School’s Out? D.C. and NYC Teachers Talk School Closures

Posted on May 3, 2012 by admin

Photo courtesy of studentunitypower.org

Listen to educators Candi Peterson, Nils DeVito and James Boutin on Voice of Russia Radio

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Interview by Pete Tucker, written report by Chris Lewis (@Chris_Lewis_)

Washingtonians and New Yorkers, be warned. If the mayor has his way, your child’s walk to school next year could be a whole lot longer.

Earlier this year, Mayor Vincent Gray and Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson commissioned a report that recommended turning around or closing 38 public schools. Meanwhile, in New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg is seeking to close 24 schools deemed to be underperforming.

“What’s so sad is that the community has had no say in it, and the teachers have no say in it,” said Nils DeVita, a teacher and union delegate in New York. DeVita spoke with Voice of Russia’s Capital Correspondent on Tuesday, in a show guest-hosted by TheFightBack’s Pete Tucker.

Critics levy similar charges here in DC. “Our concern is that these people have come in from Chicago, many of whom have not visited the schools they’ve recommended to close, and there have been no focus groups, no parental involvement,” said Candi Peterson, a social worker at Cardozo High School. Continue reading →

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May Day: Past and Present

Posted on May 2, 2012 by admin

Listen to labor professor Bill Barry and organizer Tai Smith on Voice of Russia Radio

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“When people who are religious get in tough situations they go read the Bible. I go read labor history.”  – Professor Bill Barry

“General Strike. No Work. No Shopping. Occupy Everywhere.”

That’s the call Occupy Wall Street put out for May Day, the first one since the Occupy movement touched off.

As tens of thousands took part in mostly peaceful demonstrations throughout the U.S., a hundred protesters gathered outside city hall in Alexandria, Virginia, and a couple hundred gathered at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, which had been the home of Occupy Baltimore for several months in the late fall and winter.

Shortly before he was scheduled to speak at the Baltimore rally, Bill Barry, director of labor studies at the Community College of Baltimore County, called into Voice of Russia’s Capitol Correspondent and laid out the history of May Day or International Workers Day. Continue reading →

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A Tale of Two Cities: D.C. and NYC Differ In Dealing with Walmart

Posted on May 2, 2012 by admin

Listen to Walmart organizers Mike Wilson and Maritza Silva-Farrell on Voice of Russia Radio 

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Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, is attempting to enter urban markets, having already saturated many suburban and rural areas.

D.C. and New York City have dealt differently with the company’s attempts to open stores. In New York, city officials have held public hearings and issued substantive reports pointing up Walmart’s potentially harmful impact. But in D.C., officials have largely taken on the role of cheerleaders and Walmart is slated to build six stores in the nation’s capital, where presently it has none.

“Unfortunately here in D.C., our elected officials have been much more on the side of Walmart,” Respect DC organizer Mike Wilson told TheFightBack‘s Pete Tucker, who guest-hosted Capitol Correspondent‘s May Day special on Voice of Russia Radio which airs in D.C. and New York City.

Wilson questioned the cozy relationship between several D.C. officials and Walmart, as well as the company’s use of the powerful lobby firm Patton Boggs, which provides D.C. Councilmember Jack Evans with a $190,000 salary. “[This] raises additional concerns about what’s going on here in D.C.” said Wilson. Continue reading →

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Pete Guest Hosts Capitol Correspondent Next Week

Posted on April 26, 2012 by admin

Listen to Pete and The Urban Revival‘s Kentry Kinard on Capitol Correspondent with host Carmen Russell-Sluchansky

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Tuesday on Voice of Russia’s Capitol Correspondent, which airs in DC (1390 AM) and New York (1430 AM), Pete discussed the differences between how the Big Apple and the nation’s capital have dealt with two issues: Walmart’s attempts to move in, and taxicab policy. Both of these issues will be explored further next week on Capitol Correspondent when Pete fills in for host Carmen Russell-Sluchansky on May 1 and 3.

Also joining the program was Kentry Kinard, a senior at Howard University and editor of The Urban Revival, who discussed the impact gentrification has had on D.C., his native city.

Next week, Capitol Correspondent will take a closer look at gentrification, as well as  find out what Occupy DC has been up to.

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D.C. Taxi Fares Just Got Significantly Higher… Or Maybe Not

Posted on April 25, 2012 by admin

Pete discusses taxicab issues with Bruce DePuyt (video at bottom).

As of Saturday, D.C. taxicabs – at least some of them – are charging $2.16 per mile, a significant $0.66 increase from the previous rate of $1.50 per mile, one of the lowest rates in the country. Whether the cost of a ride will dramatically increase, however, is unclear due to the elimination of extra fees and surcharges which make up a significant source of driver revenue.

Drivers, who are considering legal options to overturn the fare adjustment, are particularly concerned about the removal of the $1.50 extra passenger fee. While this fee’s removal hurts drivers, it’s a boon for the hospitality industry whose patrons will benefit from what amounts to an untold number of free rides.

The power the hospitality industry has over the taxicab industry is unmistakable and can be seen in the composition of the D.C. Taxicab Commission. Of the DCTC’s four commissioners (there are supposed to be nine), two are from the hospitality industry (restaurateur Paul Cohn and Bart Lasner with Loews Hotels), while none are from the taxicab industry, even though the law requires that there be three. Continue reading →

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A Discussion on U.S. Presidential Elections, Foreign Policy and Media Coverage

Posted on April 22, 2012 by admin

Pete appeared on Deadline with host Carey Campbell in February. Fellow guests included Martin Sieff, chief analyst for The Globalist, and Green Party presidential candidate Rhett Smith.

Among the issues discussed and debated were the presidential elections; U.S. foreign policy and the aggressive posture towards Syria and Iran, as well as the continuation of the war on Afghanistan, the longest in U.S. history; and the shortcomings of the U.S. media.

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DC Officials Insist On Improving Schools By Closing Them

Posted on April 20, 2012 by admin

Listen to TheFightBack question Mayor Gray and Chancellor Henderson:

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“We are going to have to consolidate the number of schools that we educate our children in,” Mayor Vincent Gray said Wednesday at a press conference introducing D.C.’s new five year education plan. Gray said the D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) system is presently “unsustainable” and some schools must be closed in order to provide the “ancillary services [District residents] would like to see in schools.”

Gray echoed the findings of a DCPS-commissioned study conducted by The Illinois Facilities Fund (IFF) which called for either turning around 38 schools or closing them, potentially converting them into charter schools.

The study was funded by a $100,000 grant from The Walton Foundation, i.e. Walmart, which is looking to bring six stores to D.C. and is known to promote charter schools, not traditional public schools (or their unions). In addition to the Walmart connection, education experts and activists also question the objectivity of IFF, which is a real estate consulting firm that has lent out more than $57 million to charters.

School officials, of course, knew about IFF going in, yet they selected the firm anyway, and in a less than transparent process.  Continue reading →

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Alexandria’s Wild, Wild West End: JBG Development Threatens to Displace Thousands

Posted on April 17, 2012 by admin

Listen to Pete on WPFW 89.3 FM’s Latino Media Collective

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“It’s disappointing. It’s disgusting. It’s a failure of government.” – Esteban Garces

Developer JBG and the city of Alexandria plan to demolish more than 2,000 units of affordable housing at Mark Center in the city’s West End in order to make way for the construction of 12.4 million square feet of new development, consisting mostly of luxury condos and apartments. The project will displace approximately ten thousand mostly Latino and African American residents.

“They’ll end up living in Prince William County or further out where they can afford it,” said Esteban Garces, who until recently worked as an organizer with the Alexandria-based Tenants and Workers United. Last week, Garces told WPFW 89.3 FM Pacifica Radio, “It happens all over the U.S.: working class folks get pushed out of cities to live further and further away from where they work.”

While gentrification’s impact has been acutely felt in the D.C. area, the scope and scale of what’s slated for the Beauregard area of Alexandria is unusual, and may provide a knockout blow for affordable housing in the diverse West End, the epicenter of Alexandria’s affordable housing.

Alexandria’s Planning and Zoning Commission is scheduled to vote on the plan May 3. If it passes, the City Council is likely to vote on the plan May 12. Both bodies are all but certain to approve the Beauregard Small Area Plan since the city routinely acts as a rubber stamp for development projects, said Garces. Continue reading →

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School Closure Expert Robert Bobb Is Back in Town

Posted on April 13, 2012 by admin

Robert Bobb at a recent community meeting on education

Listen to TheFightBack question Bobb:

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Former City Administrator and D.C. School Board president Robert Bobb is back in town. Actually, he never left. “I just commuted back and forth for two years. I never left [D.C.],” Bobb said after a community meeting last month on the “Future of Public Education in DC.”

Mayor Vincent Gray recently appointed Bobb to the Board of Directors of the Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation, the troubled mostly-government-sponsored nonprofit implicated in Councilmember Harry Thomas’ funneling and misuse of city money for personal use.

From 2009-11, Bobb served as Emergency Financial Manager for Detroit Public Schools. Tabrian Chas Joe, a high school senior and organizer with B.A.M.N. (By Any Means Necessary), described Bobb’s tenure in Detroit as follows: “Privatize education. Charter-ize education. Bust the union. Segregate the schools.”

Bobb was paid well for his efforts, earning a government salary of $280,000, plus an additional $145,000 a year from the Kellogg Foundation and the Broad Foundation, which is a known cheerleader and booster of charter schools. Continue reading →

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Taxi Chair and Media Make Serious Allegations Against Drivers, But Offer No Evidence

Posted on April 5, 2012 by admin

Last week, taxi chair Ron Linton made serious allegations against D.C. cabbies but failed to offer evidence to back them up.

Speaking to ABC 7, Linton said there’s been a wave of driver assaults on passengers. “What we’re seeing is an increase in [drivers] physically manhandling their fares… Striking them. Pulling them out of their cabs. One woman was pulled out by her ankles.”

ABC 7’s piece, apparently based solely on Linton’s claims, was tagged a “Crime” story. The Washington Post followed up with a piece, apparently based solely on ABC 7’s “reporting,” which ran in its blog “The Crime Scene.”

In a statement released Wednesday, The Small Business Association of DC Taxicab Drivers, which represents 3,000 independent cabbies, called Linton’s comments “irresponsible and misleading.”

In a phone conversation Tuesday, TheFightBack asked Linton for evidence backing up his allegations. He responded by saying the line of questioning amounted to “some kind of gotcha game.” Continue reading →

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