Washington City Paper: Contents for May. 10

The Home Rule Charter: Rewrite the Damn Thing
The District of Columbia—capital of the free world—has been burdened with a 20-year-old document that has turned out to be a road map to extinction.

Cover Story

The District’s willy-nilly effort to heal and defend itself over the past year recalls the Zen tale about the three blind men and their encounter with an elephant. According to a popular version, one of the men grabbed the elephant’s trunk and declared it a snake; another took hold of the tail and described it as a rope. The third, who walked into the elephant’s broad side, was absolutely convinced he’d encountered a mountain.

In much the same way, everyone connected to the District seems to be describing a different part of the elephant. Republicans see a bloated bureaucracy; the control board says it’s a combination of expenses and revenues; D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton fingers federal taxes; Shadow Statehood Rep. John Capozzi cites freeloading nonprofits; statehood advocates decry the lack of voting representation in Congress. Most say it’s Mayor Marion Barry. And Barry says it’s about caterpillars, butterflies, metamorphosis, and transformation.

Truth is, the District simply was designed to fail. Its governing structure remains fundamentally flawed; 10 years of mismanagement, corruption, and inept congressional oversight have merely exacerbated the problem. While many elected officials and bureaucrats focus on mismanagement or budget numbers, no one notices that the house was built on sand. The District suffers from a myopic, constrained home rule charter that had outlived its usefulness within a decade of being written. The way the District is set up, Jesus Christ and the 12 apostles couldn’t make it work.... Continued

Issue of May. 10 - 16, 1996

News and Features

The Home Rule Charter: Rewrite the Damn Thing
The District of Columbia—capital of the free world—has been burdened with a 20-year-old document that has turned out to be a road map to extinction.
Cover Story By Jonetta Rose Barras
Demystifying the District’s Debt
The City By Jeffrey Itell
Consecrated Territory
Anacostia Has Given Repose to Washington Jews for Over a Century
The City By Stephanie Mencimer
Consolidating the Future
The City By Jonetta Rose Barras
Working Assets
The City By Jonetta Rose Barras
The Great Electronic Equalizer
Deaf-Owned Clark Net Sees Opportunity on the Internet
The City By Jeffrey Itell
Cleaning House: Service Providers Sweep Union Employees Under the Rug
The City By Scott Barancik
Examining Motivation
Patients accuse Anacostia doctor of inappropriate breast exams.
The City By Stephanie Mencimer
Pithed Off
The Mail By Nancy O’Donnell
Echoes Myron
The Mail By Myron Bretholz
Saab Story
The Mail By Marc P. Mealy
Liquor Bicker
The Mail By James E. Nathanson

Columns

The Other Side of the Fence
Cheap Seats By Dave McKenna
Back Pay
City Desk
Abandon Leadership
Loose Lips By Ken Cummins

Eats

Chowing Down With Cibo Matto
Young & Hungry By Brett Anderson

Movies

Two Hearts in Winter
Film Review By Mark Jenkins
That’s What Friends Are For
Film Review By Nicole Arthur
Abbas Kiarostami’s Never-Ending Story
Talking Pictures By Mark Jenkins

Music

There’s Never Been a Crowd Like This
Music Review By John Dugan
Disney’s Princess Collection: The Music of Hopes, Dreams, and Happy Endings
Music Review By Nicole Arthur
Jah Message
Music Review By Sean Daly
All Change
Music Review By Tina Plottel

Theater

Low Spirits
Theater Review By Trey Graham
Shepard’s Inn
Theater Review By Bob Mondello

Arts and Events

Cinema Verdad
Artifacts By Vanessa Bauzá
Stretching the Truths
Artifacts By Sean Daly
Old Time Rock ’n’ Roll
Artifacts By Dave McKenna
Back to the Continuous Present
Art Review By Mark Jenkins
Fore Play
Art Review By Dave Nuttycombe
Warm Thoughts of the Cold War
Books By Chuck Fager

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