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Good morning, buried in yesterday's Loose Lips column was a reference to an impending Baby Lips – congrats! Now on to the clips …
Best, Karyn-Siobhan Robinson a/k/a DC Government Clips
D.C. Government/D.C. Council media clips: Thursday, December 2, 2010.
Missed yesterday? http://bit.ly/fY2IBW
Twitter: DCGovClips
Transition
Obama, Mayor-elect Vincent C. Gray meet; no agreement on voting right for D.C. - Washington Post
After the lunch - Washington Post
Gray talks schools, jobs with Obama - Examiner
Vincent Gray lunches with Barack Obama at the White House - Washington Post blog
Gray: Obama backs vote for D.C. - Washington Times
$180,000 raised for D.C. transfer of power - Washington Post
Big business gives big to Gray transition - Washington Business Journal
Gray says he has received $180k in transition donations - Examiner
Gray Releases List Of Transition Donors - WAMU
Obama, Gray Discuss D.C. Over Gumbo And Stir-Fry - WAMU
Gray Pulls a Palin - Loose Lips (Washington City Paper)
Mayor-elect's wallet stolen on Thanksgiving - Examiner
D.C. Council
As Fenty exits, developers eye D.C.-owned lots - Washington Business Journal
Thomas to Nickles: Take Your Subpoena and Shove It Up … - Loose Lips (Washington City Paper)
Mendo: The Judiciary is All Mine! - Loose Lips (Washington City Paper)
D.C. Government
D.C. expects lopsided revenue growth in 2011 - Examiner
D.C.'s Chief Procurement Officer resigns - Examiner
Julie Hudman will leave D.C. Department of Health Care Finance - Washington Post blog
D.C. nightclub set to reopen after man's death - Washington Post
Boy tied to youth agency killed in shooting - Washington Times
Stolen puppy recovered; young wards of city caught on tape - Washington Times
Budget
Got any big ideas for the DDOT budget? - Greater Greater Washington
DCPS / Politics / Metro / Other
New D.C. teachers union chief says he'll be more aggressive - Washington Post
Parker says Rhee not to blame for ouster - D.C. Schools Insider (Washington Post)
Water in thousands of D.C. homes might still be contaminated by lead, CDC says - Washington Post
Report: D.C. water may have high levels of lead - WTOP
D.C.'s mom 'n' pops afraid of Walmart - Examiner
Missed
Of Interest (links only)
The Other Other Woman: Marion Barry’s Ex-Girlfriend Writes Memoir
Case study: Chicago's urban Walmart
By: Liz Farmer 12/01/10 8:05 PM
Examiner
Examiner
Health premiums surge 41%; Md., D.C. among costliest areas to insure
By Lena H. Sun
Washington Post Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/02/AR2010120200169.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/02/AR2010120200169.html
Thursday, December 2, 2010; 12:35 AM
Transition
Obama, Mayor-elect Vincent C. Gray meet; no agreement on voting right for D.C.
By Tim Craig
Washington Post Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/01/AR2010120106314.html
Washington Post Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/01/AR2010120106314.html
Wednesday, December 1, 2010; 10:56 PM
President Obama met with District Mayor-elect Vincent C. Gray on Wednesday for nearly an hour about the incoming city administration's priorities, but the two men did not come to a consensus on how best to advance the cause of District voting rights, Gray said.
Emerging from the White House after his one-hour lunch in a private dinner room off the Oval Office, Gray said his meeting went "even better" then he had expected, allowing him to press his case to a man he previously had met only in passing.
"One of the most important things to me is [that] the president wants to work closely with our city," Gray said. "He indicated to me he wants to do more in the city; he wants to do more for the city."
Gray said that, over a lunch of beef and broccoli stir-fry preceded by Gulf Coast seafood gumbo, he and Obama discussed local and federal plans for expanding early childhood education and strategies for lowering unemployment.
A White House news release said Obama "enjoyed the productive discussion and looks forward to continuing the good working relationship between his administration and the District of Columbia."
Gray said he appealed to Obama for federal help to upgrade city "infrastructure" near St. Elizabeths Hospital in Southeast Washington, the future home of the Department of Homeland Security. Gray said the project, expected to bring more than 20,000 federal and construction jobs to a distressed area of the city, should be used as a linchpin for economic development in the area.
"The president recognizes it, as I do, as a real opportunity to improve the quality of life in Ward 8 and the city," said Gray, noting he and Obama discussed the 30 percent unemployment rate in Ward 8.
Before the meeting, advocates for statehood and voting rights were lobbying Gray to make a forceful request that Obama do more to speak up to Congress.
Gray said Obama reiterated that he is an "unequivocal supporter of voting rights for the District." But Gray said Obama did not immediately respond to a request that he put the city's "Taxation Without Representation" license plates on the presidential limousine.
The leaders of D.C. Vote, which lobbies for voting rights, said they also had asked Gray to request that Obama publicly pledge to veto any bill that seeks to undo a law passed by the city's government or residents, such as same-sex marriage. Gray said he did not get an opportunity to make that request.
"Please remember, there will be other meetings in the aftermath of this," Gray said.
Staff writer Perry Bacon Jr. contributed to this report.
After the lunch
Editorial
Washington Post
Thursday, December 2, 2010; A24
THERE WERE high hopes when Barack Obama, then president-elect, had lunch with D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty at Ben's Chili Bowl before taking office. Surely, the thinking went, it was a sign of new, good relations with the White House that would result in the District getting long-sought voting rights. Of course, that never happened - and to some degree, it was due to the president sitting on the sidelines when the city most needed him.
We revisit that Saturday in January 2009 as a reminder not to get one's hopes up too much over the much-ballyhooed lunch Wednesday between Mr. Obama and D.C. Mayor-elect Vincent C. Gray (D). This time the setting was a private dining room at the White House, and instead of chili and half smokes, the food was gumbo. Mr. Gray told reporters it was "a really great meeting, better than I could have hoped for." A variety of topics were discussed: education, the move of the Department of Homeland Security to St. Elizabeths and, yes, voting rights.
Mr. Gray said the president expressed his "unequivocal" support for voting rights. If that's the case, Mr. Obama needs to do more than host a lunch. Prospects for the city getting full congressional representation with Republicans gaining control of the House and getting stronger in the Senate are slight, but that means the District more than ever needs the president's backing. There are likely to be assaults on D.C. home rule, and Mr. Obama needs to make it clear that he won't hesitate to use his veto power to protect the District's interests in such important areas as gun control or same-sex marriage.
Mr. Gray said there would be staff follow-ups to come up with tangible ways for the White House to work with city officials on such issues as joblessness. That's encouraging news, and we hope it reflects recognition by Mr. Obama of the stake he has in what - for at least the next two years - is his home.
Gray talks schools, jobs with Obama
D.C. Mayor-elect Vince Gray spent a lunch meeting with President Obama pushing for the White House's support on key elements of Gray's campaign platform, including improving early childhood education and creating jobs.
But the mayor-elect didn't leave the meeting with any specific promises. Instead, Gray marched out of the West Wing on Wednesday afternoon with what he described as Obama's support on finding ways to improve early childhood education in the District and building a home for a new Department of Homeland Security headquarters in Southeast. Gray also said the president "unequivocally supported" the District's right to "self-determination," although they did not specifically discuss statehood.
Gray described the meeting between the two, which was scheduled to be 45 minutes long, as "delightful."
Mayor Adrian Fenty had requested that Obama endorse him during the heated primary battle between Gray and Fenty. The endorsement never came, but political observers speculated that the president might endorse Fenty as a show of support for the education reforms of former D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee.
That's could be why Gray said, "first and foremost [he and Obama] talked about our respective commitment to improving public education in this city and across the nation," when he addressed the media immediately following the meeting. Gray said he focused on the importance of early childhood education, a key component of his campaign platform.
The mayor-elect said he hopes there "will be a lot of follow-up" and "many meetings in the aftermath." One of those meetings, he said, could include a presidential visit to the John A. Wilson Building. No sitting president has ever visited the District's city hall.
Ilir Zherka, executive director of D.C. Vote, said Gray's raising the District's voting rights with the president "makes me very encouraged. ... It shows that D.C.'s democratic rights are important to the mayor-elect."
But local political observer Chuck Thies wasn't impressed with Obama's reactions to Gray's request for District voting rights.
"When [Obama] had the opportunity to do something about it, he did nothing. And now that he can't do anything, he reiterates his support," Thies said. "That's politics at its worst. If his goal was getting disenfranchised people upset, well then he did it."
Vincent Gray lunches with Barack Obama at the White House
By Mike DeBonis
Washington Post blog
December 1, 2010; 5:17 PM ET
Post reporter Perry Bacon Jr. has confirmed the menu with the White House: Obama and Gray "ate beef and broccoli stir-fry preceded by Gulf Coast seafood gumbo."
If you zoom in on the picture real good, you can also see some cheese and fruit and what appear to be meticulously stacked baby carrots.
After the jump, video of Gray's comments after the meeting.
Gray called the meeting "delightful," "a great meeting," "even better than I could have hoped for." Topics of discussion: improving public education, the new Department of Homeland Security headquarters in Ward 8, and, of course, voting rights and home rule for the District.
"There will be many meetings in the aftermath of this," Gray promised. "[President Obama] said, 'I want to do more in the city,' and he said, 'I want to do more for the city,' " he said.
Here's the official White House statement:
The President enjoyed their productive discussion and looks forward to continuing the good working relationship between his Administration and the District of Columbia. The President and the Mayor-elect had a wide-ranging discussion covering many issues on which they agree -- working to improve education, creating jobs and improving economic opportunity in all sections of the city. The President specifically reiterated to Mayor-elect Gray that he is an unequivocal supporter of D.C. voting rights and that he continues to support the Home Rule Charter which is so important to the citizens of the District. President Obama and Mayor-elect Gray both committed to building on today's discussion in the months and years to come. Since taking office, the President and First Lady have embraced the D.C. community and look forward to continuing to engage and support the citizens of our nation's capital.
More to come from Post reporter Tim Craig.
Gray: Obama backs vote for D.C.
Mayor-elect also pushed education at White House
By Associated Press
Washington Times
6:14 p.m., Wednesday, December 1, 2010
D.C. Mayor-elect Vincent Gray met Wednesday with President Obama at the White House, where Mr. Gray said Mr. Obama repeated his support for the city getting a member of Congress with full voting rights.
Speaking outside the White House afterward, Mr. Gray said they also discussed improving public education, the Department of Homeland Security headquarters being built in Southeast Washington and changing the license tags on the presidential limo to the city's "Taxation Without Representation" plate. The statement reflects the fact that city residents pay taxes but do not have a vote in Congress.
"The president really wants to work closely with our city," said Mr. Gray, who will take office in January.
Mr. Obama has supported D.C. voting rights legislation, but a bill to provide a full-voting member of Congress to the city was pulled before a House vote this year after Republicans insisted that the measure includeSenate-backed language to weaken the city's strict laws on guns. The city currently has a delegate to the House of Representatives, Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat.
It will be more difficult to get the bill passed with more Republicans coming into Congress. Mr. Gray, however, said Mr. Obama on Wednesday reiterated his support for the idea.
"He said, 'I'm unequivocally in support of voting rights for the District of Columbia,' " Mr. Gray said.
But Mr. Obama didn't appear to want to take that support to the presidential limo.
"I talked to him about the license plates, and we didn't come to a decision on what to do about that. I think that's something that we will discuss further," Mr. Gray said.
President Bill Clinton put the tags on the limo, but they were taken off by President George W. Bush. City groups have urged Mr. Obama to restore them. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs previously dismissed the idea, saying the president was "committed instead to changing the status of the District of Columbia."
The mayor-elect said he and the president also talked specifically about early childhood education and unemployment. Mr. Gray said he asked for money to support infrastructure development around the DHSheadquarters being built in the southeast part of the city.
"The last thing we want to have is just another enclave, a government enclave in Southeast Washington," Mr. Gray said.
He said that the meeting was the start of communication between the two men.
"There will be many meetings in the aftermath of this," he predicted. "He says, 'I want to do more in the city.' He says, 'I want to do more for the city,' " Mr. Gray quoted Mr. Obama as saying.
$180,000 raised for D.C. transfer of power
By Mike DeBonis
Washington Post Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/01/AR2010120105813.html?wprss=rss_metro/special/8
By Mike DeBonis
Washington Post Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/01/AR2010120105813.html?wprss=rss_metro/special/8
Wednesday, December 1, 2010; 6:42 PM
Mayor-elect Vincent C. Gray has raised more than $180,000 for his transition operation and inauguration festivities, tapping a network of business interests that includes real estate developers that gave heavily to his electoral opponent, Adrian M. Fenty.
Gray (D) disclosed details on his transition finances Wednesday, less than a month after announcing that he would not accept the city funding that has been allotted for previous mayoral transitions.
Citing a city budget shortfall estimated at more than $400 million, Gray has chosen to raise private funds to cover transition expenses, which generally include office space, staff, printing and travel costs.
The largest donors include Franklin L. Haney Jr., who is part of a family venture pursuing a massive development project along the Anacostia waterfront. The Franklin L. Haney Co., founded by his father, is seeking the right to redevelop the 67-acre Hill East site that includes the former D.C. General Hospital campus. Haney Sr., his companies and family members donated $28,000 to Fenty's reelection campaign.
Also giving $25,000 to the inauguration effort is the investment fund of real estate developer Calvin Cafritz. Cafritz is chairman of the board of the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, which is pursuing a development project near the Fort Totten Metro Station in Ward 5.
Foulger-Pratt Development, a Rockville firm, gave $20,000 to the inauguration effort. Foulger-Pratt is pursuing projects in the city that include a retail-based redevelopment of the former Curtis Chevrolet site on upper Georgia Avenue NW. The dealership site served as Fenty's campaign headquarters.
Several participants in the large-scale redevelopment of the Southwest Waterfront in Ward 6 have also contributed. PN Hoffman gave $5,000 to the transition and $2,500 to the inauguration; Triden Development, gave $500; and developer Elinor Bacon, investor Madison Marquette and planning firm Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn gave $250 each.
In all, 14 firms or individuals gave $5,000 or more, most of them engaged in real estate or construction.
The Gray donor list also includes a few whose interests in a Gray administration transcend business.
Linda D. Rabbitt, chief executive of Washington-based Rand Construction Corp., gave $2,500. She is also chairman of the Federal City Council, a group of regional business leaders that has been a prime supporter of Fenty's education reform efforts. (Washington Post Co. Chairman Donald E. Graham is active in the group.) Carol Thompson Cole, a former city administrator who is now chief executive of Venture Philanthropy Partners - a nonprofit venture with strong ties to Fenty's school reforms - gave $500.
Gray reported total transition expenses of $25,331, with $10,000 in consulting fees going to Citadel Partners, a firm belonging to aide Reuben O. Charles II. The transition fund also paid $6,250 to an investigations firm, Capitol Inquiry, to handle "personnel recruiting." Other expenses were for office supplies and photographs.
The financial disclosure comes as Gray is battling the perception that his transition is plodding with only a month until taking office. No appointees to his administration have been named, and Gray, the D.C. Council chairman, has been occupied with council business in recent days.
The records were made public hours after Gray gaveled to a close a 14-hour council hearing on closing a $188 million budget gap in the current fiscal year.
"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."
Gray announced Tuesday that individuals and groups, such as corporations and labor unions, are limited to donations of $5,000 for the transition and $50,000 for the inauguration, which includes a ball Jan. 2. Gray initially announced that the donations to the inauguration would be capped at $25,000.
Under city law, individual and corporate contributions to mayoral election campaigns are capped at $2,000.
As mayor-elect in 2006, Fenty (D) accepted $250,000 in public money for the transition; Gray, as chairman-elect, accepted $150,000. Neither transition used the entire amount.
Fenty, capping donations at $25,000, raised more than $600,000 for the inaugural ball, which was free to the public and drew about 15,000 guests to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. Gray has not yet detailed his inauguration plans.
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.
Council Chairman-elect Kwame R. Brown (D) announced that he would also raise private money in lieu of accepting public transition funding. But Brown does not plan to release the names of contributors to his transition team's operations or detail his expenses until after the inauguration.
"It doesn't make sense to submit a partial list now," said Traci Hughes, a spokeswoman for Brown's team. "We're voluntarily releasing the information even though we're not obligated to, and it's just more efficient for the Brown transition to release the complete list at the end."
Staff writers Ann E. Marimow and Nikita Stewart contributed to this report.
Big business gives big to Gray transition
Washington Business Journal - by Michael Neibauer
Date: Wednesday, December 1, 2010, 11:14am EST
D.C. Mayor-elect Vincent Gray has raised $105,550 for his transition and $74,500 for his Jan. 2 inaugural, most coming from a slate of developers and corporate leaders, many of whom have business before the District government.
Of the $180,050 raised for the transition and inaugural, $131,450 comes from business, according to a list of donors provided by his transition team Wednesday. Most of the “individual” donors listed are business leaders themselves.
Franklin L. Haney Jr., for example, contributed $25,000 to the Gray inaugural as an individual. The Franklin L. Haney Co. is a massive D.C.-based real estate and development firm.
Gray picked up another $25,000 gift for his inaugural bash from Calvin Cafritz Investments, $20,000 from Foulger-Pratt Development LLC, $2,500 from PN Hoffman and $2,000 from Simon Development and Construction.
PN Hoffman contributed another $5,000 to Gray’s transition, as did Trammell Crow Co., Urban Service Systems Corp., Gaurdian Realty Investors LLC, Dynamic Corp., The Carmen Group Inc., The Edgar Lomax Co., The Graduate School and Columbia Enterprises Inc.
Mathew Spicer Real Estate LLC contributed $2,500 to the transition, as did General Funding Corp., Quality Construction Co. LLC and The Theodore Pedas Revocable Trust.
Gray and D.C. Council Chairman-elect Kwame Brown, shortly after their November general election victories, announced that they would raise private dollars for their transitions to ease the burden on the District’s budget and make their donor lists public. Gray set a maximum contribution amount of $50,000 for a single donor — $5,000 for the transition and $45,000 for the inaugural.
“I am delighted that they believe that helping us to execute an efficient transition and exciting inaugural, at a time when government resources are stretched to the limits, is a good investment,” Gray said in a statement.
But the contributions — far exceeding the maximum $2,000 each candidate was allowed to raise from any one donor during the campaign — raise the usual questions about whether corporations may try to influence government decisions with their checkbooks.
In Prince George's County, allegations of a pervasive pay-to-play atmosphere between the development community and executive branch led to the November arrest of County Executive Jack Johnson and his wife, Councilwoman-elect Leslie Johnson.
Gray says he has received $180k in transition donations
D.C. Mayor-elect Vince Gray says he has raised $180,050 for his transition and events surrounding his inauguration.
About $131,000 comes from businesses. The rest comes from individuals, according to a list of donors on his transition Website.
About $105,000 is for the transition and nearly $75,000 is for his inauguration.
Unlike previous administrations, which received up to $175,000 from taxpayers, Gray has refused public money to support his transition team. Councilman Kwame Brown has done the same for his transition to council chairman, but has not yet released contribution data. Brown says he'll do so when the transition is over.
There are no campaign finance rules governing the donations. Gray has set a self-imposed limit of $50,000 per donor.
Gray Releases List Of Transition Donors
Patrick Madden
Patrick Madden
WAMU.org/news
Listen to story (Windows Media): http://wamu.org/audio/nw/10/12/n6101202-39100.asx
December 02, 2010 - D.C. Mayor-elect Vincent Gray says he's raised more than $180,000 so far to cover the costs of his transition and upcoming inauguration.
After winning the primary, Gray made the decision to forgo public money and raise the funds from private donors. Most of the money –- approximately $130,000 -– was contributed by businesses and corporations.
Because there were no existing campaign finance rules to govern the donations, Gray set the contribution limit at $50,000.
Gray's replacement as council chairman, Kwame Brown, has also pledged to raise private money for the transition. He's expected to release his list of contributors when he takes over.
Obama, Gray Discuss D.C. Over Gumbo And Stir-Fry
Patrick Madden
Patrick Madden
WAMU
Listen to story (Windows Media):
December 02, 2010
D.C.'s next mayor, Vincent Gray, says his lunch with President Obama on Wednesday went better than he could have hoped for. It was Gray's first meeting with the city's most famous resident since winning the mayoral primary in September.
While the two men dined on seafood gumbo and a beef and broccoli stir-fry, the menu of local issues up for discussion included: the city's education reform effort, job training, and the Department of Homeland Security's plan to build its headquarters in Southeast D.C.
And while Obama declined, for now, to use the city's "No Taxation Without Representation" license plate on his motorcade, Gray says the president remains an unequivocal supporter of D.C. voting rights. Gray also says Obama wants to be more engaged with the District.
"He indicated to me, he said 'I want to do more in the city' and he says 'I want to do more for the city,'" Gray says.
Gray also met with other White House officials and says he hopes there will be more meetings down the road.
Gray Pulls a Palin
Posted by Alan Suderman on Dec. 1, 2010 at 4:39 pm
Loose Lips (Washington City Paper)
Almost Mayor Vince Gray has gone rogue and is trying to bypass the lamestream media and take his message directly to the people.
Here's his video on what's happening with his transition. It's kinda boring. LL recommends the next one include a soundtrack.
Mayor-elect's wallet stolen on Thanksgiving
A drugstore employee has been accused of stealing D.C. Mayor-elect Vince Gray's credit card on Thanksgiving Day and then using it to buy nearly $40 in cigarettes and liquor in Southeast Washington. Twenty-two-year-old Tamika Garris was the cashier who rang up Gray's tab at the CVS branch on the 2600 block of Naylor Road, according to court documents.
When Gray left his wallet behind on the counter around 2:30 p.m., authorities say video surveillance caught Garris picking it up and looking through it for "several minutes." A little before 5 p.m., the cameras watched as Garris went to another employee's register and used Gray's credit card to buy $13.52 in cigarettes.
Garris then left the store and later went to Skyland Liquors at 2101 Savannah St. SE. Court documents indicate Garris was once again caught on surveillance video using Gray's credit card, spending $25.06 on liquor. The store's copy of the receipt shows she forged the mayor-elect's signature.
On Wednesday, Garris was arrested and charged with credit card fraud.
"I can confirm that [the wallet] was taken and that someone was arrested," Gray spokeswoman Doxie McCoy told The Washington Examiner. "According to police, the suspect is a CVS employee," McCoy added before declining to comment further.
Examiner Staff Writer Scott McCabe contributed to this report.
D.C. Council
As Fenty exits, developers eye D.C.-owned lots
Washington Business Journal - by Michael Neibauer
Date: Wednesday, December 1, 2010, 1:18pm EST - Last Modified: Wednesday, December 1, 2010, 2:34pm EST
Mayor Adrian Fenty is asking the D.C. Council to declare four District-owned parcels as surplus so that his administration can turn them over to various developers before his term expires.
Fenty wants the council to declare that Justice Park at 1421 Euclid St., 1113-1117 H St. NE, Parcel 39 at Eighth and T streets NW, and 6925-6929 Georgia Ave. are no longer needed for a public purpose so each can be disposed to teams of developers, either through sale or ground lease, for yet undisclosed amounts.
The Fenty administration solicited development proposals for each parcel at one time or another in the last four years. If the council does not vote on the dispositions before Christmas, Mayor-elect Vincent Gray will have to decide whether to resubmit each resolution in 2011 once he's in and Fenty's out.
The 12,325-square-foot Justice Park will be redeveloped as an $11.5 million, 37-unit affordable apartment complex by Euclid Community Partners — a team comprised of Dantes Partners, Perdomo Group and Capital Construction Enterprises.
The H Street lots, all currently vacant, will be sold to H Street Partners LLC, led by D.C.-based Wall Development. Stanley Wall, the developer whose bid to join the D.C. Zoning Commission was rejected by the council in part because of his working relationship with the Fenty administration, plans a $3.5 million, 16-unit residential complex with ground-floor retail.
The 14,997-square-foot fenced lots that comprise 6925-29 Georgia Ave., two blocks south of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, will be turned over to Blue Skye Development LLC, which is planning a 24-unit mixed-income residential development on the site.
In Shaw, AdvantEdge Development will partner with Blue Sky Development (no relation to Blue Skye Development) to redo the southwest corner of Eighth and T as a $2 million, four-unit condominium building. The request for proposals on the 5,000-square-foot Parcel 39 was issued in 2007.
As Fenty exits, developers eye D.C.-owned lots | Washington Business Journal
Thomas to Nickles: Take Your Subpoena and Shove It Up …
Posted by Alan Suderman on Dec. 1, 2010 at 6:26 pm
Loose Lips (Washington City Paper)
As Jonetta Rose Barras indicated he would, Ward 5 Harry Thomas Jr. didn't pony up the more detailed financial records Attorney General Peter Nicklesrequested by 4 p.m. today in a second subpoena of Thomas' youth sports, non-profit, Team Thomas. Looks like we're headed back to court!
Thomas's attorney, Fred Cooke Jr., sent a letter to Nickles explaining why the second subpoena wasn't necessary. The main reason being, Cooke says, is that Team Thomas has decided to "voluntarily refrain" from asking for any more donations. (According to its response to the first subpoena, Team Thomas is already virtually defunct, raising only $28 so far this year.) Argues Cooke: if Team Thomas isn't asking for money, then it can't break the city's charitable solicitations law by asking for money without a license, as Nickles has kind of alleged.
Here's Cooke's letter. LL hasn't gotten ahold of Nickles yet, but will update as needed.
(Click link above to read)
Update: LL is late to meet his 8.5 month pregnant wife, so he won't summarize Nickles response. Instead, you may read it here:
(Click link above to read)
Mendo: The Judiciary is All Mine!
Posted by Alan Suderman on Dec. 1, 2010 at 5:12 pm
Loose Lips (Washington City Paper)
Some councilmembers these days are feeling a wee bit anxious over which committee chairmanships Almost Council Chairman Kwame Brown will assign them.
Brown's kept mum on who will get what, but it's clear there's some changes in the air that'll likely leave at least some CMs feeling unhappy.
At-Large Councilmember David Catania has not been shy about letting folks know that he would like to head to likely-to-be formed committee on education, which the rumor mill says Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh wants too. Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells probably dreams of taking a bus or using ride a bike to the Wilson building to chair his very own transportation committee, a prospect Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham probably isn't too keen on. Ward 8 Councilmember Marion Barry wants back in the game, but just scolded LL yesterday for writing a piece speculating that Barry may want the human services committee.
But there's one councilmember who isn't worried. At-Large CM Phil Mendelson says he met with Brown a week or two ago and is feeling confident that he'll keep his beloved Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary. Or, put in Mendo's politispeak: "My impression was that he would honor my interest."
LL never got the sense that there was ever much jeopardy of Mendo losing his committee chairmanship, but one theory LL heard lately is that if Brown could give the judiciary committee to Cheh as a consolation prize if she doesn't head the education committee. Guess that's off the table. Or is it...
Update: Fraternal Order of Police union president Kris Baumann calls LL to voice "concern" that Brown hadn't consulted with stakeholders like the FOP before promising Mendo the committee. Baumann said he thinks time "to have some fresh eyes" chairing the judiciary. Baumann's preferred picks: Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans and Cheh.
LL should have also mentioned in the original post that Brown's spokeswoman Traci Hughes said the almost chairman hasn't made any final decisions on committee picks.
D.C. Government
D.C. expects lopsided revenue growth in 2011
The District's number crunchers expect this year's sales and income tax revenues to increase, but steep decreases in real estate-related revenues will pull down the overall revenue growth.
Real property tax revenue is expected to drop by just under 13 percent for the 2011 fiscal year, which ends June 30. Deed tax revenue is also expected to drop by 8.4 percent, according to the November Economic Indicators report.
Meanwhile, income tax revenue is expected to increase by 5 percent and general sales tax revenue could rise by 3.1 percent this year, the report said.
Overall, tax revenue is expected to be down 3.3 percent this year.
D.C.'s Chief Procurement Officer resigns
The District's chief procurement officer has resigned.
David Gragan's last day on the job will be Dec. 17, according to an e-mail obtained by The Washington Examiner that Gragan sent to his staff on Wednesday.
"For some agency heads, this is a period of uncertainty, and over the next few weeks or months some will be asked to stay on in their current roles, some will not. Others of us have received offers of employment outside the District government, and are today announcing their transitions to new roles. Such is the case with me," Gragan wrote. "I have been offered a position in the Federal government that I plan to accept."
During his three-and-half-year tenure under outgoing Mayor Adrian Fenty, Gragan is widely credited with implementing anit-fraud measures while cutting costs at an agency that was defined as needing "major reform" by a federal Government Accountability Audit before he took office.
Julie Hudman will leave D.C. Department of Health Care Finance
By Mike DeBonis
Washington Post blog
December 1, 2010; 5:00 PM ET
Today's city government departure announcement: Julie Hudman, director of the Department of Health Care Finance, leaves after four years with Mayor Adrian M. Fenty.
Hudman came to D.C. to serve as a health policy analyst for then-city administrator Dan Tangherlini; she leaves after two years as the first director of the Health Care Finance agency, which was separated from the health department in 2008. It boasts the largest budget line in city government -- more than a half-billion local dollars, plus another $1.6 billion in federal funding for Medicaid and other health entitlement programs.
"As requested, I submitted my resignation letter to the Mayor last night," she wrote in a brief e-mail this afternoon sent to administration officials. "But as many of you know, I am not awaiting word from Gray's team, but instead choosing to move on and work on national health care reform."
Hudman, in a short interview this afternoon, said she's evaluating job offers in academia, consulting or with the federal government. Her departure comes as the city is faced with conforming with the federal health-care overhaul.
"I came in four years ago with Mayor Fenty, and I had his total support in all the difficult decisions I had to make," she said. "That was the environment I operated under, and it was still a very difficult job."
In recent years, the proportion of District residents with health insurance has continued to grow, outpacing every state but Massachusetts, due to the city's success in getting more residents onto the government-funded Medicaid, SCHIP, and D.C. HealthCare Alliance programs.
But the city has continued to face challenges from federal auditors, who have questioned its ability to document some Medicaid expenses. Hudman found herself under fire earlier this year when D.C. Council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) accused her of flouting hiring requirements.
Hudman said the new administration's success in the health-finance realm should be judged by its ability to compete with the federal government and private sector for top-level employees, and in its ability to maintain benefit and eligibility levels for D.C. health care recipients -- something Hudman did, in part, by policing the city's often politically well-connected managed-care providers.
D.C. nightclub set to reopen after man's death
By Paul Duggan
Washington Post Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/01/AR2010120108011.html
Washington Post Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/01/AR2010120108011.html
Wednesday, December 1, 2010; 10:40 PM
A D.C. licensing board voted Wednesday to allow the reopening of DC9, a nightclub ordered closed by police after a man died in an incident involving four employees and a co-owner of the bar.
The popular club, in the 1900 block of Ninth Street NW, was shut down by D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier after the death Oct. 15 of Ali Ahmed Mohammed, who was chased by the five men after he threw at least one brick through the club's front window, officers said. They said Mohammed, 27, of Silver Spring, died during an encounter with the men on the street.
On Wednesday, the seven-member governing board of the city's Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration voted unanimously to allow the club to reopen Dec. 15 under several conditions, said Cynthia Simms, the board's spokeswoman. She said the decision will be reviewed at a hearing Jan. 19.
The five men - including then-co-owner William Spieler, who has disassociated himself from the club - initially were charged with second-degree murder in what Lanier called a "savage" case of "vigilante justice." Authorities later dismissed the charges because the cause and manner of Mohammed's death had not been determined by the D.C. medical examiner's office.
Among other conditions of DC9's reopening, the club will not be allowed to employ Spieler or any of the four other men, Simms said. She said the board's ruling could be reversed or altered at the January hearing if more information about Mohammed's death becomes available.
Police and the medical examiner's office are investigating the incident and Mohammed's medical condition and injuries, authorities said. They said they would not be legally barred from refiling criminal charges in the case if new information warrants such a move.
Boy tied to youth agency killed in shooting
Women struck in SE attacks
Washington Times
8:36 p.m., Wednesday, December 1, 2010
A 16-year-old boy in the care of the city's juvenile-justice agency was fatally shot in Northwest Washington on Tuesday - part of a vicious spurt of youth crime and violence in the District this week.
Prince Okorie was placed at a shelter licensed by the D.C. Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS) on Nov. 9, according to sources at the agency. Three weeks later, at 4:20 p.m. Tuesday, police investigating the sound of gunshots in the 800 block of Delafield Place in the Petworth neighborhood of Northwest found Prince's body.
Three boys were seen fleeing the area after the shooting. No arrests have been made.
DYRS Interim Director Robert Hildum said on Wednesday that Prince had not yet been committed to DYRS. Sources told The Washington Times that the juvenile recently was detained at the department's Youth Services Center and, pending a commitment hearing, placed at a shelter run by Alternative Solutions for Youth, a community-based residential treatment program.
Though he acknowledged the agency's oversight of the shelter, Mr. Hildum declined to discuss specifics.
"It would not be unusual for a youth living at a shelter to be on the street in the middle of the day, either coming from school or going to some other activity," he said.
In other incidents, youths in Southeast Washington have been involved in a spate of vicious, unprovoked attacks the last several days.
On Sunday, witnesses reported seeing a group of four black males confront a young woman walking from the Harris Teeter grocery store along the 1300 block of Pennsylvania Avenue in Southeast in the middle of the afternoon. The woman was carrying a grocery bag in each hand when one of the males punched her in the face and broke her jaw. No arrests have been made.
On Tuesday, another woman was punched and thrown to the ground by a group of four teenagers who were unsuccessful in their attempt to steal her purse.
The attacks prompted a heightened police presence in the area known as Hill East, not far from the affluent Eastern Market neighborhood. Metropolitan Police Cmdr. David Kamperin told residents via a posting on a neighborhood listserv that "these random attacks are disturbing, and this type of violence should shock the conscience within this safe community."
In a recent series of articles, The Times explored youth violence in the District and found that DYRS has been plagued by a pattern of crimes committed by and against youths under the agency's supervision.
The department is in need of an "overhaul," according to D.C. Mayor-elect Vincent C. Gray, whose transition team met last week with Mr. Hildum, the third person to lead the agency in the past year.
But the city's problem with youth crime and violence is not limited to wards of DYRS.
On Monday, police found the body of 17-year-old Ebony Franklin stuffed into a trash can in an alley behind the 1000 block of Fairmont Street in Northwest. Though not a ward of DYRS, Ebony had been working with youth-outreach counselors for more than a year.
Ebony, who had been reported missing by her mother, lived in the 4600 block of Pistachio Lane in Capitol Heights, Md., though she was a frequent presence in Columbia Heights Village, a troubled housing project in D.C.'s Ward 1, according to youth-outreach workers who discussed her case withThe Times.
Over the last several years, she had attended Cardozo High School in Northwest Washington and Northwestern High School in Hyattsville, Md., the outreach workers said.
The block where she lived, a small cul de sac in Prince George's County, also was the scene of a fatal shooting in August of DYRS ward David Javon Hinson.
Prince George's County police said Hinson, 20, of Northeast Washington, was fatally shot on Aug. 11 as he was driving at about 6 p.m. He traveled a few dozen feet before his automobile crashed into a tree. Police found him dead behind the wheel.
Also on Monday, three wards of DYRS were caught on surveillance cameras leaving the Washington Humane Society's shelter in Northeast Washington with a 4-month-old pit bull named Ivan. DYRSsources told The Times on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the subject that the juveniles were at the agency's headquarters on Wednesday.
Scott Giacoppo, a spokesman for the humane society, later confirmed for The Washington Times that Humane Society officials had located the dog.
The youths entered the shelter Monday posing as potential adopters. Once inside, the suspects took Ivan from his cage and escaped by breaking through a wooden fence behind the building, shelter officials said.
Stolen puppy recovered; young wards of city caught on tape
Washington Times
3:55 p.m., Wednesday, December 1, 2010
A pit bull puppy stolen from the Washington Humane Society shelter on Monday has been recovered, officials say.
Scott Giacoppo, a spokesman for the humane society, confirmed forThe Washington Times that they have located the 4-month-old pit bull, named Ivan.
"We're fairly confident that appears to be the case," he said.
Sources told The Times that three youths thought to be involved in the highly publicized theft of the dog were wards of the city's Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services. The sources, who talked The Times on condition anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the subject, said the three juveniles were at the agency's headquarters on Wednesday.
The youths entered the shelter Monday posing as potential adopters. Once inside, the suspects took Ivan from his cage and escaped by breaking through a wooden fence behind the building, shelter officials said.
The Washington Humane Society posted the surveillance footage on its website and offered a $1,000 reward for information leading to Ivan's safe return.
Scott Giacoppo, a spokesman for the humane society, confirmed forThe Washington Times that they have located the 4-month-old pit bull, named Ivan.
"We're fairly confident that appears to be the case," he said.
Sources told The Times that three youths thought to be involved in the highly publicized theft of the dog were wards of the city's Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services. The sources, who talked The Times on condition anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the subject, said the three juveniles were at the agency's headquarters on Wednesday.
The youths entered the shelter Monday posing as potential adopters. Once inside, the suspects took Ivan from his cage and escaped by breaking through a wooden fence behind the building, shelter officials said.
The Washington Humane Society posted the surveillance footage on its website and offered a $1,000 reward for information leading to Ivan's safe return.
Budget
Got any big ideas for the DDOT budget?
by David Alpert • December 1, 2010 1:51 pm
Greater Greater Washington
DC faces huge budget gaps, and every agency is being asked to make cuts, most of which take a little from everything. For DDOT, do you have any ideas for bigger cuts that should be considered, or revenue increases to look into?
The DC Council held a marathon hearing yesterday to listen to feedback on closing DC's massive budget gap. Most of the witnesses just asked for specific programs not to be cut, rather than presenting ideas for different cuts in their place. Many advocates called for tax increases, which I think should be part of the final package along with many cuts.
In transportation and planning as well as many other areas, the cuts generally spread the pain out across the board rather than cutting specific programs far more or eliminating any governmental activities entirely, though a few do get completely wiped out. For DDOT, for example, these are some of the cuts:
· $2.2 million from road, sidewalk, and alley repairs
· $300,000 out of $1.5 million from bike-ped safety programs
· $416,000 from traffic control officers around the ballpark and convention center
· $244,000 from school crossing guards
· $620,000 from street trees (see below)s
· The entire $7 million "streetscape survival fund," payments to small businesses affected by recent streetscape projects to help them weather the hit to their business from the construction.
· $500,000 from a parking rate increase at Metrorail lots in the District, which is a nonstarter since it requires WMATA Board approval and the Board won't even have time to consider this in the brief timeframe, let alone whether outer jurisdiction members would approve a hike that some of their residents would have to pay.
This is painful but most of the smaller cuts are probably a reasonable way to spread out the pain. But here are a few ideas for areas to cut more deeply or raise some revenue to restore a few cuts:
Eliminate poorly performing staff in IPMA. IPMA is the Infrastructure and Project Management Administration, which handles the repavings and the streetscapes and all that. Almost any neighborhood activist has a host of stories of poor presentations by IPMA engineers and project managers who lacked good communication skills. There are also many people at IPMA who are locked in the old style of transportation engineering, building everything to a standard in a manual and not really listening to residents who want safer streets instead of higher speed traffic.
At the same time, there are good people at IPMA too. Sometimes it's hard in government to get rid of just the bad people, but to the extent this is possible, DDOT could use a good housecleaning in IPMA. Since fewer streets and alleys will be repaved and fewer sidewalks reconstructed, the department could probably make do with fewer people for a few years. Then, when things pick up again, they can hire high quality people in place of the bad ones they got rid of.
Reduce regular tree trimming. Some trees really need trimming, but there are also many cases where people don't actually want their trees trimmed. I was pretty dismayed to find a crew cutting whole limbs off the tree in front of my house one day, limbs which shade my windows in the summer. Since I work from home, I was able to stop them though now some limbs are oddly truncated. Meanwhile, another set of friends who just bought a house in Logan Circle came home one day to find almost half their tree lopped off, a significant aesthetic decrease.
It could be that pruning helps trees live longer, but when I spoke to the Urban Forestry Administration about my tree, mainly they simply said that this was their "standard" and they have all contractors trim all trees to the "standard." We can probably do with a little less adherence to that standard, at least for a while.
The budget takes $200,000 out of tree trimming, $300,000 out of tree planting, and $120,000 from hazardous tree removal, saying there has been low demand for removing hazardous trees. I wonder if DDOT scale back even more its payments to the contractors who do this trimming. Its in-house arborists could spend less time on trimming and more on making sure the trees that are planted get watered.
Increase the Circulator fare. The Circulator costs $1. Metrobus costs $1.70 or $1.50 with SmarTrip. Yet the Circulator is more reliable and draws more tourists and people in well-off neighborhoods, where it primarily runs. This wasn't intentional but it's totally unfair.
Raise the Circulator fare to $2 cash (which is easy for tourists to pay and is still far cheaper than a cab) and $1.50 with SmarTrip, the same amount as on any other Metrobus. If a Circulator runs on a better schedule or a better route than other buses, people should ride it, but not because it's cheaper.
Increase the off-street parking tax. Jim Graham suggested this yesterday. He suggested raising it as high as 18% from the current 12.5%, which could bring in $19 million in revenue per year.
The Post's Nikita Stewart writes that "The amount does not account for the loss of customers who could balk at an increase," though given the amount of competition for commercial garages, a tax increase here may not lead to as much of a consumer price increase. It could just cut into the profits of garage owners and the revenue that building owners get from garages. In the long run, that could create more of an incentive to redevelop large surface parking lots.
DC could also grant garage owners a full or partial exemption from the increase for implementing certain measures like automated cash collection systems to ensure the tax is being correctly reported. In addition, the new zoning code requires certain numbers of bicycle spaces and car sharing spaces, and requires surface lots to have a certain amount of landscaping. If an existing lot complied with these rules, perhaps it should get some relief from the added tax.
Close the free parking tax loophole. This is another longer-term measure that keeps getting kicked down the road and then is too long-term to implement in any budget cycle. But the off-street parking tax contains a big loophole, leaving out facilities that provide free parking to employees rather than contracting through a commercial operator. In the downtown area, these spaces should be taxed at a similar rate to commercial spaces.
This proposal has been introduced in the Council in the past as the "Clean Air Compliance Fee." It wouldn't help with the immediate budget, but it seems that the most meaningful budget measures get little attention outside budget crises, and then during every crisis it's too late to implement it.
Contract out local bus routes. This is another longer-term issue, but again worth talking about while people are seriously thinking about budgets. If DC took over its local bus routes and contracted them out, DDOT believes it could save quite a lot of money.
What else? Do you have other ideas for ways to make bigger cuts or raise revenue in transportation?
DCPS / Politics / Metro / Other
New D.C. teachers union chief says he'll be more aggressive
By Bill Turque
Washington Post Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/01/AR2010120106313.html
Washington Post Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/01/AR2010120106313.html
Wednesday, December 1, 2010; 10:56 PM
The new president of the Washington Teachers' Union said Wednesday that he would cooperate with D.C. school officials in implementing the labor contract he vehemently opposed last spring. But Nathan Saunders also said he would be far more aggressive than his predecessor in ensuring that teachers' voices are heard when policy gets made.
"Where the contract requires collaboration, I absolutely will collaborate. Collaboration didn't become a bad word when I got elected," said Saunders, in an interview shortly before his formal installation ceremony at the American Federation of Teachers office on Capitol Hill.
Saunders, the former union general vice president, unseated incumbent George Parker in a runoff election Tuesday after a campaign in which he said Parker had failed to take a hard enough line in labor relations with then-Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee.
The election of Saunders has caused anxiety among supporters of Rhee's reform program. During a one-hour conversation, Saunders made it clear that he rejects the core of the educational world view held by Rhee and her successor, interim Chancellor Kaya Henderson, who have argued that the disadvantages produced by poverty, crime and family dysfunction can no longer be excuses for failing to raise academic achievement.
Saunders said he opposes the new IMPACT evaluation system because it effectively penalizes teachers for those social conditions. He also said annual growth in student test scores should not be used to make decisions about dismissals, as they are in some cases under IMPACT. Although D.C. law bars the union from bargaining over IMPACT with school officials, Saunders said he is committed to changing the system.
"Ever seen a law you couldn't change?'" he asked.
The teachers' contract, ratified by the union and the D.C. Council in June, includes at least 18 provisions that call for the union and the school system to act jointly. They include the planning and design of school turnaround efforts, the inclusion of special education students in general education classes, and improved teacher mentoring and professional development.
Saunders - who once decried the 21 percent pay increase negotiated by Parker as "blood money," contending that it was financed by the layoffs of 266 teachers in October 2009 - said that although he would collaborate, he would insist on "participation with strength."
"That means when teachers have a point of view, it's actually taken into consideration," he said. If it's not, Saunders said, he would not hesitate to take tougher measures. "Whenever confrontation will lead me to progress for the people I represent, I will engage in confrontation."
Parker, who had been union president since 2005, clashed with Rhee in the course of protracted contract talks. But he was regarded by city officials as a reform-minded union leader who recognized that teachers needed to assume more accountability for the quality of public education or risk being left behind.
"I've yet to hear Mr. Saunders articulate the importance of students in the process. His focus is singularly on job protections for teachers, not achievement for students," said D.C. Council member David A. Catania (I-At Large), who is interested in chairing the council's education committee when Mayor-elect Vincent C. Gray (D) and council Chairman-elect Kwame R. Brown (D) take office next month.
Catania said he wished Saunders well but that "consumer confidence" in the public school system could be easily dashed by the perception that the union leadership is regressing.
"We are in a very, very, very serious point in our journey towards reform," he said. "We can have it all collapse if we're not careful."
Saunders said that students certainly mattered to him but that their welfare was closely linked to the interests of teachers. "What's good for teachers is often times very good for students. I would argue that the best teachers are empowered teachers."
Henderson, the interim chancellor, was more upbeat in an e-mail Wednesday, saying that she was "looking forward to sitting down and hearing about Nathan's philosophy and approach."
"Anyone who knows me knows that I pride myself on being able to work with all kinds of people on a host of issues," she said. "Even though we may have different ways of getting there, I hope that Nathan and I share the goal of ensuring a highly effective teacher for every single one of our city's students.
Parker says Rhee not to blame for ouster
By Bill Turque
D.C. Schools Insider (Washington Post)
December 1, 2010; 10:30 AM ET
Michelle Rhee's role in his demise: "I'm not blaming the chancellor. The decisions I made as president of this union I made based on what I felt was in the best interests of our teachers and children. So I don't blame anyone."
On the union's future: "We have a younger segment of our union membership that does not see unions as having meaning or purpose. Some kind of way we have to be able to embrace all of our teachers, both our veteran teachers and young teachers. We have to find a way to get more of our younger teachers active in the union and move the union in a direction that it understands that younger teachers have different goals and objectives. Some of younger teachers, for example, felt the union should have supported more of the chancellor's and the mayor's programs But I think right or wrong, as our baby boomers retire, if the union is going to survive it is going to have to adjust to what its [younger] members believe."
What he'd have done differently: "I understand clearly that leading a union and making decisions on behalf of a union is a lot different than winning an election. I spent all of my time pretty much working on issues. I think I would have spent more time out in the schools, getting people to understand what we were doing, getting people to understand the decisions that we were making."
What Saunders should do first: Nathan's immediate priority is going to have to be relationship building. What he will be able to accomplish as a union president will depend greatly on the relationship that exists between the union, DCPS and the mayor. Clearly I think the second biggest thing is to develop a real understanding of the climate, not just locally but nationally in terms of education reform and how to find a way to embrace it in a way that we can help lead it."
Water in thousands of D.C. homes might still be contaminated by lead, CDC says
By Ashley Halsey III and Mike DeBonis
Washington Post Staff Writers
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/01/AR2010120107286.html
Washington Post Staff Writers
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/01/AR2010120107286.html
Wednesday, December 1, 2010; 10:12 PM
The water in almost 15,000 D.C. homes that received repairs during a massive effort to remove lead pipes may still be contaminated by dangerous levels of the metal, according to a report released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
If those residences are home to small children, pregnant women or anyone with a compromised immune system, the water should be tested, said George Hawkins, general manager of D.C. Water.
The CDC concluded that homeowners who had pipes only partially replaced may have made the problem worse. The center also confirmed that children living in the District were exposed to lead poisoning from 2000 to 2006 as an inadvertent result of efforts to disinfect the water supply that caused lead pipes to corrode and leach into the water that flowed through them.
The findings are a sharp reversal by the federal health agency, which initially said it had found no evidence that spikes in the level of lead in the water had harmed D.C. residents. A congressional inquiry concluded in May that the CDC knowingly used false data in making a "scientifically indefensible" claim that the water was safe to drink.
The report marks the first time the CDC has publicly acknowledged that there was measurable health risk from the city's lead crisis and that the primary remedy appears to have been flawed.
"This is the CDC telling us something we knew and acted upon," said D.C. Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), who has been critical of partial pipe replacements. "Not only did we know this, but we stopped it."
The new CDC report reopens an issue that many residents thought was resolved when the city spent $93 million to replace thousands of service lines. From 2004 to 2008, the District replaced water lines serving 17,600 homes, Hawkins said. Homeowners were responsible for the portion of the pipes on their property. In 14,800 of those homes, owners chose not to make any additional repairs.
"Partial lead service line replacements don't always work and in fact can cause sometimes more harm than good," Hawkins said. "We thought it was a good idea until the data started showed that it wasn't."
There is no blood lead level that is considered safe for children. The new CDC report found that children in homes where lead pipes had been partially replaced were three times as likely to have elevated lead levels than those whose homes never had lead pipes.
"We encourage the notion of testing your water and seeing what's there," Hawkins said. "If it's only adults in the house, it's probably still a judgment call, but less health-imperative than if there's small children and pregnant women."
The federal government banned the use of lead pipes almost 25 years ago, and the District embarked on an ambitious plan to replace lead service lines and to encourage homeowners to eradicate lead plumbing from their homes.
D.C. Water may have unwittingly exacerbated the problem in 2000, when it began to use the chemical chloramine, rather than chlorine, to purify the water supply. Although its use complied with federal requirements to reduce carcinogenic byproducts, many experts think it corroded pipes and caused lead to leach into the water.
The new CDC report found that elevated lead levels in children peaked in 2003, a year when chloramine was the only disinfectant used.
That year, residents were warned of potentially dangerous lead levels in their tap water. In 2004, it was reported that most D.C. homes with lead pipes had lead levels above a threshold set by the Environmental Protection Agency. But the worries of many homeowners were assuaged later that year when the CDC reported that no children it had tested suffered from lead poisoning.
CDC Director Thomas R. Frieden acknowledged in June that those findings were wrong and that "children living in homes serviced by lead water pipes were twice as likely" to have elevated lead levels.
The utility continues to replace lead service lines if they are connected to a water main that is being replaced or if a customer is replacing the private portion of the line.
After a lead service line is replaced, D.C. Water monitors the lead levels in the household's water for at least 51/2 months, Hawkins said. The utility also provides filters while lead levels remain dangerous.
"This report to us confirms and supports the steps we've been taking, and it helps the scholarship, but we're sort of already there in what we're doing in the system," Hawkins said. "We're hitting this like a full-court press and are doing everything we think is warranted."
Hawkins said he was concerned about one class of households not included in the study: those that had their entire lead service lines replaced but also have interior plumbing made of galvanized steel. Research has suggested that lead from service lines can become embedded in galvanized plumbing and continue to leach into the water after the service line is replaced.
Frank Borris, 45, was one of thousands of D.C. residents living in an area where the city elected to do a partial pipe replacement in 2004. He, like many of his Shepherd Park neighbors, decided to pay out of pocket for a full replacement because of concerns for the health of his family.
With two neighbors, he hired a contractor to replace the pipes leading into their houses at roughly $1,000 per house, he said, "and that was cheap, really cheap."
"I had concerns about their health and also mine and my wife's," Borris said. "A partial replacement is only a partial solution. I really didn't see the value in doing a partial replacement at that time."
Staff writers Carol D. Leonnig, Nikita Stewart and Nathan Rott and staff researcher Madonna A. Lebling contributed to this report.
Report: D.C. water may have high levels of lead
WTOP
December 2, 2010 - 4:00am
A report by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention released Wednesday says the water in more than 15,000 D.C. homes may still be contaminated with dangerous levels of lead.
The report is a reversal of federal findingsdone during the District's replacement ofcity water lines.
D.C. Water, then known as the D.C Water and Sewer Authority (WASA), replaced public water lines across the city from 2004 to 2008, but did not replace private lines unless instructed to by homeowners. The result was that WASA performed partial line replacements, which jostled lead into the water supply during construction.
The CDC says homeowners who opted for a partial replacement of their water lines may have done more damage than the initial lines presented.
The CDC acknowledges in the report the partial line replacement remedy did not work as planned, and says children who lived in homes where lines were partially replaced were three times as likely to have elevated lead levels than children whose homes had never had lead pipes.
D.C. Water General Manager George Hawkins says the water company has been taking precautionary measures since the CDC informed it of the findings.
"The CDC report confirmed what we already believe was true," Hawkins tells WTOP. "We have been acting on that belief even prior to this (report) being released."
Hawkins says its "conceivable" that homes with lead still in their private pipes may have elevated levels in their water, but that would be contrary to what D.C. Water's monitoring across the city has shown.
"It's pretty rare now that we are seeing lead levels in water that are above the action level," he says. "If every house has a lead line - and therefore there might be a risk at some point - that's just saying that every house that could have a problem, does have a problem. We're not finding that in the testing."
Hawkins says D.C. Water stopped performing partial service line replacements after it was found to unsuccessfully stop the spike in lead.
Anyone who is concerned about lead levels in his water can call D.C. Water (202-354-3600) to see whether his home had a partial line replacement or request a water test.
"We are happy to try and make someone feel comfortable that they don't have this issue and if we can do that by coming out and doing a test, we'll do so," Hawkins says.
For more information on how to have to D.C. Water test your home's supply, visit their website.
WTOP's Greg Otto and Ari Ashe contributed to this report.
D.C.'s mom 'n' pops afraid of Walmart
Liz Farmer
Examiner
The District's family-owned businesses are worried Walmart will kill their livelihoods if the retailer forges ahead with plans to open four locations in the coming years.
The concern comes particularly from the two proposed locations in Northwest, where small businesses are established and development is denser.
"It's going to affect a lot of our business," said Sean Kim, manager of the Georgia Avenue Food Barn, which has been at its location near the proposed Walmart at Georgia and Missouri avenues for more than 30 years.
"As a supermarket, they're basically wholesale price," Kim said. "Obviously we're going to lose."
Kim, whose parents own the business, said he hoped alcohol sales would distinguish them from the superstore.
"We'll probably concentrate more in beer and wine instead of grocery -- that's just something we'll have to give up."
The Walmarts are scheduled to open in late 2012 and will sell groceries and general merchandise as well as offer a pharmacy. Each store will be between 80,000 and 120,000 square feet.
West of Union Station, some are skeptical that the planned Walmart at New Jersey Avenue and H Street is even needed.
"I think we've got enough local grocery [stores] around," said Jeremy Frost, manager of 5th Street Ace Hardware, noting that two family-owned markets and a Safeway were within walking distance to the proposed site. "They drive local small businesses out of business."
Steven Restivo, Walmart's director of community affairs, said that's not always true.
"Across the country in rural, suburban and urban markets, our stores coexist with small, medium and large businesses," he said. "In the majority of those cases, our stores are actually a magnet for growth and development."
The four D.C. locations will bring 1,200 jobs and 400 construction jobs, he added.
Ward 4 Councilman Tommy Wells has set a private meeting this week between company representatives and D.C. employment interests but no community meetings have been scheduled on the superstore, which announced its move to D.C. two weeks ago.
Wells' chief of staff, Charles Allen, said the councilman "will absolutely be having conversations with all stakeholders in area ... and that includes small business."
Walmart's first store inside the Capital Beltway opened in Landover
in 2007. There, residents and community groups spent nearly two years negotiating with the superstore to limit the amount of groceries it sells and hours of operation, among other things. Walmart also agreed to pay for local newspaper ads for small businesses and meet regularly with area leaders.
Those who live in the area said business interest in the free advertising has died down but the massive parking lot and runaway shopping carts have irritated residents.
"They just brought a lot of trash, crime and so forth," said Sandee Loveday, a nearby resident who was involved in the negotiations.
Walmart's proposed Northeast locations -- one at New York Avenue and Bladensburg Road and the other near the Capitol Heights Metro station -- are not as controversial because there are fewer small retailers in those areas.
The New York Avenue store would be part of a retail development that would include another big box store. Its developer, Rick Walker, is behind a similar project in Baltimore that includes a Walmart and Lowe's Home Center.
The fourth store would be part of the Capitol Gateway mixed-use development.
Walmart has said it is willing to adapt the stores to their urban landscapes. But some say that's not the point.
"It's dangerous for the city," Frost said. "It's a slippery slope. Once you let four Walmarts in ... I can see a lot of developments turning to big box businesses."
SIDEBAR: Report: Urban Walmarts are zero-sum gain
· Probability of going out of business "significantly higher" for those closer to Walmart.
· Walmart sales replaced "but did not enhance" retail activity in surrounding area.
· Claims that Walmart leads to development growth "must be considered skeptically."
Source: 2009; Center for Urban Research and Learning, Loyola University Chicago
From yesterday:
Mike DeBonis: http://wapo.st/dYleMp
Loose Lips (daily column): not posted.
DMV Daily (P.J. Orvetti): http://bit.ly/hQ8yDx
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