Washington City Paper: Contents for Dec. 16

Apocalypse When?
Bye-Bye home rule. The District plummeting toward congressional receivership.

Cover Story

When Mayor Walter Washington, Councilmember Marion Barry, and the 12 other members of the D.C. Council took their oaths of office on Jan. 2, 1975, their inauguration sealed the final victory in the battle for D.C. home rule. The new elected government ended the reign of the presidentially appointed commissioners who had administered the city since 1874. Washingtonians rejoiced in the liberation of America's last colony, and anticipated a brilliant future for their metropolis as a black-controlled, black-majority city.

On Jan. 2, 1995, 20 years to the day after the District first celebrated its freedom, Marion Barry again takes an oath of office, this time to begin his fourth term as mayor. But on this inauguration day, home rule's dazzling promise lies in ruins.

Barry and other D.C. leaders have driven the city government to the brink of financial collapse. The city, facing a half-a-billion-dollar shortfall this year, may run out of money before Barry finishes the first month back in his old office. The bloated, mismanaged District government is delivering awful basic services to citizens. Judges, citing incompetence of barbaric proportions, have already placed two city departments in receivership, and are threatening to seize control of others. And the new Republican Congress, disgusted by Barry's triumph and the D.C. government's profligacy, is vowing to reverse years of Democratic indulgence toward the city.... Continued

Issue of Dec. 16 - 22, 1994

News and Features

Apocalypse When?
Bye-Bye home rule. The District plummeting toward congressional receivership.
Cover Story By David Plotz
Washington Ain't Cleveland: And the Proposed Sports Palace for Gallery Place Is No Gund Arena
The City By Dorn C. McGrath Jr.
Closing the Circle
The Last Installment (Maybe) in Cult-Buster Galen Kelly's War Against the Circle of Friends
The City By Lisa Gray
Hotel Holocaust
The Carlton's Appetite for Ghoulery
The City By Matt Labash
We've Got the Biggest Balls of Them All
The City By Clara Jeffery
Six Geese A-Flapping...and a 12-Point Buck Under an Oak Tree
The City By Clara Jeffery
Metering Opportunity
Why Taxi Meters Are a Raw Deal for the Little Guy
The City By Sam Smith
Garbage In, Garbage Out
The City's Latest Ploy to Put Waste-Transfer Stations Out of Business
The City By Erik Wemple
Blinded by Sources
News Bites By Jack Shafer
Let the Biker Beware
The Mail By Bill Boswinkle
Pedal Meddlers
The Mail By Tim Silva
On the Wrong Track
The Mail By Timothy Wehner
A Sick Piece
The Mail By Scott Weinstein and R.N.
Unprincipled
The Mail By Dolores B. Landry
Taxing Logic I
The Mail By Daniel T. Oliver
Taxing Logic II
The Mail By Terrence Scanlon
Charity Case
The Mail By Janne G. Gallagher
It's the System, Stupid
The Mail By Brian P. Moore