Air Conditioning
Dear Conditioners:
We’re into our third 100-degree day in a row, so I have a favor to
ask of you. Please do not, do not under any circumstances, pass on to
Councilmembers Mary Cheh or Tommy Wells, or indeed to any councilmember,
a copy of an article currently on the home page of Salon.com, “‘Losing
Our Cool’: The High Price of Staying Cool: How Air Conditioning
Changed the American Landscape, Transformed Our Politics, and Is
Endangering Our Health.” This article is an interview by Ryan Brown
with Stan Cox, the author of Losing Our Cool: Uncomfortable Truths
About Our Air-Conditioned World (and Finding New Ways to Get Through the
Summer). Cox and Brown agree that air conditioning is bad for people’s
health (people die from the heat only because they were made vulnerable
by air conditioning), that it’s bad for the environment (air
conditioning uses energy), and, worst of all, that it’s responsible
for turning people into Republicans (you have to read the article to
appreciate their reasoning), http://tinyurl.com/33ndv6d.
Brown and Cox agree that eventually, since there are very few people who
would willingly do without air conditioning on their own, “government
needs to intervene in the way we use air conditioning.” This is
exactly the kind of cause that excites Cheh and Wells, and other
councilmembers would take up the issue because it is promoted with “progressive”
rhetoric. They probably have their staffs drafting legislation outlawing
”air conditioning pollution” already; they don’t need any
encouragement from you.
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On the other hand, all praise to Councilmembers Mendelson, Cheh, and
Thomas for writing to Attorney General Peter Nickles on Tuesday, calling
him to account for his unilateral and unjustifiable decision to pay
$550,000 to the mayor’s cronies at Banneker Ventures to settle their
frivolous claim against the DC government. The letter is brief, and
deserves to be read in full: http://www.dcwatch.com/govern/parks100706.htm.
There are still people who claim not to see any evidence that the Parks
and Recreation construction contracts were corruptly steered to the
mayor’s buddies. A bit of friendly advice: if someone tells you he
doesn’t see anything wrong with how the administration arranged that
deal or how the AG paid off Banneker, you would be wise not to get into
a business deal with him.
The four city council committees that are jointly investigating these
contracts will hold a hearing on the Banneker settlement on Friday at
1:00 p.m. In the council chambers, 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Room
500.
#####
Thousands of veteran teachers have stayed in DC Public Schools for
the past three years, even though they have had a hostile boss who
despises them and denigrates them at every opportunity. Most of them
have stayed for one reason: because they teach to help children and, to
quote the motto of DCPS, “children first.” Chancellor Michelle Rhee,
on the other hand, has said that if she can’t have the boss of her
choice, if Washingtonians vote for Vincent Gray instead of Adrian Fenty,
she’ll abandon the children of Washington. Her motto is “Rhee first.”
The Fenty campaign’s latest press release, dictated on Tuesday to its
stenographers on the Washington Post editorial board, applauds
her for and justifies her selfishness — http://tinyurl.com/24pah8q.
The Post should listen to its education reporters, who are much
closer to the facts and less swayed by political prejudices. On Monday,
Jay Matthews wrote that “Rhee should take herself out of DC mayor’s
race,” http://tinyurl.com/2bdhzhe.
Matthews is a Rhee fanboy, and thinks it would be a disaster to lose her
as chancellor, but he recognizes that she is “the most unconventional
and stress-inducing administrator ever put in charge of an important
American school district.” On Today, Bill Turque considered seriously,
as the editorial board did not, “Did Michelle Rhee Violate the Hatch
Act?,” http://tinyurl.com/2fgldj6,
and got the expected, purely neutral, legally based answer from Nickles,
“No violation.” And on Tuesday, Valerie Strauss reprinted, http://tinyurl.com/2f5g4wz,
a wise assessment by the premier historian of American education, Diane
Ravitch, outlining her alternate vision for how to improve education:
“If I could succeed in getting the powerful in DC and in the
foundation world to rethink their commitment to high-stakes testing,
closing schools, and firing teachers; if I could persuade them that
poverty does impair school achievement and that schools alone can’t
close the many gaps that are rooted in income inequality; if I could get
them to seek positive ways to help schools and strengthen the teaching
profession, I would be happy indeed. Just to stop the beatings would be
a great outcome.”
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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Today, on Wednesday, Councilmember Muriel Bowser’s Committee on
Public Services and Consumer Affairs held a roundtable hearing on PR
18-971, “Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia Betty
Anne Kane Chairperson Confirmation Resolution of 2010,” and PR 18-972,
“Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia Betty Anne Kane
Confirmation Resolution of 2010.” On Thursday, Bowser’s Committee
will mark up the nomination so that Kane’s appointment can be
fast-tracked and agendized for Tuesday’s final legislative meeting of
the council prior to the summer recess.
Kane, a former at-large councilmember (1979-1990), is currently the
chair of the utility-regulating Public Service Commission. Her term on
the PSC expired June 30. Under DC law, she can continue to serve as a
holdover for an additional 180 days. On June 15, Mayor Fenty renominated
Kane for a new four-year term as chair of the PSC, but her nomination
was not made public until June 25. Bowser held the confirmation hearing
today, and made every effort not only not to inform the general public
of the hearing, but also to mislead the public about it. The notice of
the committee hearing was not posted on the council’s web site until
yesterday, Tuesday, July 6. Moreover the incorrect resolution numbers
were referenced on the council’s daily calendar page for July 7 (PR
18-791 rather than PR 18-971, and PR 18-792 rather than PR 18-972). As a
result, the DC Consumer Utility Board, ANC Commissioners, civic
associations, and civic leaders were unaware of the confirmation hearing’s
having been scheduled.
Privately, Bowser and her staff have indicated that they intended to
take every measure to avoid the situation that occurred in her Committee
last fall, when Vicky Beasley’s nomination to serve as the People’s
Counsel, replacing Betty Noel, was rejected by the council (themail,
November 22, 2009). At that time, even though Bowser gave less than 48
hours notice of Beasley’s confirmation hearing, more than thirty
witnesses showed up to testify, with the vast majority opposing the
nomination. This time, Bowser’s and her staff’s decision to give
less than 24 hours notice of Kane’s confirmation hearing resulted in
only one public witness, a Kane supporter, showing up at today’s
hearing.
In recent weeks, Mayor Fenty has nominated individuals to fill
important positions on boards and commissions (e.g., the University of
the District of Columbia Board of Trustees, the Contract Appeals Board,
the Zoning Commission, the Board of Elections and Ethics, the Taxicab
Commission, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, the Rental
Housing Commission, the Washington Convention and Sports Authority
Board). Under District law, if the council does not vote to approve a
nominee within ninety days of being appointed, the nomination is deemed
disapproved without council action. However, the ninety-day clock stops
when the council is on recess. Thus, since the council goes on recess on
July 15 and returns in mid-September, following the primary election,
there is no reason why the council needs to act in haste at this Tuesday’s
legislative session to approve any of Mayor Fenty’s nominees.
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An Interesting Item in the Post
Ronni Glaser, ronni@illuminc.com
I came across this interesting article in the Post Blog today.
It will be even more interesting to wait and see if the Post
actually assigns an investigative reporter to this matter to write an
actual story. And if they do, it will be more interesting still to see
how the story is handled: “Fenty Friend Fails Exams, Get License,” http://tinyurl.com/2fgbmus.
This article from the Capitol Community News might be a good
jumping off point for the Post if they were to do a story, http://www.capitalcommunitynews.com/40-45_RAG_0410.pdf.
The article is from April.
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The District(s) of Calamity
Gabe Goldberg, gabe at gabegold dot com
This item was printed in News of the Weird on July 4 (http://www.newsoftheweird.com):
“Attorney General Peter Nickles ordered an investigation in June
after learning that the city’s payroll office had, over a seven-year
period, failed to remit the life-insurance premiums deducted from the
paychecks of at least 1,400 employees. Already, one employee had been
told that her policy had been canceled because of the unremitted
premiums. (Until the investigation is finished, it is impossible to say
which of the two usual explanations of chronic DC bureaucratic
dysfunction — theft or “large-scale human error” — is
applicable.) [Washington Post, 6-16-10]”
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Whether Clyde Howard is correct or not about the currency of the
federal wire ban [themail, July 4] depends on whether the provision
banning overhead wire can still be found in the DC Code, which
consolidated law between Georgetown, Uniontown, Washington County, and
Federal City. That law might have been repealed — and if not, it
easily can be (and likely will be) if it stands in the way. The big
obstacle to the new trolleys will be DC’s coming financial crisis, not
any obscure federal law.
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But if it [the Declaration of Independence] is read as an argument
that could be read in its context — that is, the rest of the actual
document — it is clear that not one of the preamble’s terms could
stand without the support of arguments not actually made in it. Reading
the whole would puzzle rather than enlighten the present-day reader.
American school children are said to have learned the document by heart
in the rural nineteenth century in order to be able to recite it on July
4, and this is certainly heartening, but I thought the practice had gone
out of fashion in our schools. Read it, certainly, but also consider how
many self-contradictions it has invited in American history — and
continues to do so, from the Supreme Court Justices on down.
It is curious, too, that Tom Paine’s contribution to the whole
movement is not celebrated and studied in the same way.
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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
Woman’s National Democratic Club Luncheon
Discussion, July 13
Patricia Bitondo, pbitondo@aol.com
Broadcast journalists Sid Davis and Bill Sheehan have been leading a
popular monthly discussion session at the Cosmos Club for some ten
years. On July 13, they are bringing their special discussion format to
the WNDC. We are calling the WNDC version “Washington Summer in
Review.” The format they have developed depends heavily on audience
participation. So come prepared to join in the debate on such issues as
the upcoming fall elections, the gulf oil spill, the immigration debate,
a new energy policy, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, or any other
topic in the news you would like to discuss. Messrs. Davis and Sheehan
have been closely associated with major events of the last several
decades.
Mr. Davis was White House correspondent, then Washington Bureau chief
for the Westinghouse Broadcasting Company (1960-78) and a vice-president
and Washington Bureau chief for NBC News (1978-82). He was one of three
reporters to witness the swearing-in of President Johnson aboard Air
Force One following the assassination of President Kennedy. In all, Mr.
Davis covered or directed news coverage of nine presidents. He also
spent seven years as program director of Voice of America. Mr. Sheehan
worked for ABC News for twenty years, starting in 1960 — as national
correspondent, foreign correspondent, vice president for television
news, and president of the news division. He also served as senior
counselor of the International Media Fund and was with NASA for five
years after the Challenger accident as associate administrator for
public affairs. Mr. Sheehan was also a board member of the Public
Broadcasting System. The moderators will help guide the conversation.
But if the session is to be lively and interesting, audience
participation is essential. So come prepared to join in the discussion.
Tuesday, July 13. Bar opens at 11:30 a.m., lunch at 12:15 p.m.,
presentation and Q&A 1:00 p.m.-2:00 p.m. Price: members $25,
nonmembers $30, lecture only (no lunch) $10. At the Woman’s National
Democratic Club, 1526 New Hampshire Avenue, NW. For more information,
call 232-7363 or E-mail pfitzgerald@democraticwoman.org.
For reservations, go to https://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/5880/p/salsa/event/common/public/?event_KEY=17780.
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National Building Museum Events, July 16-17
Johanna Weber, jweber@nbm.org
July 16 and 17, 8:00-9:00 p.m., garage/dances. Parking garages
combine form with function. In this specially commissioned performance,
Liz Lerman Dance Exchange brings out the motion and emotion inherent in
an actual parking garage. Free; registration required. This program
takes place at 1711 Florida Avenue, NW. Register for Friday, July 16 at http://go.nbm.org/site/Calendar/40965629?view=Detail&id=109521;
register for Saturday, July 17 at http://go.nbm.org/site/Calendar/40965629?view=Detail&id=109522.
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Far Northeast Livability Study, July 17
Sylvia C. Brown, brown.sylvia2@gmail.com
If you’ve experienced speeding on East Capital Street, suffered
through bottleneck back-ups at Nannie Helen Burroughs, Minnesota, and
the Kenilworth Avenue Exchange, complained about cut-through traffic on
Central Avenue, 49th, 46th, and 45th Streets, wondered about lack of
sidewalk, curb, gutter, and alley installations on your block, the DC
Department of Transportation wants your ideas and solutions to shape the
Far Northeast Livability Plan.
On Saturday, July 17, at 10:00 a.m., neighbors and stakeholders will
be at Friendship Collegiate Academy, Carter G. Woodson Campus, 4095
Minnesota Avenue, NE (across from Minnesota Avenue Metro (Orange)) to
take a “big picture” look at our street network and identify
concrete actions.
The focus of the Far Northeast Livability Study is the area in or
near Advisory Neighborhood Commissions 7A, 7C, 7D and 7E bounded by
Eastern Avenue to the north, Anacostia River to the west, East Capitol
Street to the south, and Southern Avenue to the east. Add your concerns
to the interactive map, http://www.farnortheastlivability.com,
in advance of the meeting.
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