Redistricting meeting with Jack Evans tonight

With the 2010 census figures in, the District is currently going through the redistricting process--that is, determining which areas and neighborhoods in the city will belong to which ward. One of the most interesting discussions relates to the residents of and near the so-called "Ballpark District" in southeast, who may move from under the auspices of Tommy Wells and Ward 6 to Marion Barry's Ward 8. However, some movement may also be afoot for neighborhoods in and adjacent to Ward 2, which includes Logan Circle, Dupont Circle and sizeable chunks of Shaw.

To learn more about the current state of negotiations, and to take an opportunity to ask questions about the process, plan to attend this evening's redistricting briefing at the Wilson Building, hosted by Ward 2 councilman Jack Evans. See the information below, which was distributed by the Ward 2 Democrats:

WHEN:
Monday, May 16, 2010
6:00 pm

WHERE:
Wilson Building - Room 120
1350 Penn. Ave. NW

DESCRIPTION:
At the meeting Jack Evans will give us a briefing on the status of the re-districting as a result of the 2010 census and will take your questions and comment on the process. Re-districting will affect the boundaries of Ward 2 and the ANCs and is of interest to all of us involved in politics, so it should be an interesting and lively meeting.

Community Happenings: Ward 2 townhall with Mayor Gray; Book Event with U Street Historian; DC Scores art gala

A few community notes of interest to pass along:

This Monday, May 9, DC Councilmember Jack Evans and all Ward 2 ANCs will co-host a town hall meeting with DC mayor Vince Gray to discuss the mayor's 2012 budget proposal. The event will take place Monday, May 9 at 7 PM at the Immaculate Conception Church at 1315 8th Street NW in Shaw.

An email distributed by ANC2F had this to say abot the event:

This coming Monday, May 9, 2011, our Mayor is holding a town hall meeting to present and discuss his 2012 budget for the District. Your Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2F is co-hosting this meeting and urges your attendance. This will be an opportunity to show our concern over the budget and to give the Mayor our thoughts on it.

I believe it holds several serious defects:

1. Our police chief, Kathy Lanier, whom we generally hold in high regard, has chosen to make cuts in prostitution enforcement throughout the City. As you know, our area is a center for prostitution in D.C. Far from being a victimless crime, prostitution plagues our community with its associated crime and health problems. MPD has already abolished the central prostitution unit, which had become increasingly effective. Despite MPD assurances to the contrary, enforcement efforts will decline, particularly when we move into the prostitution spike which comes each summer.

2. The education budget includes funds to reinstall most of the middle management personnel who in fact do very little in the school system. Education in our community is a number one priority; we want to see the money go for front line facilities, good teachers and refurbishing of the decaying structures of the schools in our area.

3. The income tax increase is insupportable. DC Residents already bear one of the highest tax burdens in the nation. Increasing taxes in D.C. adds injury to the insult already visited on us by a Congress which will not even permit us to vote.

Whether or not one agrees with the points raised by ANC2F above, this is a unique opportunity to express your opinions on these and other important issues facing the District. For more information, please contact Kenyon Churchwell at 202.727.2822 or kenyon.churchwell@dc.gov.

* * * * *

Can't get enough Jack Evans and DC politics? Congratulations--you're in luck! Next Monday, May 16, the Ward 2 Democrats will be hosting a meeting with Councilman Evans to discuss the District's upcoming redistricting plan. Every ten years, like other jurisdictions, the District examines census data in each of the city's eight wards and sets ward district boundaries accordingly. Although, as with most politically sensitive issues, things are rarely that simple.

According to the Ward 2 Dems statements about the event:

At the meeting Jack Evans will give us a briefing on the status of the re-districting as a result of the 2010 census and will take your questions and comment on the process. Re-districting will affect the boundaries of Ward 2 and the ANCs and is of interest to all of us involved in politics, so it should be an interesting and lively meeting.

(Note: "Lively" meeting is codespeak for "expect the expression of more strong opinions than at an ANC liquor license protest.")

The Dems are asking for comments or questions in advance of the meeting for issues that residents would like to discuss. You are encouraged to contact Chairman Patrick Allen (pallen39@verizon.net) with your ideas.

* * * * *

Those of you who are curious about the history of our neighborhood--particularly U Street--would be well-advised to seek out local historian Blair Ruble's book, "Washington's U Street: A Biography," an intensely fascinating and thorough examination of the history of our neighborhood.

Mr. Ruble will be in attendance at this week's U Street Neighborhood Association meeting to talk about his book. The discussion will take place from 7:00 to 7:30 PM, after which time the USNA will hold their regular meeting. Meetings are free (although donations are accepted) and held at the Thurgood Marsahll Center at 1816 12th Street NW.

More information can be found at the USNA's website.

* * * * *

Finally, next Wednesday, May 18, local nonprofit DC Scores! will host their Inspired Art Gallery at the Corcoran. The event will feature the works of local and national artists, including U Street's Isabelle Spicer.

More details can be found below, and at DC Scores website.

WHAT: Join DC SCORES for an evening of student voice and artistic vision at the second annual Inspired Art Gala, featuring a silent auction and showcasing the talents of DC SCORES youth and area professionals through spoken word performances. More than 200 guests are expected to attend the gala in support of DC SCORES' unique focus on creative expression and poetry for students across the District.

WHEN: Wednesday, May 18, 2011, 7-10 p.m.

WHERE: Corcoran Gallery of Art, 500 17th St., NW Washington, DC 20006

TICKETS: $200. See the event website for ticket and sponsorship information

DETAILS: The Inspired Art Gala provides artists with the unique opportunity to support the instruction and cultivation of creative expression through poetry among DC SCORES poet-athletes. The unique silent auction features works of art created by local and national artists inspired by the poetry of DC SCORES poet-athlete. Poetry readings by DC SCORES’ most outstanding students cap off the night.

The event will honor Beverly Perry, Vice-President of Pepco Holdings, Inc., and Congresswoman Mary Fudge as the recipients of the evening’s Inspiration Award recognizing individuals whose leadership in the Washington, DC community directly or indirectly inspires creative, athletic, and/or civic growth of Washington, DC youth.

Shaw Crime Meeting Yields More Finger Pointing Than Results

Howdy, folks. This is Mrs. 14th & You temporarily coming out of blogger retirement. (I’m on break from grad school and need something to do other than study for the two standardized tests I must take in the coming month.)

Last night Council member Phil Mendelson hosted a forum on crime in Shaw, which was attended by between 30 and 40 residents. Though Mendelson holds an at-large seat, he is concerned about Shaw because he chairs the Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary. Also present were representatives of the Metropolitan Police Department, Albert Herring of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Ward Two Council member Jack Evans, ANC 2C Commissioner Kevin Chapple, and ANC 2F Commissioner Mike Bernardo. In the scope of city events, it was a small gathering, but a reasonable cross-section of stakeholders was in attendance.

Here’s the really quick summary of some of the solutions proposed by Shaw residents:

• Anti-loitering laws
• Assurances that criminals once caught will stay locked up
• Accountability of public officials

And the really quick summary of Mendelson’s responses:

• Anti-loitering laws have not proven effective in other jurisdictions, such as Richmond. In both DC and CA, anti-loitering laws have been limited by the courts so as to not infringe on the constitutional right to assembly.
• The civil gang injunction legislation was poorly written and almost surely would have violated due process and individual liberties.
• Current laws and mandatory minimum sentencing have not proven to be deterrents to crime.
• Whether someone is convicted and incarcerated rests with the United States Attorney’s Office and judges. DC voters and elected officials have no say over U.S. Attorney or judge appointments.
• He would like Fenty to reinstate the position of Deputy Mayor for Public Safety. Mendelson believes that it is the executive branch that has the greatest power to “knock heads” and hold others accountable.
• A number of arrests do not result in indictments. Of the indictments that DC does get, a number of those suspects go free. Mendelson would like to study DC arrest, indictment, and conviction rates in order to determine why so many repeat offenders are free. He reports that he and Evans want to work to secure funding for such a statistical study.

Having now attended the meeting, I’m not sure why Mendelson would host it. Perhaps with an election year coming up he’s feeling pressure from Clark Ray, who this September announced his intent to challenge Mendelson. From statements made at the meeting, it also seems that some area residents and members of the blogosphere have been emailing him lately about their crime concerns. In any event, Phil Mendelson is known for having stated previously that there is no legislative solution to crime in Shaw. Yet, the City Council’s role in crime prevention is, by definition, legislative. This quandary did not miss residents. They wanted to hear that someone somewhere in the DC government could control the situation in Shaw and was going to try to do so. Residents requested that the Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary subpoena the USAO’s office. (For the record, Mr. Herring states that his office is asked to testify all the time on proposed legislation and someone always appears or provides written testimony.) Another resident also wanted the Committee to lobby the feds to ensure a greater rate of convictions.

As much ire as Mendelson attracted from residents, Jack Evans should have garnered more for his obnoxious behavior. He used this meeting as a chance to dig into Mendelson for not supporting civil gang injunctions, though it sounds like the legislation as introduced was really poorly written. Evans also shouted down USAO representative Herring, demanding answers for crime in Shaw. Well, Mr. Evans, you came to the meeting with no solutions to the problem. How is a non-elected official with no control over funding, departmental coordination, the MPD, social services, or any other factor other than prosecution supposed to come up with an innovative answer in under thirty seconds? It was unfair petty politicking.

Something that was mentioned twice in the meeting, once by Evans and once by Mendelson, is that, though statistics show drops in crime citywide, even in Shaw, residents perceive a higher crime environment. This was not raised to challenge residents’ assumptions about crime, but rather to validate concerned residents. In my next post, I’ll go ahead and critically examine those assumptions because I’m not an elected official.

Reminder: Voter Registration Deadline is TODAY

Over here at 14thandYou, we've consciously avoided getting too political with our posts or offering up endorsements of DC elected officials. However, one aspect of DC politics that we believe is important enough to post here is that today is the deadline for voter registration in order to vote in the upcoming primaries and fall election.

In case you missed it, DC Ward 2 Councilman Jack Evans and challenger Cary Silverman faced off in their first (and, as far as I can determine, only) public debate prior to the September 9 primary this past Thursday at the Phillips Collection in Dupont Circle. The 14thandYous were unable to attend the proceedings, but several area blogs did a fine job of providing a detailed wrap-up of the debate.

If you're at all concerned about the ongoing growth, development and direction of our neighborhood (and, if you're reading this post, it's a safe bet that you are) the election of our City Council representative is one of the most important decisions the neighborhood will have to make. If you've not already done so, head over to the DC Board of Elections and Ethics website and complete their online voter registration (it takes about five minutes). Then, more importantly, spend some time educating yourself about the candidates, the issues they stand for (or oppose), their differences and their similarities. Send them an email, give them a phone call, or speak to them personally at any one of the numerous community meetings that each one attends. Then, on September 9, vote for the one you believe is best suited to represent our neighborhoods and improve the quality of life for everyone living here.

Stuff You Oughta Know About

In the past week, there have been quite a few news items that impact our neighborhood. Unfortunately, I’ve been a little slow to aggregate and post them all. Below is a summary of some stories you might want to read for yourselves.

Embassy Tour This Weekend
This coming Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. you may take a self-guided tour of some of the embassies and ambassadors’ residences in Kalorama. This event, the 23^rd Annual Kalorama House and Embassy Tour, is sponsored by the Woodrow Wilson House. If you would like to participate, tickets are available for $25 in advance. Visit link above or call 202-387-4062 x18 for information.

Convention Center Hotel
The planned 1,400 room convention center hotel at 9^th and Mass. may ever materialize. Though the developer RLJ states that they are still interested in the project if further investigation reveals it to be “economically viable,” Council member Jack Evans has already declared the hotel DOA. Steven Pearlstein also seems happy to ring the death knell. However, others such as OffSeventh are voicing their extreme displeasure at the near collapse of the hotel plans.

Streetcars
The September 5^th issue of the Dupont Current ran an article about DC’s streetcar plans. Unfortunately, the Current does not make articles available online. The gist is that the Sierra Club has written to Mayor Fenty to express their disappointment at the pace of the streetcar line construction. They characterize the DDOT schedule, which calls for construction in Anacostia to begin next year, as “too little, too late.” (H Street construction is to begin once the Anacostia test case is complete.)

The Sierra Club supported a 2004 proposal calling for 40 to 50 miles of streetcar lines. However, they were disappointed by a 2005 document which they believe sets a much longer timeline for the project. DDOT has a fairly sound response; they say that they have spent the past three years conducting environmental studies, obtaining federal funding, and soliciting construction bids. DDOT also says that streetcars are one of their top priorities right now. Though I do understand the government processes and I do not think that the current timeline is unreasonable, I am hopeful that the Sierra Club’s pressure can help nudge the streetcar construction along a little faster.

No Decision on Cab Meters
The taxicab commission voted yesterday to . . . punt the meter vs. zone issue to Mayor Fenty. Fenty must now act before the October 17 deadline for responding to U.S. Senator Carl Levin’s demand to create an official meter policy. Council Member Jim Graham, in typical style, has pledged his involvement by convening his own task force to review taxi regulations. The Post covers the story here.

Leroy Thorpe
In a September 5^th article, reporter Erik Wemple of the CityPaper enlightened Washington Post reporter Omar Fekeiki and editor Carol Morello on Leroy Thorpe. The Post had reported in glowing terms about Thorpe’s Muslim crime fighting group while neglecting to learn about all he has done to divide/harm/antagonize his neighborhood. The Post also skipped a key statistic: the number of violent crimes in the patrolled area over the past two months is equal to the number reported for the same period last year.