Problem Solvers and Problem Makers
Dear Solvers:
Many thanks for sending your cable reception horror stories to
themail. You sent about three dozen replies from neighborhoods all over
the District, and I forwarded them to Marcella Hicks at the Office of
Cable Television, who wrote, “I have involved the senior Comcast
technical staff. I will get a resolution.” Earlier today, she wrote,
“Comcast’s engineering department has determined that there is a
problem. The problem started with the digital signal transition. There
are inserts for advertising that are causing the pixilation/freezing on
channels. They will work on the plant overnight and are hoping to have
the matter resolved by tomorrow.” I don’t think that I understand
that explanation of the problem or the solution, but if it works I’ll
be happy. Comcast has been running commercials for the past year telling
us that we’re ready for the digital transition if we subscribe to
cable; that would have been true if they had been ready for the
transition themselves. Wait a few days, then let me know if the
dropouts, picture freezes, sound losses, and pixillation haven’t
stopped.
WTOP’s Mark Segraves nailed the parking fines story (http://www.wtop.com/?nid=25&sid=1706454):
“The District of Columbia collects 25 times more money in parking
fines than its neighbors in Fairfax County and more than eight times
than Montgomery County collects each year. . . . [T]he average is $113
in fines per resident each year. . . . The return on the investment on
Parking Control Officers is so good, while most DC Agencies are cutting
staff because of budget woes, the Department of Public Works plans to
increase the number of ticket writers by almost one-third next year. The
DC council approved funding to increase the parking enforcement force
from 213 officers to 278.” There’s a fable by Aesop (http://www.bartleby.com/17/1/57.html),
something about a goose that laid golden eggs, and how the greedy owner
of that goose spoiled the windfall by overreaching and doing something
that was, well, very wrong. There was a moral to that fable, wasn’t
there?
The Washington Post’s Nikita Stewart reports that Councilmember
Jim Graham is worried that there are too many cab drivers in Washington,
so he wants the council to pass legislation regulating the number of
people who will be allowed to drive taxicabs (http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2009/06/too_many_taxi_drivers_in_dc.html).
It’s an awful burden on councilmembers to have to determine the
optimum number of people who should be allowed to practice any
profession. Wouldn’t it be a relief for politicians if someone could
invent an economic system under which the optimum number of workers
could be determined automatically, say by the market? Under this magical
system, people would enter and leave different job markets on their own
accord, depending on their own judgments of how good a living they could
make, and politicians wouldn’t have to make decisions for everyone
else about which occupations they would be allowed to pursue. Has anyone
heard of an economic system like that?
Seriously, isn’t this the second step in the city government’s
program to force independent taxicab drivers out of business, and to
ensure that a few large cab companies control the market? The first step
was to get rid of the zone system and force the installation of meters.
Instituting a medallion system that will limit the number of cabs and
vastly increase the cost of becoming an independent cabbie should ensure
that large companies will dominate and independents disappear over time,
as they have in New York.
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
###############
More Anti-Business Legislation
Ralph J. Chittams, Sr., rjchittamssr@gmail.com
Because Councilmember Alexander was foolish enough to leave her car
unlocked and unattended at a gas station and was robbed, now District
gas stations will be required to install video cameras. From where I
sit, it seems that to our mayor and councilmembers the only good small
business is a closed small business — Fleet Feet being the exception.
Fenty closes used car lots. Graham closes everything in his sight.
And now Alexander joins the party with this foolishness. The profit
margin at gas stations is razor-thin. In fact, gas stations make most of
their profits from chips, sodas, and cigarettes and cigars (remember
that great piece of legislation). Forcing these small business owners to
incur an additional expense will not appreciably reduce crime. It will
simply contribute to the anti-business regulatory environment that
exists in the District of Columbia.
Suggestion: Councilmember Alexander, next time you get gas, roll up
your windows and lock your car, like most people do.
###############
Our esteemed moderator frequently implores readers of the mail to
comment on some of the good things about living in DC. I’m taking him
up on his offer. My contribution: the Upshur Pool off 14th Street, NW.
My family and I spent a delightful afternoon at Upshur last Saturday.
The sun was shining, the water was refreshing, and, best of all, the
company was oh so pleasant. At least on this day, the pool attracted a
wonderful cross-section of DC: black, white and Latino; young and middle
aged; families and singles; people of some means and people who are not.
All of us were there enjoying the pool and one another. It was a
refreshing break not just from the warm weather, but also from the
bickering, divisiveness, and just plain segregation that keeps much of
DC apart much of the time. For one glorious afternoon, in one small
corner of the District, a microcosm of our city came together to swim
and sun bathe, to play and joke around with friends and strangers alike
— and it was perfect.
###############
There’s one very dead tree at the corner of 18th and Monroe in
Mount Pleasant, and that corner is now posted “Emergency No Parking,
Tree Work, 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., 6/29-7/02,” presumably so the tree
can be brought down without damaging any parked cars. Fair enough, but
does it really require four days to take down one modest-sized tree? I
guess it does, if nobody shows up to do any work for three of those four
days. Why requisition the space for four days, when only one is
necessary? Well, if you’re the District agency, or a District agency’s
contractor, why not? It costs them nothing to claim the space for more
days, and more daytime hours, than are needed.
But that’s just one corner. In June, an entire block of 19th
Street, both sides, was posted “No Parking, Tree Work,” for four
days. Nobody showed, nobody did a lick of tree work. Parking Enforcement
pounced, socking a dozen residents whose cars weren’t moved by 8:03
a.m. with $50 tickets. The tree work remains undone, and no doubt the
Urban Forestry Administration (UFA) will return to repeat this process.
(Bill Howland, Director of Public Works and a true mensch, did cancel
the parking tickets.)
###############
According to the Time Magazine article in which Michelle A.
Rhee appeared on the cover with a broom, “In the last presidential
debate each candidate tried to claim her [Rhee] as their own with Barack
Obama calling Rhee a wonderful superintendent.” Who knows why Barack
supported Michelle Rhee so effusively? Whatever President Barack Obama’s
reasoning for this national shout-out, the million dollar question is
why would a president support Chancellor Rhee when she only “offered
pleasing but implausible claims, while saying next to nothing about
educational policy.” Does Barack Obama still praise Rhee, given that
her five-year education plan lacks any substantive educational reform
other than to rid DC schools of a significant share of its educational
work force through terminations and buyouts, thereby creating a
revolving door, at-will, work force?
Many are incredulous at Rhee’s claims of having raised her former
students’ standardized testing scores from the 13th percentile to the
90th percentile in her short-lived teaching career, and think they are
simply pleasing anecdotes that still cannot be substantiated. By her own
admission, Rhee suffered during her first year, and so did her students.
It has been reported that Rhee got better in her second year. Would
Barack Obama have given Rhee an endorsement if he had known that she
wouldn’t afford DC’s probationary teachers and teaching fellows the
same opportunity she was given to improve as a teacher? If the president
knew that Rhee would fire approximately seventy probationary teachers
arbitrarily last year, without regard to their “Meets and Exceeds
Expectations” annual performance evaluations? Did Barack just turn a
blind eye in the name of politics ?
Would Barack Obama knowingly approve of a so-called reformist like
Rhee who failed to implement a citywide mentor program for all new
teachers and failed to offer regular and consistent assistance to
struggling teachers, like the peer assistance and review programs
provided in Washington’s metro-area suburbs? Does the president
actually think it is okay for School Chancellor Rhee to sign off on the
terminations of two hundred fifty DC teachers, even though some teachers
were not given annual performance evaluations, even though some teachers
were not rated according to the appropriate curriculum standards, even
though some teachers were targeted for termination in order to meet a
citywide quota, even though some teachers had not yet completed their
two-year fellows program, and just because some were probationary
teachers? I thought that our president believed in the American way of
justice and liberty for all. You mean Barack doesn’t support the right
to due process and a right to an appeals process for unjustly terminated
public employees? Some say that Barack was only straddling the fence
between the Joel Klein and Michelle Rhee types and labor unions. I’m
not so sure because our president’s actions speak louder than words.
Is this change we can believe in?
###############
AHRC News Services
T. Lassoc, cei76@aol.com
For your information, here’s an American Homeowner Resource Center
news article from the California-based group: “Alleged Sham Court
Actions in the Court of Judge Reggie Wanton, US District Court, DC,” http://www.ahrc.se/new/index.php/src/news/sub/article/action/ShowMedia/id/4950.
I don’t know if the misspelling of Judge Walton’s name was a
mistake, a parody, or intentional, in line with the views expressed in
the article.
###############
A Collyer in Our Midst
Ed T. Barron, edtb1macdotcom
Several years ago I posted, in a forerunner to themail, a mention of
the Collyer brothers. They were two recluses living in a Harlem, NY,
apartment who collected everything but never threw anything out. After
neighbors complained about foul odors, police broke in and found so many
tons of debris that they could barely get in. Both brothers had died,
thus the foul odors. It took police two weeks to clean out the apartment
of magazines, newspapers, fourteen pianos, a fully assembled model T
Ford, etc. All this is chronicled in a new book by E.L. Doctorow. What,
thank you for asking, has this got to do with DC.?
We seem to have a female ‘Collyer” right here in the ‘hood in
northwest DC, living in a private home just north of Massachusetts
Avenue on 47th Street, NW. The homes here are well kept, with nice mowed
lawns, etc. Standing out is this one place which is littered with what
could best be characterized as junk. The driveway is similarly littered
including, count ’em, six strollers. The only occupants that I’ve
seen in those strollers are one or more of three hounds that occupy the
home. Every weekly trash day there are three full dumpsters for the
trash pickup and, periodically, a small mountain of barely recognizable
stuff for bulk trash pickup. I have not yet seen a piano in any of those
piles of debris, but we seem to have a Collyer in our midst.
###############
I don’t know which is more repugnant, the fact that Ed Barron has
all his facts completely wrong in the case of the shuttered Tenley-Friendship
library, or his implication that in hard times, no money should be spent
in Ward 3 for basic services (such as a library) and the idea that in
good times, Ward 3 citizens should encourage the sale of scarce, much
needed public land for basic services [themail, June 28]. The only real
“bird in hand” in this saga was the sixteen million dollars that was
budgeted for the Tenley-Friendship branch rebuild over two years ago.
Our library would have broken ground last year, but it was delayed by a
push to build a large privately owned residential unit on top of the
Janney School soccer field and over the library. This effort to sell off
private land and air rights came mainly from people who were interested
in tethering the Janney School modernization project to a development
project, with the hope of moving Janney forward in the modernization
queue.
Mr. Barron speaks of a “vocal minority of NIMBY’s” who “sidelined”
the developers’ proposal to put a nine-story apartment on top of the
school soccer field and on top of the library. Every single neighborhood
community organization, along with the ANC 3E, overwhelmingly rejected
the three proposals that were submitted for the library/school site, as
did 95 percent of those individuals who responded to the Office of the
Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development call for public
comments on the developers’ plans. Still, Mayor Fenty overrode the
overwhelming majority of community members who wanted the library built
immediately without a residential building on top. Mayor Fenty announced
on July 16, 2008, that the city had selected LCOR as its private
development partner for the site. However, LCOR and the city never could
agree on a term sheet for the project, nor did LCOR secure financing.
Finally, eight long months after Mayor Fenty announced LCOR as the
development partner, he announced that the city would move forward
immediately with the library rebuild, as well as the Janney School
modernization, without LCOR. So you see, Ed, there never was a “bird
in hand” that involved private development.
Although the construction contracts for the library should have gone
to the council this spring, there has been yet another delay in the
library rebuild. This time, it actually has been the fault of a small
vocal minority — namely, the former Deputy Mayor of Planning and
Economic Development, Neil Albert, and his staff. The library architects
have been forced to add some additional support structures to the
library plans to accommodate Mr. Albert’s pipe dream that a large
residential building will some day sit on top of the Janney soccer field
and over the library. According to DCPL officials, the library
construction contracts will go to the council very soon, and if there is
no further obstruction to this branch rebuild, the long overdue
groundbreaking ceremony for the Tenley-Friendship library branch will
occur this September.
###############
The Many Changes in DC Public Schools
Tom Grahame, tgrahame@mindspring.com
A number of recent posts in themail have been about wrenching changes
in several DC schools, most recently the “Friendship Takeover of
Anacostia High” [themail, June 28]. In this very strongly felt dispute
between, it seems, the teachers and their allies on one side; and the
mayor, Michelle Rhee, entities such as the Gates Foundation, and their
allies on the other, I don’t have a visceral favorite because I don’t
have kids and because I don’t have friends who are teachers in the DC
system. I certainly understand at a gut level what teachers would feel
when, all of a sudden, they either don’t have a job or believe they
might be at risk for not having one — who wouldn’t? I can certainly
understand how parents might feel if they believed they haven’t been
communicated with in good faith by government authorities -- I’ve been
there myself, on different issues. Probably most of us subscribe to
themail@dcwatch.com precisely because we have problems with the way DC
is run.
My interest has always been in public policy: Why is it that inner
city kids have gotten such poor educations over the last generation and
a half? How can they deal with a world with many fewer physical labor
jobs, and many more information jobs, if they can’t get educated? Most
important, what can be done to improve their education? So I’ll ask
the readership two things: 1) why do parents continue to take their kids
our of DC public schools and put them in charters? 2) If it is accurate
that Friendship Edison has a better track record of educating inner city
kids than DCPS, would it be better for the children that they have a
chance at educating kids at Anacostia High?
Judging from the tone of the E-mails, the issues brought up by the
writers of the recent E-mails are very deeply held. They are also
consequential. But it still seems to me that the most important issue
is, what works at getting kids educated today in DC? From my outsider’s
viewpoint, if the test scores from the spring are to be believed, then
DC public schools for the first time in memory are ramping up their
performance, as judged by abilities in reading and math. If true, this
increase didn’t come from out of the blue. If this progress continues,
it might even cause some parent to pause before taking their child out
of the regular DC public school system and putting them in charters.
###############
The Anacostia Ordeal
Jesse Jefferson, jjjeffer@juno.com
The Anacostia ordeal seems like a replay of the Oyster takeover of
Adams elementary and the subsequent excessing and/or getting rid of the
Adams teaching staff.
###############
Anonymous Content in Your Most Recent Issue
Paul Michael Brown, paulo1@his.com
Your most recent issue [themail, June 28] contained a post entitled
“DC Parents Outraged Over Friendship Takeover of Anacostia High,” by
Candi Peterson. The post quoted at some length from an E-mail to
Chancellor Rhee from an unnamed “Anacostia senior high parent.”
I thought you had a policy against anonymous submissions. If Ms.
Peterson wants to criticize the way Anacostia High is being run, she’s
free to do so. But permitting her to quote extensively from the
unidentified “parent” is not consistent with your policy that all
posts must be signed.
Moreover, Ms. Peterson quotes an E-mail that one of the chancellor’s
staffers sent in response to the parent. I realize that Netiquette is a
flexible concept. But at least in the newsgroup world it’s considered
bad form to post a private E-mail in a public forum.
[Paul Brown is wrong on both points. First, he misunderstands my
policy. I require posters in themail to identify themselves. Candi
Peterson sent a message, and she signed it. Within her message, she is
free to quote whomever she wants; she is still accepting responsibility
for her posting. Second, within the E-mail that Peterson quotes there is
a passage from an E-mail sent by DCPS employee Justin Cohen on behalf of
Chancellor Rhee. Brown believes this Cohen’s E-mail is “private,”
but by definition it is not. Official government E-mails are public
business and enjoy no expectation of privacy. Government officials
cannot demand that their communications to citizens be kept secret. If
Mr. Brown receives an E-mail from a government employee who wrote it in
an official capacity, Mr. Brown is free to quote from it, publicize it,
or broadcast it however he wants, without raising any legal or ethical
questions. The same is true of the Anacostia parent who published the
E-mail she got from Mr. Cohen. — Gary Imhoff]
###############
Broken Records in themail
Michael Bindner, mikeybdc@yahoo.com
K. West can continue to call, like a broken record, for a vote on the
marital rights of other people. He will only frustrate himself, however,
since the courts will find as they have that the civil rights of other
people cannot be put to a vote. The role of family law is to mediate
disputes that arise from intra-family disputes. Gay marriage is an apt
subject for such law precisely because families seek to have a role in
the lives of their gay children that they do not demand (and are not
entitled to demand) in the lives of their straight children. This
includes not only hospital visitation, but final decisions, both about
care and burial. When he and the pastors opposing the rights of gay
spouses in these situations preach to the families that the partner has
the same dignity as a spouse, gay marriage will not be necessary.
One can also not put the dignity of others up for a vote. To grant
the same rights to gay spouses but not the title may be considered
malice under the Constitution. Malice is not a reason to deny the rights
of a group under law and the determination on this question is judicial.
Again, it is not to be put up to a vote. Finally, while the Defense of
Marriage Act protects the District from being required to recognize gay
marriages performed elsewhere, its repeal is fairly inevitable. Once it
is accomplished, any referendum on the issue at hand will be considered
an unconstitutional violation of the full faith and credit clause. Court
fights against progress and initiatives are expensive. Considering that
people will likely be passing the hat among congregations that may not
be wealthy, pursuing this matter is not only ill advised, but a
fraudulent waste of the money that many folks don’t have to waste.
###############
Perplexed by Gay Marriage Vote?
Jason Lee-Bakke, jlb@dmz.4emm.com
Color me confused by “Citizens Won’t Be Buffaloed by Same-Sex
Marriage Agenda” [themail, June 28]: “Residents of some wards are
complaining that they never knew the issue was on the agenda or they
would have voted against it. What happened in those wards? What was the
outreach, and to whom?” The matters of the city council are public
record, covered by the city’s hometown newspapers, no? The city
council does not regularly reach out to the city’s residents on every
issue it encounters. An engaged public follows the issues on which its
elected representatives are voting, and presumably voices its opinions
to those reps. That is the system of government we have in DC.
“This is the legislation that was approved by the majority of the
council and the mayor, and it recognizes same sex marriages from other
jurisdictions.” As indeed it was. Persons elected by the people of DC.
“Not to rehash, but few knew about this same-sex marriage effort until
a coalition of ministers brought it to the attention of the public.”
Many knew this bill was coming. Many agreed with it. Many elected those
councilmembers and mayor who voted for it.
As Rev. Anthony Evans, pastor at Mount Zion Baptist Church, said
after the vote of the politicians who voted for the bill said, “They
just kissed their political careers goodbye.” OK, then. Let the
outraged people of DC vote in a new government and overturn it.
“Would the council be quick to change the definition of marriage if
someone wanted to change the definition of marriage to incorporate
polygamous, incestuous, or man-child marriage relationships? Would they
grant wives the right to have more than one husband or vice versa? Would
they be quick to add these groups as a protected class of citizens under
the DC Human Rights Act?” Apparently not. No need to engage in
hypotheticals when the answer is already before you.
###############
RE: Citizens Won’t Be Buffaloed by Same-Sex
Marriage Agenda
Bob Levine, rilevine@cpcug.org
What a long and tiresome rant. I really couldn’t figure out if K.
West [themail, June 28] was for or against, but sure seemed interested
in what consenting adults are doing in the privacy of their bedrooms. I’m
not really interested and don’t want to know. I want everyone
protected by the law so the police can’t arrest anyone for doing what
they feels comes naturally as long as it is with another consenting
adult, and beyond that I really don’t want to know what you all are
doing when you’re naked. I do want anyone who feels the need to be
able to execute and be protected by the contract of marriage but I
really don’t want to know or judge the quality of the relationship of
the people I know who are already married. I sure don’t want to, and I
am not qualified to judge the rest of you folks. Just quiet down now and
try to keep your private lives within the privacy of your own homes;
hearing about your sexual fears in the mail is getting downright boring.
###############
Erik Gaull is right that DC pays a disproportionate share of the cost
of WMATA, but he doesn’t say why [themail, June 28]. It’s because
the funding formula is based on the number of stations present in the
jurisdiction, and DC has forty stations (Friendship Heights is just
across the border) out of the eighty-six stations total. I believe that
funding should be based not just on the destination station, but on the
destination of the rider. This would rebalance the funding formula
somewhat, and the surrounding jurisdictions would end up paying a bit
more, and DC a bit less. In any case, people’s focus on dedicated
funding is important, but misses the point. Many transit systems across
the country that rely on dedicated funding (e.g., Chicago, Boston, NYC)
suffer when tax receipts (usually sales taxes and real estate transfer
taxes) decline, which is usually the case during a recession, and is so
now.
No transit system generates enough money from operations to pay for
both capital improvements and operations. This is the case even with
dedicated funding, at least based on the examples in the US, where
dedicated funding streams are provided to transit systems. People can
criticize WMATA for not replacing 1000 series cars (although the issue
of the likely failed circuit is far more important), but no one,
including the NTSB, ever came up with the $1 billion necessary to do so.
Since the 1950s, US transportation policy has favored automobility, and
it has been very difficult to get federal assistance for transit
development and expansion, even while the federal government has
provided a significant share of the construction money for the WMATA
system.
The cascading problems for mobility that resulted from the crash last
week (and will continue for some time while the system is run in manual
mode, decreasing maximum speed by about 40 percent) demonstrates the
centrality and relative efficiency of the subway system when it is
working well and the problems that result when it is not. The
Washington Post can editorialize for dedicated funding (as it did
today, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/28/AR2009062802399.html),
but at the same time in the region it is the most consistent proponent
for highway funding (Wilson Bridge, Springfield Interchange, Inter
County Connector, toll lanes, etc.). But a focus on automobility comes
at great costs to the region’s livability and the chewing up of once
undeveloped land. And it’s inefficient. One track of the subway can
move 30,000 to 40,000 people per hour, while a one mile of highway moves
about 1,600 to 2,200 cars in the same period.
In any case, the operation of the WMATA transit system cannot be
taken for granted, and there is no question that its leadership and
oversight be evaluated and addressed as much as there are calls for
dedicated funding. As long as board members, appointed by their
respective jurisdictions, focus on more picayune and political concerns,
the region and the riders are inadequately served. The crash and the
aftermath should steel the resolve of citizens to demand better. As far
as DC residents are concerned, we must recognize that the city’s
competitive advantage and livability is dependent in large part on a
smoothly functioning transit system, which gets people around quickly,
significantly reduces traffic on our streets, preserves demand for
living here, and helps to attract and retain businesses. This means that
DC needs to manage our transit interests in two dimensions, for “ourselves”
and for our region, because the relative attractiveness of the city is
in part dependent on the regional dimensions of the transit system.
In 2003, WMATA devolved transit expansion planning to the
jurisdictions. So it’s up to DC to ensure that its interests are
represented. To me, that means that transit expansion in the suburbs
needs to be complemented with transit expansion in the core of the
region, within DC, specifically adding capacity and redundancy to the
system where it is needed, such as with the proposed separated blue line
(see this old Washington Post graphic depicting the proposal: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rllayman/499504849/).
That line provided another crossing from Rosslyn, service to Georgetown,
and a parallel line of service and stations in the core of the city.
Recent proposals by Representatives Connolley and Moran from Virginia
to extend the WMATA system further into Northern Virginia suburbs (as
well as frequent proposals to extend the green line north and south
further into Maryland), without taking the time to consider how this
impacts DC and the capacity in the core of the system, is seriously
shortsighted. But it will be addressed only if DC residents demand that
DC transit interests are represented simultaneously with suburban
interests. We can’t and shouldn’t expect the suburban politicians to
represent DC.
###############
CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
Department of Parks and Recreation Events,
July 3-4
John Stokes, john.astokes@dc.gov
July 3, 2:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m., Lafayette Recreation Center, 5900 33rd
Street NW. Independence Day Cookout. Lafayette Recreation Center will
host a cookout. There will be water play a kickball game. For more
information, call Mike Thompkins at 282-2206.
July 3, 12:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m., Upshur Recreation Center, 4300 Arkansas
Avenue, NW. Pre-Holiday Celebration for ages 6-12. Summer Camp
participants will enjoy fun and games. For more information, call
Deyanne Nicholas at 576-6842.
July 4, 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m., Chevy Chase Community Center, 5601
Connecticut Avenue, NW. Jazz Night for all ages. Don’t miss a day of
fun filled with music, family and fun. Chevy Chase Community will
showcase local jazz artists. Bring your lawn chair and enjoy the day.
For more information, call Ralph Wright at 282-2204.
July 4, 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m., Palisades Community Center, 5200
Sherrier Place, NW. July 4th Parade and Picnic for all ages. Don’t
miss a day of fun filled with music, food, and fun. Come out and enjoy
the day. For more information, call Justin Rouse at 282-2186.
###############
DPR Holiday Schedule for July 3-4
John Stokes, john.astokes@dc.gov
During the Independence Day holiday weekend, the DC Department of
Parks and Recreation (DPR) will follow a modified holiday schedule,
provided below, for Friday, July 3 and Saturday, July 4. DPR will resume
the regular schedule for all recreation centers and swimming pools on
Sunday, July 5. For a complete list of locations and hours of DPR’s
recreation centers and swimming pools, visit the “Recreation
Facilities” or “Aquatics” sections of DPR’s web site, at http://dpr.dc.gov.
For more information, contact DPR Customer Service at 673-7647 or DPR
Aquatics at 671-1289.
DPR Holiday Schedule for Friday, July 3: recreation centers closed;
indoor swimming pools closed; Takoma Aquatic Center will be open 9:00
a.m.-5:00 p.m.; outdoor swimming pools open 1:00-8:00 p.m.; East Potomac
pool hours 1:00-7:00 p.m.; outdoor children’s pools open 12:00
p.m.-5:00 p.m.; spray parks closed.
DPR Holiday Schedule for Saturday, July 4: selected recreation
centers will be open 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m., see schedule below; indoor
swimming pools open on regular schedule; outdoor swimming pools open
12:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m.; outdoor children’s pools closed; selected spray
parks will be open 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m., see schedule below.
Holiday schedule for recreation centers and spray parks on Saturday,
July 4: Ward 1, Columbia Heights Community Center, 1480 Girard Street,
NW, 671-0373, spray park will be open. Ward 2, Kennedy Recreation
Center, 1401 7th Street, NW, 671-4794. Ward 3, Chevy Chase Community
Center, 5601 Connecticut Ave., NW, 282-2204. Ward 4, Emery Recreation
Center, 5801 Georgia Avenue, NW, 576-3211; Lamond Recreation Center, 20
Tuckerman Street, NE, 576-9541; Riggs LaSalle Community Center, 501
Riggs Road, NE, 576-5224, spray park will be open; Takoma Community
Center, 300 Van Buren Street, NW, 576-7068. Ward 5, North Michigan Park
Recreation Center, 1333 Emerson Street, NE, 541-3526; Trinidad
Recreation Center, 1310 Childress Street, NE, 727-1293; Turkey Thicket
Recreation Center, 1100 Michigan Avenue, NE, 576-9238. Ward 6, King
Greenleaf Recreation Center, 201 N Street, SW, 645-7454; Sherwood
Recreation Center, 640 10th Street, NE, 698-3075. Ward 7, Fort Davis
Community Center, 1400 41st Street, SE, 645-9212; Hillcrest Recreation
Center, 3100 Denver Street, SE, 645-9200; Kenilworth-Parkside Recreation
Center, 4300 Anacostia Avenue, NE, 727-2485. Ward 8, Bald Eagle
Recreation Center, 100 Joliet Street, SW, 645-3960, spray park will be
open.
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Statehood on Independence Day, July 4
Ann Loikow, aloikow@verizon.net
There are two big statehood events this Saturday, July 4th. Join DC
Statehood — Yes We Can!, our statehood Congressional Delegation, and
other statehood supporters and march in the Palisades Citizens
Association’s 43rd Annual July 4th parade, DC’s unique hometown
celebration. The parade starts at 11:00 a.m. at the corner of Whitehaven
Parkway and MacArthur Boulevard, NW, and ends at the Palisades
Recreation Center on Sherier Place, NW. Please arrive at 10:15 a.m. and
line up behind statehood Senator Michael D. Brown and his Harley. We
will have statehood signs for marchers. If you want, please bring candy
to throw to the crowd. Feel free to wear any insignia representing any
group you belong to that supports statehood for DC. There is a free
picnic following the parade at the Palisades Recreation Center with hot
dogs, juice, moon bounces, pony rides and live music. It is the best way
to celebrate the 4th of July, and before long we hope the
re-enfranchisement of the people of the District of Columbia!
July 4th — what better day to learn more about DC’s ongoing fight
for statehood and full democracy! Why are DC residents the only
Americans without the right of self governance? Join activists from the
DC statehood movement from 5:00-7:00 p.m. on Saturday, July 4th, in the
Langston Hughes Room of the Busboys & Poets Restaurant at 14th and V
Streets, NW, for a special preview of Rebecca Kingsley’s film “The
Last Colony” and to hear from a panel of committed experts, including
A.C. Byrd, Ann Loikow, Anise Jenkins, and Timothy Cooper. For more
information, contact A.C. Byrd at 270-1352 or aciebyrd@comcast.net.
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Board of Education Public Hearing, July 8
Beverley Wheeler, beverley.wheeler@dc.gov
The DC State Board of Education (DCSBOE) will hold a public hearing
on Wednesday, July 8. At the hearing, the DCSBOE will receive input from
the public on the No Child Left Behind report card (http://tinyurl.com/n2wbph,
on page 20). The State Board is seeking ideas on how to make the report
card more easily understood by students and families, what specific
information should be incorporated, and how would it be made most
accessible. The public meeting will begin at 6:00 p.m. at 441 4th
Street, NW, in the District of Columbia State Board of Education
Chambers, located on the lobby level of the building.
Constituents who wish to comment at the meeting are required to
notify the State Board of Education in advance by contacting the
Executive Director, Beverley Wheeler, by phone at 741-0884 or by E-mail
at Beverley.Wheeler@dc.gov
before the close of business Monday, July 6. Please provide one
electronic copy and bring fifteen copies to the hearing for the State
Board members to view. The meeting will air live on DSTV Comcast Channel
99 and RCN Channel 18.
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