Change in the System

Dear Changers:

I’ve demoted my introductory piece to reply to Gabe Goldberg’s message, below.

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Here’s the local source we haven’t heard from in the burgeoning scandal about General David Petraeus’ affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell, and the hook that makes it into a street-level DC story. Vernon Loeb, The Washington Post’s Metro editor, is Broadwell’s coauthor for the biography. What did he know, and when did he know it? What insights did he have into the relationship between Broadwell and Petraeus? Did he have the bombshell story of their affair, and not disclose it? Or did he just work on the manuscript, to whip Broadwell’s academic thesis into a publishable book, and not know anything about their relationship?

Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com

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Elections and Change (or Not)
Richard Layman, rlaymandc@yahoo.com

I wrote a blog entry about the at large election here, http://urbanplacesandspaces.blogspot.com/2012/11/dc-at-large-city-council-election-one.html, making the point that different cogs within the system (in this case David Grosso or Kwame Brown) can pick off crippled incumbents, but that their elections don’t necessarily signify substantive change within the overall political system. The issue of electing alternatives to traditional Democrats has to be taken up at the Ward level probably, and requires an almost permanent campaign to be successful. And it can be aided by special election opportunities. However, the experience of the 2006-2007 election cycle, when the mayor and council chair inserted their machines into the process of electing their successors, has shown that ward level politics operates on a different plane, one that is citywide, compared to the time before 2006.

This is in part why elsewhere I have suggested that the solution to the current dominance of a particular paradigm within the system may be restructuring the city council, by adding one seat to every Ward and four at-large seats, while also making the council positions truly part time in terms of pay. Adding one councilmember to every ward would open up local politics within wards, making a single person less dominant compared to the current situation (http://urbanplacesandspaces.blogspot.com/2011/02/highly-paid-dc-city-council-and.html). But I know when I suggested this in a previous entry in themail there was some pushback.

These kinds of changes could also be accompanied by a change to the election format, using a form of ranked choice voting and changes in how ANCs focus their work and on building their capacity to be effective. I have one recent piece on the ANC subject and I intend to write a couple more (one on refocusing ANCs in part specifically around community planning and the other on California’s Civil Grand Jury system as a model for oversight over government action), http://urbanplacesandspaces.blogspot.com/2012/10/dcs-advisory-neighborhood-commissions.html.

Note that while I am too afraid to mention the officeholder specifically, I would argue that one ward councilmember up for reelection in the 2014 election cycle could be picked off in a manner not unlike how Grosso defeated Brown and Kwame Brown defeated Harold Brazil. But an opponent would have to be very strong with limited weaknesses and should already be starting, and probably register as a Statehood-Green in order to be able to campaign for the entire election cycle (the April 2014 primary is only about seventeen months out). Similarly, if Muriel Bowser is elected mayor in 2014 (something that I tend to expect), it sets up a scenario for potential change in Ward 4. Plus, are the circumstances for filling the at-large seat opened up by the ascension of Phil Mendelson to council chair comparable to those in 1997, which saw the election of David Catania to the council, over the well-connected Arrington Dixon? Things in local politics remain interesting, even if not much second order change is on the horizon.

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Multiple Parties and Statehood
Michael Bindner, mikeybdc@yahoo.com

If we really want statehood (and we won’t get it as a one-party state), we need to have multiparty representation at the ward level and do away with allowing independents from running for the at-large or ward seats. There should only be three at-large seats total and the chair should be elected by the council from among them. That will assure the kind of debate that makes bipartisan government possible, keeping everyone honest (and allowing the moderator to fly his Republican flag more openly). The movement also needs to deal with the question of nonresident income taxes by shifting from sales taxes and individual income taxes to a Value Added Tax and a VAT-like Net Business Receipts Tax, with share percentage going to neighboring states, but something from every position going to New Columbia. In order to collect maximum revenue, the residual District should only be those areas controlled by the Architect of the Capitol, excluding the Judicial buildings and the Library of Congress. This is no loss, because Hill employees can file taxes in the home state of the member. Finally, H.R. 51 should include as part of the ratification process a vote by the Maryland General Assembly to accept statehood or move for retrocession — this vote occurring prior to the final ratification vote of the modified New Columbia Constitution/Retrocession City Charter plebiscite in DC.

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Balanced View on Driving Vs. Alternatives
Gabe Goldberg, gabe at gabegold dot com

Today’s Post: "Getting Our Leaders on Board with a Variety of Transit Options," David Alpert, http://tinyurl.com/anov2zy. "Certainly many people in our region live in places without a variety of transportation options, and frequently they drive out of necessity. To extol the virtues of having choices is not to shame those without those choices. Nobody wants to ban cars or force people out of cars — accusations that have been falsely flung at advocates of transportation diversity. In fact, it’s good for drivers if more new residents aren’t driving and thus aren’t competing for limited space on roads. In making public policy, our leaders must recognize that others might live in very different types of communities, in different sizes and shapes of housing, with different transportation options, and that they do so happily."

Better than repeatedly ranting that any support for non-auto transport options is a plot to eliminate automobiles. (I’m a driver, only use Metro occasionally, and am annoyed at some things DC does to drivers. But still . . . .)

[I could be convinced that Greater Greater Washington and David Alpert had a balanced view and weren’t against drivers and their cars if they had ever advanced one proposal that would improve traffic flow or increase parking availability, or done anything that would make it easier for people who own cars and drive in DC. Instead, all of their proposals are to eliminate parking spaces on the public streets and in private buildings, to make driving on DC streets more difficult and cumbersome, to lower speed limits, to increase the number of traffic and parking tickets given to drivers, and to reduce the number of people who can afford cars or use them conveniently. These steps don’t support alternative transportation methods; they obstruct driving. Alpert makes the cynical argument that by making driving more expensive and difficult, thus forcing many people out of their cars, he’s making life easier for the fewer remaining drivers. That’s not doing drivers any favors. It’s like claiming that raising food prices in grocery stores helps the people who can still afford food by making sure there’ll be a good supply left for them. — Gary Imhoff]

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InTowner November Issue Content
P.L. Wolff, intowner@intowner.com

The November issue content is now posted at http://www.intowner.com, including the issue PDF in which will be found the primary news stories, community news, letters to the editor, and museum exhibition reviews — plus all photos and other images. Not included in the PDF but linked directly from the home page are the new What Once Was feature (this month about the historic Lenthall houses), which has succeeded the long-running Scenes from the Past, as well as Recent Real Estate Sales, Reservations Recommended, and Food in the ’Hood. In addition, subsequent to the publication of the PDF information on public meetings in Shaw was received and included on the community news web page.

This month’s lead stories include the following: 1) "Logan Circle House Tour Celebrates Neighborhood’s Historic and Modern" and 2) "New Restaurants and Bars Along 11th Street in Upper Columbia Heights Are Signs of Neighborhood Gentrification." Our editorial this month focuses on the problem of bicycle riding on sidewalks outside the central business district, where they are now prohibited (From the Publisher’s Desk). Your thoughts are welcome and can be sent by clicking the comment link at the bottom of the web page or by E-mail to letters@intowner.com. The next issue PDF will publish early in the morning of December 14 (the second Friday of the month, as usual). For more information, either send an E-mail to newsroom@intowner.com or call 234-1717.