I'm beginning to wonder what in the world the political establishment in this city could possibly be thinking of when it won't concentrate any attention to the question of who will be representing the District of Columbia at the DC National Convention.  Who will be the face, the heart and most importantly the voice of the citizens of DC - we who face second-class citizenship that is in today's world the moral equivalent of 3/5th a citizen.  Why isn't all of our luxuriant media going over candidates with a fine-tooth comb, culling out the duds and holding the earnest, capable ones up for public review and some words of encouragement?  Does it make any difference?  Heck yes, it makes more difference for us than it does for any other voting jurisdiction in the good old USA!

We need to be represented not by folk who come to the convention to partee, partee, partee, but by people who will have spent months researching every single legal thing they could possibly come up with to gain the attention of every single delegate to that convention of to the essential unjustness of a two-tier level of citizenship. Was it unjust that my husband and thousands of other DC residents like him served loyally in Viet Nam despite not having any elected representative able vote in his and my name on the rightness or wrongness of that war?  Yes - it WAS unjust.  It WAS unfair.  Is it equally unjust to have my military-serving son-in-law, along with my daughter and baby grandchild posted in a place of danger (the capital of a country in the Middle East) when my congressional delegate has no means of voting on what the American response should be to events in that country or any other tinderbox in that region?  Unjust!  Unfair!

The unique patch of land known as the District, is home to over half a million people who are de facto  subjects, not citizens.  There is at least one state with fewer people in it, and most people don't question their residents' right to be represented. I  do. We all should.   The idea of a democracy is all or nothing  They've got it all, and we have close to nothing.


Why is this still happening?  Because it's convenient to have a whipping boy.  Because it's useful to be able to divert attention from the dreadful actions of their own pigheaded politicians by pointing out the sorry state of ours.  Every politician wants some place to point at, some place other than his/her own constituency to hold up as the epitome of everything wrong.  It's safe - heck, it's fun to throw curses at the District and its citizens. It happens every day.   We are not allowed to be seen as citizens because the shameful awfulness of some of our political class - the people who claim to speak for us  - is, in fact, no better and no worse then the bozos who represent our detractors, but they are bozos who have votes to cast, and we don't.  Their votes shield them;  we have no defense.

Residents of DC! (I will not call you citizens because I don't think you are) Come out and vote on Saturday. It's important to do this. Vote for people who aren't slick, for people who aren't being subsidized by folk you wouldn't want to meet in a DC alley at night. Come on out and vote for people who will work hard, who will support Obama not just in DC but in the surrounding states where the vote really counts, people who want all of us to be living in an urban area that takes good care of its residents and who will work to make that happen, people who are prepared to make that happen, in a place that sooner rather than later can be respected because it will have achieved the same rights as the capitals of almost every other major country in the world –– at least the ones that truly deserve to be called democracies. Unlike this one.  We Americans have a blind eye to our deficiencies - and lack of voting representation is a deficiency that has blinded our otherwise democratic country.  We can change that.  Elect people who will work to make that happen.  

On Attending a Trial for Attempted Murder

I've been attending an attempted murder trial this week. Hmm, you say, she must have been a juror. Not. Wish it were that simple. For the last 35 or so years, I've been the godmother to a family that used to live on my block before it became fancied up. It started out simply because our kids played together. One day the youngest, who couldn't have been more than five, told me that his mother had died that day. Shocked, I ran over to see what I could do, and what that turned out to be – to arrange the funeral - turned into a lifelong commitment. I think I've been very blessed.

Without going into details, one of the children of the godchildren was marked by a gang for execution after a fistfight. He was shot three times in the head - and survived. Three other people, standing nearby in the wrong place at the wrong time, were also shot, if not as drastically. What strikes me most about the trial is the placidity even triviality in the enumeration of other crimes that these young men have committed. Of course, the criminal justice system deals with that sort of thing every day, and can't help but be a little tired, a little bored by it all. The officials do their work, but there is no - dare I say majesty? - in the recounting of how lives came close to being cut short.  

I am astounded by one thing - the vastness of the rewards that was offered by the witness protection program to a person whose criminal record was astonishing in its depth, breadth and general frighteningness.  It is understandable that a protection program might be offered in a case if really top-level criminals, otherwise unreachable, could with a high degree of certainty, be convicted as a result of testimony by their underlings.  This, however, isn't what I saw.  There was no high-level ring of criminals who would otherwise have gotten off;  we are talking about ratting on a group of teenage thugs, highly dangerous, indeed, but local, strictly local, and with every chance of of doing serious time for the attempted murders, based on the testimony of a lot of witnesses and some excellent police work.  In return for his testimony, a witness protection program was offered to someone who already had convictions for at least two murders, three armed robberies and a rape - there might have been more charges, but these stand out in my mind.  At well over six feet and weighing in the neighborhood of 275 lbs., we're not talking about the sort of person one might feel safe riding along side in an elevator.  We're talking about a one-person serious crime wave who would be put into witness protection.  God help those around him if he gets put into a new life! I know a bit about witness protection programs, as it happens; I've known two persons, both in that same family, who were witness to and victims of attempted murders.  They needed safety so they could testify; neither had a criminal record of any sort.  The guy on the stand breaks the bank for well-founded terror in his presence; he should never see the outside of a cell, much less government-sponsored freedom among an unsuspecting populace.

Only two people I've heard bring me to my feet by the power of their belief in the law's potential for justice. Two women earned my deep admiration. The first is the mother of the victim. She's going blind, has diabetes, heart conditions and god only knows what else. But what she doesn't have is a thirst for revenge. Not one angry word in her. In addition to caring for her stricken son - his life now permanently ruined by seizures and personality changes - her heart has reached out to take in another child, deserted by his mother, and to raise him well. What a class act! The other woman who totally earned my admiration testified at the trial. She was driving by when the crime occurred right before her eyes. She didn't flee and hide. No, she did her civic duty; she called 911, reported the shooting, and returned into the city to testify about what she saw. Not a lot of people would be so brave, these days. Two fine Americans, doing the right thing as they see it.  God bless them both.  

     H hope you will read and even pass on my latest poem - Susan Meehan

A WISH FOR THE RESTORATION OF THE DREAM THAT IS AMERICA 

Tomorrow, I will stand in quiet stillness

in this beloved land, holding the hands

of those I love. Then we will walk together,

slipping into a swelling multitude of marchers.

Our gathering will signal the start

of what must happen here

if this sacred place is to be remembered

for the glory in what it has asked of those

who sought its freedom

rather than be forgotten for what it has recklessly abandoned.

It is time for public honor to be restored

lest we forget forever the notion of America.

I am no longer willing to be frightened or deceived.

I am done with edging around dread-blackened borders

and circling in tired silence past gated lies.

I want no more seized sacrifice of precious lives

I ask that civic dignity

be entrusted to our citizens

who lay their dreams on hallowed ground,

brilliant dreams wrapped in truth and tied

tightly by persistent, wise fingers.

Our passion must be answered with respect and action.

If it is paid no heed, I dread the consequence

Let us begin with honest words and righteous deeds.

Our Words of State must ring with truth,

honesty must be inked onto our documents,

justice must be written large, and mercy not forgotten.

If we allow trust to binds us once again,

If we finally understand the importance of, the wisdom in

of out of many one,

we will have grand reason to celebrate

a new Day of Interdependence.

I am uncertain that we are ready to undertake this needed salvage

But I am certain that we must if America is to be remembered as a

Place that turned an overarching dream into a vivid, if imperfect reality

    ~  By Susan Meehan (MmeMagpie), WashingtonDC , December 21, 2011

THE ULTIMATE URBAN EXPERIENCE

As I approached my block late yesterday afternoon, I realized it was blocked off.  So was the next street, if not the alley between the two.  Police were all over the place, but the neighborhood itself seemed quieter than usual, even serene.  There were few people walking down the street;  if people were out, they weren't walking or even running  Instead, they were talking quietly in mall group among themselves.  What in the world was going on?

It was the ultimate urban experience; my own micro-neighborhood (i.e., the three vehicular pathways in my neighborhood - Corcoran Street, Que Street and 17th Street) were the subject of a threatened bomb attack, and for this reason the streets had been blocked off.  It seems that some crazed persons had been shouting curse and threats that he had a bomb in his car, which he had apparently abandoned on the 1600 block of 17th Street.  In a nutshell, he threatened to blow up everything that I hold dear.  While I had no fear my home would be going up in flames any time soon - I calculated it was just a little too far away for that to be likely - it certainly did lend a certain piquancy to an otherwise eerily silent hometown scene.

A bombing threat certainly puts matters into a clear, if alarming perspective.  It wasn't that the neighborhood had never before had threats made against it - for good reason, Corcoran Street was commonly known as Stab Alley when i first moved into the area in 1965.  I have seen several gun battles, up close and personal, taking place in real time on or immediately adjacent to my block.  In fact, a bomb went off at the nearby Argentinian Embassy two decades ago, that Embassy being located just across new Hampshire from the alley between Corcoran and Que - known to its inhabitants at Flat Rat Alley. The difference in character between a gunfight and a bombing, especially when one's own immediate neighborhood is the potential scene, is that of anticipation vs. reaction.  

What it does best is to put into sharp outline all the reasons for and against living downtown,  everything that is dear seems dearer, and everything that seems tawdry or tacky becomes tawdry beyond one's ability to bear one minute longer.  Some neighbors seemed either anxious or anticipatory, and the rest seemed somehow frozen in place.  No one seemed willing to accept the concept of a radically-changed neighborhood - and what could produce more change than a bomb?  There were overtones of grandiosity, as people made juicy comparisons with Bomb Threats They Had Known before, or merely imagined.  Possibilities were tossed around like a Soviet Safeway salad, and then subsided.

The talk finally ebbed fully when it became evident that nothing bad was really going to happen. Anticipation had deflated to mere comparison. All they had left for discussion was the results of uniting Diet Coke with Mentos candy, and that paled in comparison, at least it did until the shadows became darker and our Dupont Circle neighborhood retreated to the smartphones, the cell phones, the iPhones, iPads and other momentarily popular means of communications upon which it absolutely depends, to comment ruefully on the passing of one bright shining moment of real fear that had, for once, merely dissolved.

ON KNOWING THE CURRENT DARLING - a poem of mine

I knew you when you wrote bad poetry

and didn’t know which fork to use

and wore plaid, flannel shirts

with a slide rule protruding from your pocket.

On the cusp of your currency

we met again

and rushed to share forty years of life

words didn’t come fast enough

as we sought each other’s joys, pains

and marveled at the chance to share once more

our piebald dreams.

Now your face is on every screen

and your words articulate our beliefs

Contenders for public office

proudly wield your opinions

as their implements of campaign war.

People come to me for the favor

of an introduction

desiring to share in celebrity’s hierarchy,

and so, remembering our friendship

I give them the speckled help they seek.

But you have moved on

rushing to interpret today’s breaking news and

guarded by rough crews paid to fend off the unimportant –

those whose claim is old and not for profit –

unmindful that strobe-lit fame may quickly fade.

But old friends still remember fondly

those earlier, golden times

when you wrote bad poetry

and didn’t know which fork to use.

DC Residents: Are We Subjects or Citizens? A Draft Referendum

I think it is shameful that we in the District of Columbia are treated as subjects rather than as citizens.When I read in the Declaration of Independence that, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men. deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed," I strongly question the assumption that we residents of the District have given our consent to be treated like subjects.

As quoted, the Declaration of Independence specifically says that government's power is just when it is derived by the consent of the governed. There is no part of the Declaration of Independence more profound, fellow Americans. Our Constitution and all our laws, everything that we hold dear as Americans, all depend on the founding block of the Declaration of Independence. Its words cannot be overlooked. If we in the District are not permitted the same rights as other citizens – and representation has to be the most basic right in a democracy – then we cannot function as full citizens. Where does it say we have given our consent to a form of government under which we struggle without voting representation?

I say we have not consented to our lack of representation, and propose that we undertake a referendum to determine whether that lack of representation is acceptable to us. Two bloody wars - the American Revolution and the Civil War - and several Constitutionalamendments should have settled the overarching question of equality once and for all. But it didn't for us. Is it acceptable to be treated as subjects, not citizens? I think not, and believe that our founding document, the Declaration of Independence speaks on our behalf to this very point. Let us hold a public and official referendum to make clear that we do not consent to being treated unequally. This would give us the basis to demand that our full measure of rights be secured - as citizens of a state. Nothing less. God bless the Declaration of Independence, for it will make our case.

If we get a referendum on consent on the 2012 ballot, it would likely considerably increase turnout at our polls, and would certainly get plenty of national media coverage. And that is what we need. One of the reasons we haven’t been able to get action on voting representation is because most citizens are utterly unaware that we don’t already have it. They are astonished to learn this is not the case, and are angry when they hear of it. (Some actually believe we pay no federal taxes, like Puerto Rico, and assume that is why we don’t have voting representation.) In any case, they are taken aback that Congress can and does change whatever it wants in our municipal budget, paid for by our hard-earned local DC tax money, no matter what we may want to do with it.They know that Congress could not do this elsewhere in the US, and agree that Congress should not be able to do this to us. Finally, other citizens get especially angry when District residents point out that THEIR elected representatives are spending an awful lot of time meddling in our affairs when their time could be better employed working on their own constituents’ problems. So there’s a lot of public education that needs to be done.

One of the most effective ways to educate the public nationwide on this issue would be through the publicity a referendum would engender. There are many ways that such a referendum could be worded; here’s a draft.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men. deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."

Do you believe that American democracy is founded on the principles outlined above in the Declaration of Independence? Yes No

As a US citizen, do you think that in fact you are governed differently than citizens living in states? Yes No

Do you think that you are being denied rights that other citizens enjoy, like voting representation in the House of Representatives, two voting US Senators, and statehood? Yes No

Do you think that DC citizens have ever given their consent to this arrangement – that is, to NOT having voting representation in the House of Representatives, two voting US Senators and statehood? Yes No

Do you hereby give your consent to being governed without voting participation by representatives you have elected to the legislative branch of national government? Yes No

Finally, would you give up these three rights in return for the permanent elimination of federal taxes? Yes No

BRAVO TO CITY OFFICIALS ARRESTED FOR SUPPORTING DEMOCRACY

Huzzah for those who got arrested! I'm sorry I couldn't be there; if they do it again, and I hope they will, I'll join them. I'm sic and tired of being a subject, not a citizen, and that's exactly what we are. Some really bad days, I feel like an indentured servant!

I've lived in Mexico City, where they had no trouble with voting representation for the Distrito Federal. Other capitals in the civilized world (such as it is), also and customarily have full representation. So the idea itself is not unheard of nor scandalous; folks, it's the denial that is.

I believe there are two kinds of provisions within the Constitution and the other founding documents (specifically the Declaration of Independence, in this case) – ones that deal with fundamental rights, and ot hers that are technical and administrative in nature. The second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence says it all, and should be honored as expressing the fundamental basis for the founding of our nation,"We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed...But when a long train of abuses and usurpations invariably pursuing the same Object evinces a design to reduce the under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty to throw off such Government and to provide new guards for their future Security."

Ladies and gentlemen, the Declaration of Independence says it all. Are we to ignore its words?

I think not. We are being governed without our consent, and we are clearly suffering a long train of abuses and usurpations on the hands of those who are governing us without our consent. I think it is long overdue that we seek an orderly way to throw off such government and to provide guards for our (present and) future security. What could be more fundamental to the definition of democracy then that it derives its just powers from the consent of the governed? We have not been asked and we have not given our consent – that is clear and not subject to denial. Let a Federal District be set up without population, and give the rest of the District to its residents as a State! Nothing less meets the test of requiring a governing body to derive its just powers from the consent of the governed, and nothing less should be tolerated. So be it.

A Rant on Bureaucracy and Citizen Expectations; A Record Wait

The western entrance to the alley behind my house has just been re-opened after having been closed since October. Yes, October. What happened, and what took them nearly a half a year to fix? Well, it seems that they managed to either find or break a leaking pipe while "fixing" the road at which the alley debouches. This was a hitherto-unknown 48" pipe. We are not talking about a tiny little pipe here, folks.

It's hard to believe that a pipe of such magnitude could be unknown to WASA. Surely, they should have known about it, given that it must be a working pipe. We know that, of course, because it was leaking. Okay, so they broke an unknown, working 48'' pipe. Not starting off well. It doesn't get better.

Why didn't they fix it right away? They said there was no money in the budget. Because this isn't exactly the first time that a hitherto-unknown pipe has been broken while a DC street is being fixed (uh oh, I used the wrong word - "fixed" doesn't seem to be the operating reality here) let's say "worked on", wouldn't they place a certain amount in the budget for, let's call them "contingencies"? Wouldn't that be good planning? I guess not.

And given that they had stalled working on it since last October, wouldn't you think that people in the community, possibly people with rear access to their dwelling places on that very alley might have noticed with some displeasure that the situation wasn't getting fixed and demanded a meeting to find out why and to call for swift action? It's a no-brainer that the surest way to encourage severel outrage on the part of an affected community is to ignore it.

In fact, more than four months after the alley was closed, a meeting finally took place and WASA's top brass came. Does it matter that the top brass didn't seem to know the area to begin with, and then compounded this error by putting up an incorrect slide which indicated that "everything" had already been done between Mass. Avenue and S Street? This writer and the rest of the audience thought so. Theoretically, "everything" would include the alley entrance, but that of course, was the reason for the meeting. The audience, wasn't pleased, as a reader might well imagine. WASA finally brought the meeting to a close by promising that it would fix the problem and re-open the alley entrance within two weeks.

At the very end of two weeks, the alley re-opened to great rejoicing. The rejoicing was destined to last only a hot moment, unfortunately.

We had been tricked once again! Within the WEEK , the very area where the alley opened onto 18th and New Hampshire is ONCE MORE is being torn up - this time for electrical conduit problems. At the meeting with WASA, the residents ask if any work by any road-ripping entity might happen any time soon that would cause the area to be torn up once again ? Of course they did. And WASA's answer - of course - was no. It took less than a week for WASA's answer to be nullified once again, and for the orange bumpers and jackhammers to reappear. They're still there.

Is there ANYONE competent out there guarding our streets? Apparently, the correct answer to this not-so-difficult question is - of course not.

I REMEMBER THE SOON-TO-BE DEMOLISHED GREAT GATSBY HOUSE WELL

I was so sorry to read that the Great Gatsby House in Sands Point, Long Island, is going to be torn down. You see, I know that house well. I grew up in the Village of Sands Point, a child of the 40s and 50s there. At that time, Sands Point was dotted with enormous older mansions, some of which were even then closed , due to the cost of heating and the spiraling rise of real estate values.

As kids, we used to rise our bikes down the many bridle paths that crisscrossed the woods behind the mansions. We would find an unlocked window, climb in and play Hide and Go Seek. We would post one child to latch out for police cars. If he spotted any, his job was to shout, "Cheese it, the cops!" We would dash to our bikes and pedal swiftly down the bridle paths into the woods, where a police car couldn't follow I didn't care that if the police had caught up with us, my father – who was both the Mayor of Sands Point and as a result also the Police Chief – would certainly have been notified, and all hell would have broken loose at home. We had such fun, it was worth the risk! In fact, we were respectful of the Gatsby mansion and the other mansions we played Hide and Go Seek in. No trash and no damage. Only memories.

I can't imagine today that children would be given the hours of unrestricted freedom that we enjoyed and considered to be our right as kids. It is a great shame that all these links to a storied past are being destroyed.. (Too bad Jackie Kennedy isn't with us today to lead a push to save them. For the most part, the old mansions remain only in the memories of people my age and older, and we are getting fewer, of course. Soon there will be no physical signs that these glorious buildings ever existed and that glamorous parties once took place there.) Only the book will remain, unfortunately

That long-gone life is so different from the life I have lived for many years in DC that it seems entirely alien. Tonight, my son-in-law, an architect in the US Navy, has been ordered to return to Cairo to restart work to expand a US Navy-supported research hospital on tropical diseases. He will leave behind my 5-month old granddaughter and his wife, my daughter Alisoun. Now that's today's reality!

I want to report that "Mr. Thief" pleaded guilty today to "unlawful entry" at 4:30 AM one early morning in December into a house the Meehan family has been renovating in the Mt. Vernon Square area . He and an accomplice were placing our expensive carpenter tools in a bag when the police dogs found Mr. Thief hiding - his accomplice managed to get away.

I listened to Mr. Thief's lawyer as he explained to the judge that Mr.Thief, who lives about one block away, was simply looking for a warm place to stay when the police dogs found him. (I was, of course, checking to see how long the lawyer's nose was going to expand as he portrayed Mr. Thief as just in need of a little nap.) In fact, Mr. Thief was burgling an inhabited house; our carpenter crew was saving money and time by spending the night there. They called us to report that burglars were in the house; we reported it immediately to the MPD and drove over in three minutes to see what would happen.

Mr. Thief's lawyer never explained why or how it was that in search of warmth and safety in the pitch-black night, Mr. Thief chose to climb a 25 foot scaffold and break into our house. Wouldn't his home, one block away, have been a safer and more comfortable choice? He certainly didn't find a good place to try out in terms of warmth, as our building has no central heat yet; the plumbing work is still in progress. So there must have been another reason...

Maybe it was athletic record-seeking. Given that it was pitch black and that his own lawyer admitted that Mr. Thief was flying high on PCP while breaking in, it seemed to Mme. Magpie that the courtroom had just heard about a true athletic feat. How exciting! Surely the lawyer should have called one or more of our local sports TV channels to brag about this Olympic-quality climbing and entering event that had occurred. Perhaps his lawyer should submit this effort to the Guinness Book of Records for consideration! Let's Call it the Tallest Climb to Break and Enter while Totally Smashed on PCP. That might be a whole new category for future consideration by Mr. Thief, to occur at sites yet to be chosen other sites in the neighborhood.

Mr. Thief's lawyer also deserves recognition as someone who fully grasps the distinction between truthfulness and honesty, and consistently goes for the former, not the latter, provided he is shielded from legal repercussions. Not much shame there!

It seems that Mr. Thief has a honking-big local record of misdemeanors (breaks-ins, thievery and some more robust crimes as well - at least one felony) . As this record extends back for several decades according to the judge, maybe he has been in training for a good while. He should be getting pretty ripped and fit by now, especially considering that PCP can give its users strength much greater than a user would otherwise have. Maybe that's why climbing straight up 25 feet of scaffolding and then breaking a window and entering even though people were sleeping in the building were so easy and natural for him. Mr. Thief's lawyer did not mention that achievement. Nor did his lawyer mention even a single word about the swag bag he left, filled with stolen tools; do you suppose they were to used as a pillow? Too big and too bulky to take the place of a feather pillow, but excellent for adding more swash and buckle to his Guinness-level feat.

His lawyer did mention that he had been drug-free since February. It sounded pretty grand - three whole weeks! As Mme. Magpie served for 15 years a this city's Patient Advocate for all persons in substance abuse treatment, I was pleased – but not exactly thrilled. Knowing he had a court case coming up and that what his urine test showed would affect the judge's ruling could only have a beneficial, if temporary, effect on his potential for long-term sobriety.

But it doesn't seem that he's going to be away from the neighborhood long enough to make much of a dent in his habit. At least that is my professional experience. A more heavy-duty sentence, rather longer than those so often handed out to traffic-ticket offenders, would be more likely to bring about a conversion to sobriety. But we can all hope, can't we?! And shouldn't we, because he's going to be right back among us before the first forsythia bush blooms.

Let the neighborhood be warned, (if his history is news to you), that Mr. Thief's display of strength, pilferage and thievery can commence once again only thirty days from today. We should expect to learn of other attempts and successes when Mr. Thief gets out in thirty days, for that is all the time that he was sentenced to. He will not be allowed to enter our property at all, so he is likely to visit other neighborhood houses in search of a nearby, close-in, warm place to snuggle in, as his lawyer painted it - or to rob and loot, as this neighbor had the bad luck to underwrite. We are likely to see a lot of Mr. Thief, even before the weather gets spring-like. Do get ready. After all, justice seems to have gotten lost today. Or forgotten.

THE LAST GUN BATTLE OF STAB ALLEY NEEDS A PLAQUE

The street where I still live had a different moniker when my husband and I first moved there in 1969. While our block was officially named Corcoran Street, it was then part of the inner city, and the scene of a considerable variety of unsavory criminal activities. It was known to the local felonious set unofficially, if not in the eyes of the Post Office, as Stab Alley. Enough lawless actions were going on for it to have earned its nickname. Luckily, I was not afraid of Stab Alley. I loved its vibrancy, its gaminess and most especially, its nickname.

One early summer morning, I was minding my children – ­a toddler boy and a baby girl – when I heard sharp, popping noises. I went to investigate their source and character, carefully clutching the baby to my chest. In this still dangerous neighborhood, such a sound could mean almost anything, but my urban experience suggested a gun fight, possibly a battle of significant proportions!

My excitement mixed with a smidge of fear as I looked out my back window to check out what was happening. The action quickly became clear; the MPD was mounting a significant gun battle against The Man Who Lived Next Door and Who Was Running an Illegal Numbers Racket out of his garbage lid. Quickly, I called my husband at work and stuck my phone out the window so he could share in the full flavor of whatever was going to happen.

Until the week before the incident, I had not known why there was so much activity at that garbage can. I had just found out that this garbage lid was the recipient of a striking amount of passerby attention because it was the deposit and collection point for a large numbers operation, a pastime common to the Inner City at that time. Many of the shabby men who slipped through our alley daily, and who occasionally appeared at our back door to beg a sandwich or a glass of something cold to drink were steady customers of the Numbers Man. The police, too, had just found out.

The recipient of the police action was indignant, and clearly not of an inclination to surrender peacefully or quietly. He pulled out his own shotgun, and began to accentuate his indignation with lively shotgun bursts though his front door. And then his back door. The police responded in kind, but were apparently no better marksmen than he.

In this best of all possible worlds, no one was killed or even wounded, but when it was over, the neighborhood changed forever. The number games racket ceased to exist here, soon to be replaced by high stakes speculation in real estate. Yuppies found Corcoran and began to buy on the block. Gentrification set in inexorably and wiped Corcoran clean of its lively history.

My husband and I have now lived here longer than anyone else, and we think it is a shame for our street to have lost its former infamous nickname. The house that once lodged the numbers racket in its garbage can lid is now a quiet residence for out-of-town actors playing at the Source Theatre. To our knowledge, I am now the only person still alive who actually knows where the bullet holes of the Last Gun Battle of Stab Alley are lodged. This history deserves a plaque.

All ANCs Should Hold Sidewalk Shoveling Forums

Let's face it - the regs on the books regarding sidewalk snow removal are irrelevant and unenforceable. We need a whole new approach. The City isn't going to take care of this matter, so let's bring it to a level where something worthwhile could actually get done. ANC-based neighborhood forums on how to help ourselves would go a long way to helping Washingtonians dig out after future snowfalls. The ANCs are well-set up to handle this kind of thing and the size of area of concern is about the right size, too. As a former ANC Commissioner myself, I know that the community needs some serious attention to be paid to this important issue.

What we have traditionally done, and what doesn’t work well, is to try to go it alone. As it is now, each new snowfall is a new event, unrelated to any other - no cooperation, no memory. Not good. Each snowstorm comes as a big surprise to us, and we think that we'll handle it by ourselves and as we see fit. That really is a lousy approach and needs to change! Everyone who lives or works here has a longterm interest in making sure that sidewalk snow removal is handled efficiently and speedily. City government, local residents, business and community groups, property owners, tenants and lessees, everyone has a mutual interest and need to keep sidewalks clear. It seems hardly necessary to have to point out this mutuality of interest, but taking the next step – to develop actions plans together that could address these mutual needs on a block-by-block basis for an entire winter snow season – can hardly be over-supported.

Now that Snowmageddon has gotten stale and dirty, (even if it hasn’t yet disappeared), but before we've forgotten about it, it’s time to take a look at ways we could more easily make it through any further blizzards Mother Nature (an oxymoron if there ever was one!) may choose to hurl in our path. Individualists that we Americans are, we have not made significant use of available neighborhood-based group activities in the face of horrendous weather. This has left the politicians free to respond fairly ineptly without much in the way of repercussion. Surely that alone must leave us unsatisfied! Nor can we be entirely satisfied with how homeowners, lessees and tenants, in residential and commercial areas, have responded. While some responded heroically, others did nothing, certain that they would not be penalized. Because what seems fair in terms of shoveling has varied so much and has required little if any joint effort, sidewalk cleaning responses have in too many cases been ineffective and even infuriating.

We can do better, folks. We can organize, and we can plan. Washingtonians are good at that. It may be a first time we've ever made ANC-wide, season-long plans for dealing with winter weather, but it is long overdue. We can come up with many better ways to manage than what we have been doing until now.

NOTE: Our plans need to cover an entire winter season. Let’s accept once and for all that snow, ice, having to shovel and dig ourselves out cannot be counted on happening only once a year. If we could count on that, perhaps we could get away without a solid plan, but we still would be a lot more uncomfortable than we need to be.

To handle winter well, we have to be ready to respond at planned levels over an entire winter season. Our plan needs to be flexible enough to handle a range of winters, whether it be a warmish winter with only one big storm or a winter that keeps pounding us. Let’s start right now, because winter isn’t over yet by any means.

SHOVELING NEEDS AND SERVICES – FOR THE COMMUNITY, FOR INDIVIDUALS. FOR THE WHOLE WINTER

ANCs need to work at developing local plans to provide, over an entire winter season, locally-owned equipment and locally-staffed shoveling services on a timely and cost-effective basis to both businesses and residents. These cooperative shoveling agreements will need to cover an entire winter season. This would go far to make snowfalls less hazardous. It's overdue for business and community organizations of all kinds to start working together on a season-long snow plan.

Good planning starts asking the right questions. Here are a couple of general questions that need to be raised, as plans are being developed, followed by some more specific ones.

GENERAL QUESTIONS:

What should the city do and what should we be doing in terms of creating pedestrian pathways? We know that there are certain actions for which the City does bear responsibility. They include

• Cleaning up the sidewalks in front of its own property

• taking care of sidewalks at street intersections

• plowing entrances to alleys in such a way that they can be crossed by pedestrians

• cleaning sidewalks when property owners or lessees or persons in charge, don’t do itl (Hell will freeze over before this happens, of course!)

According to City Code, property owners,tenants, lessees and “persons in charge” (i.e., whoever is “in control” of the property) are equally responsible for cleaning sidewalks and taking care of hazardous tree conditions within 8 sunlit hours of the ceasing of a snow fall. it’s that simple. Practically speaking that means – at the absolute latest – no later than sundown two days after a late day snowfall. Or is it really so simple? How do we get more cooperation when those “persons in control” don’t do what they’re supposed to do?

•What are reasonable expectations of the business and residential communities in terms of speediness and thoroughness of shoveling? Leaving aside the City Code, what needs to be done, by whom, how well and how quickly? Can we work this out for the entire winter season?

•What can and should residential areas consider to be their responsibility, and equally importantly, what can and should commercial areas consider to be their responsibility? Are these levels of responsibility the same, and if not, how do they differ? Does responsibility stay at a constant level, or does it vary as time elapses after a snowfall? When and how can we be satisfied with what we have done, and what could we do better next time?

• Who needs shoveling help and can’t afford to do it? Who or what organization can take the lead job of identifying such people? What are fair criteria for getting placed on such a list, How will we reach them to let them know that help is available? One we have such a list, what will the ANCs do to get those who need help the help they need? And how will we make the help safe for those doing the work, ans well as for those receiving the aid?

•Can a useful list of critical sidewalks be developed? How would this be done fairly? If you made such a list, how would it be used? ? How do we want to handle snow shoveling of critical sidewalks - do we make others wait while we get the critical ones cleaned first?

Some specific questions to think about in developing a plan could include:

• Are there any existing plans for cooperative sidewalk snow shoveling? Do any local business organizations have an overall snow plan? If so, what is it? What does it include and what does it leave out - for instance, have any businesses united to buy shoveling services?

• Are there any similar plans in place in residential areas? What’s out there? Would the ANC be willing to do a survey to find this out?

• How can the needs of persons with disabilities be handled fairly and adequately? (This has been an entirely unaddressed area, and deserves recognition as a real problem; persons in wheelchairs or with crutches, for example, are pretty much totally confined inside, as sidewalks are seldom shoveled widely enough to enable them to emerge safely or even at all.)

• Where can we find reliable and reasonably-priced, locally-available shoveling services? How do we find this out? What local community-based organizations can provide help, and how can we make use of their services?

•is anybody willing to share (or loan or rent) existing equipment? Is there any local private or public organization that could share its existing equipment on an as-needed basis? If so, could a formalized and systematic arrangement be developed? Is there some place where people could donate and borrow shoveling equipment? What would the cost of warehousing and stockpiling be, and what about bonding and insurance? Would these be needed,and if so, would they be prohibitive?

• What’s a fair price for digging out sidewalks? Should it vary depending on terrain and size, age, weight and iciness of the snow, the amount of usage that sidewalk gets, or only by the ability of its owners/ lessees to pay? At what point should the sweeper get paid?

• Would the local business community be willing to go in together on buying snow-blowing equipment, paying to hire some kind of service to take care of sidewalks for an entire winter season, or organizing employees to jointly shovel? is a plan to buy snow-blowing equipment realistic? Would business areas be receptive to doing this? Would community-based organizations be willing to consider this as well for use in residential areas?

• What are the local sources for snow-clearing materials? Where do residents and businesses buy their snow-clearing needs? Could these businesses be asked to get together to provide a plan that would have enough assets to cover the winter? It's not easy to shovel when the hardware store runs out of shovels within a day, and doesn't re-supply quickly.

• How can alleys be made more accessible, given that a wall of snow engendered by a plow is a terrible setback to car owners? Is there some way to flatten the snow in the alley without making these walls?

• How do we handle dog poop when trash collection has essentially ceased? Is it fair for homeowners to find little blue bags or even worse, unbagged poop thrown onto their shoveled snow banks? That has been happening, and it just isn’t acceptable behavior.

BRINGING THE ISSUE TO THE PUBLIC

While only the District Government can issue a fine for non-shoveled sidewalks, and most likely will not do so, there are other ways of making an effective protest.One of the most galvanizing tools is the threat of public shame, or conversely the pleasure of public approval. When businesses were made aware that if they didn’t make a real effort to shovel that their lack of effort would be written up and published on the web, they hopped to it quickly and effectively. They didn’t want their lack of effort made public, at all, and quickly took care of the problem.

Praise is just as effective a tool, and businesses that did a good job of cleaning up were cited positively on the Web. Those businesses swiftly made this information public. Moral? A carrot and a stick both have their place, especially when the results are certain to be made public.

FINAL THOUGHTS

If we can organize quickly and highly effectively for an enormous snowball fight, surely we can use the same communications methods to help us deal with more seriously needed forms of labor – digging ourselves, our neighbors, our communities and businesses out of snow on an ongoing basis throughout the winter. Let’s give it a try. If we succeed, we’ll be much better prepared to develop and carry out plans on how the community can best react should there at some time be a serious incident involving danger to our homes or the city as a whole. Living in the District, we know it is wise to be prepared. Shovel away, fellow citizens!

Getting Caught Up: First; SNOW REGS –First and last word

Given that snow removal is just about all that anyone is talking about these days, Mme. Magpie thought you might make good use of her thoughts on how the regs do or do not work in actuality, and accompanied by the ACTUAL CODE ITSELF. That should end some arguments,!

OVERALL REQUIREMENTS – . DC Code requires that sidewalks be cleaned within eight hours of the end of a snowfall. It doesn’t care who does it – it simply requires that the job to be taken care of, quickly and safely. It hopes you will want to do the right thing. And if you don’t, it will do the job and sue you.

Of course, the certainty of disapproval and anger by neighbors forced to make use of uncleared and dangerous sidewalks ought to be an even greater spur to doing the right thing than the failure to adhere to city code. And whether the City is going to clear and sue if you don’t do the job is unclear, unspecified – and unsupported in city history. At least, on paper, it has a requirement to do so.

RESPONSIBILITY - Who is responsible for the cleaning? The city’s broom sweeps wide here (pun, pun) It does not limit this requirement to owners; tenants, occupants, lessees or even “otherwise” are all included in this requirement. The key words are “in charge or in control” The specific language reads as follows: (The words below in bold are ones which are defined in the code.)

DC ST § 9-601 (Snow) Removal from sidewalks by owner or occupant of abutting property.

It shall be the duty of every person, partnership, corporation, joint-stock company, or syndicate in charge or control of any building or lot of land within the fire limits of the District of Columbia, fronting or abutting on a paved sidewalk, whether as owner, tenant, occupant, lessee, or otherwise, within the first 8 hours of daylight after the ceasing to fall of any snow or sleet, to remove and clear away, or cause to be removed and cleared away, such snow or sleet from so much of said sidewalk as is in front of or abuts on said building or lot of land.

ALTERNATIVES - What if you are facing fifty feet of solid ice because you waited too long and it is just too much and too dangerous? Are there any alternatives? Yes, there are – at least temporarily. If you can’t remove it because of ” hardening”, you still have to make it reasonably safe for travel. You will have to put out sand or ashes within eight hours, and then clean up as soon as possible. The specific language reads as follows: (The words in bold are defined in the code.)

DC ST § 9-604. Temporary use of sand and ashes.

In case the snow, sleet, and ice cannot be removed from so much of the paved sidewalks within the fire limits of the District of Columbia as front upon or abut such buildings or lots of land as are not owned or held by lease by the District of Columbia or the United States without injury to said sidewalks, because of the hardening thereof, the person, partnership, corporation, joint-stock company, or syndicate in charge or control of such buildings or lots of land, whether as owner, tenant, occupant, lessee, or otherwise, shall, within the first 8 hours of daylight after the same has formed, make reasonably safe for travel, or cause to be made reasonably safe for travel, by the sprinkling of sand or ashes thereon, said sidewalks, and shall, as soon thereafter as the weather shall permit, thoroughly clean said sidewalks.

IF YOU DON’T CLEAN, WILL THE CITY? - It says it will. The City has the duty of removing snow if those in charge or control don’t do it. The Code doesn’t say what part of the City Government will be responsible for identifying, reporting, ranking or cleaning untouched sidewalks, but DDOT seems like the logical agency. (Perhaps ANCs could be asked to give the city some help in identifying and ranking critical neighborhood paths. ) The specific language reads as follows: (The words below in bold are ones defined in the code.)

DC ST § 9-605 Failure of owner or occupant to remove--Removal by Mayor.

In the event of the failure of any person, partnership, corporation, joint-stock company, or syndicate to remove or cause to be removed such snow or ice from the saidsidewalks, or to make the same reasonably safe for travel, or cause the same to be made reasonably safe for travel, as hereinbefore provided, it shall be the duty of the Mayor of the District of Columbia, as soon as practicable after the expiration of the time herein provided for the removal thereof, or for the making of the saidsidewalks reasonably safe for travel, to cause the snow and ice in front of such building or lot of land to be removed or to cause the same to be made reasonably safe, as hereinbefore directed to be done by such person, partnership, corporation, joint-stock company, or syndicate in charge or control of such building or lot of land, and the amount of the expense of such removal or such work of making the said sidewalksreasonably safe for travel, shall in each instance be ascertained and certified by the said Mayor to the Corporation Counsel of the District of Columbia.

CONSEQUENCES – If the City does end up cleaning up the mess, the code says it will sue the owner or occupant for the cost and add a $25 penalty.

Not one of the world’s more terrifying penalties, and who knows if the city will actually do any of this? Probably nothing will happen if no cleaning is done – unless someone falls and is badly hurt after the eight hours has passed. And bad publicity ensues. Then it just might. It’s better to do the right thing to begin with. The specific language on consequences reads as follows:

DC ST § 9-606. Failure of owner or occupant to remove - Suit to recover cost.

The Corporation Counsel is hereby directed and authorized to sue for and recover from such person, partnership, corporation, joint-stock company, or syndicate, the amount of such expense in the name of the District of Columbia, together with a penalty not exceeding $25 for each offense, with costs, and when so recovered the amount shall be deposited to the credit of the District of Columbia.