See the variety of DC’s visual art at the Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery at Smith Farm Center today through Wednesday, August 25, 2010. The free exhibit features work by Washington artists applying for DC Arts Commission fellowships. This is a chance to see the latest painting, prints, photos and drawings by some of our favorites (Rex Weil, Rik Freeman, Roderick Turner, Elaine Langerman, Alec Simpson) as well as emerging artists. Sample works are on view here.
The District of Columbia Council voted down a proposal to tax sugar-sweetened beverages, but turned around and passed a bill extending the city’s 6 percent sales tax to all “non-alcoholic beverages with natural or artificial sweeteners.”
The original proposal would have added 10 to 60 cents to the price of containers of full-sugar soda, punch or sports drink. The new bill taxes all sweetened beverages, even diet sodas without sugar. If it passes the final vote, the new tax would be easier to administer and will raise revenue, but it will not be the disincentive to sugar consumption the original bill sought to create. Sugary drinks contribute to obesity, a major American health problem.
Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
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Washington DC’s transportation department is considering implementing an all-way pedestrian crossing signal at Chinatown’s main intersection, 7th and H Streets NW. Traffic lights would stop all vehicles, and pedestrians would be allowed to cross in any direction, even diagonally.
This “Barnes Dance ” or “Barnes Walk” pattern is named after Henry A. Barnes (1907 – 1968), who popularized the system as NYC Traffic Commissioner. He also worked in Baltimore.
As DC considers the system, Denver, the first city to implement it, may dump it.
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The Council of the District of Columbia voted unanimously to make marijuana available to chronically ill patients in Washington, DC. In a cosmic coincidence, the action took place on April 20th, World Marijuana Day. Heavy. The Council will take a final vote on the measure later this month.
It’s not called “All About Barry.” The report by Robert S. Bennett and Amy R. Sabrin is entitled “Council of the District of Columbia Contracts and Grants.” Among the findings:
In the view of Special Counsel, the current form of Council earmarking is not a sound method for appropriating public funds. It effectively permits each Member to designate individual programs for funding on an ad hoc basis without prudently establishing spending priorities. Council Members, moreover, are understandably not equipped to fully and carefully vet individual grantees, and the legislative “logrolling” inherent in the earmark appropriations process inhibits thorough scrutiny of proposed grant recipients. The informal method by which grantees are selected clearly does not ensure that public funds go to the best or most effective organizations to deliver the intended services or accomplish the stated goals of the grant.
While Federal offices and suburban schools will open two hours late today, DC Schools and government started on time. How do we know? The Mayor and School Chancellor proclaimed it.
The thousands of DC workers and students you saw stranded in snowbanks, huddled at bus stops, stuck in traffic, and crushed together on subway platforms are obviously products of your imagination. Many District Government employees live in “Ward 9,” suburban Prince Georges County, and can’t stroll in to work.
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The District of Columbia’s new nickel tax on disposable grocery bags is over a week old and seems to be going fairly smoothly. Some retailers even offer shoppers a discount for bringing their own bags. Portland, Toronto, and other ecology-minded jurisdictions are jealous.
There is some whining, or course, and a few extremists waste gas and contribute to Virginia’s treasury by driving to Old Dominion supermarkets to save a few nickels on “paper or plastic.” Virginia collects tax on grocery purchases, surely the most regressive tax in the USA.
There are plenty of businesses and organizations offering free or cheap reusable shopping bags, but little knowledge about their upkeep and maintenance. Time to look under the hood.
The District of Columbia Government is starting an awareness campaign to prepare citizens for January 1st, when the new five-cent shopping bag tax goes into effect. The law is meant to discourage use of disposable bags and reduce the amount of trash that clogs storm drains and the Anacostia River.
Take-out food orders are exempt, but dog owners will need to buy rolls of biodegradable poop bags to clean up after Fido. Hey, stop grumbling about pennies. Everybody knows that children are for people who can’t afford dogs.
Something the law does not take into account: shopping bag antagonism. If you don’t know what that is, carry your limited-edition reusable Whole Foods canvas totes (designed by Cheryl Crow) into Food Lion. People will assume you are a snob who is just slumming. Or carry a pair of nylon Safeway bags into Trader Joe’s. Shoppers and clerks will regard you as an interloper unworthy of the gourmet goodies. The truly cool will use handmade bags or baskets, trumping everyone.
DC Council Chairman Vincent Gray has done a brave and sensible thing by eliminating councilmember earmarks from the FY2010 District of Columbia budget. But what DC Government really needs is earmark abolition.
Earmarks are no-bid contracts in the nonprofit sector, and they undercut the city’s competitive grant programs and bidding practices. Earmarks reward the politically-connected, not the best-qualified. Councilmembers and staff do not have the expertise or time to assess the merits of each earmarked grant or knowledge of competing alternatives. The Barry earmarks are exhibit A.
But look at the arts and cultural grants the Council awarded for FY 2010 before they were erased from the budget. The $31 million in Council arts earmarks totaled nearly 4 times the entire FY 2010 budget of the D.C. Commission on Arts and Humanities. Why bother filling out a DCCAH grant application and putting it through competitive peer-panel review and Commission approval for a possible 4 or 5 -figure grant when your councilmember can get you more money without any paperwork?
July is National Cell Phone Courtesy Month, and no one celebrates it like Ward Eight Councilmember Marion Barry. In conjunction with that paragon of proper deportment, Mike DeBonis of the Washington City Paper, former DC Mayor Barry provides us with suave strategies for tricky digital ettiquette in situations unforseen by Cell Phone Courtesy Month founder Jacqueline Whitmore.
Ms. Whitmore’s Protocol School of Palm Beach provides executive ettiquette coaching to enhance personal and business relationships, but only Mr. Barry can show how to finesse females by phone after you have locked them out of your hotel room for not coming across during the historic 2008 National Democratic Convention. For while candidate Barack Obama was telling delegates “Yes We Can,” Donna Watts-Brighthaupt told Mr. Barry “No I won’t!” so he locked her out of their room at the Denver Crowne Plaza.
How does a gentleman atone for such a faux pas? Mr. Barry suggests sending gifts of government contracts in lieu of flowers.
Ladies: Ms. Watts-Brighthaupt suggests archiving your cell phone recordings.
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