Sorbets
Dear Desserters:
With summer weather having arrived early, it’s ice cream, sorbet,
sherbet, and shlushies time again. One of the simplest and best sorbets
is strawberry, and one of the easiest strawbery sorbet recipes calls for
a simple syrup made of one cup each of water and sugar, brought to a
boil, stirred until the sugar dissolves, and then allowed to cool. Blend
a pint of pitted strawberries with a quarter cup of lemon or lime juice,
and add an eighth cup of cane syrup (the light Karo syrup or a store
brand syrup will work equally xwell) and the cooled simple syrup to
them. Total preparation time shouldn’t be over a half hour. Pour the
mixture in an ice cream maker and freeze it. It will still be soft, so
spoon it into a mold and put it into a freezer for several hours to
harden.
Now we’re looking for recipes that use various combinations of
kiwis, limes, avocados, and cilantro. Mangos and peaches after that Any
suggestions?
I’ve demoted my usual complaints, quarrels, and quibbles to a reply
to Martin Austermuhle, below.
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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The Council Should Study Wireless Technology
Before DDOT Buys More Streetcars
Meg Maguire, Committee of 100 on the Federal City, megmaguireconsultant@msn.com
Monte Edwards, Capitol Hill Restoration Society
Three wire-dependent Czech-made
streetcars, acquired in 2005 with service in 2013, are driving DC’s
streetcar system today. DDOT is ready to lock our city into an
old streetcar technology requiring wires, poles and protruding arms on
37 miles of boulevards and streets without studying wireless
alternatives now being adopted in Europe and Asia. Decisions are
imminent. The city council is considering DDOT’s request to reprogram
$63 million from other line items to buy six new cars without benefit of
an independent engineering study of the applicability of various
streetcar technologies to our city.
Another overlooked truth is that in order to string wires on our
streets, including H Street/Benning Road, the council must overturn an
1889 federal law that prohibited streetcar wires in the old Federal City
and Georgetown. Along with the city’s admirable and steady progress on
under grounding utility wires, this law has contributed to the wide
views and vistas we take for granted throughout the city. But we can
have it all: a streetcar system to spur economic development, connect
neighborhoods, reduce pollution and energy consumption, and add public
transit capacity — without overturning that law or cluttering our open
streetscapes. Why hasn’t the city done a better job of planning our
streetcar system? Where is the streetcar business plan? The operations
and maintenance plan? The facilities acquisition plan? The comparative
technology assessment that looks at first costs and life cycle costs?
The council needs to see what’s behind the curtain. The newest member
of DC’s transit family deserves a smart start on the right track.
The good news is that wireless technology is in use, and we
can build on the evaluations undertaken by other cities. Kawasaki has
been operating the SWIMO system in Japan since 2007. CAF of Spain
initiated wireless service in Seville, Spain, two weeks ago and is now
installing a wireless system in Saragossa. Bombardier is installing a
wireless system in Germany this summer. These cities have studied both
the technology and the costs and have found wireless systems to be
viable. And there is nothing to lose, since track construction already
done along H Street/Benning Road will
accommodate wireless streetcars. The
council should take two to three months to commission the missing
technology study before giving DDOT the green light to order more of the
older cars. Let’s ensure that the
technology we buy is right for the nation’s capital and right
for our residential neighborhoods. We ask the council to settle for
nothing but the very best for this great city.
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DDOT’S Solution for Metro’s Problems
Karl Jeremy, mayandkarl@gmail.com
Ted Gest [“Clueless Metro Solution: Yell at Customers,” themail,
May 3] raised some good points about the fact our city’s
transportation systems aren’t meeting user’s needs or operating
efficiently or on time. As if to verify Mr. Gest’s observations, HSEMA
sent the following “Alert” to cell phones and pagers: “Metro
customers traveling on the Red Line can expect major delays this
afternoon (May 3) while personnel work to extinguish an arcing insulator
near Dupont Circle Metrorail station and resolve a track circuit issue
at Farragut North Metrorail Station.”
Although it readily admits it has never run a transportation system,
DDOT believes it has found the solution to Metro’s problems. It will
operate its own 37-mile streetcar system and proposes to use two
technologies: overhead wires for the initial phase in Wards 7 and 8, and
a more advanced technology for areas of the city where overhead wires
are prohibited.
The District’s Transportation Department is betting that few recall
the dirty wires that were draped across city streets or the slippery
tracks that endangered bicycle wheels. Streetcars were the way the
public moved around in the first half of the last century, but
transportation modes and human habits have changed dramatically since
the good old days. DDOT has been told to “get it done,” so track
that may limit routes in the future is being laid hastily to accommodate
three Czech Republic streetcars purchased by Dan Tangherlini in 2005;
yet since 2005 DDOT has failed to develop a business plan, conduct a
technology assessment, or undertake a system-wide EIS. It remains
clueless regarding long-term costs, new propulsion technologies, or
whether the same infrastructure problems that plague Metro will plague
its aboveground streetcar system. To finance the initial phase of its
streetcar system, DDOT has asked the council to reprogram dollars that
make up the District’s federal match for Metro, for the modernization
of schools, and for modernizing firehouses. Robbing Peter to pay Paul is
the way business is done in the District of Columbia, but it’s a poor
way to run a twenty-first-century transportation system.
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Is AFT Undermining DC Teachers?
Nathan Saunders, nasaunders@aol.com
Intense public school budget hearings on April 30 evidenced the
significant impact WTU teachers have on the city’s budget. Charter
school advocates presented the government a demand letter for comparable
wages to the WTU Tentative Agreement (TA), or they would seek court
action. A magnanimous Chief Financial Officer Gandhi refused to certify
the TA’s financial soundness while simultaneously scaling back other
programs and possibly raising taxes to reduce a $530 million deficit.
The 1960’s legislation allowing exclusive representation of DC’s
Public teachers was theorized to encourage mutual cooperation yielding
increased workplace productivity. Unfortunately, some of the industrial
labor union’s ills and social injustices, such as paternalism,
permeated the teachers’ union movement. Oftentimes national union
interests will attack local dissident opinion by influencing union
elections, producing propaganda, and controlling issues. All the while
repeating, ad nauseam, “We never get involved in local issues.”
Amazingly, this is like the letter the American Federation of Teachers
sent home to all DC teachers implying that the May 2010 elections will
probably be delayed. Federal legislation, the Labor Management Reporting
and Disclosure Act of 1959, was created to combat union member abuses
involving violations of free speech, violence, and elections tampering.
It forces elections every three years and gives union members a special
bill of rights akin to the US Constitution. Empowering WTU teachers in
democratic management and advocacy for themselves and their students is
an often neglected education reform that is affordable. Paternalism is
most dangerous in teachers’ unions, as it makes teachers feel trapped
with two bosses — the DC Government and the AFT/WTU — their own
union. Union democracy is suppressed.
The AFT should not be involved in the May 2010 union election or the
upcoming contract ratification vote, as their ability to exercise
self-control will deter additional controversies and challenges. The
federal Department of Labor should be involved. Unfortunately, the
president of the AFT parent union, Randi Weingarten, is deeply entangled
in election shenanigans, potentially stalling WTU’s election schedule
past its constitutionally required May 2010 date. Her beneficiary is WTU
President George Parker the embattled negotiator of the Rhee/Parker
tentative agreement. The agreement was supposed to harvest elections
benefits of 20 percent pay raises, without members knowing most would
probably be terminated or that a portion of the raises was financed with
blood money of wrongfully terminated teachers, and the only job security
in the deal belonged to Chancellor Michelle Rhee. The problem with
Weingarten’s election meddling is that it makes DC teachers more
vulnerable. Teachers are about to deal with hundreds of year-end
layoffs, a hard summer fight to support a mayoral candidate and leaving
approximately eighty other elected positions unfilled (Elections
Committee, Delegates to the Maryland State AFL-CIO, and others). It
smells to high heaven. Any desire to place an election ballot with a
contract ratification ballot in the same envelope is selfish and
belittles the WTU’s members’ intelligence. Common sense, time, and
economic realities may have broken up the Fenty/Rhee/Parker/Weingarten
playbook, but law and the WTU’s Constitution require a paternalistic
AFT to step aside and to allow dues paying members to vote on their
future — now.
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Bag Fee Down: Time to START Up
Samuel Jordan, START Coalition, Samunomas@msn.com
After over a million and a half years and a few tectonic shifts, the
Anacostia River has become an artery draining its watershed to the
Potomac and the bay. After just over a hundred years, humans have
brought the river to its knees. The river is the underdog in this
scenario. As the underdog, a great deal of good will, maybe even
sympathy for the river, has driven the success of the plastic bag fee
enacted by the Anacostia River Clean Up and Protection (ARCUP) Act.
However, those most sympathetic or environmentally conscious have curbed
their use of plastic bags and are therefore not contributors to the
ARCUP Fund through the bag fee. The plastic bag fee is a “self-extinguishing”
source of funds. The more profound the modification in consumer
behavior, the more rapid the decline in funds generated by the bag fee.
In January 2010, the ARCUP Fund collected just under $150,000 in
fees. This may well be a “peaking” total and continued success with
the fee program means that the January total will not be surpassed as
monthly collections drop. It is improbable that the DC council’s
four-year projection of $10 million in fees will be realized. The ARCUP
legislation authorized three additional sources of funds that have not
been well-developed by the DC Department of the Environment (DDOE).
These voluntary revenue generators are called the Save The Anacostia
River Trust or START amendments. Originally proposed in 1996, they
include a license tag; a DC income tax form check-off box; and anytime
donations from individuals, corporations, foundations, and testamentary
gifts. Without adequate planning and promotion, these funding methods
cannot reach their potential. We are justifiably alarmed that monies
from the ARCUP fund have been targeted for diversion from uses intended
by the legislation to defray the costs of mechanical street sweepers to
be used all over the city. Intended in the legislation was financial
support for projects that aided the restoration of the Anacostia with an
emphasis on community engagement.
The START Coalition urges you to demand that the mayor and DC
council: 1) halt the diversion of river funds for other purposes; 2)
fully develop the START voluntary resources; and 3) establish an
Anacostia River Trust based on the Chesapeake Bay Trust model that will
collect, manage, and allocate ARCUP funds and remain independent from
the constant threat of funds diversion and changes in the political
landscape. Let’s get STARTed! Support the flow of voluntary donations
to the ARCUP fund! Please forward this commentary to DC Councilmember
Mary Cheh, Chair of the Committee on Government Operations and the
Environment, Mcheh@dc.council.us.
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Who is “Vrs-hCk - c0li.m0de.0n - #nob0dy @ DALnet” and why did
that individual or group hack http://www.marycheh.com?
I was going to do a “lie-check” between the councilmember’s office
site and her new campaign site, http://www.cheh2010.com,
when I noticed that the usual propaganda had been replaced by a php-admin
screen with words that appear to be in Indonesian. The site’s log
screen shows a message from the above-named hacker. I assume Cheh’s
crew will de-hack the site real soon now. [It is currently working. —
Gary Imhoff[ Here are screenshots, so there is a record after the
cover-up begins: http://tinyurl.com/Marycheh.
Download the images for highest resolution and easier readability. Has
Cheh filled her open Communications Director position? How much private
data has been exposed due to Cheh’s ineptitude?
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Alas, the digital denizens of municipal improvement get little
respect, I suspect. You weren’t the only person calling for a more
careful consideration of how to go about improving DC Public Schools in
2007. I wrote the blog entry “Positive Deviance and the DC Public
Schools” on June 13, 2007, http://urbanplacesandspaces.blogspot.com/2007/06/positive-deviance-and-dc-public-schools.html,
and I think it’s still relevant.
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Gary, it’s somewhat misleading for you to claim [themail, May 2]
that “the courts do not have the sole or even the leading role in
guaranteeing, respecting, and protecting the rights of Americans” in
reference to your support of congressional actions to do away with the
District’s gun laws. In this system of government, it is left to the
courts to consider and weigh in on constitutional conflicts. Yes, other
branches and institutions of government are charged with not violating
the constitution, but final decisions on the constitutionality of
government actions are left to the courts, not Congress, the executive,
or local or state governments.
In late March, a federal judge did indeed rule that the District’s
post-Heller gun laws are constitutional. No, it’s not the final say
— I imagine the decision will be appealed — but until a higher court
says otherwise, that decision stands. You may disagree with it, as do
many members of Congress and the NRA, but those disagreements should be
expressed through additional lawsuits or friend of the court briefs.
Congress simply should not try to substitute its political judgments —
we know that the NRA holds huge sway on the Hill, and advocating for the
gutting of the District’s gun laws is an easy way to get a high mark
from the organization — for those of the courts.
What makes congressional interference so maddening is that none of
the members who push for the repeal of the city’s gun laws seem to
have bothered talking to local officials or residents. (Has Sen. Tester?
Sen. McCain? Did Rep. Childers meet with the families of victims of gun
violence? Any local officials? Police Chief Lanier?) Moreover, it’s
not just that they want to get rid of the city’s gun restrictions, but
that they want to actively prohibit the city from ever imposing new
ones. That should be absolutely unacceptable to anyone who supports the
right of local communities to craft laws and regulations that respond to
their local needs. To my knowledge, Dick Heller, the man responsible for
the historic 2008 Supreme Court ruling, has not appealed to Congress to
under the post-Heller regulations. Rather, he has continued to exercise
his rights before the courts. That’s the way it should be.
[Martin repeats his misrepresentation of the American political
system in order to discourage supporters of Second Amendment rights from
defending those rights in any forum except the courts. No, Martin, in
America we’re not limited to using the courts to protect our rights;
we’re free to defend our rights in all branches of government. For
example, the civil rights movement won its single most prominent victory
in the Supreme Court case of Brown vs. Board of Education in
1954, but it continued to work politically in the legislative and
executive branches to consolidate and expand its victories. Under Martin’s
rules, the movement should have confined its efforts to the court
system, and Congress should not have passed any civil rights
legislation. Martin supports “the right of local communities to craft
laws and regulations that respond to their local needs,” and Congress
imposed those civil rights laws on states and local communities and
substituted its political judgment for theirs. Of course, I don’t
really believe that Martin feels that way. My bet is that, if he had
been old enough to be politically active during the civil rights
movement, he would have supported both the movement and federal civil
rights laws, and that he wouldn’t have raised a states rights argument
against them. My bet is that he raises it now simply because he opposes
the Second Amendment. — Gary Imhoff]
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Gun Rights and Voting Rights
Earl Shamwell, Ward 4, sandra.cs@starpower.net
All I can say, Gary, is thank the lord you are out there. I found the
statements from our political worthies concerning the elimination of the
District’s gun laws and regulations to be too high a price for the
vote to be stunning beyond words. I, as a person who witnessed the civil
rights movement in full flower as a teen, recall vividly the reports of
the folks who gave their lives for the vote. Medger Evers, the
Mississippi three tossed in the swamp, the Liuzzo woman, and all of the
Freedom Riders who bravely faced bigoted mobs in the South, to name but
a few. I remember all of these folks from my youth, and to this day,
even as I ponder these idiots now running things here and become
discouraged, I vote. No matter.
But to “them,” these liberal zealots and ideologues, the
ineffective and frankly risible gun control laws that control no one but
the law abiding, reign supreme over our securing the franchise, in my
view the key to the kingdom of a democratic society. As you have been
saying in so many words over the years , we are in deep trouble. And
frankly the folks most affected do not have a clue, are just apathetic,
or are waiting for a handout or a city contract to do nothing for big
money.
I am at a loss as to how we can get out from under this mess, as
personified by our present leaders. But I am hopeful . . . maybe not
always . . . but usually. Just don’t close up shop. I see no one who
will fill the void should you get disgusted and fold up your tent. Just
a few words to let you know I appreciate your wisdom and commitment.
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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
Anacostia Library Grand Opening Party, May 8
George Williams, George.Williams2@dc.gov
Come to the Anacostia Library grand opening party on Saturday, May 8,
from 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. Fun activities for all ages. Performances by
rapper Jali-D, spoken word artists Beat Ya Feet Kings, Melvin Deal
African Drummers and Dancers, and the Double Nickel Theater Troup. Face
painting and craft activities, and more. The new Anacostia Library is
located at 1800 Good Hope Road, SE. For more information, call 715-7707.
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Join DC/MD/NOVA Democratic Socialists of America for a talk by
Professor Joe Schwartz, “Why Obama Is Not a Socialist, And, By the
Way, What Is Socialism?” on Monday, May 10, at 7:00 p.m., at the
Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Library, Room A-9, 901 G Street, NW,
Gallery Place/Chinatown Metro. The event is free and open to all.
Schwartz is Associate Professor and former chair of the Department of
Political Science at Temple University. He is Vice-Chair of the
Democratic Socialists of America and the author of The Future of
Democratic Equality: Reconstructing Social Solidarity in a Fragmented
United States. For information, contact Ben Kreider, 610-952-8684, benkreider@gmail.com.
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National Building Museum’s 2010 Honor Award,
May 11
Johanna Weber, jweber@nbm.org
May 11, National Building Museum’s 2010 Honor Award: A Salute to
Civic Innovators. Join the Museum for the 2010 Honor Award gala saluting
Civic Innovators Perkins+Will; The New Orelans Habitat Musician’s
Village founders Harry Connick, Jr., Branford Marsalis, Ann Marie
Wilkins, and Jim Pate; and The US Department of Energy Solar Decathlon,
whose continuous commitment to improving people’s lives through
design, education, community and cultural development, and sustainable
practice are aiding in the reinvention of a better built environment.
6:00 p.m. VIP reception; 7:00 p.m., reception; 7:45 p.m., dinner and
program. For ticketing and event sponsorship information, please contact
Jessie Cochran, Development Events Manager, at jcochran@nbm.org,
or visit http://go.nbm.org/honoraward2010.
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CLASSIFIEDS — EMPLOYMENT
My terrific housekeeper needs more work. Her name is Ruth and she can
be reached at 301-942-4934
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