DCentric

Good morning, DCentric readers! Ready for some calorie-free links?

D.C. voting rights proponents’ faith in Obama sinks “Mark Plotkin, a WTOP political commentator who has made District statehood something of an obsession, said he sees little to distinguish Obama from his Republican predecessor, George W. Bush…“The greatest assault is indifference, and he has the hubris to take us for granted,” Plotkin said of Obama. “He went to Cairo to talk about democracy. He won’t go to Brentwood or Deanwood. He has not made one utterance about D.C. to D.C. in D.C.”” (The Washington Post)

Georgetown Flooding Hits Businesses Hard And it hits the suddenly out-of-work retail staff, bartenders and servers just as hard: “The tab for the Washington Harbor flooding could be in the millions, according to property managers familiar with the complex. That figure does not include lost wages for hundreds of workers…The biggest toll may be on the people who keep it all going. While many of these businesses are insured, the workers are not.” (WUSA Washington, DC)

How Donald Trump Lost the Black Vote “Plenty of black folks appreciate a blunt-talking guy dipped in expensive suits, as much as — if not more — than the next person. If Trump had coupled his reality-TV and Twitter-friendly style with the tolerant social views and “You can have all this, too” team-of-me ethos that he once touted, he could have been the one candidate in the 2012 Republican field to peel away a few black votes from Obama…But once Trump started arguing that Obama wasn’t American, whatever goodwill he had in blackworld up and vanished.” (The Root)
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Good morning, DCentric readers! Let’s kick off Tax Day with some links!

At Last, Kudos for Elizabeth Catlett Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Catlett was the granddaughter of slaves. Said Kinshasha Holman Conwill of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture: “For over six decades she has created unforgettable art that serves as eloquent testimony to the struggles of African Americans, especially women. Whether in works finely wrought in wood and bronze or in her elegiac works on paper, she has given us images of singular power and beauty.” (The Root)

‘Arrest’ raises Vincent Gray’s street cred Gray may not have had an easy first 100 days in office, but someone in D.C. is having the Best Week Ever! After getting arrested and drawing attention to the ways our city has been slighted, “Mr. Gray reclaimed the momentum that had propelled him to office by a decisive margin and arguably had his best week as D.C.mayor.” (Washington Times)

For richest, federal taxes have gone down; for some in U.S., they’re nonexistent This seems appropriate, today: “More than half of the nation’s tax revenue came from the top 10 percent of earners in 2007. More than 44 percent came from the top 5 percent. Still, the wealthy have access to much more lucrative tax breaks than people with lower incomes. Obama wants the wealthy to pay so “the amount of taxes you pay isn’t determined by what kind of accountant you can afford.” (The Washington Post)
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Good morning, DCentric readers! Hooray for Friday! Let’s celebrate with some links:

The District’s civil rights problem Mike DeBonis calls Randall Terry, the infamous antiabortion crusader, to ask if the recent arrests of city leaders including our Mayor could inspire a legitimate movement? Short answer: no. Terry says that D.C. needs incendiary images, gripping rhetoric and martyrs, whether alive or dead. We have the the rhetoric. That’s it. And that is why: “While city leaders have treated District autonomy and voting rights as a moral struggle on par with the movements for civil rights, women’s suffrage or abolition, it has been difficult for the average American to relate to the city’s sacrifices.” (The Washington Post)

Report: Domestic problems, safety concerns lead to truancy “The closing of some area schools has led to longer, more complicated commutes for the 20,000 who use Metro to get to school…Students now cross paths with rivals, leading to theft, violence and hostility, so they often choose to skip school rather than deal with the unsafe daily transit. Schools have staggered their start and end times to combat the problem, but students continue to have problems in commuting safely, if they are able to afford to the commute at all.” (Washington Examiner )

Throwing D.C. Under the Bus D.C. is a guinea pig, it’s the only city where private school is paid for by Congress: “This “market” approach to education has rendered it nearly impossible for a critical mass of motivated parents to focus their efforts around improving a single system. To wit: My oldest child entered kindergarten six years ago. In that time, our local neighborhood school has closed or been moved three times. We have not moved; we have watched the District’s public school system being yanked out from beneath us…Most infuriating as a parent: These are policies, paid for with our tax dollars, over which we have no control or influence.” (The Root)

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Good morning, DCentric readers! Plan on eating your lunch al fresco– today is shaping up to be a perfect, 70 degree spring day.

How the G-Word Advances Statehood Uninspired by the responses candidates had to cram into a 30-second time limit, Lydia DePillis writes her ideal answer to the "gentrification" question: "In the (mercifully short) audience question section of last night's at-large Council debate, someone launched into a sermon on social justice, and ended with this awkward double query: How would you 'stop gentrification,' and what's your plan to push for statehood for Washington D.C.?" (Washington City Paper)

Mayor Gray’s Former Chief of Staff Admits Wrongdoings, Conflicting Statements Seems the Mayor was unaware that Sulaimon Brown was hired, or that his staff had engaged in nepotism. Eleven people who were called before the Committee on Government Operations and Environment testified about "a tangled web of missteps in vetting, called-in favors and specially handled hires and conflicting reports that will prove difficult to unravel. But there was at least one common thread in several of the accounts—Gerri Mason Hall. Mason Hall, the mayor’s hired—then fired—chief of staff, admitted to wrongly setting salaries above acceptable caps among other missteps." (afro.com)

Bullet ended federal witness's plan to 'go legit' Local witness had been part of the D.C. "criminal underworld", but later worked on drug cases and with the counterterrorism division of the FBI: "Bethlehem Ayele figured she would quit selling cocaine at age 30, take her money and start a legitimate business. By all appearances, things seemed to be going according to plan. At 34, Ayele ran a popular restaurant on H Street that was getting good reviews. She also obtained her real estate license and worked for a broker in Virginia. But Ayele’s past caught up with her…" (Washington Times)

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