Process
Dear Processors:
I had a telephone call today from a knowledgeable resident of Ward 5
who wanted to make some observations about Citizen Summit II. I didn't
ask her permission to use her name, so I'll keep her anonymous for now.
She said that her problem with the Summit, as well as with the meetings
that she has had with the Office of Planning, is that it was “all
process, no substance.” It gave citizens the illusion of democracy,
the feeling of participating, without the reality.
In a democracy, citizens are the sovereign. We rule; we make the
decisions and we set the agenda. In orchestrated affairs like the
Summit, the outcomes are predetermined by the organizers, and the
citizens are props manipulated to arrive at the desired conclusion. A
few decades ago, my caller said, the federal highway lobby was being
frustrated in several cities by citizen activists who didn't want
highways built through the centers of their cities. It responded not by
listening to citizens' complaints and reservations about inner-city
highways, but by developing plans and even a manual for how to run a
citizen consultation process that would result in approval of the
highway plans. The planning process in DC, my caller said, reminded her
of that process. It made citizens into consultants, not rulers;
approvers of decisions, not decision makers; subjects of the agenda, not
agenda setters.
I promise that this is the last I'll bring up the Citizen Summit or
Neighborhood Action for a long while. Let's talk about the weather.
Wasn't it a beautiful weekend? Two wonderful summer days, just snatched
from the jaws of fall. Didn't they make you love living here?
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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Police in the Streets
Ed T. Barron, edtb@aol.com
As I read the on-line Post article this past week from my
office in the Big Apple about the lack of uniformed police in D.C.
neighborhoods, I had only to look out the windows and see a NY City
police officer on every corner of the visible streets in Brooklyn,
below. The same is true of the “Village” in lower Manhattan, where I
spend my nights at a B&B.
Somehow NY City, which has fewer police per capita than DC, can
manage to effect a viable police presence throughout the city in
neighborhoods where there are lots of people milling about. Something is
amiss in DC, and it starts at the top with Chief Ramsey.
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The Post reports today that lawmakers “plan to introduce”
legislation to define addiction at birth as abuse/neglect of a newborn;
I take exception with the verb tense. It should be “have proposed”
since I introduced the legislation on October 2 and, in fact, discussed
it that afternoon with the Post reporter. Defining addiction as
neglect is, as today's story notes, a controversial notion, clearly on
the side of removing kids from addicted parents rather than preserving
families, and is worthy of a thorough public debate. The bill,
co-introduced at my invitation by Councilmembers Allen and Chavous and
cosponsored by others, also mandates interdisciplinary investigations of
child abuse — a “best practice” that the administration has
promised but not yet delivered on; clarifies that we maintain records of
abuse and neglect reports that are serious but not sufficient to charge
someone; and clarifies that abuse/neglect by non-family is, in fact,
abuse/neglect. Those changes are recommended in a Judiciary Committee
investigative report on the role of the Metropolitan Police Department
in child abuse and child deaths.
I was asked at a recent meeting what the Council plans in response to
the Post series on child deaths. Steps we have already taken include: 1)
What is arguably the nation's broadest requirements for disclosing
information on child deaths and near-fatalities; that law has been in
place as an emergency or temporary measure for a year and final reading
on the permanent takes place Tuesday. 2) Legislation creating the Child
Fatality Review Committee (created originally by mayoral order) requires
that any recommendation the Committee makes to a D.C. agency gets a
response from the agency within 30 days, and builds into an agency
director's performance review his/her action on Committee
recommendations. The law requires the Committee itself to publish its
findings.
There is obviously a great deal more to be done to adequately fund
sufficient investigators and social workers, and greatly improve the
quality of the work by public servants. Accountability and sunshine
don't, themselves, protect children, but they improve the odds for kids
at risk.
###############
Political campaign posters have been posted in Southwest DC public
space. The next DC election is in September 2002. DC law prohibits
campaign posters-except for 60 days before an election and for 30 days
after an election. Let's give this politician credit for eagerness, but
before he runs for political office, maybe he should learn, comply with,
and respect DC laws.
[Phil also forwarded another scam E-mail letter asking for help in
getting money out of Nigeria, and asked to be reminded of where to refer
these E-mails. The Internet Fraud Complaint Center, run by the FBI and
the National White Collar Crime Center, investigates all types of
Internet fraud. Its address is http://www.ifccfbi.gov.
Mark Eckenwiler, eck@ingot.org, also
advised that the lead agency for this particular scam, called the
“419” Nigerian bank-transfer scam, is the Secret Service, and that
copies of these E-mails should be forwarded to http://www.treas.gov/usss/alert419.htm.
— Gary Imhoff]
###############
Emergency Management of the Language
Nick Cobbs, ncobbs@erols.com
No wonder Peter La Porte hasn't accomplished anything with the
Emergency Management Agency. His first goal is incomprehensible —
“Complete a multi-hazard identification and risk assessment
prioritizing potential hazards that adversely threaten or impact the
District of Columbia.” If this means he needs to set priorities, I
certainly agree. One of them should be to communicate in English.
###############
InTowner Error Re DCCA House Tour
Article
Peter Wolff, plwolff@intowner.com
The text that appeared under the headline announcing the forthcoming
Dupont Circle Citizens Association house tour next Sunday (Oct. 21), as
well as the sidebar text under its header, was not the correct text. It
was, as it turned out, descriptive of last spring's Columbia Heights
house tour. We sincerely regret that this occurred, apparently due to
one of those incredibly mysterious file corruption episodes that are the
bane of computer users brought about by software glitches, unfortunately
not uncommon at this early stage in the electronic era.
The text that should have made its way into typesetting somehow got
shunted aside as a result of a computer crash and subsequent automatic
file recovery that went awry without our being aware of it at the time,
apparently because the episode occurred during the post-proofreading
stage while the file was in the process of electronic transfer into set
type. The proper article, however, has been restored to its rightful
place on page 6 in the PDF file version of the October issue which is
available by direct link from our home page at www.intowner.com.
The text is also incorporated into the uploaded “Community News”
feature, also linked from our home page.
###############
Citizen Summit: Follow the Money
Dorothy Brizill, dorothy@dcwatch.com
Since Deep Throat advised Woodward and Bernstein, everyone looking
into political affairs has known that the best way to understand what is
really happening is to “follow the money.” There are a couple
interesting monetary footnotes to the Mayor's Citizen Summit II. The
first is that the Summit on October 6 and its preceding Thursday
reception were financed not just by the DC budget, but also by three
“private contributions,” $100,000 from the Annie B. Casey
Foundation, $10,000 from Pepco, and $50,000 from the American Legacy
Foundation (http://www.americanlegacy.org).
The least well known of these three is the American Legacy Foundation,
and its involvement is the most puzzling of all. American Legacy is a
501(c)(3) foundation that was created by the November 1998 Master
Settlement Agreement between state attorneys general and the tobacco
industry. It administers funds received in that agreement, and its sole
purpose is to fund efforts to reduce the use of tobacco products through
research and education. American Legacy's $50,000 was spent mostly on
Thursday's reception, an open bar event that had nothing at all to do
with tobacco use. Last year, American Legacy gave the Williams
administration $30,000 to fund another political event, its Youth
Summit, which also had no relationship to the Foundation's goals or
purposes. Meanwhile, American Legacy has given nothing to local DC
organizations for local projects to reduce smoking (although it has
given $71,000 to Georgetown University to do a national survey of
foundations, $3,195,000 to national organizations that have headquarters
in DC, and has promised $1.1 million in a 3-year matching grant to the
DC Department of Health). It would be interesting to determine if the
Foundation is using the tobacco settlement money to fund similar
non-tobacco-related political projects in other states.
The other monetary footnote to Citizen Summit II raises a different
question. A “budget snapshot” for the Thursday reception and the
Saturday Summit released by the Mayor's office shows expenses of
$786,134. This includes no personnel costs for the Neighborhood Action
office. The fiscal year 2002 budget for the Mayor's office approved by
the Council included $787,124 in nonpersonnel expenses for the event.
During Council budget hearings, the Mayor's office justified this amount
by saying that it would relieve the Mayor from having to raise private
donations to help fund the event. (Since the total budget of the Mayor's
office is $8.094 million, the Summit's nonpersonnel costs accounts for
9.7 percent of the total expense of running the Mayor's office this
fiscal year.) This would seem to be a remarkable instance of hewing to
the approved budget, except that now the Mayor's office says that it is
using only $650,000 of the appropriated funds, supplementing them with
the $160,000 in private contributions that it raised, thus seemingly
giving $23,866 over budget while at the same time leaving $137,124 of
the budgeted funds as a surplus. The puzzle is that, although there was
a surplus of budget funds already, in late September the Mayor requested
and got an additional reprogramming of $75,000 more to pay the expenses
of the Summit. If all of the Summit's expenses have been reported, why
was this additional money needed, and where did the surplus go?
###############
The best thing about the Citizen Summit II for me was the optimism of
DC residents who continue to turn out at community meetings and believe
that democracy can work here — that through our active involvement we
can accomplish things like: improving the health care system for the
poor (a personal and professional concern of mine); getting the schools
improved so that the $7K per pupil we spend helps give our kids a solid
start; getting my neighborhood schools (Gage and the former KC Lewis,
now a “swing school”) cleaned up, including the playgrounds; getting
the McMillan Sand Filtration site back into use (high fences with barbed
wire keep us, the DC residents, out of this once lovely park); getting
the three or four active drug distribution centers in my neighborhood,
and their attendant violence and trash, cleaned up; improving services
for the 60-80 probationers and parolees who are living within ten blocks
of my home, so these (mostly) men will be able to get drug treatment,
counseling, job training and so they can participate fully in the
American dream; helping my elderly neighbors who are aging, deal with
their homes, their health, and their social needs (their homes, which
need upkeep, and are going up in value, but most find themselves
ill-equipped to deal with the complexity of upkeep, reverse mortgages,
etc.); getting the old Gage school rehabilitated so that it becomes a
benefit to the community and not a weight; getting DPW and the Water
Authority to take care of the property near my house that they own, so
that they do [at least] the minimum possible to make it
“presentable” (weeds, ugly fences, broken windows, trash — these
are DC properties!); getting the Housing Authority to take care of the
public housing units near my house, which are disgraceful (give the
residents some training in how to maintain property as they fix them up,
so the folks will get a chance to be more in control of their
environment).
I liked seeing the Mayor, he is a nice man, who really seems to care.
Getting the chance to speak up with my co-residents was nice. What I
didn't like: asking us to comment intelligently on that huge plan was
unrealistic, (it was way too specific to absorb and discuss); asking us
“what we are going to do” to make things better (this really made me
MAD. I am already picking up trash every day, providing massive
emotional, financial and social support to my neighbor, a grandmother
whose husband has died and is raising two kids, attending community
meetings on Macmillan and Gage; testifying on a neighborhood issues once
a year; writing E-mails; calling policy makers about the issues above;
and being a good neighbor (watching my neighbor's kids, sharing food,
equipment, and time with my neighbors). I felt like, how many more rocks
do they want us to put in our back packs? All the folks at my table are
community-minded — and we were there to talk about improving
government performance, not shifting the responsibility from the
government to the citizens.
Anyway, overall, these are good things, even if $800,000 was way too
much money for what we got. I also agree that it is DCWatch's job to
look for the other side. With only the Post and local newspapers,
it is HARD for DC residents to get a look at the other side. DC needs to
mature as a democracy, and a mature democracy has professional,
knowledgeable “gadflies.” Without them to say, “the emperor has no
clothes,” we might as well all turn it in and go to live in a monarchy
or dictatorship or religiously ruled country. Democracy is messy, and
hard, and complicated, and calling into question the decisions and spin
that the Mayor puts on things is necessary.
###############
Lest you forget, many DC Government employees are residents of the
city they serve and by all means should be welcome at the Summit. As a
relatively new resident of the city (2 years) and an employee of the
government, I went for two reasons: to participate as a citizen, and to
hear feedback from the residents directly. My table was also full, with
a diverse cross-section of the city's population (by Ward, race, gender,
and age). Our conversations were insightful, engaged, and full of
specific suggestions to improve the strategic plan. Both of my
objectives were met.
An added bonus was meeting people from my neighborhood cluster in the
afternoon session and learning more about what their vision for our
neighborhood is and how they're willing to participate and commit time
and energy to make things happen.
###############
CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
Due to increased security levels at federal buildings, WST has had to
move the location of our first season performance, Blood on the Page, on
October 27. The performance had been scheduled to take place at NOAA
Auditorium in Silver Spring. The new location will be the First Baptist
Church of Washington, at 1328 16th Street, NW (at O Street, near Dupont
Circle). Parking is available for the first fifty cars. Or take the red
line to Dupont Circle and walk four blocks.
This program features seven performers with horror stories adapted
from literature. The stories come from Edgar Allen Poe, Zora Neale
Hurston, Roald Dahl, and others. For more details, go to http://www.washingtonstorytellers.org/
###############
CLASSIFIEDS — PETS
Sheba is a one-and-a-half-year-old female Akita dog rescued by a
resident of Ward 1. Sheba has been spayed and totally vetted. She is
very beautiful and available for adoption. Please E-mail me about
adoption terms; and I will refer you to the rescuer.
###############
CLASSIFIEDS — VOLUNTEERS
Volunteers are needed to tutor and organize clubs and activities for
children who live at Arthur Capper/Carrollsburg Dwellings, a public
housing development located near the Navy Yard. Volunteers are also
needed to join the Arthur Capper Recreation Advisory Council, which
meets every second Tuesday of the month at 6:30 p.m. at Arthur Capper
Recreation Center, 5th and K Streets, SE (Metro stations: Eastern Market
or Navy Yard). The Council helps out with fundraising, advocacy, and
special events (special computer needs: three “mouses” for Dell
computers, a printer, and educational software).
Please also consider helping out with the annual Halloween Masquerade
Party on October 31 from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. for ages 12 years and
under, and from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. for ages 13 years and over.
Entertainment is provided by the B.O.B. Band. Needs are for people to
serve food, chaperone, and assist with games. Also needed are hot dogs
and hot dog rolls (200), juices (huggies - 8 cases), assorted candy (20
bags), and small door prizes. Please contact Kim Campbell at 727-5478,
from 2:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
###############
Volunteers are needed to tutor formerly homeless children one evening
a week. So Others Might Eat and Project Northstar are teaming up to
teach basic academic skills to at-risk children in SOME's family housing
program. Volunteers are asked to commit 90 minutes a week on Thursday
evenings for one year. If you are willing to commit the time for this
rewarding volunteer experience, please contact Linda Plitt Donaldson at
797-0701 x108 or ldonaldson@some.org.
SOME is a 30-year-old nonprofit agency providing comprehensive services
to people who are homeless. Project Northstar was founded in 1989 as the
Homeless Children's Tutorial Project.
###############
Ready to Volunteer
Joan B Aron, jba12@juno.com
I notice you are posting volunteer opportunities. I would like to
volunteer for the group (if there is one) that is working on “No
Taxation Without Representation.” Could you let me know what it is?
[You are probably thinking of DCVote, which you can contact through
their web site at http://www.dcvote.org.
Anyone who would like to make other suggestions for organizations
working on the general issue of voting rights for DC residents, please
write to themail (I suspect that I'm asking for the deluge here.) —
Gary Imhoff]
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CLASSIFIEDS — CAUSES
Domestic Violence Awareness Month
Thelma Brown, Tbrowndc@aol.com
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and on October 13, a
collaboration of private and government agencies gathered on the grounds
of the Greater SE Community Hospital for a Candlelight Vigil entitled
“Working Together To End Domestic Violence.” In addition to a day
filled with numerous activities and entertainment, we heard from a wide
variety of speakers and experts in the area. Special kudos to
Councilmembers Kevin Chavous and Sandy Allen, who attended the vigil and
gave words of encouragement and support to those in attendance, once
again demonstrating through words and deed their commitment to and
concern for the residents of this city. The Mayor's mother, Virginia
Williams, also attended; she read a Proclamation from the Mayor and led
the group in song through the Lighting of the Candles. Assault is the
number one crime in this city and domestic violence crimes are the
number one form of assault. During the 2000 calendar year, over 5000
individuals — female, male, straight, gay, minor, senior, from every
ethnic origin — sought some form of assistance at the Domestic
Violence Intake Center (DVIC), located in the D.C. Superior Court.
Countless numbers of victims do not seek a legal remedy and very often
suffer in silence. One of yesterday's speakers, Josie Ashton, a victim
advocate who stopped by as a part of a walk from NY to Florida to end
domestic violence, noted that as the United States has called upon
countries throughout the world to assist in its war, so must victims
rely on assistance from all of those around them to help with the war in
their home. During this month, if at no other time, reach out and find
out more about this very relevant and very deadly act of terrorism that
occurs every day in our homes, in the homes of our loved ones, families,
friends, neighbors and coworkers. For more info call the DVIC at
879-0152.
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CLASSIFIEDS — RECOMMENDATIONS
In Search of Good Exterior Painting Contractor
Marika Torok, marika_torok@msn.com
Can anyone refer a good exterior painting contractor to me that
they've used and know is reliable and does decent work at a reasonable
price?
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