Wednesday, December 14, 2011

D.C. mayor planning environmental initiative

By , Published: December 12

Hoping to jump-start his legislative agenda while boosting his standing with city progressives, D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray is undertaking an environmental initiative he thinks will one day make the city a national model for clean energy, urban farming, green space and car-free transportation options.

Gray (D), who is heading into his second year as mayor, said he formed his “Sustainable D.C.” initiative to strengthen city efforts to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and lay the foundation for proposals that would revitalize an administration criticized for lack of vision.

Although the details won’t be finalized until spring, the plan could include more solar panels on government buildings, gardens in vacant city lots, new walking and biking trails, storm water retention ponds and turning waste into fuel.

“To lead, we must be bold,” Gray said at a speech recently. “This isn’t about incremental improvement. It’s about leaping beyond the competition.”

But in a city where study groups and comprehensive plans are routine and follow-through less frequent, some activists are skeptical Gray’s initiative will have a substantial impact.

Gwyn Jones, chair of the Washington chapter of the Sierra Club, said the “jury is still out” as to whether the initiative will result in lasting change.

“The devil is in the implementation,” said Jones, noting the 2000 Anacostia Waterfront Initiative has not been fully implemented. “But they have good people involved who seem to really want to make a difference, so our approach is, ‘Let’s play and see what we can get.’ ”

Gray’s proposal comes as many big-city mayors are competing over who can be the greenest. With the federal government and many state legislatures gridlocked over climate change, cities have been on the front lines with new environmental initiatives.

Yet Gray is putting his own touch on the concept. Perhaps better than any other policy effort to date, his efforts highlight his 2010 campaign pledge to seek community input in government decisions.

Former mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) was often criticized for being isolated in his decision-making, but Gray has begun seeking consensus from residents and experts before formally unveiling his plan. And despite early concerns over Gray’s go-slow management style, advocates say his approach makes them feel more connected to the government.

In September, the city launched a Web site where residents could provide suggestions for what should be in the plan.

On Nov. 29, to kick off the second phase of the project, Gray gathered residents and experts to brainstorm, breaking up 400 people into nine working groups dealing with the environment, climate, energy, food, nature, transportation, waste, water and green economy. The groups are expected to report in late February so the administration can produce a draft plan by April.

“It’s got a lot of people energized,” said Michael Barrette, who works at the Environmental Protection Agency but also helps manage the Capitol Hill Energy Co-Op. “The mayor seems to be serious about getting citizen volunteer engagement, so we are really optimistic.”

The Sustainable D.C. Web site has generated hundreds of ideas, including building sports fields on the site of the old RFK Stadium, putting farms inside abandoned buildings, planting more trees, and a citywide ban on the use of Styrofoam and road salt.

Some suggestions seem far-fetched, such as charging a toll to enter the city or creating another “Central Park” in the city, in addition to the Mall. Others appear parochial, such as a suggestion the city remove the asphalt at Brent Elementary in Southeast.

In an interview, Gray said he views the initiative as way to help fulfill his goal of creating more jobs and foreign investment while also rallying a socially-liberal city behind a common goal.

“We have to set our sights high and innovate, but that is exactly how we will win,” he said. “To get there, we need to work together.”

With the city budget still constrained by the recent recession, Gray concedes that some costly initiatives may be out of reach during his administration. Complicating his efforts, the city is nearing its debt limit.

One likely proposal by the Sustainable D.C. energy working group — requiring most buildings to instill solar panels — could cost as much as $7 billion in public and private money over 10 years.

“We are after fundamental change,” said Robert Robinson, a member of the group. He said part of the cost would be offset by tax credits and energy savings.

Washington already is home to the nation’s largest bike-sharing system, 200 LEED-certified buildings and a 5-cent tax on plastic bags, and government experts say the District is well positioned to compete with other cities that lead the pack in sustainability efforts, such as Seattle, Portland, Ore., Denver and Chicago.

“In a weird way, the District, as a state and city, is the most interesting place potentially in America because they have a blending of state authority and local authority,” said Kevin S. McCarty, assistant executive director at the U.S. Conference of Mayors. “The District to me is a bellwether of what is achievable in the absence of any federal involvement.”

D.C. Council member Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6), author of the city’s bag tax, said Gray should be applauded for engaging the public. But Wells said he is not sure whether Gray has the political appetite to tackle the issue in a major way, which the council member said would require tough decisions on new plans to reduce the number of cars on city streets.

Wells added that Gray will have to change some of his own behavior, saying both the mayor and the council often serve bottled water during meetings.

“What does that tell the public?” Wells asked.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/dc-mayor-planning-environmental-initiative/2011/12/09/gIQAVqAgqO_story_1.html

Washington Gas Starts To Pay The Piper

Washington Gas to clean Anacostia riverbank under new agreement

By , Published: December 12

Washington Gas Light Co. has agreed to clean a section of land along the Anacostia River that it contaminated with harmful chemicals for more than a century, federal officials announced Monday.

As part of an agreement involving the utility, the U.S. Interior Department and the D.C. government, Washington Gas will also pay for a comprehensive investigation of toxic contamination of soil and groundwater on the site. It will repay nearly $1 million to federal agencies for investigations that revealed how badly the river was fouled where the company once processed gas.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar called the agreement “a milestone in our efforts . . . to transform what was once known as America’s forgotten river into a model urban park.” A walkway is slated to traverse the area once when the work is done.

But the Anacostia Watershed Society said much is unknown about the agreement, including its cost and how the utility will be held accountable for its work. “How much they’re committing is really unclear at this point,” said Brent Bolin, director of advocacy for AWS.

A Washington Gas spokesman said contaminated soil will be removed and replaced with clean soil over four acres. The spokesman, Reuben Rodriguez, declined to give an estimate of the cleanup cost.

For 60 years, from 1888 to 1948, the utility manufactured gas feed stocks at a facility along Water Street SE, just upstream from the 11th Street Bridge on the river. Waste created by the gasification process contained harmful organic compounds such as benzene, cyanide, arsenic and other contaminants such as tar, coal and coke.

The company continued to use the “East Station” site intermittently until it was closed in 1983 and demolished in 1986. Between that time and 1999, six major federal environmental investigations were performed at the site.

“This has been a cleanup 100 years in the making,” Bolin said. “These are known carcinogens. They are an exposure risk for people who fish, people who boat, people who row.”

The Anacostia River was called “one of the most polluted waterways in the nation” in a May report by the advocacy group DC Appleseed.

With its low flows, the Anacostia cannot easily flush pollutants, many of which come from combined sewage runoff and from chemical waste from the Navy Yard, according to the report. It called on the federal government, as one of the river’s biggest polluters, to take a larger role in the cleanup.

Despite of a 2006 federal decision that called for a cleanup amid hiking trails, yacht clubs and a fishery, work was never completed, Bolin said. AWS filed a suit in August to compel the utility and federal government to act. “You couldn’t get the federal government to care about this issue until the Obama administration,” Bolin said.

The city has been acquiring land nearby with an eye on its Anacostia Waterfront Initiative, a vision for recreational, residential and commercial development along the river.

“This settlement is a major step forward in restoring this vibrant river . . . [and] protecting habitat and wildlife,” Salazar said.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/washington-gas-to-clean-anacostia-riverbank-under-new-agreement/2011/12/12/gIQAc0ihqO_story.html

Monday, December 12, 2011

DC Dispensary Notes

Montel Williams among D.C. medical marijuana license seekers

By , Published: August 16

Montel Williams, the talk show host, actor and pitchman, is part of a nonprofit group seeking licenses from the District to operate a marijuana dispensary and cultivation facilities.

According to D.C. records, the Abatin Wellness Center has expressed preliminary interest in opening medical marijuana businesses in the city. A dispensary by the same name opened this year in Sacramento with Williams as its public face.

Abatin has hired D.C. lawyer Frederick D. Cooke Jr. to shepherd it through the process. Cooke confirmed Tuesday that Williams, who has multiple sclerosis and is a supporter of medicinal cannabis, has a major role in the group. “He is not the managing director or the driving guy,” Cooke said. “But he is certainly at a level more involved than being a face of the organization. He knows a lot about the organization, and he speaks and gets resources. He does stuff that makes the organization go.”

Jonathan Franks, a Los Angeles-based publicist for Williams and Abatin, said, “This is not a spokesman-for-hire deal,”

Cooke said Williams visited the District this year to show his interest in the city and its marijuana program. “We talked to a few people outside the Wilson Building and inside the Wilson Building. We couldn’t lobby,” he said.

The nonprofit Sacramento dispensary seeks to occupy an upscale niche in the marijuana retail industry. One reviewer recently referred to it as the “Nieman Marcus [sic] Of Marijuana.”

Under the District’s medical marijuana law, people convicted of a felony or drug-related misdemeanor are not allowed to participate in the program. It is unclear whether Williams’s January citation for possession of drug paraphernalia will complicate matters for him. (“I don’t believe that would be an issue,” Cooke said.)

Applications to operate cultivation centers are due Sept. 16. The application period for dispensaries will follow.





http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/montel-williams-among-dc-medical-marijuana-license-seekers/2011/08/16/gIQA9nDvJJ_story.html

Reading Develops Minds

Gaithersburg school says no homework — just free reading

Two years ago in a column on how schools could save money, I suggested replacing elementary school homework with free reading.

“Throw away the expensive take-home textbooks, the boring worksheets and the fiendish make-a-log-cabin-out-of-Tootsie-Rolls projects,” I wrote. “Eliminating traditional homework for this age group will save paper, reduce textbook losses and sweeten home life. Students should be asked instead to read something, maybe with their parents -- at least 10 minutes a night for first-graders, 20 minutes for second-graders and so on.”

Many readers liked the idea, but they and I were sure it would go nowhere, particularly in the Washington area. Many children here see homework as a welcome rite of passage, like getting a library card or being allowed to watch the seamier shows on the CW. Many parents equate heavy homework with good teaching.

Nonetheless, to my astonishment, an elementary school principal in Montgomery County—a homework hotbed—has just junked regular after-school assignments in favor of free reading and other unorthodox requirements. Stephanie Brant, principal of Gaithersburg Elementary, is not following my suggestion. This is her idea based on extensive work with students and deep familiarity with the importance of learning to read.

The school’s parents are still getting used to it. Cory Siansky, a technology consultant who is secretary of the Parent-Teacher Association, said he and his wife, a teacher, think Brant is a wonderful principal but want their daughters to develop the habit of doing academic work after school. “The behavior of homework is more important than the content of homework,” he said.

Brant is reassuring her parents that there will be assignments beyond the current 30 minutes of free reading, with parents reading to younger children. She and her teachers are planning homework, like research on animals, to inspire critical thinking and more reading of non-fiction books.

Brant said backpacks full of traditional homework don’t help much. “I know we need to get away from worksheets,” she said. Research shows that although homework in high school, and to a certain extent in middle school, correlates with higher achievement, elementary school students who do homework score about the same on standardized tests as those who don’t.

Brant, 34, grew up in Northern Virginia, attending Robinson Secondary School and James Madison University. She read to her son Aidan, 5, and daughter Isabella, 2, while they were still in the womb. As a beginning first-grade teacher in Northern Virginia, she said, “I had a passion to teach kids how to read.”

She hasn’t lost it. Seventy-five percent of Gaithersburg Elementary students are from low-income families. This summer Brant scheduled stops at several apartment complexes every Tuesday and Thursday to hand out the donated books she carried around in her grey Acura TSX.

Brant sees her new homework policy as one way to enhance the district’s new curriculum emphasizing reading--including more non-fiction and technical material. “This is a really big shift in what kids have to do,” Brant said. The school has a new glog---an internal blog—that allows them to share reviews of what they have read.

She is working with parents to address their concerns. Siansky and his wife, for instance, are worried that 30 minutes of free reading doesn’t mean much to their second-grader Emily and kindergartner Hannah. Like many Montgomery parents, their children already spend much more time than that with books.

Hannah has long anticipated, with great excitement, the new responsibilities of being in school with the big kids. So her parents have arranged a basket, just for her, full of brain-teasers, puzzles and other intriguing exercises.

“We call it homework,” Siansky said. That seems like a fine solution to me. But what matters most is getting children into the habit of picking up a book.

By | 04:53 PM ET, 09/20/2011


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/class-struggle/post/school-says-no-homework--just-free-reading/2011/09/16/gIQAD11siK_blog.html

Burglaries Increase Citywide

Northwest D.C. residents on edge after burglaries

By Erica W. Morrison, Published: September 21

The owner of a D.C. security firm, Sandra Cox felt fortunate after her alarm company alerted her of a break-in at her home in Shepherd Park on Sept. 9: Nothing was taken.

But other residents of the area surrounding Cox’s quiet Northwest neighborhood haven’t been so lucky: Police say that six homes have been broken into since mid-August in Police Service Area 401 , near the city’s northern tip. Gold jewelry and electronics have been stolen.

Now, Cox, owner of American Security Communications, says neighbors are increasingly inquiring about their options. Many, she said, have asked about systems that don’t require a land-line telephone, because there have been rumors — which police would not confirm — that telephone wires were cut during the break-ins.

“The community is really on edge about it,” Cox said, adding that “the anxiety level is still very high.”

Burglaries are up nine percent in the 4th Police District, which includes Shepherd Park, this year, according to police statistics. Citywide, they have increased by 14 percent. In 2010, property crime rose in the District while violent crime fell, according to FBI statistics.

Many of Cox’s neighbors were unaware of the recent rash of burglaries until a high-profile neighbor’s house was broken-into: Jeanne Estrada said she returned home on the afternoon of Sept. 13 to find “tons of cop cars” outside the home of Harold L. Cushenberry Jr., a D.C. Superior Court judge.

Police did not find anyone inside Cushenberry’s home, and officials said the crime appeared to be random and not targeted at the judge.

“We chose this neighborhood because it was safe and away from the city,” said Estrada, who moved to the neighborhood within the past year. “But in this world today, nothing is safe.”

Neighborhood e-mail groups have buzzed with discussion of the break-ins, and on the day after the incident, about 20 residents filled a room at the Shepherd Park library for a monthly meeting with two officers who regularly patrol the area.

Residents peppered the officers with questions and concerns. “I’m afraid to be in my own home again,” one woman said, recalling a series of break-ins last year.

The two officers urged neighbors to turn on their security systems even if they’re leaving their home for only a short time. Some recent burglary victims had not activated theirs, according to police.

Cmdr. Kimberly Chisley-Missouri of the 4th Police District said burglaries in the area are not uncommon. In response to the latest break-ins, police plan to establish a more-active presence in alleys, she said, because some of the thieves forced open rear doors and windows.

Residents, meanwhile, have been asked to be vigilant and call 911 if they see something that makes them uneasy.

“We use the neighborhood as our eyes and ears,” Chisley-Missouri said. “If you see something, say something.”


Breaking and entering

From Sept. 14, 2010, to Sept. 14, 2011, there was an increase in burglaries in all but one of the District’s seven police districts . During the same period in previous years, more districts had declines. Read related article.

Breaking and entering
Source: D.C. Police. The Washington Post. Published on September 19, 2011, 9:13 p.m.







http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/northwest-dc-residents-on-edge-after-burglaries/2011/09/16/gIQAfvjtlK_story.html