Snow Job
Dear Snow Lovers:
Weather forecasters on all the local television and radio stations
seem to be annoyingly fond of snow and snow storms, wishing for the
worst. Warm weather fans like me are ready to shuffle them off to
Buffalo, where they can experience the kind of winter weather disasters
that will keep them happy. Washington’s usually moderate — moderate,
not quite mild — winters frustrate them by our infrequent storms,
while I hope they keep their golden snow shovels in their garages all
winter long.
Tonight will probably be the last chance for even a modest snowfall
this winter. As I write this, there has been just a dusting of snow, and
it isn’t yet sticking to sidewalks or the streets. The forecasters are
casting their spells, hoping to draw the storms from the distant suburbs
into the center city. We’ll know when we wake up whether the
weathermen or I will have smiles on our faces.
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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Best wishes to Councilmembers Marion Barry and Mary Cheh for speedy
and complete recoveries from their recent bouts with ill health. Support
Mary Cheh’s efforts in the 2009 Avon Walk for Breast Cancer at http://avonwalk.org/goto/teamcheh.
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DC residents are concerned about the future of the newspapers in our
city, especially about the survival of local reporting. Sunday’s Washington
Post has three articles about the dire state of the newspaper
industry and its impact on local news reporting: Howard Kurtz, “Under
Weight of Its Mistakes, Newspaper Industry Staggers,” http://tinyurl.com/d9wybx;
Marc Fisher, “Bloggers Can’t Fill the Gap Left by Shrinking Press
Corps,” http://tinyurl.com/bqxvo6;
and David Simon, “In Baltimore, No One Left to Press the Police,” http://tinyurl.com/crtm26.
Kurtz notes, “Why a once-profitable industry suddenly seems as
outmoded as America’s automakers is a tale that involves arrogance,
mistakes, eroding trust and the rise of a digital world in which
newspapers feel compelled to give away their content. . . . The
Washington Post, whose earnings dropped 77 percent in the fourth
quarter of last year, has undergone three rounds of buyouts, killed its
Sunday Source section and folded Book World as a separate section.
Executive Editor Marcus Brauchili, who is merging the downtown newsroom
with the Arlington-based Web operation, has cited the need to cut costs
and focus on the core areas of the paper’s coverage.”
The retrenchment of local reporting in our daily newspapers presents
a challenge to citywide and neighborhood web sites, blogs, and listservs
that Fisher’s column emphasizes. The dailies never reported local
political affairs in any depth. City council elections, for example,
were covered only perfunctorily at best even decades ago. But with
cutbacks both in newspaper staffing and the size of the news holes in
recent years, a lot of news reporting will fall to Internet sources that
are staffed by unpaid citizen volunteers. I’m not as pessimistic as
Fisher is about the ability of these blogs and neighborhood sites to
cover local news. In fact, neighborhood listservs have the potential to
publicize very local news, such as Advisory Neighborhood Commission
races, that daily newspapers never touched. But the transition is not
going to be easy.
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Republicans and the DC Voting Rights Act
Paul D. Craney, pauldcraney@yahoo.com
The DC Voting Rights Act of 2009 (DCVR) passed the cloture vote only
because of Republican support. Let’s look at who voted. Two supporters
were missing, Republican Senator Norm Coleman (MN) and Democratic
Senator Ted Kennedy (MA). That left the margin for passage thin. Two
Republican Senators switched their votes. Former Republican At-Large DC
council candidate Patrick Mara spoke with Senator Lisa Murkowski’s
(R-AK) chief of staff and educated the Senator on the importance of DCVR.
No one expected Senator Murkowski to support the cloture vote, but she
did. Former Republican US Senate candidate Nelson Rimensyder was able to
speak with Senator Thad Cochran (R-MISS) the day before the election.
Rimensyder is a Vietnam Vet, and explained the importance of Voting
Rights for our veterans here in the District. Rimensyder’s son is
currently serving is Iraq.
The DC Republican Party (DCGOP) had hand delivered letters to all the
Republican Senators the day before the election. The DCGOP met with
Senator Collins and many other top staffers to explain the importance of
DCVR. The DCGOP sent letters in support of DCVR to conservative think
tanks and radio talk show hosts. In fact, the day of the cloture vote,
Republican National Committee Chairman and native son Michael Steele
praised the vote as a major victory.
I think the success for the cloture vote should be shared by many,
but it’s important to notice those who pushed hard for this. Much of
the credit should be given to District Republicans and the leadership of
the DC Republican Party.
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I Was Denied the Right to Testify
Pete Tucker, pete10506@yahoo.com
This past Friday, there was an oversight hearing for the Department
of Health. I was confirmed as a witness for the hearing until
Councilmember David Catania’s office called to inform me that I was
being removed from the witness list and I would not be allowed to
testify. Numerous calls and E-mails asking for an explanation for this
action have yielded nothing. Was I prohibited from testifying because I
disagree with Mr. Catania’s push to have the experimental HPV vaccine
required for sixth grade girls for this upcoming school year? On Friday,
as he has done so often in the past, Mr. Catania referred to those who
oppose his position as “conspiracy theorists.” It must be disturbing
for Mr. Catania to note the large number of “conspiracy theorists”
now on the council: Harry Thomas, Kwame Brown, Muriel Bowser, Yvette
Alexander, Michael Brown, and possibly Jim Graham.
At Friday’s hearing, Councilmember Alexander, who sits on the
Health Committee, said, “The test market for the [HPV] vaccine does
not involve the ages of the young girls who are going to be [made]
mandatory to have this vaccine. So I’m really concerned with the side
effects down the road.” She went on to say, “[T]here has not been
enough proof for me to say that there [aren’t] other mechanisms that
we need to stress before we use our babies, our young girls, as guinea
pigs, and primarily in underserved communities. I’m going to continue
to advocate, I’m going to continue to spread the word.”
At the next Health Committee hearing, I’d like to join Ms.
Alexander in advocating and spreading the word, but will I be allowed to
testify? As Gary pointed out in the last edition of themail, the council’s
own rules make it clear that anyone who signs up within the given time
has the right to testify. It is a dangerous precedent to allow the chair
of a committee to violate our rights as citizens, as well as the council’s
own rules, if he happens to disagree with what will be said. As George
Orwell put it, “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right
to tell people what they do not want to hear.”
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By the time this is read I hope that Mr. Tucker is able to protest in
person the travesty that is Gardasil and its unlikely shepherd David
Catania. Not that this should completely disqualify him, but how can a
politician who has no daughters vie for “experimental” legislation
to give the vaccine to sixth grade girls across the city. He’d have
more credence promoting this legislation if he had a daughter,
granddaughter, niece, etc., who would fit in this demographic. While I’ve
heard that this vaccine is voluntary, an unsuspecting or uninformed
parent may think this is a good idea. For those who don’t know, let me
be the first to tell you, it is not a good idea to give these girls the
vaccine. This is not fear mongering, but from research, including some
in the medical community. Simply put, there is not enough long-term data
to support widespread vaccinations, and the side effects are more than
minor. Catania, through his legislation, is inadvertently subjecting
several thousand girls to an extended clinical trial. Without combing
through the thousands of links about Gardasil, I’ll simply say any
Internet search engine will give you more than enough information about
the side effects.
Merck, the manufacturer. has been making substantial profits from
this kind of sweeping legislation across the country. They lobbied
Congress and got the US government to subsidize the vaccine in certain
areas, so that unsuspecting state legislatures now think getting this
vaccine to middle and high school girls will save the nation from an
epidemic. I’m not saying that the treatment of cervical cancer is
unimportant. What I’m saying is that a for-profit pharmaceutical
company was given a carte blanc to prescribe or practice
medicine. It is insulting to those in the medical profession that Merck
was allowed to do this to a population through legislation without
simple checks, balances, and risks that would undoubtedly be vetted by a
doctor. Not only that, but taking it slightly a step further, Gardasil
and other vaccines only treat a certain morphology (type) of HPV. It is
not the panacea folks are making it out to be. By their own description,
it will only treat the types of HPV that statistically occur in 70
percent of the cases. Even with that, the results and effectiveness are
limited, once again because of a long term study data. If we really want
to legislate to reduce the instances of HPV, how about subsidizing
routine PAP smears. That would go a long way to early detection and
treatment of HPV. Teaching abstinence (regardless of what Palin said)
can go a long way too.
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It’s Not Time to Ban Ski Mask Sales in the
DC Area
Gabe Goldberg, gabe at gabegold dot com
Phil Shapiro suggests banning ski masks to reduce crime [themail,
February 25]. Aside from sounding like an item in the satirical
newspaper The Onion, this would surely be as effective as DC’s
porous gun ban, given that dual-use ski masks (that means that they have
the, you know, legitimate use of keeping people’s faces warm) could
easily be bought in nearby areas and online. Considering, it’s safe to
say, that the vast majority of ski mask wearers are not committing
robberies, it’s hardly reasonable to ban their sale. The ski
mask-wearing motorcycle rider I saw on the Beltway this morning likely
would be unhappy having to bare his face to the cold winter air at 60
m.p.h. lest he be considered a potential perp. And what about skiers?
What’s next? Ban scarves because they can be pulled up over the face?
Ban pens/pencils/paper because they’re used to write holdup notes? And
cars, because they’re getaway vehicles?
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I much appreciate the genesis of the ANCs as described by William
Haskett [themail, February 25]. Community persons are indeed the
arteries that lead to the heart of the government. They are needed.
However, as has already been presented on themail, there is some work to
be done. While I know that the job is unpaid and resources are limited,
citizens should still expect the best out of those whom they elect. Don’t
take on a responsibility, paid or otherwise, if you don’t intend to
fulfill it to the best of your ability. I’m not knocking the foot
soldiers in the community, but reading Richard Layman’s almost
sycophantic remarks about ANC 6A [themail, February 25] reminds me why I
sometimes have disdain for them. I once heard a quote that said, “Self-praise
is scandalous.” For all the collaboration with other ANCs that was
done by ANC 6A, why cheer lead it here on a blog about DC? Just do the
work and let your work speak for itself. Especially since ANC 6A “led
the effort of ANCs in Wards 5, 6, and 7 to advocate the installation of
streetcar tracks on H Street as part of the streetscape improvement
program, to ‘hurry along’ the coming of streetcars to H Street and
Benning Road.” My auto repair shop thanks you for this, as I’ve had
to replace shocks, get an alignment, universal joint, etc., due to the
“hurrying along.” Such grandstanding only serves the individual
communities and not ANCs as a whole. Don’t get me wrong, ANCs probably
do need training, but if DC is a collection of communities, it would
behoove all ANCs to do the necessary collaboration to be that artery to
the government. We’ve had community atherosclerosis and apathy for far
too long.
Speaking of community, I was also surprised by Phil Shapiro’s “ban
ski masks” posting and the “Tiny Group commits the most violent
crimes” posting [themail, February 25]. Both are filled with irony
when juxtaposed against Kathy Henderson’s “Good Neighbor” post [themail,
February 25], a challenge everyone should accept. The post suggesting
legislation to make it inconvenient to buy a ski mask is well
intentioned, but banning handguns (prior to the Supreme Court decision)
didn’t stop crime either. Mr. Shapiro, who makes frequent technology
reminders, forgets that ski masks can be bought over the Internet in
bulk or individually. Robberies and some violent crimes are often
premeditated, so a criminal is at least going to do some homework and
get proper items to commit it. I’ve never heard anyone say that not
having a ski-mask deterred them from committing a crime, but if that is
the case, more power to Mr. Shapiro’s Anti-Ski Mask bill. As far as
the Tiny Group committing the most violent crimes, duh! This city is not
a crime syndicate, and far fewer than 49 percent of us are committing
crimes, so the title is a no-brainer there. But to the article Jackson
cited would suggest that the MPDC and CSOSA should concentrate their
scarce resources on the “power criminals,” or those statistically
more likely to commit more crimes. I’m not sure that is the answer
either. In the educational realm, when the teacher spends the most time
on the disruptive student, all students in the class get neglected and
often may vie for attention in a negative fashion. I’m not saying that
the “uber criminals” don’t need attention, I’m just saying that
we can’t focus on them and neglect other policing needs.
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I agree with the poster [themail, February 25] that going through the
National Archives and Ancestry.com would be easier than the current
method. However, Secretary Scott testified last year that one of the
reasons for scrapping the expansion of the Recorder of Deeds building
was that the expansion money was instead going to be used to digitize
the records at both the Recorder of Deeds and the Archives and to make
them available at computer terminals in the building. The original
documents would be available upon request for researchers, and there
would be museum quality displays of some interesting documents. It is a
long leap from there to Archives.com
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How about instituting a part-time salary for Advisory Neighborhood
Commissioners? The District could benefit from a more formalized
structure supporting the councilmembers. The leap from citizen to
councilmember might be done in smaller increments, and a set of
requirements for ANCs could be enforceable rather than voluntary.
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The problem with comprehending the anecdotal crime-related
dissertations of writers to themail@dcwatch.com like Aeolian Jackson and
Phillip Fornaci [themail, February 25] is that they tend to splice and
bundle small bits of fact with fiction and leave so much detail out of
the narrative. Additionally, attacking Gary Imhoff really isn’t the
answer! I have read each of Colbert King’s commentaries on Oak Hill.
The sad situation is that despite the improvements at the juvenile
detention facility in Laurel, Maryland, it is still a tragic experience
for the young men being sent there. And, yes, there are young people
whose lives have been so mangled and their humanity altered to such a
degree that they must be locked away for the safety of the public. But
are these young residents receiving the kind of rehabilitative and
treatment services they are in need? Will they return home to conditions
in their neighborhoods that are any better then when they left? The
answer to both questions is no!
When will crime and interpersonal violence in the District receive
the level of treatment it so desperately deserves? We have been talking
about the “risk factors” that lead to crime and the propensity of
this small group of violent repeat offenders to victimize residents for
decades. Yet we continue to perpetrate the myth that government,
specifically law enforcement, can somehow arrest and incarcerate this
problem away. It hasn’t happened and it never will! Our public
policies seek heavier sanctions. But always more victimization follows.
The belief is that government can do the same thing over and over while
expecting a different result.
We keep advancing this silly crime management notion which is
analogous to a home owner with a leaking roof who is so disillusioned
that he believes that running to get bigger buckets to catch the drips
is fixing the leak! We don’t seem to know how to address the pathology
of neighborhood crime and youth gang/crew violence. We want more police,
longer sentences, and bigger jails. A balanced approach of
prevention/intervention in support of arrest and incarceration is the
only answer. And one approach cannot work without the other.
Sweeps, crackdowns, “All Hands on Deck,” and “stepped up
patrols” are the common inane responses to spikes in crime. Effective
crime management must be strategic and comprehensive. We know the
offenders across the District both juvenile and adult, neighborhood by
neighborhood. We can identify hard-core, violent recidivists and those
young people on the unfortunate social trajectory to become the next
wave of criminals. The data is everywhere and the interagency disconnect
is pervasive. Yet our efforts to connect this information or
substantially impact this dire situation with practical applications are
splintered, fragmented, and not a part of any cohesive strategy for
targeted-problem solving.
Let’s start with the District’s low income families and
underserved schools. Large numbers of single parents are unable to cope
or manage the behavior of children because the entire family unit is
frayed and in need of help and preservation. The schools can’t fix it
simply because along the public-educational path of classroom evolution
teachers/administrators somehow abdicated their responsibility and
support resources to teach and discipline at the same time. And the
faith based community transformed itself from the work of spiritual
human development to business and wealth building. Within this paradigm,
children and needy families without economic or spiritual resources will
always be left out and fall further behind. So now we have large numbers
of young people full of anger doing everything their way and trying to
survive on their own. They have loss trust, bonded together to form
crews/gangs; become very disillusioned and internalized somewhat of a
disdain for the very people who were originally put in place to nurture,
assist and guide them! Can we fix this unfortunate transformation? Of
course we can but it won’t be accomplished by taking the traditional
course of action.
We tend to forget that the social institutions of America that have
always controlled human behavior are family, school, and church! When
law enforcement becomes the institution of first response rather than of
last resort we have given up and lost the struggle! Today, police are
needed for everything from security at school sporting events and
student dances to checking for weapons at the school door. Eliminating
police from schools would be the bold, correct move. Station “short-beat”
officers around the schools and let them focus on daytime crime in the
neighborhoods. Hire parents and ex-offenders who know the young people
and live in the school neighborhood as security personnel. Train them
effectively. Interpersonal violence and conflict will diminish. Also,
consider placing social workers, psychologists, and a member of the
clergy in police district’s most affected by crime and violence (Wards
5, 7, and 8) to lend support to officers ill-equipped to handle the
tough complex psychological health challenges caused by substance abuse
and young people and families witnessing extraordinarily incidents on
violence. Make them a proactive mobilized unit to frequent neighborhoods
and alleyways during the hours of 8:00 p.m.-3:00 a.m., Monday-Sunday.
Develop a dropout reentry program to help the thousands of young-adult
students on the street corners get back into the classroom. Chancellor
Rhee would have to open more schools, not close them.
These are simple, innovative solutions to a very complex problem. And
each will be far more cost effective than trying to arrest the problem
away. So much can be accomplished with the proper engagement of young
people and the reconfiguration of government. If this online forum can
be used to spawn interest and nudging our city in the right direction it
will be well worth everyone’s investment in time and building
citizenship.
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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
Department of Parks and Recreation Events,
March 3-6
John Stokes, john.astokes@dc.gov
Tuesday, March 3, 5:45 p.m.-7:45 p.m., Prince George’s Sports and
Learning Complex, 8001 Sheriff Road, Landover, MD. DC Speed Combined
Site Practice, ages seven to eighteen. For more information, call Edgar
Sams at 671-0395.
Friday, March 6, 6:00 p.m.-9:00 a.m., Seabrook Skate Rink, 9901
Lanham Severn Road, Lanham, MD. A night of skating for all ages. The
community of Joe Cole will enjoy a night out at the skating rink. For
more information, call Kyanna Blackwell, Site Manager, at 724-4876.
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DC Budget Forum: What’s In Store for 2010?,
March 6
T.J. Sutcliffe, tjsutcliffe@arcdc.net
Community briefing on the DC budget shortfall for 2009 and 2010
(recently reported to be $800 million for FY 2010). Friday, March 6,
9:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. (registration starts at 9:15), at the Goethe
Institute, 812 Seventh Street, NW (near Gallery Place Metro Station). No
food or drinks are allowed. Panelists include Bob Zahradnik, Office of
Revenue Analysis, Office of the Chief Financial Officer; Eric Goulet,
Budget Director, Council of the District of Columbia; and William
Singer, Chief of Budget Execution, Office of the City Administrator.
RSVPs requested. Pre-register with DC Action for Children (E-mail dcaction@dckids.org;
fax 202-234-9108). This briefing is sponsored by DC Action for Children,
The Arc of the District of Columbia, DC Fiscal Policy Institute, and
Parents United for the DC Public Schools.
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Women of Architecture, March 9
Jazmine Zick, jzick@nbm.org
Monday, March 9. 6:30-8:00 p.m., Women of Architecture. Jeanne Gang,
founder and principal of Studio Gang Architects, along with one of the
new breed of young architects changing the profession, discuss the
transformative elements of urban buildings and neighborhoods in Gang’s
native Chicago and beyond. At the National Building Museum, 401 F
Street, NW, Judiciary Square stop, Metro Red Line. Register for events
at http://www.nbm.org.
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School Discipline Regulations Hearing, March
10
Joy Roberson, joy.roberson@dc.gov
Tuesday, March 10, 6:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m., Elsie Whitlow Stokes Public
Charter School, 3700 Oakview Terrace, NE. The purpose of this hearing is
to discuss proposed state-level discipline regulations currently under
consideration by the State Superintendent of Education. These
regulations are within the public comment period and as such, we invite
the community to weigh in on the discussion. The proposed regulations
provide state level standards for consistent school disciplinary policy
in the District of Columbia Public Schools and public charter schools.
They would require each local education agency to address discipline in
a manner which allows students to continue their educational path within
the school environment wherever possible.
We look forward to receiving public comment as well as further
facilitating the discussion on the proposed regulations. The public will
be invited to participate in a round table discussion on the proposed
regulations. Please RSVP to Joy Roberson at Joy.Roberson@dc.gov
or 727-3471 if you are interested in attending. In addition to the round
table discussion, the public may submit comments in writing to Kristin.Yochum@dc.gov.
For more information on the proposed discipline regulations please visit
http://www.osse.dc.gov.
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UDC Public Interest Fellowship Auction, March
26
Joe Libertelli, jft@udc.edu
Please join us at our annual summer Public Interest Fellowship
auction on Thursday, March 26, at 6:00 p.m., at the UDC Firebird Inn,
4200 Connecticut Avenue, NW. This year’s auction will feature live
music, beer and wine, and great food from local establishments including
Hades and the Italian Pizza Kitchen! There is no admission charge.
Please plan to join us and consider donating an item. To donate an item
for the auction, E-mail me at jft@udc.edu.
Here’s our initial list of items: Bethany beach house vacation
getaway; two Acela high-speed train tickets to NYC; Rehoboth beach
house; Tom Mack’s Shenandoah river cabin; Lewes, Delaware, beach
house; tour for two of DC via Old Town Trolley, DC Ducks, or Monuments
by Moonlight; autographed Randy Thomas photo (Redskins Pro Bowl
lineman); original painting, “Give to Receive”; “The Civil War”
at Ford’s Theater, two tickets; Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center,
two tickets; a half-day with Kim Keenan (DC Bar President); a day with
Wade Henderson; a day with “King of Torts” Jack Olender; lunch for
two at the Cosmos Club with UDC President and Mrs. Sessoms; Leadership
Conference on Civil Rights dinner, two tickets; Alliance for Justice
annual luncheon, two tickets; ACLU President’s dinner, two tickets;
Tabbard Inn meal for two; Cajun Fried Turkey cooked by Barbara Green;
gift basket from Safeway Foods; Nationals game for two with Dean
Broderick and UDC Board Chair Jim Dyke; set of Bose headphones; three
salsa lessons for two.
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