Influence
Dear Influencers:
Len Sullivan and Richard Rothblum, below, are not satisfied with the
Committee of 100’s report on DC’s projected streetcar system that I
praised in the last issue of themail. They have good reason not to be
happy with it, since both of them think that building an extensive
streetcar system in DC is a bad idea. They phrase it differently, but
both of them think the Committee of 100 is simply advising the
government how it can carry out a bad idea a little less stupidly. They’re
right, of course, but what is the Committee of 100 or any other critic
of the streetcar plans to do? The streetcar system is an extremely
expensive boondoggle, but the mayor and the city council are determined
to waste vast sums of money on it. The system has very vocal supporters
who think it’s just the neatest, coolest idea ever proposed, and the
swellest, shiniest toy they will ever be able to play with. It doesn’t
have organized, vocal opponents. So what should a responsible citizens
group do? Go down swinging as a die-hard opponent, when the politicians
are determined not to listen to opponents? Or try to improve the
proposal as best it can, and mitigate its worst mistakes?
I mean that question seriously, by the way. Stanford Ledbetter
facetiously suggests, below, that I would have enough influence over
Harriet Tregoning to get her to oppose the Frank Gehry design for an
Eisenhower memorial (http://tinyurl.com/6ggdbhp)
in favor of preserving parking spaces. I have as much influence over
Tregoning’s planning ideas — none — as citizens groups and
neighborhood associations have over the city’s streetcar plans. How do
citizens and neighborhoods get a voice in the projects that politicians
and city planners promote?
#####
Everton Johnson sent “Is Vince Gray the Second Most Powerful Man in
the District?” to themail, and I published it in last Wednesday’s
issue. But the item actually was written by Martin Austermuhle, and it
had been published earlier at DCIst.com. Everton sent this explanation:
“When I cut and pasted it into the E-mail to you apparently the header
with his information did not transfer and I did not catch it. He [Austermuhle]
definitely should get credit for writing it.” Mr. Johnson and I
apologize to Martin for the confusion.
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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So, whatever happened to the Gray Transition Team report? Did it come
out in stealth mode? Did it not come out at all? Was it a sop to
annoying supporters/constituencies? Does it remain a hidden agenda? Was
it just another campaign promise?
The French say that there are three kinds of plans: Imperative,
Indicative, and Decorative. Looks like Mayor Gray has added a fourth:
Evaporative.
[Neither Mayor Gray nor Council Chairman Brown has issued any report
from his transition team. — Gary Imhoff]
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Furloughs without pay are on the horizon for District government
employees. Exempt from the furloughs are five independent District
agencies, in addition to police officers and fire fighters, as their
furloughs would impair public health and/or public safety. Vincent Gray,
although exempt from the furlough days as the mayor has signed a waiver
to join the rest of DC government employees on furlough in order to help
save the city nineteen million dollars during fiscal year 2011. I
applaud Mayor Gray’s willingness to endure the furlough days like
other DC city workers. Included in the mix of those to be furloughed are
District of Columbia teachers and school personnel. As a result of
emergency legislation, known as the Balanced Budget Furlough Emergency
Act of 2011, that was passed by the DC city council, DC government
employees will be furloughed on four designated legal public holidays
during Fiscal Year 2011. The emergency legislation specifically states:
“The District of Columbia Public schools shall not furlough a
classroom Teacher on a date when there is classroom instruction during
an instructional period.”
WTU President Nathan Saunders commented on teacher furloughs in a
recent press release. Saunders stated: “Furloughs are the
repercussions that workers face when subjected to government budgets
that they don’t control. City workers, including teachers, will now
receive less pay as a result of poor budget decisions made by senior
level DC government officials. At some point, the DC government must
hold managers accountable for overspending the same way it holds workers
accountable.” I contend that the Michelle Rhee/Kaya Henderson regime
under the helm of former DC mayor, Adrian Fenty are responsible for DCPS’
share of the budget deficit problem. What concerns me is that we still
aren’t making the necessary budget cuts where they need to be made.
After all, furloughs aren’t a permanent solution for a budget deficit,
and there is talk that even more furloughs will be proposed at a future
date. I would like to suggest a number of ways to cut some of the public
school bloat for the longer-term. Let’s start by reducing Interim
Chancellor Henderson’s executive staff salaries and put a moratorium
on bonus payouts, reduce administrative staff in the central office —
inclusive of the thirteen new instructional superintendents who were
recruited last May 2010 with salaries ranging from $120,000 to $150,000,
eliminate Master Educators’ positions whose starting salaries begin at
$90,000 a pop, and delegate teacher evaluations to principals, reduce
nonessential testing of students, and put an end to DCPS contracts that
aren’t justified. Has anyone considered tightening our belt by
conserving energy in our schools ? What happened to the cost savings as
a result of the DC government freeze?
During our February 5 WTU Executive Board meeting, elected teachers
and school personnel talked about being tired of getting hammered at
every turn due to DCPS overspending. Our board was in agreement that “alternatives
to furloughs” need to be considered. As a result of this lively
discussion, the WTU Executive Board passed a motion that gives the
Washington Teachers’ Union authority to explore alternatives to
furloughing teachers and school personnel before President’s Day, the
first day of government furloughs. The WTU is interested in teachers’
ideas on how DC Public Schools can achieve real cost savings so that we
can look for ways around teacher/school personnel furloughs. We will
compile a list of ideas and provide these recommendations to Mayor Gray
amongst other strategies. Got suggestions? We’re listening.
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Doing the Wrong Job Right at Any Cost?
Len Sullivan, lsnarpac@verizon.net
Unlike Gary [themail, February 2], I find the Committee of 100’s
new ninety-page “Assessment of DC Streetcar Routes” to be a starkly
inappropriate treatment of a very dubious plan. The committee advocates
“safeguarding and advancing the historic distinction, natural beauty,
and overall livability of our nation’s capital” through responsible
planning and land use. But It has done little on transportation, and
none of its “seven priorities” here address the utility, propriety,
or benefit of adding streetcars to the DC’s vehicular traffic: each
simply supports the Committee of 100’s urge to avoid overhead wires,
even by its call to “do it right” (wirelessly) to “ensure a
world-class system for a world-class city.”
The report tacitly endorses any costs to reintroduce trolleys by
accepting as “given,” without question, that DC’s transit system
should expand by adding both buses and streetcars “to accommodate
rapidly growing demand”; streetcar investment will, per se,
assure future stability in as-yet underdeveloped areas; and some riders
won’t use buses. The report ignores any match between the proposed
routes and the increasing demand ; any risks of fixed system
degradation; any unique costs of adding another transit mode; or why
those (few?) folk are bus-averse. Rather oddly, it suggests that one new
trolley route should be sure “to mitigate the effects of
gentrification”; one route map paints the entire downtown/mall area as
an enterprise zone with over 20 percent poverty; and it urges replacing
DDoT’s proposed small, lightweight, cheesy trolleys with newer, wider,
longer, heavier units.
But these issues are secondary to others. Given the substantial costs
to “do the job right,” why ignore the more basic precept to “do
the right job”? Why not expand Metrorail along some of those routes?
Or Metrobus? Or the far more versatile “Circulator” buses? Aren’t
there negatives for adding fixed guide way systems to poorly developed
secondary road systems? For usurping curb space? For accidents
(particularly broadside) and breakdown recovery? For usurping space for
maintenance, power supplies, “turnarounds,” etc.? Aren’t there
tradeoffs between unit size and service frequency on low-density routes?
Shouldn’t a world-class system have its own designated rights-of-way?
Shouldn’t it connect better to regional transportation systems?
Shouldn’t it support the remediation of urban squalor? Shouldn’t it
encourage socioeconomic migration into and out of the city? Apparently,
anything goes except overhead wires.
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Committee of 100 Streetcar System Report
Richard Stone Rothblum, richard@rothblum.org
Thanks very much for the cogent summary by Abby Lane of the
assessment of the new streetcar system by the Committee of 100 [themail,
February 2]. The analysis should prove to be very helpful to decision
makers. It seems that one of the main points of contention is the
overhead wiring system that is going to be unsightly at the least.
Another issue is the proposed route plan, and a third, the disruption of
existing businesses in an economically fragile area.
I have a suggestion that was partly examined in the report (“wireless”
technology). Why not make the cars capable of generating their own
electricity, rather than generating electricity from a central location
and installing the infrastructure to transmit the power to individual
vehicles? The same system that powers the Chevrolet Volt might be
considered. The engine/generator that powers the electric motor could
run on compressed natural gas (CNG) to virtually eliminate pollution,
and CO2 production would be the least of all electric generating systems
that rely on fossil fuels. Metro already has experience with CNG
engines, and Arlington relies exclusively on CNG for its public transit.
There may be a case to be made for eliminating the electric part of the
drive system entirely for higher efficiency and lower costs.
To address the routing controversies, my second suggestion is to
equip the streetcars with special steel wheels that would enable them to
roll on normally paved streets. The steel wheels could be fitted with
rubber covers for quiet and efficient operation. The covers could even
be inflated to better cope with anomalies in the road surface. A
steering system would allow for ad hoc changes in routes, rather
than relying on studies to predict future demand. The infrastructure
costs would be a fraction of the cost of the rail and wire system, and
it would be more flexible. Disruption to existing businesses for
installation of the system would be minimal. There is much more 1920’s
technology that could be adapted to address DC’s transportation
problems. There is no need to continue to focus on the 1800’s,
although I, like many old DC residents, appreciate the nostalgia value.
Maybe it’s time to recognize that this is the 20th century. Oh, wait.
. . .
The assessment also examines the effect of the project to encourage
business investment in an underdeveloped part of the city. This
investment in infrastructure will benefit a significant part of the 20
percent of the DC population thought to live below the poverty line, or
about one hundred thousand persons. At a cost of $1.5 billion, that
comes to $15,000 per impoverished person, not counting the economic
costs of disruption due to construction. My suggestion regarding costs
is that we offer the purported beneficiaries of the hypothetically
improved economic climate their choice: streetcar service, or $60,000
cash for a family of four. This wouldn’t necessarily be a one-time
payment that would just evaporate. We could continue to pay the affected
citizens the cost to the city of the operating deficit of many tens of
millions per year. There could even be a final payment that would be
equivalent to the cost of demolishing the system in twenty years or so,
when the city rediscovers what it found out in the ’60’s — that
streetcars are not a practical means of urban transportation.
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The Hypocrisy of Harriet Tregoning
Stanford Ledbetter, stan_ledbetter@hotmail.com
Frank Gehry was in DC last week. He is proposing a monument to
President Eisenhower at 6th Street and Independence Avenue. You know,
that barren square across from Air and Space Museum that beckons you to
stay the hell away but invites the homeless to rest and relax. Gehry’s
first work in DC would be a gathering place, drawing the mall south, and
the southwest federal center north. A place for businesspeople to lunch
and tourists to learn about our great country, and spend money. It would
also be the first truly significant modern art in the District, and an
opportunity for DC to reestablish itself as a national leader in public
art. In short, it would transform a desolate void into a livable,
walkable, prosperous urban space.
So, when Gehry was at NCPC to promote his progressive urbanist design
last week, Harriet Tregoning must’ve been a cheerleader, right? Wrong!
Tregoning lamented the loss of public parking spaces on the street. Well
done Mr. Imhoff, you’ve clearly convinced Harriet that driving
downtown and parking on a desolate, barren square is an important right
to be protected — at least when it means screwing over the National
Park Service — and denying the residents of the District a world class
urban square paid for entirely by private donations, not a single dime
of DC taxpayer monies involved.
Tregoning has proven here that she is the worst kind of ideologue —
the fake kind.
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Costco (at least the ones I’ve gone to) and other such wholesale
places have been selling plastic grocery bags in bulk for years. Where
do you think many of the street vendors and corner bodegas get their
grocery bags? This is not new and has nothing to do with the bag tax.
[I asked Mindy where she’s seen plastic grocery bags at nearby
Costco stores; she replied at White Marsh and Fair Oaks. The first one I’ve
seen them at is Gaithersburg; so perhaps their availability is
spreading. — Gary Imhoff]
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Google Grant to DC Nonprofit to Teach Robotics
to Youth in Southeast DC
Phil Shapiro, pshapiro@his.com
Some happy news to share regarding the teaching of robotics to youth
in Southeast DC this summer. (see http://tinyurl.com/4cxfp97
and http://www.leshellhatley.com/brief-bio/)
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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
Michelle Norris at MLK, February 9
George Williams; George.Williams2@dc.gov
On Wednesday, February 9, Michele Norris, host of NPR’s “All
Things Considered,” will discuss how far America has progressed
towards racial justice based on her book The Grace of Silence: A
Memoir. The powerful work discusses the life of her family in
segregated Birmingham, Alabama, before the onset of the Civil Rights
Movement. Among the interesting revelations is that her deceased father
was a Navy veteran who fought in World War II but encountered racial
intolerance on the home front. The event will begin at noon at the
Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Library located at 901 G Street, NW .
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Woman’s National Democratic Club Luncheon,
February 10
Tonya Butler-Truesdale, gotonyago@gmail.com
“Washington Winter in Reviews.” Broadcast Journalists Sid Davis
and Bill Sheehan have been leading a popular monthly political
discussion session at the Cosmos Club for some ten years. Last July,
they brought their special discussion format to the WNDC, 1526
Massachusetts Avenue, NW. The session was a hit, and they accepted our
invitation to come back, just as the new Congress is getting underway.
Thursday, February 10, bar opens at 11:30 a.m., lunch at 12:15 p.m.,
presentation and question and answer session at 1:00-2:00 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=21043
An evening event at the Women’s National Democratic Club, 1526
Massachusetts Avenue, NW, on Thursday, February 10, at 6:00 p.m.: “Pray
the Devil Back to Hell,” a documentary account of brave and visionary
women who demanded peace for Liberia, a nation whose social fabric was
torn to shreds by a decades-old civil war. Sponsored by Democratic
Empowerment through Active Leadership (DEAL) and WNDC Young Dems. The
event is free; register at https://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/5880/p/salsa/event/common/public/?event_KEY=21076
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For the Greener Good: Life After Plastic,
February 17
Tara Miller, tmiller@nbm.org
As a petroleum based product, many believe that the cost of plastic
building materials will rise as the price of oil rises. What is the
future of alternate products for the construction industry? A discussion
with Blaine Brownell, Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota
School of Architecture; Jay Bolus, VP of Technical Operations, MBDC; and
Robert Peoples, Ph.D., Director of the ACS Green Chemistry Institute.
Moderated by Lance Hosey, President and CEO, GreenBlue. At the National
Building Museum, 401 F Street, NW, Judiciary Square Metro station, on
February 17 at 6:30-8:00 p.m. Register at http://www.nbm.org/programs-lectures/programs/2011-programs/february-2011/life-after-plastic.html
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CLASSIFIEDS — COMPETITION
National Youth Science Camp Applications,
February 28
Mary Lord, mary.lord@dc.gov
District of Columbia students have an opportunity to attend the
prestigious National Youth Science Camp, http://www.nysc.org/w/Welcome.html,
in West Virginia this summer with peers from other states and Latin
America, all expenses paid. Applications are due by the close of
business on Friday, February 28.
Two graduating high school seniors from across the District of
Columbia will join students from each state and peers from several Latin
American and Caribbean nations at the National Youth Science Camp. All
participants will get the opportunity to work alongside practicing
scientists on research projects spanning various fields as well as
present their own seminars. The three-week, life-changing experience is
free for students, including travel to and from West Virginia.
Applications will be reviewed by a committee formed by the DC State
Board of Education, with two delegates and one alternate selected to
attend the 2011 camp. Applications may be downloaded on the DC State
Board of Education Web site at http://www.sboe.dc.gov.
For hard copies or further information, please contact Mrs. Jamikka
Kendrick at the DC State Board of Education at 741-0888 or DC State
Board of Education Member Mary Lord at 257-3226.
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