Local Archives (67)
Ikechukwu Tobechi, 7 and his sister Chibara Tobechi,13 attended a meeting in which DCPS shared information on new efforts to engage parents and the community after DCPS fired all of the staff of the 3 Parent Resource Centers in Wards 1, 7,and 8 with no forewarning or parental input. / Photo by Victor HoltA meeting between a District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) official and a group of parents on Thursday, August 4, was billed as a community conversation about family and community engagement.
Instead, the forum became a flashpoint as parent after parent assailed Kelly Young, interim director of the Office of Family and Public Engagement, for the Henderson Administration's decision to close several Parent Resource Centers (PRC) and place almost a dozen family engagement coordinators on administrative leave. The exchanges exposed the deep suspicion and distrust parents say has been created by an administration whose trademark is not to involve and engage, but to make often-sweeping decisions and then inform parents after the fact.
"I'm tired of coming to meetings where the deal's already done," said Absalom Jordan, chairman of the Parent Resource Center Steering Committee and Ward 8 ANC. "You disrespect us by not listening to us. You have made poor choices ... (and) you eviscerate the laws whenever it serves your interests."
The South East Brach Post Office located on Pennsylvania Avenue in Southeast./ Photo by Khalid Naji-Allah Matilda Carter enjoys shopping at the East River Shopping Center in Northeast, where she can buy groceries, clothes, conduct transactions with her bank and go to the post office. However, the option of going to the post office may not be available because U.S. Postal Service officials have identified the Benning Station Post Office, which is located in the shopping center, as one of the 3,700 nationwide that will be studied for closure. Carter, 45, was surprised by the news.
"I am extremely displeased about the possible closing of the Benning Station Post Office," Carter, who lives in Northeast, said. "If they close Benning Station that means that there will be no post office in the area for me to go to. I will have to travel to Union Station to do my postal business and I don't like that at all."
The DC Department of Employment Services recognized the conclusion of Mayor Vincent Gray One City Summer Youth Program with a closing ceremony Friday, August 5, 2011 at their headquarters in Northeast, Washington DC, to honor outstanding youth participants and to acknowledge the support of several employers who helped make this year’s program one of the most successful in recent years. / Photo by Lateef MangumThe DC Department of Employment Services (DOES) is recognizing the conclusion of Mayor Vincent C. Gray's One City Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) with a closing ceremony on Friday, August 5, to honor outstanding youth participants and to acknowledge the support of several employers who helped make this year's program one of the most successful in recent years.
The closing ceremony opened with brief highlights from SYEP 2011 and featured a number of participating agency and business leaders who offered congratulatory remarks and words of encouragement for youth participants to continue their professional development beyond the summer.
"We are extremely proud of the SYEP participants who performed so well this summer," said DOES Director Lisa M. Mallory. "The support SYEP received from employers helped to make this experience a valuable one for our young people. The employers ensured that SYEP participants gained invaluable work experience and an opportunity to 'learn and earn.' So we are delighted to offer this formal thank you as we conclude SYEP 2011."
Prince George's County Executive Rushern L. Baker, III, has approved the nomination of portions of five communities to the National Register of Historic Places: University Park Boundary Expansion, College Heights Estates, Old Town College Park, Upper Marlboro Residential Area, and Early Family Historic District (Brandywine). Baker concurred with the recommendation of the County's Historic Preservation Commission that the five historic districts are eligible for nomination to the Register. The National Register is the nation's official list of buildings, sites, districts, and objects considered to be of historic and/or architectural significance by the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.
"Founded in 1696, Prince George's County is deeply rooted in our country's history and culture," said Baker. "It is my honor to recommend approval of these National Register of Historic Places nominees to the National Park Service and the U.S. Department of the Interior. I want to thank the Prince George's County Historic Preservation Commission for their hard work on this process and fulfilling their mission to protect and promote our County's history and culture."
The nominations must still be reviewed by the Governor's Consulting Committee and the State Historic Preservation Officer, and then forwarded to the National Register Office in Washington for final review. The nominations were prepared by consultants to M-NCPPC/Prince George's County Planning Department at the request of affected municipalities or property owners. Formal listing in the National Register is expected by early 2012.
NOMINATED COMMUNITIES:
University Park Boundary Expansion
The Town of University Park Boundary Expansion adds 376 contributing mid-20th century buildings to a historic district originally listed in the National Register in 1996 for its significance as an early 20th century automobile suburb. The recent project was requested by the Town of University Park as part of celebrations of the 75th anniversary of the Town's incorporation.
College Heights Estates Historic District
The College Heights Estates Historic District was requested by the College Heights Estates Association (CHEA) in order to recognize the mid-20th century automobile suburb partially located within the Town of University Park and in an adjacent area of unincorporated Hyattsville. The district includes 170 contributing, single-family dwellings of both traditional American and European architectural styles as well as houses that reflect the evolution of American domestic architecture after World War II.
Old Town College Park Historic District
The Old Town College Park Historic District includes 213 contributing properties that reflect the development of a late 19th century railroad and streetcar community in proximity to the University of Maryland campus. The historic district includes single-family dwellings, apartments, institutional buildings and fraternities and sororities constructed from 1889-1965. The area of the National Register district was designated as a Prince George's County historic district in 2008.
Upper Marlboro Residential Area Historic District
The Upper Marlboro Residential Area Historic District includes 79 contributing properties that reflect the evolution of domestic construction in the County seat from 1721-1960. The district includes several important late 18th and mid 19th century dwellings, a historic Episcopal church from the first half of the 19th century, a historic African-American Methodist Church associated with a congregation established just after the Civil War, several cemeteries and burial grounds, and a number of early-and mid-20th –century, single-family dwellings.
Early Family Historic District
The Early Family Historic District in Brandywine includes four late-19th and early-20th century single-family dwellings and a large commercial building (c. 1872) associated with several generations of the Early family, whose members were instrumental in settling and developing this crossroads village after the Civil War.
For more information, contact the Prince George's County Historic Preservation Commission office at 301-952-3520.
Congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton's 14th annual job fair drew more than 4,000 job hunters to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center on Aug. 9. Scores of people began lining up several hours before the fair began.
"We are always pleased to see a high turn-out at our job fairs, but this year's crowd, which began lining up at 7:30 a.m. for an 11:00 a.m. job fair, brought us a share of heartbreak," Norton said. "Coming out of the debt ceiling debacle, the cuts-only debt ceiling bill, and the deepest market plunge in years, I feared that residents would be disheartened," she continued. "Instead, we found people grateful to know that there are jobs here, and to have the chance to speak to a real person in today's job market where job search is done almost exclusively online."
Figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show the rate of unemployment among District residents is 10.4 percent -- an increase of 0.6 percentage points from last month. That compares to Maryland's unemployment rate of 7 percent, and 6 percent in Virginia.
One hundred employers from the public and private sector were on hand, including Catholic University, AFLAC, and G.W. Peoples Contracting Company.
Smiley and West were labeled Obama haters while on their 18-city Poverty Tour./Courtesy Photo
TV personality Tavis Smiley and Princeton professor Cornel West have taken a licking as they near the end of their 18-city Poverty Tour, which included stops in D.C. and Chicago. The bus trips have been aimed at bringing President Barack Obama's attention to the plight of America's poor people, according to Smiley and West, but particularly blacks whose jobless rate exceeds 15 percent.
There have been mixed emotions over the tour. While some residents in Obama's Chicago hometown (where the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports black unemployment having rose from 13.1 percent in 2008 to 20.3 percent) said the president had been doing all he could to bring the economy back on track, others conveyed that he could still do more to get black people back to work.
Woodson High School principal Thomas Whittle shows off portions of the new building as new furnishings continue arrive. /Photo by Shevry Lassiter.In the Ward 7 section of Washington, D.C., a new high-tech, green H.D. Woodson Senior High School stands as a symbol of hope and promise invested in city's most important asset -- its children. To that end, on Aug. 17, officials cut the ribbon on the 230,000 square-foot state of the art facility at 5500 Eads Street in Northeast.
"We're telling the students we care about you and to do your very best," said Principal Thomas Whittle. "The city is providing the best to help you achieve your goals. When they come here we expect them to learn and to perform."
When classes resume on Aug. 22, more than 800 students will be ushered into the pristine $102 million school, like dignitaries arriving at the sleek United Nations headquarters in New York City. And, they'll have nearly as many amenities as the U.N. Amenities include two gymnasiums, natatorium, auditorium, open designed floor to ceiling glass administrative and classroom spaces, dining room, wireless computer networks, and a track and field area boasting a football stadium that could rival a division one university. That's a big departure from the former school building, an eight-story concrete tower that was first opened in 1972 and touted as the "Tower of Power," but lacked a track and sufficiently operable swimming pool for its athletes.
Mayor Vincent Gray is concerned about the potential threat caused by a slick substance floating in the Anacostia River.
Anacostia OilSpill/Courtesy Photo
"Anything that poses a threat to the overall health and welfare of our citizens and our wildlife is of great concern to me and deserves immediate attention," he said.
Local and federal agencies have launched a collaborative effort to identify thelick brown substance that is floating on the surface of the river. The initial location of the substance spanned from the 11th Street Bridge to the bridge on New York Ave., but with the tidal movement the substance is shifting back and forth.
"Its a browto-blackish product that moves in waves. It’s not affected by the wind. It’s affected by the tide and there's no specific odor," said Richard Shaffer, river pilot for the District of Columbia Fire and EMS Department(DCFEMS).
Shaffer estimates that the area affected spans four to six miles.
The U. S. Coast Guard, DCFEMS and Harbor Patrol responded to reports of the spill which occurred around 4 p.m. Aug.15.
Since the area of concern is in the vicinity of the Washington Navy Yard, some of Naval District's Washington resources, including booms and hazmat teams, were used to help in the containment effort.
“FEMS immediat ely surrounded the spill with boom to contain and dissolve it. The Naval District Washington hazmat unit supplied and placed additional boom until all on-scene resources were exhausted,” Gray said. “The Metropolitan Police Department’s (MPD) Harbor Patrol checked all barges on the river and other possible sources up to the Sousa Bridge to determine the source of the spill, but was not able to identify the source,” Gray continued. “The U. Guard has advised us that they will complete their assessment in the morning (Aug. 17) via aerial survey.”While there were initial reports that called the incident an oil spill, Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Randall Brown said it’s not oil.
"This morning we found no significant reports of actual sheening or petroleum based product," Brown said "Nothing has been collected in the booms overnight that would lead us to a petroleum product."
Tests are still being conducted to find identify the substance and an investigation is underway to determine the cause.
"We don’t know what caused this. We haven't even developed a strategy for cleanup at this point. We're still determining what it is," said District Department of the Environment (DDOE) Director Christophe Tulou.
The Coast Guard and DCFEMS are working with DDOE, with the Coast Guard arriving shortly after announcement of the spill to make an assessment and to take command of the situation.
Tony Lewis Jr. won for Best Community Leader at the 2011 Ford Hoodie Awards./Courtesy Photo
When Tony Lewis Jr. decided more than two decades ago not follow in his father's footsteps, he never dreamed that choice would someday garner him nationwide recognition for his contributions to the Washington, D.C., community.
But that's just what happened the weekend of Aug. 12-14 when the 31-year-old Northwest resident traveled to Las Vegas to receive accolades as Best Community Leader on behalf of radio talk show host Steve Harvey's 2011 Ford Hoodie Awards. For his outstanding efforts Lewis also received a brand new 2011 Ford Explorer.
"It was an incredible feeling that I was even nominated," Lewis said. "I was overwhelmed at the number of people who appreciate my work."
Lewis, who works with the District of Columbia Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency (CSOSA) as a vocational and job development specialist, is the son of Tony Lewis Sr. -- one of D.C.'s most notorious open-air drug market dealers.
During the 1980s Lewis Sr. partnered with drug kingpin Rayful Edmond III, trafficking millions of dollars of cocaine into D.C. by way of Los Angeles. Both men are currently serving life sentences in federal prisons.
In the 22 years that his father has been locked up, Lewis Jr. has endeavored to uplift his city, particularly by making a difference in the lives of other children of incarcerated parents.
"I know the stress that comes along with that kind of situation," he said. "I'm obligated to be a positive role model to those kids . . . part of my mission is to get them exposed to other things; to talk them through [their pain] and to show them that education is the way to success. I want them to know that they can achieve their dreams."
Leonard Sipes, CSOSA communications director, said Lewis is an extraordinary leader whose job is his passion.
"He comes from a disadvantaged background from the standpoint of his father being incarcerate, and he brings that experience for the benefit of other such kids in D.C.," Sipes said. "He is constantly looking for new and better ways to employ offenders under our supervision."
Now in its ninth year, the star-studded Hoodie Awards pays tribute to everyday individuals and businesses across the country for the services and excellence they provide their communities.
Harvey, also a noted comedian and best-selling author, said during the Aug. 14 awards show at the Mandalay Bay Hotel, that he is proof of how people from the hood can make something of themselves.
"I worked on the assembly line at Ford Motor Company, assembling spark plugs and other parts," Harvey said. "But today, Ford Motor Company is the title sponsor of the Hoodie Awards that Rushion McDonald and I created."
Among other Hoodie awards brought home by Washingtonians were those for Best Fried Chicken -- Carey's Cuisine; Best High School Teacher -- Glendora Franklin; Best Nail Salon -- Salon Couture; and Best Barbershop -- Moon's Barbershop.
First Baptist Church of Glen Arden, Md., won for Best Church.
With the nation's capital gearing up to celebrate events and activities surrounding the formal unveiling on Aug. 28 of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial at the Tidal Basin, the"Washington Informer" queried locals on their fondest memories of the slain civil rights leader:
Ron Harris, 58, director of communications, Howard University
I 'm from Memphis and I was there when Dr. King got shot -- and my heart just dropped. . . It was like someone [squeezed] the breath out of me.
At the time, I was personally going through sort of a radicalized period and was leaning more toward Malcolm X than Martin Luther King Jr. But I had an uncle, James Bevel, who was one of King's close aides; so King had been at our house long before he got shot. I was actually going to a school that we (blacks) had partly integrated in Memphis, and in my graduating class of 400, about eight of us were black. So, I was beginning to have less confidence that white people were ever going 'to get it.'
But, then for that -- King's assassination -- to happen, I really shut down. I didn't want to talk to any of my white friends (classmates) for a long time, even though I was head of the senior class and graduated with honors. However, I have many white friends today -- in fact, I owe my career to two or three of them.
But getting back to the assassination, I remember being so infuriated, and I said, 'it's over. It's over.'
A couple days after that, my whole family marched in a Memphis protest on King's death. I also recall that just a few days before he was shot, my two younger brothers had marched with [King], and that deteriorated into people looting and breaking into stores . . .
Leo Alexander, 47, D.C. business owner
I was two years old at the time Dr. King was assassinated but what I [later] gathered from it was that social accommodations weren't the answer. It's more about equality.
The assassination also struck me as being one of those wild moments . . . and all of the marches and everything that King and our other civil rights leaders had to go through to get us the right to vote or to be physically be freed from second class citizenship in the United States , I came to the realization years later, that that wasn't enough. Only equality in the United States is really valued. [Also] as long as we don't control the economic future, we'll only be just consumers and that's something that was concerning Dr. King. So that's what I get most from him.
Dr. Robert Williams, 66, family medicine physician, Howard University Hospital
I was a volunteer physician during [the March on Washington that was connected to] the Poor People's Campaign. But I got the opportunity to praise Dr. Dorothy Height the last several years of her life and I was always filled with delight hearing her talk of the Civil Rights Movement and how she had given of her time at the March on Washington. She said at one point she had been the only woman asked to speak, and that she said she preferred Dr. King to speak instead. I had no personal relationship with Dr. King but just hearing her talk about his accomplishments with the struggle served to enlighten me that much more about him.
Roger Newell, 61, teamsters union official in D.C.
I grew up in D.C. and it would be the 1963 March on Washington and the city's preparation that went into it, and the huge turnout that stuck with me.
I was a young student activist and was impressed with the logistics involved handling 250,000 people. I had a chance to watch many of the people like Dr. King who were associated with the civil rights struggle, work their magic to make sure the crowd would be taken care of.
Michael Fauntroy, 45, political analyst, George Mason University
One of my uncles was one of King's lieutenants. But my fondest memory of King is watching the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. There's a picture of my uncle standing next to King watching him sign the document. (get photo from George Mason web site)
Peggy Seats, founder and CEO, Washington Interdependence Council
I lived in the neighborhood where he once visited in Chicago's West Side. I remember that I was a teenager and he was there to protest the savagery and hatred he saw in Chicago.
Hilary Shelton, 53, director of advocacy, Washington Bureau NAACP
I am most fond of his humanity. I've been told stories of the marches and his going to jail with other civil rights leaders like Andrew Young and Hosea Williams.
All those folks were like a tight-knit family and he was Uncle Martin to my wife (he's married to Young's youngest daughter) and all those children of the civil rights leaders. He was able to give so much to enhance civil rights, and I've always thought of him in that capacity.
Paula Young Shelton, 50, youngest daughter of civil rights leader Andrew Young
I guess what I remember most about Dr. King is just his very warm and friendly interaction with me and with other children; that he was always very attentive to children. I have this vision of him with open arms, smiling whenever I would be around him. He would pick us up and throw us up in the air like fathers like to do.
We very rarely accompanied our parents on the marches, as they were very careful about shielding us from any danger. But in the third Selma to Montgomery march, my mother decided that she wanted to participate so they brought my two sisters and me along. We were there for one day and then they took us to our grandparents' house while my mother and father continued on in the march.
I've shared some of these memories in a children's book that I wrote about the Civil Rights Movement, because I wanted children to know what a kind and gentle person Dr. King was, and that he was a real human being and not just an icon or a statue -- but a real person who cared deeply about the lives of children – his own and others', and wanted to make this place a better world for them.
Mildred Purvis Williams, 92
I remember he was a smart and peaceful man. He was for equal rights he wanted everyone to enjoy life and to be brotherly-like. He wanted all of us to be able to sit down and eat together -- he believed in integration, and he was a Christian man and he believed that all people should be treated equally. He wanted us to sit in restaurants and hotels . . . he thought we should have the same rights that everyone else had. He was a man of nonviolence.
I remember Dr. King visited several places in North Carolina but I never saw him. But you knew about him because we had seen him on television. He seemed that close to us . . . like you could talk to him without any problem. He was just a man you could feel comfortable in talking with him.
Before, we had to go to colored restrooms, colored water fountains -- we'd go to the back door to get a hotdog from a restaurant. That even happened in hospitals (going to the back door). It made me feel very uncomfortable -- it hurt and you couldn't go to the water fountain -- Why? We wondered. So Dr. King was against all of that.
Virginia Ali, co-founder Ben's Chili Bowl
I heard about Dr. King for the first time in the '50's. I heard about this young black leader, but what really got my attention was the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955, and then the March in Washington on March 6, 1963. Since he taught non-violence and worked hard for equality for all people he impacted the lives of everyone. He was very instrumental in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
My most poignant memory is about how such a gentle man died so violently and how we would no longer have our great leader for the African American community. After Dr. King's assassination, we [Ben's Chili Bowl] were the only business to remain open during the aftermath of his assassination although there was a curfew in effect.
I think the new monument to Dr. King is a great tribute to a great man!
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