Petty and Petulant
Dear Adult and Mature Correspondents:
The bully in the school yard — “all the toys are mine, mine, mine”
— has struck again. Last year, Mayor Fenty hoarded for himself all the
free luxury skybox tickets to Nationals baseball games that are given to
the mayor and councilmembers as one of their perquisites of power. It
caused a prolonged struggle that succeeded in making everyone look bad
until the bully could himself be bullied into sharing fairly. So this
year, what did Mayor Fenty do? He demonstrated that he learned nothing
from last year’s mistake by again hoarding all the tickets for
himself. Yesterday, reporters cornered Fenty and asked him to explain
his bad behavior. See http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2009/04/14/fenty-few-answers-on-nats-tickets/
for an account of that encounter, and play the whole six-and-a-half
minutes of the MP3 recording of the reporters’ questioning and Fenty’s
awkward attempts not to answer their questions to get the full flavor of
it.
Of course, the issue of who gets tickets to Nationals baseball games
is petty, but a petty and petulant little boy is in power in our city,
and he acts in the same petty way whether the issue is big or small. No,
you can’t get the tickets. No, press and public information officers
aren’t allowed to tell the press and public anything. No, we’re not
going to let government officials testify before the council. No, we’re
not going to tell who’s really behind giving away the fire truck. No,
it’s my way or nothing; I want it my way, my way, my way.
I’m for Kwame Brown’s proposed skybox legislation; I want to see
Brown really introduce it, and I want to see it come to a vote in the
council, and I want to see it pass. The city should auction off the two
skyboxes at the stadium that were given to the mayor and the council
pursuant to the stadium legislation, and the money should go into the
general fund, and not to Peaceoholics. If the mayor and councilmembers
want to go to sports events, they can and should pay for the tickets
themselves. When the kids won’t stop squabbling over the toys, sweep
the toys into the toy box and lock it.
Do you remember the scene in Annie Hall when Woody Allen and Diane
Keaton are in a movie line, and a fatuous Columbia University professor
annoys Woody by loudly and wrongly expounding on Marshall McLuhan’s
theories (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpIYz8tfGjY)?
If you don’t remember it, watch it now, because I’m going to give
away the punch line. To argue against the professor, Woody simply pulls
McLuhan from behind a film poster to say, “You know nothing of my
work. . . . How you ever got to teach a course in anything is totally
amazing.” “Boy, if life were only like this,” Woody says to the
camera. Well, life is like that in this issue of themail. Unfortunately,
I play the role of the professor, whose discussion of the 1978 DC Voting
Rights Amendment in the April 12 issue of themail was seriously flawed,
and Johnny Barnes plays the role of Marshall McLuhan, who gets to write,
“I wrote that amendment, and. . . .” The point that Barnes and
others make is that the 1978 act attempted to treat DC as a state
without making it a state, and that required a constitutional amendment;
whereas simply admitting the District (or any other jurisdiction) to the
union as a state would be a simpler process.
Simpler, I’d say, but not necessarily easier. For most places in
the union, I’d speculate, it would be easier to swallow DC as being
something like a state, but not really a state, than to admit DC to full
statehood status. The sticking point won’t be the issue of individual
rights, but the symbolic equality of political entities. Why should that
little pipsqueak of a city be treated as the equal of our big and mighty
state, people will ask their representatives and senators. We have three
cities bigger than that in our state; are you going to give each of them
statehood, too?
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Washington
Melinda Roth, Mroth@worldbank.org
The Washington Post recently covered the story about the Boys
and Girls Clubs of Greater Washington (BGCGW) closing some of the area
clubs, sending all remaining employees on twenty-six-day furloughs and
firing 16 percent of the rest of the staff, and also trimming executive
salaries by only 10 percent [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/08/AR2009040803241.html,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/12/AR2009041202323.html].
Part of this so-called strategy focuses on the closure of the treasured
Jelleff property, located in Georgetown, and the only club of the
twenty-two managed by BGCGW that consistently makes money and has not
needed to be subsidized. It is the one of the shining examples of
diversity in this city, with kids from all over the area and all walks
of life participating in its programs, including eight hundred boys and
girls in the basketball league alone that Jelleff has managed for years.
In the mayor’s proposed budget, there is a $15 million line item to
buy Jelleff and maintain it as a recreational center for kids. While I
want Jelleff to remain open, I am against the city’s paying a penny
down the black hole of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Washington.
In the Post article, BGCGW’s management blames the economy for
their financial woes. Sadly, the organization has been several million
dollars in debt for a number of years. This is not something that
happened with the recession. Yes, the economy has probably hurt them
even more, as donations and grants are harder to come by, but this
organization has been bleeding for well over four years.
They have eyed the Jelleff prize, thinking they could develop the
site and make millions. They thought the same thing with the Columbia
Heights club on 14th Street. But they had no idea of the community
support that rallied against the sale of Police Clubhouse #10 on 14th
Street, and that sale withered several years ago. They have stopped and
started the Jelleff sale several times in the past few years, but this
time it is for real. There will be no summer camp this year, and the
staff has been notified that the schools which rent the gym may have to
look elsewhere. At one point Councilman Jack Evans threatened eminent
domain if they thought they could close Jelleff. But now, thanks to good
lobbying and a huge lack of transparency, there is a proposal for the
city to pay $15 million to the BGCGW for the Jelleff property. Can
someone explain to me why the city would even consider making such a
ransom payment?
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The parliament-of-whores city council that voted to saddle DC with
the baseball stadium did so in no small part so they could have their
luxury seating. Although several who did this to us are no longer there,
some, such as Gray and Barry who ran against the stadium and did a volte
face after getting elected, are still there. Denying them their tix is
the way to go, by nixing the fruits of their saddling taxpayers with a
really bad investment so they could enjoy luxury seating while the rest
of us slave to pay for the stadium and bear the brunt of strip clubs
relocated, etc.
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Mayor Fenty appeared on MSNBC to trumpet his “education reform”
efforts [Morning Joe, April 13, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036789/#30190168].
Fenty was asked directly on MSNBC, “What’s the best way to privatize
schools?” and he outlined the steps that he is using to do just that.
One of the key items was getting rid of union contracts so that school
employees — teachers, custodians, administrators — can be fired at
the drop of a hat.
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Understanding who gets supported in the DC Public Schools is really
quite simple [introduction to themail, April 5]. Because Harry Jaffe’s
previously cited column [http://tinyurl.com/dg3854]
didn’t provide a good analysis of why Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee
treats seemingly equally capable performers quite differently, writers
in themail appear to be having a hard time getting to the root of the
issue.
The reason that Shaw Junior High School gets well-treated by the
Chancellor, while Dr. Art Siebens does not, is pretty simple. Chancellor
Rhee hired the principal of Shaw; she didn’t hire Dr. Siebens.
Acknowledging extant excellence within the DC Public School system doesn’t
fly with the dominant narrative of Michelle Rhee — “everybody else
is stupid, I have to fire everybody and hire new people, me, me, me”
— therefore, extant excellence isn’t supported in the present day DC
school system.
That’s why quality teachers get fired or transferred and principals
fear “telling the truth to the power” (so mis-discussed in the TV
show “West Wing” because for the most part power isn’t interested
in truth, power wants to be stroked and supported and sanctioned). I
happened to write a piece in my blog about this broad issue last week (http://urbanplacesandspaces.blogspot.com/2009/04/missing-most-fundamental-point-about.html).
Sadly, this kind of practice isn’t limited to DCPS.
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It’s Possible . . .
Ed T. Barron, edtb1@macdotcom
. . . though not very likely, that the Nationals will lose all of the
remaining 156 games. One surprise for opening day at Nationals’ Park
yesterday was that Half Street Southeast was mostly cleared of debris
from the taking down of the old buildings, and was passable for those
large crowds coming to the park via Metro. Opening Day at any Major
League Park is a festive occasion. This one was delightful. President
Obama blew off the opportunity to throw out the first pitch and rolled
Easter eggs instead. Five members of the US Armed Forces branches threw
out first pitches to five catchers — a nice tribute. Two huge flags
were unfurled by members of the DC National Guard — another nice
touch.
There were probably more than five thousand Phillies fans at the game
in the huge throng of attendees (were they all in the center field
stands with me?), who really enjoyed the home run balls hit into our
section by the strong arms of the Philly batters. The Nats gave the game
away early with three unearned runs on three errors. Another oh for.
###############
I think Gary raises some interesting questions in his introduction [themail,
April 12]. I am not sure what the residents of DC want. They do not want
Congress to attach the gun measure to the voting rights bill, but a
vocal group (though I am not sure how many are DC residents) want the
continuation of school vouchers — which was one of many “pilots”
tried out on the District first because it could not fly in the
representatives’ home jurisdiction. We have had many pilots imposed
upon us. Tom DeLay had a full-time staff person attending DC local
meetings, and had a large hand in forcing the Court Appointed Special
Advocates program in DC; a former staffer of his is on the CASA board.
My personal belief is that if we want to function as a full
autonomous jurisdiction we have to reject the “good” (such as money
for tuition, that is not available to every other state) and the “bad”
(such as Congressionally imposed gun laws). After the loss of the Lorton
property we also need to do an inventory of what properties are still in
the name of the Feds. We have hundreds of acres in Maryland to use but
is not in our name, as well a numerous federal reservations in the
District. Even as Hope VI went forward, we found that many titles of the
land public housing was on were never transferred to the District. We
need to know what the “District,” as opposed to the Federal,
properties are before we can assert what part should be a state.
###############
Closing the Department of Mental Health
Bob Levine, rilevine@cpcug.org
I don’t know why not. The council, mayor’s office, and the rest
of the city government doesn’t seem to have any mental health, so why
should they need a department of it?
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Gay Marriage and Home Rule
Michael Bindner, mikeybdc@yahoo.com
I am all for not only honoring gay marriage, but having gay marriage
in the District. I worry less about what this will do for statehood than
whether it can be done at all. The argument can legitimately be made
that the District Government is a federal instrumentality. As long as it
is, the existence of the Defense of Marriage Act may preclude the
council’s latest action. Of course, challenging the District act based
on DOMA may just be an avenue to have DOMA itself overturned. It would
certainly give the Human Rights Campaign a local case to work with. If
the District action is overturned judicially, it also provides an
impetus for the gay community to wake up and get with the statehood
program. In other words, there is no downside to pursuing District
recognition of gay marriages, since even by losing you win (since the
biggest enemy to statehood is popular acceptance of the status quo).
###############
Gary, I agree with many of the statements in your recent article
regarding political standing and sovereignty for the people of
Washington, DC. However, as the drafter and principal congressional
staff person responsible for House Joint Resolution 554, the 1978
proposed Constitutional Amendment, I would like to correct a few factual
matters. First, the vote was not on statehood for DC. It was a vote to
amend the Constitution to “treat the District as if it were a state.”
Had H.J. Res. 554 been ratified by 38 states, we would today have two
voting senators; the number of voting representatives our population
allows; and the number of presidential electors required by the
Constitution.
The Joint Resolution passed by extraordinary majorities (two-thirds)
in the House and Senate. Senators such as Strom Thurmond, Barry
Goldwater, Bob Dole, and Howard Baker voted with us. Because H.J. Res.
554 proposed to amend the Constitution, the President had no role; so
after passing by extraordinary majorities in the House and Senate, it
went to the states for ratification. In the states, we encountered the
same opponents who had just defeated another proposed amendment to the
Constitution, the Equal Rights Amendment. You can imagine that if Tom
Delay (who was at that time not in Congress), ALEC, a group of seven
hundred conservative state legislators, and persons like Phyllis
Schaffly overpowered fifty-one percent of the population (women), those
of us in Washington, DC, were clearly outgunned. Nonetheless, we did get
a total of sixteen states (much more than that if you count those where
one legislative body in a state voted to ratify, while another did not)
within the seven-year period. Unlike the Equal Rights Amendment, our
seven-year limitation was written into the Article of Amendment itself,
so we could not get any extension of time.
I personally do not believe we should go that route again. It is a
difficult path to take. More importantly, it is not necessary to achieve
political standing and sovereignty for the people of Washington, DC. The
simplest and most constitutionally permissible route is statehood.
Statehood for DC requires a simple majority vote by both Houses of
Congress and the signature of the President, and Mr. Obama has said he
would sign a DC Statehood Bill. One statehood is instituted, it cannot
be revoked. It is permanent. Given those who supported House Joint
Resolution 554, it is clear that supporting our most precious right, the
right to vote, is something that can be effectively communicated to a
majority of the Congress and could be passed, given the will of our
elected officials and the resolve of our citizens. By the way, Gary, the
only time there has been a popular vote on this matter, the voters of DC
voted in favor of statehood. I trust you will continue to keep this
issue alive on your blog. It is most important that you do.
###############
Statehood in themail
Michael Bindner, mikeybdc@yahoo.com
The 1978 Voting Rights Amendment had nothing to do with statehood.
Statehood does not require a constitutional amendment. A simple majority
of each house of Congress could do it, although to get through the
Senate would require sixty votes as a practical matter. If the right
wing of the Republican Party keeps piling on Senators Collins, Specter,
and Snowe, that sixty votes might be easier to get than we imagine. The
reason some statehood opponents claim statehood is unconstitutional is
because the part of DC not left as the national capital may be
considered part of Maryland, and you cannot make a state from the
territory of another state without its consent. Others argue that the
original cession makes that unnecessary. Loughboro v. Maryland
denied a District resident the right to run for Congress specifically
because of that cession. Howard v. Maryland denied senatorial
representation through Maryland for the same reason. Opponents of
democracy cannot have it both ways — either no prior consent from
Maryland is required or District residents are already entitled to
representation through Maryland.
The constitutionality of S. 160 is a serious concern. The issue has
already been litigated. Under Alexander v. Mineta, District
residents were found not to have a constitutional right to
representation in Congress, either through Maryland or as a stand alone
enterprise. While Walter Smith and Delegate Norton do not believe that
this decision forecloses Congress from extending this representation to
the District, I found nothing in the decision on Alexander to
indicate that the court was open to this possibility. The risk was that
Utah would get a seat while the District would not once the law was
struck down, however the severability clause was modified in the bill to
take the seat away from Utah should the District lose its seat as well.
Losing in court on this issue is not necessarily a bad thing, since the
voting rights drive has raised popular expectations. The only option
remaining will be statehood and, once statehood is passed, any
congressional actions relating to the District’s gun laws will be null
and void.
###############
Statehood does not require a constitutional amendment. It merely
requires a majority vote in each house of Congress (i.e., passing a
normal law) and the signature of the President. The 1978 amendment was a
constitutional amendment to provide voting rights for DC in both houses
of Congress and to give us the number of electoral college votes as our
population determined (i.e., it repealed the 23rd amendment and
substituted new language). It would not have affected Congress’s
control over our local/state government. We would still not have
sovereignty. We would have much more like Algeria when it was a French
colony, but had a vote in the French National Assembly.
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Live Free or Maybe Not
Larry Lesser, lblesser@aol.com
Your question as to what would be different for DC residents partly
answers itself. If the difference were crucial to us, we would live
somewhere else or would wish we lived somewhere else. People who support
statehood or a vote in Congress or even retrocession are for the most
part willing to live with the current status — pretty much by
definition.
But that’s true of lots of political questions. There aren’t very
many issues that deserve the New Hampshire state motto attached to them:
Live free or die. Most of the time we’ll settle for something in
between.
###############
In Sunday’s posting, Gary Imhoff writes that “Admitting the
District to the Union as a state would require the full statehood
process outlined in Section 3, Clause 1, of the Constitution. This was
tried previously in 1978, when Congress passed the DC Voting Rights
Amendment.”
In fact, the Voting Rights Amendment of 1978 (which was never
ratified) would not have granted statehood to the District, but merely
voting representation in Congress. Statehood does not require a
constitutional amendment, but only a majority vote of both houses of
Congress and the signature of the President. The only congressional vote
on statehood came in 1993 when the House considered, and defeated, a
bill for statehood.
Also, “Section 3, Clause 1, of the Constitution” is incomplete as
a reference to constitutional language. The Constitution is divided into
seven articles, each of which is divided into sections and clauses —
there are several “Section 3s.” He’s apparently referring to
Article IV, Section 3, the language on admission of new states.
###############
Take the Save the Anacostia River Trust and
License Tag Survey Now
Samuel Jordan, samunomas@msn.com
If you would like to contribute to the clean up and restoration of
the Anacostia River and its tributaries with the option of a completely
voluntary program, please register your support at http://www.kwiksurveys.com/online-survey.php?surveyID=HODJM_18be1340.
I wrote about this survey in the last issue of themail, April 12, but
some people may not have been able to access it. If you had trouble with
the survey, or if you haven’t completed it yet, please do so now. The
survey asks whether you support the creation of the Save The Anacostia
River Trust and License Tag program (START). The results of the survey
will be submitted to members of the DC council on April 30. The more
support, the greater the chance that START will be enacted.
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Capitol Community News Papers Online
Andrew Lightman, andrew@hillrag.com
The April Hill Rag, East of the River, and DC North are
online at http://www.capitalcommunitynews.com/.
The Nose rants about the stupid security surrounding the Capitol: http://www.capitalcommunitynews.com/publications/eotr/2009_April/54-56_EOR_0409.pdf
There is an extensive column in EOR on Ward 8’s only sit-down
restaurant, IHOP: http://www.capitalcommunitynews.com/publications/eotr/2009_April/html/JacksonsInvestments.cfm
Curious Minds takes an interesting look at the new Capitol Visitors’
Center: http://www.capitalcommunitynews.com/publications/eotr/2009_April/20-21_EOR_0409.pdf
East of the River features the EOR Community Court: http://www.capitalcommunitynews.com/publications/eotr/2009_April/html/EORCommunityCourt.cfm
George Gurley is remembered: http://www.capitalcommunitynews.com/publications/eotr/2009_April/32_EOR_0409.pdf
Ed Lazere tackles the Fenty budget: http://www.capitalcommunitynews.com/publications/eotr/2009_April/26-27_EOR_0409.pdf
Segraves writes about Fenty’s travel and the Jacks case: http://www.capitalcommunitynews.com/publications/hillrag/2009_April/html/DistrictBeat.cfm
Get the latest on the Eastern Market renovation in Market Watch: http://www.capitalcommunitynews.com/publications/hillrag/2009_April/html/EasternMarketWatch.cfm
Elise Bernarch, author of Frozen Topics, pens her first H Street Life
column: http://www.capitalcommunitynews.com/publications/hillrag/2009_April/html/HStreetLife.cfm
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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
Department of Parks and Recreation Events,
April 16-19
John Stokes, john.astokes@dc.gov
Thursday, April 16, 12:00 p.m.-2:30 p.m., Trinidad Recreation Center,
1310 Childress Street, NE. Seniors beautification day for ages 50 and
up. Seniors will clean up outside the recreation center and plant
beautiful flowers and trees. For more information, call Nadine Bell at
576-6818.
Thursday, April 16, 3:30 p.m.-6:00 p.m., Trinidad Recreation Center,
1310 Childress Street, NE. Young Youth Community Service for ages 6–12.
Participants will clean up the inside and outside of the Recreation
Center. For more information, call Anthony Higginbotham at 727-1293.
Friday, April 17, 4:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m., Fort Stevens Recreation
Center, 1327 Van Buren Street, NW. Tee Ball Explosion for ages 5-8.
Youth will participate in various exhibition games during this one day
tee ball/baseball tournament. For more information, call Larry Kinney at
541-3754.
Friday, April 17, 6:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m., Malcolm X Recreation Center,
1351 Alabama Avenue, SE. The Family Feud for ages 13 and up. Teens will
participate in a family oriented game show; light refreshments will be
served. For more information, call Zakiya Brown at 391-2215.
Friday, April 17, 7:00 p.m.-11:00 p.m., various locations. Teen Night
for ages 13–19. Call 671-0451 or visit dpr.dc.gov for a list of
locations and times.
Saturday, April 18, 10:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m, Barry Farms Recreation
Center, 1230 Sumner Road, SE. ., Ward 8 Cook Out for Baseball Teams for
ages 5-15. Youth will assist with a cook out for the Ward 8 baseball
teams (T-Ball, Soft Ball, little league etc.) Each team will participate
and have fun catching and batting. Everybody wins! For more information,
call Charles Lowe, 645-3896
Saturday, April 18, 10:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m., Petworth Recreation
Center, 801 Taylor Street, NW. Easter egg hunt for ages 5-12. Youth will
enjoy the day hunting for the special Easter egg for fun and games. For
more information, call Richard Evans at 576-6850.
Saturday, April 18, 11:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m., Columbia Heights Community
Center, 15th and Girard Streets, NW. Bum Rush the Boards for ages 5-12.
Columbia Heights Community Center hosts the fourth annual “Bum Rush
the Boards” Chess Tournament. DPR welcomes program partner Words Beats
and Life to Columbia Heights for its Hip Hop Chess Tournament. This year’s
tournament will include four rounds of chess with sections for both
youth and adults. There will also be workshops and exhibitions taking
place throughout the day on visual arts, poetry, graffiti, chess, and
more. For more information, contact Words Beats and Life program manager
Lester Wallace at 667-1192.
Saturday, April 18, 1:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m., Joseph Cole Recreation
Center, 1200 Morse Street, NE.
Easter egg hunt for ages 6 -12. The youth will participate in making
colorful baskets to fill with treats including Easter eggs found during
the Easter egg hunt. For more information, call K’Yanna Blackwell at
724-4876.
Sunday, April 19-Sunday, June 7, 1:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m., Friendship
Recreation Center (baseball field), 4500 Van Ness Street, NW. Adapted
baseball for ages 6-17. Beginning Sunday, April 19, and continuing every
Sunday until June 7, the TR Center will host adapted baseball for
children with special needs. For more information, call Victoria Cole-Rolon
at 645-6516.
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An Afternoon of Chess and Folk Music, April 18
Beth Meyer, kensingtonbookevents@gmal.com
Allan Savage, US Life Master and former Maryland State Champion, will
be present for a couple hours to play chess against anyone. In this mini
simultaneous exhibition, he will play multiple opponents at the same
time. Chess sets and refreshments will be provided. Allan is a native
Washingtonian who lives in Kensington. He has competed in international
tournaments, authored several chess books, written for numerous chess
magazines, and taught chess for over thirty years in four states. He has
performed simultaneous exhibitions at past Day of the Book celebrations
in Kensington. On May 28, he will be giving a talk on chess and books
here at the bookshop.
Doris Justis has been a mainstay of the local folk and acoustic scene
for over twenty-five years — producing concerts, coffeehouse events,
and her own live radio program. Her first love is singing and
performing. Now she debuts her first solo CD, Who to Turn to, presenting
originals, contemporary and traditional tunes and new arrangements of
old favorites with her band. She also performs in the popular duet, Side
by Side, with Sean McGhee, and of course, solo. Her web site is http://www.dorisjustis.com.
Saturday, April 18, 1:00-3:00 p.m., at Kensington Row Bookshop, 3786
Howard Avenue, Kensington, MD.
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Green Together, April 19
Jazmine Zick, jzick@nbm.org
Sunday, April 19, 1:00-3:00 p.m., For Families: Green Together. Help
your family get ready for Earth Day with this action-packed workshop.
Turn your trash into treasure with a special recycled craftmaking
activity. 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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Gertrude Stein Democratic Club on Marriage
Equality, April 20
Jeffrey Hops, jeffhops@yahoo.com
Join the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club for our April community
discussion on marriage equality in the District of Columbia. Monday,
April 20, at the John A. Wilson Building, Room 412, 1350 Pennsylvania
Avenue, NW. Monthly business meeting, 6:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.; community
discussion, 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
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Free Workshops on Funding for Community
Organizations, April 21
Lisa Alfred, lalfred@wdchumanities.org
Tuesday April 21, 5:30-7:00 p.m., Southeast Neighborhood Library, 403
7th Street SE. Workshop on funding for community organizations. The
Humanities Council of Washington, DC, is offering funding to tell your
neighborhood or community story. Stop by the grant workshop to find out
about funding requirements. Free. For further information, call
387-8391, or RSVP at http://www.wdchumanities.org.
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Federation of Citizens Associations on
Contracting and Procurement, April 28
Anne Renshaw, milrddc@aol.com
The Federation of Citizens Associations of the District of Columbia
will examine the District’s controversial contracting and procurement
system at its monthly Assembly on Tuesday, April 28, 6:45 p.m., at The
Charles Sumner School, 1201 Seventeenth Street, NW (at M Street).
In a discussion on Government Contracting and Procurement System:
Open Opportunity or Closed Door?, Councilmember Mary Cheh and Chief
Procurement Officer David Gragan will delve into the complex and
intricate infrastructure of city contracting and procurement Following
the city council’s riveting hearings into the recent donation of a DC
fire truck and ambulance to a Dominican Republic beach resort,
Councilmember Mary Cheh, Government Operations Committee Chair, and
Chief Procurement Officer David Gragan will meet again to discuss,
explain and enlighten us on the city’s complex contracting and
procurement system. Councilmember Cheh, who is known for her
insightfulness, will elaborate on her Committee’s oversight
responsibilities and ongoing investigations into the disposition of city
property. CPO Gragan will outline the mission of the Office of
Contracting and Procurement and how it protects the taxpayer’s
dollars. For further information: contact Anne Renshaw, Federation
President, 202-363-6880.
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Ward 3 Republican Meeting, May 13
Paul D. Craney, pauldcraney@yahoo.com
There will be a Ward 3 Republican meeting on Wednesday, May 13, at
6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., in which DC Republicans and anyone who wishes to
attend are more then welcome to attend. This is not a political or
fundraising event, rather a time when we can come together in our
community. Below are the details. Special guest speakers will be Malcolm
“Mike” Peabody, Chairman and Founder of FOCUS (Friends of Choice in
Urban Schools) and Virginia Walden Ford, Executive Director of DC
Parents for School Choice. Mr. Peabody is one of the District’s
leaders for the charter school movement. DC has the second highest
percentage of public school children enrolled in charter schools, only
behind New Orleans. Ms. Ford heads an advocacy group for the DC
Opportunity Scholarship Fund, or commonly known as the DC School Voucher
Program. Ms. Ford and Mr. Peabody will discuss the importance of
education options and school choice for the District.
The meeting will be at the home of Tony Parker. Tony’s home is
located at 4881 Potomac Avenue, NW (go to MacArthur and W Streets, go to
the river, take left on Potomac Avenue). Because it’s fun and a great
opportunity for our community to come together. Light refreshments will
be served. This event is free and open to all open-minded DC residents.
Please feel free to reach me to RSVP or with any questions.
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