DCentric

Good morning, DCentric readers! Here are your breakfast links:

Black Caucus mum on Tea Party Republican who wants to join “I plan on joining, I’m not gonna ask for permission or whatever, I’m gonna find out when they meet and I will be a member of the Congressional Black Caucus,” West, one of two black Republicans elected to Congress last Tuesday, told WOR radio. “I meet all of the criteria, and it’s so important that we break down this monolithic voice that continues to talk about victimization and dependency in the black communit (thehill.com)

Rich Private High School Football Team Puts Uppity Reporter in His Place “These are the children of presidents, Mr. McKenna, sir. Are we clear? In case we’re not, Sidwell students (or, to be fair, people claiming to be Sidwell students) flocked to the story online to point out that while McKenna is a mere salaryman writing squibs for a common newspaper, they will inherit the earth because their parents paid $32,000 a year to keep them away from all the black kids in D.C. public schools…” (gawker.com)

Homeless seeking shelter in D.C. might need to prove District ties “As the economy has floundered and the unemployment rate has soared, a growing number of homeless families from outside the District have migrated into the city in search of shelter, burdening an already-strained social services network. Over the summer, D.C. officials say, 10 percent of the families most in need of shelter came from outside the city. Since 2008, officials say, the number of homeless families migrating into the District has tripled.” (The Washington Post)

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Good morning, DCentric readers! Welcome back from the weekend.

Beyond Bread: A Wild Goose Chase for Utility Assistance “The Social Services Department here at Bread for the City is consistently returning phone calls and meeting with clients that are on the verge of being disconnected, with very few resources to protect them and their family from living without utilities this winter. We see this as a most pressing issue. In our Northwest Center, my colleagues and I fielded 126 phone calls this September and October, before the most high-cost winter months. This is an increase of 34% since last year.” (breadforthecity.blogspot.com)

Some Advocates For Homeless Say Residency Requirements Could Backfire “Some advocates for the homeless, however, say they’re concerned the plan will backfire. Nassim Moshiree, an attorney with the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, doesn’t mince words. “My main concern is that people will die of hypothermia on the streets when they can’t get any services,” says Moshiree.” (wamu.org)

DC Teacher Arrest Sheds Light On School Problems “I understand they both were wrong,” said Rayshad Anderson. “At the same time, Mr. Coleman is not the type of man to do something like that. So I think something needs to be done at the school to prevent these types of things. Tthis school is out of control. It has no structure whatsoever.” Volunteers Byron Ezell and Taria Nelson agree. They run a non-profit called Come Back to Give Back. This past year, they’ve spent Tuesdays and Thursdays working with Rock Creek students, who have a variety of disabilities. They said they believe an assault was “bound to happen.” (WUSA Washington, DC)

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Good morning, DCentric readers! Ready for some links?

UDC President Sessoms has D.C. Mayor-elect Gray’s support in recharging campus “Sessoms preserved the heritage of open access in the new Community College of the District of Columbia, with no entry requirements and flat $3,000 tuition. Four-year and graduate study is now housed in a separate “flagship” institution, with entry standards and higher tuition. The community college is effectively a branch of UDC. The president’s plan sparked protests last year, with students and some elected officials decrying the tuition increases and accusing Sessoms of trying to destroy a tradition of service to low-income African Americans.” (The Washington Post)

Mayor-elect Gray’s absence at police officer’s funeral blamed on staff oversight “Fenty’s behavior is not a surprise,’ Baumann wrote in an e-mail to TBD. “Fenty has made it clear that he has no respect for police officers and their sacrifices. The fact that the Council did not show is disheartening. Today the elected officials of the District made it clear they have little or no regard for those that keep the city safe and risk their lives everyday. There were more police officers and officials from Maryland and Virginia than District officials or politicians. Unfortunately, the message sent today was only the police care about the police.” (tbd.com)

Gray transition: bold innovators or a return to Barry? “Which would you rather have running Mayor-elect Vincent Gray’s transportation transition team? A former City Administrator under Marion Barry, who was running the city during the famous episode where Barry flippantly dismissed snow plowing failures while he was at the Super Bowl? Or a former CEO of Amtrak, head of UMD’s smart growth center, and occasional blogger who wrote excitedly about the return of streetcars, the value of high-speed rail, and the need for a federal transportation reauthorization? What if they’re the same guy?” (Greater Greater Washington)

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Good morning, DCentric readers! Ready for some links?

Paraplegic dog finds adoptive home; more pets remain in need “Buddy is a five and half year old dachshund. A spinal problem cost him the use of his hind legs, but his tail still wags. Despite buddy’s problems his life is good, thanks to the care of his owner. “I love him so much it is not tough on me at all,” said Janet Harris. “He is a very happy little boy he bounces, bounces up and down and play.” Harris has had health problems, she lost her job, is losing her home, and now has to give up her dog. “I can barely stand. I am kind of not trying to think about it because he is like my baby. He IS my baby,” shared Harris.” (tbd.com)

Fenty Write-In Campaign Drives Mayoral Write-Ins To Nearly 23 Percent the committed movement to write-in Mayor Adrian Fenty was the driving force behind the casting of 27,828 write-in votes in “…yesterday’s general election, nearly 23 percent of the approximately 125,000 votes cast. The vote total is all the more impressive when one considers that the movement to write-in Fenty was working with almost no money and lacked the support of the candidate it sought to elect.” (DCist)

Sidwell Friends’ Football Futility: The Obama Kids’ School Football Team is Losing Worse than Dad’s Party “Sidwell bashers: “Sidwell is a girls school that happens to have boys.’” “At other schools, excellence in the classroom and athletic fields are not mutually exclusive.” “Maybe Sidwell should consider a flag football league. Or just games where boys tickle each other with feathers.” Sidwell sympathizers: “Come tell some of the real male athletes (yes, there are a few) at Sidwell that they’re ‘girls’ and they’ll sort you out.” “Sidwell just isn’t a meathead school. Hey, if you want a meathead school, head to Landon.” “Landon athletes will have plenty of time to lift weights in prison.” (Washington City Paper)

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Good morning, DCentric readers! While you were waiting for Election results last night, we were out collecting links!

On Forcing Myself to Vote “Hey, I’m a 27 year old Independent voter, and I’m not bummed – I’m pissed. I’m pissed that Democrats and the party faithful seem to have forgotten that the folks who elected Barack Obama weren’t always part of the base. That many of us were Independents, right-wingers for change, first time voters, and newly enfranchised. We aren’t post-racial, and may not ever want to see those days. (I’m personally still waiting for post-racism. Keep the heritage, drop the hate.)…We weren’t dropped – more like taken for granted.” (Racialicious)

D.C. Election Day drama: Scuffle at Shaw voting precinct “Witnesses described what began as a verbal confrontation between the elderly Brooks and Convention Center Community Association president Martin Moulton. The two apparently started getting into it over Moulton’s recent disparaging postings to the Shaw neighborhood e-mail list about oft-controversial neighborhood activist Leroy Thorpe. What happened next is less clear.” (tbd.com)

Straight Dope: Do Those Breast Cancer Pink Ribbons Actually Do Anything? Off-topic, but on so many of our minds: “We’re constantly bombarded with fundraisers and retail products sporting pink ribbons to raise money to “fight breast cancer.” Do pink ribbon campaigns do any good, or are they mainly a way for corporations to fleece consumers by leveraging their fear and sympathy over breast cancer? Where is all the money raised by pink ribbon campaigns going?” (Washington City Paper)

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Good morning, DCentric readers. Due to technical difficulties, your breakfast links are a bit late. We apologize for that.

ANCs aren’t perfect. Here’s how to make them better. “ANC issues are apparently too small to attract the notice of the city’s paper of record (the most the Post could muster this time around was a generic piece that said nothing of use about ANCs except that those running wanted to “improve their communities”). But neighborhood representative bodies can be perfectly paired with the burgeoning crop of blogs that have been covering them in a fair amount of depth. Some of the healthier and better-run ANCs are in places where blogs…communicate to the broader public what happened at each meeting.” (Washington City Paper)

DC9 liquor license hearing: Board continues suspension of club’s license for 30 days “…not previously released audio recording of an ambulance crew radioing ahead to Howard University Hospital. A male EMT can be heard on the tape saying that he was bringing a 45-year-old male in apparent cardiac arrest to the hospital after what he described as a “bar fight.” He also tells the hospital that the victim only became unconscious after police arrived on the scene, contradicting an affidavit filed in court…” (tbd.com)

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Good morning, DCentric readers! Last night, when you were giving candy to trick-or-treaters, we were going door-to-virtual-door, searching for links!

In D.C., many angling for public office on Advisory Neighborhood Commissions “I’m tired of Ward 8 being considered the worst ward with all the problems that people think we can’t solve on our own,” said Janasha Thomas, 30, who had worked as an administrative assistant for the Fenty administration until recently. In the mayor’s office, she fielded residents’ complaints. A District native, she’s running for a seat near Skyland Mall, where she’s lived for 12 years. “You don’t have to move neighborhoods to make a change in your surroundings.” (The Washington Post)

Jon Stewart Rally: Transcripts and quotes “I think you know that the success or failure of a rally is judged by only two criteria: the intellectual coherence of the content and its correlation to the engagement – I’m just kidding. It’s color and size. I can’t even believe this has happened. It is a perfect demographic sampling of the American people. (laughter) Because as you know, if you have too many white people at a rally, then you’re cause is racist. But if you have too many people of color at a rally, well then you just must be asking for something, special rights like eating in restaurants or piggy-back rides.” — John Stewart (tbd.com)

The District’s Homophobic Bullies Part Two: It’s All About The Jeans “Shane Salter, the Executive Director of D.C.’s Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), recalls a case: “One foster parent put a kid out for creasing his jeans. He was a little too prim and proper. It was a conflict around the boy wanting a crease in his jeans—as if that was the end of the world.” Salter remembers another case, a transgender youth who ended up in the D.C. Jail. “He was put out, his father didn’t want him. His father beat him at one point. He dressed like a girl.” (Washington City Paper)

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