Editorials and Opinions

Ari Post •

-The Key Bridge — Friday, October 19. Walking across the bridge, from the Rosslyn metro into town, five police officers were sitting on the Washington side, immediately pulling over drivers on their cell phones and issuing tickets. All the commotion was exacerbating a traffic jam on the already crowded bottleneck onto M Street, on a typically busy Friday morning. The rows of stopped vehicles and squad cars could have led you to believe there was a drug bust in place. Three blocks into town, I had already passed three other officers ticketing vehicles that had over-extended their parking privileges
by the slightest infraction.

Traditionally, this is what you would call “bad business”. Washington, specifically Georgetown, needs revenue from outside the city to prosper — a situation made all the more serious by the city’s deficit and declining revenue. To welcome visitors and commuters with a hundred dollar fine for a menial violation is not a reasonable manner in which to treat your fellow neighbors. What does this attitude convey to a visitor, coming into town to shop or meet a colleague for lunch, about the city they’re in? This is a clear and consistently raised issue among citizens living outside and around the city. No one wants to come in because of the too-strict, small-scale traffic enforcement. There has been many a quip, even by unlikely Democratic Mayoral candidate Leo Alexander, that an evening in Georgetown is expensive enough without a parking ticket under the wiper-blade or that you can’t come into town without a sack of quarters in your pocket for the money-hungry parking meter.

There has been a crime wave through the neighborhood — assaults, robberies, homes broken into, and even an organized armed bank robbery. But still our local police force piles the citations on reasonable citizens for petty misdemeanors. Priorities need to be straightened.

Talking on a cell phone while driving can indeed be hazardous, especially in congested, urban areas. Parking enforcement is ultimately a burden we all must carry, and the circulation of parking spaces through a time system is a reasonable and pragmatic design. There are indeed reasons for these laws, which can be agreed upon. But where is the line drawn between reasonable traffic enforcement and a police officer needing to fill a quota? At some points, it begins to seem that keeping the peace becomes overshadowed by a disgruntled, hungry system shaking spare change from the pockets of its people. For now, as Bob Dylan (sort of) said, we’ll just sit here on the Key Bridge and watch the tickets flow.

Ari Post •

-After ongoing delays and skyrocketing leaps over the original budget by over $2.2 million, Waterfront Park is still about where it has been for the past six months: over budget and delayed. Delays were largely a result of previously undetected foundation debris associated with the former Capital Traction Company Powerhouse that was located at the spot of the park. The building was demolished in 1968.

Additional costs were then incurred to redesign the underground pumps for the fountain, the centerpiece of the plaza. Though Councilmember Jack Evans, with support from Mayor Fenty, was able to obtain $950,000, which was matched by money from the National Park Service’s Centennial Initiative Fund, phase two of the construction was still asking for an additional $150,000 from private
sources — again to be matched by the Park Service, bringing the total to $300,000 — to complete the park.

On October 7, the Georgetown BID presented Bob vom Eigen from the Friends of the Waterfront Park with a $50,000 check to assist in the completion of phase two of construction. The donation again will be matched by the National Park Service and will apparently, along with Pepco’s recent $50,000 donation, finalize the necessary fundraising for completion of phase two of the Park by June 2011.

But the Friends of Georgetown Waterfront Park continue to turn to the local community to come up with the rest of the funds, with the promise that every dollar donated will be matched by the National
Park Service.

According to Councilman Jack Evans, our local government is facing a shortfall of $100 million in declining revenue and $75 million in various spending pressures. Is this troubled park currently worth the efforts and resources of an ailing economy? We present no argument against the importance of public spaces, and the positive effects of community parks and recreation areas, but the plans for this park far exceed necessary expenditures for community development.

Plans for phase two of the Park, which stretches from Wisconsin Avenue to 31st Street, include a low arcing fountain lined with benches and steps laddering down to the river. A wide walkway will be continued along the river with an area with benches and a pergola for river viewing. An interactive
fountain will be added, and an arbor will be constructed above the new benches. Below the arbor, river stairs will descend to the water, forming an amphitheater where people can view activities in the park and watch the finish line of the boat races. For more information about Georgetown Waterfront Park construction, visit www.georgetownwaterfrontpark.org. Keep your fingers crossed.

Veena Trehan •

-Grr. Swat. Intimidating pose.

A new political animal may be coming to a town and statehouse near you: mama grizzlies. They combine a protective maternal instinct with the power of a large angry animal.

This could be excellent news for kids who have suffered greatly in the recession. Their college funds have been decimated, their homes foreclosed and taken away, their families impoverished from extended periods of under- or unemployment. The innocence of these citizens does not earn them the power to vote, so champions for their wellbeing (beyond their mothers) are more than welcome.

Throughout history Moms have symbolized compassion and self-sacrifice, from renaissance images of the Madonna to the life and works of Mother Teresa. Through their collective efforts to help the world’s children, mothers represent a bridge from a present replete with potential (and problems) to a bright future.

So, Moms log millions of unpaid hours volunteering in schools. Despite incredible hardship, impoverished mothers choose daily to prioritize the health and education of their children and receive a helping hand from microfinance organizations and charities. Neighborhood moms organize drives for disaster victims. Personally and collectively, mothers are a driving force in transforming their communities and the world at large.

This emergence of a potentially powerful and committed ursine species should bode well for kids struggling from the effects of this recession. Republican and Tea Party Senate candidates Carly Fiorina (California), Sharron Angle (Nevada), and Christine O’Donnell (Delaware), as well as South Carolina gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley – and all of the others anointed “Mama Grizzlies” by Sarah Palin and her followers – claim they will fight for children in their states.

But these “mama grizzlies” seem more like their cousins the black bears, a species known to sometimes abandon their cubs.

“Mama grizzlies” aren’t making children’s health a priority. Many advocate repealing a deficit-neutral
health care reform package that specifically targets benefits for the nation’s youth. The new law prevents insurance companies from excluding preexisting conditions for children and adults alike, extends the period youths can stay on parents’ insurance, and funds state programs for poor children. Advocates of repeal fail to say how they will replace the many provisions that promise to keep kids healthy.

“Mama grizzlies” also support businesses that have been responsible for recent recalls of poisoned
peanuts, spinach, and eggs, as well gross negligence in allowing toxic chemicals into toys. And beyond even these deplorable business practices, our children’s future employment is imperiled by the exodus of manufacturing jobs overseas (one-third alone left during the Bush presidency). But generally these mamas are avidly pro-business. Haley has described placing private sector executives into state regulatory agencies as “a beautiful thing” and suggests wiping out the corporate income tax. These candidates have fallen short in describing how the candidates would build the next generation of jobs and ensure kids eat and play with only what’s safe.

These mamas do not seem particularly concerned about childhood’ education. America has dropped from first to twelfth in college attainment and ranks in achievement close to the bottom of Western nations in math, science and reading. Senate hopeful Sharron Angle once called for abolishing the Department of Education. Others call for performance-based pay and more private schools – piecemeal and ineffective approaches to our children’s education crisis.

These same “mama grizzlies” rarely discuss environmental and public health considerations, despite the asthma and obesity epidemics. One telling example is that Angle dismissed the escrow account for BP’s spill, a monumental disaster that has wreaked havoc on children’s mental health, breathing, and bodies, as a “slush fund”.

The approaching election offers a prime opportunity for moms with a grizzly bear’s strength of will to rise up and whack the oversized bullies that have left our children less healthy and poorer. This is an opportunity to do what Mothers should do: set up strict rules and punishing consequences for those who prey on their brood.

But insurance corporations, Big Oil, and too-large-to-fail banks seem to have co-opted the protective instincts of these potentially influential politicians. These “mama grizzlies” rise up. They grab a microphone to speak to the public, but they have little to say on the issues affecting our children. More than anything their message is, in effect, “Hey! Hands off the big guy.”

Voters have the duty to campaign for and elect candidates who put our kids first, who demonstrate
that they will fight to ensure a better future for the children of the country. While the roar of the mother grizzly is deafening, be sure not to mistake its tenor with the lesser snarl of the black bear.

Georgetowner •

Is it just me, or is this summer even hotter than the last? As I mention every year during the dog days of summer, I hope you will take a moment to check in on your elderly or ill neighbors who might need a little assistance. Weather like this can effect even the healthiest of us.

This year, similar to years past, has proven to be entertaining in terms of Washington’s No.1 spectator sport – politics. With a number of primary contests heating up, local news coverage is already keeping track of fundraising achievements and other campaign-related news.

As I write this, I am reading reports of the recent deal between Congress and the President to raise the federal debt ceiling. While this would seem to be a national issue, any change in federal spending patterns always has a dramatic impact on the District since we are not recognized as a state. Much like with the potential federal government shutdown earlier in the year, the threat of a federal government default has placed the District government on high alert and necessitated the preparation of contingency plans in the event of a catastrophe.

Though this latest crisis has been averted, the fall Council session will soon begin and we have many challenges ahead. Certain aspects of our financial health are improving; however, while we were concerned about revisiting the fiscal year 2011 budget last year at this time due to declining revenue projections, I am hopeful now that our Chief Financial Officer will identify further new revenue and give us an opportunity to repeal some more of the Mayor’s proposed tax increases. I believe ultimately we must right-size the District government to match our actual revenues. Failure to do so will cause individuals and businesses to restructure their investments or even leave the District if their tax burdens continually rise.

Make sure to let your at-large Council representatives know where you stand on these issues and have a great summer!

Robert Devaney • July 26, 2011

The Latin phrase (normally not in the form of a question) is Georgetown University’s motto—”both are one”—first found in St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, regarding Gentiles and Jews together, on coins of the Spanish Empire, and later for the Jesuit school’s unity of learning and faith. Today, this phrase cannot be uttered between the University and the historic neighborhood to describe Georgetown, as the University’s new 10-year plan has moved neighbor groups to protest anew and loudly so.

Ward 2 Councilman Jack Evans finds the plan a “disappointment,” while University president John DeGioia believes the campus plan to be “modest.” A recent Georgetown Advisory Neighborhood Commission meeting did not echo such mild words.

The University has argued: “Georgetown’s plan includes a handful of new projects that would enhance on-campus academic and recreational spaces, including pedestrian-friendly walkways, construction that would allow buses to turn around on campus and renovations to the Medical Center. The new plan also carries over some projects not completed from the 2000 plan, including an addition to Lauinger Library, the renovation of the New South building for student space, and construction of a new athletic training facility on campus. The 2010-2020 campus plan reflects more than two years of conversations with the university community and local residents, and includes deliberate efforts to respond to concerns about enrollment, off-campus student life, safety and congestion in surrounding neighborhoods. For example, in response to community concerns, Georgetown removed its proposal to develop on-campus student housing in the 1789 block of 36th Street and decided not to request an extension of the chimney height on the heating and cooling plant.”

Citizens groups still strongly disagreed. They see the addition of more graduate students and lack of any new on-campus housing as threatening to the historic district’s quality of life.

Indeed, the Citizens Association of Georgetown—which acknowledges the immense value of the University, founded in 1789 in a Maryland village established in 1751—has started a Save Our Neighborhood Fund: “CAG has carefully reviewed the G.U. plan and believes it violates D.C. zoning regulations and would negatively impact the quality of life in Georgetown’s residential neighborhoods.”

CAG contends that the plan would increase graduate student enrollment by more than 2,100 students, thus “increasing the total student population from approximately 14,000 to more than 16,000 students, provide no additional undergraduate on-campus housing and add 1,000 parking spaces to accommodate anticipated additional traffic to campus and the hospital.”

Moreover, CAG continues: “We will testify before the Board of Zoning — the ultimate decision-maker regarding the campus plan. We need your help to prepare for this hearing, and to educate our neighbors, our community leadership, the University’s leadership and our city decision-makers about this issue.”

Georgetown student activists have been knocked out of their bubble by the neighborhood response to the plan. “It is definitely possible to understand [the neighbors’] concerns to some degree, but at times [they are] almost irrational,” said one student at an ANC meeting. And in the non-news category, let us affirm that some students have been the university’s worst ambassadors, causing late-night noise, rowdiness and vandalism.

“[The students] cannot follow basic rules of living,” ANC commissioner Tom Birch said at the same meeting. Students are left to ponder that some Georgetowners their parents’ age don’t really like them.

The previous 10-year plan wrought enormous changes within the campus: the Southwest Quadrangle (the University’s largest-ever construction), the Davis arts center and the new business school building, to name the biggest. The university is jammed against its west (Archbold-Glover Park) and south (The C&O Canal and the Potomac) with spillage, pushing north to Burleith and Foxhall and east into the west village of Georgetown. Such geography does not excuse University administrators’ past poor decisions, such as the fumbling of Mount Vernon campus. Indeed, just as the University has a presence in Qatar, and its students volunteer in Appalachia and Anacostia, the nation’s oldest Catholic institution of higher learning would do well to connect even more often and consistently to its neighbors just three blocks away.

The Georgetown ANC will vote on the campus plan at its monthly meeting, Feb. 28. “We’ve gotten the comments from the community organizations and the university. So, it’s time for us to take a position,” said chairman Ron Lewis. Expect lawsuits to follow—just like last time.

Again, Hoya paranoia spreads, and generational resentment grows. Not that anyone is really seeking a “Can’t we all get along?” moment. There need be no call for an idealistic “Utraque Unum.” Nevertheless, both of us are here, in this together, and we can say hello to each other. It is merely a separate peace that we can abide.

Gary Tischler •

Just last week, we went to the Kalorama Citizens Association meeting and heard guest speaker Mayor Vincent Gray talk about the District’s budget deficits, saying that this was a time that required sacrifices on the part of everybody.

That apparently included himself, as he pointed out that he too was taking furloughs ordered for city employees.

That message of sacrifice and austerity didn’t seem to resonate everywhere. Certainly not with City Council Chairman Kwame Brown, who found himself embroiled in another spendthrift controversy. As reported, Brown purchased a fully-loaded Lincoln Navigator SUV for his traveling vehicle, at the cost of monthly payments of around $1,900, which the city must pay.

Chairman Brown must know how this sort of stuff resonates, and claiming that he actually didn’t know how much the payments were sounds lame for a council chairman who is heavily involved in decisions on the District budget. The last thing Brown needs is a revival of grumblings about perceived or real financial extravagance, especially in times like these, and especially given that he’s already had a controversy over huge credit card debts during the campaign.

If Brown hadn’t gotten the memo about fiscal sacrifice, Mayor Gray apparently didn’t read the details either. Word has it that he has hired several top staff members at salaries considerably higher than those paid during the Fenty administration, including his new chief of staff Gerri Mason Hall, who’s getting $200,000 a year, above the salary cap for that position.

Gray may have viable reasons for the pay raises—getting the best people for critical jobs as he’s said—but for the Mayor to ask everyone to make sacrifices and then hire staff at a premium is not good imagery. But we’re also curious how the salary figures were arrived at in the negotiations for hiring, and what the conversations were like. People working at the highest level of government, be it city, state or federal often describe themselves as servants of the people. Maybe somebody should have first asked the people or their representatives on the council if they wanted to pay that much for these particular servants, or for that matter, for Chairman Brown’s “fully loaded” vehicle.

Outside of our own concerns, the world is in turmoil. The earth is shaking in New Zealand, and the streets and cities in North Africa and the Middle East are full of demonstrators, violent responses, gunfire and blood from as the revolutions, which toppled governments in Tunisia and Egypt and have spread to Yemen, Bahrain, Morocco and Libya.

There were lots of demonstrators in Madison, Wisconsin, where the conservative governor Scott Walker was standing fast in his effort to eliminate collective bargaining by the state’s public workers. The governor, who insists he’s not a union buster but a deficit cutter, has made the collective bargaining issue part of legislation to combat Wisconsin’s huge budget deficit, legislation that’s sure to pass if it gets to a vote in the Republican-controlled legislature.

Thousands of workers, union members and protesters have gathered in Madison to protest the legislation, equaling in size many of the demonstrations in Middle Eastern cities. To Democrats, many union leaders, and public workers like policemen, firefighters, and teachers, this smacks like an effort to crush public worker unions, key supporters and fundraisers for the Dems.

It sure doesn’t sound like budget-cutting. Governor Walker said this would cut the deficit, although it was not provided how that might happen, or the figures to go with it. Walker doesn’t look like he’s going to budge. The few Democrats in the Wisconsin legislature are AWOL.

Revolution, it seems, is in the air. In Wisconsin, it looks like there are competing revolutions. The GOP seems to want to party like its 06…1906, when labor unions were all but non-existent as effective bulwarks for workers.

Georgetowner •

-The recent crime wave in the Georgetown neighborhood, coupled with a handful of rather bizarre local drug busts, has been a source of unease within the community at large. For the past few months, petty burglaries and assaults have been on the rise, with increasing numbers of incidences occurring among our numbered and lettered streets, frequently just off our main intersections and cross streets (M and Wisconsin). In a few cases, houses have been broken into. But let’s not forget the BB&T Bank heist, which was something right out of Bonnie & Clyde.

Approaching the holiday season, shopping and consuming come to a rolling boil, and no one jumps more immediately into the thick of retail frivolity (all in the name of giving, of course) than Georgetown. This means that there is a lot of shopping, which in turn means that there are a lot of folks out there walking around with bags of expensive, nice things. Criminals are aware of this. This is why crime always spikes around the holiday season, like a squirrel fattening up for the winter.

Thankfully, Georgetown has a caring community. The local ANC meetings have been regularly inviting the police chief to speak to the community, and the local crime watch is effective and efficient in releasing statements of burglaries in or around the area. Recently, the Georgetown BID donated two Segways to the police force to be used exclusively to patrol the streets of Georgetown. We just wanted to say thanks.

Please be safe this holiday season, especially around the neighborhood. It is important to be mindful of your surroundings; don’t go walking around the streets with your head buried in your brand new iPhone from the new Mac store. Be mindful of your surroundings. If you’re going on a shopping binge, you might want to rethink parking too far off the main roads. While it may seem irritating to spend $15 to park in a garage, it isn’t much when compared to the amount you would lose if your holiday gifts were stolen.