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Good morning, DCGC had to leave her lair early this morning so clips are being sent at 6:30. A reminder: know someone who should receive these clips by email? Have them send a request to DCGovClips at gmail dot com.
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D.C. Government/D.C. Council media clips: Tuesday, November 30, 2010.
Missed yesterday? http://bit.ly/fOGLtQ
Twitter: DCGovClips
Budget
D.C. projects threatened by city's debt limit - Examiner
Hearing on D.C. budget cuts set for Tuesday - D.C. Wire (Washington Post blog)
Transition
Obama-Gray meeting set for Wednesday - Washington Times
Gray's team to reveal contributions - D.C. Wire (Washington Post blog)
Gray's Fenty vs. Council rhetoric continues - Examiner
D.C. bullying bills have mayor-elect's support - Examiner
D.C. Council
D.C. Council considers school anti-bullying policy - Washington Post
D.C. Targets Bullying In Schools - WAMU (Front Burner)
This Week’s D.C. Council Public Hearings - WAMU (Front Burner)
D.C. Government
Audit cites D.C. taxi commission's lack of oversight - Examiner
Big Changes Coming to the Cab Industry? - Housing Complex (Washington City Paper)
D.C. relaunches property tax sale - Washington Business Journal
Charters seek to be first in line for D.C. schools - The Washington Times
Help for District's at-risk students - Washington Post
D.C. marriage bureau rejects same-sex Skype wedding - TBD.com
NoMA has no parks thanks to flawed upzoning - Greater Greater Washington
Sarah Palin Endorses D.C. Voting Rights! (Okay, Not Really) - Loose Lips (Washington City Paper)
DCPS / Metro / Other
DCPS Interim Chancellor Reflects On Her First Month On The Job - WAMU
Metro seeking to replace $60.5m in track circuits - Examiner:
Metro system ridership declines, hits budget - Washington Post
Chesapeake Bay area states, District submit plans to improve polluted waters - Washington Post
Of Interest (links only)
Health club chain expands into District
By Danielle Douglas - Capital Business (Washington Post)
Monday, November 29, 2010
How do you choose a DC public school?
by Laura Gutmann • November 29, 2010 12:13 pm
Greater Greater Washington
Georgetown ANC debates additional CaBi stations tonight
by Ken Archer • November 29, 2010 10:02 am
Greater Greater Washington
Panhandling: the uncomfortable truths and lies
PETULA DVORAK - Washington Post
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Budget
D.C. projects threatened by city's debt limit
The District is quickly approaching the point where it will no longer be able to afford to build new roads, overhaul school buildings and make other capital expenditures.
If revenue and spending on capital projects remains the same, the city will be up against a self-imposed 12 percent debt cap within five years. If revenue slips by $100 million, as it has since April, the cap will be reached in four years, according to Ward 1 Councilman Jack Evans, who heads the D.C. Council's Finance and Revenue Committee. The city's debt currently amounts to 10.3 percent of all expenditures, a spokesman for Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi said.
"The financial situation is a lot worse than the public realizes," at-large Councilman Phil Mendelson told The Washington Examiner. "We have increasingly relied upon borrowing to the point where every capital project could come to a halt."
City officials are working to make sure those projects don't stop. Last week, Mayor-elect Vince Gray said he will be freezing all capital projects "not currently under way." He will then convene a "blue ribbon panel" to review and prioritize projects. Gray wants the panel to find a way to cut $120 million from the capital budget.
Since 2002, the city's debt has more than doubled to $7.1 billion from $3.5 billion, Gray said.
"Had the council not established a 12 percent debt ceiling, we would likely now be well above 12 percent," he said.
The council imposed the cap in 2008 after Gandhi warned that the city's financial health was at risk if it continued to borrow heavily as the economy began to crumble.
The council could raise the cap, but "the bond agencies were very happy when we made the cap and they'll be equally unhappy if we change it," Evans said.
Gray's temporary freeze on projects is the "appropriate" response, Evans said.
The council, he said, now needs to get a better handle on the operating budget by lowering expenditures to keep the city further from the debt cap. The council will begin work on closing a $188 million budget gap Tuesday with a public hearing on proposals from outgoing Mayor Adrian Fenty.
"We're not in dire straights here," Evans said. "But we are at a critical moment in time."
| SIDEBAR: A growing concern | |
| D.C.'s projected debt-to-expenditures ratio (the cap is 12 percent): | |
| 2011: 10.4 percent | |
| 2012: 10.22 percent | |
| 2013: 11.35 percent | |
| 2014: 11.8 percent | |
| 2015: At or over 12 percent | |
Sources: Ward 1 Councilman Jack Evans and CFO Natwar Gandhi
Hearing on D.C. budget cuts set for Tuesday
By Nikita Stewart
D.C. Wire (Washington Post blog)
November 29, 2010; 7:13 PM ET
More than 160 residents, advocates and representatives of labor unions have signed up to testify Tuesday at the D.C. Council's hearing on $188 million in budget cuts proposed by Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D).
The outgoing mayor hit nearly every city agency with a reduction to close a budget gap for fiscal 2010, leaving the council led by chairman and Mayor-elect Vincent C. Gray to decide whether to swallow his proposal whole or move money around to save programs.
During his town-hall tour of the city before election day, Gray repeatedly warned residents that the city faced tough financial decisions. He had a standard speech that said, "Go ahead and cut, but guess what? Don't touch this over here or touch that over there."
Fenty's proposal delays the start of the Healthy Schools Act, which requires schools to serve healthier meals to students. Fenty also proposes taking up the controversial idea posed by Council members Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) and Yvette Alexander (D-Ward 7) to reduce some welfare benefits and bring them in line with federal guidelines. The summer jobs program for youths would also be reduced, as encouraged by the council in the past.
Other social services are also taking hits, with Child and Family Services Agency bracing for nearly $6 million in cuts, including a 50 percent reduction to a subsidy to grandparents caring for children.
Dozens of vacant positions throughout the government would be eliminated under Fenty's plan. The outgoing mayor has already ordered a hiring freeze.
Under the plan, employees could expect little if any movement in their salaries. For example, the mayor's proposal anticipates about $657,000 in savings by delaying pay increases in Fire and Emergency Services. Representatives of the fire and police departments are scheduled to testify.
Give us your thoughts on what you would cut, save or raise to help close the gap.
Transition
Obama-Gray meeting set for Wednesday
The Washington Times
6:27 p.m., Monday, November 29, 2010
It had been penciled in for nearly a month, but now it is set in ink.
President Obama and D.C. Mayor-elect Vincent C. Gray will break bread together Wednesday at the White House, a meeting the two Democrats began penciling in the week of Mr. Gray's victory in the general election.
The lunch follows Mr. Gray's breakfast meeting last week with Education Secretary Arne Duncan, with interim Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson also in attendance.
Mr. Gray told The Washington Times that he "welcomed the opportunity to sit down over breakfast" with Secretary Duncan, his Chief of StaffJoanne Weiss, the architect of the $4.35 billion federal Race to the Top program. She formerly served as chief operating officer of NewSchools Venture Fund, which aids entrepreneurs in the education sector.
The mayor-elect called it "a very productive meeting that Ms. Hendersonand I believe will bolster the positive partnership between the District of Columbia and the U.S. Department of Education."
The president and the mayor-elect have several education policies in common, including support for charter schools, making early childhood schooling academically meaningful, and making it easier for youths and adults to attend community college.
The White House lunch will be far more formal than the sit-down the president and Mayor Adrian M. Fenty had once Mr. Obama had settled into the White House in 2007. Those two shared lunch at Ben’s Chili Bowl, the D.C. eaterie famous for its spicy chili half-smokes and hot dogs.
President Obama and D.C. Mayor-elect Vincent C. Gray will break bread together Wednesday at the White House, a meeting the two Democrats began penciling in the week of Mr. Gray's victory in the general election.
The lunch follows Mr. Gray's breakfast meeting last week with Education Secretary Arne Duncan, with interim Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson also in attendance.
Mr. Gray told The Washington Times that he "welcomed the opportunity to sit down over breakfast" with Secretary Duncan, his Chief of StaffJoanne Weiss, the architect of the $4.35 billion federal Race to the Top program. She formerly served as chief operating officer of NewSchools Venture Fund, which aids entrepreneurs in the education sector.
The mayor-elect called it "a very productive meeting that Ms. Hendersonand I believe will bolster the positive partnership between the District of Columbia and the U.S. Department of Education."
The president and the mayor-elect have several education policies in common, including support for charter schools, making early childhood schooling academically meaningful, and making it easier for youths and adults to attend community college.
The White House lunch will be far more formal than the sit-down the president and Mayor Adrian M. Fenty had once Mr. Obama had settled into the White House in 2007. Those two shared lunch at Ben’s Chili Bowl, the D.C. eaterie famous for its spicy chili half-smokes and hot dogs.
Gray's team to reveal contributions
By Nikita Stewart
D.C. Wire (Washington Post blog)
November 29, 2010; 8:00 PM ET
Mayor-elect Vincent C. Gray's transition team announced that it will reveal Tuesday the first report of contributions to its operations and the inaugural.
Gray also announced that individuals and groups, such as corporations and labor unions, are limited to $5,000 donations to the transition and $50,000 for the inaugural, which includes a ball on Jan. 2. The limits differ from a previous announcement that donations would be capped at $25,000 when he declared that he would not accept government funds for the transition despite the tradition.
In 2006, then-Mayor-elect Adrian M. Fenty accepted $250,000 while Gray, then the chairman-elect, accepted $150,000 following approval by the council.
Neither transition used the entire amounts. Fenty raised more than $600,000 for the inaugural ball, which was free to the public and drew about 15,000 guests at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. Fenty's cap on donations was $25,000.
Gray said this year's fiscal crisis prompted him to raise private dollars for the transition as well as the inaugural. Council Chairman-elect Kwame R. Brown (D) has adopted the same stance.
"During this difficult period," Gray said in a statement, "I am committed to making all efforts to significantly reduce transition costs and to raise private dollars for this purpose."
The transition was not expected to release a report until mid-December, but government watchdogs and media have been complaining about a lack of transparency. According to a news release, another report will be issued at the end of December.
Gray's Fenty vs. Council rhetoric continues
By: Freeman Klopott 11/29/10 3:03 PM
http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/capital-land/2010/11/grays-council-vs-fenty-rhetoric-continues#ixzz16kqndM8H
http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/capital-land/2010/11/grays-council-vs-fenty-rhetoric-continues#ixzz16kqndM8H
Examiner Staff Writer
Mayor-elect Vince Gray says he isn’t ready “to take a position” on the budget cuts proposed by the mayor — but he is willing to continue the council vs. mayor rhetoric that helped get him elected.
When asked by The Washington Examiner on Monday afternoon whether has reviewed the proposals Mayor Adrian Fenty sent to the Council last week to close a $188 million spending gap, Gray said he hasn’t yet looked at it closely.
“I’ll be doing that this afternoon,” Gray said. He then added, “It looks like things the council put into the budget have been taken out.”
The Council Chairman could be referring to the $7 million that Ward 1 Councilman Jim Graham put into the budget to provide tax breaks for businesses whose doors open on streets that are under construction. Fenty wants it cut.
He could also be referring to the more than $3 million Fenty wants to cut from a program backed by Ward 3 Councilwoman Mary Cheh that put healthier food options into the city’s schools.
On the campaign trail Gray often talked about how Fenty failed to communicate and work with the council. By noting that Fenty’s cuts target council members' programs, Gray is keeping that tension alive.
D.C. bullying bills have mayor-elect's support
Mayor-elect Vince Gray is backing a series of D.C. Council bills designed to force the city's school system to crack down on bullying.
The bills don't enforce any specific rules. Instead, they mandate that the school system creates policies that define bullying behaviors, delineate standard procedures for reporting and investigating complaints, establish repercussions and protect children against future incidents.
"Bullying fosters a climate of fear and disrespect that can significantly impair the physical and psychological health of its victims, and affect learning in a way that undermines the ability of students to reach their full potential," Gray said in his opening remarks on a public hearing addressing the bills Monday morning.
Gray said he decided to take action against bullying after a series of nationally publicized incidents involving bullying, some of which ended with suicides.
"I think that’s being brought out recently in the suicides we’re seeing is there’s a lot of talk… but not implementation," D.C. community activist Peter Rosenstein said during the hearing. "How do we deal with this in the school? … How do we make it clear to our students that there are repercussions for this?"
D.C. Council
D.C. Council considers school anti-bullying policy
By Tim Craig
Washington Post
Washington Post
Monday, November 29, 2010; 10:35 PM
The D.C. Council is preparing some of the nation's strictest regulations against bullying in city schools or public buildings in an effort to curtail behaviors they say can at times terrorize youths.
At a council hearing Monday that featured testimony from teenagers who said they have been mocked over their religion, looks or sexual orientation, Mayor-elect Vincent C. Gray (D) said that the city should make it a top priority to take on schoolyard bullies.
"In recent months, there have been a number of nationally publicized incidents of bullying, some of them ending tragically," said Gray, who, as council chairman, oversaw the four-hour hearing. "As a government, we must use these incidents as teachable moments and take action."
In response to bills sponsored by Council members Michael A. Brown (I-At Large) and Harry Thomas Jr. (D-Ward 5), the council is exploring whether to require city public and charter schools, the Department of Parks and Recreation, the District of Columbia Public Library, and the University of the District of Columbia to develop policies and sanctions against "harassment, intimidation or bullying" on their grounds.
The proposals, which are still being finalized but appear to have broad support on the 13-member body, mandate that officials conduct thorough and "prompt" investigations into allegations of bullying. They also call for the creation of a detailed reporting system to document episodes of threatening behavior.
But the measures, which could come up for a vote early next year, are sparking division between city leaders and charter school advocates over the council's authority to regulate those academic institutions. The council also could be on a collision course with the American Civil Liberties Union, which worries the initiatives could endanger students' constitutional right to free speech.
"It is perfectly legitimate for a student to say, 'I think homosexual conduct is against the word of God,' " said Arthur B. Spitzer, legal director for the D.C. chapter of the ACLU. "A gay student might feel hurt by that and consider it bullying, but that is an opinion that every student has a right to express."
Responding to a series of suicides involving teenagers and young adults who may have felt harassed, numerous cities and states are considering anti-bullying measures. Last week, the New Jersey legislature approved a bill requiring schools and colleges to adopt anti-bullying policies. In Maryland, Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) signed a law in 2008 that requires school districts to adopt bullying-prevention programs.
The proposals by Brown and Thomas, which are being championed by gay rights and youths advocates, do not make bullying a crime. However, they would increase pressure on school administrators and other adults in taxpayer-funded oversight roles to punish anyone suspected of using "written, verbal or electronic communication" to mock someone based on his or her "race, national origin, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, ancestry, physical attributes, socioeconomic status or physical or mental ability or disability."
"There are situations that are quite egregious going on right now, and we cannot turn a blind eye," said Thomas, holding up a copy of the Oct. 18 People magazine that featured an article about three recent teenage suicides that may have been related to bullying. "When we let these little things [get out of control], they become big things."
David Aponte, 18, of Manassas told the council he attempted suicide three times because he was bullied for being Jewish and short while attending Signal Hill Elementary School in Prince William County.
"I don't want to see anyone else suffer the way I did," Aponte said. "This is not a gay issue or a Jewish issue or black and white issue. This is a human issue."
But some charter school advocates are resisting efforts by the council to extend the legislation to those facilities, which were set up to be semiautonomous.
Michael F. Musante, director of government relations for the Friends of Choice in Urban Schools, said many of the city's 52 charter schools already have anti-bullying policies. Forcing additional regulations on them, Musante said, would run afoul of the spirit of the legislation that established charter schools in the city.
"One-size-fits-all legislation may be suitable for a school system like DCPS but makes no sense for the public charter schools," said Musante. He said bullying should be addressed "through school disciplinary codes that can be tailored to the unique circumstances of each school and student body."
Gray and Thomas questioned Musante's stance, arguing that all District youths need to be protected regardless of which school they attend.
But Spitzer said the legislation needs more scrutiny before the ACLU could endorse it. Specifically, Spitzer said the council should more clearly define what type of behavior constitutes bullying.
"Students, like other people, can't be fully protected from having their feelings hurt by what people may say," Spitzer said.
Bill Briggs, head of the D.C. Chapter of Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbians and Gays, countered that verbal taunting can have a lasting impact on a young person. Council members were stunned into silence as Briggs recounted a phone call he recently received from the mother of a gay daughter.
"Her daughter was so tormented and harassed so many times at school, she went out and got pregnant just so people would assume she was heterosexual," Briggs said.
D.C. Targets Bullying In Schools
Posted on November 29, 2010 by Patrick Madden
WAMU – Front Burner
Listen to story (Windows Media): http://wamu.org/audio/nw/10/11/n21101130-39042.asx
D.C. wants to tackle bullying in schools and other places.
The city council is considering a series of bills that are designed to cut down on harassment — whether in the classroom, the library or even online.
For Trina Cole, the torment from classmates began when she started identifying as transgender. She says the faculty at D.C.’s Dunbar High School did little — with one staff member allegedly even telling Cole she brought it on herself for “flaunting it.”
“I absolutely feel that I was being blamed,” says Cole. “As LGBT youth in the community, we are humans too.”
David Aponte says he was bullied for a number of reasons at his school in Manassas, Va.
“I was bullied for being short, for being ‘too intelligent,’ as my parents put it, and for being Jewish,” Aponte says. “It got to the point where I got depressed about myself, and I tried to commit suicide three times.”
Cole and Aponte were among the more than a dozen or so witnesses who testified in favor of the bills at the city council hearing.
The legislation would define what constitutes bullying, set up standard reporting procedures for school officials, and ban bullying on all government properties, such as recreation centers and libraries.
But right now the legislation doesn’t lay out what happens if someone is caught bullying — and Mayor-elect Vincent Gray says that’s what the council will address next.
“That’s the issue,” says Gray. “There have to be consequences or else the policy is absolutely worthless.”
No date has been set for a vote on the legislation.
This Week’s D.C. Council Public Hearings
WAMU (Front Burner)
· Thursday, 2 pm: Hearing on the “Bicycle Commuter and Parking Expansion Amendment Act of 2010″ (rm. 412)
Public hearings take place in the Wilson Building at 1350 Pennsylvania Ave., NW. Find future and past hearing notices at the council’s Web site.
Look up the status of a piece of legislation using the Legislative Information Management System (LIMS).
(Note from DC Government Clips: You can look up fiscal impact statements on the CFO website: http://bit.ly/e2bQ8X)
D.C. Government
Audit cites D.C. taxi commission's lack of oversight
The D.C. Taxicab Commission's failure to use internal controls when collecting more than $1.1 million in license payments made it possible for employees to steal from the agency, an audit concluded.
The audit found that the commission couldn't account for all of the license payments it received between 2005 and 2008, in part because it did no accurately document and track financial transactions. That's the same period during which a bribes-for-licenses scheme took hold, authorities say. It was busted in September 2009 by the FBI, which revealed taxicab Commissioner Leon Swain had been working with federal investigators since late 2007. More than 39 people were indicted, including the former chief of staff of Ward 1 Councilman Jim Graham.
D.C. Auditor Deborah Nichols' report on the commission released earlier this month didn't find any conclusive evidence of fraud or lost money. It did, however, find that 16 percent of taxicab license applications failed to note whether the fee had been paid. From 2005 to 2008, the commission could have collected more than the $1.1 million in fees it was able to account for, the report said.
"Failure to implement and adhere to basic internal controls over the collection of payments exposed these revenues to unreasonable risks of loss, misuse, misappropriation, and lack of documented accountability," the audit said. "As a result, the Auditor could not be assured that the Commission Fund's revenue balance was accurate and fully accounted for or whether some fees were collected and misappropriated."
The audit did find that in late 2008 the taxicab commission began using a software system used across District agencies to record payments. The software, the audit said, makes it so commission employees no longer have to manually complete the pay section of the application, reducing the possibility that payments could be lost.
But there's still no written policy on how employees should use the system, and Nichols recommended the agency create one to provide greater accountability.
A commission spokeswoman declined to comment and it remains unclear if the agency will follow the recommendation.
Big Changes Coming to the Cab Industry?
Housing Complex (Washington City Paper)
Over the last year, it's become blindingly obvious that the D.C. Taxicab Commission is in for a shakeup. There was the corruption scandal that lost Councilmember Jim Graham his oversight of the commission, which was already barely functioning. Vince Gray got elected with a wave of support from cabbies who expect an adjustment of meter rates, which they say have driven them to the brink of insolvency. Today, Freeman Klopott writes up a report from the D.C. auditor which found that the Commission neither tracked licensing fees nor filed required annual reports to the Council for several years.
The most fundamental problem: More people want to drive cabs than can be supported by the number of people who want to take them (perhaps due to the continuing influx of Ethiopians, who control much of the industry). Piecemeal measures have been imposed to stem the tide. In May of last year, the Councilvoted to suspend the class at the University of the District of Columbia that drivers must take to become licensed, essentially freezing the number of cabbies at about 6,700–the highest per capita rate in the nation. And last week, the Commission quietly announced that it will stop accepting applications for new operators, individual drivers, and cab companies until April 4, 2011 "pending regulatory updates and on-going industry inspections and restructuring." (Effectively, it's just a continuation of a moratorium that went into effect on November 2, 2008, and expired on Thanksgiving Day).
Between now and then, "the Commission will assess the needs of the industry and re-evaluate educational and testing requirements for limousine operators," and conduct "an extensive audit of the inventory of existing companies to ensure compliance with regulations to include appropriate office space, vehicle inventory, internal record maintenance and EPA Safety standards."
Staffers for Councilmember Yvette Alexander, who now has jurisdiction over the Commission, don't know the timeline for rulemaking, but say they'll be meeting with chairman Leon Swain next week to discuss the moratorium and related issues.
Some cab companies have already made their position clear: They're pushing for a medallion system like New York City's, which has capped the number of cabs at 13,000. Setegn, a part-owner of Allied Cab Company, prefers that method to the idea of stopping people from taking the licensing class. "There is enough drivers on the street, it is like a zoo," he says. "We don't mind that anybody can get the license. What they should stop is the number of cars." Which of course works very well for companies who control cars, and drivers who already own their own.
Meanwhile, a few unlucky drivers have been blindsided by the clampdown. If you neglect to renew your license for over a year, you have to take the UDC course over again in order to get it back. Mohamed Egal missed the deadline, thinking he could just take the refresher course, only to find that it had been suspended–and no amount of desperately emailing councilmembers has helped. "They are pushing me to take welfare," he told Housing Complex, audibly upset. "People like me have been caught in the middle."
D.C. relaunches property tax sale
Washington Business Journal - by Michael Neibauer
Date: Monday, November 29, 2010, 2:30pm EST
The D.C. tax office on Monday put 1,191 parcels with delinquent property tax bills totaling $20.38 million on the auction block — again.
The special deed tax sale is a follow-up to the Office of Tax and Revenue's annual tax auction, held in September. The parcels now for sale, through sealed bidding, were not purchased during the auction.
The largest single outstanding bill belongs to 1417 Belmont Community Development LLC, for its property at 1417 Belmont St. NW in Columbia Heights, according to tax records. The parcel's owner is delinquent by $1.247 million. The lot, a former apartment building, sold for $9.5 million in August 2006 but is now assessed by the District at $810,720.
Khalid Babiker Mohamed Eltayeb is listed by the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs as the registered agent for the 1417 Belmont LLC, but no phone number was listed.
Doug Jemal, president of Douglas Development Corp., owes $1.56 million on 13 delinquent parcels, all of which are now for sale. Jemal owed about $6 million going into the September auction, roughly 10 percent of all real estate taxes due the city.
His continuing delinquencies, according to tax records, include $134,257.11 for the Uline Arena, $158,456.49 for 1641-1681 Kalorama Road NW, $6,645.99 for Channing Place NE, $11,496.93 for 607 K St. NW and $25,302.13 for 616 New York Ave. NW.
Participants in the special deed sale must compile portfolios of the lots they want and deliver OTR a cash offer. The bidder who proposes to pay the most taxes gets the liens of his or her choice. Parcels still unsold after the sealed bids are opened will be offered on a first come-first served basis.
Among the remaining delinquencies, as of Monday:
· The Southwest Waterfront Development Corp. owes $152,584.62 for its property on Maine Avenue SW.
· Edward Knott owes $157,316.14 for his apartment building at 3339 10th Place SE in Congress Heights.
· The Marshall Heights Community Development Corp. owes $313,215.37 for 13 vacant, adjoining parcels just east of Fort Dupont Park in Southeast.
Buying a lien is generally viewed as an investment. Property owners usually pay their back taxes before the title is transferred, and lienholders are refunded their money plus interest. A lienholder can start foreclosure proceedings six months after receiving a certificate of sale, but that process often takes years and rarely results in a deed changing hands.
Charters seek to be first in line for D.C. schools
City gets preference after closures
The Washington Times
5:58 p.m., Monday, November 29, 2010
The classrooms of Meyer Elementary School in Northwest Washington used to be filled with young minds and its playground was full of romping youngsters. Today it stands as a testament to one of the challenges Mayor-elect Vincent C. Gray faces as he tries to fulfill campaign promises to bolster charter schools and implement his age 0-to-24 education plan.
As part of the D.C. Comprehensive Plan Act, the city's land-use road map, Mr. Gray succeeded last week in getting an amendment passed that would grant charter schools the "right of first refusal" to public school facilities. But there's a catch.
The bill differs slightly from current law, which gives public charters the first right to lease or purchase closed school buildings. But both the current law and the new measure stipulate that the right applies only after the facilities are no longer needed by the D.C. government.
Therein lies the rub with charter-school advocates, who want the right of first refusal to kick in when the school closes, not, as the current and proposed law both say, when the D.C. government decides it doesn't want to use the buildings for any purpose - educational or otherwise.
The new measure keeps charter schools at the back of the line and, the advocates say, even gives anti-charters forces within the city government an incentive to find other uses for school buildings.
"If the District of Columbia is changing its law to allow charter schools the first right to 'use' vacant school buildings that are unneeded by theDistrict government, that would be an improvement," said Peter Goff, executive director of the National Alliance of Public Charter Schools.
The director of a local advocacy group was more blunt.
"This is not good news," Robert Cane, executive director of Friends of Choice in Urban Schools, said of last week's amendment. "It's bad news and the reason is that the 1995 school reform law gives charters the right of first offer on surplus D.C. Public Schools buildings.
"Closed schools should be used for their intended purpose," Mr. Caneadded.
Finding and financing adequate facilities have been long-standing challenges for charter schools, many of which incubate in nontraditional settings, including office and retail space, before securing their own building. Many lack kitchens and play and sports areas - facilities readily available at surplus schools.
The problem takes on a political dimension with closed public schools like Meyer.
One of dozens of schools closed because of underperformance and declining public school enrollment before the 2006 mayoral election, Meyer, which is a neighbor of Howard University, is worth an estimated $13 million.
School-choice advocates lobbied hard and long for Meyer to be used as a charter, but the administration of Mayor Adrian M. Fenty said no.
Exercising the caveat in D.C. law, city officials instead proposed to put the closed schools to other government use, including public safety and works, and a community boxing program.
In some instances, vacant schools only are being reused for educational purposes after a public outcry.
For example, Mr. Fenty proposed using one closed school by then-Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee for the Department of Motor Vehicles and another for public safety training. But stakeholders succeeded in securing both former schools as campuses for the city's new community college.
Mr. Fenty also pushed to place social service and jobs programs in other closed schools, including the old Merritt Middle School in Mr. Gray's backyard.
Charter advocates don't discount the need for such programs, but they said charter-school growth requires the law to change.
Traditional D.C. public school enrollment has declined in each of the three previous years, while public charter enrollment rose steadily. The increase means nearly 40 percent of school-age children now attend a public charter school.
Much of that growth is attributed to charters' prekindergarten enrollment, a direction Mr. Grayendorses as part of his birth-to-24 education policy.
At the start of this school year, 49 charter schools offered education programs for 3- and 4-year-olds, with five devoting themselves entirely to such work. Others hope to expand.
Now policymakers need to match growing charter demand with the supply of already-closed schoolhouses.
"We would hope that the Gray administration will recognize charter school primacy to facilities," Mr. Cane said. "Meyer school is still empty two years later. I think the [D.C.] Council is trying to do something good for charter schools, but didn't accomplish that goal."
City Desk (Washington City Paper)
Ilir Zherka, executive director of DC Vote, sent out this message to his organization's supporters on Monday afternoon, following The Washington Post's weekend article about how any District voting rights legislative efforts on Capitol Hill are essentially dead. (The Post's headline has a qualifier: "For D.C. voting rights, window appears closed.") Here's Zherka's message:
We have heard it before: "DC voting rights is dead." That is what people said after the House failed to take up a bill in 2006 and after Senators filibustered in 2007. After each of those setbacks, we regrouped and push forward. Not only did we keep the DC Voting Rights Act alive, we also secured more votes for the bill each time we "resurrected" it from the ashes.
Now a Washington Post article argues that, in light of Republican control of the House in the next Congress, the 'window on voting rights has closed' for the next ten years. Defeatist sentiments like these were wrong before and they are wrong now.
If recent elections have taught us anything, it is that such bold blanket predictions of the political future are almost always incorrect. None of us know what lies in store for the next two years, much less the next ten.
DC Vote, working with our allies in Congress and the DC government, will look for new opportunities to advance voting rights. We will not give up just because the fight is getting harder.
But, our fight is about more than voting rights. It is about obtaining full democracy and full citizenship for DC residents.
While DC did not obtain a full vote in the House, we made many other significant advances. For the first time in a long time, this Congress passed DC's budget bills without riders limiting DC's Home Rule authority. That success is a direct result of the collective work of the DC democracy movement.
Yes, we will have a harder time with the next Congress. Some Republicans have promised to roll back the Home Rule gains we have made. Let's continue working together to retain DC's local democracy and advance pro-democracy legislation.
Help for District's at-risk students
By Henri E. Cauvin
Washington Post Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/29/AR2010112905979.html
Washington Post Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/29/AR2010112905979.html
Tuesday, November 30, 2010; B01
In an effort to keep serious school misbehavior from spiraling into even more serious juvenile delinquency, the law school at the University of the District of Columbia is taking up cases of public school students who have been suspended for weeks or months.
Hundreds of D.C. public school students are suspended every year for periods of up to 90 days. Critics of the practice say that far from encouraging better behavior, the suspensions often open the door to more trouble.
"This kind of discipline isn't instructive or appropriate and it isn't the way to teach students to behave," said Kaitlin Banner, the lawyer who is leading the school discipline effort at UDC's David A. Clarke School of Law.
When she was District schools chancellor, Michelle A. Rhee pushed for changes in the disciplinary system, saying suspensions were so common they had lost much of their intended effect.
In 2009, under Rhee's leadership, the school system revised its policies to allow challenges to suspensions to be resolved more promptly, schools spokeswoman Safiya Jafari Simmons said Monday in a statement.
The number of DCPS students suspended so far this year or in all of last year was not readily available, she said. Still, she said, the new policies have had an impact.
"These changes greatly decreased the amount of out-of-classroom time, and subsequently instruction, students missed when engaging in the challenge process," Simmons said. "The discipline code and our work with school staff increase the appropriate use of disciplinary consequences, making it less necessary and less common for suspensions to be challenged."
Now, thanks to a six-year, $600,000 grant from the law firm Crowell & Moring, some students are accompanied by a lawyer when they challenge a suspension and seek to return to school. With a lawyer, a student is more likely to have a prompt hearing and more likely to make a persuasive case, Banner said.
The initiative is one of the projects being undertaken by the law school's new Took Crowell Institute for At-Risk Youth, named for Crowell's founder, Eldon "Took" Crowell. A force behind his firm's public service work, Crowell took particular interest in the plight of young people caught up in the juvenile justice system.
After Crowell died in May, the firm wanted to honor his passion, and Crowell's partner in charge of public service, Susan Hoffman, was asked to find a way. With its focus on public interest law and its experience in juvenile justice, UDC's law school emerged as a natural home for what would become the Took Institute, Hoffman said.
And with Prof. Joseph B. Tulman, one of the leading critics of the District's juvenile justice system, on the law school faculty, the institute would have a leader with "a passion for reform," Hoffman said.
Mayor-elect Vincent C. Gray (D), who as the District's human services chief in the early 1990s oversaw the city's juvenile justice agency, is expected to be on hand Tuesday at UDC when Tulman and others mark the creation of the institute.
For years, Tulman and his law school clinic have sought to ensure that the special education and mental health needs so prevalent among delinquent youth in the District aren't overlooked as they pass through the city's juvenile justice system.
The institute seeks to expand that effort. Medicaid will be one focus, with a lawyer dedicated to ensuring that screenings and other health services available through Medicaid are provided, Tulman said.
Student discipline, though, is where the institute has been most active in its first few months. Banner, who worked on the issue as a fellow at the American Civil Liberties Union, was brought on to be the institute's point person on suspensions.
So far, she has taken up the cases of eight students, almost all in high school, and she is unlikely to carry any more cases than that at any given time, she said.
"We have limited capacity," she said.
Indeed, rather than providing representation for every suspended student, the initiative is intended to help a handful of the most at-risk students and in the process encourage more thoughtful disciplinary responses for the many others who aren't represented by lawyers.
"We're a clinical laboratory," Tulman said. "What I do with this team is I look at issues in a different way, more deeply."
Although many of the students Banner has helped aren't exactly pining for homeroom and homework, they and their families understand the impact of long suspensions. "While they might not like school, most of them are concerned about falling behind," Banner said.
And the consequences of falling behind go well beyond school, Banner said. "In a lot of cases," she said, "a suspension is where kids start into the school-to-prison pipeline. They are excluded from the school, they are not engaged in their education and that leads to dropping out."
D.C. marriage bureau rejects same-sex Skype wedding
TBD.com
November 29, 2010 - 12:30 PM
On Oct. 10, Mark Reed and Dante Walkup made history by marrying in D.C. (where same-sex marriage is legal) at a ceremony in Texas (where it isn't). The arrangement took some technological finesse: As Reed and Walkup exchanged vows in a Dallas hotel, D.C. marriage officiant Sheila Alexander-Reid oversaw the ceremony from the District, linking up with the couple online via Skype. The "e-marriage" inspired coverage in the Washington Post, CNN, and Time magazine.Now, it's caught the attention of the D.C. marriage bureau.
"The D.C. marriage bureau kicked back the certificate we had filed," Alexander-Reid told me today. Alexander-Reid says that she and the couple both received letters from D.C. Superior Court stating that it had determined the marriage license filed following the Skype ceremony to be invalid.
"The return is invalid because it has come to the attention of the court that the subject contracting parties to the marriage and you, the officiant, did not all personally participate in a marriage ceremony performed within the jurisdictional and territorial limits of the District of Columbia," the letter reads. Alexander-Reid also received a fresh marriage license from the court. Alexander-Reid could use it to re-officiate a Reed-Walkup ceremony, should they choose to marry again in D.C., this time "with all parties . . . in physical attendance."
The decision leaves the future of such "e-marriages"—which use technology to circumvent local marriage laws—up in the air. Alexander-Reid says that Reed and Walkup are currently "trying to figure out the next step" to stay married—and to preserve the Skype option for other couples. "I think it’s interesting they didn’t contact me or contact the couple" before invalidating the license, Alexander-Reid says. "The law is really kind of ambiguous" on the Skype issue, the officiant adds. "It doesn’t say all parties have to be present—just that the ceremony needs to be performed within the jurisdiction of D.C. And it was, technically."
NoMA has no parks thanks to flawed upzoning
by David Alpert
Greater Greater Washington
November 29, 2010 1:32 pm
When DC officials rezoned the land north of Union Station to create NoMA, they triggered the creation of a brand-new neighborhood. Unfortunately, they forgot to leave space for a park, and created an economic dynamic that virtually ruled out any parks. Last week, Tommy Wells introduced a bill to try to fix this glaring omission.
As Michael Neibauer explains in a Business Journal article (unfortunately behind the paywall), NoMA has no parks in its 358-acre territory, a "major oversight."
Basically, before the rezoning, a number of different property owners had some land that was fairly valuable. After the rezoning, they all had land that was extremely valuable. Then, many of them sold the land to developers. The developers paid a high price, knowing that they were entitled to build 10 FAR on their sites. But that also meant the developers now have to build 10 FAR to cover their investment.
DC created a lot of value when it upzoned the land. But that value all went instantly into the pockets of the current owners of the land. It increased the likelihood of the land being developed, but it also made it almost impossible to ask for any amenities, like parks.
Plus, the height limit means that developers can't get their 10 FAR by, say, building a 20-story building on half the lot and retaining the rest for a park. DC can't even give this right to a single property owner for a single park.
This is exactly the mistake Larry Beasley warned against in his recent talk. Instead of simply adding as-of-right height, he suggested coupling higher development with requirement to provide various amenities. This is the approach Montgomery County is using at White Flint, for example. This means that a portion of the economic gain goes to the property owner, but some of it can go to making housing more affordable, or providing parks, or schools, or bike paths.
There are few development sites left and as development proceeds opportunities for a park will dwindle. It's too bad DC gave away all of its best tools years ago. In the map at right, blue and yellow properties are already built or under construction. The teal spaces represent unbuilt, planned projects; any park would have to displace one of them.
According to the WBJ article, Wells proposes allocating up to $51.5 million in tax revenue from NoMA into a special fund, but only if the revenue exceeds the 2010 level so it doesn't take away from the District's budget.
The NoMA BID and local developers support the plan, but perhaps they should also support increasing their tax rates a bit, at least in the future for a number of years, since they will benefit from the park and can sell units for more money (which will also generate more property tax).
And in the future, all cities and towns should avoid making the same mistake. Libertarian-leaning urbanists like Market Urbanism have recommended fewer development restrictions and greater reliance on the free market. In many cases that makes a lot of sense, but the NoMA experience shows a need for at least some mechanism to reserve for public goods some of the value an upzoning generates. Is there a more free market way to handle this?
Sarah Palin Endorses D.C. Voting Rights! (Okay, Not Really)
Posted by Mike Madden on Nov. 29, 2010 at 2:23 pm
Loose Lips (Washington City Paper)
Reality television star Sarah Palin is on a book tour around the country, promoting her latest tome, America By Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith and Flag. The former Alaska governor, who quit that job for much more influential gigs on TLC, Fox News, and as a Dancing With the Stars stage mom, doesn't have any stops scheduled here in the District.
But the book does include, probably unintentionally, a good argument for giving D.C. voting rights in Congress. On page 72, Palin musters up some outrage over how her frozen homeland was once ruled by meddlers in Washington, without representation to argue on their behalf:
In practice, I've always interpreted the Tenth Amendment to mean that the best government is government that is closest to the people. We Alaskans have good reason to believe in this principle. Much of the motivation for the drive for statehood back in the late 1950s was because of the way the feds ran the territory from Washington, D.C. Without representation in Congress, and all the things that statehood affords, there were laws made by the other states that hindered Alaska's development. For instance, when Alaska was just a territory, a law was passed called the Jones Act, which requires that goods shipped between U.S. ports be carried in U.S. vessels. This restriction has greatly increased the cost of goods from the Lower 48 for Alaskans.
This experience of being ruled by elites in a distant capital—in violation of both the spirit of the Tenth Amendment and Tocqueville's observation that our preference for local self-government is a crucial part of our exceptionalism—has had a lasting impact on my career in public service. There's an excellent speech by Ernest Greuning, a Democrat who was a territorial governor of Alaska and a U.S. senator, gave at the Alaska Constitutional Convention in 1955 that is relevant for the whole country today. Gruening laid a foundation that many public servants, myself included, could build upon in our quest for a maximum self-determination. His speech compared Alaska's fight for statehood to America's fight for independence. Gruening made the case that Alaska's rule (and taxation!) by Washington without representation was akin to "colonialism" and that it had to end.
Rule by an interfering federal government without representation, in a situation that's akin to colonialism? That sounds strangely familiar. If only we had polar bears and oil here, D.C. would be all set.
DCPS / Metro / Other
DCPS Interim Chancellor Reflects On Her First Month On The Job
Kavitha Cardoza
Kavitha Cardoza
Listen to story (Windows Media): http://wamu.org/audio/nw/10/11/n4101130-39041.asx
November 30, 2010
D.C.'s Mayor-elect Vincent Gray recently introduced Kaya Henderson as D.C.'s interim schools chancellor. She was former Chancellor Michelle Rhee's right-hand person, responsible for two of Rhee's most controversial initiatives: the new teacher evaluation system and the new union contract.
In her first in-depth interview since taking over District schools, Henderson talks with WAMU's Kavitha Cardoza about her vision for DCPS, how she hopes her 13 years in the District will help as well as some of the challenges she faces.
Metro system ridership declines, hits budget
By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/29/AR2010112906129.html
Washington Post Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/29/AR2010112906129.html
Monday, November 29, 2010; 10:38 PM
The across-the-board fare increase imposed by Metro this summer has led to a drop in bus ridership and less-than-expected rail revenue as a result of changing travel patterns, an initial analysis by Metro shows.
Bus ridership has fallen 7 percent, with overall Metro system ridership 2 percent below the levels of the last fiscal year, which ended in July, and 3 percent below Metro's projected level. The lower-than-expected passenger revenue is the main factor in Metro's overall revenue shortfall of 4 percent so far this year.
The number of rail riders remained flat (though it was boosted by major events on the National Mall), but 2 to 3 percent of rail riders have moved their commutes from peak times to the window with the lowest fares, and others avoided certain trips, according to the analysis.
Metro this summer implemented nearly $109 million worth of rail, bus and paratransit increases, including a new 20-cent "peak-of-the-peak" surcharge for some rush-hour riders. Rail fares increased about 18 percent overall, with the peak rail boarding fare going from $1.65 to $1.95. The bus boarding charge went up 20 percent, from $1.25 to $1.50 for SmarTrip users.
The maximum peak fare on Metrorail rose from $4.50 to $5.45 for cash customers riding during the busiest periods, the "peak of the peak": weekdays from 7:30 to 9 a.m. and 4:30 to 6 p.m.
Metro analyzed the impact of the fare increase in a presentation prepared for a board of directors meeting Thursday.
The analysis found that on the rail system, riders took fewer short and very long trips, resulting in less revenue, according to Metro data that compared September 2009 with September 2010.
"Passengers taking trips less than 0.5 miles appear to be choosing different modes, such as walking or bus," according to the presentation.
The presentation said 2 to 3 percent of riders have shifted to the off-peak "shoulder" hours - the half hours after 9:30 a.m. and 7 p.m. - in order to avoid peak fares. It didn't look at those who had shifted from peak-of-the-peak to peak times, such as from just before 9 a.m. to just after.
The fare increase had a more dramatic impact on bus riders.
Metro found that ridership on its buses fell by 5 percent when comparing September 2010 to September 2009 as a result of the fare increase and the economic recession.
"While the economy has shown improvements for DC employees, the economic recession disproportionately affected bus passengers and will take a longer time to see positive gains in service industry jobs," the presentation said.
The Metro system's fare increase was expected to disproportionately affect commuters who depend on bus transportation and are least able to pay, according to WMATA data. Bus riders have a median annual income of $69,000; 50 percent are minorities, and 23 percent are unemployed, according to a Metrobus rider profile from 2007.
September ridership fell most sharply on the express bus service, where it dropped 5 percent, in contrast with only 1 percent on regular routes, Metro data shows.
The trend continues a pattern of dwindling bus ridership and revenue that has contributed to growing budget deficits at Metro. Bus riders took 123.7 million trips in fiscal 2010, 10 million fewer trips compared with the prior year, for a decline of 7.6 percent.
Metro seeking to replace $60.5m in track circuits
By: Kytja Weir 11/29/10 8:05 PM
Washington Examiner:
Washington Examiner:
Metro officials are planning to postpone millions of dollars of system maintenance to take safety steps urged in response to last year's deadly train crash.
The transit agency plans to ask its board of directors on Thursday to allow it to use $15.7 million for pay for the safety steps -- money that had been allocated for maintenance equipment in its current capital budget, according to a draft presentation.
The transit agency also is planning to spend an estimated $60.5 million over three years to replace the type of automatic train control equipment that was found to be faulty in the June 2009 Red Line crash that killed nine and injured dozens more.
The price tag for the new safety work is more than double the $30 million the agency had set aside for all safety steps in response to the crash. But it's a key part of the National Transportation Safety Board's recommendations for improving safety. The aging system already had a maintenance backlog of more than $11 billion, but now the federal safety board's recommendations are moving to the front of the line.
The work also marks the first step toward returning the system to automatic train operations, according to Metro spokesman Steven Taubenkibel. Train operators have been driving trains manually since the crash, causing jerky train rides that lead to motion sickness among some commuters.
The Red Line, the system's oldest and busiest line, could be the first to return to automatic operations, Taubenkibel said. The work is expected to take about a year, but he declined to say when automatic operations would resume. "We're taking it one step at a time," he said.
The agency plans to replace all track circuits made by one company, GRS, in 59 train control rooms that run the safety system.
In July, the National Transportation Safety Board called for Metro to remove all of the 1,482 track circuits exhibiting the same "parasitic oscillations" that prevented the train control system from seeing the stopped Red Line train that was hit during the crash.
Metro has replaced some track circuits already, Taubenkibel said. Much of the remaining work likely would occur overnight, with trains sharing a single track after 10 p.m.
Chesapeake Bay area states, District submit plans to improve polluted waters
By Darryl Fears
Washington Post Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/29/AR2010112905316.html
Washington Post Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/29/AR2010112905316.html
Monday, November 29, 2010; 7:35 PM
It took a little muscle flexing, tough talk and a few threats, but the Environmental Protection Agency got what it wanted Monday: Most states in the Chesapeake Bay region submitted detailed plans to reduce the bay's pollution diet as part of a more aggressive effort to nurse its sickly waters back to good health.
Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, West Virginia and the District produced Watershed Implementation Plans to reduce the nitrogen, phosphorous and sediment that have troubled the Chesapeake's waters and "threatened the livelihoods of thousands of Marylanders and potentially thousands of new jobs," according to a report released Monday by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
Only Maryland and New York failed to meet Monday's deadline. Maryland officials said they needed another two to three days to pull together their plan. A spokesman for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation said the state "is still reviewing data and will not file today."
Although most states met the deadline, it will be weeks before the EPA knows whether the plans are adequate. The EPA would not comment on them. The plans show measures the states will put in place over the next 15 years to improve water quality in the bay.
Last year the EPA threatened to punish the states if they failed to submit adequate plans by opposing state-issued permits for new sources of pollution such as suburban storm sewers, requiring strict cuts from sewage treatment plans to offset chemical and manure runoff from farms and redirecting the flow of federal dollars to states toward unsolved pollution problems.
The Chesapeake Bay watershed houses 17 million people on 64,000 square miles in six states and the District. Stormwater runoff from city streets and rainwater runoff from farms are major sources of the nitrogen and phosphorous that are killing the bay. Tiny cuts have led to nasty bacterial infections for swimmers.
Farmers and their supporters have complained that the EPA's expectations for cleaning the bay are too high. City officials have said the pollution diet will raise water treatment costs that will be passed to taxpayers.
Douglas W. Domenech, Virginia's secretary of the Department of Natural Resources, complained in a letter that the EPA required the state to produce a plan that would cost $7 billion to implement "during the worse economy in generations."
But the governor will include $36 million next year in the Water Quality Improvement Fund "as a show of good faith," the letter said.
Virginia's plan includes actions to reduce the amount of nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment entering the bay from all major sources, including sewage treatment plants, industrial facilities, urban areas, agriculture, forestry and septic systems. It also establishes a special process for evaluating the James River.
The District, which has the smallest slice of the watershed, promised to reduce the amount of nitrogen it pours into the Potomac River with technological upgrades to its Blue Plains Wastewater Treatment Plant.
"We're in good shape," said Christophe A.G. Tulou, director of the District's Department of the Environment. But Tulou said he had a major concern. The federal government owns 30 percent of the city's buildings but will not pay what the District believes is a fair share for pollution controls required by the federal government.
"I find that is a huge disconnect," he said.
Pennsylvania will commit $15 million per year to a technological development fund to build projects that convert agricultural manure to energy.
"This is a significant challenge," said John Hanger, director of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. "We have half the watershed. But we don't have the iconic crab. We don't have the sailboats or the waterfront property. But we're committed to cleaning the water."
In its report, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation said 11,000 people in Maryland earned $150 million in jobs directly or indirectly connected to the seafood industry in 2008. About 7,200 people worked in jobs connected to recreational fishing. The total impact on the Maryland economy from recreational boating is estimated to be more than $2 billion annually and sustains 35,025 jobs.
But the economic bounty of the bay and its tributaries has shown severe signs of decline, as poor water quality, overfishing, and loss of fish and wildlife habitat have caused drop-offs in crab and oyster harvests and other activities. For instance, 136 oyster shucking houses provided jobs in Maryland and Virginia in 1974, but today only a few dozen houses remain, the report said.
Staff Writer Anita Kumar contributed to this report from Richmond.
From yesterday:
Mike DeBonis: http://wapo.st/fddnZJ
Loose Lips (daily column): http://bit.ly/fdMnCx
DMV Daily (P.J. Orvetti): http://bit.ly/giUm7z
