Final Ward 3 Debate set

Please come to a Ward 3 Council Candidates' Forum on Friday evening, November 3, from 7 to 9 pm, at the Washington International Churc at River Road and Fessenden Street.

Candidates Mary Cheh (d) and Theresa Conroy (r) will be participating and the League of Women Voters will moderate. Co-sponsors include ANC3E, ANC3C, ANC3D, the Tenleytown Neighbors Association, the Friendship-Tenleytown Citizens Association, the Ft. Gaines Citizens Association, and the Woodley Park Community Association. Below is the format the candidates have agreed upon:

Five topics will be covered by the candidates:

Education
The Environment
Growth
Public Safety
Fiscal Management

Each topic will be given 10 minutes and will be broken down in the following way:

Candidate A. 3 minutes to discuss topic.
Candidate B. Asks one question on topic to candidate A.
Candidate A. 1 Minute response to question.

Candidate B. 3 minutes to discuss the same topic.
Candidate A. Asks one question on topic to candidate B.
Candidate B. 1 Minute response to question.

The Moderator selects one question from the audience to ask the candidates. Each candidate has one minute to answer the audience question.

Then the moderator moves candidates on to the next topic. Debate continues this way for all topics--alternating which candidate begins.

Questions from audience members will be written on cards and collected by volunteers. Moderator will review cards and select one question per topic to ask each candidate. As indicated above, questions from the audience will be incorporated into each "issue block."

Each candidate will have 2 minutes to make an opening statement at start of debate, and 2 minutes to make a closing statement at the end.

Cheh and Conroy face off on Kojo!

DC Politics Hour with Kojo and Jonetta

Mayor Anthony Williams on his final months in office -- and the next era in District leadership. Plus, the future of one of D.C.'s most prosperous areas. We hear from the candidates for the Ward 3 Council seat. Join us for our weekly review of the politics, policies, and personalities of the District of Columbia.

Guests
Anthony Williams, Mayor, District of Columbia

Mary Cheh, Democratic Candidate, Ward 3, D.C. City Council

Theresa Conroy, Republican Candidate, Ward 3, D.C. City Council

October 25th NW Current wrap up

A few items caught my eye in the October 25th NW Current:

- The headline, top fold article about the Comprehensive Plan is very interesting. The Office of Planning has added language to assuage the opponents of the passage of the Comp Plan this term. According to the article the amendments include additional protections for "historic neighborhoods" where Transit Oriented Development are concerned. In other words, Woodley Park and Cleveland Park and their historic designations are relatively safe from any new TOD plans. Of course, this also means that Tenleytown and Friendship Heights may still be ripe for development proposals, particularly on the 5220 Wisconsin Avenue, WMATA Garage and Pedas properties, this continuing the angst against the plan by "civic activists".

- Theresa Conroy, the Republican Ward 3 candidate has written a viewpoint parsing DC Law where Ward 3 Democratic nominee Mary Cheh's "association" with George Washington University may cause Cheh to recuse herself from Council proceedings where GWU is concerned. Of course, GWU officials and Council attorneys had weighed in on this prior to the Democratic Primary, but if Conroy wants to turn the dead horse into glue, that is her prerogative. In its endorsement of Mary Cheh, the Northwest Current states,

We doubt that analysis, given the outgoing D.C. Council Chairman Linda Cropp - whose husband is an official at George Washington University - has not faced similar problems. Nor have practicing attorneys such as sitting council member Jack Evans and former members Harold Brazil, Kevin Chavous and Bill Lightfoot, all of whom have chaired various council committees

At the Democratic State breakfast earlier this month, DC representative Eleanor Holmes Norton praised Cheh for her committment to education, noting that she too had such an appointment at a local university.

- Speaking of dead horses, there is an article by Staff Writer Julia O'Donoghue pointing out that Candidate Conroy is gaining traction with certain Ward 3 Voters who are in favor of delaying the implementation of the Comp Plan and who oppose new development (or overdevelopment) in the Ward. The irony here, of course, is that the "keep it as it is" voice was heard and largely ignored in the democratic primary, given the means by which the development critics raised the banner in the weeks prior to the election. It is funny, Theresa Conroy is quoted in the article as saying the retail options on upper Wisconsin Avenue are "adequate" given the shopping opportunities in Friendship Heights. I am glad the republican candidate is happy to have our retail dollars going to Maryland businesses.

I guess a "sensible growth", pro-life, anti-business republican candidate in Ward 3 makes a complex recipe. November 7th should be interesting.

Military Road redux

The hot topic of Military Road has reemerged over the past week as the DC Department of Transportation concluded its "one year" study with restriping and center turn lanes.

The study came about as a result of Military Road residents complaining of speeding and lack of parking near their houses. As a result, DDOT implemented a one-lane in each direction approach to this Upper Northwest arterial roadway. The striping also includes center turn lanes.

The test was a disaster within a few days:

If you drive along Military Road in Northwest DC, you may have noticed longer backups. This is because 4 lanes of thru-traffic have been turned into 2 lanes. Some drivers tell 9News their morning commutes have increased by as much as 20 minutes due to the road changes. So, what happened to the other two lanes you ask? One of them is for turns only. The other one is for residential parking. While commuters may hate the new traffic pattern, most residents along this stretch of road love the changes. "People have been flying down Military Road for years using it as a highway," says long time resident Shelly Sconberger. In order to slow down the traffic, DCÂ’s Department of Transportation implemented the changes. Now they are studying the impact of all their work and they want to hear from you! If you have any pros or cons youÂ’d like DDOT to know about regarding this project, call 202-727-1000.

At the Octoberer 23, 2006 ANC 3/4G meeting, DDOT announced that they intend to maintain the 1 lane scheme on a permanent basis, except during rush-hour, when a second lane would be added (North lanes in the morning and south lanes for the PM). The ANC indicated a desire to simply revert the road scheme to the way it was before the study was conducted, while adding speed reduction schemes.

A community meeting for all interested will be held at the Chevy Chase Center on Wednesday, October 25th, 6:30.

Washington Post Endorsement Ward 3

IN LAST MONTH'S Democratic primary contests for D.C. Council seats in Wards 1, 3, 5 and 6, we endorsed Jim Graham , Mary Cheh , Harry "Tommy" Thomas Jr. and Tommy Wells , respectively. We repeat our endorsement of each of these candidates in the Nov. 7 general election.
. . .

Ward 3 Democratic nominee Mary Cheh has all the qualities to make a fine lawmaker in the mold of Kathy Patterson, who vacates that seat in January. But Theresa Conroy, carrying the Republican standard, has proven to be a smart opponent with a good feel for Ward 3 issues. She's not up to Ms. Cheh in experience and knowledge of city government, so Ward 3 voters ought to support the Democrat. Ms. Conroy, however, has a future in District politics, provided she remains involved with civic concerns.

Tenley Firehouse Reopens!!

After how many years of discussion? How many stops and starts? How much taxpayer money wasted?

The historic Tenleytown firehouse, Company 20 finally reopens . This is a releif to thousands of upper Northwest residents who have endured a patchwork (but hurculean and heroic) effort on the part of the DCFD to properly serve and protect the citizens.

From the article:

A historic Northwest firehouse is open again, after a renovation project took four times longer than expected and cost more than double what was budgeted.
"The main thing is, we're in," D.C. fire department Capt. Kenneth Crosswhite, who is stationed at the remodeled Engine 20 in Tenleytown, said yesterday. "And we've actually improved the service to the community."
Firefighters returned Oct. 14, four years and four months after what was slated to be a one-year project began in June 2002. Officials say the cost of renovating the 1901 firehouse ballooned from the $2.9 million that was originally budgeted to about $7 million.
Engine 20 is now a paramedic-engine company, meaning that one firefighter on each shift is a certified paramedic. It also is home to a ladder truck and an ambulance, and serves as the headquarters for the 5th battalion chief.
The firehouse has at least 50 percent more space, with a larger kitchen and bathroom facilities. The most obvious addition is the two new drive-through bays with 13-foot doors. They replace doors originally designed for horse-drawn fire wagons through which only older, smaller vehicles could fit.
"Having the wider doors decreases response times because you're not slowing down as much," Capt. Crosswhite said.
However, some problems still exist.
Firefighters are sharing space with construction workers, who are completing the renovations at the station, on Warren Street Northwest. Some exterior work also remains, such as laying sod and a sidewalk and fixing a large crack in the building's facade.
"Everything that remains to be done now is superficial," said Alan Etter, a fire department spokesman. However, he acknowledged the project "took too long, no question about it."
The $2.9 million renovation contract was awarded in July 2002 to District-based HRGM Corp. A dispute was raised about construction issues, and city officials fired the company in July 2003, saying it had defaulted on the contract.
Officials rebid the contract and selected Garcete Construction Co. Inc., increasing the budget to $3.9 million. The work was supposed to be completed by last August, but the city granted an extension to the contractor.
An official rededication ceremony and open house is scheduled for Nov. 4. The event also will celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the house's designation as Engine 20.

By Matthew Cella
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published October 21, 2006

Tom Knott covers the Glover Park Alley

As discussed previously there is a little controversy in Glover Park. Tom Knott addresses it in the Washington Times.

Chevy Chase Candidates forum

This is a review of the recent Chevy Chase Citizens Association candidates forum. This was the second, of I believe two forums where the Ward 3 Council candidates will meet:

There was a good crowd at the meeting, in part because it included a forum for candidates for School Board president. Much of the dialogue between Cheh and Conroy covered very familiar ground: both candidates reiterated positions that can be found on their websites. Cheh spoke of her support for transit-oriented development on upper Wisconsin Avenue that focuses on pedestrian-friendly access to retail stores, while Conroy favored the status quo - saying that there are already plenty of retail and grocery stores there.

The only new issue addressed was the question of where each stood on a woman's right to choose and DC support for benefits for same-sex partners.

Conroy declared she was pro-life. While she doesn't support a woman's right to choose, she is endorsed by the Log Cabin Republicans, and would support laws on the books. As for the second part of the question, she said that she believed such matters should be left to states. Cheh said that she supports a woman's right to choose, and linked the issue to her commitment to fight for the District of Columbia right to self-determination. She noted that Congress has forbidden the DC government to pay for abortions for low-income women, and called it an intolerable situation. It was interesting that this was the only response of the night that drew applause from the audience.

Ward3Vision website goes live

The DC Ward 3 Smart Growth Coalition changed its name in the Spring to reflect a broader vision for the future of Ward 3 where neighborhood serving retail, affordable housing and lively streetscape are concerned.

To encapsulate this "vision" the committee has launched its new website in order to attract new members and continue to build on the momentum it has achieved over the past year.

If you are interested in a revitalized Wisconsin Avenue corridor, enhanced regional environmental concerns, and affordable housing, particularly for city employees and first responders, then you should visit their website and sign up to the movement!

Cleveland Park family forces change in DCPL Policy

As first reported on the Cleveland Park Listserv, a local family had a frustrating day at the local branch of the library.

My son who is 4.5 was told that to get a library card he had to be able to write his name. This is an issue he has been working on as he has fine motor skill issues. He tried and tried but could not do it well enough and they would not give him a card, rendering him to tears. I know other four year olds can comply and would get a card and it seems very unfair and cruel to tie getting a library card to a child's physical development. It is discriminatory against those with developmental delays or physical disabilities. A policy requiring that a child be of a certain age makes sense; this one does not.

According to the City Paper, the days events were not for naught, as the Director has pledged to adjust the policy:

(The parents) lobbied Chief Librarian Ginnie Cooper to change the policy. By Saturday evening, Cooper gave word that she had abolished the handwriting challenge altogether. “It was an easy decision for us to make,” Cooper says. Making a 4-and-a-half-year-old cry, she says, is “not the kind of impression we want children to have at our libraries.”

But with the new policy in place, the library system wanted one more thing from Jonah: his picture on a brochure trumpeting the policy change. Jonah and his parents are up for it. “He's cute,” Loeb says. “He's a cute 4-year-old.”

Bravo to the DCPL system for getting it right.

Mark Plotkin on the republican candidate

Tenleytown, D.C.: So, how do you feel about the possibility of a Republican holding the Ward 3 Council seat?

Mark Plotkin: Won't happen. The Ward is overwhelmingly Democratic. Mary Cheh ran a strong race and beat all her Democratic opponents by over two to one. Conroy is a sign, I don't know anything else about her. For a Republican to win in a Ward race because of the registration figures, they need to be a household name with a great history, or spend hundred of thousands of dollars. The fact of life is that Republicans are seven percent of the registered voters in D.C. That's an enormous hill to climb. The Republican party is a social club, not a political party in this city. I wish it was more, it would help on the Hill. The only elected Republican Carol Schwartz won't even support the Republican running for Mayor. That says it all.

Your Taxpayer Dollars at Work

ANC3C passed a resolution last night authorizing up to $5,000 of OUR tax dollars to go to zoning attorneys to fight the Wardman project in Woodley Park.

ANC3C 02 Commissioner Deborah Lindeman proposed the resolution at the meeting (after having posted about it a scant few hours before the meeting on a narrowly read listserv). There was no adequate announcement beforehand that the Advisory Neighborhood Commission would be taking this action (as we have grown accustomed to such non-actions by various ANCs). The resolution said that the ANC would appeal all future permits and would take whatever legal action is necessary. ANC 3C Chair Nancy MacWood had clearly not read the resolution and it was after midnight when it was proposed. Some commissioners tried to get it deferred; but MacWood and Lindeman plowed it through. After one commissioner noted to Nancy MacWood what the resolution actually said, MacWood offered an amendment to eliminate any reference to future permits and future legal actions. It is too bad. It would have been really funny to watch ANC 3C bankrupt itself because of this hasty action.

Given that the total ANC budget is about $26,000, the $5,000 approved along with the $1,300 already spent on this account for about 26% of the total.

Ironic that Commissioner Lindeman abstained on a vote earlier this year, approving a grant for a playground at 39th & Porter for 6 to 12 year olds, an age that really needs to get out of the house, away from computers and TV, and onto the playground. The minutes say: "Commissioner Lindeman stated that she planned to abstain from the vote and encouraged the ANC to demonstrate fiscal responsibility."

I wonder how many of the folks in Woodley Park, and the broader ANC 3C area who support the Wardman project feel about this action?

Washington Post on Aircraft noise in Palisades

By Sue Anne Pressley Montes
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, October 15, 2006; C12

Every Saturday and Sunday afternoon, residents of the Palisades neighborhood in northwest D.C. look skyward. With clipboards in hand, they meticulously rate the noise levels of airplanes flying over their homes on the way to nearby Reagan National Airport.

They mark an option for each aircraft -- "less loud" than usual, "normal" or "louder." They hope their notations will convey, to regional and federal agencies, what it is like to live in a community where the house windows sometimes rattle in sync with the commercial-jet engines overhead.

"Just this morning, at 6 o'clock, I heard an aircraft fly over my house and I said, 'It's time to get up,' " said Spence Spencer, president of the Palisades Citizens Association, which is conducting a six-week study with the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments.

About 700 flights take off from and land at National Airport each day, according to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. Half fly over the Palisades.

On clear days, when visibility is good, aircraft bound for National operate under visual flight rules, basically following the Potomac River route and avoiding flying over neighborhoods such as the Palisades, FAA spokesman Paul Takemoto said. On overcast days, they fly under instrument flight rules and often have to end up over homes.

"We are very sensitive to noise issues, but our main concern is safety and you can't have aircraft snake their way up the river when they can't see the river," Takemoto said.

Palisades residents say they understand that, but they also think that new technology, based on a global positioning system approach, could keep the aircraft over the river in good weather and bad. The community, between Chain Bridge and Key Bridge, with an estimated 3,000 households, big shade trees and unique, old homes, has been involved in noise-abatement issues for many years.

"First of all, we are not trying to close down National Airport," said Stu Ross, past president of the citizens association. "What we're trying to do is find the best scientific way to manage noise. There are a couple of ways you can do this -- one is quieter engines, obviously, and the other is patterns pilots may fly when landing."

Coexisting with airport noise is one of the continuing predicaments of modern American life. Recent airport expansions, like those at San Francisco and Minneapolis-St. Paul, produced a storm of new protesters. As daily flights have increased and once-sleepy airports have grown, more residents and citizens groups across the country have begun pushing for better noise control.

"The problem is that the number of takeoffs and landings have increased faster than airplanes are getting quieter, and the times of takeoffs and landings are spreading into more vulnerable times of day, into early morning and late evening when people are sleeping," said Les Blomberg, director of the Noise Pollution Clearinghouse in Montpelier, Vt.

Palisades residents only complain about aircraft noise to a point. They knew what they were getting into when they moved into the neighborhood northwest of Georgetown, but the charm of the area bowled them over. In a mayor's proclamation that celebrated Palisades Day in May 2005, the community was described as "a small town in the big city, composed of an eclectic mix of citizens of all backgrounds committed to making our city a better place to live and work," and "a treasure of green spaces, quiet streets, high bluffs and breathtaking sunsets." The Palisades also has become known for its annual Fourth of July parade.

"I don't know anyone who's ever moved out or didn't buy a house here because of" the planes, said Ross, an attorney who moved to the Palisades 26 years ago and now lives in "an old boardinghouse" there. "You get used to it. Everyone benefits from how close National is to us. It's just one of those things you kind of put up with."

For about an eight-month period after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, noise levels in the Palisades reached new heights, residents said, when all arrivals had to pass over the neighborhood for security reasons. Use of the river route was later resumed.

Mat Thorp, a retired aerospace-industry executive who often is described as the unofficial mayor of the Palisades, is leading the noise-control effort. The 44-year resident of the neighborhood said he was struck by the loudness of passing aircraft when he viewed a video of his wife's memorial service that he held on his patio, and often could not understand what was being said because of engine noise.

As families in the Palisades and surrounding areas pull out the clipboards each weekend for the survey, Thorp is curious to know whether they can distinguish the quieter sounds of one airline. About a year ago, Alaska Airlines became the first U.S. carrier at National to use something called Required Navigation Performance, which uses the GPS satellite network to remain on course over the river.

The technology was developed in the 1990s for "some of the more challenging airports in Alaska," due to weather and terrain, an Alaska Airlines spokeswoman said. The airline is now expanding its use to other areas.

Four years ago, officials with the regional airports authority undertook an exhaustive study of noise control around National that has been turned over to the Federal Aviation Administration for review. They agree with Palisades residents that new technology "has provided a way for us to address a critical issue," said Jonathan Gaffney, an airports authority spokesman, adding, "Everybody's on the same page."

Official complaints about noise at National Airport are surprisingly few, with only about 40 this year, said Neal Phillips, noise-abatement manager for the authority.

Rob Krupicka, who chairs the aviation policy committee with the Washington council of governments, said he is interested in seeing the results of the Palisades survey and hopes residents in other neighborhoods eventually will join the effort. "We'll let [the Palisades] try it first and see what happens and expand it from there," said Krupicka, an Alexandria City Council member.

Ross said he realizes that even the best citizen efforts and the most sincere government responses can only go so far to solve the problem. It may never really be quiet in the Palisades.

"Oddly enough, the loudest thing we get is presidential helicopters," he said, describing the powerful motors and low approach. "Usually on Friday evenings or Sunday afternoons, you hear them coming down, and if you have folks around, you say, 'There goes the president.' "

© 2006 The Washington Post Company

More bad traffic proposals for Ward 3

In a recent announcement for an updoming Chevy Chase ANC Meeting a commissioner announced that there is a

Possible proposal for one-way traffic on 3800 block of Livingston Street

One response retorted

Creating a one way traffic plan in the 3800 block of Livingston Street is a very bad idea and reminiscent of a one-way "Maze Plan" proposed and rejected (by the ANC) for the west side of Livingston and Morrison Streets in the late 1980s when I was on the ANC. Piecemeal traffic calming is NOT what this community needs. We need comprehensive traffic planning and a look at how one-way streets, traffic signals and other "calming" devices impact our traffic safety, traffic flow and cut through problems. I urge the ANC to reject this idea and all future proposals that consider one block or one street in isolation for traffic calming measures.

I agree with this sentiment. The city needs to formulate a comprehensive traffic management plan, rather than allow ANCs to encourage DDOT to implement these piecemeal measures.

Update on Glover Park alley

In an update about the proposed alley closure in Glover Park, and astute resident has reported that measured steps have been taken to arrive at a solution that seems to work for everybody:

ALLEY-RELATED METAPHORICAL BLOODBATH

There was no alley-related metaphorical bloodbath. Many were expecting a repeat of the passionate, three-plus hour city council hearing Tuesday about whether to close and privatize the L-shaped public alley between Tunlaw and Hall Place. But commission chair Tamela Gordon announced at the outset that no one was allowed to speculate on anyone else's motives, nor on anything that was not currently known for sure. That took a lot off the table.

Ms Gordon read a letter from Ken Laden of the D.C. Department of Transportation dated October 11, 2006. The letter said that, because even the applicant does not want the alley to be privatized (he wants it to remain public property, but forever closed to car traffic) he should withdraw his application, and in its place DDOT would file documents indicating that the alley should stay city property but remain "unimproved and closed to vehicular traffic."

Laden's letter does not acknowledge that there is a dispute among adjacent homeowners over whether the alley can or should be reopened to cars. (It also doesn't mention that, if left public, the alley could one day be used to create a public path from 37th Street to the commercial district!)

The DDOT general counsel's office is investigating the best legal method for prohibiting car traffic on a public alley, and will report back to Laden by October 20. Laden said the DDOT would not file any documents without consulting the ANC.

After a civil discussion among attendees, the ANC resolved to strongly urge the following:

a) The applicant to withdraw his application to close the alley;
b) The mayor to withdraw the bill to close the alley; and
c) The City Council to reject the bill to close the alley.

I believe this means that, as long as the City Council doesn't go nuts and pass the bill over the ANC's objections, the alley will not be privatized. But the question of what, if anything, to do with this public alley is still very open. The ANC will take up the matter at its November meeting. I got the sense that the ANC will be working with adjacent propertyholders in the meantime to try to develop a consensus. People like me who do not live adjacent to this public land will have to wait till the next ANC meeting to join that conversation. Should be fun!

Hopefully the powers that be will act appropriately.

City Paper unearths Palisades resident!

I had mentioned previously the Palisades resident who has unearthed quite the trove of early history in construction sites throughout the neighborhood. Huan Hsu of the City Paper has written an excellent cover story on the subject.

Marc Fisher comments on Conroy

Palisades, Washington, D.C.: Do you find any irony that the Republican, Theresa Conroy, running in the Ward 3 council race, has fully embraced the NIMBY viewpoint, which was (tongue in cheek) so successful in the Democratic primary?

Marc Fisher: It is funny to watch some of the liberal upper Northwest folks who are the foundation of the area's stereotype now running to the shelter of the Republican who promises to stand up to development. Ward 3 voters spoke clearly against the tiny, loud NIMBY minority that dominates the neighborhood listservs: the majority is fully supportive of the much higher density that the city needs to start building its population back up to anything like 1950 levels.

National Zoo renovation opens

The first phase of the National Zoo renovation, the first capital improvement to the Zoo since the bi-centennial, will open on October 17th, but was open to the media yesterday.

This will make it a lot easier to get to the bird house from the main entrance!

Common Denominator Ceases Publication

With much regret and great personal disappointment, I am sad to announce that I must discontinue publication of The Common Denominator.

When I started this newspaper more than eight years ago, it was born of the idea for a "hometown paper" for all the people of the District of Columbia, with our residence here being what we hold in common.I wanted it to be the District's "newspaper of record" -- a place where readers could find the information that some local papers in other communities still provide. It would serve citizens across the city with reporting and opinion focused on local public policy and events, news about their neighborhoods and meaningful facts from the public record.

I also tried to build The Common Denominator into a self- sustaining and job-creating business -- a locally owned community asset -- with wide circulation and a strong base of local advertisers. From the start, it's been a constant struggle, with frequent tangible setbacks outweighing the occasional intangible rewards. Operating a small business can be difficult under the best of circumstances. Being an independent, working-class entrepreneur in the newspaper field -- a small fry in a sometimes predatory pond of Big Media -- made it all more difficult. But competing in the marketplace becomes nearly impossible when the playing field is uneven. At The Common Denominator, I realized how uneven it could be -- in terms of limited capital access, usurious interest rates, restricted circulation opportunities and oft- demanded personal financial guarantees.

While a supportive community of loyal readers offered much- appreciated encouragement and occasional monetary assistance over the years, the company's debts continued to grow. My repeated attempts to secure long-term financing have proved unsuccessful. At this point, the financial burden -- for The Common Denominator and myself -- has become overwhelming. I never expected this enterprise to be easy. But I certainly did underestimate the challenges of being an editor and publisher. While running a newsroom, I've also had to struggle all too frequently with landlords, banks, printers, circulation agents, creditors, government agencies and deadbeat advertisers. I've been detained by the U.S. Capitol Police for taking photographs. I've been robbed outside my office. My car has been stolen; my tires have been slashed. The paper's news boxes have been repeatedly vandalized, robbed or stolen outright. But there also have been gratifying experiences. Though pride may be a sin, I can point with some satisfaction to what The Common Denominator has achieved, or aspired to, over the years:
*It has trained scores of young people in urban journalism, many of whom have gone on to careers in the field, and published the work of veteran D.C. writers who didn't have a regular print outlet.
*It championed "sunshine" legislation and open-meeting policies to help the public know what their elected officials are doing.
*It went where others wouldn't or didn't go for stories and circulation. By shining a light on and giving voice to residents of
low-income neighborhoods, it prompted competing news organizations to pay attention.
*It exposed the secretive business group known as the Federal City Council, which for decades has set a private agenda for public policy in the District.
*It won awards from the regional press association in every year of eligibility, including first place honors for investigative
reporting, editorial cartoons and coverage of the closing of D.C. General Hospital.
*It helped the Smithsonian's Festival of American Folklife assemble its featured program on the District and participated in the festival's public forums.

Though I'm now beyond broke, I hope to salvage something of this eight-year endeavor for the lasting benefit of the community at large. I continue to seek a way to ensure, at a minimum, the survival of The Common Denominator's searchable online archives as a free resource. I also hope that the paper's high school athletic awards programs, which recognize student achievement, can somehow carry on. Seeing The Common Denominator revived in print, perhaps under
the wing of a local university, would be most satisfying. The community's need for local news and alternative ideas is
great. The need for a local newspaper also remains great in a city where new electronic media are flourishing but many neighborhoods are still largely unplugged and highly dependent on the printed word for detailed coverage.
In any democracy -- but especially in the limited democracy we have here in the District -- knowing how the government works is vital to the democratic process. This was the central driving force in my quest to create a "hometown newspaper."

Many thanks to the loyal readers and advertisers who helped make The Common Denominator possible over the years. Thanks also to the educators and students who cooperated with the paper's school programs, and to the sponsors of The CD's awards programs.Special thanks to the many staff members, contributors, interns and volunteers who helped produce The Common Denominator and get it onto the street. And heartfelt thanks to my longtime associate Lottie
Hunter, a source of stability through tumultuous times.

Kathy Sinzinger
Oct. 10, 2006

Tunlaw Street alley dispute

The City Paper has reported on the ongoing dispute in Glover Park:

The alley running between Hall Place NW and Tunlaw Road NW in Glover Park is hardly an alley anymore. It's narrow and choked with weeds, and bamboo makes it impassable sans machete. Jersey barriers block one entrance, and a retaining wall holding up one side of the alley appears to be crumbling.

Hall Place resident Tim Robinson obtained permits to park in a spot behind his house last summer. So he called the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) to have the jersey barriers at the front of the alley removed. But soon after they'd been taken away, Tunlaw Road property owner Ron Bitondo had them put back, citing the instability of the retaining wall. (The alley sits 8 feet above the edge of Bitondo's property.)

Robinson says DDOT officials told him they'd hire an engineering firm to analyze the alley and come up with some proposals for fixing it, but a short while later, another DDOT official—Robinson doesn't remember exactly who—said nothing was going to happen with the alley because of a “political issue with your neighbor.”

Bitondo co-chaired D.C. Council Chairman Linda Cropp’s mayoral campaign. Says Robinson, “Linda Cropp is in his pocket.”

In the fall, Bitondo submitted an application to close the alley to the city surveyor, complete with a petition with neighbors’ signatures and a $1,870 fee. His petition has wound up as a bill before the D.C. Council to have the alley closed—typical alley-closing procedure.

And now rages a fight that's seen neighbors taking sides—one side of the alley against the other. The Tunlaw folks who live down below the alley support closure; Hall Placers want it left alone for a variety of reasons, the chief one being that a closed alley reverts to private ownership; they'd be responsible for long-neglected pieces of land and would have to pay taxes on it, too.

At an Oct. 10 D.C. Council hearing on the alley, Robinson forced Cropp to acknowledge that she had more-than-typical relationship with Bitondo. But Cropp denied that his financial support of her campaign had anything to do with the alley legislation.

A city employee testified at the hearing that the rules had been followed, and Bitondo denies any impropriety. “It's taking the normal process across the board,” he says.

EDIT
There is an update to this story. On the Glover Park Listserv one resident posted her report of the proceedings:

For those who asked me to report on yesterday's City Council hearing regarding a proposal to close the alley that runs behind the 2100 blocks of Tunlaw Road and Hall Place:

There was a gigantic turnout, a few dozen people, of whom about 20 testified (including me). More than half of those who testified (mainly Hall Place residents) were strongly opposed. The people in favor (mainly residents of Tunlaw) were as strongly in favor. This week's ANC meeting (7 pm Thursday at Guy Mason) should be interesting! I testified against, because closing the now-impassable alley would prevent its ever being used as a public footpath from 37th St. to the commercial district.

• Reasons to close the alley include that people like the privacy and serenity afforded by the greenery growing there now. People on Tunlaw, a whole house-height lower than Hall Place, also count on the green space to filter and divert heavy rains.

• Reasons not to close the alley include that people want to study whether the alley can be re-opened to car traffic. More than one resident of Hall Place has been granted a permit to park behind his house, but there's no way currently to get his car back there.

• The DC Dept of Transportation seems to have issued two conflicting opinions on whether the alley can be used in the future for vehicular traffic. (The retaining wall that supports it failed in 1961 and was reassembled rather than replaced.)

• The current bill would split up the alley into segments and give each segment to the property owner whose land abuts it. No one, even the people in favor of closing the alley, seems to want that. There was talk of changing the bill so that the
alley would stay public but would be limited to foot traffic.

• People whos land abuts the alley have different ideas of how it could be used, including possibly opening it for foot traffic but installing locked gates that only those adjacent to the alley would have keys to.

• Tamela Gordon, our ANC chair, asked Linda Cropp not to let the City Council act until the ANC has had a chance to investigate the matter.

• Will Miller, who is running unopposed for ANC from the single-member district that includes the alley, asked Mrs. Cropp not to let the Council act before those whose property abuts the alley had gotten together to discuss the matter.

• My new hero, a guy named Roger who lives on a part of Hall Place that has a functional back alley, said that he has no trouble with the people who use his alley as a footpath and that he would like to see the whole alley opened for pedestrian traffic.

There, end of objective report. OK, the part about Roger was not objective. Whatevs. It seems to me that the disposition of this publicly owned land should not be decided only by those whose property abuts it, especially if they're considering installing locked gates. People who want to live adjacent to private green space should maybe buy houses adjacent to private green space. Just a thought.

Thanks to those who signed in support of my testimony. If you have not contacted me but are in favor of keeping the alley open for possible future public uses, including as a footpath, let me know. To repeat from an earlier post, there is no current proposal to build a footpath. The question is whether such a footpath could *ever* be built.

Mark Plotkin on the Ward 3 General Election

Ward 3: So in the general election between Cheh and Conroy, does the Republican have any chance at all of winning? And have you noticed that Conroy's campaign signs and Web site seem to forget to include her party affiliation? Sorta like Michael Steele's TV ads that never seem to get around to mentioning whether it's a D or an R that appears after his name.

Mark Plotkin: There is no chance that Conroy can win in Ward 3. It is overwhelmingly Democratic and Conroy is in no way a household name. No Republican in D.C. can get elected in a Ward race. The numbers are just too overwhelming in favor of Democratic registration. Both Conroy and Steele don't mention publicize or in any way their party affiliation because they know it doesn't help their cause. Why advertise that you're so much in the minority in terms of party preference? What they're doing is smart. Why give somebody a reason to vote against you?

More on Campaign Signs

The law isn't that complicated:


108.1 No person shall affix a sign, advertisement or poster to any public street light or traffic signal, except as provided in accordance with this section.
108.2 The placing of any advertisement on any tree in the public space with nails is prohibited.
108.5 Posters of individuals seeking political office in the District can be displayed In the public space only after candidates have met the requirements of S210 of the DC Campaign Finance Reform and Conflict of Interest Act (DC Code, S I - 1101.01).
108.6 Political campaign literature materials shall be removed no later than 30 days following the general election.
108.7 Each sign, advertisement, or poster shall contain the date upon which it was Initially affixed to a street light or traffic signal.
108.8 Each sign, advertisement, or poster shall be affixed securely to avoid being torn or disengaged by normal weather conditions.
108.9 Signs and posters shall not be affixed by adhesives that prevent their complete removal from the fixture, or that do damage to the fixture. (It is illegal to use tape in affixing signs to lampposts.)
108.10 No more than three versions or copies of each sign, advertisement, or poster shall be affixed on one side of a street within one block.


I am not sure what the Conroy campaign doesn't understand about properly affixing signs to utility poles (note yard signs in public space is illegal), about limiting signs to 3 to a block (Nebraska Avenue is a joke right now), and please, do not staple signs to trees. The trees really don't like that.

If we cannot follow these simple rules, where will the madness end?

CPCA/FHCA Forum on Saturday, October 7th

The Cleveland Park and Forest Hills Citizens Associations co-sponsored a pre-election forum on October 7th. The forum was split into three segments. The first featured three of the DC School Board President candidates. The second was a smaller forum for the contested for ANC 3C races, and concluded with the candidates for Ward 3 Council.

The event was attended about about 25 unaffiliated residents, and many left after the school board forum.

The ANC portion featured presentations from Dia Black (her opponent in Woodley Park, Ari Shapiro was unable to attend); the second race was the other Woodley Park seat between Gloria Day and Deborah Jane Lindeman. Gloria Day was unable to attend, but she had a friend read a statement. There were no questions for either of these candidates, since questions were limited to only residents of the affected Single Member Districts. The third race was the north part of the ANC in Cleveland Park between incumbent Bruce Beckner and challenger Greg Hair. The distinction between the two seemed to be that Greg Hair is interested in including schools and school communities when considering ALL of the factors in the make-up of an ANC, where Beckner only considers some of the residents in his ANC to be constituents. The final contested race is between Catherine May and Shelley Cohen. Again, there were no questions from participants.

The only questions in this portion were from two Ordway Street residents who tried to get clarification from Greg Hair about his deference for schools. Of course, no one wanted to ask the hard questions of Mr. Beckner, such as, how much did his actions and the actions of the ANC cost DC Taxpayers, when they delayed the construction and completion of the sidewalks and wall along the South side of the 3000 block of Ordway, and who were the constituents that Mr. Beckner represented (and snubbed) in that somewhat unilateral action?

The final portion of the forum was the Ward 3 Council debate between Mary Cheh (d) and Theresa Conroy (r). It became evident early on that this was a very not a balanced discussion, as the level and tone of the questions were very hostile towards one candidate and friendly towards the other.

Theresa Conroy's platform seems to be to delay the comprehensive plan, to keep the zoning parameters in the ward as they are, to focus on Ward 3 not city wide issues, to defer to the ANC's and neighborhood associations on local issues and fill the pot holes.

On contrast, Mary Cheh is in favor of moving forward with the comprehensive plan, to allow flexibility in zoning around Metro Stations, to focus on Ward 3 issues and City Wide issues, and to be involved in areas around the Ward which concern all citizens, and receive input from all citizens, rather than to defer solely to ANCs and Citizens Associations.

It will be interesting to see what happens with all of this in the event that candidate receiving the bias is successful in capturing this seat. The partisanship being shown be these supposed non-partisan, not for profit organizations (CPCA and FHCA) is also surprising and actually could be challenged as illegal.

Tax Assessment Class Action Lawsuit

Judge Hamilton Enters Final Judgment Against the D.C. Government on Flawed Assessments for Tax Year 2002

Senior Judge Eugene Hamilton today filed his Final Judgment and Order in the class action suit brought by Peter S. Craig and 50 other petitioners in Superior Court Finance Dockets 8112-02 and 8141-02, contesting the lawfulness and Constitutionality of across-the-board increases in residential assessments for tax year 2002 in one-third of city known as Triennial Group 1. The suit was initiated on September 30, 2002, but because of what the judge has described as foot-dragging by the District lawyers, was not decided on its merits until September 26, 2005.

In his order of September 26, 2005, Judge Hamilton concluded that, as a matter of law, the assessments by the Office of Tax and Revenue in tax year 2002 were arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion and otherwise not in conformity with the Constitution of the United States or the laws of the District of Columbia, and were, therefore, void. His final judgment directs the city to refund any increases in property taxes in tax 2002 resulting from increased assessments over the prior year plus annual interest of 6%. All taxpayers in Triennial Group 1 who suffered increases in assessments and who paid all taxes, interest and penalties for tax year 2002 will receive refunds under his order.

Triennial Group 1 encompasses the neighborhoods which the Office of Tax and Revenue describes as Anacostia, Barry Farms, Brentwood, Central, Cleveland Park, Columbia Heights, Congress Heights, Crestwood, Eckington, Forest Hills, Fort DuPont Park, Garfield, Hillcrest, Kalorama, LeDroit Park, Marshall Heights, Massachusetts Avenue Heights, Mount Pleasant, Observatory Circle, Randle Heights, Trinidad and Woodley.

The District government estimates that the total refunds will reach $15 million. Payment of these refunds will be stayed, however, while the District of Columbia appeals the rulings of Judge Hamilton to the D. C. Court of Appeals.

By a separate order, also issued at the same time, Judge Hamilton has directed the Office of Tax and Revenue to notify all members of the class entitled to refunds by mailed notices and by a notice published in the Metro Section of the Washington Post.


On January 13, 2006, Senior Judge Eugene N. Hamilton of the Tax Division of the D.C. Superior Court issued his final judgment in the class action suit contesting the constitutionality and lawfulness of across-the-board increases
in residential real property assessments in the one-third of the city defined as Triennial Group 1 by the Office of Tax & Revenue. Judge Hamilton held that these across-the-board increases were in violation of the Due Process and
Equal Protection clauses of the U.S. Constitution and were also in violation of D.C. law. He ruled that the city should refund to taxpayers the resulting increases in taxes, estimated by OTR to be $15 million. The case is captioned as Peter S. Craig, et al., v. District of Columbia, et al., Tax Docket No. 8112-02.

On February 3rd the District government filed a notice of appeal to the D.C. Court of Appeals, but did not file its brief until August 2nd. The brief for the taxpayers was filed on September 22nd. An amicus brief supporting the taxpayers position was filed by the D.C. Federation of Citizens Associations on September 29th. The Districts reply brief is due on October 13th. It is
hoped that the case can be argued before a three-judge review panel by December.

A second case, contesting tax year 2003 assessments in triennial groups 1 and 2 on the same grounds is also pending. That case has been stayed pending final decision regarding tax year 2002 assessments.

Cleveland Park Temple receives major gift

D.C. Synagogue Receives $5 Million Gift
By Michelle Boorstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 4, 2006; 2:56 PM

A former business reporter who also wrote trivia games for Washington and Baltimore newspapers is giving $5 million to the D.C. synagogue where he has belonged for decades, money he says he accumulated by investing and saving.

Donald Saltz, 72, is donating the money to Adas Israel Congregation in memory of his late wife, Mozelle, who died last December. They had been married for 40 years.

While 35 percent of money Americans donate goes to religious organizations, the $5 million stands out among gifts to individual houses of worship, experts said. Giving USA, which tracks data on philanthropy, said there have been no gifts near that size to particular synagogues, temples, churches or mosques in recent years. Other major gifts have been given to schools or hospitals affiliated with religious institutions.

The gift is also the largest in Adas Israel's 140-year history. Synagogue officials say the gift will be put toward their endowment, which was $10 million before the Saltz donation. The synagogue building will be named after the couple, who were both active on boards and committees and in spiritual life at Adas Israel.

People at Adas said Saltz and his wife were very unassuming, and that no one at an institution with many prominent and wealthy members knew of their savings and giving potential. Mr. Saltz drove an old car, and wore modest suits, they said.

"I've always been thrifty, though other people would say cheap," said Saltz, who said he has been investing in the stock market since he was a teenager.

The gift includes a small amount of money up front, and then larger amounts will be donated each year. It also includes a bequest, as much of Saltz's estate is tied up in stock and real estate, synagogue officials said. The gift is irrevocable.

Saltz worked as a business reporter, editor and columnist at the Washington Star, Washington Daily News and the Baltimore Evening News -- all papers no longer in publication. He joked today that he was like Joe Btfsplk, the character in the Lil Abner comic strip who brought bad luck.

"I'm like that character, who always had a cloud over his head," he said.

He also created a trivia game that was published in various area newspapers for years, and is still published in the Buffalo News. He also still writes columns for his hometown newspaper in Crisfield, on topics including the importance of not eating too much and comic strips.

He said today that he is a "simple individual" who wanted to do something to honor his wife's memory. He is an only child and has no children.

"I figured, you don't take it with you," he said.

© 2006 The Washington Post Company

City Paper reports on a Woodley Park fiasco

(This happens ALL the time. DDOT and DCRA need to get their act together on this sort of thing)

Posted by Jonathan York
In October 2005, the 2800 block of 28th Street in Woodley Park got some crucial utilities upgrades—the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority (WASA) replaced the block's lead service lines, and shortly afterward, Washington Gas made some repairs of its own. All this construction left the pavement pockmarked, with a huge gash running along one curb. It was more trench than pothole, threatening to shred tires and making it difficult for parked cars to pull out.

When utility work is done that requires pavement to be torn up, and the D.C. Department of Transportation (DDOT) hasn't also scheduled a regular repair, the outfit doing the digging must also repair the street. But almost a year after the repairs, neither had happened.

Bill Mankin, who lives on the street, says a DDOT employee told him repairs weren't coming because the water and gas companies were fighting over who'd pay. “I was told this was done in a very chaotic way,” Mankin says. “We kind of all lived with the chaos.”

Jane Davis, spokesperson for Washington Gas, says her employers didn't set new asphalt because DDOT had already planned to repair the road. She said that WASA, which didn't return calls for comment, held off for the same reason.

DDOT spokesperson Erik Linden wouldn't say why the repaving has taken so long. “We are actively working to have the road repaved right away and will keep the community posted on when that occurs,” he says in an e-mail.

As of Monday, DDOT is finally paving the block. Workers are busy destroying old pavement, dispensing workmen, rolling things flat. Says Jane Jones, a longtime resident of the block, as she stands on her steps, drinking a cola: “Our homes have been reassessed into the stratosphere. Having the streets so crummy adds insult to injury.”

Klingle Bridge Criticism Starts Early

The District department of Transportation announced the beginning of construction on the Klingle Bridge on September 8th. The rehabilitation of this major span has been in the works for at least 5 years.

The Project Manager for the job, Fariborz Navidi-Kasmai has been keeping the Cleveland Park residents apprised of the project since April.

The early return started with complaints regarding the temporary lane signals. Next came the complaints about flooding during a recent rain storm, and finally questions about the engineering expertise of the crews involved in the project. Residents are also asking about the traffic management.

I am glad a few neighbors have the decency to appreciate that the contractor is communicating with the community.

DC Examiner on the plight of the ANCs

Elected ANC seats not so coveted
Michael Neibauer, The Examiner

WASHINGTON - The glamour of an unpaid but critical elected office that often pits neighbor against neighbor and draws harassment was not enough to charm D.C. residents into seeking dozens of open seats on Advisory Neighborhood Commissions.

Come Nov. 7, when all 286 existing Advisory Neighborhood Commission positions will be up for grabs, 44 of the single-member districts will have no candidate, either because residents failed to collect enough petition signatures or because no one was interested.

“The issues have gotten more complicated, more time-consuming and a lot of the meetings of the boards we’re expected to attend, or go to, or testify before, are all during the day when people are working,” said Karen Perry, commissioner in ANC-3F. “It’s getting harder and harder to serve.”

Perry is running for re-election to another two-year term. More than half of her ANC, which represents Tenleytown, North Cleveland Park and Forest Hills, could be unrepresented come January unless write-in candidates accept the positions.

“There’s always a number of write-ins, and it’s always a surprising number, which is unfortunate,” said D.C. Council Member Phil Mendelson, who served as a commissioner for 20 years.

ANCs are considered jumping-off points for higher office. Democratic mayoral nominee Adrian Fenty served, as did Mendelson and Council Members Jack Evans and David Catania.

While on the job, commissioners hold significant power over liquor license applications and zoning variances. They weigh in on policy decisions impacting traffic, public safety, trash collection and recreation. And they are a critical link between neighbors and their local government.

But there are downsides. The positions are unpaid, time-consuming and even dangerous. In some cases, commissioners have been harassed, attacked — one Ward 5 commissioner’s car was twice set on fire — and derided for their efforts.

Commissioners talk of incentives to maintain or spur interest. Perhaps a tax break or a stipend, they say. Hire more staff in the government’s ANC support office. Or at least reschedule meetings for such bodies as the Board of Zoning Appeals and the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board — both of which meet during the day — to accommodate commissioners’ full-time jobs.

“There’s nothing the city can do to incentivize ANCs,” said Christopher Dyer, a Dupont Circle commissioner. “It’s a volunteer position. We do it for civic engagement and responsiveness.”

ANC seats with no candidates, by ward

Ward 1: 2
Ward 2: 3
Ward 3: 9
Ward 4: 3
Ward 5: 8
Ward 6: 3
Ward 7: 5
Ward 8: 11

Where is the District Archeologist?

Posted on the Palisades Listserv:

I visited the park today where they cleared brush/land and was not surprised when I found two arrowhead fragments and a stone bowl fragment. These items and others items provides evidence for the earliest people living in the Palisades. I was hoping to recruit volunteers to salvage the archaeological record before it's demolished. Also wanted to know the configuration of the new field so that I can get an idea what will be plowed away, and what buried, what left alone. I want to make sure that salvaging of these materials has no effect on the schedule for park renovations. It's been delayed long enough! So this might require immediate attention.

Doug Dupin
Palisades Museum of Prehistory

Cleveland Park Citizens Association -- at it again

The DC Board of Ethics and Elections recently conducted a hearing regarding a petition for ANC 3 C candidate Gregory Hair to appear on the November Ballot. A 13 year resident of Cleveland Park, Mr. Hair is frustrated with the continued reactive and divisive activities routinely undertaken by the local ANC and neighborhood groups such as the Cleveland Park Citizens Association. As a result, Mr Hair gathered the necessary petition signatures from friends and neighbors in his Single Member District (ANC 3C 05) to appear on the November Ballot.

The process hit a bump on the road when a challenge was filed on his petition. Apparently George Idelson, doing the bidding for his pal Bruce Beckner, the current ANC Commissioner for ANC 3C 05, challenged the petition based on legibility of the signatures. The BOEE staff and Board ruled in favor of Mr. Hair.

This is not the first time Mr. Idelson has taken such action. Two years ago, Mr Idelson publicly called into question the integrity of a last minute write-in candidate for the same seat, claiming

I note that (the write-in candidate) has criticized Bruce Beckner for not being on the Cleveland Park listserv. That's a choice people can make, but as a courtesy, I am posting a message (see below) for Bruce. I note, too, that (the write-in candidate) is not a member of the Cleveland Park Citizens Association. That's also a matter of choice, but there is much to commend it for anyone who cares about our community. Long before there was an Historical Society or a listserv, the Cleveland Park Citizens Association worked to protect and improve the quality of life in Cleveland Park and the city at large.

Of course, in that case, Mr. Idelson was completely mistaken (not that membership in a neighborhood organization should be a litmus test for an ANC Candidate) as he had to post a correction. In addition to making this false claim, he willfully mispelled the candidates last name, lest a challenge be necessary after the election.

Is this appropriate, for the President of the CPCA to be defending the "honor" of ANC candidates? How is Mr. Hair supposed to react when Mr. Idelson moderates the ANC Candidate Forum on October 7th?

And people wonder why the ANCs and slanted Citizens Associations have little credibility when they claim the mantel of "great weight" before city agencies and the Council.

Harry Jaffe: There are still Republicans in DC?

Realistically, Republicans have few prospects for triumph in the Nov. 7 general election, but the party does offer a slate of candidates. In addition to Kranich, Republican nominees are contesting in three D.C. Council races: Marcus Skelton for an at-large seat, Theresa Conroy for Ward 3 and Tony Williams for Ward 6.

During a recent Ward 3 community meeting, Conroy said her opponent, Democratic nominee Mary Cheh, was introduced as the next Ward 3 council member. Conroy, a former Marymount University professor, was forced to explain there is still a race, that “it’s not over.”

“The system accepts the primary as the de facto result,” Conroy said. “I don’t know what the Republican Party in the District can do.”

It is conceivable for a Republican to win in one of the District’s upper-income wards, if the GOP were to run as a “Rockefeller-type” Republican, said Harold Wolman, professor of public policy at The George Washington University.

But a citywide seat is out of the question, Wolman said, at least for now.

“African-American communities vote Democratic,” he said. “That’s the beginning and end of it. Unless the demographics change enormously, I don’t see Republicans citywide becoming competitive.”

Tom Knott comments on Advisory Neighborhood Commissions

All too many denizens of the city instinctively rail against corporate America as an article of their political faith but inevitably undermine the entrepreneurial spirit of the mom-and-pop tavern operators in their neighborhoods.
This disconnect is played out in various areas of the city, initiated by civic association groups and the elected officials of the Advisory Neighborhood Commission. Their hubris is surpassed only by their thorough misunderstanding of the marketplace.
Most know no more about the challenges of running a small business than they do about building a car engine from scrap.
Yet their lack of business acumen does not dissuade them from passing along their so-called expertise. It does not stop them from implementing obstacles, whether through moratoriums on liquor licenses, not granting license renewals, urging the owners of restaurants and bars to close their establishments earlier than necessary or even lodging protests with the Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration.
A common complaint of protesters is the noise emanating from a particular establishment in the wee hours. This complaint would prompt laughter all around if the sober-minded did not treat it with the utmost seriousness and put the small business on notice.
As you hear these sleep-deprivation tales of woe, you want to ask: "What made you think that moving behind a commercial strip was an idyllic idea?" The chain restaurants -- TGIF and the like -- have the deep pockets to play this exhaustive game with the NIMBYs of the city. They have their corporate lawyers and public relations sorts. They have the time and expertise to sift through the choking bureaucracy.
The small-business owner has no such support system at his disposal. The person already is working long hours and doing everything possible to increase a slim profit/margin line. The civic association groups and ANC members do not have the faintest notion of what it takes the small-business owners to survive.
These groups do not know that a small-business owner may be paying as much as $8,000 a month to lease a building in a good part of town. They do not know about the problem of "spillage" and a portion of the goods going through one door and out another. They have not heard the lament of one longtime restaurant/bar owner in the city. To the question of what erodes the profit/margin line, he said, "Salt and pepper shakers." It seems many of his patrons saw the items as parting gifts, just another variation of the industry's old refrain: "It fell off the truck."
ANC commissioners and community activists sometimes say, "That is not the kind of business we want to attract to our neighborhood." These well-meaning types apparently think that if they pine hard enough for a shoe store or an upscale boutique to take up residence in an empty storefront, then one day it magically will happen.
That is not how the marketplace works, as city lawmakers know only too well. They have all but handed the combination to the city safe on occasion to lure this or that big-box retailer to an up-and-coming neighborhood.
The riddle of urban life reveals a surprising scene along H Street Northeast, the target of yet another redevelopment plan. Several nighttime hot spots have emerged amid the series of boarded-up storefronts, no doubt with the encouragement of the city and neighborhood.
These eclectic places, one of which features magic acts, would draw a sniff and a huff from many of the do-gooders in Northwest. That sort of entertainment fare never would be considered by a prospective owner, as it would require the person to go before the ANC to petition for a substantial change to the license.
It is preferable to buy an existing business, stealthlike, and leave the imagination to those owners in more receptive neighborhoods.
The last thing any small-business operator wants in this city is a mandatory date with the ANC and community activists who purport to know what is best for a community's commercial strip.




Copyright © 2006 News World Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Comprehensive Plan debate continues

The Council kicked off the first of a couple of days of testimony on the proposed Comprehensive Plan. Created to replace the document city planners have been operating under since 1984 (!), the new Plan is designed to be the blueprint for planners, developers, civic organizations, etc for the next 20 years.

proponents of the plan include the Mayor, several council members, the Office of Planning staff, ANCs and civic groups from around the city who have spent thousands of hours in neighborhood meetings, one on one discussions crafting this plan with activists from all corners of the city.

Opponents (comprised of activists, civic groups and ANCs) are claiming that more time is needed to craft the perfect document, and further that there hasn't been enough time to parse through the draft. Once example was cited in the NW Current regarding the WMATA Bus garage.

Nat Bottigheimer testified that WMATA needed the flexibility of additional floors to attract the kind of development options necessary to 1) make a parcel on top of a Metro Station more viable and 2) return critical funding to WMATA for other initiatives. Many were disappointed with Ellen McCarthy (Director of the Office of Planning) characterizing the "wishes of the community" as preferring not to upzone the parcel. Excuse me? Who is she listening to in making that statement? The 12 angry voices of Ward 3 or the thousands who supported a sweeping change in Ward politics just a couple of weeks ago?

Is this a perfect document? Of course not.

However, it is meant to be a flexible document which can be amended over time and as conditions change. It is meant to be a framework.

I think enough time has been spent on this that it should be passed.

If I am Adrian Fenty and Vincent Grey, do I want to have this draft hanging over my head for the first 1-4 years of my office, or do I want to start with a clean slate? Where Mr. Fenty had campaigned on listening to the community, he is quoted yesterday as "respecting the three year planning process" and to "move forward" with the Plan.

I certainly hope so. Enough time and money has been spent. What more is there to gain?

City Paper: Avalon Theater is Secure Hands

Posted by Mark Jenkins
The future of the Avalon Theater, D.C.'s only nonchain cinema, got a little more secure earlier this month. The Avalon Theater Project, the nonprofit group that rescued the Chevy Chase moviehouse in 2002 and reopened it in 2003, has bought its building from local developer Douglas Jemal for $3.5 million.

Jemal had only recently purchased the 1923 building, which he had leased with an option to buy from John Kyle, who owned the theater when Cineplex Odeon abandoned it in 2001. Bill Oberdorfer, executive director of the Avalon Theater Project, says he doesn't know when Jemal bought the structure, which also holds a Ben & Jerry's outlet. But the maverick real-estate magnate, who put an estimated $300,000 to $400,000 into theater renovations, was still leasing from Kyle when the Avalon reopened three years ago.

There are two advantages to owning, Oberdorfer explains. “Basically, the mortgage is less than the rent,” he says. “The other element…is that we filed for an exception from property taxes, which you can do in the District as a nonprofit owner, but not as a nonprofit lessor.”

Although ownership doesn't directly give the nonprofit more flexibility to operate, Oberdorfer says it does “just in the sense that it's less expensive for us. What it allows us to do is free up more funds for programming and the like. More staff to do more things than we were doing before.”

The Avalon shows independent, foreign, and offbeat Hollywood films on its two screens and also hosts special events and regular repertory series, including “indieWIRE Undiscovered Gems” and “Asian Cinevisions.” Oberdorfer says the project's organizers are considering additional ventures, including some sort of film education program for children. “But that's very much in the idea stage,” Oberdorfer notes. “We have do a feasibility thing on it to figure out basically what the community would like to have.” After all, the Avalon is now a neighborhood theater in every sense of the term.

Loose Lips follows my lead

As I reported here right after the election the 2006 campaign was unprecedented in terms of monies raised and spent. The City Paper's Loose Lips followed the lead of this blog in terms of analysis:

THE OTHER RETURNS
Not long before the Sept. 12 primary election, mayoral contender Vincent Orange reported a $67,000 personal loan to his faltering crusade. It didn’t make much difference. Orange finished with 2.87 percent of the vote. A quick review of the results page of any newspaper spells out who the losers were in each election. But determining true political futility requires a little math. Like Orange, a host of candidates piled up a huge campaign war chest, only to garner paltry vote tallies on Election Day. As the chart below reveals, some candidates can’t buy a vote in this city.

CANDIDATE INVESTMENT FROM CONTRIBUTORS DOLLARS/VOTE MONEY WELL SPENT

Bill Rice (Ward 3 D.C. Council) $154,768 $182.50 custom-packaged Rice Krispies treats
Eric Goulet (Ward 3 D.C. Council) $45,820 $103.45 home-office-produced campaign manifesto
Paul Strauss (Ward 3 D.C. Council) $121,092 $64.17 doughnuts, bagels, and coffee for volunteers before weekend neighborhood walks with candidate

The ANC's, cornerstone of democracy in DC

The Home Rule Charter for the District of Columbia created the Advisory Neighborhood Commissions to provide the micro-grass roots voice for citizens of the city. Each ANC is comprised of several Single Member Districts (SMD) each representing around 2000 residents. The ANC's pass resolutions which go to city agencies such as DDOT, DCRA, DC Parks and Recreation to affect policy. The Executive Branch and City Council are supposed to give "Great Weight" to the voice of the ANCs. The ANCs provide voices on issues of street construction/traffic policy, commercial licenses (ABC), planning and the comprehenisve plan, etc.

Currently in Ward 3, most of the incumbant commissioners are running unopposed for this volunteer elective position. Several seats are currently void of any candidate at all:

3C-07 (Cathedral Heights)
3D-07 (American University)
3D-08 (Spring Valley, New Mexico, Sutton Place/ Mass Ave)
3E-02 (Spring Valley, Brandywine/Western and 44th Street)
3F-01 (North Cleveland Park around International Drive)
3F-03 (Forest Hills between Audobon Terrace and Broad Branch and Nebraska)
3F-06 (North Cleveland Park, Upton/Reno Road/Nebraska Ave)

These open seats are great opportunities to engage the community, get involved and provide new voices to the City Government. A write-in campaign can do wonders to energize a neighborhood.

A new job for Kathy Patterson?

It would have been very easy for outgoing Ward 3 Council Person Kathy Patterson to simply run for re-election. However, she made a choice to become the Coucil Chair, and lost to Ward 7 Councilman Vince Grey. Because her seat was up, Ms. Patteron had to choose between Council jobs and forfieted the opportunity to run for the Democratic Nomination captured by GWU Law Professor Mary Cheh. What to do now? The DC Examiner is reporting that presumptive Mayor Adrian Fenty is considering asking Ms. Patterson to take over as deputy mayor for public safety and justice:

As presumptive mayor-elect Adrian Fenty weighs the future of D.C.’s chief of police, he already has spoken to District Council Member Kathy Patterson about supervising the city’s emergency agencies, Fenty’s spokesman told The Examiner on Sunday.

Fenty and Patterson spoke Friday about the soon-to-be-open job of deputy mayor for public safety and justice, Fenty’s spokesman Alec Evans said.

“He and Kathy spoke about the possibility of her exploring a position, but it didn’t go much further than that,” Evans said.

Nonetheless, the two have been allies on the Council and personal friends for a long time. Both have been outspoken critics of the police department under Chief Charles Ramsey.

“I know Adrian has a high level of respect for Council Member Patterson — very high,” Evans said.

More from Marc Fisher

In the city, however, voters resoundingly rejected candidates backed by the vocal but tiny minority of residents who have made enough noise to stall or kill transit-oriented developments that the District requires to expand its tax base and serve citizens most in need. Voters in upper Northwest's Ward 3 chose Mary Cheh, the one council candidate who forthrightly said she will stand up to the NIMBY crowd and fight for a denser, more urban feel to the upper Wisconsin Avenue corridor.


Clearly, this is a conversation that will continue on political, philosophical and economic terms for the foreseeable future.

Sam Smith reacts to Marc Fisher

DUMB GROWTH IN WARD THREE

MARC FISHER seems to quite happy with the Rosslynization of Washington. On the Post's chat page he commented, "An easy, dominating win for Mary Cheh. . . That's a powerful endorsement by the silent, pro-development majority against the NIMBYs and suburban wannabes who have fought against transit-oriented development around Metro stations."

This is typical of the self-defeating arrogance of the "smart growth" folks, starting right with what they call themselves. As we have pointed out, real people live in the communities that the SG types want to change and they call these communities home, not sprawl. There are lots of ways of increasing density and reducing reliance on the car, but cottoning to the greed and Soviet-style esthetics of DC developers is not the right one.

Ward Three was designed around two major streetcar lines - Wisconsin and Connecticut Avenue with a residential thoroughfare - Reno Road - in between. This plan produced some pretty good density - check out the old apartment buildings on Connecticut - but still made it an attractive community.

There is nothing attractive in the sort of buildings being dumped into DC and elsewhere in the name of smart growth. They are ugly manifestations of power without grace.

There are other ways of going about adding density. Better design - in the historic European tradition - is one. Letting people add apartments to their existing homes is another. Adding a story or two of apartments over first floor retail is another. Giving these communities more accessible services rather than just more housing is yet another. And we have suggested that UDC's campus be redesigned as an attractive commercial quadrangle with shops on the first floor and classrooms above.

But dumping more tasteless ten-story boxes is about the dumbest sort of growth you can imagine.

And Right to Work

Nikita Stewart of the Washington Post reports on the DC Wire blog, that Adrian Fenty and other City Government Officials attended the Congressional hearings on DC Voting Rights, "Further down the row, Council members Carol Schwartz (R-At Large), David A. Catania (I-At Large) and Kwame Brown (D-At Large) were joined by Mary M. Cheh, the Democratic nominee for the Ward 3 council seat".

Mary M. Cheh, a George Washington University law professor who won the Democratic nomination in Ward 3, said she would like to head the council's judiciary committee, according to Yolanda Woodlee.

Tom Knott on the General Election (9/14/06)

Theresa Conroy, one of the last of the Republicans in a one-party city, is endeavoring to state her case in Ward 3 against D.C. Council Democratic nominee Mary Cheh in the weeks leading up to the general election in November.
She has been satisfied with the response she has received from voters, most of whom do not recoil in horror at the mention of her political affiliation. As Mrs. Conroy jokingly notes: "I've maybe had only a few voters say, 'Well, some of my best friends are Republicans.'" This is Mrs. Conroy's acknowledgment that hers remains an uphill struggle, especially in a city that views the victors of the Democratic primary as virtual locks to claim the race in November.
"It is a challenge to continue to get out there and say I am a credible candidate," the 55-year-old resident of Cathedral Heights said. "It is a slow process, but I think the name recognition is gradually coming." Despite the leftist bent of the city, Mrs. Conroy notes that Ward 3 does have a maverick's sense about it. It does have the highest concentration of registered Republicans in the city. It does have a large number of registered independents. And it does have a fair number of closeted Republicans who register as Democrats in order to participate in the Democratic primary.
She talks the talk of a fiscally prudent Republican. She sees a desperate need to add a sense of efficiency to the city budget. She sees an equally desperate need to hold city agencies accountable.
Hers are hardly the suggestions of a radical, although anyone who claims the Republican Party as their own in this bluest of precincts is uniquely set apart from the groupthink that so dominates many of the institutions in the city.
As one D.C. Council member told her in private after learning of her candidacy: "You're brave." Brave is not a word Mrs. Conroy would employ. She is idealistic enough to think the two-party system should not be dead in her beloved city. She is idealistic enough to think that competency is not an old-fashioned concept and that having two do the job of one is an act of bureaucratic surrender.
Mrs. Conroy sees weaknesses in Ms. Cheh's sudden civic-mindedness. Ms. Cheh concedes she never has attended a civic association or Advisory Neighborhood Commission meeting in her neighborhood.
As impressive as Ms. Cheh's academic credentials are -- she is a constitutional scholar at George Washington University -- the classroom environment is hardly an apt preparatory course in the oft-times down-and-dirty dealings of politics. Her word would be one of 13 on the council, and it hardly would be the final one, no doubt a change from students jotting down her every word.
Ms. Cheh also recognizes the potential appearance of a conflict of interest in touchy matters involving her employer and the residents of Foggy Bottom. In such instances, she says she would recuse herself from the voting process. Her ability to juggle her professorial and council duties, if it comes to that, was a subject of concern in the Democratic primary race as well.
Mrs. Conroy no doubt plans to amplify these unsettling elements in the weeks ahead, while touting her ample portfolio, stuffed with both an academic and political background.
She earned a doctorate in politics from Catholic University in 1981 and was a lecturer at Marymount University for 16 years. She co-founded the Institute for Republican Women in 1992 and serves as president of the D.C. League of Republican Women.
Now she is fighting the good fight in a city that often thinks no deeper than the D next to a candidate's name.
It won't be easy to cut through the Democratic political machine.
As Mrs. Conroy knows only too well: As much as the city embraces diversity, it is a diversity that does not include the diversity of thought.




Copyright © 2006 News World Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

Another money analysis

Well, the unofficial votes are in and the 8 day filings are in, so I thought I would look at the Ward 3 race from a different perspective. Given the earlier posts about monies raised, I thought it would be interesting to see what the dollar per vote cost was in this race.

Here are the vote totals (unofficial):

Mary Cheh 6,006
Paul Strauss 1,987
Sam Brooks 1,107
Robert Gordon 1,060
Cathy Wiss 1,042
Erik S. Gaull 962
Bill Rice 888
Eric Goulet 469
Jonathan Rees 29

Here are the most recent financial numbers (9/5/06):


Cheh $84,500
Strauss $121,092
Gordon $87,831
Wiss $26,412
Brooks $66,820
Gaull $71,051
Rice $154,769
Goulet $45,820
Rees $500

The efficiency quotient is thus

Cheh $14.06
Rees $17.24
Wiss $24.25
Brooks $60.36
Strauss $60.94
Gaull $73.85
Gordon $82.86
Goulet $97.70
Rice $174.29

I am not sure who managed Bill Rice's campaign, but clearly, they should probably be thinking about doing something else. Raising all that money from outside the Ward, only to use it with excessive robo-calls that did nothing more than infuriate the electorate from within the Ward. Bravo!

Cheh in a Virtual Landslide

Despite shill chatter from supporters of various candidates on local Yahoo Groups, anonymous attacking robo calls, and a moderate turnout at the polls, GWU Law Professor Mary Cheh prevailed in the hotly contested race to replace Kathy Patterson. Marc Fisher of the Washington Post commented late on election night:

An easy, dominating win for Mary Cheh, with 46 percent of the vote so far in a nine-way race. That's a powerful endorsement by the silent, pro-development majority against the NIMBYs and suburban wannabes who have fought against transit-oriented development around Metro stations.

The final results are as follows:

Mary M. Cheh 44.13% 6,006
Paul Strauss 14.60% 1,987
Sam Brooks 8.13% 1,107
Robert Gordon 7.79% 1,060
Cathy Wiss 8.09% 1,042
Erik S. Gaull 7.07% 962
Bill Rice 6.53% 888
Eric Goulet 3.45% 469
Jonathan Rees .21% 29


The good news, we probably do not need to hear it from the sour grapes corwd that there is no mandate for Ms. Cheh, or that there needs to be a runoff for this result to hold (although, there probably be a runoff law instituted for future elections).

Election Day words from Mark Plotkin

Ward 3: Should I say "Hey" to Mary Cheh? She seems like the only candidate in Ward 3 with a real plan and who hasn't driven me absolutely nuts with campaign ads and telephone calls. Bill Rice's calls yesterday drove me crazy and killed any chance he had of getting my vote. Paul Strauss' army of paid campaign workers and misleading calls also turned me off. Gordon's steroids-infused campaign signs totally negated his pledge to not use such obnoxious campaign tactics, so he's off my list of choices. Gaull also used too many paid workers and annoying calls; and his description of his million-plus jobs was tiresome. Goulet has little experience other than being a council committee clerk. Wiss is a great ANC person, but has no big picture vision. Sam Brooks has a nice smile and desperately wants to be elected to something - anything! So that leaves Cheh as my only realistic option.

Agree?

Mark Plotkin: Cheh has been helped enormously by the Post endorsement. The great advantage is that she got the nod early, so she could publicize it and the word of mouth was worth a lot. Some people have told me that they found her somewhat cold in terms of personality. Bill Rice has a good record in government and feels, I think, frustrated that a newcomer to city politics, like Cheh, has garnered such support. Your description of all the other candidates makes me feel that you have a promising career in the field of political analysis. I'll let you know when I'm on vacation.

_______________________

DC- Ward 3: Totally disagree with your assessment of Rice. The guy was the spokesperson for the D.C. Department of Transportation, yet the way he talks about it at various candidate forums, he was single-handedly running the entire department, filling in each and every pothole himself, and making transportation a pleasant experience for D.C. residents. But what made me question his judgment was the use of three (3!!) robocalls yesterday! My answering machine was on my apartment window ledge when I got home from work yesterday! It just couldn't take anymore calls from Rice or Strauss or Fenty or Gordon or mysterious calls from a Nevada number that were trashing Mary Cheh without saying who paid for them. That last call ticked me off so much that I decided to vote for Cheh out of sheer principle.

Memo to Rice: You lost me at that infernal Rice-A-Roni song you left on my answering machine! My answering machine now needs therapy as a result!

Mark Plotkin: I think candidates go a little berserk toward the end of the campaign. They get frantic and want to do everything they can to reach you. Some people will say "I don't want to vote for a particular person because I was never asked." So it does cut both ways. The robocall is not the most personal form of communication, but it accomplishes the element of voter contact. Nobody should be voting because of a robocall. All it is is psychic insurance for nervous candidates. I wouldn't vote for somebody just because they didn't robocall me.

_______________________

Washington Post Poll on Eve of Primary

In Ward 3, nine Democrats are competing to replace Patterson, and education has been the top issue. Front-runner Mary Cheh, a George Washington University lawyer, has key endorsements and a growing reputation for being tough like Patterson.

A recent poll conducted by Greenberg showed Cheh with 27 percent of the vote. Shadow Sen. Paul Strauss and Erik Gaull, former special assistant to the president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, each had 11 percent. Political consultant Sam Brooks and Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Robert Gordon each had 10 percent.

Final Ward 3 Forum

There will be one final candidates forum for Ward 3 Council candidates on Sunday, September 10 at 7 pm at the Sibley Hospital Auditorium.

Washington Times reporter Matt Cella will moderate the debate, which is being hosted by ANC 3E. All the candidates have indicated they will be in attendance.

If you have yet to hear the candidates on the issues, this is your last opportunity.

WHO: Ward 3 D.C. Council Candidates
WHAT: Debate/Forum
WHEN: Sunday, September 10, 2006 -- 7 pm to 9 pm
WHERE: Sibley Hospital Auditorium


While all candidates have indicated they will be in attendance, the lateness of the scheduling of this event (it was put together in about a week) makes it very difficult for those candidates who had long standing committments on the books, such as meet and greets, campaign meetings and other events.

By the way, can an ANC sponsor an event like this? A recent discussion on the Tenleytown listserv indicates that such activity as partisan forums, and endorsements may put ANC Commissioners in violation of the Hatch Act (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tenleytown/message/5733 -- follow the thread for several posts, pro and con).

Even if they are in violation, what is the penalty for volunteer commissioners? This is something that the Special Council's Office will have to determine before the next DC election in 2008.

DC Examiner Weighs in

Harry Jaffe:

In Ward 3, businessman Robert Gordon is not a native, but he’s been here 30 years and sent his kids through Washington schools. That’s enough street cred for me.

Editorial Page:

Ward 3: Eric Goulet

Of the many Democrats running in Ward 3, only Eric Goulet expressed alarm about the city’s financial future. “We’re running the highest per-capita debt of any jurisdiction in the United States during a time of surplus, and I’m very, very concerned about that,” Finance Chairman Jack Evans’ former clerk told The Examiner. District residents better be concerned too; in an economic downturn, the combination could be disastrous.

To prevent another fiscal meltdown, Goulet wants to link residential property tax increases to the inflation rate and limit annual growth of the city’s budget to a sustainable 5 percent. These proposals are not politically sexy, but the council could have prevented the humiliation of the Control Board years ago had it been following such sound advice.

City Paper Endorsements

Ward 3
Too often during this political season, commentators have talked about an embarrassment of riches in the Ward 3 council race. Bullshit. Voters in the city’s wealthiest ward will find their champion through process of elimination.

Paul Strauss: This man is currently the city’s shadow U.S. senator, an unpaid position responsible for lobbying Capitol Hill for D.C. Statehood. It’s a joke of a position. If Strauss somehow won the Ward 3 race, the elections board would be in the unprecedented position of having to organize a special election for a shadow senator. No way, Paul.

LL is very sad to purge Bill Rice. He has written for the Washington City Paper, and his propensity for gossip is unrivaled among true D.C. political geeks. Rice entered the race after resigning his post as spokesperson for the D.C. Department of Transportation, and as a candidate, he’s adopted the kind of ridiculous bravado he’s mocked in others. His campaign lit stated, “Only Bill Rice can fix the D.C. Schools.” He touted his experience at DDOT by saying that as spokesman he was intimately involved in a turnaround of that agency. Sorry, Bill.

Sam Brooks is a smart and energetic guy. But Brooks’ second run, after moving a few blocks into Ward 3 in January, only proves what worries LL about the young hunk: Brooks is desperate to get elected to something because he wants to get elected to something. Get a job for a few years, Sam.

Erik Gaull failed to sell voters on his long résumé of public-safety bona fides. He joins Rice in the trying-a-little-bit-too-hard-for-his-own-good club. See you during the 2010 election, Erik.

That leaves George Washington University Law School professor Mary Cheh, a smart, fresh face untainted by years of political chicanery. She will undoubtedly be frustrated by all the petty maneuvering on the council. But she’ll also bring the same crusading zeal to the council that Patterson did.

Say “yay” to Cheh.


What a about Robert Gordon, Cathy Wiss and Jonathan Rees?

Washington Post voter guide for Ward 3

The Washington Post has released its voter guide for the Ward 3 Council candidates. There are profiles and brief blurbs about each candidate.

Enjoy, as the race comes down to its final days!

Metro and Ward 3

Progressive Review publisher and former Ward 3 resident Sam Smith postited in a recent blog entry that Metro has actually undermined and exacerbated some of the issues it intended to mitigate.

Given some of the traffic situations (albeit extreme) we are seeing this week on Connecticut Avenue, we as a community have to continue to think about the shape and form of development in the comming years and decades. One group is putting for a new perspective and outlook for the community. Ward 3 Vision is a coalition of Ward 3 residents and civic groups working to ensure that new development coming to our community forward-thinking and beneficial to our area. They recognize that our city and Ward are growing, and that if done right, new development can give Ward 3 residents the community amenities we all desire.

Their vision includes maintaining the quiet, residential neighborhoods just a few blocks away from Wisconsin Avenue while anticipating increased demands for housing, transportation, and parking. They are committed to working with city planners and developers to ensure that new development maximizes walking and public transit, minimizes commuter traffic, and brings much needed amenities to our neighborhood.

Indeed, members of the group have been active in recent weeks, working with various Ward 3 candidates for Council, and helping shape discussion amongst residents about the future of our community, particularly along the Wisconsin Avenue Corridor.

Beware of traffic on September 7th

A recent alert indicates that there will be a closure of 3 lanes on Conn. Ave. on Sept. 7. The notice that was distributed to the Conn. Ave. merchants and signed by Crystal Palmer came from the DC Film Office. The closure is for a premiere for "The Guardian." This premiere will be a benefit for the US Coast Guard. Apparently, the entire day is needed to prep the area, including laying the red carpet and installing pedestrian barriers, and implementing security regulations.

The two lanes that will be open to traffic from 10:30AM to 11PM will have one northbound and one southbound lane throughout this period. Police will be helping with traffic cntrol throughout the day.

Brace yourself, however.

Neighbors of the Washington Cathedral received this notice:

Dear Neighbors, you may have read about the September 7th visit to the Cathedral by former Iranian President Khatami. We expect between one and 2 thousand invited guests to attend the 7:30 p.m. event. The invited guests have been directed to take public transportation, taxicabs or be dropped off at the Cathedral. (For security reasons, the roads of the Close will be closed to traffic beginning in the afternoon.) Here is what we know at this point:

DC MPD has informed us that there will be some road closures around the Cathedral...

Ergo, both Connecticut and Wisconsin Avenues will be bottlenecked on September 7th. Combined with the ongoing Reno Road construction and the new Bridge Construction over Klingle Road, it should make for one challenging day.