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Good morning, It's cold. Duke Ellington's Dreamgirls got a few raves this weekend. Be sure to check it out – you'll see a good show and contribute to a good cause. DCGC
Best, Karyn-Siobhan Robinson a/k/a DC Government Clips
D.C. Government/D.C. Council media clips: Monday, December 6, 2010.
Missed Friday? http://bit.ly/ffActY
Twitter: DCGovClips
Transition
Belt-tightening in D.C. - Washington Post
D.C. Council
The D.C. Council, above the law? - Washington Post
Council bill blocks Fenty payouts to former campaign staffers - Examiner
Cheh Seeks To Block Separation Pay for Fenty Campaign Workers - Loose Lips (Washington City Paper)
Streetcar passes markup, but under consideration for cuts - Greater Greater Washington
Facing down vested interests - Examiner
D.C. Government
City's budget woes could affect development plans - Capital Business (Washington Post)
Leila Finucane Edmonds will leave D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development - D.C. Wire (Washington Post blog)
Source: Decision on Assistant Chief Diane Groomes Imminent - City Desk (Washington City Paper blog)
City Blocked Liquor Board From Seeing MPD’s DC9 File - City Desk (Washington City Paper blog)
Fenty the crime-fighter -- put in context - Washington Post
Keep fighting for voting rights - Washington Post
Washingtonian: Right One-Third of the Time! - Loose Lips (Washington City Paper)
Arts District Branding Project Still Running Into Questions - Housing Complex (Washington City Paper)
D.C. jail guard says he smuggled items for inmates - Washington Post
D.C. puts a brake on foreclosures - Washington Post
Youth Summit Cultivates New Leaders - WAMU
DCPS / Politics / Metro / Other
D.C.'s Dunbar High School getting new administrators, more security to quell violence - Washington Post
The keys to keeping education reform rolling in D.C. - Washington Post
Metro: Longer, less crowded trains will have to wait - Examiner
National Trust for Historic Preservation to sell Dupont Circle home - Washington Business Journal
Missed
Funding for D.C.'s Main Streets program in danger
Washington Business Journal - by Michael Neibauer
Date: Friday, December 3, 2010, 6:00am EST
(To read: subscribe to the Washington Business Journal)
D.C. working on fixes for $188M budget gap
Washington Business Journal
Date: Friday, December 3, 2010, 5:44am EST
Developers race to capitalize on Mount Vernon Triangle’s cachet
Washington Business Journal - by Sarah Krouse
Date: Friday, December 3, 2010, 6:00am EST - Last Modified: Thursday, December 2, 2010, 2:27pm EST
Developers race to capitalize on Mount Vernon Triangle’s cachet
Washington Business Journal - by Sarah Krouse
Date: Friday, December 3, 2010, 6:00am EST - Last Modified: Thursday, December 2, 2010, 2:27pm EST
Of Interest (links only)
D.C.-centric developer turns focus to Virginia
By Jonathan O'Connell
Capital Business (Washington Post)
Capital Business (Washington Post)
Monday, December 6, 2010; 4
Transition
Belt-tightening in D.C.
Editorial
Washington Post
Sunday, December 5, 2010; A22
IT IS POSSIBLE to take issue with some of the spending cuts advanced by D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D), but his overall approach to the District's budget crisis is correct. He has sensibly proposed that the city not spend money it doesn't have on things it can't afford. It's worrisome, then, that some members of the D.C. Council seem to think the District can tax its way out of its fiscal hole. The city needs to start living within its means. As painful as it is to cut popular programs, the council needs to emulate the fiscal discipline shown by Mr. Fenty in coming up with spending cuts.
The District faces a budget gap estimated at $188 million for this fiscal year, with even larger problems projected for later years. To solve the immediate problem, Mr. Fenty has called for $111 million of spending cuts affecting a wide array of city services from job training to tree trimming; the remaining gap would be covered by, among other things, increasing fees, eliminating jobs and reorganizing debt. The mayor's proposal set off howls of protest, with more than 140 activists and advocates lining up in the council chambers to plead their causes in a 14-hour budget hearing Tuesday. No question that some of the programs suggested for cuts provide worthy services; the council is right to determine if the outgoing mayor made the right choices in, say, scaling back welfare payments or cutting grandparent subsidies that keep children from having to go into foster care.
Surely, though, council members should be able to find comparable savings in a budget of roughly $5.3 billion. Consider that other local jurisdictions facing far more serious budget issues were able to realize savings by streamlining operations, cutting services, curtailing benefits to government workers or imposing furloughs. Those cost-cutting ideas appeared anathema to council members such as Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) and Michael A. Brown (I-At Large) who would rather raise taxes than even consider cutting pet programs. Should the city really be starting expensive initiatives in the face of serious budget problems?
The recession that has affected city revenue is also hurting D.C. families and businesses. There may have been consensus for tax hikes among the advocates at Tuesday's hearing, but we suspect there's different thinking in the real world outside the council chambers. Quick fixes such as the notion of just soaking the city's wealthiest families would place the city at a competitive disadvantage with surrounding jurisdictions in attracting and retaining residents.
Council Chairman and Mayor-elect Vincent C. Gray (D), in a thoughtful speech last month on the state of the city's finances, noted that for four years the city's expenditures exceeded its revenue as it drew on lush reserves. That luxury is gone. Mr. Gray has yet to say what approach he will take, but we hope his statement was a signal he is prepared to make the hard decisions that are needed.
D.C. Council
The D.C. Council, above the law?
Editorial
Washington Post
Saturday, December 4, 2010; A16
THE D.C. COUNCIL is finally getting around to improving the city's weak open-meetings law. A council committee approved legislation Thursday that would ensure that the public could attend meetings of government boards and commissions. One problem, though: The proposal would effectively exempt the council itself. This pretty much defeats the whole idea, and we would urge the full council to drop this dubious exception.
The Open Meetings Amendment Act of 2010 (B18-716), approved by the council's committee on government oversight, would broaden the District's notoriously outdated open-meetings law. Among its provisions are requirements that would outlaw public bodies from meeting behind closed doors under the guise of not taking "official" action. Also commendable are new requirements for public notice.
Those strengths are negated, however, by the perplexing decision to give an out to the council. Instead of having to play by the rules that are being mandated for other public bodies, the council would be able to adopt its own rules. And whereas an independent office would be set up to ensure compliance with the law, the council apparently would be answerable to no one.
Other problems with the proposal are that it gives a pass to the Advisory Neighborhood Commissions and offers individuals no course of action if they believe the law has been violated. Some advocates for open government who cheered the legislation when it was introduced by council member Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4) - without these objectionable provisions - oppose it in its new ungainly form. Included here is the Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association, of which The Washington Post is a member.
Council member Mary M. Cheh (D-Ward 3), the committee chair who drafted the exemptions, did not respond to our inquiries about her rationale. Ms. Cheh has been a champion of open government, so it's curious - and disappointing - that she doesn't recognize how this measure would undermine those efforts. One has to look only as far as Montgomery or Fairfax counties to see lawmakers able to do the public's business in public, with reasonable exceptions for personnel matters or competitive economic development ventures. As the D.C. Open Government Coalition reported, some 30 states also have open-meeting laws that require compliance by state legislatures.
This council, under the leadership of D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray, has acted with far more transparency than previous bodies. Once-private breakfast meetings were opened to the media; once-secret budget workshops were televised. There is no guarantee, though, that future councils won't regress. That's why open government needs to be enshrined in law - without exception.
Council bill blocks Fenty payouts to former campaign staffers
Re-elect Mayor Adrian Fenty campaign workers who were hired by the administration after the mayor lost in the Democratic primary won't get paid any severance if the D.C. Council passes an emergency bill.
Ward 3 Councilwoman Mary Cheh says she is planning to introduce the bill on Tuesday. If it passes, political appointees hired within the past 180 days won't earn any severance when they likely lose jobs as the city transitions to the Vince Gray administration after Jan. 2.
About a half-dozen Fenty campaign staffers were hired by the administration in the weeks after the mayor's re-election bid failed in September, The Washington Examiner has confirmed. At least one, Josh Lopez, left quickly to help run the failed Fenty write-in campaign.
But others have stayed on, including Fenty campaign spokeswoman Helen Hare whose annual salary jumped from $45,000 when she started with the administration to $70,000 when she returned after the campaign.
Under District law, political appointees who work for less than a year can earn up to four weeks in severance pay when they leave. That means some political appointees who have worked for the city for less than three months could receive up to $6,000 in severance.
Fenty administration spokesman Sean Madigan told The Examiner that the mayor's tiered system would only allow for up to one week of severance pay for the political appointees who have worked for fewer than 180 days. He added that anyone who is fired by the city is guaranteed one week's severance under District human resources regulations.
Cheh was often an outspoken Fenty opponent and she endorsed Gray in the primary. The resolution introducing the bill, which was drafted by Cheh's staff, says the bill is about finances.
"The District government is facing a $180 million budget. To maintain a balanced budget, the District is cutting programs and services and is firing employees," the resolution says. "Enacting this legislation now is necessary to preserve the District's financial resources."
Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi has not yet provided an assessment of how much cash the bill would save and it might be difficult to determine because much of the severance is left to the mayor's legally limited discretion.
Cheh Seeks To Block Separation Pay for Fenty Campaign Workers
Loose Lips (Washington City Paper)
Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh is planning to introduce emergency legislation Tuesday that would prohibit separation pay for former campaign workers of Still Mayor Adrian Fenty who nabbed city jobs just before or evenafter a city-wide hiring freeze was imposed.
As LL previously reported, the half-dozen or so Fenty faithful who've been brought on during the last months of a lame duck administration (some of them at $70,000 a year salaries) are eligible under current city rules for up to four weeks of separation pay. (LL should have made clear in the previous post that the newly hired Fenty aides are just eligible for the pay, not necessarily guaranteed it. LL's bad!)
Cheh's proposed legislation would limit the political appointees, known as excepted service employees, who can receive separation pay to those who've worked for the city for 180 days or more at the time they leave city employment. That means no $6,000 bonuses for Fenty campaign workers who were only on the job for three months.
The resolution below makes pretty clear where Cheh got the idea for the legislation. So to the taxpayers of D.C.: you are welcome (if it passes).
Streetcar passes markup, but under consideration for cuts
Greater Greater Washington
A DC Council committee unanimously approved the streetcar approval resolution at a markup session this morning, but sources say Gray's budget staff and transition team are considering the program for cuts.
Nothing has been decided, but the Gray's Council budget office believes that they still need to make additional capital cuts for FY11 beyond those proposed in Mayor Fenty's budget, and the streetcar is one program being considered.
Earlier this year, the Council approved the streetcar program, but required DDOT to conduct some more extensive planning to move forward. Passing the resolution marked up this morning, the Streetcar Project Comprehensive Plan Approval Resolution of 2010, will release the last $34.5 million to build the H Street-Benning Road line.
That might make an inviting target for cutters, but Gray's team is also concerned about the certain backlash from residents who have come to feel the DC government made a fairly firm commitment to build the line. H Street business owners, in particular, testified powerfully about the impact the streetscape construction has had on business (most of which was not related to the streetcar).
The current budget has also cut the streetscape survival fund meant to help business through these projects. At least they can look forward to the light at the end of the tunnel (not literally) from business growth the streetcar is very likely to bring.
Unfortunately, this budget process hasn't been any more transparent than the last one. Despite hours of hearings, these capital budget cuts are again happening behind closed doors and at the last minute. Sarah Campbell and the rest of the Council budget office have a list of cuts they are pondering; it would be really helpful to know what they are so residents can more meaningfully weigh in.
We can't tell what level of cuts is really necessary, or what else is on the table, and whether those other projects are more or less important to the District's growth.
One thing is for sure: Whatever decisions get made, it won't be a staff error as Gray alleged the May cuts were during the campaign. Gray has near complete power over the Council right now, as Chairman and Mayor-Elect, and almost everyone from the executive and legislative branches is giving him wide discretion right now. It really is up to him.
You can always weigh in by calling Gray's office at (202) 724-8032.
Facing down vested interests
Examiner
D.C. Mayor-elect Vincent C. Gray and council Chairman-elect Kwame Brown have reached the put-up-or-shut-up point. After weeks of talking about the need to make tough budget decisions, Tuesday they must act. That is when the legislature takes its first vote on Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's $188 million gap-closing proposal for fiscal 2011.
Last week, during a council public hearing, a steady stream of special interest groups and advocates, who haven't seen a program cut they could endorse or a tax increase they could reject, argued against Fenty's plan. The outgoing executive submitted a revised 2011 budget with expenditure reductions that, if approved, would touch nearly every government agency, including entitlements. Some council members have blasted the proposal for forcing the city's most "vulnerable" to bear the brunt of the budget crisis.
That spare-the-poor-and-working-class-at-any-cost approach, irresponsible budget policies, and an inherited imbalance in the fiscal structure converged in the 1990s to bring the District to the brink of bankruptcy. Elected officials back then lacked the courage to right size the government.
Fortunately the mettle shortage was addressed when a congressionally created control board did what the mayor and council could not do: It dramatically reduced spending, slashing entitlement programs that had grown beyond the city's ability to pay for them.
Once again, elected officials are being called to act bravely -- and responsibly. Council Chairman Pro tempore Jack Evans has noted repeatedly the government has grown during the past 10 years at an unsustainable rate. There has been deficit spending and debt accumulation, creating substantial burdens for future generations of District residents.
It would be nice to maintain current levels of social services -- but declining revenues have made that impossible. Some legislators have proposed jacking up the tax rate for wealthier residents. Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi has projected a 1 percent increase could yield massive amounts of money.
During the past year, the CFO has adjusted downward other rosy revenue projections. Hope springs eternal, I guess.
In 2007, Gray demonstrated courage: He orchestrated the legislature's approval -- despite substantial opposition -- of mayoral control of public education. Once again, he must encourage his colleagues to consider the long-term interest of the city, pushing them to approve major spending cuts, rollback of some employee benefits, and elimination of select government offices.
Council members searching for political cover could blame an unmerciful recession that has brought even wealthy jurisdictions like Montgomery County to their knees. They could, like comedian Flip Wilson, point the finger at the "devil," which is how some residents view Fenty. I offer these potential scapegoats for the use of the unrepentant wusses in the legislature; no need to call them out, they know who they are.
The council's failure to act boldly and decisively ultimately could harm the very community they have claimed they seek to protect. If you don't believe me, check out what happened in the 1990s.
D.C. Government
City's budget woes could affect development plans
By Jonathan O'Connell
Capital Business (Washington Post)
Capital Business (Washington Post)
Monday, December 6, 2010; 4
D.C. Mayor-elect Vincent C. Gray is a month from inheriting a real estate portfolio headlined by marquee development properties that lack the federal approvals or financing required for them to proceed.
Gray's predecessors, Anthony A. Williams and Adrian M. Fenty, both endured recessions during their tenures but neither entered office with private construction financing so tight and such a dire budget situation. The city is currently working to close a $188 million gap for the 2011 budget, and the 2012 shortfall is estimated at as high as $400 million. The District is also nearing a newly created limit on borrowing that led Gray to announce on Nov. 22 that he would propose freezing all capital projects "not yet underway" and create a panel to prioritize borrowing. No members of the commission have been announced yet and Gray has not identified the projects he would halt.
Some of the D.C. economic development projects that could be affected include:
-- St. Elizabeths east campus. After discussing the project with President Obama at their Dec. 1 lunch, Gray said Obama "recognized that this is a real opportunity to improve the quality of life in Ward 8." The District owns the land, and the headquarters for the Federal Emergency Management Agency is headed there, but the city has asked the federal government for millions of infrastructure dollars. It won't be easy to afford much without that money.
-- Walter Reed. Of major projects not already assigned to developers, this may be the most promising. The District is
already in line to receive 62 acres of the former hospital, and D.C. officials would like to see further development along Georgia Avenue on the northern part of the campus, which is controlled by the federal government. "We continue to work with our federal partners to determine what the makeup of the rest of the Walter Reed Campus space will look like," said Jose Sousa, spokesman for Deputy Mayor Valerie Santos.
-- Hill East. It has been months since Fenty narrowed the field of development teams he was considering for this 67-acre property to two, but he will leave the decision about what to do next up to Gray. "Hill East is not going to get decided before the end of the year," said Neil Albert, city administrator. The Hill's proximity to the waterfront makes this a strong market, but there are a number of public facilities that would need to be relocated.
-- Poplar Point. When asked during the campaign which projects he would put on the back burner until rosier times, this is the one Gray named. The District still does not control the site, there is environmental work to complete and the federal park service would have to move facilities.
Leila Finucane Edmonds will leave D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development
By Jonathan O'Connell
D.C. Wire (Washington Post blog)
December 3, 2010; 12:20 PM ET
Leila Finucane Edmonds will resign her post as director of the D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development to join NeighborWorks America, a national network of 240 nonprofit community development organizations.
Edmonds said her last day with the city will be Jan. 2, the day Vincent C. Gray becomes mayor. She became DHCD director in May 2007, shortly after Mayor Adrian M. Fenty began his term.
At NeighborWorks, which is based in the District, Edmonds will direct the National Initiative and Applied Research division, which sets standards and provides training to community development programs nationwide. "From the things I've been doing here, it's just a great opportunity to do it on a national level, so I'm excited about that," she said in a phone interview Thursday.
She declined to say whether she would have continued to work at the agency had Fenty won the election. Gray has not announced any Cabinet appointments yet. "I think we accomplished a tremendous amount with the Fenty administration. There's lot to be proud of, so I think it's a good time to go," she said.
Edmonds joined the city government from HSBC Bank in New York City, where she was a vice president in the community development unit. The national recession began shortly after she arrived in D.C., and she spent much of her tenure focused on preventing foreclosures and the deterioration of the city's neighborhoods.
Despite a declining amount of city money available for affordable housing projects, DHCD used federal stimulus money to rehabilitate vacant properties, build new housing and green existing units. She oversaw the completion of projects like the Overlook at Oxon Run apartments, a $73 million renovated building on Ninth Street SE that replaced the troubled Parkside Terrace apartments in 2009. The agency's headquarters also moved to Anacostia during her tenure.
Edmonds joins Robin-Eve Jasper of the Department of Real Estate Services, Julie Hudman of the Department of Health Care Finance and David Gragan of the Office of Contracting and Procurement as Fenty appointees who have announced their departures this week.
Source: Decision on Assistant Chief Diane Groomes Imminent
City Desk (Washington City Paper blog)
The fate of suspended assistant Metropolitan Police Department chief Diane Groomes could be decided soon.
MPD's Internal Affairs Department has completed its investigation into allegations that Groomes provided answers to an exam on intelligence-led policing to some of her subordinates, a police official tells City Desk. Some of the officers who received the cheat sheet were up against a deadline to complete the 50-question exam. City Desk has been told by sources e-mailed the answers out, and that one of the recipients decided to turn her in.
If the internal investigation has concluded rather quickly, that may be because Groomes has pretty much admitted to her mistake. "I'm sorry... for my actions and bad judgement," Groomes said in an earlier statement. "Now it's become a matter of 'What's the penalty?'" the official says.
In typical circumstances, the Discipline Review Division decides such penalties, but then that decision can be appealed through both the director of human resources and the chief of police. Groomes, who's popular with many community groups and bloggers, is currently suspended with pay.
City Blocked Liquor Board From Seeing MPD’s DC9 File
City Desk (Washington City Paper blog)
Before the Alcoholic Beverage Control board gave the go-ahead for DC9 to reopen,they tried to get a look at Ali Ahmed Mohammed's homicide investigation.The administrators subpoenaed information related to MPD's still open case, but Attorney General Peter Nickles ran interference by filing a motion to quash the request.
"The subpoena requests the production of a copy of all MPD documents related to a homicide that occurred on October 15, 2010 at 9th Street and U Street N.W., Washington D.C. for a summary suspension hearing to be held on December 1, 2010 at 10:00 a.m." the motion reads. "The subpoena should be quashed because the requested documents are confidential under the law enforcement privilege."
The board wanted to view the documents because it was pondering DC9's liquor license suspension, but the motion to quash was granted. Cops originally contended that employees of DC9 beat Mohammed to death after he threw a brick through the nightclub's window. The employees were arrested for murder. Those charges were eventually downgraded and then dropped, but not without a catch. Prosecutors can refile later. "We have every faith that the U.S. Attorney will ultimately charge the party responsible for the tragic death of Ali Mohammed," MPD said in a statement about the dropped charges.
Prosecutors have given the impression they're waiting on the autopsy report. One strange thing about Nickle's motion is that it lists what the confidential "investigative files contain," and "autopsy reports" is listed, though it hasn't been released.
D.C. Medical Examiner's office spokesperson Beverly Fields suggests the list might refer to items that are generally in an investigative file, instead of specifically in Mohammed's. MPD hasn't responded to an e-mail asking about the file.
Fenty the crime-fighter -- put in context
By Aaron Morrissey
Washington Post
December 3, 2010; 3:00 PM ET
Homicide statistics have often been bandied about as an easily digestible, if flawed, metric of how well a mayor has battled crime during a given administration. Not surprisingly, the homicide watch in D.C. -- a city where, at one point in the late 1980s and early 90s, more than 400 people were being murdered every year -- has gotten a lot of attention during outgoing Mayor Adrian Fenty's term. Police Chief Cathy Lanier stoked additional interest in the number by proclaiming her goal to reduce the city's homicide total to under 100.
Lanier and Fenty didn't reach that goal during the mayor's term. But that hasn't stopped the media from proclaiming Fenty's excellent performance in tamping down the homicide count during his nearly four years in office. "Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) is on track to leave office Jan 2. having just achieved the fewest yearly number of homicides in decades," wrote Tim Craig on The Post's D.C. Wire blog on Nov. 10, to quote but one example. It got us to thinking: Was Mayor Fenty really more successful at whittling down homicides than his predecessors?
This PDF chart depicts the number of homicides per year since Walter Washington first assumed the role of mayor of the District of Columbia in 1975. Anyone familiar with the recent history of the city should find few surprises -- the homicide rate skyrocketed as the crack epidemic hit the area in the late 1980s but has been on a somewhat steady decline since the mid-90s. It is true that Fenty, this year, will likely oversee the city's lowest number of homicides since Washington took office. But another look at the numbers shows that Fenty's performance might not be as unprecedented as some media outlets would have you believe.
As you can see from the second chart, based on 2010 projections*, Fenty will have presided over a little over a 28 percent decrease in the number of homicides that occurred during his first year in office, 2007. This is a sizable figure, and certainly something for Fenty to brag about. But it is hardly without peer. In fact, Anthony Williams, who held office directly before Fenty, presided over a 31 percent decrease in his second term. Even Marion Barry -- who, in his third term as mayor, saw the number of homicides in the city more than double -- presided over a just short of 28 percent decrease during his fourth term, between 1995 and 1998. Walter Washington and Sharon Pratt Kelly also achieved double-digit percentage decreases in the number of homicides when they were mayor.
Examining the data another way, Fenty actually oversaw a slight uptick in homicides in his first two years in office (2007 and 2008). This is actually behind what others were able to do -- including Williams, whose second term saw four consecutive years of decreases in homicides.
So is Mayor Fenty's homicide record -- especially the fact that the murder rate is projected to be the lowest since the mid '60s -- something to be proud of? Sure. But is Fenty's performance in this admittedly narrow metric unprecedented? Not really.
*The 2010 projection of 130 homicides is based on data retrieved in November that indicated that the District was experiencing a 9.2 percent decline in homicides from 2009's total of 143. Historical homicide figures are based on data from the Metropolitan Police Department and external sources.
Aaron Morrissey blogs at DCist. The Local Blog Network is a group of bloggers from around the D.C. region who have agreed to make regular contributions to All Opinions Are Local.
Keep fighting for voting rights
By Ilir Zherka, Washington
Washington Post
December 4, 2010; 10:50 PM ET
Ben Pershing’s Nov. 28 article, “For D.C. voting rights, window appears closed,” offered an overly pessimistic view of Washington’s future.
If recent elections have taught us anything, it is that such bold, blanket predictions regarding the political future are almost always incorrect. None of us knows what lies in store for the next two years, much less the next 10.
“D.C. voting rights is dead” — that is what was 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 pushed forward. Each time the bill was “resurrected” from the ashes, it had more votes in support than it had before.
But we must also remember this fight is about more than voting rights. Equally important is defending and expanding home rule to give D.C. residents the full democracy all other Americans enjoy. While the District has not yet obtained a full vote in the House, it has made many other significant advances.
Congress finally passed the District’s budget without riders limiting home rule. The District was able to implement long-delayed public health programs, serving its constituents as needed like every other local jurisdiction in the nation. This success is a direct result of the collective work of the D.C. democracy movement.
We must defend this progress in the next Congress. In June, a Post editorial stated that “fighting for voting rights is hard. That isn’t reason to give up.” DC Vote, along with our partners in Congress and the D.C. government, will not give up. We will keep fighting every fight that will bring Washington closer to full democracy.
The writer is executive director of DC Vote.
Washingtonian: Right One-Third of the Time!
Loose Lips (Washington City Paper)
t's not just bad form to make fun of another journalist's mistakes, it's bad luck. With this blog post, LL has practically guaranteed that he'll be making a giant, embarrassing error in the near future (possibly even in this very item!). But form and luck be damned—Washingtonianneeds a good thumpin' for some whoppers in its annual salary issue, particularly when it comes to D.C. officials. (The issue dropped last month, but LL is still getting his mail screened for anthrax and didn't get a copy until recently.)
On the first page of its salary info, the mag has a big picture of Still MayorAdrian Fenty and lists his salary at $138,200. That's more than $60,000 off the mark. Where they came up with that number, LL hasn't a clue. The D.C. Council approved increasing the mayor's salary to $200,000 a year in 2006. But the previous level was $152,000, not $138,200. And at any rate, that means Fenty's been making $200,000 his whole four-year term.
Also wrong: Metropolitan Police Department Chief Cathy Lanier's salary.Washingtonian says she makes $175,000 a year. That's what Lanier made in 2007, but as a WTOP story from yesterday shows, it's way off her current pay.
Who else? How about outgoing Fire Chief Dennis Rubin. The mag says he makes $165,000; city records show he makes $187,000 a year.
Washingtonian also has a picture of former Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee and lists her salary at $275,000. That's what her base salary was when she started in 2007, but her old contract also called for yearly cost of living adjustments and a potential bonus. LL doesn't know what that shook out to at the time of her departure, but LL is pretty sure it's more than $275,000.
The magazine did manage to get salaries right for City Administrator Neil Albert ($225,000) and members of the D.C. Council ($125,583). So for those of you counting at home, that's a 33.3 percent success rate for D.C. officials.
LL also noticed that the magazine put up a picture of outgoing Montgomery County Schools Superintendent Jerry Weast and pegged his salary at $216,792. The Post said Weast's annual compensation package was worth $500,000 last year. So technically, Weast's listed salary might be correct, but based on the other errors, LL doubts it.
FishbowlDC also noted that Washingtonian totally overshot its salary info forPost reporters. By a lot. (Salaries for Washington City Paper reporters weren't listed in the magazine, probably because Washingtonian guessed, correctly, that they're too low to bother with.)
Add it all up and you've got an awful lot of mistakes on what should be a pretty simple exercise. Tsk, tsk, Washingtonian!
LL has a call into the magazine's editors for a comment, and will update as necessary. But for now, LL would recommend not getting too bent out of shape if you spotted a salary on their list that you thought was unfair. Odds are, it's probably wrong.
Arts District Branding Project Still Running Into Questions
Housing Complex (Washington City Paper)
Not to bring up an old issue or anything, but the “D.C. Arts District” neighborhood branding project just keeps hitting speedbumps.
Initially, the project team said it would have the banners up by December 1, with a festival of sorts early in the month. That got pushed back as the design process took longer than anticipated. In addition, they need to get ANC approval to leave the street banners up for more than 90 days, and local civic associations like to be consulted as well.
ANCs 2F, 2C, and 2B signed off on the banners, but the U Street Neighborhood Association declined to endorse the initiative. And after some tough questioning at its Thursday meeting, ANC IB failed to endorse it as well, instead postponing the issue until its January meeting, which leaves the choice of whether to allow banners to stay up longer than 90 days up to a newly-elected Commission.
The unfriendly action came at the behest of the 9:30 Club’s Jean Homza, who apprised commissioners of the Midcity Business Association’s objection to the branding project—members believe that CouncilmemberJack Evans supported the $200,0000 grant thinking it was going to the Business Association, when in fact it was going to a collection of residents associations.
“The Midcity Business Association was in the middle of its own banner project,” Homza said. “This is usurping all of that.”
Commissioners, who had approved the idea in concept some time ago, were surprised that the issue had gotten so contentious, and told project lead Andrea Doughty to try to reconcile with the Business Association.
“Leaders in our community are up in arms and very upset,” said commissioner Deborah Thomas. “I don't know why it's not working….Find a way. Get it together.”
Meanwhile, Doughty says that events planned to help launch the Arts District are still in the works.
“There are numerous activities planned as part of the grant project that will be taking place in December, January, February and March,” she wrote in an email later. “There will be public announcements about each of these at the appropriate time.”
D.C. jail guard says he smuggled items for inmates
By Paul Duggan
Washington Post Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/03/AR2010120306745.html
Washington Post Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/03/AR2010120306745.html
Saturday, December 4, 2010; B04
A Greenbelt man working as a D.C. corrections officer has admitted smuggling marijuana, cellphones and cigarettes to prisoners in recent months, authorities said Friday.
Ryan E. Motley, 23, described by the Corrections Department as "a former employee," was on the payroll as recently as Nov. 23. That afternoon, he was in uniform, headed into the D.C. jail to begin his shift, when a routine security check turned up two cellphones wrapped in plastic in the inner lining of his protective vest, authorities said in an affidavit.
The discovery was made at the employees' entrance to the jail in the 1900 block of D Street SE, according to the affidavit, signed by a Corrections Department investigator and made public Friday. The affidavit says Motley was taken to a private room at the jail and interviewed by the investigator.
After waiving his right to remain silent, Motley "stated that he attempted to smuggle the two cellular phones past the security checkpoint with the intention to distribute them to an inmate(s) in the Southeast One Housing Unit" of the jail, the affidavit says.
Motley "stated that the two cellular phones were a portion of a larger package of contraband, which included cigarettes and marijuana," the affidavit says. It says that Motley admitted receiving well over $1,000 in cash since August for smuggling contraband into the jail "on behalf of several inmates housed in Southeast One."
After the interview, Motley gave written consent for authorities to search the bedroom of his apartment in the 9300 block of Edmonston Road in Greenbelt, according to the affidavit.
There, a Greenbelt police officer "recovered a large quantity of marijuana, cigarettes and additional items," the corrections investigator said in the affidavit.
Motley made a brief initial appearance in Superior Court Friday evening and was released pending a preliminary hearing later this month. He is charged with unlawful introduction of contraband into a penal institution, a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
His lawyer could not be located for comment. The Corrections Department declined to say how long Motley had been working at the jail.
"We can confirm that Ryan Motley, a former employee of the D.C. Department of Corrections, has been taken into custody," spokeswoman Sylvia Lane said in a statement. "We are prohibited from sharing any further information as this case is part of an ongoing investigation."
D.C. puts a brake on foreclosures
By Benny L. Kass
Washington Post
Washington Post
Saturday, December 4, 2010; E01
If you are a District homeowner facing foreclosure, there may be some good news. Last month, Mayor Adrian Fenty signed into law emergency legislation intended to help struggling homeowners.
Under the new law, effective Nov. 17, before a lender can foreclose on a residential property, the borrower must be given the opportunity to enter into mediation with the lender in an attempt to prevent the loss of the family home.
The question now is straightforward: Will mediation work?
Experience elsewhere may offer some insight. Currently, 23 states - including Maryland but not Virginia - have enacted some form of mediation legislation.
The Maryland program is under the auspices of the Office of Administrative Hearings. Chief Judge Thomas Dewberry said, "Our research with other mediation states indicated that only 12 percent of pending foreclosures would be resolved through mediation. Our law just started this year on July 1. We had 96 homeowners request mediation, and 43 cases successfully avoided mediation. We are pleased with that number."
However, that's a small share of Marylanders facing foreclosure. In October alone, lenders filed 3,169 notices of foreclosure throughout the state, according to RealtyTrac, a company that tracks foreclosure statistics.
Mediation is a process in which two or more people or organizations with differing opinions sit down before a neutral person in an effort to reach a satisfactory compromise. Unlike arbitration - or litigation - mediation is absolutely nonbinding.
The old way
Before the new law was enacted, to initiate foreclosure in the District, a lender had only to send the borrower, by certified mail, a formal notice of foreclosure sale. A copy of that notice had to be sent to the District government. The lender could not foreclose until 30 days elapsed from the date the notice was delivered to the District.
The only consumer protection available to a borrower was the right to stop the foreclosure by bringing the loan up to date and paying such foreclosure costs as advertising, trustee and attorney's fees. This right of redemption was only available once every two years.
In the District, there is absolutely no judicial review of foreclosure actions. The burden is on the homeowner to file a lawsuit seeking to prohibit the sale. In Maryland, the foreclosure sale does not have to be conducted by a judge (and so it is called a nonjudicial sale). But the court must audit the sale before it becomes final, and homeowners have the right to file objections to the sale with the court.
In Virginia, the only court involvement is to audit how the sale's proceeds were distributed.
When the D.C. Council was considering foreclosure legislation, it wrestled with the fact that in many states - including New York, New Jersey, Florida and Illinois - judicial foreclosure is the predominant method. The council wasn't ready to go that far. As the Committee on Public Service and Consumer Affairs explained in its report: The committee "is continuing to study the appropriateness of requiring the District to adopt judicial foreclosure in lieu of current practice. In the committee's view, until such studies are completed, it would be premature to recommend the adoption of judicial foreclosure. . . . However, in light of current developments, the committee believes requiring foreclosure mediation is a step in the right direction."
Perhaps it is, but only time will tell. Council member Muriel Bowser, who chairs the committee and sponsored the legislation to require mediation, said she is optimistic. She told this columnist, "The hope is that through mediation, we can help families stay in their homes where they belong."
Details of the new law
For purposes of the District's new law - the Saving D.C. Homes from Foreclosure Emergency Amendment Act of 2010 - residential property is defined as condominium or cooperative units and real property that has four or fewer single-family dwellings, at least one of which must be the principal residence of the debtor or his immediate family.
To foreclose under the new law, a lender must follow a two-step process. First, the lender must send the homeowner a notice of default not only by certified mail but also by first-class mail. This is a significant change; many homeowners faced with adversity bury their heads in the proverbial sand and refuse to accept certified mail. This change is designed to make sure that the borrower is notified of the default and the right to mediation.
Along with notice of the right to participate in mediation, the document must contain contact information for the lender and at least one local housing counseling service, a description of all loss-mitigation programs available from the lender, and a loss-mitigation application.
Lenders are required to pay the District $300 for each notice of default they issue. However, if the foreclosure sale takes place and - after paying off the lender and all associated auction and legal fees - there is any surplus left for the borrower, the $300 is returned to the lender. As a practical matter, rarely will there be a surplus after a foreclosure sale.
The District's Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking (DISB) has been authorized to implement, monitor and enforce the law. That agency will appoint a mediation administrator to oversee the process.
Once the homeowner receives the notice, two scenarios can take place.
If the homeowner does nothing, the right to mediation is waived. The administrator is required to issue a mediation certificate no more than 60 days after the initial notice of default was sent to the borrower.
Once the certificate has been issued, the lender is free to foreclose by taking the second step: sending a notice of foreclosure sale and waiting the required 30 days.
A homeowner who wants to pursue mediation must pay a mandatory $50 fee and send it with a mediation-election form to DISB within 30 days of receiving the first notice. The homeowner must also send the loss-mitigation application to the lender.
DISB is required to schedule mediation within 45 days from the date the lender mailed the default notice. Mediation will be conducted by a neutral third party trained in foreclosure mediation. To assist the mediator, the lender is required to produce a loss-mitigation analysis, showing options short of foreclosure that might be available to the homeowner.
According to the council committee's report, "the intent of the mediation provision is to provide a homeowner the opportunity to meet face-to-face with the lender in an environment where they can discuss options that are available in lieu of foreclosure, such as loan modification, refinancing, short sales, etc."
If mediation ends up with the parties agreeing that foreclosure is the only option, the mediator will report back to DISB. If the department is satisfied that the rules have been met, a mediation certificate will be issued, and the lender will be free to start the foreclosure process.
However, if another solution is agreed upon, the department will continue to monitor the process to make sure that the settlement is honored. A lender can be fined $1,000 for failure to implement the terms of the agreement with the borrower.
Benny L. Kass is a Washington lawyer. This column is not legal advice and should not be acted upon without obtaining your own legal counsel. For a free copy of the booklet "A Guide to Settlement on Your New Home," send a self-addressed stamped envelope to Benny L. Kass, 1050 17th St. NW, Suite 1100, Washington, D.C. 20036.
Youth Summit Cultivates New Leaders
December 04, 2010 - By Jessica Gould
WAMU
The YMCA of Metropolitan Washington is bringing together hundreds of D.C. high school students for a crash course on civic education.
William Lovett is D.C.'s "youth mayor." He's only 16, but he's already making the rounds and pressing the flesh.
"I want to see a light shined on the youth in a productive way more than just fights and football. I want to see them doing stuff political and academic-wise," he says.
The program grooms D.C.'s next generation of leaders, says founder Jason Reimer.
"I wanted to bring a program together [where] the students would not only grow and be able to articulate their viewpoints on political issues, but also be able to have an avenue where they have mentors, they have friends," Reimer says.
Every year, the group elects a mayor and city council. Several of their proposals have gone before D.C.'s grown-up legislators. And some have even become law.
DCPS / Politics / Metro / Other
D.C.'s Dunbar High School getting new administrators, more security to quell violence
By Bill Turque
Washington Post Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/04/AR2010120403131.html
Washington Post Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/04/AR2010120403131.html
Saturday, December 4, 2010; 11:11 PM
Dunbar Senior High School will get new administrators and extra security this week to quell violence and disorder, two years after the school was placed under a private management team by former chancellor Michelle A. Rhee.
Interim chancellor Kaya Henderson said that on two recent visits students roamed the halls and many classrooms were in disarray. She also said "a huge beef" involving neighborhood groups Sursum Corda and Saratoga has spilled into the school.
On Nov. 23, six students were arrested and charged with raping a 15-year-old girl in an unoccupied area of the sprawling school in Northwest. District prosecutors announced last week that the charges of first-degree sexual assault had been dropped, but did not say what prompted the decision. Henderson said concerns about the school predated the alleged incident.
"Things are really difficult at Dunbar this year," Henderson said. "The school culture is not conducive to learning."
Friends of Bedford, the nonprofit firm operating the school, was awarded a three-year contract to operate Dunbar in 2008 as part of a federally mandated effort to restructure three of the city's poorest-performing high schools. The group said it is a victim of politics and a public relations ploy designed to justify its ouster.
Bedford chief executive George Leonard said the intervention Henderson is considering - including extra security - is what the firm requested after it took control of the school in the summer of 2009. Then, he said, the school was "a shambles." Bedford officials also said the neighborhood disputes Henderson described had occurred outside the school.
"She wants to have the partnership phased out," Leonard said. "We're not going to be put in the position where she's making us seem like we're ineffective as a company."
In 2008, Friends of Bedford was selected to run Dunbar and Coolidge senior high schools. Anacostia Senior High School was placed under control of Friendship Public Charter Schools. The operators were granted broad control over curriculum, instruction and staffing, although teachers and administrators remain District employees, subject to local laws and union rules.
The complete contract terms were not disclosed, but D.C. school system procurement records show that Friends of Bedford has received about $1.2 million in payments from the District since September 2009.
Asked if the contract would be renewed when it expires this spring, Henderson said: "That remains to be seen."
Rhee was drawn to Leonard's group by their achievements at Brooklyn's Bedford Academy, which opened in 2003 and drew praise for its academic rigor (including marathon test-prep Saturdays called "nine-to-nines") and orderly school culture. In a 2009 interview
Leonard, a colorful former biology teacher, described his approach as "an iron fist dipped in honey." At Bedford Academy, he said, discipline included the automatic suspension of any male student who cursed or disrespected a female.
Leonard's approach was also less than parent-friendly. According to a New York Times profile, he once told an audience: "Just stay out of my way and let me create the scholar, because you're usually the problem. I'll see you at graduation."
After spending the 2008-09 school year as a planning period, the management group enjoyed some success, by many accounts, when it formally assumed control of the school in the summer of 2009.
Bedford replaced much of the teaching staff, started an intensive tutoring program and put up walls to modify Dunbar's hideous "open classroom" design, a legacy of the 1970s.
Although math scores on the 2010 DC-CAS standardized tests remained flat, reading proficiency increased more than 10 points, from 18.8 to 29.4 percent of the schools sophomores. In an interview last June, Rhee said that all three high schools under outside operation had "significantly improved their school culture," including gains in attendance and safety.
But Bedford may have run afoul of parents and other community stakeholders much in the same way Rhee did - because of a penchant for action over consultation. With Rhee gone and Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) leaving office next month, Bedford officials say parents, alumni and other interest groups have won the ear of Henderson, D.C. Council member Harry Thomas Jr., who represents Ward 5, where Dunbar is located, and Mayor-elect Vincent C. Gray (D).
Gray, a Dunbar alumnus, told The Post's Jay Mathews in an October interview that he had heard "mixed" assessments of Bedford's performance from students, teachers and alumni.
"There are people who were very enthusiastic in the beginning," Gray said. "They have a good track record for what they've done in New York. Now, more and more, I'm hearing people raising questions about it. . . . You hear from a lot of people about the disruption, the disorder, the kids wandering around the building."
Dunbar PTSA President LaTanya Cherry, who has called for Leonard's ouster, did not return phone messages.
"Our approach isn't very palatable at times, I will say that," said Bevon Thompson, chief financial officer. "We don't wait for any debate or discussion about what should be done. We are at times confrontational because we consider ourselves advocates of children. We are not politicians."
Henderson said the school seemed to regress this fall. Stephen Jackson, the 2009-10 principal, left at the end of the school year for undisclosed reasons. "Many people said he was the keeper of the school culture," Henderson said.
Leonard said Jackson was removed because he was undermining, not building, school culture, and that since his dismissal he has been conducting a "smear campaign" against Bedford. Jackson could not be reached for comment Saturday.
The keys to keeping education reform rolling in D.C.
By Susan Schaeffler, Washington
Washington Post
December 4, 2010; 10:52 PM ET
As Mayor-elect Vincent C. Gray prepares to take office, the D.C. education community is holding its breath. With the winds of progress at our back, it is critical that we continue to be relentless in our efforts to provide a high-quality education to every student in the District. Though the outgoing administration laid the groundwork for reform, many important and difficult decisions lie ahead.
Gray’s long-standing support for education reform and his campaign pledges to continue pushing ahead are encouraging. As the D.C. Council chairman, Gray championed reforms that have been central to implementing lasting change in the D.C. schools, such as providing universal pre-kindergarten and supporting the mayoral takeover of the public schools. Gray has also been effective in getting buy-in from teachers, parents, school officials, policymakers and district administrators to move these initiatives forward.
As a parent of two children who attend D.C. public schools and CEO of the KIPP DC public charter schools, I offer the following three suggestions for how Gray can continue the progress:
1. Advocate for all students. With D.C. charter school enrollment at a historic high, it will be Gray’s responsibility to lead for all students. During his campaign, he promised to deliver — within three months of taking office — a blueprint for funding parity between District and charter schools.
It is critical that Gray follow through on this promise, because charter schools currently receive less funding per student than the District’s traditional public schools. With nearly 40 percent of D.C. children enrolled in public charters, we cannot afford to shortchange these schools. All children in D.C. public schools ought to have equal treatment, regardless of whether they attend District or charter schools.
2. Provide more time to learn. It’s a stark fact: Students in Taiwan, Japan and South Korea typically spend 40 more days annually in school than children in the United States, and their academic resultsoutpace ours in science by a wide margin. Because of this discrepancy, President Obama has joined the growing chorus calling for lengthening the school day and year.
At KIPP DC, our extended school day, week and year gives students 40 percent more time learning, and this extra time has yielded results. KIPP DC’s fifth-graders typically come to us two or three years below grade level. Yet, when these same students complete eighth grade, 92 percent are scoring proficient or better in math and over 80 percent are proficient in reading on the D.C. achievement test.
Mayor-elect Gray should provide schools with the opportunity to extend the week and year, as well as the funding to pay for it. This currently costs KIPP DC an additional $950 per student — a small price to pay for a generation of students prepared for a college education.
3. Train and retain excellent teachers. Research has shown that the most important factor in a child’s education is the quality of his or her teacher. If we are to accomplish lasting improvements in the District’s public schools, we need creative strategies for attracting and retaining the best teachers. To develop a talent pool for schools throughout the city, KIPP DC and the E.L. Haynes Public Charter School recently created the Capital Teaching Residency (CTR) program, an intensive, year-long teacher training program that prepares teachers in math and science, special education and early childhood education. Like medical residents, teaching residents train alongside the best in their field. By 2015, CTR will have added more than 400 high-performing teachers to D.C. schools.
Teacher quality was a signature issue of Mayor Adrian Fenty and former schools chancellor Michelle Rhee, and the city has made great strides in this area as a result. Because of the new teachers contract, D.C. public schools can begin to reward and attract high-performing teachers and remove low-performing ones. To increase the number of effective teachers in all D.C. schools, Gray should continue these efforts and support teacher training programs such as the Capital Teaching Residency.
At this critical moment, the mayor-elect, and all of our elected officials, must keep us moving in the right direction and support what works to improve all District schools. With this as Mayor-elect Gray’s objective, students in the District can only thrive.
The writer is the founder and chief executive of KIPP D.C. public charter schools.
Metro: Longer, less crowded trains will have to wait
Metro has delayed plans yet again to lengthen more trains, meaning the flood of humanity each day on Metro's Orange Line -- known unaffectionately to riders as the Orange Crush -- will likely continue.
The transit agency had planned to increase the share of eight-car trains across the system from 30 percent to 75 percent during rush periods a year and a half ago. The longer trains can carry about 300 more people each.
Now, Metro's finance staffers say the plan will be pushed back even further by safety reforms called for by the National Transportation Safety Board. So riders may have to continue to wait as packed trains pass them by during the busiest times, even as they shell out 20 cents more under "peak of the peak" surcharges enacted this summer.
No time line is in sight for adding more trains, said spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein.
"The funding has to be in place before we are able to build the needed infrastructure and purchase the rail cars," she told The Washington Examiner. "Only then can a time frame be developed for increasing the percentage of eight-car trains in service."
The transit agency is facing about $1 billion in new costs to cover safety upgrades in the wake of the deadly June 2009 Red Line crash that killed nine people and injured dozens more. About $262 million is slated for 14 projects over the next seven years, said Metro Chief Financial Officer Carol Dillon Kissal, while some $800 million more is set aside to replace the Rohr 1000 series cars that have been deemed uncrashworthy.
Those projects have leapfrogged to the front of an $11 billion line of needed improvements, skipping ahead of the costly upgrades required for longer trains.
"Safety first," Farbstein said.
Running more eight-car trains is not as easy as hooking up two more rail cars to the back of a train.
Longer trains require more electricity to power it. Not only is such power more expensive, according to Metro, but so is the infrastructure needed to carry that larger power load throughout the system. It's like needing to upgrade a home so the microwave, toaster oven and hair dryer can run at the same time.
The transit agency also would need more rail cars, Farbstein said. Otherwise, it would have to run fewer trains, allowing more riders per train but creating longer waits to catch them.
SIDEBAR: Current service during peak hours
129 trains per day, using 850 rail cars:
| · 91 six-car trains, or 546 cars |
| · 38 eight-car trains, or 304 cars |
| Source: Metro |
National Trust for Historic Preservation to sell Dupont Circle home
Washington Business Journal - by Melissa Castro
Date: Monday, March 16, 2009, 12:00am EDT - Last Modified: Tuesday, March 17, 2009, 11:23am EDT
The National Trust for Historic Preservation will put its own historic building near Dupont Circle on the market in April.
The trust, a private nonprofit dedicated to protecting historic places, has called the former McCormick Apartments, at 1785 Massachusetts Ave. NW, home since 1976.
Even though the organization has not stated a list price for the building — “It’s priceless,” the trust’s broker, Jeff Zell, croaked breathlessly — a swarm of would-be buyers have already descended on the storied property.
In its 92-year history, the ostentatious beaux-arts building has been home to ambassadors, socialites and industrial tycoons.
In the 1920s, Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon, a noted art collector, was living on the top floor of the six-apartment building, and international art dealer Joseph Duveen, an English baron, slyly rented an apartment on a lower floor in the mid-1930s.
Duveen never actually lived in the apartment — he used it as a private gallery to woo Mellon, according to the American Institute of Architects. His persistence paid off. Mellon bought $21 million worth of paintings and sculptures from Duveen and later donated them to the federal government.
The bequest became the nucleus for the National Gallery of Art.
Now, as the trust prepares to market its property, several museum wannabes and nonprofits are eager to grab the building, thanks to its prominent location and soaring ceilings.
Zell, of JM Zell Partners Ltd., would not say who is interested, but organizations looking for an eventual home include groups that want to commemorate gay and lesbian history, the American Latino experience and Jewish heritage.
Among potential nonprofit buyers, the Brookings Institution — which sold the McCormick building to the trust in 1976 — is right next door and out of space.
Might it be a potential buyer?
“Anything is possible,” Zell said. “I’m sure Brookings is sorry they sold it.”
Even with no explicit sticker price, Zell expects the 60,000-square-foot building to fetch upward of $1,000 per square foot.
On the other end of the block, 1714 Massachusetts Ave. NW is asking almost $1,100 for each of its 13,942 square feet.
Looking to write the next chapter in its history, the trust is shopping for 100,000 square feet of historically significant space within 20 miles of the White House, Zell said.
From Friday:
· Mike DeBonis: http://wapo.st/gAklK7
· DMV Daily (P.J. Orvetti): http://bit.ly/dXyUuX
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