Barnett ticked off a long list of improvements in public services and management reform, including 15,000 new parking meters, 4,000 new street signs and 800 nuisance properties recently boarded up. But she acknowledged her optimism is cautious.

"The city is still in a fragile state in terms of its recovery," she said. "We have to capture the momentum that has started."

Residents questioned Barnett about areas in which public services still seemed poor, such as tree maintenance, mowing, illegal dumping and alley cleaning. Barnett, in a style that has become her trademark, gave out agency phone numbers, including her own, and had staff write down locations of specific problems. Barnett said she hopes to create a "one-stop" phone number for all service calls to Department of Public Works, linked to the department’s internal work order system.

But not all problems had easy answers.

When one resident suggested that the "anarchy" at 14th Street and Constitution Avenue NW and other busy intersections could be tamed by installing more traffic signals, Barnett replied that the District already has more traffic signals per capita than nearly any other major city.

Others wanted to know more about Barnett’s role in city government.

"Who reports to you, who do you report to, and how long is this arrangement going to last?" one person asked.

Barnett said she is directly responsible to the five-member financial control board under a five-year contract. As far as the agencies she oversees, the answer was more complicated. Police Chief Charles Ramsey oversees police, Superintendent Arlene Ackerman oversees schools, Mayor Marion Barry oversees recreation and parks, and public housing and foster care are held by federal receiverships. D.C. General Hospital, the Water and Sewer Authority and the University of the District of Columbia are independent agencies. That leaves Barnett everything else, she explained.

Residents also were interested in care for the city’s mentally ill and homeless. Little was being done at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital because "there’s no money to fix anything," Barnett said.

Guests at the luncheon also wanted to know if morale among rank-and-file city employees has improved.

"Morale is mixed," Barnett replied. "In some places, there’s new energy and a lot more hope. In others, people are skeptical."

Copyright 1998, The Common Denominator