And Happy New Year
Dear Revelers:
My inquiry in the last issue of themail about online news sources for
local DC news elicited some well-informed and helpful replies, below. If
you have other suggestions or favorites, please send them in so that we
can start a new year even better informed.
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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Disparity of city services is a constant theme for us city dwellers.
In my block, the 100 block of D Street, SE, half of the block (the west
end) had leaf pickup, after I called DPW in mid-December 2009. But my
half of the block (the east end of the block) had none. In fact, the
blocks all around me had no leaf pickup during November (none), not in
front of my church (St. Peter’s Church), not in front of the local
coffee shops (Cosi and Starbucks) on Pennsylvania, SE. I have called the
mayor’s line (311). I have talked to the Department of Public Works.
On Monday (December 28), I called my Councilmember, Tommy Wells. I’ll
see what comes of this.
By the way, we are big on “self-help” in our block, since we can’t
count on government services. We push the leaves together; we clear the
sidewalks. We pick up trash on a regular basis. (We are, after all,
between several coffee shops and the Capitol South Metro, and we’re
also in a block with bars and restaurants on the corner, at 1st and D
Streets, SE.)
Forecasts predict another possible blizzard at the end of this week.
That would mean more difficulties in clearing leaves, mulch, and snow.
Any suggestions to get some assistance here, in close-in Capitol Hill?
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I know it’s a widespread practice to put a mayor’s or governor’s
name on signs. Our trip up and down the East Coast took us past a
selection of signs welcoming us to states on behalf of various
governors, so it’s not a shot at this particular administration when I
suggest we put an end to the practice. My recollection is that these
types of signs (all over the city) are replaced when a new mayor is
elected. It would be a good gesture, as a display of fiscal
responsibility, if Mayor Fenty would call for — and future mayors
follow his lead — that any signs that need to be replaced or created
not include his name so that they do not have to be changed when a new
mayor is elected.
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It’s not yet January, and we’ve already had a winter’s worth of
snow, the average total for a year being eighteen inches. The District’s
snow removal budget is two-thirds spent, and the two snowiest months of
the year are yet to come. All of our big snows of the past have come in
January and February, never in December. Lucky us, we were witnesses to
a seventeen-incher in December, a record snowfall for the month, easily
beating the previous December record of 11.5 inches (1987).
A lot of people have complained about long waits for street plowing,
many perceiving that neighborhoods other than their own got quicker
service. Well, it was better than in the Marion Barry years, when there
wasn’t any plowing because the contractors hired to do the work,
having not been paid for the previous round, stayed home. There is an
amusing “Snow Response Reporting System” map accessible here:
http://snowmap.dc.gov, which gives some information about what’s been
done where and when. If there’s a system to this System, I can’t
spot it. I guess the plow jockeys go wherever the spirit moves them.
The fact is, this was a once-in-a-decade snowfall, and the District
isn’t equipped to handle such an infrequent event, any more than we
residents buy and maintain snow blowers. Speaking of us residents, it’s
our job to do our sidewalks. By District law, we must clear all
sidewalks abutting our lots within eight hours of daylight after the
snow stops. As for alleys, well, if we and our neighbors need to get
cars out of alley garages, it’s up to us to make the alley passable.
Nobody’s going to do it for us. The District has had just fourteen
snowstorms of twelve inches or more since 1870, counting this one,
averaging one per decade. So maybe we’re done with this for another
ten years.
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Online coverage has taken more than halting steps. A few years ago,
there were fewer than ten neighborhood blogs, but today there are about
fifty neighborhood specific blogs. Here’s a list I keep at dcblogs.com:
http://www.dcblogs.com/?p=1661.
There’s more local, neighborhood specific coverage today than ever
before. But if you want to improve District-wide coverage, here are two
steps that will help. 1) Every document produced by the District that
isn’t protected by law should be made available online. The FOIA
process is difficult and expensive, and sometimes fruitless. (I know
this from experience.) This should not be a technologically difficult
problem. Most of the local bloggers have day jobs, can’t necessarily
afford FOIA fees or take the time off to pick up documents. The question
ought to be this: what can the District do to help empower neighborhood
bloggers? 2) Neighborhood bloggers should organize and form something
akin to a “Neighborhood Bloggers Association,” and push District
officials for improved access and opportunities to question the mayor
and other city officials on current events and issues of importance to
their respective neighborhoods. Collectively, neighborhood bloggers (as
well as your service) have enormous reach but they don’t have the
clout of mainstream media organizations. That could change through
organizing.
Neighborhood blogs will continue to gain sophistication, numbers, and
eventually ad dollars. This trend is clear. And I think candidates in
the next election will recognize this and make more of an effort to
engage these sites. This should put neighborhood bloggers in a stronger
position to seek changes by the government to help improve access.
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News coverage has been further reduced from the examples mentioned in
the last issue of themail. Sam Smith’s locally focused City Desk blog
stopped publishing when he retired and left the city (Sam’s over
forty-year view of events in the city is truly missed). Just as the Post’s
coverage of local issues has declined precipitously, the intrepid local
reporting of the Washington Times, especially on emergency
services (police, fire department, EMS) has been virtually eliminated as
that paper continues to downsize. (Even the Express used to have
a page of local news bits when it first launched. Now it doesn’t even
have that.)
And the Post’s elimination of substantive news coverage in
its weekly sections is another significant loss. (The “Extra”
section had been published in eight editions, and previously ten; now it’s
combined with the old Home section, and only the community calendar and
Dr. Gridlock column is worth seeking out in terms of local news.) Plus,
the Richmond Times-Dispatch is no longer distributed regionally,
and reading this paper was useful for finding out the “state’s”
view on issues touching Northern Virginia especially.
I always thought that the District Extra section of the Washington
Post had an opportunity that it never took advantage of — it could
have increased its news hole and added more stories, local columns,
enhanced local entertainment and other coverage, and local editorials.
(The Philadelphia Inquirer used to run zoned editorials and
letters to the editor in its local news sections but, like many
newspapers, it has dropped such features over the past few years.) It
could have distributed these local sections for free on Thursdays for
additional reach. (I think it’s likely I wrote about this idea in
themail sometime in the past.)
I love the Current, but the one major problem is that if you
don’t live in the area they’ve deemed valuable for free
distribution, it’s very hard to find. It’s erratically distributed
to the libraries and civic facilities (Petworth and Shepherd Park
libraries, 4th District police station) and stores (Safeway, Giant) near
my neighborhood — I haven’t been able to find copies at any of these
locations for months and months, and even though it’s called the Northwest
Current, it’s not distributed east of Georgia Avenue, so the
Takoma Library never has it. Plus, while it could be distributed through
newspaper boxes at the Petworth, Takoma, Fort Totten, and Silver Spring
Metro stations, it isn’t. I would read it, and patronize the
advertisers, if I could only get the paper. (Despite the fact that I
blog, I prefer to read hard copy newspapers. I know that the Current
is available online in a single file PDF, but it takes a long time to
load, so I don’t usually take the time to read it.) I guess the only
place I can think of where it is distributed consistently in the area I
frequent is Hellers Bakery in Mt. Pleasant — I guess I have to begin
making a weekly trip there.
Finally, neighborhood E-lists aren’t the great source they used to
be (at least the E-lists I get). As blogs and other forms of social
media have risen, I’ve seen a definite fall off in the quality of
discussion and the volume of messages, making it even harder to tune in
to the pulse of neighborhoods.
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I wholeheartedly disagree with the characterization of neighborhood
and personal bloggers and their subject matter. New media outlets and
neighborhood papers are enhancing traditional media to meet the unmet
need that our TV news and larger papers are not covering. I get a sense
that DC residents do not share your perception of the new media outlets.
For River Easters (or East of the River residents) bloggers such as
Congress Heights on the Rise, Life in the Village, Barry Farm (re)mixed
and the pioneer And Now, Anacostia are clear leaders in “reporting”
neighborhood and regional (i.e., Wards 7 and 8) news. We can’t forget
jdland.com, which has long cataloged through photojournalism the changes
in near Southeast, and neighborhood listservs through Yahoo and now
through Google. As traditional media has changed new social media,
including blogging, has filled the gap. Getting news, even if it’s
snippets, from Twitter and Facebook is often the catalyst for a resident
to get involved or get a flavor of his/her neighborhood or block. Or
better yet provide an alternative view to what’s traditionally
perceived or reported about the neighborhood. Check them out; you’ll
likely leave surprised and informed.
[Here are the URLs: http://www.congressheightsontherise.com/,
http://barryfarmremixed.blogspot.com/,
http://www.anacostianow.blogspot.com/,
and http://jdland.com/dc/index.cfm.
— Gary Imhoff]
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Is National Public Radio. See the story, “NPR Moved to Boost Local
News,” http://www.bizjournals.com/mobile/news/washington/2009/12/21/daily50?surround=lfn.
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Don’t know how you’re situated, but sounds like a vacuum that you
and Dorothy could fill, whether online or in print. A quality weekly or
daily newspaper is sorely needed in the nation’s capital and environs.
The existing two major dailies, i.e., The Washington Post
(including its District Express) and The Washington Times
are woefully inadequate regarding local news. The other newspapers
mentioned in your article are fine, but are very limited in content and
scope and seem not to have broad appeal. Although many major daily
newspapers around the country are declining (some even ceasing print
publication), we believe the right news publication can and will make
it. Hope somebody steps up to this challenge.
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The Peebles Phenomenon
Malcolm Wiseman, Petworth, mal@wiseman.ws
I wonder how dedicated an ABFer [anybody but Fenty] Ms. Pearson-West
might be [“The Peebles Phenomenon May Energize 2010 Mayoral Race,”
themail, December 27]. The first thing she writes she wants to know is
what church Mr. Peebles attends. Suppose he, as many electors here in
the city-state, worships not at all or infrequently?
Neither one’s religion nor spouse or lack of either is pertinent to
the lawful decisions and qualifications of our governors. If Mr. Peebles
were a nonbeliever, and I absolutely have no basis to suppose it, would
he still be ABF-anointed, all the other meaty issues aside?
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