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Taking note . . .

Observations about public affairs in the nation’s capital
by the editor of The Common Denominator

TRANSITIONAL GOVERNMENT: Add the Department of Public Works to the growing list of D.C. government agencies being operated by interim directors. April 16 was DPW Director Leslie Hotaling’s last day, after announcing her impending retirement a few months ago. Stepping in, at least temporarily, to fill her shoes is Bill Howland. Howland has been chief of staff to the deputy mayor for operations since 2002 and, before that, was deputy director of the Department of Human Services.

Howland, who lives in Shepherd Park, ran into yours truly April 15 at a neighborhood meeting and says he’s in the running for the permanent post at DPW. The mayor has launched another one of those ubiquitous, and costly, "national" searches to find a permanent DPW director.

Meanwhile, Howland’s previous supervisor, Deputy Mayor for Operations Herb Tillery, is filling in temporarily to direct another department without a permanent leader – is it the Department of Health? We’re starting to lose track of the musical chairs being played in the Williams administration.

It’s somehow not surprising, in this context, that D.C. Superior Court Judge Herbert B. Dixon Jr. on April 15 found the D.C. government in contempt – essentially for not complying with previous contempt orders – for its continuing failure since 1986 to correct serious problems in performance by the Department of Human Services’ Youth Services Administration. It’s notable that Marceline Alexander has been charged by City Administrator Robert Bobb with preparing a work plan in response to the judge’s order in her capacity as interim director of the Youth Services Administration, which runs the Oak Hill youth reformatory in suburban Maryland.

In an area that the mayor doesn’t control – yet – there’s also a major transition this week. Interim D.C. Public Schools Superintendent Elfreda Massie’s last day on the job is April 22. She will return to her former employer, education materials producer Harcourt Achieve, where she will become the company’s vice president for strategic alliances. Stepping in as the new interim superintendent will be Interim Chief Academic Officer Robert Rice.

The school board, mayor and city council continue their triumvirate "national search" for a new permanent superintendent – or maybe, if the mayor gets his way, the position will be called "chancellor."

FIGHTING CRIME: Top Metropolitan Police officials and City Administrator Robert Bobb gave residents of the Shepherd Park-Takoma area a preview of some new crime-fighting initiatives in the works during a community meeting sponsored by Ward 4 Councilman Adrian Fenty on April 15.

Among the programs, according to Bobb, is one called "Project Exile." Under the program, anyone committing a crime with a gun in the District would be "exiled" to federal prison (which houses most D.C. felons) for five years.

"We have to make the District of Columbia a very unfriendly place for people coming here to commit crimes," Bobb said.

Another program, scheduled to operate May through September, is Police Chief Charles Ramsey’s "Summer Crime Initiative." Ramsey said all seven police district commanders are expected to deliver a draft plan to him by May 1 for stanching warm-weather crime trends before they get out of hand.

"We want to get a jump on it this year and not get behind like we did last year," Ramsey said.

Unlike last summer’s "crime emergency," during which the chief created controversy by suspending a portion of the police union’s contract that concerned scheduling, Ramsey said this year’s initiative "won’t require suspending the contract."

Assistant Chief Ronald Monroe, who commands the police department’s operations in the District’s northern region, said police are preparing five cars to become part of a new "Bait Car Program" to catch auto thieves. The cars, among the models most commonly stolen, will be equipped with remote controls that will allow officers who are monitoring them to trap thieves inside them.

"Once they’re in the car, we lock them in the car, immobilize the car, and we come and arrest them," Monroe said. "Everything they do is filmed"

He called the program "a lot safer" than the high-speed car chases that sometimes result from efforts to catch car thieves.

"The one thing we’d still like to do is play ‘Bad Boys’ when we lock the car," Monroe said, referring to the theme from the television program "Cops. "

Monroe’s comment drew laughter from the nearly 100 residents attending the meeting – a rare light moment for neighborhood crime meetings, at which D.C. police often hear only criticism.

MOVING UP: The District’s non-voting congressional representative, Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, has been named a vice chair of the Platform Committee for the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Norton, who has previously served as a member of the committee that drafts the national political party’s official position statement, said that the honor signals "increased visibility and commitment of national Democrats to full democracy" for D.C. residents.

Copyright 2004, The Common Denominator