Duplicity
Dear Voters:
Wednesday, I wrote in my introduction to themail that, “It’s my
inclination to carp and complain about everything, but I can’t find
anything in this bill to object to.” I was writing about Eleanor
Holmes Norton’s “District of Columbia District Attorney
Establishment Act” (http://www.dcwatch.com/govern/occ091102.htm),
and I was wrong, completely wrong. In 2002, the city council placed an
“Advisory Referendum on the Establishment of an Office of the District
Attorney for the District of Columbia Resolution” on the ballot (http://dcwatch.com/election/init014.htm),
and it received 82 percent of the vote. That referendum created an
independent, elected Office of the District Attorney to replace the
appointed Office of the Attorney General and to assume all its duties.
Del. Norton attempted to present her bill in Congress as the
fulfillment of the referendum that the voters approved, and the language
is similar enough to the referendum’s that I actually believed it. I
read the bill as replacing the current Attorney General position with
the new District Attorney. But I got an E-mail from someone in the
Attorney General’s office that said I was duped and that altered me
that in fact the Norton bill was worded so that it subverted the meaning
of the referendum. In fact, the Norton bill is interpreted so that it
only transfers the area of prosecuting minor crimes from the Attorney
General’s office to the new DA’s office, and DCIst was right when it
wrote that. The bill leaves the Attorney General’s office in place. In
other words, if Norton’s bill were passed, Attorney General Peter
Nickles would remain in charge of his major duties: covering up evidence
of cronyism and corruption in the Fenty administration, hiding
information from the public and denying access to that information to
the city council, and misinterpreting laws in order to claim that the
Fenty administration doesn’t have to obey the law.
Even worse, the Norton bill ensures that the intent of the
referendum, to establish an independent, elected District Attorney, won’t
be fulfilled. If Congress passes Norton’s neutered version of the DA
bill, it certainly won’t revisit the issue any time soon, and the
District won’t get an independent DA for decades. Norton’s betrayal
of the voters is a good lesson for me. Don’t ever stop being cynical
about politicians; don’t ever pass up an opportunity to carp and
complain about their duplicity and bad intentions.
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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Yet Another Topic for themail
Jay E. Vinton, jayvinton@nih.gov
And here’s another new topic for themail. My impression is that the
DC government has been slashing funds and beds for the homeless, right
at a time when I would assume that the homeless population is
increasing. Yet, once again, I have heard virtually no protest about
this either.
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Here is my new topic for themail: DC’s recycling program. Recently
the City Paper wrote an expose on the program and how it’s
basically broken for most who live in DC. The reason is noncompliance on
the part of private contractors hired by apartment and condo buildings
(a.k.a. commercial, not residential, establishments) — recycling gets
picked up, but does not actually get recycled, about 50 percent of the
time, according to the City Paper article. In response to this
piece, I believe, Councilman Graham sent a “Dear Friends” message
highlighting his recent work on the issue: an October 15, hearing, the
first in a series on DPW on the status of recycling in the District of
Columbia, which focused entirely on residential recycling. The
councilman noted that “all of our recycling programs need to be
reinvigorated! It has been twenty years since the District passed the
recycling law.”
In response to a request for testimony, I responded to Mr.. Graham
with a reply all message of my own, and in my efforts to point out the
sad state of recycling in the District, I include excerpts here. “While
any attention to recycling is good, your recent actions were geared to a
distinct minority of your constituents (house dwellers). I am sure they
appreciate it. However as the recent City Paper article exposes,
their recycling program works. The real problem is that recycling does
not work for roughly 75 percent of DC residents. My guess is that in our
ward, Ward One, the reason for that is noncompliance caused mostly by
lack of enforcement of the laws. So while press conferences announcing
profits, educating youth, and rah rah events are all well and good, the
glaring answer is right in front of us: enforcement.
Apartment management companies, condo boards, and condo management
companies all need to be brought in. Not “educated.” They know all
this by now! They need to be put on notice that if their private
contractors do not actually recycle from beginning to end, then there
will be fines. Or something along those lines. After all, someone’s
profiting on selling the idea of recycling. The majority of your
constituents fall into the group that thinks it’s recycling but is
probably only doing so about 50 percent of the time, according to the City
Paper article. Did you even know that we do not even have a
recycling center where we can bring materials to be recycled? As someone
who voted against the plastic bag tax, Mr. Graham (and please forgive my
forthrightness), I will be pleasantly surprised if there is meaningful
improvement taken on this issue.
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Dear DCPS employees past and present, parents, guardians, students,
and DC community: I am writing this letter to issue a challenge to us
all. We as a system are under fire. For those of you that are still in
the classroom, please do not be lulled into a false sense of security.
This school system is under attack and teachers are on the front lines.
In the past few weeks it has become clear that the Washington Teachers
Union is either unwilling or unable to protect and successfully defend
us, so we must do it ourselves. Some of my friends and I have been on a
letter writing campaign and have sent letters to everyone from the DC
city council to President Barack Obama. My focus right now is Oprah
Winfrey. It may sound silly, but understand that Ms. Winfrey profiled
Michelle Rhee as one of the most powerful women in America and is
planning on having her on the show. I think that it is important that we
get our side of the story to her. Michelle Rhee has been allowed to
control the press for far too long. (Contact Oprah’s web site by
clicking http://www.oprah.com/contactus).
I have sent letters to Oprah, but if we flood her web site she will
be forced to at least investigate what is going on. It only takes a few
minutes to go to her web site and send an E-mail. We all have a story;
now it is time to tell that story. From former principals, to teachers,
to custodians, to office staff, and to the students, it is time that we
go global with our story. Talking on the blog is great, but we are
preaching to the choir.
I have friends that are teachers all over the country and believe me
we they are watching what is going on in DC. If Michelle Rhee wins here
it will spell trouble for all educators across the country. We cannot
continue to sit back and wait for others to save us; we must save
ourselves. Please feel free to forward this letter to all friends in
DCPS past and present. Sincerely, A RIF’d DC Teacher Fighting For
Truth.
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A Fresh Start for a Better Tomorrow Today/2010
K. West, kap8082@aol.com
The District of Columbia needs a fresh start today for a better
tomorrow. Some of the top issues facing our city include the definition
of marriage, education/school leadership, finances/financial leadership,
procurement/contracting activities, the attorney general’s performance
and leadership, the management and leadership style of public officials,
and general pocketbook issues. As we approach 2010, many citizens want
to be able to vote on the definition of marriage. Thirty-one states,
including most recently the state of Maine, have defined marriage by
citizen vote. In DC, citizens’ voting rights are mere rhetoric. DC
officials can call foul and violate voting rights at will under the
guise of civil/human rights. Freedom of speech rights take a back seat
to the city leadership’s priority agenda to redefine marriage and
attack those who have different beliefs or who want to see the will of
the people expressed at the ballot box. DC officials ignore the cries
for a voter ballot initiative and believe their two days of stacked and
orchestrated hearings show democracy at its best, thereby ignoring the
need for a ballot measure in 2010, when 415,000 registered voters could
conceivably come out to vote. New Jersey and Virginia showed what
happens on Election Day when politicians don’t listen to voters. The
states went from Democrat to Republican. And Maine allowed a voter
referendum that reinforced the will of the people.
DC campaigns will also need to focus on education and the leadership
of the DC public schools. With Chancellor Rhee announcing her engagement
to the mayor of Sacramento on the West Coast, perhaps her leadership and
accomplishments in DC will become mute. But for now, current and
aspiring city leaders might want to focus on the chancellor and the
deputy mayor for education and scrutinize and rein in some of their
policies. More citizen participation and respect for citizens might be
encouraged. Those controlling school finances may need to be replaced.
It is difficult to comprehend how someone did not foresee deficits when
hiring teachers. Actually, the whole DC Office of the Chief Finance
Officer needs to be reexamined, and perhaps another model explored. What
about having an elected CFO or State Comptroller? It may be an idea
whose time has come. Additionally, the procurement/contracting process
may need an overhaul to become more accountable and responsible.
Citizens cannot rely on the attorney general to make the right call. One
day he says something is wrong and the next day he says it is right. He
sometimes acts like the mayor’s campaign manager and mouthpiece
instead of like a public official accountable to the citizenry. It would
be ideal if DC could have an elected attorney general accountable to the
voters instead of one that seems like the mayor’s private attorney on
the taxpayers’ tab. DC could use leaders that demonstrate a leadership
style that is more inclusive of the public’s interests and vision.
Another issue is unemployment. “It’s the economy, stupid,” as we
have heard in a prior national campaign. People need jobs to hold onto
their homes, healthcare, and clunkers.
When thinking of the possibility of new leaders, two names come to
mind as people to draft for to run for the DC council. Jeff Smith,
former Ward 1 school board representative, might make a worthy candidate
for Ward 1 whether or not Councilmember Graham is indicted for the
taxicab scandal. Activist Carolyn Steptoe, who carries a “non Democrat”
registered voter card, might be an ideal challenger to go against
Councilmember David Catania. She is active and has run for office
before, which helped whet her appetite for political office. She is
smart, stays on top of the issues, and has no messy baggage. She hails
from Ward 5 and is an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner. Steptoe is
also an entrepreneur. The best potential “Anybody but Fenty” — ABF
— candidate is still being debated to see who would be the best to go
one on one with the mayor. Thoughts of who might run for the council
chair are coming up if Chair Vincent Gray gives up his seat to run for
mayor. I’m still in shock from the performances of Councilmembers Phil
Mendelson and Jack Evans (chair pro tempore) at the same-sex
marriage hearing (their intimidation of witnesses); it is clear that the
city may need more options to consider. Maybe Councilmember Kwame Brown
will run for chair if he doesn’t seek the mayor’s seat. The better
person might be Councilmember Yvette Alexander. The changing of the
guard and political landscape elsewhere on Tuesday gives hope to the
voters in the District of Columbia for a better tomorrow. The vote in DC
won’t be a referendum on President Obama, but will demonstrate the
frustration with the elected leadership or lack thereof. The litmus test
for the 2010 elections will be whether or not a person respects the
rights of citizens and is willing to listen to the will of the people.
Will democracy be able to ring from every corner of the nation’s
capital by allowing us to vote on the definition of marriage? It sounds
like the Republican gubernatorial candidates in New Jersey and Virginia
listened to the public, as the states went from Democrat to Republican.
DC, are you listening? The election won’t be about liberal or
conservative labels, but on who is actually listening to the people. The
DC Democratic State Committee might want to adopt the same litmus test
and regain the respect of the voters and their belief in democracy at
home. And the DC Republican Party might want to begin to think along the
lines of the new governors for New Jersey and Virginia and follow their
lead. And all might want to think about the verdict on the definition of
marriage in the state of Maine.
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Residential Street Cleaning Has Ended
Kevin B. Twine, kevin.twine@dc.gov
Residential mechanical street cleaning ended for the season on
Friday, November 6. “No parking/street cleaning” restrictions has
been lifted and motorists may park along posted, alternate-side, daytime
street sweeping routes without being required to move their cars on
street-cleaning days. Residential street sweeping is suspended for
public safety concerns during the winter. Trucks used to clean the
streets release a fine spray of water to control the dust as they sweep.
When the temperature drops to freezing or below, sweeping is
discontinued to prevent freezing and accidents to vehicles and
pedestrians.
Overnight sweeping scheduled for the District’s major roadways,
which include Pennsylvania, Georgia, Constitution, and Independence
Avenues, will take place as usual all winter, weather conditions
permitting. Motorists are urged not to park in these areas during the
posted overnight sweeping hours.
By suspending the street sweeping program, DPW personnel can focus on
leaf collection, which began November 2, and the upcoming snow removal
season. Residents and business owners will be notified when street
sweeping resumes again in the spring of 2010.
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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
Raise Your Voice for Quality Education,
November 9-November 24
Parisa Nourizi, parisa@empowerdc.org
Attend the DC VOICE Ready Schools Project Town Halls. The Ready
Schools Project is a community action project that has community members
conduct interviews with school principals asking them questions in areas
such as staffing, professional development, school climate, etc. This
year 102 school principals were interviewed by numerous community
members. By releasing data in a town hall style meeting, you will be
able to join the discussion regarding education reform in the District.
Come join students, parents, educators, faith-based leaders, government
officials, and members of the business community to discuss school
related data, as well as possible recommendations for improvements.
Child care will be provided.
Ward 4, with co-hosts Councilmember Muriel Bowser and State Board of
Education Member Sekou Biddle. Monday, November 9, from 6:30 to 8:00
p.m., at Roosevelt SHS, 4301 13th Street, NW.
Ward 6, with co-hosts Councilmember Tommy Wells and State Board
President Lisa Raymond. Tuesday, November 10, from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m., at
Stuart Hobson MS, 410 E Street, NE.
Wards 7 and 8, with co-host Councilmember Yvette Alexander. Saturday,
November 14 from 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., at Ward Memorial AME Church,
241 42nd Street, NE.
Wards 1 and 2, Friday, November 20 from 9:00 to 10:45 a.m., at All
Souls Church, 2335 16th Street, NW.
Ward 5, with co-hosts Ward 5 Council on Education and Councilmember
Harry Thomas, Tuesday, November 24, from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m., at Luke C.
Moore Academy SHS, 1001 Monroe Street, NE.
RSVP at http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e2m8nkbfg1f1okhg/start.
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Environmental Health Group (EHG) Events,
November 10
Allen Hengst, ahengst@rcn.com
World War I munitions, bottles filled with chemical warfare agents
and contaminated soil have been found in and around the Spring Valley
neighborhood of northwest DC. The Environmental Health Group (EHG) seeks
to raise awareness of the issues and encourage a thorough investigation
and cleanup. Every Saturday at 1:00 p.m., please join the Environmental
Health Group for an informal discussion about Spring Valley issues. In
the cafe at the Tenleytown Whole Foods Market, 4530 40th Street, NW (one
block north of Tenley Circle). For more information, visit the EHG on
Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Washington-DC/Environmental-Health-Group/67807900019.
Tuesday, November 10, 7:00 p.m.: Monthly meeting of the Spring Valley
Restoration Advisory Board with the US Army Corps of Engineers. Plans
for the release of a report outlining alternatives for disposing of
chemical weapons stored behind Sibley Memorial Hospital, and the
mandatory thirty-day public comment period on these alternatives, will
be discussed. Geophysical surveys continued in the Dalecarlia Woods
between Dalecarlia Parkway and the reservoir; the survey team has
completed approximately fifteen of the sixty-two acres. At Saint David’s
Church basement, 5150 Macomb Street, NW (one block north of MacArthur
Boulevard). For more information, see http://www.nab.usace.army.mil/projects/WashingtonDC/springvalley.htm
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In Recognition of Veteran’s Day, November 11
Victoria Murray, victoria.murray@dc.gov
The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, in partnership with the
Double Nickels Theater Company, Inc., and President Lincoln’s Cottage
at the Old Soldiers’ Home, present Soldiers Speak, an afternoon of
Reminiscence Theater. Join us as we recall eras of yesteryear; stirring
the recollections of Veterans and their loved ones. Reinvigorating the
art of communication, performers will share their values and celebrate
the lives of those who serve and protect our country.
Wednesday, November 11, 2:00-3:30 p.m., Armed Forces Retirement Home,
Robert H. Smith Visitor Education Center, Group Program Room, Rock Creek
Church Road, NW, at Upshur Street, NW. For more information, contact victoria.murray@dc.gov,
724-5613.
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Heart to Heart,
November 12
Gary Imhoff, gary@dcwatch.com
WUSA reporter and anchor Bruce Johnson will read from and sign copies
of his book, Heart to Heart, on Thursday, November 12, 6:00
p.m.-8:00 p.m., at Busboys and Poets, 2021 14th Street, NW.
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Local Dems, GOP Cosponsor Bipartisan Debate on
Afghanistan Troop Levels, November 18
Thomas Smith, tmfsmith@starpower.net
Paul D. Craney, pauldcraney@yahoo.com
The Ward Three Democratic Committee and Ward 3 Republicans will
cosponsor a bipartisan debate, The Hard Path Forward, on whether the US
military presence in Afghanistan should be increased or reduced. This is
the first joint program sponsored by local Democratic and Republican
political activists.
Wednesday, November 18, 7:00 p.m.-8:30 p.m., at the University of the
District of Columbia, David A. Clark School Of Law, 4200 Connecticut
Avenue, NW, Building 39, Room 21. Participants, Dr. Assem Akram,
Professor, American University, School Of International Service; Matthew
Rojansky, Executive Director, Partnership for a Secure America; Michael
Darner, Legislative Assistant, Office Of Rep. John Conyers; Mackenzie
Eaglen, Research Fellow, Heritage Foundation. For more information,
contact Thomas M. Smith, Chair, Ward Three Democratic Committee,
364-7130, tmfsmith@starpower.net
or Ward 3 Republican Party Chair Marya Pickering, 703-967-5023, marigold316@aol.com.
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