Holiday Planning
Dear Holidayers:
The excitement of the year’s biggest, most cherished family holiday
of the year is only a week away. So how do you plan to celebrate Black
Friday?
Do you have your list written, your mall trips mapped? Your
traditional midday meal — turkey leftover sandwiches and warmed-over
stuffing — planned? The real meaning of the season comes clear when we
finally settle the annual fight with our loved ones over whether to hit
Toys-R-Us, Target, Best Buy, or Sears first, and agree to gamble on
whether any of the bargains will still be there when we arrive at the
second and third store. Good times.
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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Klingle Road: The Issue That Just Doesn’t Go
Away
Jack McKay, jack.mckay@verizon.net
The ANC redistricting task force reports are in. Here’s an oddity:
the Ward Four task force has defined an ANC 4A that extends south of the
Ward Four boundary, incorporating a quarter-mile strip of Ward One. Why?
It’s that dreadful, interminable Klingle Road dispute again, rising
from the dead, perhaps to plague us anew.
I won’t bore readers with the details. Suffice it to note that the
Ward Four boundary at the southeast corner, adjacent to Wards One and
Three, is where Piney Branch Parkway intersects (almost) Rock Creek.
From that point, “southwest along Rock Creek to the centerline of
Klingle Road,” is the boundary line between Wards One and Three. It’s
not part of Ward Four, which ended up there at Piney Branch, a quarter
mile to the north.
But tell that to the Ward Four ANC redistricting folks, who have
defined an ANC 4A that extends “south on Rock Creek to Klingle Road;
east on Klingle Road to Beach Drive; northeast on Beach Drive to Piney
Branch Parkway.” What’s this funny little extension south of Piney
Branch, a narrow and unoccupied piece of Rock Creek Park, to Klingle
Road, about? Essentially, one ANC 4A commissioner wants to have a
physical connection to Klingle Road, believing that will give that ANC
standing to continue to fight to reopen Klingle Road. In 2008, the
District Council put this in legislation: the closed portion of Klingle
Road “shall not be reopened to the public for motor vehicle traffic.”
Not everyone is ready to accept that, apparently. Happily, the Office of
Planning has spotted this little ploy, and presumably will compel ANC 4A
to limit its dimensions to Ward Four.
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Trial of DC Democracy Activists Ends
James Jones, jjones@dcvote.org
Today in DC Superior Courtroom 101, Associate Judge Robert Morin
delivered a guilty verdict for seven of the eight DC democracy
activists. Each of those found guilty were ordered to pay small fines
and given no jail time. The defendants were charged with disregarding a
police order and other charges. The eight were among seventy-two people
who engaged in civil disobedience in April. At that time, hundreds of
democracy activists protested federal budget language banning the
District government from expending its own local tax dollars to provide
abortions for poor women. DC Vote praises their courageous stand for
democracy.
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I agree with DC for Democracy [themail, November 13] that outside
employment for councilmembers should be banned. The blatant conflicts of
interest now seen must be stopped. Just announcing that you have a
conflict of interest without any sanction or consequence, as is now the
practice, is virtually meaningless. We see David Catania receiving
$12,000 per month from OpenBand, LLC; Jack Evans receiving $240,000 per
year from law firm Patton Boggs; Michael Brown introducing gambling
legislation, seemingly on behalf of the law firm he received $200,000
from; and the list goes on. One of the qualifications for DC Council
should not be self-enrichment. And Muriel Bowser, in overseeing the
ethics legislation, has serious conflicts of interest herself, as
reported in the Washington Times, http://tinyurl.com/7eqaco3.
Public service means just that, and putting some teeth behind our ethics
laws, including an independent ethics panel with enforcement power, is
the right thing to do.
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Dear Dorothy and Gary, like it our not, you are “voices crying in
the wilderness” — in this instance, the wilderness is a sink of
corruption. Swimming in the soup, there are many citizens who count on
themail to keep them informed and up to date on the latest underhanded,
“pro-private profit at public expense” projects in our city.
Years back, I was one voice seeking to expose Mr. Hill, part of the
task force to investigate libraries in other cities, for his
unacknowledged role in undermining our main library. I tried (briefly)
to be part of “rowing the boat toward clean government” and made a
few strokes with an oar. At eighty years, I’m re-retired, but I feel
called to action by the renewed threat to replace our main library, a
public resource, with private development.
I admit that my political activism is used up visiting McPherson
Square and Liberty Plaza, and joining various extended demonstrations.
Usually these demonstrations simply express where we stand, but
sometimes they gain ground — like the recent rally to reject the Tar
Sands pipeline. Anyway, I hope our younger citizens are aware of the
continuing threat to the main Library and that they will attend the
meeting announced in themail. Thanks for your integrity and
perseverance,
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MLK Library — UIL Panel
Tom Eitler, VP Urban Land Institute, thomas.eitler@uil.org
The Urban Land Institute is honored to work with the DC Public
Library and Downtown Business Improvement District to assess the value
and potential of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Library building.
We have organized review panels for city governments, nonprofits, and
educational and medical institutions across the country including a few
in the District — St. Elizabeth’s Campus, Great Streets, and, most
recently, Gallaudet University.
It’s important to point out that ULI intentionally identifies and
recruits panel members who do not reside in the area in which we’re
studying. We do that to ensure that there is an unbiased and objective
review. It is, however, critical to the work of the panel to get input
from as many local sources as possible. So the panel will spend this
week reviewing demographic and trend data in the District of Columbia,
touring the Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Library building and the
surrounding area, and interviewing more than sixty business, civic,
elected, and community leaders who live, work, and/or do business in the
District.
We will present our findings and recommendations to the Library Board
and staff. But ultimately the city’s leadership and the community will
decide if or how our recommendations will be used. For more information
on how the ULI plans and conducts advisory services panels, please visit
http://www.uli.org/CommunityBuilding/AdvisoryService.aspx
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Call for Black History Month Nomination
Ingrid Drake, ingridnatasha@yahoo.com
During its annual Black History month gala, in February 2012,
M.O.M.I.E.’s TLC will recognize heroes and sheroes in our community by
making awards in the honor of four great people. To select a phenomenal
group of 2012 award winners, we are seeking your nominations for people
who are honoring the legacy of either: 1) Jak Beula Dodd, a Black
British entrepreneur and social worker who creates resources for young
black and white working class youth; 2) Sonia Umanzor, a DC-based Latina
human rights activist that used her nursing skills to help many people
in El Salvador and helped to found La Clinica del Pueblo and worked for
many years at Mary’s Center; 3) Ed Roberts, ‘father’ of the
disability rights movement who fought for the rights of highly disabled
students to attend universities and gain employment; and 4) Lyda Conley,
the first Native American woman admitted to argue a case before the US
Supreme Court, who is notable for her campaign to prevent the sale of
the Huron Cemetery in Kansas City.
By December 2, please E-mail ingridnatasha@yahoo.com
the name of the individual you would like to nominate, as well as a one
to four sentence explanation of how they are honoring the legacy of one
of the four great people. Please limit your nominations to heroes and
sheroes living in the DC metro area, and whose work has not been
publicly recognized with awards.
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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
STAR Program at Lovin’ Life, Sundays through
December 11
Richard Urban, richardurban@ultrateenchoice.org
Join us for the STAR Program at Lovin’ Life each Sunday through
December 11. The purpose of the STAR Program at Lovin’ Life is to help
youth find lasting happiness by living a purposeful life that honors
sexual abstinence, healthy relationships, and a God-centered world view.
The program is designed for young adults plus middle school and high
school youth. Program sessions are taught by STAR (Students Teaching
Abstinence and Responsibility) Guides from Howard University and others
who are committed to abstinence. Dinner is included in the program.
Youth learn to be peer counselors, and eleventh and twelfth grade youth
can apply to be assistant STAR Guides and receive community service
hours Please go to http://www.ultrateenchoice.org
to find out more, or call Richard at 558-5550. The STAR Program happens
each Sunday from 5:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. through December 11 at the
Emergence Community Arts Collective, 733 Euclid Street, NW.
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Smartphones and Apps: Doing What Your Computer
Does and More, November 19
Barbara Conn, bconn@cpcug.org
The smartphone has become a must-have device for on-the-go
entrepreneurs and consultants. Can you really set up a smartphone to do
everything you do regularly on your computer? And, with thousands of
available free and very inexpensive apps, how do you avoid pitfalls and
stay safe when enhancing your phone with apps? Independent software
developer Steve Auerbach will open the discussion by describing the many
ways a smartphone is more than just a phone and then discuss and demo
some of the smartphone applications he uses, including business apps,
calendar apps, and, of course, his personal favorites. Join us and share
your experiences — good and bad — with the smartphone apps you’ve
used.
Gather your colleagues, friends, and family members and bring them
this Saturday, November 19, at 1:00 p.m. (check-in: 12:45 p.m.) to this
talk presented by the Capital PC User Group (CPCUG) Entrepreneurs and
Consultants Special Interest Group (E&C SIG). This free event will
be held at the Cleveland Park Library (First Floor Large Meeting Room)
at 3310 Connecticut Avenue, NW, just over a block from the Cleveland
Park Metrorail Station on the Red Line. To RSVP, send E-mail to bconn@cpcug.org.
CPCUG is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational organization.
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