Baby Bells
Dear Reliables:
Great customer service and reliability used to be the hallmark of
AT&T, Ma Bell, and also of all the little Baby Bells after the
breakup. When you picked up the telephone, you got a dial tone and you
could make a call. If you ever had a problem, the company repairman
would arrive within a few hours, and he would fix the problem before he
left. That golden age exists today only as a dim memory.
In this issue, as has happened several times in the past, themail
correspondents report that reliability, and especially customer service,
are not terms that apply to Verizon, StarPower, or Comcast. The services
these companies provide are great as long as they work, but when
something is broken it stays broken, and getting anything fixed is
nothing but trouble. The DSL won't stay connected, the cable will be
restored in a few weeks or whenever they're ready to get around to it,
the mistake on the bill will never get corrected, and the larger
business practices — well, as Jonetta Rose Barras reports below, they
raise other questions. Does anyone have any practical suggestions for
how we deal with this? Obviously, the single customer is powerless.
Today's business philosophy is that the customer is never right and
always a pain in the ass, and the company would rather just get rid of a
customer who complains too much. So who in DC government is really out
there fighting for us? The Office of Cable Television? The Office of the
People's Counsel? Anybody at DCRA? Please, let's have the testimony from
anyone who has fought the good fight successfully with the help of DC
government.
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
###############
In the early days of themail, there were a couple of social hours so
that contributors could meet. Any chance of having another social hour
anytime soon?
[Anyone else interested? Any suggestions for what, where, and when?
— Gary Imhoff]
###############
Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Smith Go to Washington
Tom Matthes, tommatthes@earthlink.net
Sam Smith's question about the constitutionality of the DC Police
chief's sealing off a large section of downtown DC is a sound one, even
if you don't approve of the protesters. The question of how the
executive branch of government is to handle emergencies goes back to the
ancient Roman practice of a term-limited dictatorship. In modern times,
as James Burnham put it, “In a great emergency, the executive carries
out an extraordinary action, not foreseen in the established law. . . .
If he and the community recognize that he has acted extra-legally,
outside of and even against the law, then the law itself remains
supreme, objective, inviolate. The proper law-making bodies can, if they
see fit, approve his act ex post facto, and indemnify him for the
consequences of its illegality.”
But the unrest at the World Bank/IMF meetings are no longer in the
emergency category; they have become routine. Unless the City Council or
Congress review the police actions for their propriety, our democratic
rule of law is indeed disappearing. President Lincoln reported his
suspension of Habeas Corpus to Congress during the Civil War. The mayor
and police chief should follow Mr. Lincoln's example. The legislative
branch should then review the appropriate laws to see if they need to be
altered, or whether the police need a new approach.
###############
Reasonable Measures
Gregory Diaz, zaidmot@aol.com
Oh, please. If anyone comes across as “hysterical,” it's Sam
Smith, not the Police Department. Martial law? Hogwash! Police and other
public authorities always have had authority to limit access at various
times and places to protect broader public health and safety. Examples
range from quarantine to fire lines (including the right to destroy
neighboring property to stop fires), to curfews. What's really happening
here is that an international band of ragamuffin radicals and anarchists
are throwing themselves down and holding their breathes because the
police won't let them trash our city for their vague and hopelessly
contradictory cause.
There is a more serious subtext to this overblown hyperbole. The fact
is that Smith is right that there is a serious problem of over-militarization
of policing in America and there has been a massive degradation of our
Constitutional rights. But trying to blow the penny balloon of
reasonable safety measures — taken in the wake of demonstrated mass
vandalism — into a case for concern about this real degradation of
rights is just so much overblown hot air.
###############
I am totally in favor of freedom of speech. However, this does not
include the freedom to cause property damage and mass disruption of
others people's rights. We should not confuse freedom with license. The
protests related to the World Bank have had a violent and destructive
bent. If serious destruction of property occurs, would that be
considered prudent preparation by the MPD? However, I agree that any
actions limiting freedom of speech should be taken with caution and
using proper legal means.
###############
On August 9, Mayor Williams and the DC Sports and Entertainment
Commission held a press conference to announce that the District had
“entered into a 10-year agreement with National Grand Prix Holdings,
LLC, to stage the 'National Grand Prix of Washington, DC' — an
international, annual motorsports event and festival on the grounds of
Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium” (http://www.dcwatch.com/govern/sports010809.htm).
The first race, both Trans-Am and Le Mans, is scheduled for July 19-21,
2002, on a 1.7-mile race course on the RFK parking lot near Oklahoma
Avenue and Benning Road, NE.
A quick review of what has been made public about the proposal
indicates that: 1) a temporary race course and reviewing stands will be
erected on the RFK parking lot; 2) a major segment of the track will
weave around concrete and steel pillars supporting the aboveground Metro
rail tracks; and 3) the race course will be directly across the street
from homes on Oklahoma Avenue. 4) The three-day race will dramatically
affect the noise level and create high levels of air pollution in the
middle of the Kingman Park and River Terrace communities. 5) The race
will be held in the middle of the July which, according to the Council
of Governments (COG), is the worst month for air quality in the
metropolitan region, with the most code-red health advisories because of
high ozone levels. (On code-red days, COG discourages all daytime
driving and refueling.) 6) The event will eliminate virtually all
parking on the RFK lots, but the entrance to the event is on the far
side of RFK Stadium, a great distance from the nearest Metro station,
making it likely that attendees will park on the neighborhood streets
rather than use public transportation. 7) No environmental authority --
not COG, nor the DC Department of Health's Office of Environmental
Health, not the Mayor's Special Assistant for Environmental Issues, was
consulted prior to the August 9 press conference, although planning for
the project began in 1999.
DC Code Sections 6-981 through 6-984 require the Mayor and the Sports
Commission to prepare an environmental impact statement for the event.
It is clear that the event raises serious concerns regarding safety, the
environment, cost, and the livability of the neighborhood.
Environmentalists and those concerned about public health should demand
that the required environmental impact statement be prepared and
submitted for public review.
###############
Fire Protection
Mark Richards, Dupont East, mark@bisconti.com
My building recently suffered a fire on the 9th floor, and smoke and
water damage for those below. The resident whose unit was destroyed was
out of town when the fire started. The DCFD successfully extinguished it
once it was reported. According to CDC stats (1996-1998), 7 percent of
unintentional injuries in DC (38 percent of total injuries — 62
percent were intentional) were from fire/burn (2.54 deaths per 100,000).
Compared to homicide — 51.72 per 100,000 — fire seems to be under
pretty good control. According to Edwin Melvin Williams (Washington
Past and Present, A History, 1930), Washington City’s first fire
was in a house next to the War Office in November 1800, followed by one
in January 1801 in the Treasury Office. The Treasury Office had the only
fire engine, which put out the fire. Federalists had just lost power.
Republicans accused them of trying to destroy public records, but a
Congressional investigation found otherwise. Around this time, the idea
of fire insurance emerged. One of the first matters Washington City’s
first “Home Rule” government took up in 1802 was fire protection --
Congress had delegated to the mayor the authority to buy three fire
engines — to house near Centre Market, West Market, and East Market.
Perhaps this can be considered the first milestone in the struggle
between Congress and our local government over appropriations: no
appropriation was made for the fire engines.
City leaders required every household to keep on hand one leather
bucket per story of ones home. Hoping for private means to pay for fire
engines, leaders divided Washington into four wards (different from the
city wards) and encouraged each ward to organize a fire company and buy
their own engine, and this they did. Each ward picked a fire
director/commissioner. In 1804, the Union Fire Company was organized in
Rhodes’ Hotel, DC’s first “City Hall.” Other companies organized
that year: the Columbian Fire Engine Company (organized at Stelle’s
Tavern and located next to the Capitol) and the Anacostia Fire Company.
In 1805, residents memorialized Congress to establish fire companies
with fire engines and ladders at public expense, to protect federal
property. Congress didn’t give any money, but gave the fire engine
that belonged to the Treasury Office to the Union Fire Company. In 1811,
the city spent public money for the first time on fire protection to
supplement money raised by the Columbian for a fire engine. Another
company, Perseverance, was organized in 1814. The personnel of the
companies were volunteers, and when they arrived at a fire, citizens
formed lines to pass buckets from the water supply to the engine. One
problem was that rowdy men and boys fought and played at these events.
The firehouses increasingly became a place where boys gathered, which
Bryan described as “centers of gang mischief and disorder.”
Apparently, they would go to churches and yell “fire” and watch the
frightened crowd rush out. Sometimes they set fires so they could run
the fire engine. Different companies were rivals and sometimes broke out
in mob riots. Fire protection had become “fire sport.” In 1852, the
City Council condemned the volunteer system, but the problem wasn’t
solved until the Civil War drew the rowdy boys from the fire companies.
The City Council established the Washington Fire Department in 1862 with
salaried chief and assistant engineers. In 1864, they established a paid
department under a Board of Fire Commissioners. For a brief time, until
1869, the federal and Washington City government shared costs. The DCFD
has a history posted on its website: http://www.dcfd.com.
###############
Getting City Help and Getting Even
Deborah C. Fort, fortdc@earthlink.net
Some months back, Gary Imhoff solicited bouquets for the District
government. I have several to pass out. An abusive bully of a contractor
walked off our job unfinished about a year ago. Unfortunately, we’d
mostly paid him. After hiring other people, all of them infinitely nicer
and more competent than he, to finish the job, I went after him pro
se (lawyerless) through the DC court and regulatory agencies.
Personnel in both departments were exemplary and through their efforts
and our evidence, we got a finding against the contractor which made his
bonding company reimburse us directly the $5,000 he owed us and his
unpaid staff.
Specifically, I got expert help through the Office of Tax and Revenue
and through three offices in the Department of Consumer and Regulatory
Affairs. I then filed a formal complaint with that office and went to
Small Claims Court, which handles claims up to $5,000, to pursue the
money. At the suggestion of three regulatory personnel, I also filed for
preliminary, temporary, and permanent restraining orders and alerted our
local police, who promptly came to our home and took a “notebook
report.” The contractor kept none of the Court dates, and, by the time
I had a permanent stay away order, the Department’s investigator had
investigated my allegations, gathered 30 pages of evidence and sent them
to the contractor’s bonding company, which immediately cut me a check
for the full amount. The work of District personnel not only recouped
our loss but also kept me from having to have any face-to-face contact
with an abusive man who told us that he was an unmedicated (“not even
aspirin”) manic depressive. His threats, confined to telephone lines,
stopped once he received the summons. This distance was a huge comfort
to me, my family, and my friends and neighbors.
Kudos in particular to Steve Allen, Investigator, Office of
Compliance, Investigations Division; Deborah Britt, Dispute Resolution
Specialist, Office of Compliance and Enforcement Division; and Meredith
Scott, Acting Program Manager, Business Service Division, Business and
Professional Licensing Administration (all in the Department of Consumer
and Regulatory Affairs); Senior Judge Eugene H. Hamilton; Associate
Judge Linda Turner; Commissioner Judith Macaluso; and Charles A. Pinnix,
Assistant Court Clerk for the Judge in Chambers (all members of the
District Superior and Small Claims Courts); Stella Hodge, Problem
Resolution Officer, Office of Tax and Revenue; and Michelle Cole, Office
of Councilmember Kathy Patterson.
###############
Harold Foster asks why the Constitution abolished the slave trade in
1809 rather than 1810. This is an interesting question which goes to the
mindset of our founders. They fully believed that slavery would be
economically unviable by that date, and that the nation would have grown
out of it by then. They were basically putting off the issue until the
south could make all the profit it could. Then Eli Whitney invented the
cotton gin, making slavery very profitable, and making war the only way
to finally end slavery.
###############
I want to concur with Steve Chaggaris about the fate of UDC, and
express my concern that people seem to think that any problems that
occur in municipal government happen overnight. When DC General was a
hot topic, many were quick to blame the Williams administration and the
Control Board. While this may be an easy scapegoat, the problems at DC
General were the result of years of neglect, lack of foresight about the
evolution of health care, and financial mismanagement. But let me stop
here. I don't want to start up this debate again.
With respect to WDCU, its fate was affected by the unstable financial
health of the University of the District of Columbia (UDC). The good
news was that WDCU was in good financial health. The not-so-good news
was that, as a result, it became a viable asset that could be sold to
help alleviate UDC's financial difficulties. Like DC General, many of
these difficulties are the result of years of neglect from external
sources: the lack of funding for the University at levels that would
help it become a world-class higher education institution; frequent
changes in UDC's leadership; the complexities of running an institution
that has a dual role, one as a community/junior college, and one that is
to serve as a state university, to name a few. So we do everyone a
disservice if we try to dump all the blame on one individual, the
Control Board, the UDC Board of Trustees, etc.
UDC is one of the hidden gems in the region. It has a very strong
math department, offering courses for those who need remedial work to
those who want to pursue high mathematics. It has one of the best
mortuary science programs in the country. Many of those who go through
the program not only end up with outstanding training, but are heavily
recruited to work with coroners throughout the country. I think that the
University has the only Ph.D. program in the country for gospel sacred
music. The nursing program is strong, with a focus on community and
public health. Many of its graduates work in urban hospitals that serve
underserved populations. Rather than blame, I'd like to find out what we
as a community can do to help those who were the backbone of the
station; i.e., Ernest White, the former moderator of “Crosstalk” and
the station's Sunday gospel program “Blessed Assurance.”
###############
Paul Penniman complained about his DSL connection's getting cut by
Verizon. I would recommend that he start by capturing everything in
writing and take transcripts of phone conversations. He may also want to
send a complaint directly to the President or Chair of the Board of
Verizon or send copies to him at the very least. After three documented
good-faith attempts to resolve the issue, he may want to file a
complaint with the Better Business Bureau. There is an online form
located at http://www.bbbonline.org/consumer/complaint.asp.
###############
My StarPower Experience
Shaun Snyder, Chevy Chase, shaunsnyder@starpower.net
I have Starpower for my cable Internet and cable TV. The service is
good — when it works. Through my extensive contact with Starpower, I
have come to the conclusion that the company is totally incompetent.
They incorrectly installed my cable modems, so one didn't work for
months. When they increased their channel lineup recently, many channels
weren't working. Then the cable went out. They came out to fix it, then
"hit" my box which knocked out the service again, so they came
out to fix it again, then hit the box again, then came out again, and
finally stopped hitting my box — so it's been working since. Each time
all they did was give me a new cable box. And for months now I've been
telling them to bill my credit card automatically, and each month they
send me a paper bill wanting me to return a check. And when you call up
to discuss your bill, that is not one of the telephone menu options, so
you end up waiting on hold to speak to someone who tells you they can't
help you, and they transfer you around for a while. I don't have their
phone service, but my neighbors across the street do. Their service went
out so I called Starpower to tell them. Starpower told me that my
neighbors (who didn't have phone service) would have to call and tell
them that.
###############
DSL — Use Toadnet While You Can!
Ken Katz, Forest Hills, kskatz@toad.net
Firstly, I have no connection to ToadNet other than as a satisfied
customer for over three years or so, nor do I have a vested interest in
its prosperity other than its continued survival. Secondly, I have to
admit, without any extrapolation, that I'm sort of in the tech biz, but
for the greater public good I might hasten to add. Disclaimers and
context thus fulfilled: if you want good, reliable (only downtime I've
had in two years of DSL from ToadNet was a failure that started at
Verizon), high quality DSL, get the local ToadNet (www.toad.net).
They cost a bit more per month, and you will need (if you don't already
have it) inside wiring for a second unused phone line for the DSL line.
However, in my experience of helping friends deal with Verizon, your
cost per usable kilobyte is way less. And if you want a hardware
firewall (and you should), Verizon will fight you the whole way, whereas
Toad will help you the whole way.
That's it — it's not as important to me as Sam Smith's keen
observations, nor the clear rebuttal to seemingly intelligent, but
learnedly unbased in the facts, arguments about the tenth amendment and
DC statehood. But I hate to see my brethren suffer so. Please, see Toad
or no longer share your pain; for it is — whilst ToadNet is in
existence and you have received this notice -- your own fault if you
choose otherwise.
###############
Comcast, which earlier this year took over District Cablevision,
promising improvements, seems to have become embroiled in as much
controversy in its short nine months of residency as its predecessor.
Not unlike TCI and the man who served as its corporate face, Robert
Johnson, Comcast came into town lining pockets with plenty of cash. It
donated to several of those mayoral fundraisers currently under
investigation by the city’s Inspector General and the Office of
Campaign Finance. Government sources say the corporation added more than
$50,000 to the kitty collected for mayoral activities associated with
last year’s Republican National Convention in Philadelphia.
But Comcast executives are learning that funding pet projects --
proper and perhaps otherwise -- of elected officials doesn’t provide
the corporation with immunity from community ire. Within the past four
months, the corporation has fallen on the wrong side of residents in
Southeast and Northwest and of workers for its prime cable installation
and repair company, Killian Cable Contractor.
The Wingates Tenant Association in Ward 8 took issue in July with
Comcast and the apartment complex’s management company. Residents were
essentially ordered to make their units available for Comcast workers to
enter. If they failed to follow the management directive, they were told
the locks would be changed on their apartments and they would be charged
$75. Robin Denise Ijames, president of the tenant association and
chairperson of Advisory Neighborhood Commission 8D, sent a letter to
Comcast officials, a copy of which was obtained by yours truly. She says
that several other residents in large apartment complexes also are
concerned. The problem is choice. With Comcast wiring units without
their permission, residents say they would be locked into a deal with
that corporation. “No one has the right to dictate what companies our
residents decide to give their money to,” says Ijames.
Comcast spokesperson Mitchell Schmale says the company is “going
through the District upgrading with fiber-optic cable.” He says it has
“stopped work” at the Wingates and “has moved to other properties
in the area until issues between the management company and residents
are resolved.”
Comcast also has stopped work at its transmission center on Piney
Branch Road (one of five it is planning for the city), after two
strongly worded letters by Ward 4 D.C. Councilmember Adrian Fenty and
citizen complaints forced the city’s Department of Consumer and
Regulatory Affairs (DCRA) to reverse itself. It seems some agencies
never learn from their mistakes. DCRA’s zoning administrator
apparently approved Comcast’s application, although the area in which
the transmission center is located is zoned R1-residential. Both actions
-- the Comcast application and the DCRA approval — were taken without
any notice to Fenty or his constituency. “It’s a slap in the
face,” says Fenty.
Schmale says the corporation followed appropriate procedures, but
that it is adhering to the stop work order. He says Comcast has applied
for a zoning variance and will abide by whatever decision is made by the
Board of Zoning and Adjustment, which for some reason has fast tracked
the public hearing scheduling it for early October, although residents
and Fenty have requested a later date. Schmale says there will be costs
associated with moving the center, if that is the final determination,
which sounds like yet again District taxpayers may have to bear
responsibility for mistakes made by bureaucrats who have taken the
phrase business-friendly to the new heights.
Meanwhile, workers with Killian Cable Contractors are complaining of
not being paid for months on end. Ron Killian did not return several
telephone calls to his office. Schmale says the company doesn’t have
anything to do with the payroll practices of a private business. Except
that government sources say the reason workers can’t get paid is
because Comcast hasn’t paid its contractor. Schmale says Killian does
work for other companies, suggesting that he should pay employees
providing Comcast installations from those funds. Schmale could not say
how much Comcast owes Killian; he does admit, however, that the cable
giant has been “reviewing some invoices, part of a regular process.”
Which sounds to me like Killian hasn’t been getting its money on time.
What does it sound like to you?
###############
CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS AND CLASSES
Coming to Ford's Theater this January 23 through February 17, the
Tony-Award-winning comedy by Herb (“A Thousand Clowns”) Gardner
“I'm Not Rappaport.” Judd Hirsch recreates his Tony winning
performance as the dreamer and socialist "Nat," one of two
81-year-olds who take on the world from a Central Park bench. Tickets
range from $27 to $43, and may be purchased over the Internet (http://www.Tickets.com),
by phone 1-800-955-5566, or at our Box Office window at 511 10th Street,
NW. There has been no advertising yet. Readers of themail will have
first crack at the best seats!
###############
IMC Media Trainings and Workshops
Alan Bushnell, bushnell@cs.oberlin.edu
The DC Independent Media Center will be conducting a weekend of media
trainings and workshops September 7-9 in preparation for providing
coverage of events around the IMF and World Bank meetings at the end of
September. You can make the media and tell the story of global justice
joining hundreds of independent journalists from DC and all over the
world. During the meetings the DC Independent Media Center will produce
daily video news pieces to be distributed nationally via satellite and
on cable access stations, program a continuous audio webcast that will
be translated into several languages and carried on FM throughout the
world, run a web site that will receive hundreds of thousands of
visitors, print a daily newspaper. The DC IMC is an all volunteer
effort, so you can take part in making all of this happen.
Schedule: Reception, Friday, September 7, 7-9 p.m., Cada Vez
Technology Center, 1438 U Street, NW. Meet other media producers and
network. We will also screen the latest Indymedia Newsreal segment.
Saturday, September 8, 11 a.m.-5 p.m., trainings and workshops, Cada Vez
Technology Center. After brief introductory remarks, each working group
will conduct a skills training in a particular medium. Each working
group will conduct hands on planning for their coverage of during the
meetings focusing on building production teams. Sunday, September 9, 10
a.m.-5 p.m., story development and workshops, Josephine Butler Parks
Center, 2437 15th Street, NW. The morning session will focus on the
stories that need to be told, from AIDS in the developing world, to
connecting the local struggle with DC General to the global justice
movement, to alternative economic systems. Bring your ideas! The story
session will be followed by a series of workshops, ranging from legal
issues for journalists, an overview of events, and local DC issues.
All events are free and open to the public, with a suggested donation
of $10 for the entire weekend. For more information on the weekend of
trainings and workshops and to sign up via our registration form please
visit http://dc.indymedia.org/media-gathering.php3.
Questions? Call 452-5936 or E-mail dc@indymedia.org.
###############
CLASSIFIEDS — HELP WANTED
The Jubilee Enterprise Higher Achievers After- School Program is
currently hiring tutors for the 2001-2002 academic year to work at its
three affiliated properties in Southeast Washington. The sites served by
the Higher Achievers After-School Program include Trenton Park, Benning
Park, and Howard Hill. It runs from September 2001 to June 2002. For
additional information, contact Ms. Afrika Abney at 328-1472, ext. 673,
or fax your resume immediately to her at 483-7944.
###############
CLASSIFIEDS — RECOMMENDATIONS
Architect and/or Design-Build Firm
Lorie Leavy, lleavy@email.usps.gov
We're contemplating a two-story addition to an older house. We'd very
much appreciate recommendations for architects or design-build firms
from anyone who has survived a similar project.
###############
Bank Shot
Mark Eckenwiler, eck@ingot.org
Paul Penniman asks for a bank recommendation. For anyone who lives or
works in (or commutes through) the Dupont East, Chinatown, K St./16th,
or Union Station areas, Adams National Bank is convenient and pleasant.
They offer (or at least have offered from time to time) promotional
no-fee/no-interest checking accounts; I also have an interest-bearing
NOW with no fees thanks to my using direct paycheck deposit. I've used
their ATM card in Toronto, Paris & Moscow (as well as various US
locations) without a hitch, and there's a toll-free automated phone
system for balance inquiries and transfers, free copies of statements
via fax, etc. In short, they embody the long-standing principle that
small local banks provide better service than do large business-oriented
banks.
Disclaimer: I have no stake in Adams other than as a hard-to-please
but still very pleased customer of more than four years.
[I'll add my recommendation of OBA Federal Savings and Loan, which
has a branch at 6th and F Streets, NW, across from MCI Center. OBA is a
small, conservative institution, the oldest surviving savings and loan
association in the nation, but it has always offered totally free
checking accounts (even including free checks), and now has Internet
banking. Any other options? — Gary Imhoff]
###############
themail@dcwatch is an E-mail discussion forum that is published every
Wednesday and Sunday. To subscribe, to change E-mail addresses, or to
switch between HTML and plain text versions of themail, use the
subscription form at http://www.dcwatch.com/themail/subscribe.htm.
To unsubscribe, send an E-mail message to themail@dcwatch.com
with “unsubscribe” in the subject line. Archives of past messages
are available at http://www.dcwatch.com/themail.
All postings should also be submitted to themail@dcwatch.com,
and should be about life, government, or politics in the District of
Columbia in one way or another. All postings must be signed in order to
be printed, and messages should be reasonably short — one or two brief
paragraphs would be ideal — so that as many messages as possible can
be put into each mailing.
