermarket development and remaining community concerns.
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CLASSIFIEDS — FREE
A friend is giving away a working mechanical hospital bed to whomever
desires to dismantle it and pick it up. The sooner the better. Please
contact me via E-mail if you are interested.
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