News & Politics

Dave Nyczepir • October 6, 2010

-ART BUS 9/11/10

D.C.’s fall art season kicks off this weekend with a free shuttle service linking three gallery hotbeds. The stops: Logan Circle (14th Street NW), U Street, and the H Street/Atlas District (Florida Avenue NE) feature some of the most fascinating collections you’ll encounter this quarter. The program is sponsored by the D.C. Commission on the Arts & Humanities, which aims to allow D.C. residents access to variety of art shows this fall. Be sure to check out the Adamson Gallery, Project 4 Gallery, and G Fine Art among other aesthetic destinations — all of which are open from around 6:30 – 8:30. You’ll be well on your way to meeting your cultural quota for the fall!

SATURDAY’S FARMERS’ MARKET 9/11/10

For all you bluegrass fans, this Saturday’s Farmers’ Market, which runs from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., will feature the Parklawn Ramblers. Among the featured vendors are the Red Apron Butchery, known for their cured meats, Spring Valley Farm and Orchard, whose salads are as easy on the eyes as they are the stomach, and Spriggs Delight for your fill of fudge. Bike tune-ups are also available. The market is held in the Hardy Middle School parking lot, and as always dogs are welcome!

TRAFFIC ADVISORY

Starting Monday, September 13, the 14th Street Bridge Rehabilitation Project will be closing the left shoulder of the bridge. This means a new traffic pattern for would-be travelers, where all four lanes deviate right of the construction. The change will be implemented in stages over the weekend, with anyone taking Exit 10C from I-395N being advised to head left prior to the work zone. Make sure to approach the construction zone with caution. The change will be in effect for at least eight weeks.

GEORGETOWN INTERIM LIBRARY CLOSING

In preparation for the opening of the newly renovated Georgetown Neighborhood Library, October 18, the Georgetown Interim Library plans to close September 25. Among the renovations made were improvements to lighting and the woodwork. There will also be new sections dedicated entirely to children and teens. Nevertheless, the reading terrace with a view of Book Hill Park is sure to be the biggest attraction. The West End Neighborhood Library is a nearby alternative in the meantime, and your old books can be returned or renewed there.

Dave Nyczepir •

-Mid-Atlantic Red Fruit Festival: 9/24/10

Today marks the launch of the first-ever Mid-Atlantic Red Fruit Festival, hosted by the International Wine & Food Festival. The event will run from 6pm to 8pm, in Woodrow Wilson Plaza, at the International Trade Center and Ronald Reagan Building. What makes the festival so unique is that each year a red fruit will be showcased — this year’s being the tomato. Area farmers, chefs, and home gardeners and cooks have come together to bring you tomato tastings with wine pairings. Best of all, the festival has teamed up with Seeds to Schools, a public drive that gathers and redistributes seeds to regional schools and community gardens seeking to promote life science and nutritional values. Common Good City Farm is an additional partner that serves as an urban farm and education center for the District’s low-income residents. For only $35, foodies can enjoy all the tomato-inspired non-profit food festival has to offer!

Prevent Cancer Foundation 5k: 9/25/10

$30 late registration is still available for the Prevent Cancer Foundation 5k (Children under 12 can participate for free.). Just head to the packet pick-up site, located at Georgetown Running Co., between 10am and 7pm today. You can also register via phone at 703-519-2103. Messages received before 5pm today will be returned. The 5k, itself, is set to take place this Saturday, from 8am to 11am, at West Potomac Park. Fitness expert Denise Austin is kicking off the event The Washington Post has labeled D.C.’s “5k best bet,” so you’re sure to have a good time while supporting a noble cause.

Smithsonian Media’s 6th Annual Museum Day: 9/25/10

This Saturday, Smithsonian Media is hosting its 6th Annual Museum Day. On this day, museums across the nation provide free admission to those wielding a Museum Day ticket. Among the D.C. museums getting in on the action are the National Museum of Crime and Punishment, National Geographic Museum, and the Newseum. To find more venues and print off your ticket, head to www.microsite.smithsonianmag.com/museumday/. Tickets allow one household member and a guest entry but only into one museum, so choose wisely!

2010 National Book Festival: 9/25/10

The Library of Congress’s 2010 National Book Festival runs from 10am to 5:30pm this Saturday. President Barack and Michelle Obama will serve as the event’s honorary chairs. Additionally, the authors in attendance include Isabel Allende, Katherine Paterson, and Gordon S. Wood. The festival promises something for everyone, with its coterie of authors presenting on an array of genres and subjects. Best of all, it’s free and open to people of all ages. Come be a part of D.C.’s celebration of the joy of reading.

A Celebration of History: 9/25/10

A tribute exhibition to late artist James Beacon is being held at Gallerie Henlopen, this Saturday, at 4pm. Over the course of his career, Beacon has chronicled the history of slavery in his paintings. Now, the Silver Springs, MD art community wishes to pay homage to his significant effort. Marlen Bodden will also be present to sign copies of her novel “The Wedding Gift”. Fans of historical thrillers should be pleased.

Gary Tischler •

-What people remembered about that morning was how incredibly blue the sky was — the kind of gorgeous day it was, making you feel grateful how heart-breakingly beautiful it was.

We had skies like that this Labor Day weekend, a break from the oppressive bouts of heat. Blue as a baby, a Dutch painting.

On the Tuesday that became a simple number — 9/11 — I hadn’t yet made it a habit to turn on my computer first thing after brushing my teeth. Instead, I headed out the door to take a 42 bus downtown near the White House, on my way to a photography exhibition opening at the Corcoran Gallery. I didn’t bring my camera, and I didn’t have a cell phone. I didn’t have a clue.

As the bus neared the Farragut stop, you began to see a large number of people on the sidewalks, most of them on their cell phones, which was not yet a common sight. Many of them appeared agitated. More and more people started to pour out of office buildings and the Executive Office Building.

At Pennsylvania Avenue, with the White House as a backdrop, I walked up to a policeman and asked him what was going on. “Oh, not much,” he said. “Two planes were hijacked and rammed into the World Trade Center in New York. Another one just hit the Pentagon. There’s one that’s supposed to be coming here.”

He nodded toward the White House. My first thought was why the hell are we standing here? But I didn’t say anything except maybe “Jesus” or “Oh my God”. I couldn’t say. I decided to stay and see what happened.

That was the start 9/11 for me. I saw a group of Christian stockbrokers fall to their knees outside an office building where they were convening and they prayed. I saw people start the long walks home to Bethesda, Chevy Chase, and the Maryland border. I saw people gathered around a television set in the Mayflower Hotel, and I saw the real-time collapse of the second tower. It looked unreal. A nurse who was here for a medical convention said “I’m going home to a different world.”

Somewhere in a place called Shanksville, Pennsylvania, a fourth plane had crashed in a field near this small town outside Pittsburgh, after passengers had stormed the cockpit and fought the hijackers. On Thanksgiving two years later, we visited the site: there was a big memorial full of flags and angels there and a huge indentation in a field a distance away. The town was small, and it had a football field. It snowed into the quiet
land.

I remember the days afterward: the president’s speech, his stand on the rocks, the awful images from New York, the rubble, the many dead, and the pictures of falling bodies. I remember a girl, late at night, sitting on the steps, holding a lit candle. I remember being among a group of people in Adams Morgan, who had gathered to hold candles and sing folk songs from our youth — “We Shall Overcome.”

I remember two survivors of the attacks — one from the Pentagon and a blonde office worker from the World Trade Center, who came to the Corcoran where an exhibition of photographs from 9/11 was opening. They told personal stories of their trials and still mourned those lost. The fact that the stories were plain-spoken and true made them seem like incantations.

I remember that The Georgetowner ran something like five cover stories continuously after 9/11 on 9/11. The streak did not stop until the death of Beatle George Harrison, which seemed in a strange way oddly celebratory and sad at once.

I know this much: wars came and continue, American soldiers continue to serve and die, and we and the rest of the world have an enemy that appears implacable in its devotion to destruction, violence, bombings, and war as a way of showing their hatred of cultures and nations that are different from them. This seems never ending — the carnage and that contrary idea of a holy war. This is the world we live in. They call themselves by many names — Jihadists, Taliban, al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas. Here we call them terrorists. There the entire region seems in turmoil — Iraq after us, Afghanistan, Pakistan, flooded and bombed at once. It is a cauldron of suffering.

That blue-sky day prevails in my memory. I saw the Oberammergau Passion Play in Bavaria this summer, in which the man playing Jesus — a dentist — wailed at Gethsemane, crying out to God that “you have thrown me into the dust of death.”

That’s what we saw that day: the dust of death. It blotted out the perfect blue sky.

Georgetowner •

The September Democratic primary has come and gone and the Council’s summer recess is over. It’s back to school, back to work, and back to reality…literally! After a heated campaign, we have my colleagues Vince Gray as the Democratic nominee for Mayor and Kwame Brown for Chair. And we have an outgoing Mayor Fenty with three more months on the job. Together we face a tremendous challenge right off the bat – rebalancing the fiscal year 2011 budget, which began October 1st.

Last week the independent Chief Financial Officer, Dr. Natwar Gandhi, released the revised revenue estimate for the fall quarter.

While I was by no means expecting good news – anecdotal accounts of the economy continue to be pretty bad –the actual news turns out to be worse than I expected. Dr. Gandhi estimates an additional revenue shortfall of about $100 million for FY 2010, and potential spending pressures in the range of an additional $65 – 75 million. And this is just on October 1st!

We continue to see weaknesses in several areas: commercial real property values, income taxes – particularly capital gains and sales taxes. In fact, the decline in real property taxes in one year is $236 million – a figure which should take your breath away.

With the primary now over, all of this will force us to have our “rendezvous with reality” and refigure the FY 2011 budget within the next month. I have some hope of a higher level of cooperation between the Council and the Mayor in coming up with a consensus plan. I would like to see that plan avoid “one-time” fixes as I believe the continued revenue shortfall is likely to persist for a few years. While income and sales taxes will likely bounce back with the economy, I do not see commercial property coming back for several years, and the next wave of loan refinancing in this area is likely to reveal further weaknesses. So as I have said before, what we face is not a “rainy day,” but rather “climate change” and we have to rethink our government in order to live within our means.

This means we cannot keep raiding our accumulated fund balances to pay our operational expenses. We cannot mandate vague and unspecified spending cuts. We cannot raise taxes which discourage investment in the city and hurt our ability to continue to attract new residents and taxpayers to the District. The past 10+ years have seen an unprecedented movement back into DC – and this has had a phenomenal positive effect on our “bottom line” and on our ability to pay for the social safety net we all want. But we need to avoid short-sighted policies which will ultimately kill the golden goose, as it were. We are entering into the third year now of reduced economic circumstances, so clearly one-time fixes are not going to work.

We cannot let the various spending pressures gallop out of control, such as the potential $30 million in special education, the $35 million more we won’t be getting from the Feds for Medicaid, or the spending pressures related to our ownership of the United Medical Center.

It seems to me the fairest thing is to freeze things across the board: pay grades, step increases,
pension contributions, procurement contracts, all of which will result in a rate of zero growth. That way, everyone is making a contribution to our financial stability and we can attempt to avoid the painful process of laying people off.

Can we do it? It’s not really a question of “can.” We simply must do it. The next month or so will be a real test of our city’s leadership and whether we will approach the problems facing our city head on, or whether we’ll stick our heads in the sand.

Jack Evans • September 22, 2010

-In my last column, I addressed two challenges (education reform and fiscal responsibility) which will face the next Council and Mayor. This election season we will elect a Mayor, Council Chair, two at large Members of the Council, and four Ward Councilmembers (Wards 1, 3, 5 and 6). The city faces five key issues which the Mayor and the Council will have to confront after all the speeches are done and the buttons and signs are put away – and these are my thoughts on the final three:

3. Creating an investment environment. Too many of our neighborhood commercial strips have languished over the past 40 years. Elected officials in town talk a lot about helping small businesses, but I’d point this out — small businesses pay the same outlandishly high tax rates as big businesses! I believe this has greatly discouraged investment in our neighborhoods. Three years ago, the Chairman and I authored legislation which reduced the commercial property tax rate from $1.85 to $1.65 for the first $3 million of a building’s value, which was quite helpful in our neighborhood commercial areas. But even the $1.65 is far higher than the surrounding jurisdictions – we’ve priced ourselves right out of competition with our neighbors, all while we hemorrhage retail spending across our borders. The business income tax rate at 9.975% is among the highest in the country, and we tax unincorporated businesses which our neighbors do not. If we are really serious about changing the business climate in DC – often ranked among the nation’s worst — we need to look long and hard at these rates if we are ever to bring more jobs and opportunities to our neighborhoods, and retain the spending power of DC residents right here in the city where it belongs.

4. Public Safety. We have made great strides over the past decade in implementing community policing, utilizing new technologies, and pinpointing resources at data-identified problem areas. We have much to celebrate — the murder rate is the lowest in 40 years. But we have a ways to go on continuing to lower robberies and theft – and we face particular problems with juvenile crimes and dysfunctionality of the juvenile justice system. These are the next areas we will need to focus on.

5. Self-determination. This area is one in which there can be either incremental or large steps. I believe a two pronged strategy will be needed to obtain statehood for the District, and/or any of the steps along the way. We will need a Mayor and Council that has a good working relationship with the Congress. Statehood ultimately is but a majority vote in the Congress, but there are issues, particularly financial ones, to address along the road to statehood. Smaller steps could be such things as budget and legislative autonomy for the District. Budget autonomy in particular would allow us to conduct a more rational budget process every year rather than the “hurry up and wait” that we suffer now as we wait for the Congress to approve our spending of our own locally-raised funds.

I believe we can achieve these things, but like many things, we’ll all have to wait until the dust settles after the election to get back to work on many of the pressing issues facing our city.

Georgetowner •

The primary election is over! Congratulations to Vince Gray, who will be the Democratic nominee for Mayor, and to Kwame Brown who will be the nominee to Council Chair. As someone who has been down this road before, I greatly appreciate the hard work and dedication to our city that went into those successful campaigns, and I look forward to working with them on what is best for our entire city.

I have had good working relationships with both men. I am especially encouraged by Vince Gray’s early outreach, within days after the primary election, to plan town hall meetings in each Ward of the city, in recognition that he did not win every Ward. I think this is a very good gesture in the right direction in fostering a much needed dialogue which will help our city move forward together, and allow all of us to get to know one another better.

We have tremendous challenges facing us in both the near and long term – not least of which is the potential continued weakness in the economy, which will have implications for the District’s revenue and budget, as well as an impact on unemployment and demands for social services. It is quite possible the Chief Financial Officer, Dr. Natwar Gandhi, will come to us with more bad news on the revenue side of the balance sheet this month – and it could be one of the first challenges as we return from Council summer recess to redo the FY 2011 before it starts October 1st.

Other efforts will continue as well, such as school reform, how to continue to create an investment climate for our economy to keep “growing the pie,” and how to make our public safety agencies work for everyone across the city. I look forward to approaching these issues and more with new vigor as we move forward to make Ward 2 – and the entire city – the best place that it can possibly be.

Jack Evans •

-It truly is the dog days of summer! Or, in the words of Nat King Cole, “roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer!” In this kind of heat and humidity the best thing you can do is do nothing, move as little as possible and have a cool, frosty drink nearby.

Oddly enough, those recommendations notwithstanding, we’ve been doing quite a bit in the council office lately. First of all, we’ve continued work on the Georgetown Waterfront Park, and I am happy to announce we have received a commitment from Pepco for a donation of $50,000, which fills an important gap in moving the remaining parts of the project along.

Logan Circle was busy this past weekend with the 11th annual “Dog Days” sidewalk sale events, with participation by both retailers and community groups. And just recently we helped the neighborhood secure funding from the District to help design a marketing plan for the 14th Street corridor.

In Shaw, we celebrated the grand opening of the brand new Watha T. Daniel Library, a great community resource for the neighborhood and city. As you may recall, the previous library was a big heap of unattractive concrete, often compared to a prison or a wartime bunker, which was neither inviting nor very functional. I am very proud of the hard work of my staff, the D.C. Public Library, and community stakeholders in making the new library som

In Shaw this past week, we celebrated the start of a $31 million rehabilitation of the Gibson Plaza Apartments, which will renovate the 271-unit affordable housing building with a variety of green building features, and will be funded by federal HUD funds. I am happy to report that not a single resident will be displaced by this renovation.

Whew — after all that, I think we better slow down a bit! Actually, I love getting things done and it is gratifying that we’ve been able to move forward on a number of projects in the past week or two.

Don’t forget the upcoming elections. One thing is for sure: it is going to be a very interesting month and a half.

Jack Evans • August 25, 2010

-Our long hot summer will soon enough turn the bend of Labor Day and the September 14 primary which will select the Democratic nominee for Mayor, Council Chair and a number of races down the ballot. As many of you know, I have endorsed Mayor Adrian Fenty for reelection, but regardless of the election’s outcome, the city faces 5 key issues which the Mayor and the Council will have to confront after all the speeches are done and the buttons and signs are put away. We’ll talk about two of them today:

1. Schools. This continues to be one of the central issues facing the city, and historically has broken down like this: “rich” kids go to private or parochial schools and “poor” kids are stuck in run down schools with no future. Over the past 30 years the city has hemorrhaged middle class people, but good schools are key to retaining middle class families in the city and improving outcomes for low income kids. Mayor Fenty has made some pretty big changes, starting with authoring the Schools Facilities Modernization Financing Act as a Councilmember, and of course, as Mayor, implementing the takeover of the school system and installing Chancellor Michele Rhee as its head. As a result of the first legislation and a lot of hard work by Allen Lew and his facilities team, our school construction and maintenance efforts are the best they have been in a generation, by far. At some point credit is due to the Mayor for this. The other changes have been somewhat more controversial, but I believe Fenty and Rhee are on the right track by trying to bring more accountability into the system. My observation over the years has been this: for years we had a performance evaluation system where almost by magic no one was ever fired for lack of performance, but our schools were at the same time among the worst performing in the nation. Fenty has quite correctly identified this as fundamentally problematic and has sought to change old ways of doing business.

2. Fiscal responsibility. As Chair of the Council’s Committee on Finance and Revenue, you’ve seen me write about this topic often, and it continues to be a concern of mine. Fortunately, the District has the relative stability of the federal employment base, but in the FY 2011 budget cycle this spring, I expressed a number of concerns which all go back to this one notion: we can’t live beyond our means. For the last several years we’ve spent down revenue from our fund balances, which were once over $1.5 billion but which now are down to about $500 million. I believe the decline in our revenue — chiefly in the realm of commercial property — is not likely to return in the near term. A certain amount of our economy through the 2000’s was built on the shaky foundation of irrational exuberance. Yet the size of our government has not been restrained in proportion to the shrinking revenue. Using our fund balance the past three year has allowed us to paper over the problem, but I believe the next mayor and council won’t have this luxury — and I’ll note I was the only Member of the Council to vote against the budget this past year.

Those are the two biggest issues we’ll face next year. Next column we’ll talk about three more.

The author is a city councilmember representing District Ward 2.