We Need a Mayor who...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If this is the best you can do to convince me to vote for Fenty, you are doing a very bad job. I'm still waiting for you to tell me about all of the great things Fenty has done. Thus far, you have not addressed any real issues.

Well. Making public school teachers truly accountable is a REAL thing. His and Rhee's policies will take time to ripple across the city.

The DMV improvements are HUGE. If you don't think so then you weren't living here in the 80's and 90's. It used to be like trying to gain an audience with Jabba the Hutt.

School Facilities are improving. That is huge, too.

Wait, I did the whole vehicle registration thing when Williams was in office. All of that stuff you love was already there before Fenty came into office. They had the web services, the better queueing system, etc.

Will you Williams lovers let it go! HE did not implement the online standards. Williams had a static rudimentary website for DC. It was very basic. Fenty moved it light years forward. Williams is Not. a. candidate. Fenty was the connected guy with 2 blackberries on his belt. He is dragging this city kicking and screaming into line with other modern cities.

Gray. sob. Oh, the humanity.

Blargh.

The Internet Wayback Machine says you are wrong: http://web.archive.org/web/20060110184021/http://dmv.dc.gov/serv/online.shtm

Liar. Busted!

Not ironically, the page failed to completely load because of sloppy CSS coding and other incompatibilities.

What are you 12? I'm not lying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm maddest about charter schools having to occupy office buildings, cos the closed school buildings are sold off to developers...We need a mayor who'll OBEY the LAW....and Fenty does not seem to be that mayor

Well, that actually made sense. Our PP&E budget was way out of whack with other public school systems. We were maintaining too many dilapidated buildings, and it was taking away dollars from teaching. Those buildings needed to be sold off. That's not an endorsement of everything done in the name of educational reform in DC. But the numbers don't lie. We were spending far too much on buildings for the number of students in the school system.

It doesn't look like you understand the whole situation, just the first part. Yes, it made sense to close many of the DCPS school buildings because DCPS doesn't have enough students to justify them. However, the charter schools (which serve 38% of public school children) can use that capacity. And they would be paying for the upkeep, which is a win for everyone because getting an old DCPS building and re-habing it is cheaper than paying commercial rent. It's a win for the tax-payers because more of their money which is funneled into charters goes towards programming and salaries (vs. rent). And it is a win for neighborhood which continue to have thriving communities of students.

The law is quite clear that charter schools get first rights to closed public buildings. Yet, the OPM (which answers directly to the mayor) refuses to take charter proposals on the buildings, much less turn over any facilities. You see, the Mayor prefers to dole them out to his developer friends and fraternity brothers. He seems to think they are his private property.

So, no it does not make sense. Fenty is A) failing to follow the law, B) forcing taxpayer dollars which support charters to pay for commercial rent when those students could be in school buildings and C) distributing public property to private citizens for private gain.

Fenty is old-fashioned DC graft, patronage, and corruption in a younger package - with the energy to rob schoolchildren even faster than ever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If this is the best you can do to convince me to vote for Fenty, you are doing a very bad job. I'm still waiting for you to tell me about all of the great things Fenty has done. Thus far, you have not addressed any real issues.

Well. Making public school teachers truly accountable is a REAL thing. His and Rhee's policies will take time to ripple across the city.

The DMV improvements are HUGE. If you don't think so then you weren't living here in the 80's and 90's. It used to be like trying to gain an audience with Jabba the Hutt.

School Facilities are improving. That is huge, too.

Wait, I did the whole vehicle registration thing when Williams was in office. All of that stuff you love was already there before Fenty came into office. They had the web services, the better queueing system, etc.

Will you Williams lovers let it go! HE did not implement the online standards. Williams had a static rudimentary website for DC. It was very basic. Fenty moved it light years forward. Williams is Not. a. candidate. Fenty was the connected guy with 2 blackberries on his belt. He is dragging this city kicking and screaming into line with other modern cities.

Gray. sob. Oh, the humanity.

Blargh.

The Internet Wayback Machine says you are wrong: http://web.archive.org/web/20060110184021/http://dmv.dc.gov/serv/online.shtm

Liar. Busted!

Not ironically, the page failed to completely load because of sloppy CSS coding and other incompatibilities.

What are you 12? I'm not lying.

It proves that the services in question existed prior to Fenty. Does that not bother you? I can handle spin, but this isn't even close. The PP specifically said the DMV site was a bunch of static pages, and that's a lie.

And wow, shocker, there are rendering problems on the archived copies of pages from 2006. Are you so in the tank for Fenty, that quips about browser compatibility are more meaningful to you than straightening out points of fact regarding the accomplishments of the mayor?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If this is the best you can do to convince me to vote for Fenty, you are doing a very bad job. I'm still waiting for you to tell me about all of the great things Fenty has done. Thus far, you have not addressed any real issues.

Well. Making public school teachers truly accountable is a REAL thing. His and Rhee's policies will take time to ripple across the city.

The DMV improvements are HUGE. If you don't think so then you weren't living here in the 80's and 90's. It used to be like trying to gain an audience with Jabba the Hutt.

School Facilities are improving. That is huge, too.

Wait, I did the whole vehicle registration thing when Williams was in office. All of that stuff you love was already there before Fenty came into office. They had the web services, the better queueing system, etc.

Will you Williams lovers let it go! HE did not implement the online standards. Williams had a static rudimentary website for DC. It was very basic. Fenty moved it light years forward. Williams is Not. a. candidate. Fenty was the connected guy with 2 blackberries on his belt. He is dragging this city kicking and screaming into line with other modern cities.

Gray. sob. Oh, the humanity.

Blargh.

The Internet Wayback Machine says you are wrong: http://web.archive.org/web/20060110184021/http://dmv.dc.gov/serv/online.shtm

Liar. Busted!

Not ironically, the page failed to completely load because of sloppy CSS coding and other incompatibilities.

What are you 12? I'm not lying.

It proves that the services in question existed prior to Fenty. Does that not bother you? I can handle spin, but this isn't even close. The PP specifically said the DMV site was a bunch of static pages, and that's a lie.

And wow, shocker, there are rendering problems on the archived copies of pages from 2006. Are you so in the tank for Fenty, that quips about browser compatibility are more meaningful to you than straightening out points of fact regarding the accomplishments of the mayor?

I never said the service didn't exist under Williams I said Fenty refined and streamlined the more convenient aspects of many previously tedious,
horrendously slow city services. Are you so in the "tank" for Gray that you would drag up a static, glitchy web-page from nearly 5 years ago to prove a point that I had not even asserted? I do NOT think Fenty walks on water. Gray is an old luddite weenie. How can you do this to our city. I bet you are from a small town in the midwest somewhere, aren't ya? Here to straighten us folks out, are ya?

[Anonymous]

NP here.

"Gray is an old luddite weenie"?

Say no more. I know everything I need to about the acuity and depth of your political analysis.

[Anonymous]

Gray is an old luddite weenie. How can you do this to our city. I bet you are from a small town in the midwest somewhere, aren't ya? Here to straighten us folks out, are ya?

Luddite Weenie? Small town midwesterner? Okaaaaaaaayyyy....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm maddest about charter schools having to occupy office buildings, cos the closed school buildings are sold off to developers...We need a mayor who'll OBEY the LAW....and Fenty does not seem to be that mayor

Well, that actually made sense. Our PP&E budget was way out of whack with other public school systems. We were maintaining too many dilapidated buildings, and it was taking away dollars from teaching. Those buildings needed to be sold off. That's not an endorsement of everything done in the name of educational reform in DC. But the numbers don't lie. We were spending far too much on buildings for the number of students in the school system.

PP here...closing and consolidating schools is appropriate...but selling off that property is NOT
Anyone able to explain the mayor's recent interest in "moving' Duke Ellington from its $$$$$$$ location? While genuinely screwed up schools in NE and SE are ignored?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Gray is an old luddite weenie. How can you do this to our city. I bet you are from a small town in the midwest somewhere, aren't ya? Here to straighten us folks out, are ya?

Luddite Weenie? Small town midwesterner? Okaaaaaaaayyyy....

Different poster here. Oh yes, this is hilarious!

Oh, oh, my feelings are hurt!

[Anonymous]

Yes, I believe that Fenty built upon the improvements that Williams started in the DMV. I am thrilled to be able to get my car inspected in 10 minutes flat now that I can schedule an online appointment.

On the other hand, Michelle Rhee bungled important decisions that affected two of the schools my dd attended -- Hardy and Ellington. And "bungled" is the charitable interpretation. A lot of other folks think she was trying to move black students out of Georgetown. I just think she was too inexperienced to know what she was doing -- but I still think her initial plans were wrong-headed and foolish and her poor political skills just made the situation worse. Additionally, she blew the budget negotiations and looked a lot like she didn't know what she was doing.

And yet Fenty wants to keep this novice manager on as the schools chancellor, as if no one else were capable of taking over from her. Sorry, being able to make an appointment to get my car inspected is far outweighed by my frustration with Michelle Rhee's lack of experience and failure to perform. Especially when she wants to hold everyone else accountable but she is accountable to no one.

If Michelle Rhee had kept her hands off Hardy and Ellington, I don't know how I would be voting now. When I heard about some of the other conflicts over individual schools(e.g., Oyster, closing schools in Ward 5), I didn't know what to think. But now that I have direct experience, I know that she can't be trusted.

The whole point of the mayoral takeover was to free up the top administrator to make needed changes in the system and the idea was that the mayor would be held accountable for hiring the right person to do that. Well, I'm holding Fenty accountable and voting for Gray.

BTW I'm white, upper-middle-class, a long-time resident, and my kid was in DCPS for 9 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I believe that Fenty built upon the improvements that Williams started in the DMV. I am thrilled to be able to get my car inspected in 10 minutes flat now that I can schedule an online appointment.

On the other hand, Michelle Rhee bungled important decisions that affected two of the schools my dd attended -- Hardy and Ellington. And "bungled" is the charitable interpretation. A lot of other folks think she was trying to move black students out of Georgetown. I just think she was too inexperienced to know what she was doing -- but I still think her initial plans were wrong-headed and foolish and her poor political skills just made the situation worse. Additionally, she blew the budget negotiations and looked a lot like she didn't know what she was doing.

And yet Fenty wants to keep this novice manager on as the schools chancellor, as if no one else were capable of taking over from her. Sorry, being able to make an appointment to get my car inspected is far outweighed by my frustration with Michelle Rhee's lack of experience and failure to perform. Especially when she wants to hold everyone else accountable but she is accountable to no one.

If Michelle Rhee had kept her hands off Hardy and Ellington, I don't know how I would be voting now. When I heard about some of the other conflicts over individual schools(e.g., Oyster, closing schools in Ward 5), I didn't know what to think. But now that I have direct experience, I know that she can't be trusted.

The whole point of the mayoral takeover was to free up the top administrator to make needed changes in the system and the idea was that the mayor would be held accountable for hiring the right person to do that. Well, I'm holding Fenty accountable and voting for Gray.

BTW I'm white, upper-middle-class, a long-time resident, and my kid was in DCPS for 9 years.

Was is the operative word. Your kids are out of the system. You are voting for Gray. This is what most upper middle white voters in your position will be doing.