Open Access
Dear Accessors:
On January 7, Jonetta Rose Barras’ column in The Washington
Examiner was about the Inspector General’s investigation “of the
Department of Health’s senior deputy director, Carlos Cano, after
receiving complaints from individuals inside the agency regarding
contracts and time and attendance reports,” http://tinyurl.com/9n2wu8.
The Inspector General’s office is currently withholding a lot of
facts, and will only acknowledge that they are conducting an
investigation. That is understandable while an investigation is still
ongoing. What is not understandable, what is both inexcusable and
illegal, is that the IG’s says it may not choose to release the report
of the investigation after it is completed. Barras writes, “‘In
general, it’s rare that investigation reports are placed on Web sites,’
said [IG spokesman Austin] Andersen. ‘But a summary of closed
investigations are available in the annual report.’ That’s not
enough. The entire report should be made readily available to the
public.”
It’s not only a matter of “should be”; it’s a legal
requirement that the Inspector General’s reports must be made
available. When Congress created the Control Board, the DC Financial
Responsibility and Management Assistance Authority, in 1995, it also
created the position of Chief Financial Officer and reshaped the
Inspector General’s office, and gave them independence from the mayor.
Because DC’s IG’s office had previously made a practice of burying
its reports, reporting only to the mayor and refusing to release
information to the public the legislation that created the new Inspector
General’s office mandated that “The Inspector General shall make
each report submitted under this subsection available to the public,
except to the extent that the report contains information determined by
the Inspector General to be privileged” (P.L. No. 104-8, Sec.
303(c)(4)). The Committee Report that accompanied the law made it
crystal clear that Congress meant for this law to apply to all of the IG’s
reports. However, ever since E. Barrett Prettyman was appointed by Mayor
Williams to be Inspector General, IGs have flouted this provision of the
law, and claimed that it applied only to their year-end summary reports,
not to any of their other reports, and that they could choose to release
or suppress any of their other reports. Dorothy has debated this matter
with more than one IG, but neither she nor anyone else has been able to
get IGs to obey the federal law that established their office. Since it
was created, the IG’s office has experienced monumental growth, both
in terms of budget and number of personnel, while at the same time,
because of the secrecy surrounding many of its reports, its work has
become less and less useful to the public.
On January 7, The Los Angeles Times wrote that the “National
Mall Reflects Magnificence and Neglect,” and that the Mall “is
itself a monument to neglect,” http://tinyurl.com/a42wlb.
On January 6, The New York Times published an editorial, “America’s
Colonial Capital,” that supports a vote for a single District delegate
in the House of Representatives, and also calls for full budgetary and
legislative autonomy for the District government, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/07/opinion/07wed3.html?_r=2&emc=eta1.
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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Precursor of Chaos to Come
Dorothy Brizill, dorothy@dcwatch.com
This morning, the Obama Presidential Inauguration Committee held a
dress rehearsal for the swearing-in ceremony and parade that will take
place on January 20. District residents and visitors first learned of
the dress rehearsal and the closure of Pennsylvania Avenue from
broadcast news reports, not from the DC Department of Transportation (DDOT)
or the DC government web page devoted to inauguration news (http://inauguration.dc.gov).
By midmorning, however, District residents and visitors who tried to
navigate around downtown by avoiding Pennsylvania Avenue found that the
Committee and federal law enforcement officials had also closed down
large sections of Constitution and Independence Avenues. When several
media outlets contacted DDOT about the additional closures and the lack
of public notice, they were referred to the mayor’s office, the
Metropolitan Police Department, and the Secret Service. Late this
afternoon, Mayor Fenty told WTOP that he wasn’t aware of the issue,
but that he would look into what happened today (http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=25&sid=1570283).
Meanwhile, Pierre Vigilance, the director of the DC Department of
Health, asked doctors not to schedule optional health care services on
inauguration day and told patients to avoid DC hospitals then (http://www.wtop.com/?nid=25&sid=1570446).
DC deals with a presidential inauguration every four years, and it
handled every inauguration in recent memory well. It is an opportunity
to welcome all Americans to what local officials like to refer to as “America’s
home town.” DC’s and regional business and tourism groups have
always cooperated in a massive effort to accommodate our city’s
premier tourist event. But business and tourism groups have been
excluded from inauguration planning this year. This inauguration day is
shaping up as a government-created disaster that should have been
completely avoidable. What has happened this year is that federal and
local authorities have panicked at the predictions — really guesses
— of extraordinarily high numbers of attendees. At the same time,
security officials, who always recommend a complete lockdown, have not
been met with any resistance from an inexperienced DC administration
that is already inclined to use extreme measures to control citizens and
that sees private automobiles as a social problem that should be made
inconvenient and difficult to use. (Remember MPD Chief Lanier’s use of
neighborhood roadblocks as a crime control measure and the Office of
Planning’s and DDOT’s anti-automobile initiatives.) Either the
extreme measures that federal and local officials are taking to make it
hard to get to inaugural events will discourage a large number of people
from coming to DC, keeping down attendance and ruining
inauguration-related business, or they will create an unnecessary and
counterproductive gridlock that this town has never seen before. Or,
most likely, they will result in both.
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Resident Inauguration Parking in Southwest
David Sobelsohn, anc6d02@capaccess.org
I am writing regarding plans for restricting on-street parking on the
day before and the day of the upcoming presidential inauguration. As you
know, some southwest DC residents own personal motor vehicles, but do
not own or rent private parking spaces. We must park our cars on the
street, and we can’t move our cars to safe parking spots out of town.
It’s troubling that DDOT’s January 7 “Final Press Release” (sic)
doesn’t tell us where on our streets Southwest DC residents can
legally park on January 19 and 20. Thankfully, the press release’s
list of “Vehicle Restricted Zones” and “Vehicular Road Closures”
doesn’t reach south of the Southeast-Southwest Freeway. But the
section marked “Charter Bus Parking Zones” warns that, “Streets
around the bus parking areas will be closed to private automobile
traffic and will be posted as Emergency No Parking zones beginning at 3
p.m. on Monday January, 19, 2009.” As to where, it specifies only that
these areas will include “Designated areas in Southwest and Southeast.”
When will DDOT share this “designation” with those most directly
affected by the “designation,” the residents of Southwest &
Southeast? I hope our constituents learn before 3:00 p.m. on Monday
January 19, when the signs go up, whether at that time their cars will
be ticketed, towed, and impounded.
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DC Homicide Rate: Praise or Blame
Jack D. Pond, jack.pond@psitex.com
I’ve been an avid follower of themail for many years now, and
believe it to be one of the finest examples of citizen activism in the
world. If I had to make a single small criticism of the forum, it would
be that too often contributors focus on failures over successes and
blame over recognition. While every system has faults, and spotlighting
them is the responsibility of every citizen, it doesn’t hurt to hold
forth the many shining examples of individuals and systems that work
well in anonymity day after day.
With due respect (and I mean the highest respect) to Gary and
Dorothy, instead of placing blame on the police chief (and implicitly on
the mayor), is it possible that Chief Ramsey is truly an outstanding
leader who does his job in an exemplary manner? After all, according to
the statistics mentioned in this forum, the homicide rate in the
District is up 10 percent, while in Philadelphia (his current post) it
is down 15 percent.
It may be more appropriate to throw a little (belated) praise Chief
Ramsey’s way.
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Can We Have a Real Discussion About Crime?
Tom Blagburn, tblagburn@udc.edu
I read Phillip Fornaci’s opinion posted in themail on December 31,
2008, concerning “the erosion of public safety” and Gary Imhoff’s
response; both gentleman present clear and very reasonable points, and
there is merit in both their arguments. However, there are many details
omitted from both perspectives. Our city has been having these exact
same discussions about the fluctuations in crime and violence for
decades. Unfortunately, much of the narrative is devoid of the kind of
problem-solving innovations so necessary to bring about effective and
sustainable change. Both Phillip and Gary are half correct in their
assertions. But the critical challenge for the rest of the residents of
the District of Columbia is how can we share a deeper understanding of
both viewpoints? And can we reconcile these incredibly intricate and
complex ideological differences both writers raise into workable public
safety applications to address the more urgent juvenile and adult crime
problems and to lessen the victimization that continues to plague our
city?
Effective and sustained crime management has been a daunting public
proposition. The District’s Metropolitan Police Department, over the
years, has been an innovator and leader in many areas of public safety.
Former Police Chief Ike Fulwood, when he was the MPD Field Operations
Officer, developed Operation Clean Sweep, a citywide buy/bust drug
enforcement/suppression operation. More than 37,000 drug arrests were
made during a two-year period, 1988-1990. Critics argued that Clean
Sweep clogged court dockets; filled the DC Jail and Lorton Prison, and
only disrupted and splintered the District’s drug trafficking trade.
For those who know the facts and witnessed the programs’ impact on the
citywide drug problem, Clean Sweep was a very necessary enforcement
option that provided temporary relief to neighborhoods that had been
completely overwhelmed with retail street-level drug distribution and
gang/crew violence. It was replicated by the New York City Police
Department, which called it “Operation Pressure Point.” NYPD made
more than seventy thousand drug arrests in the first year of
implementation and more than ninety thousand drug arrests in the second
year. The people often associated with drug distribution are inner-city
young people. However, Operations Clean Sweep and Pressure Point
revealed that the users who drive the nation’s drug trade are often
middle and high income professionals, e.g., teachers, lawyers, and
business persons from a variety of disciplines. These images are rarely
shown on the evening news. Also, there was a clear need for drug
treatment on demand. The notion that any city can arrest and incarcerate
the crime problem away permanently is a myth.
Police Chief Maurice Turner was credited with bringing about a
nineteen-year record crime reduction just prior to the crack-cocaine
epidemic of the mid 1980’s and early 1990’s. One specific crime
control innovation, the Management Improvement Plan (MIP), fostered many
other initiatives, including the Repeat Offender Program (ROP) that was
featured on the CBS’s 60 Minutes series. ROP had teams of specially
trained officers monitoring adult offenders daily upon their return to
the community. The program worked and was credited with reducing adult
offender recidivism substantially. The biggest difficulty has been in
sustaining those unique, award winning models through the process of
political change, internal politics and infighting within MPD, and
District government policy-making ignorance.
In the early 1990’s, Ike Fulwood, who had been appointed Chief of
Police in 1989, led the conceptualization of one of the most effective
community policing models in the nation, Community Empowerment Policing
(CEP). It was a department-wide philosophy and style of law enforcement
practice that attempted to completely change the culture of MPD. Of
course it was met with internal opposition. Police reform was being
introduced that would make MPD clearly less reactive and more
forward-thinking in attacking every specific category of crime with
measurable prevention innovations. The focus was on creating
neighborhood crime-prevention infrastructures (including within DC
Public Schools) that would be resistant to crime and interpersonal
violence, and developing collaborative problem-solving partnerships of
police, residents, government, and nonprofit organizations. CEP also
inspired the creation of special programs to keep young people out of
the juvenile justice process. One specific program, “Street Games,”
periodically closed down streets in high crime areas to vehicular
traffic. But, unlike the recent “Check Points” in Trinidad, officers
rolled out portable basketball goals, Ping-Pong tables, and an
assortment of games and learning materials, and served hot dogs, chips,
and drinks for six days a week, from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Young and
old flooded the streets. A high level of trust prevailed. Burglaries,
auto thefts, and street robberies were reduced. Residents never
complained.
One of the most important features of community policing at that time
was allowing residents to share a stake in the development of policies
affecting crime in their communities. Ten public housing neighborhoods
in the 7th Police District wanted sixteen-hour-a-day foot patrols around
their complex. They got it! Officers walked their beats, serving
warrants and engaging in problem-solving patrol operations from 3:00
p.m.-11:00 p.m. and from 11:00 p.m.-8:00 a.m. This kind of community
involvement has never happened again.
Gun violence among juveniles was beginning to increase dramatically,
specifically in the 6th and 7th Police Districts. For the first time in
MPD history, psychologists and social workers and gang/crew intervention
specialists were placed in offices at 7D to assist and support beat
officers. The award-winning Youth Trauma Services Team was one of the
most innovative youth violence prevention and enforcement models ever
created. The unit was connected to police communication and responded to
every incident involving a young person and family in Wards 5, 7, and 8.
It was featured on every local and national television news channel. A
“Truce Hotline” also operated out of 7D that was manned daily by
psychologists, social workers, and police from 8:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. to
assist crew/gang members to mediate threats of injury and death. It
received more than seventy calls during the first week of operation, and
was unprecedented in its ability to mitigate disputes and save lives.
The team also worked very closely with the 7th District’s Delta
tactical support unit that aggressively targeted violent criminals,
guns, and drugs. Intelligence was shared, and joint operations were
highly coordinated. Delta identified and targeted suspects involved in
gangs, auto theft, burglaries, and homicide. The unit also helped young
men find jobs. It wasn’t social work. It was optimized crime
prevention. Crime plummeted, and the 7th Police District won the
department’s crime reduction award when crime was up in every other
district. There is a lot more to the story, but space doesn’t permit
giving it now.
What would really help the District in its struggle with crime is not
an emphasis on more police or technology. It’s having a thoughtful
discussion about crime. Part of the solution is getting back to
fundamentals of neighborhood life, understanding the city’s crime
management history, and evaluating performance outcomes. Efforts must be
on creating a citywide comprehensive, coherent, and sustainable crime
management strategy that is balanced with aggressive
prevention/intervention in support of aggressive arrest, prosecution,
and incarceration neighborhood by neighborhood. Our city has been
strapped trying to do one or the other not both simultaneously!
###############
Ripping Off Tourists
James Treworgy, jamietre@gmail.com
Regarding T. Lassoc’s concern [themail, January 7] about tourists
being ripped off because of their inability to use bus transfers: you
must be kidding. We’re going to hold onto an archaic, easily abused
system because we’re worried about the rare tourist who not only rides
Metrobus, but actually uses a bus-to-bus transfer, having to pay an
extra buck? The rare tourists who actually can figure out the bus system
in their short time here can surely also figure out if it’s to their
advantage to buy a Smart Trip card for use during their stay. Or pay the
buck. In the end, who cares? They are tourists. The extra dollar is
hardly going to prevent them from using the system.
I suppose you also think should we get rid EZ-pass because it rips
off infrequent users by charging them more, just like Smart Trip. Sure,
lets go back to the old days when you’d spend a half an hour at each
toll because we’re concerned about luddites and tourists getting
ripped off.
The “ripping off” of non-adopters is intentional. It’s to
encourage frequent users to get with the program, because the more
people who adopt it, the more efficient and less costly the system is
for everyone, including all the taxpayers who subsidize it. For
infrequent users, the cost difference hardly matters because they are
infrequent users.
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I take issue with some of the representations made on this issue. The
vinyl window issue is not about the vinyl windows per se, but
about building without a permit. As usual, Mr. McKay overlooks that
point. As for the disabled family, it was again not about building a
ramp but about gutting the house and making apartments out of it and
thereby leveling the front yard — and ultimately they prevailed. They
could have made the home completely accessible with an outdoor lift and
indoor lifts at far less than the cost of turning the building into
apartments, and with a DHCD accessibility loan or grant, so it was not
solely a disability issue. However, it is disturbing that these “without
a permit” issues are somehow muddled as historic issues. The Public
Space Office was more than willing to allow residents to put
accessibility ramps and lifts and even double-cut driveways as long as
the resident with the disability lived there. As for Mr. McKay’s
stating that the “majority of Mt. Pleasant residents” support vinyl
windows, who knows? No survey has been done to my knowledge and I really
haven’t given the matter much thought. I do know that a tremendous
amount of illegal construction without permits occurs in Mt. Pleasant,
some to the point of damaging the adjacent properties. Building without
a permit and then seeking a permit after the fact is always risky. I
would also note that under disclosure laws for sales of home, such work
would have to be revealed to a buyer — lest the seller be liable for
remedying it later down the pike.
###############
Historic Preservation and Vinyl Windows
Natalie Hopkins, Nehopkins@hotmail.com
To everyone criticizing historic preservation and advocating vinyl
over wood windows, I have two things to say. First, historic
preservation usually cares about the front facade, so you can replace
side and back windows that aren’t visible from the street with vinyl.
Unless your house is unusual, there aren’t that many windows in front.
Secondly, there is a simpler cheaper solution: fix the old windows.
About 90 percent of them can be repaired instead of replaced. And, yes,
I can tell the difference, usually from about a half block away. Vinyl
does not look like wood no matter how hard the manufacturer tries to
make it resemble it. It is a different material.
In the past, when windows were installed they were done individually
by the carpenter on a window-by-window basis, and to a standard that not
many carpenters can meet today. There are at least two companies in town
that fix old windows to make them much more airtight and to accommodate
changes in window structure caused by aging. One window repair firm is
called Chevy Chase Window Repair at 240-413-4207 (not Chevy Chase
Glass), and the other is Wood Window Renovation, Inc., at 638-5737. We
had a building in an historic district and had the front windows
repaired, which was much cheaper than replacing them. I don’t think
that it is too much of a burden to maintain the front facades of our
dwellings to keep the historic fabric and appearance of our
neighborhoods. The very nature of them contributes to their appeal and
adds value.
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Intowner
January Issue Online
P.L. Wolff, intowner@intowner.com
This is to advise that the January 2009 online edition has been
uploaded and may be accessed at http://www.intowner.com.
Included are the lead stories, community news items and crime reports,
editorials (including prior months’ archived), restaurant reviews
(prior months’ also archived), and the text from the ever-popular “Scenes
from the Past” feature (the accompanying images can be seen in the
archived PDF version). The complete issue (along with prior issues back
to January 2002) also is available in PDF file format directly from our
home page at no charge simply by clicking the link in the Current and
Back Issues Archive. Here you will be able to view the entire issue as
it appears in print, including all photos and advertisements.
The next issue will publish on February 13 (the second Friday of the
month, as always). The complete PDF version will be posted by the
preceding night or early that Friday morning at the latest, following
which the text of the lead stories, community news, and selected
features will be uploaded shortly thereafter. To read this month’s
lead stories, simply click the link on the home page to the following
headlines: 1) “Large, Mixed-Use 14th Street Project’s Design, Size
Questioned for Former Whitman-Walker Site”; 2) “Facade Improvements
Initiative Underway for Adams Morgan Businesses.”
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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
My Dream for the Future Writing Competition, January 12-16
John A. Stokes, john.astokes@dc.gov
The DC Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) will host the finals
of the “My Dream for the Future” writing competition oral
presentation and awards program January 12-16 at the Kenilworth-Parkside
Recreation Center, 4300 Anacostia Avenue, NE. The awards program will be
held on Friday, January 16, at 5:30 p.m. at the recreation center.
The writing competition is being held in collaboration with the
Kenilworth Elementary school for District youth grades K-5, in an effort
to encourage youth to express their visions of the future. The
submission deadline for the “My Dream for the Future” writing
competition is Wednesday, January 14, by 6:00 p.m., to the Kenilworth-Parkside
Recreation Center.
DPR Director Clark E. Ray will announce the six finalists on
Thursday, January 15, at the Kenilworth Elementary school at 1:30 p.m.
The school’s principal, Ms. Fatima Johnson, has asked the entire
school population to enter into the contest but all DCPS youth in grades
K-5 are welcome to submit entries.
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All Cocktails Is Local, January 13
Philip Greene, pgreene@doc.gov
Come join us for a fun and educational look into presidential and
political cocktails: All Cocktails is Local — Presidential and
Political Libations in American History. Presented by the Museum of the
American Cocktail and Rock Creek Restaurant. $35.00 per person to
pre-register; the at-the-door fee may be higher ($40, but please RSVP).
Next Tuesday, January 13, 6:30-8:00 p.m., at Rock Creek Restaurant,
Mazza Gallerie, 5300 Wisconsin Avenue, NW (Friendship Heights Metro
Station, Jenifer Street exit, parking available in Mazza Gallerie
parking garage). The restaurant is next to the movie theater. Register
here: http://www.cocktailhistory.museum/events.
Celebrate the inaugural in style! Join Derek Brown and Phil Greene of
the Museum of the American Cocktail, renowned bartender Nick Wineriter
of Rock Creek, and Mount Vernon curator Dennis Pogue, in this
ninety-minute discussion of notable cocktails and libations throughout
American history, beginning with George Washington’s rye distillery at
Mount Vernon, and through to the present era. Drink samples will be
served to attendees, as well as delicious appetizers. Sample classics
such as the Ward Eight, the Rickey, the Bronx Cocktail, the Daiquiri,
Navy Grog, and others. Please RSVP so we know how much food and cheer to
have on hand. Must be 21 or over to attend, and please don’t drink and
drive!
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National Building Museum Events, January 13-14
Jazmine Zick, jzick@nbm.org
January 13, 6:30-8:00 p.m. Spotlight on Design: OLIN. From the
restoration of Bryant Park in New York to the landscape for the
Washington Monument, OLIN is recognized for innovative and sustainable
place-making. Principals Laurie Olin, FASLA, and David A. Rubin discuss
their work and philosophy on landscape and design that has guided the
Philadelphia-based firm for more than thirty years. A book-signing
follows the lecture. $12 Museum and ASLA Member; $12 Student; $20
Nonmember. Prepaid registration required. Walk-in registration based on
availability.
January 14, 6:30-8:00 p.m. DC Builds. Reducing Runoff: New Directions
for Stormwater Management. Dr. Hamid Karimi, District Department of the
Environment; Chris Earley, LEED AP, Greening Urban; Dr. Mohsin Siddique,
DC Water and Sewer Authority; and moderator Ted Graham, Metropolitan
Washington Council of Governments discuss innovative policy and
infrastructure that can help reduce the flow of polluted storm water
into Washington, DC’s streams and rivers. Free; preregistration
required. Walk-in registration based on availability. Both events at the
National Building Museum, 401 F Street, NW, Judiciary Square stop, Metro
Red Line. Register for events at http://www.nbm.org.
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DC Public Library Martin Luther King, Jr., Events, January 13-15
George Williams, george.williams2@dc.gov
Tuesday, January 13, 10:00 a.m., Juanita E. Thornton/Shepherd Park
Neighborhood Library, 7420 Georgia Avenue, NW. Preschool story time in
honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday. Children accompanied
by a caregiver enjoy varied combinations of picture book readings and
pictures as an art form, sing-along songs, music and movement, and
flannel boards. Ages 3-5. Contact 541-6025.
Tuesday, January 13, 12:45 p.m., Capitol View Neighborhood Library,
5001 Central Avenue, SE. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., birthday
celebration. Students will view the movie, Our Friend, Martin (G), and
will be asked to express what they think about Dr. King and if his dream
is alive or needs to be revitalized. Also, senior library patrons have
been invited to share their recollections of the times affected by Dr.
King. Grades 2-6. Contact 645-0218.
Tuesday, January 13, 3:00 p.m., Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial
Library, 901 G Street, NW, Popular Division, Room 110. Shades of Black
Book Club discussion. Discuss Standing at the Scratch Line by Guy
Johnson. Contact 727-1295.
Tuesday, January 13, 4:00 p.m., Washington Highlands Neighborhood
Library, 115 Atlantic Street, SW. Poems of Dr. King’s Footsteps. Read
and write poems on the events of Dr. King’s footsteps. Ages 6-12.
Contact 645-5881.
Tuesday, January 13, 6:00 p.m., Washington Highlands Neighborhood
Library, 115 Atlantic Street, SW. Black History Movie Night: Tribute to
Alvin Ailey. Watch the story unfold of how Alvin Ailey played a key role
in the growth of modern dance in America and how his company, founded in
1958, became one of the United States oldest dance troupes. 1 hour, 43
minutes. (NR) All ages. Contact 645-5881.
Tuesday, January 13, 6:30 p.m., Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial
Library, 901 G Street, NW, Great Hall. Driving Dr. King: Chasing the
Dream with author Tom Houck. , the former assistant and driver to
Dr. King and his family, shares his memoir about time spent assisting
Dr. King, supporting the movement and interacting with the King family.
Contact 727-1295.
Wednesday, January 14, 10:30 a.m., Washington Highlands Neighborhood
Library, 115 Atlantic Street, SW. Dr. King Story Time. Enjoy stories,
films and reading activities about the life of Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr. Ages 1-5. Contact 645-5881.
Friday, January 14, 1 p.m., Friends of the Capitol View Neighborhood
Library, 5001 Central Avenue, SE. Wednesday Afternoon Book Club. Discuss
Countless Blessings by Ruth T. Owens, a legacy of memories that
tells of an all-Black community that depends on each other in the
Capitol View community. Adults. Contact 645-0218.
Wednesday, January 14, 3:30 p.m., Palisades Neighborhood Library,
4901 V Street, NW. Dr. King and His Friends: A Crafty Homage to Heroes
of Nonviolence. Design a poster with an action hero theme and slogan.
Ages 10- 9. Contact 282-3096.
Wednesday, January 14, 4:00 p.m., Washington Highlands Neighborhood
Library, 115 Atlantic Street, SW. Martin Luther King, Jr., film fest.
View films and share your experience in following in the footsteps of
Dr. King. Ages 13-19. Contact 645-5881
Thursday, January 15, Palisades Neighborhood Library, 4901 V Street,
NW, library hours. MLK Birthday Celebration: learning activities and
light refreshments. View a display of Dr. King images with words and
phrases, representing his ideals and a book display about Dr. King,
personal quotes and age-appropriate activities. Those completing
activities are invited to have cake and punch while watching a short
film about Dr. King. Ages 4-12. Contact 282-3096.
Thursday, January 15, 10:00 a.m., Mount Pleasant Neighborhood
Library, 3160 16th Street, NW. The Movement and the Music. This annual
concert celebrates the life of Dr. King through the music that helped
propel the Civil Rights Movement. The program is open to the entire
community, but it is aimed primarily at children and youth who are
encouraged to participate with their voices and library-owned
instruments: drums, rattles, tambourines. The concert will end with an
audience rendition of Stevie Wonder’s song, “Happy Birthday to You;”
fast becoming a neighborhood tradition. All ages. Contact 671-0159.
Thursday, January 15, 11:00 p.m., Lamond Riggs Neighborhood Library,
5401 South Dakota Avenue, NE. A Day of Movies and Discussion. Featured
Films: I Have a Dream (G), American National Archive-MLK 1986 (G), and
Dr. King: A Historical Perspective (G). All ages. Contact 541-5924.
Monday, January 15, Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Library, 901 G
Street, NW, Children’s Division, Room 200. Celebrating Dr. King. Spend
an afternoon celebrating, reading and learning about the life and times
of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Program Schedule: Jeopardy: Dr. King’s
Way, 1-2 p.m.; Film: Martin’s Big Words, 4:00 p.m.; Film: Boy King,
4:30 p.m. Ages 6-12. Contact 727-1248.
Thursday, January 15, 4:00 p.m., Washington Highlands Neighborhood
Library, 115 Atlantic Street, SW. Poems of Dr. King’s Footsteps. Read
and write poems on the events of Dr. King’s footsteps. Ages 6-12.
Contact 645-5881.
Thursday, January 15, 6:00 p.m., Washington Highlands Neighborhood
Library, 115 Atlantic Street, SW. “I Have a Dream!” Speech of Martin
Luther King, Jr. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was perhaps the most
inspirational speaker of all time. Follow his speeches from the early
days as a young pastor in Montgomery, Alabama, to the great March on
Washington, including the final prophetic speech in Memphis just days
before his tragic death. 45 minutes. (NR) All ages. Contact 645-5881.
Friday, January 16, 10:30 a.m., Washington Highlands Neighborhood
Library, 115 Atlantic Street, SW. Dr. King Story Time. Enjoy stories,
films, and reading activities about the life of Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr. Ages 1-5. Contact 645-5881
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Poetry Slam Competition for Teen Poets, January 14
John A. Stokes, john.astokes@dc.gov
On Wednesday, January 14, Kenilworth-Parkside Recreation Center will
host a teen poetry slam competition from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. for teens
ages 13 to 19. This will be spoken word and performance poetry at its
best; the winner of this event will receive a gift certificate courtesy
of Champion Awards and Trophies, and a recording session at DPR’s
recording studio located at the Columbia Heights Community Center in
northwest Washington, to produce a poetry CD.
No theme is required, as creativity and performance of the spoken
word poems will be judged. Teen poets are requested to bring at least
two poems, each three minutes or less, and to perform entries minus
profanity, sexual content, or excessive violence. The finals of the
Writing Competition and Poetry Slam are open to the public; advance
registration is required for participation for both events. For more
information or to register, contact Mr. Khidhar Shakur or Ms. Janice
Wright, Poetry Explosion Chairperson, at the Kenilworth-Parkside
Recreation Center, 727-2485.
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DC Public Library Events, January 14-15
George Williams, george.williams2@dc.gov
Wednesday, January 14, 1:00 p.m., Juanita E. Thornton/Shepherd Park
Neighborhood Library, 7420 Georgia Avenue, NW, Shepherd Park Afternoon
Book Club. For more information, contact 541-6100.
Wednesday, January 14, 1:00 p.m., Capitol View Neighborhood Library,
5001 Central Avenue, SE. Benning/Capitol View Afternoon Book Club. For
more information, contact 645-0755.
Wednesdays, January 14 and 28, 7:30 p.m., Watha T. Daniel/Shaw
Neighborhood Library, 945 Rhode Island Avenue, NW. Knitting Circle. For
more information, contact 671-0267.
Thursday, January 15, 7:00 p.m., Southeast Neighborhood Library, 403
Seventh Street, SE. Southeast Library Fiction Book Club. Discussion of
new and classic novels. For more information, contact 698-3377.
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Omega Psi Phi Academic Debate Tournament, January 17
Anthony Burley, aburley@speakeasy.net
Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., Kappa Psi Chapter, and the Delta
Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Mu Beta Chapter, are proud to host the
Washington, DC, metropolitan area public debate tournament for
teenagers. We are delighted to invite educators and students to register
for our debate tournament for teenagers, which will be on Saturday,
January 17. The topic is: Resolved: The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001
(Public Law 107-110) has failed.
There will be one open division of unlimited teams. Teams may consist
of one to three students. Teams are not required to represent a school,
but all teams must have an adult sponsor. Time limits will be:
affirmative constructive speeches, six minutes; negative constructive
speeches, six minutes; and rebuttal speeches, five minutes. Teams are
not required to have a plan of action, therefore, enabling any team
without a plan of action to primarily focus on the advantages and
disadvantages of the stated resolution. Entry forms should be E-mailed
to Anthony Burley at tonyburley@speakeasy.net.
Deadline for registration is January 15.
The winning team will receive $200.00, the second place team will
receive $150.00, the third place team will receive $70.00, and the
fourth place team will receive $50.00. Top speaker prizes are first
place, $100.00; second place, $75.00; third place, $50.00; fourth place,
$25.00. Top coach prize, $100.00. Schedule (subject to change): 8:30
a.m.-8:50 a.m., registration; 9:00 a.m.-9:55 a.m., first round; 10:00
a.m.-10:55 p.m., second round; 11:00 a.m.-11:55 p.m., third round; 12:00
p.m.-12:30 p.m., lunch; 12:45 p.m.-1:40 p.m., fourth round; 1:45
p.m.-2:40 p.m., fifth round; 3:00 p.m.-3:30 p.m., awards and closing.
Location, The George Washington University, Funger Hall, 2201 G Street,
NW.
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