October 15, 2010 | 3:58 PM | By Anna
While reading for, thinking about and writing this post about the Georgetown Public Policy Review‘s interview with Michelle Rhee, I found this Washington Post piece called “Michelle Rhee’s Greatest Hits“:
D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee gave us many reasons to remember her when she is gone.
There’s the schools she closed. The teachers she fired. The contract she signed with the Washington Teachers Union. Her frequent use of the word “crap.”
Here’s some quintessential statements that Rhee made as chancellor. Thanks for many of these to my colleague, Bill Turque, who often stood alone in his strong coverage of Rhee’s tenure.
The quotes include anecdotes like the famous masking tape incident as well as excerpts from speeches and interviews. Definitely worth a read.
October 15, 2010 | 2:34 PM | By Anna
Angela N.
A DCentric reader who works for the Georgetown Public Policy Review helpfully sent in a link (thank you!) of an interview that they did with Michelle Rhee yesterday. The questions include, “How do you want your term as DC Chancellor to be remembered?” and “What would you say to education reformers disheartened by your resignation?”. I will admit, I am not familiar with this organization, so to get a sense of what point of view the interview/er was coming from, I surfed around– and didn’t have to go far.
The post which precedes the interview is titled, “Of Hereos (sic) and Villains: A review of the film “Waiting for Superman,” directed by David Guggenheim”. It was penned by the same person who conducted the Rhee interview by email: Padmini Jambulapati. I tripped over the last two sentences of her review:
…in light of Rhee’s resignation, one cannot help but feel that our villains have struck again. But, if the real heroes of Waiting for Superman have taught us anything, it’s that we should continue to hope and aspire for good, in spite of the bad guys.
Our villains? The bad guys? In Jambulapati’s piece, she links the words “our villains” to this Politico article by Ben Smith: “Teachers union helped unseat Fenty“. So the villains are the Teachers Union. Got it. I went back and re-read the interview with that in mind but it felt like it came from a relatively neutral place, despite that review paragraph. This is the portion of the exchange I was most interested in:
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October 15, 2010 | 7:55 AM | By Anna
Good morning, DCentric readers! While you were watching 30 Rock, we were…well, we were watching it, too. But we were looking for links *right* after, we promise.
ANC Signs off on Homeless Shelter at the Gales School “A few vital stats: There will be capacity for 150 men, who will need to be inside the shelter by 6:00 p.m.–there will be a fence around the property to help keep them there–and leave at 7:30 a.m. During the day, they’ll also be welcome at the shelter, with food usually available. “We don’t like anybody to go hungry anytime,” Executive Director David Treadwell told the ANC. “The idea is to draw people into the buidling, not push people out of the building.”” (Washington City Paper)
Why genes are leftwing “The American poor would turn out to have significantly different genes to the affluent: “This is not unimaginable. It is almost certainly true.” Almost certainly false, more like. Instead, the Human Genome Project is rapidly providing a scientific basis for the political left. Childhood maltreatment, economic inequality and excessive materialism seem the main determinants of mental illness.” (Guardian Unlimited)
Salahis sign with celebrity-appearance booker “Get out your checkbooks: Tareq and Michaele Salahi are ready to come to your nightclub opening, golf tournament, yacht christening, bar mitzvah or whatever (all for some perfectly reasonable price)…” (voices.washingtonpost.com)
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October 14, 2010 | 9:48 PM | By Anna
…in Columbia Heights. They had everything from individually-wrapped baking potatoes to Target-brand Naan-bread. I wasn’t sure what to expect (I shop at this Target weekly, if not more frequently) but I was surprised by the items they now carried. Other shoppers were discussing how the prices measured up to Giant and Trader Joe’s. I saw juices and two-bite brownies like the ones sold at Whole Foods. It feels like an ambitious effort.
October 14, 2010 | 4:36 PM | By Anna
The D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute’s report, “Packing a Punch: The Recession Hit African-American and Non-College Educated DC Residents Particularly Hard” is a must-read if you’re concerned with the disparities that affect this city:
Looking over a longer-term period, employment prospects have worsened noticeably over the past two decades for Black District residents and for residents with no post-secondary education. For these residents, job conditions have worsened even in periods when DC’s overall economy was growing.
– Employment among African-American DC residents has fallen steadily since the late 1980s. The employment rate fell from 62 percent in 1988 to 56 percent in 2000 and to 49.5 percent in 2009. (The employment rate is the share of adults with a job.) If employment had not fallen since the late 1980s, some 31,000 additional African-American residents would be working today. Meanwhile, the employment rate for white residents has remained relatively steady.
WAMU’s Patrick Madden’s story, here.
October 14, 2010 | 1:55 PM | By Anna
dbking
The library in 2006.
I used to live in Georgetown, less than a block from the beautiful library which was gutted by a fire in the spring of 2007. That’s why I was reading this Prince of Petworth post with avid interest, “PoP Preview – Georgetown Library“:
The Georgetown Library located at 3260 R St, NW (Wisconsin and R) reopens Monday, Oct. 18th. Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to receive a tour from DC’s chief librarian, Ginnie Cooper. Many will remember that the library was devastated by fire Apr. 30th, 2007 (same day as the Eastern Market fire).
It is awkward to say this but I think the fire may have been a blessing in disguise (thank God nobody was injured) because the renovation is truly amazing (and there were no plans for a major renovation). It is though an entire new library was built on the space (and much improved). Not only was the space gutted but a ton of new space was added. There is now a huge children’s section as well as a completely new third floor housing the historic Peabody collection (which thankfully some say miraculously survived the fire). Beautiful new staircases were added. A new meeting room and study rooms are top of the line. Wifi and 40 new computers as well as 40,000 books (with room for 80,000) will be housed in the library.
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October 14, 2010 | 10:34 AM | By Anna
jGregor
This is worrisome:
A month after pledging to do a better job of sheltering the city’s homeless this winter, District leaders haven’t figured out how best to meet that promise. Meanwhile, the Family Emergency Shelter, which can house 135 families, is nearly full. And last week, 67 more families were waiting for emergency housing, with no place else to go…
A city plan to add up to 100 rooms to the D.C. General shelter was abandoned after the idea came under fire last month from advocates for the homeless and D.C. Council member Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6), who said it would worsen conditions at the troubled shelter.
Another plan would have transformed the former Hebrew Home for the Aged on Spring Road NW into a shelter for 75 homeless families, but Council member Muriel Bowser questioned whether it was fair to create a new shelter on a street which already has two.
With no alternatives left on the table, the city will rely on moving families out of D.C. General as quickly as possible and into 185 transitional apartments, said Laura Zeilinger, who oversees homeless programs for the city’s Department of Human Services.
October 14, 2010 | 7:59 AM | By Anna
Good morning, DCentric readers! Ready for some links?
How Rustik Ended Bloomingdale’s Prohibition, and What’s Coming Next “Over the course of several months, Stu Davenport’s aspirations to stay open late and serve cocktails would pit mostly black, longer-term residents against the Big Bear’s mostly white, mostly recent transplant supporters. The ugly public debate burst back onto the surface most recently at last week’s hearing before the Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration board, where all the worries about parking, trash, and noise were trotted out again.” (Washington City Paper)
Hipster Highway: New shuttle service to run from U Street to Brooklyn ““We know the kind of people who live around U Street. They’re younger, more vibrant, more creative…Anybody is welcome, but it’s definitely more for the sort of folks who are interested in looking at things off the beaten path, interested in getting to know neighborhoods, and interested in scraping the surface and seeing more than the Statue of Liberty and the Washington Monument.”” (tbd.com)
Michelle Rhee and Adrian Fenty’s most cheerful potshots at Vince Gray “Rhee: “With Kaya Henderson at the helm and the DCPS management team in place, everything the city needs to be able to continue the reforms will be in place.” Translation: My deputy and all my people are staying, so you can’t screw it up too badly, Gray.” (tbd.com)
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October 13, 2010 | 5:45 PM | By Anna
Make sure to tune in to 88.5 FM tomorrow, when WAMU’s Kavitha Cardoza will interview the outgoing Schools Chancellor. The interview will air at 6:51 am and 8:51 am, tomorrow morning.
October 13, 2010 | 3:03 PM | By Anna
jaundicedferret
Lorax tattoo by Paul Roe, British Ink
Yesterday, I went to Metro Mutts on H Street NE to find out more about the hateful graffiti which some vandal had spray painted on “their” door this weekend. I was surprised to discover two things:
- Metro Mutts has never encountered any negativity or hostility before this
- Metro Mutts shares the vandalized door with upstairs neighbor, British Ink.
In fact, the “door” which was tagged is really an outer door which doesn’t even have the six-month old pet shop’s name on it yet– there is merely a round, Metro Mutts sticker. It seems inaccurate to declare that Metro Mutts was the target of racist, anti-Gay, anti-gentrification graffiti but the mistake is wholly understandable; the first floor store front belongs to them. Anna Collins, one of the co-owners of the cleanest pet store I’ve ever been to, said that she didn’t think the ugly message was aimed at Metro Mutts– and that I should speak to Paul Roe, of British Ink about the incident. I did, this morning, for an hour.
Roe’s unique, by-appointment-only, couture tattoo studio has been open for four years. I asked him why he chose H Street.
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