The Bonds of Trust
Dear Trustees:
No one has written to themail about Valerie Strauss’s excellent
blog about schools and educational issues on the Post’s web
site, “The Answer Sheet: A School Survival Guide for Parents (And
Everyone Else),” (http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/).
One of the best things about her blog is that Strauss invites many guest
columnists to write about their special fields of knowledge. If you
haven’t tried The Answer Sheet yet, a good introduction is a blog
entry on April 9 by Larry Cuban, who is a professor emeritus of
education at Stanford University (http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/dc-schools/rhees-biggest-failing-teacher.html).
Cuban explains why Michelle Rhee has failed and cannot and will not
recover, and the posting is worth reading in its entirety. Here are the
highlights:
“If Rhee leaves by the end of 2010, it won’t be because test
scores have either dipped or slowly risen or a combination of both. If
she leaves or stays for only a short time, it will be because she failed
to crack the hardest nut that ‘change-agent’ DC school chiefs face:
connecting to teachers. . . . The proposed new contract between the
Washington Teachers Union (WTU) and Chancellor Rhee is a series of
practical compromises that trimmed back Rhee’s ‘no excuses’ agenda
and gave union members important concessions. . . . Both sides can come
out and say they ‘won.’ But Rhee had already lost in the most
important game in town: working closely with 3,800 teachers to improve
how and what they teach their students each day. . . . [T]he core of any
sustained improvement in urban districts is the bond of trust between
veteran teachers and their leader. . . . Teachers need to believe that
those at the top understand the situation they face each day and are
supportive, even as they push and prod. But teachers are also jumpy,
irascible, and feisty agents in their own right — a fact that too many
superintendents come to understand too late. Teachers can accept the
prodding and shoving as long as they trust those at the top. Once the
trust is lost, it is only a matter of settling the details of exiting
that have to be worked out. And that is where the situation is now with
Chancellor Rhee.”
Trust between the leader and the line workers is necessary for
success in any organization, and that trust is what both Fenty and Rhee
have squandered. It’s too late for either one to recover it, even if
either one wanted to. Neither DCPS teachers nor DC government workers
believe that Rhee and Fenty “understand the situation they face each
day and are supportive. . . .” When the bonds of trust have been
broken, they can never be repaired. “Fool me once, shame on you; fool
me twice, shame on me,” is a motto most people live by, and there’s
no reason that DCPS or DC government workers should believe that Rhee or
Fenty understands their situation or cares about them.
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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The Emerging Budget Saga
Dorothy Brizill, dorothy@dcwatch.com
On Monday morning at 10:00 a.m., Mayor Fenty is scheduled to appear
before the council’s Committee of the Whole (COW) to provide a public
briefing on his FY2011 proposed budget and financial plan. The COW
briefing marks the formal start of the council’s review of the Fiscal
Year 2010 Budget Request Act of 2010 and the Fiscal Year 2011 Budget
Support Act (BSA) of 2010. Individual council committees will then hold
hearings on the budget and BSA from April 13 to May 7, and mark up the
budget from May 11 to May 13. Finally, on May 25 the council will vote
on the Budget Report Act and hold a first reading and initial vote on
the Budget Support Act. The second reading and final vote on the Budget
Support Act (BSA) is scheduled for June 15.
In the last, April 7, issue of themail, I wrote that the Fenty
administration had made the decision not to make copies of the budget
books available to the council or the general public by the April 1
deadline set in the law (Resolution 18-337, the Fiscal Year 2011 Budget
Submission Resolution of 2009). While the council did eventually receive
copies of the budget and the Budget Request Act of April 8, it has yet
to receive the Budget Support Act, which was also due April 1. In a
letter to the mayor dated April 8, Council Chairman Vincent Gray
indicated that Eric Goulet, the Council’s Budget Director, “was
informed [by the City Administrator’s Office] that the Budget Support
Act is still not completed and that you [the mayor] will not provide a
copy of this document prior to Monday, April 12, 2010. If the Budget
Support Act is not completed, how could the Chief Financial Officer have
certified your budget submission?”
The BSA is a significant document that accompanies the budget. It
details the policy initiatives and changes in government programs,
taxes, and fees underpinning the budget. In his April 8 letter to the
mayor, Gray makes the point that “as the revenue chapter [of the
budget] alludes to, the Budget Support Act contains over one hundred
million dollars in tax and fee increases that the council the public
need to examine. Footnote: at the mayor’s State of the District
address on Friday, April 9, I queried City Administrator Neil Albert
about the BSA. His immediate response was, “the law doesn’t require
the mayor to submit the BSA with the budget when he forwards it to the
council.” I then asked if this was the opinion of Attorney General
Peter Nickles, who accompanied Fenty to an April 1 budget briefing and
press conference with the council. Albert would not respond either yes
or no.
In the last issue of themail, I incorrectly reported that the FY 2011
budget was available online with a link from the CFO’s home page. In a
press release issued last Thursday, the CFO’s office indicted that the
budget was available in PDF form on its web site at http://www.cfo.dc.gov/cfo/cwp/view,a,1321,q,589949,cfoNav,%7C33210%7C.asp
and the FY2011 Operating Budget Chapters, Operating Appendix Tables, and
Capital Budgets are available arranged by agency at http://www.cfo.dc.gov/cfo/cwp/view,a,1321,q,645445.asp
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At long last streetcars are returning to the city after a bone headed
decision by the Feds in 1962 to abandon them for buses. Again,
hopefully, neighborhood clusters will be connected, but we must be on
our P’s and Q’s lest another bone headed decision by two
individuals, Gabe Klein, Director of DDOT, and Tommy Wells,
Councilmember, Ward 6, give cause not to go forward. That decision is to
lace the city’s core with overhead wires, only widespread this time.
Klein is too wet behind the ears to remember what Baltimore looked like
when they had electric buses, and Wells is still living in a time warp.
Every concerned organization is against this plan to overturn the
121-year-old law against overhead wires in the city’s core. I side
with these organizations; I do not wish to live under a spider web of
wires that can make this city look dirty and less attractive. If those
two want this place to look like their home town, then let them take a
bus trip back to their home town.
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Teacher, Fire Fighters, and Police Raises
Amy McVey, amybmcvey@msn.com
DC teachers will receive a 20 percent raise with 11 percent
retroactive. I heartily agree they should have the increase, and in fact
I think all public servants should have some sort of raise, even if it
is a modest one in hard times. DC fire fighters were just handed a 0-0-0
percent raise for the three-year contract that expires this coming
September. (Some chief officers received rather hefty raises.) There is
not going to be any retroactive pay for the firefighters nor is there
going to be even a one-cent raise. What this translates to is that
because of increased costs such as insurance premiums, the take-home pay
of a DC Firefighter has been effectively reduced for each of the last
three years. Considering the city will likely stall negotiations with
the Firefighters once again, it is probable they will have gone almost 6
years without a penny raise. How is it the city thinks so little of
their firefighters? Anyone know if the police were able to squeeze even
a little bit out of the city? I’ve repeatedly heard chatter about
taking care of “teachers, firefighters, and police,” but at least in
the case of the firefighters, it is all lip service.
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WTU’s Tentative Agreement: A Thousand Ways
to Fire DC Teachers
Candi Peterson, saveourcounselors@gmail.com
Given that DC public schools excessed approximately six hundred plus
teachers last school year, there is reason to believe as many DC
teachers will be excessed in June 2010 due to impending school system
budget cuts and the school restructuring slated to take place. According
to the Washington Teachers’ Union Tentative Agreement (TA), by
definition “excess is an elimination of a teacher’s position at a
particular school due to a decline in student enrollment, a reduction in
the local school budget, a closing or consolidation, a restructuring or
a change in the local school program when such an elimination is not a
reduction in force (RIF) or abolishment” (page 5 of the TA). Should DC
teachers be excessed under the proposed agreement, there is a great
likelihood that excessing would lead to termination, as there would no
longer be a requirement for placement according to system seniority.
Rather than have the central office place teachers into existing
teacher vacancies, principals would now be able to hand pick who they
want (a.k.a. mutual consent) under the WTU Tentative Agreement
negotiated by WTU President and chief negotiator George Parker and AFT
President Randi Weingarten. “NYC Educator,” a NY public school
teacher turned blogger wrote that mutual consent “is a misleading
term. What it actually indicates is that principals get a veto on any
incoming transfers.” In WTU’s TA, mutual consent means no teacher
shall be placed without the teacher’s and supervisor’s consent (page
27). Mutual consent has been negotiated in other teacher union contracts
in places like New York where Randi Weingarten, now AFT President,
negotiated this clause as the former United Federation of Teachers Union
(UFT) president. Many New York public school teachers believe that the
mutual consent provision led to the explosion of what is now known as
the absent teacher reserves (ATR) in their state. In New York, teachers
are part of an pool of teachers and continue to draw salaries while
awaiting job placement. Some work as substitutes while others seek
employment opportunities daily as they wait to be hired. This has led to
thousands of extra teachers being paid and has contributed to an
eighty-one million dollar growing debt.
So it seems that teachers and related school personnel in DC could
suffer an even worse fate than our New York counterparts. While the WTU
TA does not specifically address the absent teacher reserves like in New
York, it does suggest that eligible permanent teachers with effective or
higher ratings have the option of being placed into what amounts to a
teacher reserve for one year if they cannot find a mutual consent
placement. For all other teachers, the WTU TA implies that probationary
teachers regardless of annual performance ratings, teachers who opt in
for individual performance based pay regardless of annual performance
ratings and permanent teachers with less than effective ratings will be
terminated within a two-month time frame if they cannot find a mutual
consent placement after excessing.
Permanent teachers with an effective rating or higher will face a
number of obstacles in securing the three options available to them
under this agreement if they are excessed. While they can select a
$25,000 buy out or an early retirement with twenty years or more of
creditable service, the catch is these options would be subject to
government and budgetary approval. The Tentative Agreement clearly
states in Article 40, on page 103, that, “Nothing in this Agreement
shall be construed as a promise that Congress, the DC Council, or any
other organization shall appropriate sufficient funds to meet the
obligations set forth in this Agreement.”
In addition, should eligible teachers select to work an additional
year, they must make a substantial effort to interview at a minimum of
five schools or interview for all vacant positions for which they are
qualified if the total number is less than five. Teachers assigned the
one year extension would be assigned in one or more capacities to
include one on one tutoring, small group instruction, class coverage,
long term teacher replacement or central office support. If at the end
of the calendar year, teachers had not secured a mutual consent
placement, they would be terminated as well.
The WTU Tentative Agreement includes undisclosed side letters that
were crafted in part by mediator Kurt Schmoke. Washington Teachers’
Union members, as well as the DC city council and DC residents, must
demand that these written documents be made readily available for
review. Although it has been previously promised to them, WTU members
are still awaiting receipt of the WTU Tentative Agreement in the mail. I
strongly encourage all WTU members to read the 103-page Tentative
Agreement in its entirety and request a written legal opinion from our
WTU Legal Counsel, Lee W. Jackson of O’Donnell, Schwartz and Anderson.
As always the devil is in the details.
###############
The National Zoo considers itself a Connecticut Avenue, Ward Three
institution, when it bothers to think about the District at all. Yes,
there is a back entrance, accessible from Beach Drive and from Harvard
Street. But for years the Zoo has regularly closed those gates, shutting
out people from the “east side,” without warning to those of us who
actually live here and might want to get into the Zoo via this “servant’s
entrance.” Well, now the Harvard Street gate is closed 24/7, as work
is being done on the bridge over Beach Drive. So, what are people on
this side of the Zoo to do for access to the Zoo, to the Rock Creek Park
bike path, and to Beach Drive? Um, too bad for y’all, come back when
that construction job on the bridge is finished.
But surprise, there are people here who would actually like to get to
and from the Zoo from this east side. There wasn’t a lot of this when
the weather was cold, but the arrival of warm weather has brought out a
lot of would-be Zoo visitors from Ward One and points east. How to get
there, with the Harvard Street bridge closed? Well, we can hike down the
Beach Drive exit ramp, climb down the slope to Beach Drive, then make a
dash across Beach Drive traffic to get to the Beach Drive gate. Well,
the Zoo didn’t like that. Messed up what little grass manages to grow
on that steep slope. So they put up a snow fence (in April?)
specifically to keep people from climbing up and down that slope. That’s
their priority: save the grass.
So people have been hiking on down the Beach Drive exit ramp to its
end, then dashing across Beach Drive, and walking up the bike path to
the Beach Drive gate. Works, though seeing baby strollers being pushed
across oncoming Beach Drive traffic is unnerving. Well, the Zoo didn’t
like that, either. So they closed the Beach Drive gate, thereby
eliminating all access from shabby old Ward One. We’re supposed to
make our ways all the way around the Zoo to Connecticut Avenue. It’s
said that there’s a Zoo shuttle offered that will take visitors “between
Harvard Street and the Rock Creek entrance of the Zoo.” I’ve yet to
lay eyes on this apocryphal shuttle, and I’ve been doing this Beach
Drive cross-traffic dash twice a day for many weeks. The good news is
that drivers speeding along Beach Drive have noticed the flocks of
pedestrians attempting the dash across that busy road, and have begun
voluntarily stopping to let people cross. They’ve got more
consideration for people than the Zoo has shown. Surely somebody should
have anticipated that closing the Harvard Street entrance was going to
cause some difficulty for people coming from the east side of the Zoo.
Telling pedestrians and bicyclists to go around to the Connecticut
Avenue entrance is not a reasonable option.
Imagine, for a moment, that the Zoo had to close that Connecticut
Avenue entrance. Would they just close it, and tell people to somehow
make their way around to the backside of the Zoo? Or would they have
anticipated the problem, and worked out some alternative means of
pedestrian access, for those folks from the high-rent neighborhoods? D’ya
think?
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Security or Unlawful Detention at the Wilson
Building
Mary Williams, mslaw1121@aol.com
It’s been quite a long time since I was threatened with arrest for
“disorderly conduct” for simply asserting my right as a citizen, and
I certainly didn’t expect that it would happen in city hall. But after
stopping by the Wilson Building last Wednesday evening to speak to a few
councilmembers who were still at work, and watching Deputy Chief Diane
Grooms drive up as I walked by, that’s exactly what happened when I
crossed the contract security guard. After presenting my valid DC
drivers’ license to him, and then signing the visitors booklet at the
D Street entrance at about 6:30 p.m., a security guard demanded that I
tell him why I was there. When I told him that I was going to speak to
my councilmember, he then demanded that I tell him which one and what it
was that I wanted to talk to them about, before he would allow me to go
through the magnetometer. He actually shouted that I was not going
anywhere until I disclosed the information. Quite frankly, I was a bit
shocked, but quickly responded that I didn’t have to tell him anything
to gain entrance to a building where public hearings and meetings were
being held, and that I wanted to speak to my councilmembers.
Even that was not enough. He then demanded that I tell him which one,
and whether I had an appointment, claiming that he had a list of all the
hearings and meetings scheduled after hours. I hesitated. Under the
cloak of security, I realized that this guy was screening visitors. I
couldn’t believe that all of this information was necessary for
security, particularly since he couldn’t confirm that any of the other
visitors were going to where they said they were headed, which was a
public meeting on veteran affairs. I may have dropped in on that one but
I did not have a schedule of hearings. I knew that many councilmembers I
wanted to see were still there because their cars were parked outside.
But I was actually blocked from exercising my right by this guard who
became more belligerent when I told him that he could not arbitrarily
question citizens about their business with the elected officials
because no one had voted him in as the gatekeeper. I demanded to speak
to his supervisor.
While waiting for more than twenty minutes for Lt. Lee of the DC
Protective Services to arrive, several people attempted to intercede on
my behalf, including City Administrator Neil Albert and Deputy Chief
Diane Grooms, both of whom failed to convince this guard that it was OK
for me to enter. Ironically, this same guard made a big deal of waving
through the deputy police chief and her colleagues without the usual
sign in and proof of identification required of other employees and
citizens because “they are in uniform.” So, if you want to breach
this high-tech Gestapo security guard, just be sure that you are wearing
a uniform. And if I thought that his supervisor was going to put an end
to this absurd abuse of power, I was mistaken. Standing there, I was an
obvious threat to the entire Wilson Building. One would have thought
that I was stopped carrying a weapon or was on the National Security Hit
List. It made me wonder when five Protective Services cars drove up and
officers were seen rushing up the steps. The subsequent conversations
didn’t go any better with Lt. Lee or a Sgt. Harris, who was standing
off to the side with an irritated look on his face and urging the
officers to arrest me for disorderly conduct. When asked how my standing
there was disorderly conduct, he said that I had been asked to leave the
building twice and refused to comply. This was a standoff, and no one
had told me to leave the building. He told me that I couldn’t go
further into the building until I told him the information. I refused.
They then decided to call Vincent Gray, who wasn’t in. But if Neil
Albert and Diane Grooms weren’t enough to vouch for me, I didn’t
think that any councilmember would suffice. I left the building after
another ten minutes because I was tired after a long day at work and
there was nothing urgent that I needed to say to either of the remaining
councilmembers. So much for citizen input in the government process. If
I weren’t so tired, I would have waited until they called the mayor
and every councilmember. Law-abiding residents should not have to answer
to overzealous security guards. Having told a few people about my
encounter last week, several people have complained about this very same
guard. I will file a complaint. I hope that others who have had similar
encounters do the same. Let’s not allow this to continue to happen in
city hall. If the elected officials are being threatened, then let them
screen for the actual suspects. Join me in encouraging the council to
contract with a company that knows how to deal with the public.
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Direct River Funds to the River
Samuel Jordan, The START Coalition, Samunomas@msn.com
The Anacostia River Clean Up and Protection Act of 2009 (ARCUP)
authorized a five-cent fee on plastic bags used to carry purchases from
specified retail outlets in the city. The funds generated by the fee
were intended for use in river clean up, protection, and restoration
activities and community engagement programs promoting an improved river
ecology. The mayor’s proposed “gap-closing” budget measures for
2010 seek to fund the entire three-million dollar Department of Public
Works (DPW) mechanical street sweeper program with monies collected in
the ARCUP and Stormwater Funds. For FY 2011, the proposal includes a
$2.6 million transfer from the river funds. Transferring these funds
from DDOE to DPW is contrary to the legislative intent of the ARCUP act.
Moreover, the monies will be used not only for the streets along or near
the Anacostia, but for city-wide street-cleaning operations — thereby
stretching the “river impact” rationale.
There is another problem with the proposed unauthorized transfers.
The ARCUP fund collected “only” $150,000 in the month of January.
Since the bag fee will lead to the modification of the shopping
behaviors of retail customers by encouraging the use of reusable bags,
the fee can be said to be “self-extinguishing.” The January total
may therefore, be near the peak of monthly receipts. Accordingly, the
fee will not generate projected revenues of ten million dollars in four
years. Consequently, there is little likelihood that the ARCUP and
Stormwater funds will generate the sufficient “gap-closing“ three
million dollars in 2010 or $2.6 million in 2011.
The fate of a declining level of receipts from the bag fee should
have underscored the presence in the legislation of three additional
sources of revenue. These funds are voluntary and are authorized by what
are called the Save The Anacostia River Trust and License Tag Program or
START amendments. They derive monies from: ) a new license tag; 2) a
check-off box on the DC income tax form: and 3) donations from
individuals, corporations, foundations, and testamentary gifts.
Unfortunately, the START program has not been well promoted. Supporters
of the START program also sought to make the ARCUP fund, with its START
donations, independent of city government. Advocates of independence
feared political interference in the allocation of the funds or
manipulation of the budget process, resulting in diversion of the funds
to other city expenditures. Call the mayor and your councilmember.
Demand that river funds be dedicated to the river.
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No Gray Area for Gray’s Unethical Behavior
Paul D. Craney, DC Republican Committee, paul@dcgop.com
The DC Office of Campaign Finance (DCOCF) recently concluded that
Chairman Vincent Gray is clear of wrongdoing in regard to the letter he
sent from his council office, using council letterhead, to Comcast
soliciting a political contribution to the DC Democratic State
Committee. However, if you look closely at what Chairman Gray said
leading up to the DCOCF’s conclusion, you will see that he admitted
what he did is wrong and regretted doing it.
Chairman Vincent Gray claimed that because he is the council
chairman, one of his official duties is to promote voting rights. The
bottom line is that there is no way you can say a solicitation of a
political contribution on government stationary to a political party is
part of the duties of the council chairman. Chairman Gray is using DC
voting rights as a scapegoat to clean up the mess he made for himself.
If you are a member of Congress and are sitting on the fence about
supporting voting rights, Gray’s response will not help.
From this point on, our elected officials will use this as an example
to legally use their council offices, staff, and resources to solicit
campaign contributions for themselves, their peers, and their party. We
have this problem time after time because our elected officials, include
Chairman Gray, refuse to create a bipartisan ethics committee. The DCOCF
and the DC Board of Elections and Ethics are not an independent
bipartisan ethics committee. Until District residents vote by replacing
the incumbents who turn a blind eye and a political party that fosters
this type of unethical behavior, we will continue to have relapses of
this type of behavior.
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This is to advise that the April 2010 online edition has been
uploaded and may be accessed at http://www.intowner.com. Included are
the lead stories, community news items, ABC Board action reports,
editorials (including prior months’ archived), restaurant reviews
(prior months’ also archived), and the text from the ever-popular “Scenes
from the Past” feature (the accompanying images can be seen in the
archived PDF version). The Selected Street Crimes feature that presently
covers the period through March 14 will be updated later on, at which
time we will send an advisory to our new content upload notification
list recipients.
The complete issue (along with prior issues back to January 2002)
also is available in PDF file format directly from our home page at no
charge simply by clicking the front page image graphic. Here you will be
able to view the entire issue as it appears in print, including all
photos and advertisements. The next issue will publish on May 14 (the
second Friday of the month as usual). The complete PDF version will be
posted by the preceding night or early that Friday morning at the
latest, following which the text of the lead stories, community news,
and selected features will be uploaded shortly thereafter.
To read this month’s lead stories, simply click the link on the
home page to the following headlines: 1) “New Use for Historic
Franklin School Building of Concern to Large Numbers of DC Residents”;
2) “Artists Studios Anchor Shaw’s East End — Annual Open House Set”;
and 3) “New Public Art Comes to 5th and K.”
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Anti-Gay Marriage Diehards Keep Losing
Rick Rosendall, rrosendall@starpower.net
On April 4, Gary Imhoff rightly noted Valencia Mohammed’s nasty,
narrow, and ahistorical attacks on behalf of mayoral candidate Leo
Alexander, yet Gary himself could not resist showing his own bias when
he wrote that Vincent Gray “has shared Fenty’s contempt for
traditional morality, and has echoed Fenty’s opposition to allowing
citizens to vote on the definition of marriage.” By “traditional
morality” might Gary be referring to couples sealing their commitment
to one another with a public, legal contract? Recognizing that love is
what makes a family? Respecting other people’s differences in a
diverse city? Acknowledging that children are better off when their
parents are legally married, that many same-sex couples are raising
children, and that this has been the law since a court ruling in 1995?
Embracing the Founders’ assertion that all men are entitled to life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?
If Gary is talking instead about a more negative tradition of
intolerance against gay people, I would point out that in the 19th
century, many ministers of God cited Scripture in support of the
tradition of slavery. No, the two struggles are not the same, but
intolerance and discrimination are ugly in either case. God gave us
brains and voices with which to question traditions that are unjust and
exclusionary. People have created civil government, and in America we
have the constitutional separation of church and state (as Thomas
Jefferson put it in describing the First Amendment), so that religious
doctrines may not be used by adherents of one sect to oppress others.
Gary may have noticed the thundering silence of most of our city’s
clergy in response to the demagoguery of carpet bagging Bishop Harry
Jackson; apparently, they want no part of Jackson’s mischief. The fact
is that neither Harry Jackson nor Gary Imhoff has a monopoly on
morality, and numerous polls show that a majority of Washingtonians
disagrees with them on the legal question.
Valencia’s campaign-mode confidence reminds me of past flacks
sneering at the poor boobs who failed to see the inevitability of their
candidate’s victory. If she thinks that insulting large swaths of the
electorate will help her candidate, I say good luck. We’ll see how
well that works for her.
Valencia on April 4 wrote about a “revolution” that’s going to
sweep her candidate into office; then on April 7 she referred to gay
protesters outside Scripture Cathedral as “rebels.” I am not sure
that this is a good time to be pushing war metaphors, but leave that
aside. Also leave aside the fact that, whatever obscenities some gay
demonstrators may have used in a protest outside that church, they could
hardly have been worse than the anti-gay vitriol coming from that church’s
pulpit, which Valencia entirely ignores; and the vast majority of gay
citizens were not at those demonstrations. The term “rebels,” to the
extent that Valencia has in mind the gay population generally, hardly
seems apt given the pro-gay side’s overwhelming victory on the
marriage-equality bill — a victory not won by rebellion but by decades
of working within the system. We won despite a great deal of vitriol and
fear-mongering from some anti-gay pastors and their acolytes, a
substantial number of whom are from Ward 9. On the pro-gay side were two
hundred clergy who (perhaps radically, from Valencia’s point of view)
preach respect for all of our families.
Valencia’s denial of political reality on this is something she
shares with Gary, who continues pounding away with his insistence that
the people have been denied a say on marriage. Ward 5 ANC commissioner
Bob King recently announced, along with Bishop Harry Jackson, a campaign
to defeat Mayor Fenty and the eleven councilmembers who supported the
marriage equality bill. Leo Alexander is just their cup of tea. We get a
hint of the unreality involved when Valencia states that she has no use
for either Jack Evans or Kwame Brown as council chair. She must be
similarly frustrated by the Democratic at-large council race, in which
Phil Mendelson is challenged by the openly gay Clark Ray. With these as
the leading alternatives, where will Valencia’s revolution come from,
other than her fevered imagination?
The people already have spoken, many times. We have a representative
democracy, folks, and our legislature thirty-one years ago, under the
leadership of Arrington Dixon, enacted a prohibition against ballot
measures in which people would vote on other people’s rights. Congress
has never challenged that prohibition. Local civil rights leaders,
including veterans of Mississippi Freedom Summer like Lawrence Guyot and
Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, support that prohibition and support equal
protection for all the families in our city. Those who disagree had the
opportunity to lobby on the marriage bill, testify against it during two
long days of hearings, and testify at several hearings before the Board
of Elections and Ethics. They also have the right to vote in the next
election, assuming they are registered to vote in DC, which many
opponents of DC marriage equality are not.
Come September, after Valencia and her revolutionaries have failed to
replace a single incumbent with an anti-gay candidate, will they
continue talking as if the voters don’t know what they’re doing? It
is no accident that our city consistently elects an overwhelmingly
pro-gay legislature, or that anti-gay candidates consistently lose. Gay
people have deep roots in this city. We are of many colors and faiths,
and are found in every neighborhood. Those who continue to demonize us
for political gain are well past the point where they should have done a
post-mortem. They have not only underestimated gay rights advocates,
they have underestimated the people of this city. The fact is that we
won civil marriage equality in DC the old-fashioned way: we earned it.
###############
CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
Michel Martin, Race and Gender in the Age of
Obama, April 13
Patricia Bitondo, pbitondo@aol.com
Emmy-winner Michel Martin now hosts Tell Me More, the one-hour daily
news and talk show on National Public Radio. On Tuesday, April 13, she
will speak at the Woman’s National Democratic Club, 1526 New Hampshire
Avenue, NW, and give us her views on race and gender in the age of
President Obama. She joined NPR in 2006 after being a correspondent at
ABC News on Nightline, Day One, This Week with George Stephanopoulos and
Life 360. A former Washington Post and Wall Street Journal
reporter, she also was a panelist on Washington Week and a contributor
to NOW with Bill Moyers.
The bar opens at 11:30 a.m., and lunch is at 12:15 p.m. Members, $25;
nonmembers, $30; lecture only (no lunch) $10. Register at https://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/5880/p/salsa/event/common/public/?event_KEY=16458.
###############
DC Emancipation Day, April 16
Glenda Richmond, seascy2002@yahoo.com
DC Emancipation Day commemoration, rally, and march to honor the
ancestors and to advocate for DC statehood. Rally at 11:00 a.m. at
Franklin Square, 13th and I Streets, NW. March at 12:30 p.m. to the DC
Historical Society, 9th and K Streets, NW. Celebrate the history of DC
compensated emancipation and learn about the first freed. Speakers,
exhibits, parade, wreath laying, lectures, essay contest, singing,
reenactments, poetry, jazz, films, forums, and more. For a full listing
of events, view the DC government calendar at http://os.dc.gov/os/cwp/view,a,1207,q,645466.asp.
For more information, contact the friends of DC Emancipation Day at Friends-DCED@yahoo.com,
232-2500, or 635-9337.
###############
Girl Scout Day at the National Building
Museum, April 17
Johanna Weber, jweber@nbm.org
April 17, 10:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Join the National Building Museum for
this activity day designed especially for Girl Scouts. Explore the world
we build for ourselves and how we can make it green! Visit http://www.nbm.org
for a full description of the day’s activities and to register. $12
for scouts, $5 for non-scouts. Prepaid registration required.
Recommended for children ages six and up. At the National Building
Museum, 401 F Street, NW, Judiciary Square Metro station.
###############
Teen Dating Violence and Digital Abuse, April
20
Katie Kraft, DC Women’s Agenda, Wider Opportunities for
Women, kkraft@wowonline.org
Come learn about unhealthy relationships and digital abuse at the DC
Women’s Agenda lunch and learn. Tabitha Joyner, Education and Outreach
Coordinator from Break the Cycle, will provide training and up-to-date
information to students, parents, service providers, and advocates on
how to identify teen dating violence and how to get help. Tuesday, April
20, 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Anacostia High School, 1601 16th Street, SE.
Please RSVP to Katie Kraft at kkraft@wowonline.org
or call 464-1596, ext. 117, by Thursday, April 15. Sponsored by the DC
Women’s Agenda, http://www.wowonline.org
and http://www.dcwaonline.org.
###############
CLASSIFIEDS — DONATIONS
The Kibera School for Girls
Alix Haber, ahaber@wesleyan.edu
My name is Alix Haber. I grew up in DC and attended public school
from Janney Elementary all the way through Wilson High School. I now
attend Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut and spent last
semester studying in Kenya. I was able to spend a great deal of time in
Kibera, Kenya, the largest slum in Africa and a place ridden with
concentrated poverty, poor sanitation, and little formal schooling. This
lack of education is especially damaging to girls whose families are
often unable or reluctant to make their daughters’ education a
priority. I want to tell you about the Wesleyan Friends of Africa, a
student organization I’ve gotten involved with that is partnered with
Shining Hope for Communities. Along with other Wesleyan students,
sophomore Kennedy Odede founded Shining Hope for Communities and The
Kibera School for Girls. The Kibera School for Girls is the only free
school for girls in Kibera. Currently we have 45 students enrolled, and
our goal is to connect each student with a sponsor. At only $30 a month
(or $40 for an HIV-positive student), you will be able to foster a
relationship through letters with a little girl from Kibera and pay for
her schooling, health care, daily nourishment, clothes, and more. Please
consider sponsoring a child and becoming a mentor for a girl in need.
For more information, you can E-mail me at ahaber@wesleyan.edu
or visit the web site at http://www.hopetoshine.org/support/sponsor.
###############
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