A snowball's chance in Hell
Okay I'm back from vacation and I gather I and several other bloggers must have gotten email from the campaign of some guy named Richard Urban who is running for the at large seat on the council. Okay
he's a socially conservative white guy running as an independent. In this town. Snowball's. Chance. In. Hell.
Last thought, never announce you're going on vacation on blogs or social media sites. That's almost asking for it. Even though I had an unemployed unpaid intern house sitting while I was gone, I figured it was best not to say anything.
Labels: politics
Marion Barry
Marion has mojo, a particular political mojo that allows him to get away with anything. If you could bottle his mojo it would be as valuable as that unobtainium stuff in the movie Avatar. It would make any politician invincible, so they can sleep with anyone, not bother with federal taxes, be sloppy with city funds and be a shoo in around election time. If you could bottle his power, you can rule the world, or Ward 8.
Labels: politics
Safeway at RI and 4th NE
Really I should stay of this. But the store that was closed for a short period due to a
rat infestation. It is a store at the top of the hill and about 1/4 of a mile from the Giant near the Rhode Island metro station. I've been in the Giant a few times. I know people hate it. I've been okay with it, but haven't been in enough times to say if it's any worse than the O Street Giant. I've been in that Safeway once and haven't felt any deep need to return.
So on the listservs there is this clamoring to keep the Safeway from closing. Harry Thomas has gotten involved. There is some sort of petition for a Harris Teeter.
Okay, someone enlighten me. Someone 'splain to me how the politicos are supposed to convince a private business to land on top the same old unprofitable rat's nest? As
Safeway said they aren't making enough money in that spot, how is a Teet supposed to make it work?
Anyway good luck with that, but since a
Harris Teeter is slated to open near the NY Ave metro, I don't see one popping up anytime soon 1 mile away.
Labels: food/dining, politics
Tommy and the Chickens
I would feel a bit more hopeful about the possible legalization of backyard chickens if I could see something on Ward 6 Councilman
Tommy Well's webpage. Wells is the
reported council champion. What I'd like to know more but can't find any more info, so far, and that's kinda frustrating.
Labels: animals, politics
No stopping Leroy
Today on ANC 2C02 Kevin Chapple's blog is a letter announcing that Mr. Leroy Thorpe, who was deposed, dethroned, by Kevin in 2006,
is requesting a recount for the 2008 election. I'm not that concerned this year, as the difference is 29 votes, as opposed to 5 votes in 2006.
This is just one thing, but Leroy surprised us back in 2006 with his take over of the ECCA and the invented position of puppet master, I mean Parliamentarian for ANC2C chair Doris Brooks. So any guesses of what else he'll do besides this? Will he start up a ANC2C centric 'non-profit', or his own publication. What will he do next because I don't think he'll go quietly.
Labels: ANC, politics
Locally....
Part of me is screaming and cursing.
Reason 1- Michael Brown has the majority of the non-Democratic vote for city council. I'm so unhappy about that.
Reason 2- I regret that Jessica Lanza was not able to secure the seat for ANC2C03 with only 40% of the vote, according to the
unofficial results.
The results between Chapple vs Thorpe and Sule vs Curtis look good, close, but it appears that the puppet show may come to and end, Praise be to G-d. And of course Padro wins by a landslide.
Over in Ward 5, Anita Bonds wins over the tree killer Jerry Mack. Sadly Ted Mcginn is behind Sylvia Pinkney. And Mark Jones, who had no spelling errors on his signs, got the DC School Board seat for Ward 5.
Labels: ANC, ANC5C meeting, politics
Make the world go away
I'm going to take a cue from one of my co-workers and stay home tomorrow. His plan is to vote and curl up with some good science/fantasy fiction. Something taking place in a kindgom far, far away. I plan the same thing, vote, and finish off a
fictional parable about economics.
I've grown weary of the all election all the the time media so once I've done my part I'm shutting down. I plan to disconnect from the Internet, no TV, no radio and put the phones on silent. I'll read my books, maybe do laundry, maybe take a hot steamy bath (haven't done that for months) and watch those netflix dvds that have been piling up. I'll wake up Wednesday when the radio alarm goes off and find out, unless there is something going on in the streets that clues me in.
I chatted with my Aunt and she also plans to stay home and have a quiet night. Her church, Shiloh Baptist, is having some sort of election party, gathering, whatever when the polls at their Hertigage Hall closes. Anyway she expressed concern about how residents would react to an unfavorable or favorable outcome and so she's staying well away from the city. Even after several decades have passed and Shaw has bounced back from its past, the suburban distrust of the city is still there. Oh well.
I'm hoping for a quiet evening.
Labels: politics
Michael A. Brown, G-ddamned A*hole
Guess what I came home to today? I think it was the fifth fuking phone call I got from his piece of shyte campaign. I now hate Michael A. Brown's guts with a passion. But before I came home I was introduced to a colleague whom, I was told, also lived in the District. The first words out of my mouth was, "Don't vote for Michael Brown." He had no idea who Michael Brown was, so if I see this person before Election Day I will give him several reasons of why he should not vote for Micheal A. Brown (the A. stands for Ass).
So far from his campaign it appears the Micheal Ass Brown is pro-litter, anti-neighborhood, and anti-human. Let's explore his pro-litter stance. Earlier in his campaign Mr. Brown sought to plaster his pudgy bald head on cars indiscriminately. DC cars, MD cars, VA cars, don't matter. I've also spotted several of these glossy strips of campaign paper in the gutter, a gutter that would then take these slips to the Potomac and so I guess he's also against the environment as well. Then the litter spread to my yard, and my neighbors' yards and so forth. So if you're willing to vote for Rap Snacks, or a used condom wrapper you may be the kind of voter Michael Brown is looking for. Since litter, in addition to crime is a neighborhood issue, Michael A. Brown hurts neighborhoods with litter, and that brings to question, does he help neighborhoods in anyway?
Brown strikes me as a big picture guy so your corner drug problem, the trash in your alley, the trash his campaign helped add to, probably would be too small to concern himself with. I found my last robo-call preposterous. In it Micheal A. Brown plays the friendly character that appeared in the neighborhood. Can anyone tell me what neighborhood functions he's appeared at? I saw Carol Schwartz and the Cult of Kwame at the BACA meeting. Of course, there is usually someone at BACA willing to tout Kwame. Kwame got people at the grassroots level. So I wonder if Michael A. Brown would even hear you at that level. Has anyone in Ward 4 seen him since he tried running as council man for your ward back in 2006? Did he go back to playing with the big boys on the national level? On his website he claims to be a community activist. Community doesn't necessarily mean neighborhood, or local level. Bankers are a community, there's the lobbying community, and so forth.
Anti-human. Okay I have a stronger argument that he's pro-litter. To say Michael A. Brown hates people is untrue. To say he hates people who have answering machines and don't want to be called five friggen times, is possibly true. Well it's true at my house. And he's pro-robot, hence the robo-calls. He's denying some actual human the ability o annoy the hell out of me with a live call. Since he likes funding his campaign every few years why couldn't he have funded a little job training program that has people, not robots? Or was he litter program the jobs producer?
Yes, I know I said I'd post a profanity filled post but I tend not to curse, and it isn't really my voice. However I welcome your words so I'll lift the profanity rule for for this post (and this post only) so you can tell how you really feel about Michael Brown.
Labels: politics
Michael Brown, I hate you
I'm sure
Michael Brown is a nice man who loves puppies, but the 2 robo-calls I received since posting my last post about his campaign littering program, has turned great annoyance to hate. What genius thought that constantly calling people would make people want to vote for your candidate? It serves to get your candidates name out, but why the heck would it make me want to vote for him?
DC is a city of neighborhoods and I don't know if the man recognizes that, and instead sees it as a national city. It is a capital city, but as far as city government and governance goes it's that down to the block stuff that makes this city livable. Even the Cult of Kwame [Brown] gets that. I'm not convinced Michael knows that.
The other thing that annoys me about his campaign, besides the litter, is his trying to ride the coattails of Obama. And second, he's running as an independent. Independent my ass. That last robo-call I got was a very partisan message.
In closing, the only thing I think Michael Brown has proven is that he can raise money, buy a lot of campaign lit, and annoy the crap out of DC citizens. He may know how to run national programs but I don't know if he knows boo about getting trash cleaned out of an alley or getting DC Employee X to call you back.
Vote for Schwartzman or Mara or write in Carol Schwartz*. But whatever you do don't, don't reward this fool with your vote.
PS- if I get one more f'ing robo call, I'm posting a profanity strewn piece written to be high in the Google search results.
*I don't endorse Kwame 'cause he told Si's mom to get a HELOC to pay her taxes.
Labels: politics
Dear Michael Brown
Don't keep calling me and leaving messages on my answering machine.
Don't litter my yard with your campaign crap.
Don't litter my streets with it either.
You've blanketed the neighborhood
and I am so not voting for you.
10/23 addition-
Michael Brown, I hate youLabels: politics
ANC2C02- Don't vote yourself into an abusive relationship
They basically confirmed something that I always knew to be true, many in this neighborhood fear reprisal from Leroy Thorpe if they ever "supported" his opponent in his re-election bid. Just two years ago I will admit that I was in the same boat but today I am not scared and to tell you the truth if Leroy were stupid enough to do something to me or my family it would say more about the man than anything I have ever written on this website.
--
Off SeventhAnother commenter on the Off Seventh's blog
already compared it to an abusive relationship. But let me stress that point even more. Voters of 2C02, you are like Tina Turner, just after she's escaped a long abusive marriage to Ike, redone her image, and Ike comes threatening Tina with violence to force her to come back. ANC2C02, be the strong Tina. Be the Tina that goes forward on to bigger and better things, not the Tina who makes excuses and lives in fear.
Please don't be in denial about how bad it is and was. Daddy 5-O has
a good refresher of why you don't want to go back. It should also be good reason why the rest of you all in 2C shouldn't keep the enablers of the abuse (Brooks & Curtis) on either.
Before I finish this I want to thank everyone who voted for Kevin Chapple back in 2006. Especially the voters who were abroad at the time and submitted their absentee ballots, who made their neighborhood a better place to come back home to. By doing so you brought in a man who truly serves the people of 2C. Kevin is a man who shares information with the people, knowing that information is power, and power belongs to the people.
Labels: ANC, politics
Are you registered?
If you're going to vote Nov 4th you're going to need to be registered by Oct 6. Please check the DC Election Board's
online voter registration page or
the registration status page.
I wish I could say great things about the status checking but I have been unable to confirm my voting status. The problem is I recently changed my name and there are several confusing ways my name can be entered into the computer. Just to be confusing, my first name is a single letter. I know I can vote, as I did vote in the primaries.
Labels: politics
Kevin needs signs
Walking around the hood, I noticed a lot of Leroy Thorpe signs in yards. The puppet master of ANC 2C02 wants his job back. Well if you don't like being informed about what's going on, unless you belong to a small clique of loyal followers, go ahead vote him back in.
But you can't tell me you don't want current ANC2C02 Kevin Chapple's
seasonal magazine or his informative
website with video and updated info of things going on in around central Shaw. These did not exist before Kevin people. What you got before was yelled at or a poorly edited flier that may or may not have found its way to you.
Let's not go back to the
bad old days of Thorpe. Let's not even stall in the
bad present of an unelected Thorpe puppet regime (yeah, lotta drama for such a little slice of DC) with Ms. Brooks, as the puppet ANC 2C chair. By re-electing Kevin Chapple and Alex Padro, and electing Lanza and Sule you get rid of the whole puppet show, or at least move it to a civic group where it can't do too much harm.
So I'm distressed at the lack of Chapple signage. Guess I'm going to have to write a check to campaign fund. It seems Kevin had a fundraiser earlier this month, but lo, there is a place to where monies may be sent, according to his website:
P.O. Box 26064, Washington, DC 20001. The maximum contribution is $25. Checks should be made out to Kevin Chapple, with "reelection campaign" written in the memo section.
Labels: ANC, politics
Go Jim Go
Got this from our great leader Jim Berry. Now, let me say I am very supportive Jim. I considered his leadership fair and quiet. Quiet as in he's the type who doesn't need to do a lot of grandstanding and yelling and screaming. Also he believes in serving the people. So even though he's seeking a post in a party I don't belong to, I believe he, by bringing his skills and his integrity to the post, do one more thing to make the District better.
Dear Friends and Family Members,
I write to inform you of my decision to pursue an At-Large seat on the DC Democratic State Committee (DCDSC) as well as to actively seek your support for my election. As you know, on Tuesday, September 9, 2008, the DC Democratic Party will hold a local primary election for a candidate to serve as an At-Large member on the Council of the District of Columbia. In that race, Council Member At-Large Kwame Brown is running unopposed for the Democratic nomination. In addition, you will have an opportunity to vote for six males who are vying for a seat on the DCDSC to represent Democrats in an At-Large capacity. And, it is to gain one of these six seats on the DC Democratic State Committee that I ask for your vote and, if you are willing, for your help in reaching out to your friends, family members, and neighbors, to do the same.
The District of Columbia State Committee (DCDSC) is the governing body of the DC Democratic Party. As such, the DCDSC develops and implements programs of voter registration and education, charters and works with ward Democratic organizations, and assists in the election of candidates for President and Vice President of the United States as well as candidates for other national and local offices. In this regard, I pledge to do everything within my power to help Senator Barack Obama to become the next President of the United States of America and, perhaps needless to say, I plan to enthusiastically promote his national platform to “Renew America’s Promise” towards the ultimate goal of helping its many elements to become a reality for the citizens of the District of Columbia.
Finally, like the other members of the “Obama for DC” slate, I am personally committed to the goal of forcing the key priorities of the citizens of the District of Columbia, including D.C. voting rights, to the top of the national Democratic policy agenda.
For those who might not be as familiar with my background and the types of involvements that my Democratic Party activism includes as you are, please inform them that I am a native Washingtonian and a member of the Mount Sinai Baptist Church. I am an honorably discharged veteran of the U.S. Army, a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, and a member of Corinthian Lodge No. 18, F. &A.M., PHA. I served my
community as an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner for 18 consecutive years and I was a former convener of the citywide ANC Assembly. I am also proud to report that I was a member of Leadership Washington’s Class of 1995. Currently, I am the president of the Bates Area Civic Association, Inc.; I am a member of the Washington, DC Police Foundation’s executive committee; and I also sit on the executive committee of the Council for Court Excellence. As one of the two incumbent Ward Five Committeemen on the DCDSC, I have served as an active member of the Party Functions and Organization Committee. Most recently, I served as a co-chair of the DCDSC’s 2008 Delegate Selection Committee and as chairperson of the Resolutions Committee for the DCDSC’s 2008 Convention. And, I will be in Denver, Colorado at the DNC 2008 National Convention later this month, providing office support to the DCDSC.
In closing, I pray that you will support me in this ambitious undertaking to gain a citywide seat on the DCDSC. With your active support as well as that of your network of friends and family, I am confident that I can and will prevail in this race. If you would like to discuss my candidacy with me or would like to volunteer to help out with my campaign, please contact me at (202) three-eight-seven-8520 or you may email me at jamojam[at]msn.com. I thank you in advance for your vote as well as any and all support that you can extend to me on September 9th!
Best,
“Jim”
JDB
Labels: politics
Supporting Jessica Lanza
After some thought I have decided to have InShaw endorse the ANC candidacy of Ms. Jessica Lanza. Though I don't live in Ward 2, I work in Ward 2, ANC2C03 exactly. Having someone who is both interested in the Penn Quarter/ Gallery Place area as a developing and residential place is a good thing. Downtown is a little different, but the residents of that area and Shaw share some similarities. And due to its proximity to Shaw, the ups and downs of Downtown can impact Shaw and Mount Vernon Sq.
Another reason why I support Ms. Lanza is that the current ANC2C03 leader is lacking and is holding back ANC2C as a whole. A change will hopefully shift things in ANC2C and move away from the unaccountability and ineffectiveness.
Check out
Jessica's website, see her informative
blog.
Labels: ANC, politics
Fun with Eleanor Holmes Norton
This weekend, I and several neighborhood bloggers were invited to talk with Delegate to Congress
Eleanor Holmes Norton. From my notes the topics were the $5,000 DC tax credit for home buyers and businesses, development, the gun law, Home Rule, Homeland Security, how she got into her position and Union Station. Possibly before all the questions she did talk about how she wound up getting into it with
Stephen Colbert and how Colbert has helped the cause of DC voting rights. (See
video of Colbert honoring her for an award)
I asked the question about the tax break because I consider it part of a package that makes buying in DC more attractive than MD or NoVA. Ms. Norton talked about how that
lovely tax credit came to be in a GOP dominated Congress and how a tax credit was more appealing than asking for more money. As one who has taken that tax credit, I told her (later, after the Q&A ended) what it meant for me.
Though she cannot vote on the floor, Ms. Norton is in several committees where she can vote. She is the chair for the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management. Now what does that mean for neighborhoods? Well she did explain it, but I take crappy notes. Somehow it relates to the creation of places like NoMa, and it relates to being able to influence developers who do government and public/private development and encouraging positive development that helps the city grow. Grow and not be a dead urban center surrounded by suburbs where agencies (and there are a lot out there in Langley, Beltsville, Bethesda, etc) flee.
Anyway, it was a good exchange.
Labels: government, politics
Diversity of Buildings
Yesterday I did stop by
Jessica Lanza's fund raiser. I was superfashionably late because I had to sell a man an air conditioner. Thank you craigslist.
First thing I did when I got into the building was write a check. Yes, I live in Ward 5, and not in the Ward or ANC single member district that Ms. Lanza is in. However, I walk through it and work in it, and what happens in 2C impacts my life in 5C. And really there is so much development and lunch option goodness happening in 2C-03 that it should be represented by someone with more strength than a sock-puppet. Seriously, can Ms. Doris Brooks conduct a meeting or two without her puppet master pulling her strings and throwing his voice?
Anyway, after writing a check for political change, I went out on the patio of the condo building on the corner of 7th and H and gazed at the sights. What I really liked was the diversity of building styles jumbled up together representing different periods. There was the synagogue dome on 6th & I, with the brutalist
Wah-Luck House, and 555 Mass in the background. There was little homogeneity, and that's what made it so lovely. Looking over at
555 Mass I thought about all the people living there who came to stake their claim on downtown. With the older 19th and turn of the 20th century facades I thought of an earlier DC. And then the larger buildings set back that house the residents, hold the employees, and draw in the shoppers and diners who give life to the streets below.
And then I saw the lightening in the distance, and high tailed it out of there.
Labels: ANC, politics, weather
Getting all nosey in 2Cs business
First I'd like to say that there is love and happiness over here in ANC 5C. We have been blessed with great leadership as well as good and plain old leadership. So I sit comfortably outside the boundaries of ANC 2C at home.
I was praising the Lord upon hearing
the news that someone is running for the ANC 2C-03, the seat currently held by 2C Chair Doris Brooks. Brooks was elected chair with the vote of sorta outgoing Mr. L. Thorpe of 2C02. However, despite electoral defeat, Mr. Thorpe assists Ms. Brooks as the "parliamentarian" an office with powers that, I believe no other ANC has. But that's a whole 'nother long sad story.
ANC 2C03 amazingly covers a huge swath of real estate that includes all the Gallery Place Penn Quarter loveliness that is 7th and the odd side of 9th Street. I'm wondering if the boundaries were drawn up prior to all the condos, because that's a lotta people to be represented by someone so..... lacking.
Ms. Jessica Lanza is planning to challenge Ms. Brooks. She is having a fundraiser June 7 from 6pm to 10pm at the Residences at Gallery Place, 777 7th Street NW, 3rd floor. Individual contributions are limited to $25. I got $25 in my budget, and since I haven't heard of any other challengers, she's got my support. Gotta remove Mr. Thorpe's puppet.
Speaking of
Mr. Thorpe, I noticed a flier on the sidewalk today from his hi-jacked ECCA (another long sad story) organization. And should you not have received this flier in your gate or mailbox I will retype his letter to Shaw residents, caps & all
por tu:
DEAR SHAW RESIDENTS: ANC 2C-02 SINGLE MEMBER DISTRICT HAS EXPERIENCED AN INCREASE IN CAR ACCIDENTS AT THE CORNER OF 5TH & "QUE," STREETS, NW OVER A NEARLY TWO YEAR PERIOD. THE ECCA- EAST CENTRAL CIVIC ASSOCIATION WILL ADDRESS THIS ISSUE AT OUR MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2008 MEETING TO BE HELD AT THE THIRD BAPTIST CHURCH LOCATED AT 5TH & "QUE," STREETS, NW.
ALSO ANC 2C-02, ONCE THE SAFEST SINGLE MEMBER DISTRICT OF ALL FOUR COMMISSIONS WHEN I SERVED AS IT'S REPRESENTATIVE HAS BECOME ONE OF THE WORST REGARDING CRIME. CHARLES WALKER A RESIDENT OF ANC 2C-02 WAS SEVERLY ROBBED AND BEATEN LAST WEEK at 6TH AND QUE STREETS, A SIGN THAT CRIM AND DRUG DEALING ARE NOT PRIORITIES FOR THE CURRENT ANC COMMISSIONER SERVING ANC 2C-02. JUST TAKE A LOOK AT THE 1500 BLOCK OF 7TH STREET IN FRONT OF THE LAUNDROMAT, THE LOWEST PRICE GAS STATION LOCATED AT NEW JERSEY & RHODE ISLAND AVE OR 5TH & N.
I'm not going to bother with the signature which has a bunch of letters that mean nothing to me. I got only to words for that letter. Pig poop. It looks like someone is going to try to get his seat back. Guess puppeteering gets tiring after a while.
Labels: ANC, politics
More voting harassment
Not like you haven't been bugged enough, but I'm going to add my 2c. Dunbar is open, try the last door to your right because of the 10 million red doors to get in, only 1 or 2 will open for you and you get to waste 20 seconds trying almost all of them trying to break in to do your civic duty.
Last night I came home to two calls on my answering machine. One from Ron Paul and the other from Mayor Fenty. Fenty wanted me to vote for Obama, which though I would have loved nothing more than to vote for Obama, DC is a closed primary, and I'm not a Democrat.
Anyway, if you are registered for either the Republican or Democratic party go and vote. If you are an Independent or Statehood Greenie you're screwed till November.
Labels: politics
Vote for Obama, pretty please.
Most of the time I stay away from the whole national politics because local politics matter more. Because local people will improve schools, fight crime, support business and improve their fellow citizen's quality of life. So I'm going to try to tie in my plea to the local.
Please vote for Sen. Barak Obama next week. And let me state a few reasons why and hopefully this may convince you. For one, he has a better chance of an overwhelming victory and possibly a longer honeymoon period than Sen. Clinton. Clinton is divisive and she just may energize conservatives to fight like cornered rabid pit bulls. A woman president is possible, but I don't think she is the one. It's not just Democrats voting for President, but Independents, Republicans and the rest of Purple America. As a moderate conservative, Obama's message of hope and possibility appeals to me, even though his left leaning doesn't. In that appeal he can bring us together as a country, and maybe even move us beyond the divisions of red and blue that divides us and work on the things that unite us. Imagine spending less time bickering about the things we know we disagree about and more time working on the things we do agree on.
And if you haven't noticed, he's black and he's not your typical old style black politician. There was something that he said that took hold of my heart as he described himself and those of the like as the Joshua Generation, the generation who have moved into the Promised Land**. I am grateful for the struggle that previous generations endured so I can see myself as an equal and succeed. However the old style black politicking is well, old, and in some ways destructive when dealing with non-blacks. Obama and his message, as President, can change the tone of black politics, and DC politics
IS black politics (maybe on the other side of the Park it isn't). A change in tone can benefit all Washingtonians, since race plays such a major role in our local politics.
So please do your part by changing the tone and moving into the promise and voting for the man who can inspire and unite. Since I'm not a Democrat I can't make that move and the best I can do is ask you to do it for me, and spread the idea of hope, unity and change.
I'm not allowing comments because I rather have a conversation with you face to face.
UPDATE: Got an email from a fellow Truxtonian about donations that will be matched making your contribution go even further
donate.barackobama.com/match. Or you can just donate the
plain non-matching way.
**This hearkens to the imagery of Dr. ML King's speech about being on the mountain top the promised land and the biblical story of Exodus. Moses and MLK led the people in the direction of the promised land. In the case of the Israelites they had to wander the desert for 40 years, but those who left Egppt as slaves could not enter the promised land. It has been explained to me (and this is just one interpretation) that Moses' generation carried with them that slave mentality, that yearning for Egypt, and the next generation, Joshua, was free of that, and it was that generation that could enter.Labels: politics
