Sole Source
Dear Sources:
In this issue of themail, Ilir Zherka, the executive director of DC
Vote, complains about what I wrote on Wednesday about the million-dollar
line item in the FY2006 budget support act for “voting rights
education.” The scuttlebutt around the Wilson Building is that this is
an inside, wired deal, and that the money is going to go to DC Vote. The
council can’t legally award contracts by legislation, of course, so
the intended recipient had to remain unspecified; that was the reason
that the bill was written to allow the mayor to give the entire amount
as a noncompetitive, sole-source grant. I didn’t write that on Sunday
because I couldn’t verify it, but I’ll take Ilir’s indignation as
sufficient evidence that the scuttlebutt is right. In any case, the
budget support act was pulled from Tuesday’s legislative session, and
the council didn’t vote on it because of problems that it still had to
resolve on several issues, so the million-dollar, sole-source,
noncompetitive grant remains pending. Ilir thinks that noncompetitive,
sole-source contracts are a fine way for the city to do business. I don’t,
but if the mayor were giving me a million I’d have to seriously
reconsider my opinion.
On the other hand, Ilir says that the million dollars is just one ten
thousandth of one percent of DC’s budget, which would make our annual
municipal budget a trillion dollars a year, or close to $1.79 million
for each of our 560,000 residents. The mayor could easily afford to give
each of us a million dollars, and provide adequate city services with
the rest. The actual FY2006 projected city budget isn’t a trillion,
though it is a very hefty $6.26 billion, or about $11,000 per capita.
Until the budget reaches a trillion and we can overspend all we want,
I’ll continue to object to no-bid, noncompetitive contracts that give
taxpayers’ money to friends of the administration. It’s bad business
and bad government. The DC Auditor recognizes that, as Dorothy points
out below, even if the mayor and the City Administrator don’t.
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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This week, DC Auditor Deborah Nichols released a scathing audit
report regarding $150,000 in sole source contracts given by the
Executive Office of the Mayor (EOM), including the Office of the City
Administrator (OCA) (http://www.dcwatch.com/auditor/050603.htm).
The audit “sets forth findings and recommendations regarding oral
agreements and payments to Lily Hu/Lily Hu & Associates and Melinda
Yee-Franklin/The Siena Group, both located in Oakland, California, and
payments to Mr. Ira Sockowitz/the Phoenix Consulting Group for work
performed on the Mayor’s ‘trade mission’ to China/Thailand on
October 14-25, 2004. Also included in this report are findings regarding
a sole source noncompetitive contract awarded by the City Administrator
(Mr. Robert C. Bobb) to Ms. Jane Brunner, a lawyer and member of the
city council of Oakland, California.”
In her report, Nichols concludes that the “sole source agreements
issued to four individuals by the Executive Office of the Mayor and
Office of the City Administrator revealed a failure to follow sound
procurement policies and procedures and to comply with the spirit,
intent, and letter of the Procurement Practices Act of 1985, as amended,
and procurement regulations. Moreover, public officials entrusted with
responsibilities to ensure that public funds are used efficiently,
effectively, economically, and in a way that complies with applicable
laws and regulations did not adequately discharge these critical
obligations. The transactions examined in this report reflected
management behaviors that did not conform to the high ethical and
professional standards expected of government officials and employees in
the performance of their official duties. The District’s procurement
regulations state: ‘The procurement business of the District shall be
conducted in a manner above reproach and, expect as authorized by law,
with complete impartiality and with preferential treatment for none.’
“The City Administrator’s action of identifying friends and
associates, principally from Oakland, California, for noncompetitive,
sole source ‘deals’ with the District government resulted in
transactions that were not above reproach, ‘arms length,’ completely
impartial, and free from the appearance of preferential treatment. The
manner in which the Hu, Yee-Franklin, and Brunner transactions were
handled increased the risk of fraud, waste, and abuse of District
government resources. These transactions, or business opportunities,
were not publicly disclosed or subjected to a credible competitive
procurement process. The transactions examined by the Auditor were
financed with public funds, and thus should not escape or be exempt from
public scrutiny and complete accountability.”
Perhaps Nichols’ most devastating conclusion is contained in the
reports’ final paragraph: “It is evident that the EOM has not
learned any lessons from past procurement debacles involving the misuse
and mismanagement of purchase cards, poor oversight, and lack of
accountability for District owned and leased real estate, real estate
purchase, mismanagement of the procurement of services for renovation
projects and their costs while under the supervision and control of the
Office of Property Management, and the long-standing mismanagement of
the District’s procurement and contracting function and
responsibilities. This and other examinations have repeatedly revealed
that there have been no discernible improvements in the integrity of the
District’s procurement and contracting operations.” Mayor Williams’s
and Mr. Bobb’s angry and hostile resistance to and derisive dismissal
of these disclosures don’t give much hope of future improvements,
either.
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How to Undermine Voting Rights
Ilir Zherka, izherka@dcvote.org
Themail makes several errors in its article, “How to Undermine DC
Voting Rights” [themail, June 5] that I would like to correct. First,
the mayor made a pledge to help raise $1 million for DC voting rights
education at a DC Vote event in 2000 in response to a direct request for
help from my predecessor. The mayor never forgot the pledge and has
continued to work closely with DC Vote and other voting rights groups,
but was hamstrung against raising private funds for this effort by his
own Counsel’s office. For the last year, DC Vote has been working with
the mayor and the city council to find ways for the city to raise public
awareness of DC’s denial of voting representation in Congress. We
applaud their decision to include funds for an education campaign in
next year’s budget. This type of campaign is necessary since a recent,
national poll commissioned by DC Vote showed that nearly eight out of
ten Americans don’t know that DC residents do not have equal voting
rights in congress. Once they were informed, more than eight out of ten
Americans believe that congress should let DC vote. The grant (which
represents less than 1/10,000th of 1 percent of DC’s budget) will be
used to educate the public on a topic that impacts every aspect of life
in the District. This is not a “forbidden expenditure,” as themail
suggests. Congress forbids the city from “lobbying” for DC voting
rights. The law (which is an outrage!) expressly bars spending money
directly asking members of congress to vote for or against legislation
on DC voting rights. But the definition of “lobbying” does not
including “informing” or “educating” people about DC’s status.
That is very much legal and necessary. It is sad that themail is more
critical of the mayor for standing up for voting rights than of congress
for both denying DC representation and gagging it from fighting against
that injustice.
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Is Bald Beautiful?
Ed T. Barron, edtb@aoldotcom
We’ll have to wait until the DC Mayoral election (and primaries) in
‘06 to find out if bald is beautiful. That’s when one of the seven
male mayoral wannabes, five of whom are seriously folliclely challenged,
may be elected mayor. Hard to tell if either of the two female
challengers is wearing a wig.
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Seat Belt Spying
Gabe Goldberg, gabe at gabegold dot com
Wenzell Taylor compared police enforcing seat belt laws to the
Gestapo [themail, June 5]. I guess I missed learning how well-meaning
the Gestapo really was, and how their ultimate penalty was issuing
citations to the six-million Jews who must have died of causes not
related to Gestapo actions. That’s an astonishingly offensive
comparison, to two of the three parties — today’s police and Gestapo
victims.
Wenzell then asked whether it’s important enough to justify
“spying,” noted that it’s a privacy invasion, and asked, “How is
it that the law was passed to force adults to wear seat belts? Can’t
we all make that choice on our own?”" Though it’s difficult to
take the questions seriously, here are the answers: the laws are passed
to protect society from amply demonstrated societal consequences of
peoples’ not wearing seat belts. The benefits — to individuals and
society — of wearing belts are no more in question than the existence
of gravity. Does Wenzell object to wearing belts or to being told that
he must do so? Would he wear them unless he’s required to do so? Does
he happily wear them in states where they’re not mandatory?
Does Wenzell oppose laws such as Virginia’s, which mandates use of
headlights when windshield wipers are in use? Should that be everyone’s
individual decision? Though the law doesn’t seem to be much enforced,
more cars with headlights on means safer roads. I’m tired of not being
able to see the morons who don’t turn on their lights even when all
the cars around them have headlights on. Regarding the privacy issue —
how much privacy can be expected when driving? Given what I see people
doing in their cars every day, not much.
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Big Box or Boutique, and Stripes on Flags
Elizabeth McIntire, elizabeth at innercity dot org
Ms. McKernan’s question [themail, June 5] is a good one. But the
Columbia Heights’ Target, the last I heard, will be two stories, and
there are supposed to be some smaller street-front storefronts as part
of the plan, unless there have been drastic changes since the proposal
of seven years ago. There is also an elaborate and ambitious “public
realm” plan for Columbia Heights, that is yet to be fully funded,
including a triangular public plaza opposite the Tivoli and the Target
parcels. So in this specific instance, with some interested vigilance,
there may be a welcoming pedestrian climate, if the sidewalks are wide
enough and the fumes of vehicles stuck in traffic are somehow mitigated.
However, in the more general realm of the Comprehensive Plan /
“Inclusive City” process, I hear there are questions about the
zoning, and thus survival, of the smaller commercial sections on the
1400 block of Park Road and three blocks of 11th Street. These are
currently supporting local businesses, new and old, and common sense
would seem to indicate this would be the complementary component to the
aforementioned disguised megamall. Maybe I’m not being fair to the
planners, but responding to the condo fever by converting every square
inch of less dense space, especially what has always been commercial in
an already very dense residential area, does not seem appropriate.
As for the stripes and flags of Ed Barron’s query, these might be
utility markers — they are color coded, but I don’t know the code.
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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
Hoops Sagrado Fundraiser, June 9
Mindy Moretti, mindymoretti@yahoo.com
It is that time of year again and Hoops Sagrado needs your help! Our
primary grant has been halved this year, so we need your help now more
than ever. Hoops Sagrado’s annual fundraiser will be held on Thursday,
June 9, from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., at Chloe Restaurant in Adams
Morgan, 2473 18th Street, NW. We will be featuring guest bartenders! The
Hoops Sagrado students will run a non-alcohol smoothie stand. Spend at
least $20 on drinks (at ANC Commissioner Miscuk’s bar) and get a free
Chloe Brunch, or do the same at ANC Commissioner Moretti’s bar and get
a free pie! Raffles for sports memorabilia, original art and free
dinners at local area restaurants, and maybe be served a drink by
Washington, DC’s, next mayor!
All tips and a percentage of the food and drinks will go towards
airfare and Spanish school for Washington, DC, youth to spend a month
working in Guatemala; where they spend their mornings learning Spanish
and their afternoons in surrounding villages running basketball camps
for the local Mayan children.
For five years we have run Hoops Sagrado (an Adams Morgan-based
501(c)3) and, thanks to many of you, Hoops has grown and flourished in
the few years since we started the nonprofit organization. This past
year we took seventeen DC kids to Guatemala for a month for an
unforgettable experience of learning, growing, and acquiring critical
leadership skills. Our trip is fast approaching, and we can’t do it
without your help, so please join us for a drink.
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Smoking or Non Town Hall Meeting, June 9
Alan Heymann, aheymann (at) dccouncil (dot) us
With four bills on smoke-free workplaces pending before the DC
Council, Councilmember Jim Graham (D-Ward One) has scheduled a town hall
meeting to hear from constituents on this issue. "Smoking or
Non?" will feature brief presentations from eight panelists with
various points of view, followed by an extensive session of questions
from the audience. Bruce DePuyt of WJLA-TV and NewsChannel 8 will
moderate. Spanish translation will be available. Thursday, June 9, 7 - 9
p.m., Lincoln Theater, 1215 U Street, NW.
The eight panelists are Angela Bradbery, Cofounder, Smokefree DC; Ivy
Brown, New York resident and business owner; Juan Romagoza, MD,
Director, La Clinica Del Pueblo; Scott Sledge, Executive Vice President,
Adams Morgan Business and Professional Association; Eric Marshall, Field
Representative, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network; John
Warling, Sales Manager, Airistar Technologies; Peter Shields, MD,
Oncologist, Lombardi Cancer Center of Georgetown University; Denis
James, Executive Vice President, Kalorama Citizens Association.
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DC Public Library Events, June 11
Debra Truhart, debra.truhart@dc.gov
Saturday, June 11, Juanita E. Thornton/Shepherd Park Neighborhood
Library, 7420 Georgia Avenue, NW. Author Cynthia Lee will discuss her
book, Murder and the Reasonable Man: Passion and Fear in the Criminal
Courtroom. Public contact: 541-6100.
Saturday, June 11, 1:00 p.m., Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial
Library, 901 G Street, NW, Main Lobby. Celebrate the musical legacy of
the late Eddie Kendricks, former lead singer of the legendary
Temptations. The Black Studies Division of the DC Public Library
sponsors this program in observance of Black Music Month in June. The
event is hosted by Jimi Dougans, president of the Eddie Kendricks
Memorial Foundation and former member of The Young Senators. Special
appearances by The Young Senators and Washington, DC’s hottest rising
star, Can-D. Also, free CD giveaways compliments of Motown Records.
Public contact: 727-1211.
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National Building Museum Events, June 13-14
Brie Hensold, bhenhold@nbm.org
Both events at the National Building Museum, 401 F Street, NW,
Judiciary Square stop, Metro Red Line.
Monday, June 13, 6:30-8:00 p.m. The ancient system of Vedic
architecture (also called sthapatya veda or vastu) transcends the
current understanding of sustainability and helps architects design
buildings that are profoundly in harmony with “natural law.”
Jonathan Lipman, AIA, a practicing architect and a past president of the
Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, has spent the last decade
designing buildings throughout the U.S. using the principles of
Maharishi Vedic architecture. He will discuss the contemporary revival
and scientific validation of this most ancient, sustainable system of
architecture. Jeffrey Abramson, partner in The Tower Companies, who is
planning a 195,000-square-foot, green, Vedic office building, will also
participate in the program. $10 museum members and students; $15
nonmembers. Registration required.
Tuesday, June 14, 6:30-8:00 p.m. Since its founding in 1998, Studio
27 Architecture has produced some of Washington, DC’s more creative
and unusual residential, commercial, and institutional projects using a
design process evolving from primitive sketchbook “coffee washes”
and chipboard models to sophisticated computer-aided techniques.
Founding partners of the firm, John K. Burke, AIA, and Todd Ray, AIA,
will lead a behind-the-scenes tour of the studio and discuss the firm’s
design process using modern drafting techniques. This tour complements
the exhibition Tools of the Imagination. Open only to museum members,
$10. Space is limited. Prepaid registration required. To register call
the museum or visit http://www.nbm.org
beginning May 16.
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Humanities Council Honors George Pelecanos,
June 14
Shana Young, syoung@wdchumanities.org
Tickets still available! On June 14, 6:00-8:30 p.m., the Humanities
Council of Washington, DC, will present best-selling novelist,
screenwriter and producer George Pelecanos with the Public Humanities
Award in honor of his contributions to Washington, DC, history, life,
and culture. Pelecanos is the author of thirteen best-selling crime/noir
novels, including The Big Blowdown, Hard Revolution, and the most
recent Drama City. This is a salon-style event with conversation
and audience interaction, and will take place at the Arts Club of
Washington (2017 I Street, NW). Cocktails and hors d’oeuvres will be
served. Tickets cost $100 and proceeds benefit the Council’s public
programs. Contact Shana Young at 387-8391 for more information.
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Set Point Doubles Tennis Tournament, June 18
Vanessa Brooks, setpointinc@starpower.net
SET POINT, Inc., is a 501(c)(3) organization comprised of concerned
parents and professionals who want to see our area youth meet their
academic maximum potential through participation in an individual sport
such as tennis. In an effort to raise the necessary funds enabling a
group of tennis playing youth "East of the River"
participation in this year’s annual ATA (American Tennis Association)
tournament, Turner Construction, Clark Construction, PEPCO, Session
Title Services, as well as other community responsive business partners
have stepped forward to assist in this effort to stage this organization’s
first annual adult doubles tennis tournament. Saturday, June 18, 10 a.m.
until dusk, at Anacostia Park Tennis Courts on the Anacostia Waterfront.
Entry fee is $25.00. Contact Vanessa Brooks at 581-0406 or E-mail setpointinc@starpower.net
for application and additional information.
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Anacostia Waterfront Corporation Public Board
Meeting, June 20
David Howard, david.howard@dc.gov
The Anacostia Waterfront Corporation will hold a public board meeting
on Monday, June 20, from 6:00 p.m. through 8:00 p.m. The meeting will be
held at Van Ness Elementary School, 1150 5th Street, SE, in the
Auditorium. Copies of the presentations will be available on-site.
Questions should be directed to Melissa McKnight at 724-4314. The agenda
for the public meeting is as follows: 1) CEO’s report, 2) public
comment, 3) summer grants announcement, and 4) chairman concludes.
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CLASSIFIEDS — FOR SALE
Rain or shine, Saturday, June 11, 8:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m., 2709 N
Street, NW Books, kids clothing, toys, miscellaneous furniture. There
will also be hot dogs, chips, and soda for sale.
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CLASSIFIEDS — RECOMMENDATIONS
Repair Technician for IMAC G5 Computers
Gary Rice, kentarr02@yahoo.com
I am seeking a repair technician for IMAC G5 computers. It is more
about getting it set up properly than a need for repairs. Anyone know of
such a person, please contact me at kentarr02@yahoo.com.
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