Government

All politics is local in the most political city in America.

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January 25, 2011 | 12:55 PM | By

The Digital Divide and Net Neutrality

Flickr: Chris Brogan. www.chrisbrogan.com.

Racialicious Editor Latoya Peterson was at the “Broadband and Social Justice Summit” last week; she covered the event for The Root. Her entire report is worth a read; highlights are below.

Politicians and industry leaders touted their efforts to bring high-speed access to more African Americans, but the issue of net neutrality is still a source of conflict.

Over the hum of laptops and the persistent, attention-demanding chirps of a hundred BlackBerrys, the Minority Media & Telecom Council convened its “Broadband and Social Justice Summit” in Washington, D.C., last week, a gathering of industry and government leaders, to discuss how broadband access and adoption can help bridge the digital divide and provide minority entrepreneurs with unprecedented opportunity in the digital realm.

Despite the gains spurred by activists, telecom workers and policymakers, disparities in broadband access — particularly along race and class lines — persist. According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, more than two-thirds of adults have broadband Internet access at home. While African Americans have made considerable gains in the last few years, just 56 percent of blacks have broadband at home…

…the summit was not without controversy. Net neutrality, a huge point of contention for many members of of the black digerati, was often demonized by speakers at the event. Net neutrality is the idea that the Internet remains free and accessible on an equal level to all users, rather than a tiered system in which wealthier users can dominate or restrict the bandwidth available to other users.

FILED UNDER: Government, Digital Divide, Race and Class
January 21, 2011 | 5:01 PM | By

Our Money, Their Power

From DCist, I learned that Republicans in the House want to prevent federal tax dollars from being used to pay for abortions…

…and they’ve included the District’s locally-raised tax dollars in that prohibition… that means that our local tax dollars — which have to go to Congress for final approval — are considered “federal” for the purposes of the prohibition. This is a restriction that Congress couldn’t easily make on any state, but given our status as the legislative body’s favorite colony, can be imposed on the District without any real consequences. Restrictions such as these had been in place before, but in late 2009, the Democratic Congress acted to lift them. The National Abortion Rights Action League has already condemned the proposal, calling it “an unfair restriction” that “would reimpose the ban on Washington, D.C.’s use of its own local funds for abortion for low-income women.”

But DCist commenter “Over the River” took issue with that characterization:

There is no question this is an emotional topic and you are entitled to your opinion. I also feel you are reading the NARAL incorrectly. The point they are making is a woman’s right to her body should not be limited to those who can independently afford an abortion. You have twisted the point of discussion to play a class game with reproductive rights.

Tough topic for a 5pm post on a Friday, but it struck me as important.

FILED UNDER: Government, Politics
January 19, 2011 | 1:01 PM | By

Bryan Weaver Decides to Run

Twitter is chock full o’ nuts and news that a candidate who is popular among D.C. bloggers has decided– along with a few others– to run for the City Council’s at-large seat. WAMU’s Patrick Madden has more:

The race for a D.C. council at-large seat is getting crowded. Wednesday, two more candidates threw their hats in the ring.

One is Republican School Board Member Patrick Mara, who announced via YouTube that he’ll seek the at-large seat. The other is Bryan Weaver, a Democrat who lives in Ward 1. Both have unsuccessfully run for council seats in the past…

The biggest challenge at this point for any of the candidates is getting on the ballot. Candidates have less than one month to pick up 3,000 signatures.

I have a feeling Weaver will be able to get those signatures, especially if he asks everyone who tweets about him to help out. And speaking of YouTube, like the City Paper, when I think of Bryan Weaver, I think of his excellent use of the video site. See one of his campaign ads, after the jump– it’s so nice, Wonkette blogged about it:

Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Government, Campaigns, City Council
January 18, 2011 | 2:41 PM | By

No Social Security Number? No problem!

Flickr: mar is sea Y

Phil Mendelson

Do you live in D.C.? Do you wish that you could drive, but lack a license because you refuse to get a social security number? You’re in luck! Via the Washington Examiner:

At-large Councilman Phil Mendelson is introducing a bill Tuesday that will allow D.C. residents to get a drivers license without a Social Security number.

Mendelson said he decided to introduce the bill after hearing from residents who are “philosophically opposed” to having Social Security numbers, but are legal U.S. citizens.

“There’s no rational reason for saying in order to drive a car, you have to have a Social Security number,” Mendelson said. “I’m much more interested in whether you’re texting while driving, paying attention and know how to drive.”

FILED UNDER: Government, City Council, Phil Mendelson
January 14, 2011 | 4:44 PM | By

Rhee and the GOP

Flickr: Mike Licht

Now reading, “Is Michelle Rhee becoming a Republican darling?” from Mike DeBonis at the Post:

Rhee’s message has been embraced by the favorite media outlets of the conservative movement. She rolled out her policy platform in a Wall Street Journal op-ed and made an appearance on Fox News Channel (in addition to appearances on the Today Show and other less partisan forums). Today, a post on the Heritage Foundation’s blog calls on “opponents of sensible education reforms to put the needs of children before the demands of special interests–as Rhee’s aptly named group suggests.”

It’s not hard to explain the GOP’s embrace: Rhee’s policy agenda has long been heavy on attacking the role of teacher unions in blocking the sorts of reforms she believes are most effective — eliminating teacher “tenure,” ending seniority-based teacher transfers, evaluating teachers by their students’ test scores, etc. Democrats, with their closer ties to national unions, tread more lightly around those issues in a way that the GOP does not.

But the question for Rhee is to what extent she wants her nascent national brand to get caught up in partisan politics, especially going into a presidential election year.

FILED UNDER: Education, Michelle Rhee, Race and Class
January 5, 2011 | 7:45 PM | By

D.C. Loses its Voice

Flickr: KC Ivey

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton

I keep seeing tweets about how stripping Delegate Norton of her vote disenfranchises the 600,000 people who live in D.C…it just occurred to me that the majority of those residents are people of color. And that Congress isn’t the most diverse place, either. This move by the new Congress is unfortunate, on so many levels (via TBD):

“To me it is unseemly in the 21st century that anyone would be stripped of a vote,” said Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, who has represented Washington D.C. since 1991.

Norton said the loss of limited voting rights was a “very bitter pill” for the people of the District, who a year ago where within sight of gaining a full vote in the House. The Senate voted to give the District a fully vested representative, but attached an amendment to weaken the District’s tough gun control laws that was unacceptable to some House Democrats.

New Washington Mayor Vincent Gray said at a protest rally Tuesday that the GOP move to remove Norton’s remaining voting rights was “the most outrageous insult imaginable.”

Norton sought to prevent adoption of the new rule by offering a motion to set up a special committee to study the delegate voting issue, but it was defeated on a party-line vote.

FILED UNDER: Government, Politics
January 3, 2011 | 2:27 PM | By

Worksheets instead of Teaching, in D.C.

Flickr: rkeohane

A worksheet.

Now reading: “The McEducation of the Negro: Franchising is an outstanding model for selling Big Macs. But it can be toxic to classrooms” by Natalie Hopkinson:

That’s how it went: rewards and punishments, then worksheets. No instruction, just worksheets. At the end of the class, Bridgers, who works as an exterminator, pulled aside the teacher, a young white male and recent graduate.

“I wanted to know when he was going to do some, you know, teaching,” Bridgers explained to me recently. “You know, like, how we used to have in school? She would stand in front of the class … “…

Of course, today the “reformers” say that that way of teaching is old school. It was fine before the days of social media and the “information revolution” and the global economy. But now, as the argument goes in films like Waiting for Superman, no self-respecting parent would ever send his or her child to a “failing” public school like the one that generations of Bridgers’ family attended in their neighborhood in Northeast Washington.

For Bridgers’ son and a disproportionate number of black students around the country, charter schools have become the preferred choice.

Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Education, Charter Schools, Michelle Rhee, Race and Class
January 3, 2011 | 10:30 AM | By

Is D.C. doing enough for the most vulnerable?

Flickr: lucianvenutian

This haunting piece by Carl Foster– who runs Ward 1′s Little Blue House, which works with vulnerable families to achieve stability and self-sufficiency– was published in the “All Opinions are Local” section of the Sunday Post:

Recently, one of my kids came to the LBH instead of going to school, saying that his mother told him she didn’t want him anymore and that he should get out. He is only 10 years old. The argument apparently stemmed from a seemingly innocuous question:

“Can I have clean clothes to wear to school?”

“Get out. I don’t want you.”

Now that’s reportable.

I’ve been concerned about this family for some time. Other moms had told me this mother was beaten up by drug dealers. I had no firsthand knowledge of this, so I could not report it to protective services. I witnessed this mom handing a wad of cash to some guy while her kids were asking us for food. There is a blanket hanging just inside the front door of her home that prevents anyone from seeing what’s inside. Suspicious but not reportable.

Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Government, Children, Non-profits
December 21, 2010 | 10:27 AM | By

Gray Off to Not-So-Inclusive Start

Flickr: thisisbossi

"Gray Pride" at the Gay Pride Parade, this year.

The social web is buzzing about Mayor-elect Gray’s broken campaign promise to the LGBT community; while campaigning, one of Gray’s answers to the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance questionnaire included a promise to include LGBT community members in a search for the new police and fire chiefs. That didn’t happen:

The key point is that Mr. Gray did not invite anyone from the LGBT community in the search process. It isn’t clear that he checked with anyone outside of his transition team’s inner circle. Arguably, Chief Lanier is not “new” but that’s really being Clintonesque.

Chief Lanier essentially disbanded the Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit (GLLU) at a time when anti-LGBT hate crimes are on the rise. The true value of the GLLU was community involvement. There was a time when the GLLU would visit community groups, bars, and social events just to introduce themselves and say hello. That was a time when the community started to trust the police. Lanier squandered that good will. I don’t recall the last time that I saw someone from the GLLU at any event. I did see them at a couple of the Pride events where they were not talking to anyone in the community. It was quite a waste of an opportunity. Unlike Chief Ramsey, Chief Lanier does not meet with us regularly, and would only do so if she had no other choice. It would be nice to have a police chief that treated us like a welcome part of the community. Mayor-Elect Gray says that she is an advocate of community policing. My experience is that she opposes that policy.

Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Government, 2010 Elections, Campaigns, LGBT, Vince Gray
December 17, 2010 | 11:32 AM | By

Sorry, Ron Brown Middle School. Wrong Number.

alangutierrez

I think this is the robot who keeps me hanging on the telephone.

I have a problem. Relative to everything else in my life, it’s minor, but it’s still frustrating.

Every day, at least once, but often twice, I get a phone call from a local phone number. It’s a recorded message with no information on how to respond, which is what compounds my frustration.

“Hello, Brown family. There is no aftercare today. Please ensure that your children are picked up promptly after school.”

Except…I don’t have children, unless we count my puppy. And she is home-schooled. I’m also so clueless that until this week, I thought they were trying to reach a D.C. public school parent named Brown– until I realized that DCPS probably doesn’t have the resources to record every parents’ name, for precious, individualized robo-calls. “A-ha!”, I thought. The SCHOOL is named “Brown”!

I’ve had the same phone number for 12 years, ever since I moved to this city. I’m aware that because of this and a few other factors, the proclivity for me to get random phone calls is high, so I try to be patient. At the same time, I’m concerned that there’s a parent out there who isn’t getting critically important information, that will affect their kid’s future; two weeks ago, one of the messages was about attendance and needing to speak to a teacher or administrator, immediately. Was my mistakenly-attributed child cutting school? And more depressing than that– why hadn’t this parent realized that they had provided an incorrect phone number? Didn’t they realize that they weren’t getting updates? Did they…not care?

Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Education, Schools