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ARTICLE 1 - NAME
The name of this political party shall be District of Columbia Independents for Citizen Control, and will be abbreviated or stated in our bylaws and elsewhere as DCICC. DCICC will be representative of duly registered District of Columbia voters who register through the District of Columbia Board of Elections and Ethics as members of District of Columbia Independents for Citizen Control political party. DCICC will not be representative of voters who define themselves, or are registered as, independent or "no party" as in independent or unaffiliated with any political party. DCICC is representative of voters who become DCICC party members and espouse specific political and socioeconomic beliefs and principles as defined herein.
ARTICLE 2 - PURPOSES
The purposes of the DCICC are: a) to organize and maintain an official and effective political organization for voters in the District of Columbia; b) to promote the principles, objectives and platform of the DCICC as outlined in Article 7, Sections 1-3; c) to secure the public election of all duly nominated DCICC Independent candidates; d) to initiate, assist and coordinate DCICC activities in the District of Columbia; e) to engage in fund raising for the DCICC to support the activities stated above; and f) to engage in other activities that are reasonably necessary and proper to accomplish the aforementioned purposes of District of Columbia Independents for Citizen Control.
ARTICLE 3 - MEMBERSHIP
Section 1. General Members are duly registered District of Columbia voters who are members and non-elected officers of the DCICC. Executive Members are duly registered District of Columbia voters who are elected DCICC officers engaged in the administration of the DCICC. All voter registered with the DCICC shall be known as District of Columbia Independents for Citizen Control.
Section 2. The number of General Members in the DCICC shall be unlimited. General Members can be members of the DCICC indefinitely at their own choosing. General Members cannot be officially registered with any other political party. However, all DCICC members can embrace other political philosophies and the principles of other parties that are compatible, supportive and complementary to the Core Beliefs of the DCICC. Additionally, this embracement must never change, dilute or misdirect the full intent and content of any part of the DCICC Mission, Core Beliefs, Bylaws, Platform, or Principles at any time without full consent of the entire body of all DCICC General and Executive Members. General and Executive Members of the DCICC must be at least age 18 years old, legal United States citizens (without dual or multiple citizenships), full time District of Columbia residents, and not be a registered voter in any area outside the District of Columbia. District of Columbia Independents for Citizen Control does not, and will not, discriminate in its membership admission, administration or any membership activities based on ethnicity, economic status, gender, physical disability, religious beliefs, or sexual orientation. DCICC will be vigilant and consistent in the enforcement of this zero tolerance discrimination policy.
Section 3. Executive Members include the Chairperson, two Vice Chairpersons, eight Ward Chairpersons, four Ward Vice Chairpersons per ward, Secretary, Treasurer, General Counsel, two Citizen Advocates, and a Youth Advocate. Ward Chairpersons (currently 8 for the eight Wards of the District of Columbia) and Ward Vice Chairpersons (limited to 4 per ward) serve as public advocates and representatives for the specific concerns and needs of DCICC members residing in their Wards. Citizen Advocates serves as public advocates and representatives for non-DCICC members and citizens of the District. The Youth Advocate (minimum age 16) serves as the public advocate and representative for District citizens who are non-DCICC and DCICC members under the legal voting age of 18. Executive Members cannot be officially registered with any other political party, or be representatives for or participants in another political party. However, Executive Members and General Members can embrace other political philosophies and principles of other parties that are clearly compatible, complementary and supportive to the Mission, Core Beliefs, Platform and Principles of District of Columbia Independents for Citizen Control. Additionally, this embracement must never change, dilute or misdirect the full intent and content of any part of the DCICC Mission, Core Beliefs, Bylaws, Platform, or Principles at any time without full consent of the entire body of all DCICC General and Executive Members.
Section 4. Only DCICC General Members, with two years of DCICC membership, can present and elect candidates to fill vacancies among the Executive Members for the unexpired portion of any Executive Member's vacancy. Candidates for any Executive Member vacancy can only be presented and elected at a regular meeting or special meeting called for that purpose.
Section 5. The DCICC Chairperson, in consultation with three or more other Executive Members, shall serve as the official spokesperson for District of Columbia Independents for Citizen Control. All official public and media statements representing the DCICC will be presented by the Chairperson.
Section 6. (a) The DCICC will maintain a fully self-supporting Empowerment Fund to finance all necessary, and fully accountable, activities and expenditures that effectively sustain and grow the DCICC. (b) All members of the DCICC are encouraged, without obligation, to contribute money to the DCICC Empowerment Fund. (c) The Executive Members shall annually, by resolution, set the required total annual monetary contribution needed for the Empowerment Fund and the terms of payment, and shall provide each DCICC member with a published copy of all monies and assets acquired. (d) The Chairperson and Vice Chairpersons shall publish to all DCICC members the entire record of all expenditures made from monies or assets in the Empowerment Fund.
ARTICLE 4 - MEETINGS AND ELECTIONS
Section 1. General Member Meetings of the DCICC are held on the second and last Saturday of each month from 12:00 noon until 2:00 p.m. The Chairperson presides over all General Member meetings, and is assisted by other Executive Members. All Executive Members are required to attend all DCICC meetings.
Section 2. (a) Executive Member Meetings are held on the second Saturdays in January, March, May, July, September and November from 12:00 noon until 3:00 p.m., and as otherwise called in a manner consistent with these bylaws. General Members of the DCICC have the option, but are not required to attend every Executive Member Meeting. At least 50 General Members must be present before an Executive Member Meeting can commence. (b) However, if for any reason 50 General Members are not present for an Executive Meeting to commence, a commencement vote by at least 50 percent of the attending Executive Members can start a Meeting. All Executive Members are required to attend each Executive Member Meeting. Executive Members that are absent from three or more General Member or Executive Member Meetings each within a year are removed from their post and replaced through a special election by the Executive Members and at least 50 General Members. Executive Members can be officially removed from membership by a two-thirds majority of the General Membership.
Section 3. Election of Executive Members: A majority from the entire body of General Members shall elect Executive Member candidates every four years beginning in 2010. The founders of the DCICC will serve as the Executive Members until 2010 and will be eligible for re-election at that time. Executive Members can only serve a maximum of three consecutive or non-consecutive four-year terms for any Executive office, and must be DCICC members for two years before their first nomination. Only DCICC General Members can present and elect candidates to fill vacancies among the Executive Members for the unexpired portion of any Executive vacancy. Candidates for any Executive vacancy can only be presented, elected and filled at a regular meeting or special meeting called for that purpose. General Members seeking Executive Member election must be nominated by 50 other DCICC General Members, who have been DCICC members for two years, to be eligible as a candidate.
Section 4. At the end of a founder's Executive Membership eligibility for election, the Executive Member gains the title of Executive Advisor. The only responsibility of an Executive Advisor is to serve Executive and General Members in an advisory role on diverse DCICC matters. Executive Advisors have no official administrative duties in the ongoing affairs of the DCICC.
Section 5. When not inconsistent with the provisions of these bylaws, and excluding the commencement of meetings, Robert's Rules of Order (Newly Revised) shall govern all meetings of District of Columbia Independents for Citizen Control.
ARTICLE 5 - MEMBERSHIP REQUIREMENTS AND OBLIGATIONS
Section 1. No-Party voters, or registrants who have renounced their affiliation and participation with another political party in the District of Columbia, are eligible for DCICC membership. New General Members must at least 18 years old (except the Youth Advocate), be of good moral character consistent with the standards of the District of Columbia Board of Elections and Ethics and have registered with the DCICC at the Board. Members have the option to exercise leadership by regularly attending DCICC meetings, circulating primary election petitions, distributing general election campaign material on behalf of DCICC candidates, and disseminating diverse official DCICC information. All DCICC members are encouraged to support the DCICC Principles, Objectives, Platform, Core Beliefs and DCICC candidates who have been nominated in any District of Columbia election. DCICC members are not obligated to support any DCICC approved nominee for United States President, Vice President or other federal office as well as District of Columbia office. DCICC members have the option to exclusively support DCICC District of Columbia candidates of their choice.
Section 2. Any member wanting to make nominations from the floor during a General Meeting for a DCICC office or DCICC membership, as well as amendments, must notify the DCICC Secretary three business days (72 hours) before a General Meeting. The Secretary must be notified no less than three business days before a General Meeting about person(s) to be nominated, and for which office, at which balloting will occur. A notice must be in writing and signed by the nominator and nominee. The nominator and nominee must have been full and active DCICC General Members for at least two years before notifying the Secretary.
Section 3. Any General Member or Executive Member of the DCICC will be removed from membership or office for cause by a two-thirds collective majority vote of the General and Executive Members voting at any regular or special meeting of the DCICC. Public notice of any proposed removal action must be given to all DCICC Members. Causes for removal include malicious misrepresentation, solicitation for any special interest entity, misuse of assets, theft, intimidation, threat, or engagement in any illegal activity.
Section 4. All General and Executive Members must be legal United States citizens (without dual or multiple citizenships). Before assuming their membership and duties, Executive Members must take and subscribe to the following oath (which is the same as that taken by the Members of the Congress of the United States): "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the constitution of the United States against an enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of this office (membership) on which I am about to enter. So help me God."
ARTICLE 6 - AMENDMENTS TO BYLAWS
The bylaws of District of Columbia Independents for Citizen Control shall take effect and be in force immediately upon certification of the DCICC with the District of Columbia Board of Elections and Ethics. Thereafter, these bylaws may be amended by a majority vote from all current General and Executive Members present at a meeting called in accordance with Article 4, Section 2, of the bylaws. The details and reasons for any proposed amendment to the bylaws shall accompany the notice for the meeting at which action on the amendment to the bylaws is proposed.
ARTICLE 7 - PRINCIPLES, OBJECTIVES AND PLATFORM
Section 1. The Principles, in summary, of District of Columbia Independents for Citizen Control are:
1) the promotion and permanence of fully open government, 2) genuine fiscal accountability,
3) fully accountable spending of public revenue for actual public priorities, 4) long-term effective socioeconomic empowerment, and 5) truly democratic political access for every District of Columbia citizen. These principles, as such, are non-negotiable and permanent. Moreover, these principles and all related elements are sustained without compromise or favor.
Section 2. The Objectives of District of Columbia Independents for Citizen Control are to disseminate, promote and support or present candidates that adhere to the five-point Principles of the DCICC above, as well as effectively hold public officials and their agents fully accountable for its implementation through effective and good governance.
Section 3. The Platform of District of Columbia Independents for Citizen Control is overall, effective and good governance that enables genuine social and economic empowerment. This higher standard of governance is fiscally accountable and fully responsible to all citizens of the District of Columbia. Enabling genuine socioeconomic empowerment through truly democratic organization, access and action is our core purpose.
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We are the people’s political party of the District of Columbia, affirmed by a clear mission, core beliefs and principles, representing only the people’s interest — not special interests. We are the District of Columbia Independents for Citizen Control, an organized party of the D.C. electorate — certified by the District of Columbia Board of Elections and Ethics.
The DCICC was born from a simple, yet profound and necessary, need to ensure that our District of Columbia government — including every elected public official and servant or agent elected or appointed to it — is fully accountable to the rights, interests, priorities and control of District citizens. We affirm that only genuine and full accountability is the true foundation and standard of democracy, and the Constitutional authority of citizen control.
We are definitely not unidentifiable twist-in-the-wind swing voters serving as political pawns for anyone seeking election. We effectively believe, practice and are organized around very specific political, socioeconomic and fiscal principles. The DCICC will never support any candidate (independent, Independent or other), who does not adhere to our very specific mission, principles and 10 core beliefs related to truly accountable and genuine good governance, all rooted in actual socioeconomic and political empowerment for every District citizen. We never engage in activities that don't truly serve the best interests of D.C. citizens.
As a political party we cannot officially represent D.C. voters who identify themselves and register as no party (independent) voters, as listed by the District of Columbia Board of Elections and Ethics, and who are independent of any political party. However, DCICC fully respects and can accept the support of any District citizen. We also support the right of any District voter that prefers to not be affiliated with any political party or principles as a no party (independent) voter. We are encouraged by the increasing numbers of voters that truly understand, support and assist our mission. District of Columbia Independents for Citizen Control — founded, organized and operating on specific political, socioeconomic and fiscal principles — represent only registered District of Columbia voters who are registered members of DCICC. We shall be known as District of Columbia Independents for Citizen Control, founded on the Constitutionally sound principles of full citizen control of District of Columbia government, genuine fiscal accountability, fully open government and good governance by all elected D.C. public officials, appointed public servants, as well as publicly funded agencies and agents — “government of the people, by the people, for the people.”
District of Columbia Independents for Citizen Control (DCICC) is an active and registered political party approved by the District of Columbia Board of Elections and Ethics (DCBOEE: Administrative Hearing 07-002 — Memorandum Opinion and Order). The DCICC is the only citywide D.C. political party and organization exclusively and vigorously representing the common interests, goals and hopes of District citizens seeking genuine good governance, fiscal responsibility and full accountability through citizen control in the Nation's Capital. Simply, we are vigilant activists and advocates on behalf of the people’s interests.
District of Columbia Independents for Citizen Control actively promotes, enforces and adheres to a zero tolerance anti-discrimination policy. As such, the DCICC and its related entities do not (and will not) discriminate in any of its membership, administrative, electoral, organizational or partnership activities based on ethnicity, economic status, gender, physical disability, religious beliefs, sexual orientation or previous political affiliation.
DCICC is actively seeking and vetting District of Columbia citizens as political party officers, and are thoroughly representative of the eight wards and diverse communities within our city-state. Simply, if you desire to be an active advocate for good governance, genuine accountability, and sustainable socioeconomic empowerment for all District citizens, contact us. You must be a full-time D.C. resident and certified US citizen. Currently, there are numerous officer openings for ward chairperson and ward vice chairpersons. In this capacity, you will have a major responsibility as a key catalyst and activist for change at the ward and community level. Ward chairpersons and vice chairpersons engage diverse citizens, government officials, organizations, business leaders and other significant entities on behalf of the DCICC's mission to put citizens in full control of their communities. Your multiple rolls as a proactivist (aware, attentive and active on issues before they become a problem), activist and advocate for citizen control in your community will be the most significant factor making the difference between effective change — and little or no change.
In partnership with the DCICC's operations and activities is the District of Columbia Independents Committee (DCIC) — a political party committee whose purpose is to support and promote the Mission, Core Beliefs, Platform, Principles, and activities of the DCICC. The DCIC is registered with the District of Columbia Office of Campaign Finance.
In addition, the DCICC’s and DCIC’s foundation is strengthened by the fact that every D.C. government official, appointee and agent are in fact hired and paid employees of the people. Therefore, as affirmed in our nation’s Constitution, Bill of Rights, and Declaration, we the people are the rightful authority over every official activity, initiative, resource and entitlement of all public servants and services employed, initiated or funded by District of Columbia citizens. Effectively, we are the employers of our publicly paid officials and agents.
"Government of the people, by the people, for the people" will be our touchstone. Our primary mission is full District government accountability to every District of Columbia citizen. We are full time activists and advocates dedicated exclusively to the interests of District citizens. As such, unlike other political parties and organizations, District of Columbia Independents for Citizen Control will serve as vigilant and active representatives who fully, vigorously, consistently, comprehensively and exclusively protect the people’s interests — ensuring that full and effective D.C. government accountability and responsibility to District citizens is consistently respectful, competent, clear, and never compromised.
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 Dennis Moore
Chairperson
Dennis Moore campaigned in 2002 as an Independent D.C. mayoral candidate, and recently as the Progressive Republican candidate for District mayor during the 2006 elections. From his early years as a late 1960’s Harlem student rights activist, to a network radio national, international and United Nations news journalist-producer for 18 years — an adult education teacher, corporate communications specialist, and Internet entrepreneur over the last 16 years — he also uses his corporate, federal, and D.C. government public affairs expertise (Office of the Chief Financial Officer and DCPS) to advocate for systemic citizen control in the Nation’s Capital. He believes totally accountable District governance, genuine fiscal competence and effective socioeconomic empowerment are rooted in citizen control of all D.C. public policies. The 55 year old self-described ”proactivist” is also a father of two, grandfather of three, and husband of DCICC vice chairperson Miriam Moore. His truly abiding faith in the principles, purpose and power of our U.S. Constitution and true democracy is the foundation he uses to put ordinary people fully and effectively in charge of their government — and especially in charge of the people elected, appointed, hired, authorized and paid by citizens to manage it effectively. “The mission is to empower people, and truly effective results are the only bottom line,” he emphasizes.
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 Miriam Moore
Vice Chairperson
Miriam Moore has been an avid Independent since the 1980s, and ran as an Independent Ward 5 councilmember candidate during the 2006 District elections. She has been a career legal specialist in intellectual properties and patents for the last 23 years. Growing up in low income public housing in Bronx, New York City, in the 1960s and 70s — and becoming a high income intellectual property legal professional living in Brooklyn’s Park Slope — provided a broad and personal perspective on diverse urban issues, including gentrification. Her engaging observations and writings on effective community empowerment and urban policy affords Moore a strong sensitivity on issues about citizen control and local government accountability. The 43 year old vice chairperson, mother, and wife of DCICC chairperson Dennis Moore, is spearheading a proactive and long-term effort to bring District government effectively in line with the actual socioeconomic, genuine accountability and good governance priorities of diverse everyday D.C. citizens. She sees her role simply as a catalyst for the real change that thousands of longtime and newer District citizens have expected and invested in — and is most determined to ensure that all D.C. citizens have genuine oversight with measurable high returns on that investment. “Truly empowered citizens are the District’s greatest socioeconomic asset,” she regularly affirms.
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For the People and By the People
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Since our certification by the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics, DCICC has been actively recruiting and vetting diverse qualified candidates for Ward Chairpersons, Ward Vice Chairpersons, and other Executive Members. Executive Members and General Members of DCICC can embrace other political philosophies and principles of other parties that are clearly compatible, complementary, supportive and sustaining to the Mission, Core Beliefs, Bylaws, Platform and Principles of District of Columbia Independents for Citizen Control. The people are our greatest asset. We take great pride in our meticulous effort to attract ordinary clear minded District citizens who are self-empowered activists and advocates firmly focused on the common interests D.C. citizens, and our mission for citizen control.
As a political party we cannot officially represent D.C. voters who identify themselves and register as no party (independent) voters, as listed by the District of Columbia Board of Elections and Ethics, and who are independent of any political party. However, DCICC fully respects and can accept the support of any District citizen. We also support the right of any District voter that prefers to not be affiliated with any political party or principles as a no party (independent) voter. We are encouraged by the increasing numbers of voters that truly understand, support and assist our mission. District of Columbia Independents for Citizen Control — founded, organized and operating on specific political, socioeconomic and fiscal principles — represent only registered District of Columbia voters who are registered members of DCICC. We shall be known as District of Columbia Independents for Citizen Control, founded on the Constitutionally sound principles of full citizen control of District of Columbia government, genuine fiscal accountability, fully open government and good governance by all elected D.C. public officials, appointed public servants, as well as publicly funded agencies and agents — “government of the people, by the people, for the people.”
General and Executive Members of the DCICC must be at least age 18 years old, legal United States citizens (without dual or multiple citizenships), full time District of Columbia residents, and not be a registered voter in any area outside the District of Columbia. Youth Advocates, as non-Members, can be active participants in various DCICC activities if they are at least 16 years old. Youth Advocates are the DCICC foundation to the District’s future.
District of Columbia Independents for Citizen Control actively promotes, enforces and adheres to a zero tolerance anti-discrimination policy. As such, the DCICC and its related entities do not (and will not) discriminate in any of its membership, administrative, electoral, organizational or partnership activities based on ethnicity, economic status, gender, physical disability, religious beliefs, sexual orientation or previous political affiliation.
E-mail or call us if you want to be a full partner in making real change in D.C. governance — ensuring that all District public officials focus and work on the people’s priorities.
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Reality Check
Independent Insights About Life and Living In the District of Columbia
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Citizen Control of D.C. Schools
Empowers All of Our Children
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It is abundantly clear that newly elected mayor Adrian Fenty and certain members of t he D.C. Council want to diminish or effectively remove citizen (parent) control and oversight throughout our publicly funded school system. At the very least, this is a very dangerous assault on democracy and citizen control in the District of Columbia. Politics and politricks must end, and replaced with a truly empowered partnership of parent and teacher control — the most critical element missing in academic achievement over the last 20 years in D.C. This joint effort is effectively different from the "parent involvement" touted and never fully implemented or practiced by District of Columbia Public Schools and diverse D.C. government officials. A student-focused partnership expands academic achievement due to onsite real time oversight by the actual participants and beneficiaries in the school system — parents and teachers. In cities like New York, Chicago and elsewhere "best practices" are actually found at the community level where citizen control and initiatives are key elements for systemic and consistent academic success.
Even New York’s “best practices” model touted by mayor Fenty & Friends doesn’t work well for most New Yorkers, including the New York Times in a recent editorial. We may not get to talk to “Big Apple” parents and students or read the New York Times regularly — despite mayor Fenty’s self-serving selective references to mayor Michael Bloomberg’s public schools “takeover” model — you don’t need to travel north to realize this D.C. flavored scam of mayoral ambition and autocracy doesn’t even pass the reality test for keep-it-real New Yorkers.
Mayor Fenty should’ve taken the “A train” uptown to fully consult parents, educators, students and community officials at the prestigious Harlem Children’s Zone and Thurgood Marshall Academy. Beyond the obvious photo-opportunity tour of downtown New York City with “Big Apple” bigwigs, Fenty & Friends would have seen abundant certified evidence of “best practices” in modern urban education systems at work and effectively serving low to middle income families. Reading research papers by renown educator Pauline Lipman would also help in knowing the dangers of top-down autocratic public school control by politically motivated bureaucrats and their special interest handlers.
 The attempt by Fenty & Friends to use the US Congress to circumvent input and control by District citizens (democracy) is a bully tactic by local bureaucrats who fear genuine District government accountability. For all the talk about “bringing hope” to D.C. citizens about good governance and progress, public servant Fenty is only serving himself and other D.C. autocrats that fear real citizen involvement and oversight in the details of District governance and power. Citizen power is about to be trampled by an energetic and smiling Trojan horse. Fortunately, based on the logic of many District government officials, D.C. is not an abbreviation for dumb citizens, or docile constituents.
Creating empty chairs to throw more money at is fiscally and operationally irresponsible. Surely, it takes no leap of logic to understand that public services and facilities funded by citizens should also be controlled by citizens. Autocrats are inherently political and shortsighted, and quickly become dysfunctional, evasive, unaccountable, arrogant and corrupt. Haven’t we learned this lesson from current events on a federal level?
District of Columbia Independents for Citizen Control only supports full citizen control of a D.C. school system funded by our hard earned tax dollars. If our school system is to improve in the ways that best serve our children, then citizens must be the controlling partners that guide and empower it. Fenty & Friends must understand — despite their smartest-people-on-the-planet arrogance — it’s about our children, our school system, our money, and D.C. public officials work for us. We, the people, are the true owners of their official entitlements and the authority entrusted by us — clearly defined as democracy.
 The DCICC strongly backs a proactive plan that redevelops D.C. public and charter schools into citizen controlled non-tuition Public Academies standardized by 10-student class sizes. Our academy concept is designed to enhance greater attention to individual student needs and academically empower all children, particularly our special education achievers, with a stronger, empowering and challenging educational program. At a basic level, we believe our plan fosters a truly student-focused District educational system where children are accomplishing basic reading and introductory mathematics by age 3, not grade 3 — with an infrastructure where college attendance or post-high school professional occupation training is a standard accomplishment. Citizen-parent oversight and control is a key element throughout.
Reestablishing empowered Neighborhood School Councils, elected and organized by parents, educators, and neighborhood citizens to manage individual schools, will ensure that the quality and level of “customer” oriented service effectively serves diverse end-users — us. Oversight by a genuinely empowered and fully elected state Department of Education, Board of Education and Superintendent of Curriculum is a more streamlined and publicly accountable system than the top-down multilayered maze that autocrat Fenty proposes. An all-citizen elected system, effectively accountable only to the people, is the foundation that enhances the checks and balances on dysfunctional and autocratic power. Also, experienced and effective public administrators know that keeping it simple and accountable are critical elements in organizational effectiveness. We, the people, know the system is working when our children are prepared for college, successfully start life in a chosen occupation, or create a successful District-based business. We all benefit exponentially when there is a true partnership with citizens to benefit our students.
 In our Excellent Schools Plan (ESP), the standard elementary to high school curriculum includes comprehensive English, general sciences, technology, practical to advanced mathematics, environmental studies, critical analysis, strategic thinking, conflict resolution, performing arts, fine arts, American culture, world cultures, social science, government studies, entrepreneurship, and personal finance. Additionally, courses will include writing, public speaking, interpersonal communication, literature, language arts (Spanish, Hausa, Swahili, Yoruba, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Aramaic, Cherokee, French, Italian, Russian, Latin, Greek, German, and Portuguese), pre-college studies, life management, team dynamics, citizen activism, physical fitness, martial arts and health education. Senior Academies provide diverse career training courses and paid apprenticeship programs for students (computer repair, software and Internet programming, electrical and electronics repair, plumbing, carpentry, automobile repair, healthcare services, and small business development), complemented by rigorous academic studies, and extended full week neighborhood-based student services.
The ESP initiative is designed to systemically provide guaranteed full funding,  upgrades and accountable operation in all aspects of the Public Academies to effectively educate pre-kindergarten (age 2) children to high school students. Additionally, as a support tool for teachers and students and on-time delivery of up-to-date curriculum materials, students are assigned highly durable wireless notebook computers. These rugged lightweight units will be pre-loaded with secure curriculum software appropriate to each grade level and specific teacher lesson plans or course materials — plus additional CD and DVD formatted educational resources. The computers' wireless capability will be encoded to only have access to a school-based Internet transmission, plus the ISIS system (Information Systems Infrastructure for Schools) discussed below, and formatted CD, DVD and MP3 educational content. As our children are already electronically engaged, we must embrace this interest and ability by using familiar tools and hands-on teacher instruction that enhance their education. These tools will increase fiscal responsibility and accountability regarding expensive annual textbook procurements, storage, waste and on-time delivery.
 Within five years we have the power to rescue and empower all of our children by initiating the development, proliferation and standardization of a Public Academy education system with the Preschool Academy (ages 2-3), Primary Academy (kindergarten to 4th grade*; ages 4-8), Junior Academy (5th to 8th grade; ages 9-12) and Senior Academy (9th to 12th grade; ages 13-16) students. The program combines highly motivated and experienced teachers with state-of-the-art educational resources. Each class of 10 students has one teacher, up to a maximum 400 (*or 500) students per school composed of 100 students per grade. Company workplaces can be given tax incentives and afterschool support to facilitate smaller onsite Preschool Academies and Primary Academies — as well as increase the productivity and peace of mind of their working parents. In the Senior Academy years, 16 year old graduates will go into pre-college and/or private and public sector apprenticeship programs — thereby creating an experienced and capable District-based workforce for our core and emerging industries. This empowers all 8 wards of the District of Columbia, not just the so-called “Washington area” suburbs, to become talent magnets for diverse businesses and services — fiscally, a sustainable exponential economic development (SEED) benefit.
Community school population sizes can and should be proportioned to the appropriate requirements of a neighborhood. This ensures consistent academic quality for all District communities. A school's 19 to 20-member Neighborhood School Council (NSC; 10 parents, 5 teachers, the school academy principal, 3 community members, and 1 student at the senior academy level) will manage, advise, regulate, and regularly assess overall academy operations, administration and effectiveness. A staff of 10-20 highly competent administrative specialists supports the entire teaching staff and NSC parents. Again, parents and teachers have equally integral and accountable roles throughout the school process. Academic and operational effectiveness is focused locally at the source — the student — not at the top-down and middle-management bureaucracy level. This is the reality and benefit of real "parent involvement" when it is genuinely, effectively and fully implemented.
Teachers are required to have a specialized bachelor's degree in science, mathematics, history, languages, the arts, health, fitness, technology, business or another needed discipline. All ESP teachers will have at least 1 year of exceptional hands-on teaching experience, and are required to pass an annual standardized (annually revised) written and oral test prior to retention. Private sector and out-of-state teaching options require ESP to be a leader in attracting and retaining top teaching talent. Through mandated full-funding and measurable benchmarks, annual base salaries for teachers will be $50,000 (currently $42,370), plus a full health plan, D.C. located housing benefits, annual professional development grants, and a mid-year certified performance bonus. The DCICC’s most basic belief is that, in partnership with parents or guardians, teachers are society’s most critical developmental and success factor in the life of our children and city. We also believe this basic compensation package complements the average cost of living in the District for a professional educator. Teachers, as assessed and decided by the NSC, will receive a yearly salary bonus based on the overall certified academic performance percentage of their students passing the previous end-year and current mid-year standardized examinations.
A proactive and holistic approach will be at the core of a comprehensive ESP educational initiative — engaging and servicing children, parents and guardians at home and community centers — ensuring that health, nutrition, housing, transportation, violence, parenting and related issues are effectively addressed to enhance educational success.
Admittedly, the ESP concept is bold and outside the box — perhaps radical to some — yet, it is a very doable, practical, fully accountable, fiscally responsible and effective plan that can bring our school system truly into the 21st century. Moreover, a school system truly controlled by its end-users and beneficiaries is best. Most parents and educators instinctively know this. Our children prove they respond best to community controlled involvement — a village genuinely and successfully raising every District child.
These are the key operational elements of ESP. They are designed to foster genuine educational achievement through citizen control in the District of Columbia:
• An accountable and targeted budgeting process, managed through the Central Accounting and Payroll System (CAPS), directs the appropriate quantity of money, supplies and resources to the academies. An academy's entire budget is strictly monitored, and based on specific needs as determined by each Neighborhood School Council, with monthly Board of Education oversight.
• Parents, or guardians, will be required to attend half-hour monthly advisory meetings to discuss their child's overall and specific progress, as well as address any concerns or issues. Additionally, special-needs counseling will be available. The parent, student, and a trained advisor experienced in both academic and social issues counseling will attend this service when confidentially recommended by the student's teacher. Real-time attentiveness to student performance ensures better outcomes.
• In addition to the standard school facilities (fully equipped classrooms, a combined student and faculty dining room, separate boys and girls (full fitness and sports) gymnasiums, separate swimming pools, multimedia library, faculty and administrative offices), the campus will include high-tech digital audio and video studio facilities for diverse student productions. Student education will be enhanced by their ability to use the studios for news, cultural, and specialized multimedia projects related to course material. Science and technology labs will be standard, plus durable wireless and secure notebook computers for each student for homework and classroom instruction. Student-focused and effective spending of the millions already allocated for D.C. schools makes this and more possible.
• Build fully functional and architecturally modular schools where the quantity, and quality of classroom and office space can be easily resized (expanded or reduced) to fit neighborhood student populations. This will facilitate all District parents, students and communities that deserve walking distance neighborhood schools. The construction of the schools must adhere to both environmentally and educationally sound standards, thereby further enhancing student-focused academic success.
• Guarantee full funding to maintain the annual base salary of teachers at $50,000 (currently $42,370), plus performance bonuses and benefits. This upgrade will be tied to annual, equitable, and fully accountable teacher performance assessments. Incompetent and dysfunctional teachers will not be retained. Additionally, consistently low performing teachers will be provided a six-month probation period to meet appropriate teaching, NSC, District and professional standards before termination. The overall aim is to attract and retain the best and brightest teachers for D.C.'s most important immediate and longterm investment — our children.
• Establish a functional, accountable and fully funded Central Supply Service to provide basic and specialized school supplies at no expense to teachers and students. Reduce costs and raise access to educational resources by gradually replacing textbooks with durable wireless laptop computers pre-loaded with grade appropriate educational materials. Develop tight controls with severe penalties to eliminate waste and fraud in the acquisition and distribution of school supplies, equipment and services. A zero tolerance, and enforcement driven, accountability process enables fiscal responsibility and sharpens the focus on what really matters — effectively educating our children.
• Build the ISIS (Information Systems Infrastructure for Schools) network to enhance interactive administration (class-to-class and school-to-school) and student learning (home-to-school). ISIS is designed to empower students, teachers and parents for online after-school learning, tutoring, mentoring, real-time school information, and academic support that will raise District academic success and sustain world-class educational achievement. More than ever, and enhanced by effective traditional methods, our children need 21st century tools to succeed in this globalized new millennium.
• Create a strong partnership network of parents, teachers, local colleges and businesses to generate practical long term plans to educate children for the real world of the 21st century. Support a school administrative structure that effectively partners both parents and teachers in school activities and student accountability. A school system without real accountability promotes chaos and failure.
• Expand the school year to begin on the third Monday of August, and end on the last Friday of June. This schedules the entire school year for 44 five-day weeks of education. Absences for weather and other emergencies will be made-up by requiring students to attend school for three hours (9 a.m. to 12 noon) during at least one Saturday session within the earliest period after emergency absences.
• Redevelop and expand University of the District of Columbia into the tuition-free Frederick Douglass University, in honor of the District’s renown ex-slave educator, activist and diplomat. Provide introductory college courses for senior academy students that prepare and complement their freshman year studies at FDU. Require students to be D.C. Public Academy graduates, or 2-years legal citizenship and D.C. residency, for admission. Ex-offender education will also be expanded to include weekly mandatory career counseling, domestic outreach, employment networking, personal finance, and parenting support services. The goal is to effectively end ex-offender recidivism for the immediate benefit of the recovering incarcerated individual, and long term societal development.
An educated District populace is a critical socioeconomic asset that produces exponential economic and social dividends for both the individual and our communities as a whole. Effective and accountable management of these dividends are critically linked to sustaining, growing and enhancing our city-state presently and beyond.
Realistically, in this new millennium, District of Columbia citizens and children are increasingly in a regional-to-global race against socioeconomic failure. Educational preparedness is not an option — it is critical to our survival. Politics and politricks must end, and replaced with a truly empowered partnership of parent and teacher control. This joint effort is effectively different from the “parent involvement” touted and never fully practiced by officials. A student-focused partnership expands academic achievement due to oversight by the actual participants and beneficiaries in the school system — parents and teachers.
Mayor Fenty, or other D.C. government officials, are welcome to use our ESP plan as a template for genuine citizen partnership and educational empowerment in the first 1000 or less days of their administration. While they are in the on-the-job-training phase of their newly acquired duties, Fenty & Friends will need all the substantive advice they can handle. For the sake of our children, and the careers of certain elected or appointed officials, we hope objectivity, insight, advocacy, follow-up, competence and consistent respect for everyday D.C. citizens are assets they bring to their jobs — not just during an election year.
Again, any form of “takeover” by an unaccountable bureaucracy at any level is an arrogant assault on democracy and citizen control in the District of Columbia. Ironically, mayor Fenty’s efforts will cause our statehood slogan, “Taxation without representation,” to have a more sinister meaning for District citizens and those who might support our statehood and representation rights. Instead of hope, Fenty becomes a liability. Engaging in deception and delay, typical tactics of autocrats, only degrades citizen confidence. Hopefully, Mr. Fenty avoids these or similar tactics he used as a councilmember.
Any public official providing direct or indirect approval for any form of autocracy, or unaccountable one person single-body rule, must be put out of office before and on Election Day by the citizens who are the rightful authority over the power and prestige some District of Columbia elected and appointed public officials choose to abuse.
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Dennis Moore • Chairperson, DCICC (Originally Published January 18, 2007 - © Copyright 2007 DCICC)
Your Comments Are Always Welcomed and Respected — DCIndependents@gmail.com
. . . INFOLINKS . . .
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The Examiner, March 21, 2007: VIEWPOINTS: Residents, Not the Mayor or Board of Education, Should Run Schools; an abridged analysis of the ESP Public Academy concept.
The New York Times, January 28, 2007 — New York’s Public Schools: New York lawmakers and the State Board of Regents are rightly nervous about the school reforms recently announced by Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The third package of reforms to hit the nation’s largest school system in five years, this one radically alters funding formulas and guts the existing management structure — roiling a system already struggling to digest earlier changes. The Regents and State Legislature have been fretting about the cold shoulder the city has shown to parents and communities since soon after legislators gave Mr. Bloomberg full control of the public schools . . .
The Economist, January 20, 2007 — Teach Us, Mr. Mayor: When Adrian Fenty became mayor of Washington, D.C., this month, he immediately announced a plan to take over the city's schools. He is not the first to propose such a scheme, and will not be the last . . . But some who favoured mayoral control in 2002 now complain that Mr. Bloomberg is a dictator, hastily imposing plans after little public input . . . Elementary students have performed well in some local test, but their scores in national exams have hardly budged . . . He proved particularly autocratic in 2004, when he announced a plan to keep failing students from advancing to the next grade. A similar scheme in the 1980s did not raise achievement levels and was deemed a failure. But when members of Mr. Bloomberg's advisory board opposed the policy, he sacked them . . .
The Creation of Race and Class Inequalities In the Urban School Reform: Educator and scholar Dr. Pauline Lipman gives an extensive assessment on the immediate and long term socioeconomic damage of local government school reform initiatives across the US over the last 20 years. “Contrary to the discourse of equity that frames Chicago school reform, I argue that the current policies exacerbate existing race and class inequalities and create new ones. The policies promote unequal educational opportunities and experiences and produce stratified identities with significant implications in Chicago’s new, highly stratified work force. As a whole, Chicago’s reforms support the inherent inequalities of global city development, gentrification, and the displacement of working class and low-income communities, especially communities of color.” — Dr. Pauline Lipman - Professor - University of Illinois at Chicago and DePaul University . . .
Bush's Education Plan, Globalization, and the Politics of Race: “Critical scholars have written extensively about the ways in which these (school reform) policies undermine democratic purposes of public education, intensify inequality, and bring schools increasingly under the economic and cultural domination of corporations and the market. George W. Bush's "blueprint" to "reform" education, released in February 2001 (No Child Left Behind) (Bush, 2001), crystallizes key neo-liberal, neo-conservative, and business-oriented education policies. The main components of Bush's plan are mandatory, high-stakes testing and vouchers and other supports for privatizing schools.” — Dr. Pauline Lipman - Professor - University of Illinois at Chicago and DePaul University . . .
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Mayor Williams' Truth
Comes Home to Roost
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You may believe the cozy relationships between our publicly paid elected officials and private profit developers couldn't be more intimate. Now comes the not so  surprising news that former D.C. mayor Anthony Williams is now a paid executive for an investor/developer group focused on buying-up public property throughout the District. Being mayor was just an audition.
The curious connection to why there was so much focus by Williams and others on selling the land and air rights of our schools, libraries, and other properties owned by taxpaying citizens is clearer. Williams was our highest elected public servant, but seems to have been a scout and lobbyist for special interest developers as well. But, wait — there’s more.
Once again, another member of our local bureaucracy bamboozled D.C. citizens. The person we mated was actually in bed with another. The only question now is how many other elected, appointed, hired and paid District government officials sleep around on the taxpayer's time and dime. If the average District citizen's instinct, experience and growing disgust is any guide, the US Justice Department may have heavier D.C. caseloads before this decade ends. Criminal defense lawyers should get ready as well.
As if District citizens couldn't be insulted further, Williams' arrangement with Virginia based developer Public Properties Realty Investment Trust, calls for taxpaying citizens or non-profit groups to buy back or lease the property at a higher profit for the developer. This subsidiary of Arlington investment firm Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group, and their new executive Tony Williams, truly expects District citizens to purchase property we already owned. Bamboozle us once, shame on them. Bamboozle us twice, shame on us.
Though certain interests credit former mayor Williams with "saving" our city from financial ruin during the 1990s, he may have also been saving his place in line to become an agent that sells D.C.'s soul and land for a bigger paycheck. Surely, 2007-2010 will be highly eventful years in D.C. politics and politricks for federal corruption prosecutions.
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Dennis Moore • Chairperson, DCICC
Your Comments Are Always Welcomed and Respected — DCIndependents@gmail.com
. . . INFOLINKS . . .
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The Washington Post: Williams Joins Investment Firm: Less than a month after leaving office, former District mayor Anthony A. Williams has taken on a new role as chief executive of a real estate investment firm that will seek to do deals with municipal governments and nonprofit organizations . . .
Washington Business Journal: Williams Launches New Venture with FBR:
FBR already had experience hiring Williams administration officials. Former deputy mayor Margret Nedelkoff Kellems works at FBR as a senior vice president and chief administrative officer for investment banking. Nedelkoff Kellems served as deputy mayor for public safety and justice and homeland security director for the District of Columbia from September 2000 until April 2004 . . .
PR Newswire: FBR Partners With Former Washington, D.C. Mayor: FBR anticipates that Public Property Trust will raise additional third-party capital in the future and will qualify and elect to be taxed as a real estate investment trust (REIT) for federal income tax purposes. "It was a privilege to serve as Mayor of Washington D.C. for eight years, and I am eager to commence this new endeavor through which I can continue to make a valuable contribution to the public sector," said Williams . . .
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Funding What Matters
In Ways That Empower
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The push to close Martin Luther King library and rebuild it on the site of the old convention center is yet another example of District  government operating from its usual shortsighted perspective — known on some street corners as crackhead economics. Facing potential budget shortfalls due to poor financial decisions, the D.C. Council is trying to selloff every parcel of our public land to the highest bidder and best scammer. Libraries, like schools, should be totally off limits in this state-sponsored land grab. District government must shift its focus to building a solid foundation through truly sound and open fiscal policies, while enhancing our city-state’s potential through effective educational empowerment — that is measurable, accountable, immediate and long term.
It is more fiscally prudent to renovate MLK at its current location and convert its large open main floor into a revenue generating major retail bookstore/café and public performance space, with the basement and upper 3 floors becoming a 21st century digital, research and lending library, plus a landscaped rooftop reading garden — honoring the intent of internationally acclaimed master architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's original adaptable architectural design concept. A partnership between the library and a major bookstore/café chain is sure to generate significant revenue to self-sustain MLK library, as there is no such establishment in the quickly developing Gallery Place area. Also, the facility’s highly convenient access to multiple Metro train and bus stops near 9th and G Streets NW guarantees its use well into this 21st century — a real win-win proposition for taxpayers, a major bookseller, and most of all the District’s educational and cultural future. This is also an effective supplementary funding model for our ailing neighborhood libraries throughout D.C. — which also need updating and expanding with state-of-the-art resources. It is also a cost effective formula for creating more walking distance neighborhood libraries.
Building a public technology and business college on the old convention center site can also profit the city by preparing District residents to successfully compete in our region's — as well as the global economy’s — growing technological market place. Generating revenue from tuition fees to offset its maintenance is another benefit. Overall, this will be clear proof of our District public officials’ intent to end years of retarded rhetoric, boondoggle budgeting, pretentious achievements and incompetent governance. Everyone benefits when District government finally steps into the new millennium and provides the solid foundation of genuine educational empowerment for D.C.’s current and future citizens. In another sense, this will be a sure sign of actionable intelligence by D.C. public officials.
The District must start funding public construction projects outright rather than borrowing through issuing bonds, which carry expensive fees and interest and threaten the city's financial health if defaulted on. If the Council wants to issue a bond for a project, the citizens should decide if it is worth incurring debt for by public vote — a referendum. Full public input and oversight in fiscal policy is a sure defense against crackhead economics.
The people expect and elect public servants to competently, effectively, honestly, and openly manage public resources so that the citizens of the District are fully empowered to make their city a prosperous one. If they are unable or unwilling to do this, then the people must relieve them of their duties — before and on Election Day.
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Miriam Moore • Vice Chairperson, DCICC
Your Comments Are Always Welcomed and Respected — DCIndependents@gmail.com
. . . INFOLINKS . . .
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Online Petition to Save the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library: The D.C. Council has twice rejected Mayor Anthony Williams’ proposed legislation to build a new central library at the old Convention Center site. This provides an opportunity to renovate and revitalize the larger and better located Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library and reinvest money in our neighborhood libraries. We urge Mayor Adrian Fenty, the D.C. Council, and the D.C. Public Library Trustees to join us in public hearings on rehabilitating MLK. Sign online, and join the hundreds of citizens and organizations to save OUR public library . . .
The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library: District of Columbia Public Library - 901 G Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20001 — 202.727.0321 — Directly across the street from the Gallery Place-Chinatown Metro train station’s 9th and G Street NW exit, and the newly renovated, updated and expanded Smithsonian National Gallery of Art on 9th Street NW . . .
The Mies van der Rohe Society - Illinois Institute of Technology: Preserving the architectural integrity of buildings and furnishings designed by pioneering master architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library) through modernization of his buildings’ performance, enhancing their educational value for all D.C. citizens, while reinforcing the District of Columbia's world famous architectural heritage . . .
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Click here to send your response to Reality Check: dcindependents@gmail.com
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Yet, Another Mind-Boggling
District Land Giveaway
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The mayor and the council are considering a deal where, in return for DC United building an unnecessary soccer stadium on public land  swapped with the Federal Government at Poplar Point, the District will give yet another private developer major developments rights on this publicly owned land, worth multiple millions or more of our dollars. Is this the fiscal responsibility we elected?
This land would be better used to create limited equity cooperative housing units, developed by the District for sale to low and middle income residents. The owners of the units control the developments as a cooperative community land trust and lease the land from the District. While this is about long-term affordable neighborhood stability and not real estate investment, limited equity resale formulas could be created that would allow for a fair rate of return on resale back to the District after a pre-determined period of ownership. Limited equity cooperatives of this type would effectively create long-term affordability with real community control and enable the District to build its own stock of affordable housing.
Shopping and entertainment on this site, which is near the Anacostia Metro(such as the DCICC’s Ellington Center concept), would not only meet the immediate and long term needs of people living in the area — generating year-round revenue for the cooperative housing and the city — but also gives DC residents a place for recreation and shopping without having to travel to Maryland or Virginia, and giving away our tax dollars.
It is time taxpayers of the District of Columbia to control what is rightfully theirs and stop the crackhead economics that gives away our valuable resources for crumbs or nothing. This is the essence of good fiscal policy, sustainable socioeconomic development, and a genuinely family-friendly DC. Taxation without expectation — without expectation of citizen control — is not democracy.
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Miriam Moore • Vice Chairperson, DCICC
Your Comments Are Always Welcomed and Respected — DCIndependents@gmail.com
. . . INFOLINKS . . .
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Institute for Community Economics: Imagine a city where diverse citizens genuinely and effectively control neighborhood development. A community land trust (CLT) is a private non-profit corporation created to acquire and hold land for the benefit of a community and provide secure affordable access to land and housing for community residents. In particular, CLTs attempt to meet the needs of residents least served by the prevailing market. Community land trusts help communities to: 1) Gain control over local land use and reduce absentee ownership; 2) Provide affordable housing for lower income residents in the community; 3) Promote resident ownership and control of housing; 4) Keep housing affordable for future residents; 5) Capture the value of public investment for long-term community benefit; 6) Build a strong base for community action . . .
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School Management 101:
Getting It Right This Time
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If the mayor and our other elected public servants had a clue as to how to improve education in the District, they would implement citizen control of individual schools. Genuine and effective “customer” service starts by partnering with the “customer.”
A detailed study produced by the Chicago based organization Designs for Change revealed consistent academic progress in Chicago schools managed by community lead Local School Councils. It also highlights the failure of mayoral intervention and top-down bureaucracies in Chicago’s school system — while quietly not working in New York as well.
The 2002 printing of Title 5, Chapter 4 of the District of Columbia Municipal Regulations shows a provision for Neighborhood School Councils. Like the Chicago model, these are school-based, parent-majority elected bodies, consisting of the principal, parents, teachers, student and community representatives. Unfortunately, a 2003 final rule making by the Board of Education (which included 4 mayoral appointees) deleted the provision for Neighborhood School Councils from the legislation — purposely disenfranchising citizens.
Reestablishing empowered Neighborhood School Councils (NSCs) to manage individual schools will ensure that the quality and level of “customer” oriented service effectively serves diverse end-users — us. Neighborhood School Councils will manage day-to-day operations of individual schools, including curriculum, budget, overall operations, administration and effectiveness. This will give communities and school based educators, who have firsthand observation of the strengths and weaknesses of the children they see everyday, the ability to educate these children based on direct real-time knowledge.
Neighborhood School Councils will put the destiny of District children where it belongs, in the hands of the community that is directly invested in their success.
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Miriam Moore • Vice Chairperson, DCICC
Your Comments Are Always Welcomed and Respected — DCIndependents@gmail.com
. . . INFOLINKS . . .
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Parents United for Responsible Education: Local political and business leaders have long claimed that top-down government public school initiatives and “takeovers” have been successful and applauded their incorporation in the federal “No Child Left Behind” (NCLB) law. But our new report, Chicago School Reform: Lessons for the Nation, found more progress in Chicago schools that developed strong curriculums, ensured professional development of classroom educators, and shared leadership among parent councils, the principal and teachers independent of the CPS central office. The actual nut-and-bolts of how parents and educators can take control of their schools can be found in the 46-page report Effective Parent-School Partnerships . . .
Designs for Change: Designs for Change (DFC) is a 29-year-old educational research and reform organization. Our basic mission is to serve as a catalyst for major improvements in the public schools serving the 50 largest cities in the country, with a particular emphasis on Chicago. For more than a dozen years, DFC has been immersed in supporting the implementation of Chicago school reform in a manner that has improved educational quality and student achievement. DFC has produced a summary of the 2002 report on Chicago's LSCs that realistically looks at the strengths and weaknesses of Local School Councils (LSCs) — similar to the Neighborhood School Councils (NSCs) that were available in DC . . .
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The Coming D.C. Fiscal Crisis
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While District of Columbia public officials have decided to give themselves a raise with the hard earned tax money we pay, our city-state  is quietly sliding into major fiscal imbalances. Despite the campaign pledges, newly elected mayor Adrian Fenty, councilmembers and special interest boosters will have to humble themselves to the economic and mathematical reality that 1-plus-1 does not equal 11. Reality will stall their campaign promises and political hype.
Beyond the schemes, dreams and hopes that the low turnout of District voters (30.9%, or 122,356 out of a total of 395,926 registered voters; source: D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics) had in electing our latest crop of officials, there will be limited dollars to finance their expectations. With less than 1/ 3 of registered District voters participating in our 2006 elections, there is hardly a "mandate" for the usual unaccountability, fiscal irresponsibility, dysfunctional governance and politricks. D.C. election data reveals there was no "landslide" or "avalanche" despite local news hype about the actual District vote count. Public officials have to show major and measurable improvements in D.C. quickly — and not just in time for the next mayoral election, or predictable hype for local news cycles. D.C. is not an abbreviation for dumb citizens.
No matter who wants to run D.C. government, it will still take a real plan, competent execution of the plan, and effective use of limited money to raise educational quality to at least the top 20 category. The same applies to genuinely affordable housing, truly accessible healthcare systems, expanded D.C. resident job training and employment, plus D.C.-based small business development. However, we should all support and pray for mayor Fenty's and the D.C. Council's success — plus their total focus and greater cooperation on genuine public priorities. Only truly effective, accountable and measurable results (not rhetoric, turf battles or media spin) will matter. Rhetoric and hope filled spirited speeches are not substitutes for results — the pretense of action, political posturing and orchestrated media spin only insults the intelligence and trust of everyday District citizens. Measurable results with solid improvement is proof of good governance.
Recent US Census figures, when specifically sorted and filtered for actual full-time non-transient residents, show the reality of D.C. population losses in families, permanent residents, plus long-term working and middle class taxpayers. Even diverse organizations as the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution confirm the losses. Fewer families mean less revenue. More families and working residents generate exponential revenue. These long term resident losses will create the coming District budget deficits and fiscal imbalances — especially when much of our money will go to new stadiums, dysfunctional D.C. agencies, and other revenue wasting initiatives. As evidenced in the deeper details of inconsistent fiscal data from the D.C. Office of the Chief Financial Officer, we must put an end to our District government’s incompetent initiatives and focus on actual public priorities.
Urban Planning 101: Families won't stay where family basics and amenities are missing. During the 2006 election year — while D.C. news media focused on campaign hype, candidate personality, and who had the most campaign money — candidates for District office did not (and still don’t) discuss or admit the District has significant revenue shortages leading to a fiscal crisis after 2007. The revenue shell games are coming up empty.
The signs are all around us: aggressive efforts to sell off public property (schools, libraries, recent federal land transfers, air rights over public buildings, community green space, etc.) to developers, plus delayed payment for public services and personnel, creative schemes to tax or re-tax property owners, the floating of leaky bonds, and the increasingly desperate (but justifiable) attempts to gain some of the lost revenue drained by suburban commuters.
Surely, this is just the surface of systemic corruption covering deeply embedded dysfunction throughout various District government agencies. Between 2007 and 2010 expect the quiet storm of federal corruption prosecutions to rout high and low D.C. officials. There will be some ‘Who’s Who’ surprises that shouldn’t be so surprising when you connect the dots and follow the money. Some will seek quiet deals to avoid the “perp walk.”
The most revealing evidence can be found within the constant revisions or reinterpretations of figures from the Office of the Chief Financial Officer. Recent and previously reported CFO figures about the new baseball stadium, D.C. Public Schools Master Facilities Plan, Martin Luther King Library and other "initiatives" either change or conflict. Any first year college accounting student knows that figures and projections can be shaped to reflect a specific economic (or political) objective. Again, 1-plus-1 does not equal 11.
As citizens and taxpayers, we are the primary source of the revenue being spent by the D.C. public officials we hire (elect) and pay (our tax dollars). We, the boss, must not be silent and satisfied with the poor performance and corruption of our employees — elected and appointed District of Columbia public officials.
In reality, as it is for most of us who work or start a new job, an election (new hire) also has a probationary period subject to the satisfaction of the electorate — everyday District residents. Any public official (the employee) who doesn't perform to the actual needs, standards and best interests of District citizens (the boss) should be recalled (removed) from office, or not rehired (re-elected). In a democracy, this is the most basic check and balance.
We, the people, are the actual authorizers and owners of their titles, duties, salaries, entitlements, and even the facade of their official image. To paraphrase one of their overused statements, "At the end of the day..." YOU are the boss, and THEY are your employees.
Constitutionally, legally, historically and effectively also known as:
"government of the people, by the people, for the people."
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Dennis Moore • Chairperson, DCICC (Originally Published November 18, 2006)
Your Comments Are Always Welcomed and Respected — DCIndependents@gmail.com
. . . INFOLINKS . . .
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D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute: The D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute conducts research and public education on budget and tax issues in the District of Columbia. It prepares timely fiscal and socioeconomic analyses, and seeks to inform public debates on budget and tax issues and to ensure that the needs of lower-income residents are considered in those debates . . .
The Urban Institute: The mission of The Urban Institute is to promote sound social policy and open debate on public priorities. The UI accomplishes this by gathering and analyzing data, conducting policy research, evaluating programs and services, educating citizens and their public officials on critical issues and trends, as well as informing community development to improve social, civic, and economic well-being . . .
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They Don't Hear You At the Hearings
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Anyone watching the D.C. Council on TV or online in the last 6 years by now knows one thing for sure: most officials at the DC Council hearings don't really hear us.
The 3 or 5 minutes most of us are allowed to speak amount to nothing more than a rushed moment to vent our frustration — or beg for resources, respect and rights already entitled to us, and paid for through our taxes. We manage, despite some council members who purposely patronize, talk-over us, badger or speak to us with condescension.
Do we really need to have hearings to remind the same District officials we elect and pay that they are doing a lousy job? How much more citizen control will we give up or forget for a watered-down teaspoon of good governance, effective effort and real results?
How many more voters will quit the election process because they know it is rigged against genuine accountability, truly open government and actual citizen control of our public officials and resources? Despite the efforts of some D.C. news media to hype the actual low voter turnouts with phony headlines, any District citizen with an ounce of brains knows the real deal. The charade of widespread support for repackaged business as usual, and the special interests that benefit from it, only stokes the fires of disgust smoldering in diverse District citizens.
So what's the bottom line solution? Citizen control, a term and power that strikes genuine fear in bureaucrats and autocrats with their own agenda and special interest financing, is the solution. Ask any D.C. official how they truly feel about citizens in control of the government we elect and finance — not citizen "involvement." Their response will speak volumes. The legislative actions prove even more. Watch their reaction when reminded this is the foundation and intent of our Bill of Rights and U.S. Constitution.
Why citizen control? Simply and factually, if you hired and paid a staff of people to repair your house or cleanup your neighborhood, you want to see effective and accountable results. Excuses, self-serving speeches and feel good media events are not substitutes for competent governance, real action and measurable outcomes. Effective results matter.
Once we see through the smoke, mirrors and pretense of power, we as District citizens will realize that the true authority over our officials and government actually rests with us. Our hoping, pleading and waiting for D.C. officials to simply do the right thing competently — before the next election cycle — will end when we enforce citizen control on and before Election Day, through effective and constant community activism.
Currently, District officials are expecting U.S. Representatives to give us a Congressional vote, while trying to bamboozle Capitol Hill into blocking, diluting and delaying our right to citizen referendums and democratic due process. Where are the headlines about D.C. autocrats rearranging and redefining democracy? Without a doubt, our local autocrats and their special interest supporters fear the voices for real citizen control.
Next time you testify at a hearing, remember your hard earned tax dollars paid for their salaries, suits, budgets, building, microphone and dais they sit up high upon during those many pretentious proceedings. The fact and bottom line is this: all D.C. public officials (elected and appointed) are actually employees we hire, pay and authorize to effectively and competently manage our government. As their employer, we can fire them on Election Day, or earlier through a recall. They know this, and you must always “Remember in November.” Beyond paying taxes, citizen power is greater than the authority we allow them to have.
At the end of their day, they sense and know what's coming. Taxation without expectation will end when we fully enforce genuine and accountable citizen control over the power our elected and publicly paid D.C. officials choose to abuse, or incompetently use.
To paraphrase Aretha Franklin: R-E-S-P-E-C-T, I know what it means to me.
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Dennis Moore • Chairperson, DCICC
Your Comments Are Always Welcomed and Respected — DCIndependents@gmail.com
. . . INFOLINKS . . .
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D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics - Citizen Recall Process: In 1979, District citizens were granted the right to recall elected officials (mayor, councilmember, or ANC commissioner) with the passage of the Initiative, Referendum, and Recall Procedures Act. Any elected officer of the District of Columbia government (except the Delegate to Congress for the District of Columbia) may be recalled by the registered electors (voters) from the election district from which they were elected, whenever a petition demanding his or her recall, signed by 10 percent of the registered voters (in the specific ward or precinct — for mayoral recalls 10% of all D.C. voters) is filed with the Board of Elections and Ethics. The entire recall process is in 3 phases: 1) signature gathering, 2) petition filing and verification, and 3) the election phase. The two-page details are provided at the District of Columbia Board of Elections and Ethics website: (www.dcboee.org/serv/recall_process.shtm). For a complete reading of the actual laws and regulations concerning the recall of elected officials, see D.C. Official Code §§ 1-204.112 and 1-1001.17, and Title 3 D.C.M.R. Chapter 11, "Recall of Elected Officials." Election Day is never the only day to “Use Your Power.”
Council of the District of Columbia: View the Council’s committee meeting schedule, the annual schedule, and full video of current and past hearings. The DCICC advises that all testimonies, statements, questions or complaints should be e-mailed to all or specific D.C. councilmembers, as well as there staff members. Be sure to put your own e-mail address in the Cc or Bcc space of your e-mail to have a copy and time/date stamp record certifying that your message was sent and received. We also advise that you followup with a polite phone call to affirm the receipt and importance of your e-mail. Please, keep in mind that individual councilmembers may be speaking in chambers and will not always be immediately available. LIVE VIDEO LINK > VIDEO OF PAST HEARINGS > All videos best viewed with Windows Media Player software. Persons with disabilities needing help to attend DC Council hearings should call (202) 724-8000, or directly contact your WARD COUNCILMEMBER’S OFFICE >.
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