Marc Fisher Post Metro Columnist Thursday, September 04, 2003; Noon ET Potomac Confidential fills the midday lull with discussion of the latest news and a rigorous slicing and dicing of the issues that define who we are and where we live. In his weekly show, Washington Post Metro columnist Marc Fisher veers wildly from serious probing to silly prattle, and is open to topics local, national, personal and more. The transcript follows. Editor's Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.
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Marc Fisher: Welcome back to all who've been away. It's grand to be back in the National Capital Rain Forest, brought to you by Pepsi Vanilla. So much to chew on today: The Selling of the Mall, as we bow before the gods of football. The vigilante--see the chilling tale on the front page of today's Post--who killed a guy who was in the process of stealing his car.
The latest effort by John Hinckley to snow the authorities into believing that he's all better now and won't try to kill the president or Jodie Foster. The congressional vote on vouchers for D.C. schoolchildren.
And my personal favorite story, one you will have missed unless you happen to have seen yesterday's Washington Times--that's the other paper in town--in which there was a two-page spread featuring messages from the Great Beyond, where every single American president from George Washington to Dick Nixon has felt compelled to reach back into the living world to tell us that they have come to see the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, chief of the Unification Church, which owns the Wash Times, as the Messiah. It's an amazing read, and while I assume that there are real journalists who work at the Times and have no special love for Moon or his cult, it's hard to imagine the rationalizations they must go through to justify working for a certifiable loon.
Your turn starts right now...
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Derwood, Md.: Marc -
Welcome Back!
Kudos to the National Park Service and their acting superintendent for their national capital region. The selling of the National Mall to corporations was long overdue.
After all, the White House and Congress were sold to the biggest bidder years back ...
Ad Rules Relaxed for NFL Bash (Post, Sept. 4))
Marc Fisher: You got that right. But the key point in all this handwringing about the use of the Mall is that this battle was lost long ago. The Mall has degenerated into a corporate showcase. Hardly a month goes by without some company planting a truck on the grassy knoll of the Washington Monument advertising one corporate logo or another. The Park Service bends the rules every which way. I love their latest talmudic distinction between advertising and "recognizing a sponsor." That pretty much opens the door to anything and everything.
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Farragut West, Washington, D.C.: Marc:
What's your take on the commercialization controversy over the Pepsi-NFL extravaganza on the Mall? Personally, I don't have a problem with it. They can plaster ads on the White House if it means something exciting happening in this city. It's not like there's any other part of our lives that's without advertising.
Marc Fisher: But that's just the point, isn't it? This same defense came up when we were talking about commercialization inside schools, and the defense is that advertising is everywhere, so why not let principals push kids into buying the requisite number of Cokes that will get the school a new scoreboard? Well, the answer is that there are supposed to be zones in which commerce is not king, and schools and national parks seem like pretty good places to include in that zone of respite.
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Arlington, Va.: Given W.'s prediposition toward commercializing public lands, how long do you think it will be before they are drilling for oil or harvesting timber on the Mall?
Marc Fisher: Can't drill for oil or harvest timber. Can't demonstrate or enjoy the clear view from Lincoln to Washington, either. Can't do any of that because the World War II Memorial has taken over the center of the Mall, eliminating forever the once-majestic vista that inspired generations of Americans. Now, we get advertising trucks, Jersey barriers and a ghastly memorial.
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Silver Spring, Md.: Just keeps getting worse. Not only will the Mall be given over to a commercial enterprise, promoting the NFL and Pepsi, but Metro decides that it can afford to provide extra service while not charging the NFL like it has to charities (e.g., Race for the Cure), a few months after telling riders that it had to charge more money due to rising costs. What can any of us do about such a fiasco? All I can do is pray for rain for Thursday night.
Marc Fisher: I have no objection to the event itself--a concert celebrating football and the U.S. military is a reasonable use of the Mall. And the sad thing is that it didn't have to be this way. The NFL would have gone ahead with this show even if the Park Service had said sorry, no advertising. But politicians live in mortal fear of being blamed if some bit of entertainment is cancelled because of their actions, so the entertainment conglomerates know that their every wish will be the public purse's command.
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Atlanta, Ga.: What's up with D.C? You get national exposure from a world class event and all you people can talk about is traffic? Most NFL cities (including Atlanta) would welcome this event with open arms! We'll even put it in the middle of I-85 if we have to! I'm glad I left D.C. and moved to a real city!
Marc Fisher: The whining about the traffic really is over the top. It's a one-day concert. Folks can leave work early, play hooky, or just sit in the traffic a bit longer. What's the big deal? It's just more material for the Traffic Hysteria Industry to sell their wares (radio reports, more roads, etc.)
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Arlington, Va.: I didn't see Steven Tyler in the photo op for the concert tonight -- I'm a little worried that Aretha Franklin ate him.
Marc Fisher: Judging by the photo on our site's home page, I'd have to agree that she has unwittingly consumed at least one fellow human being. I saw Aretha at an event at Union Station a couple of years ago and she basically had to be airlifted in. And she retreated backstage, presumably for oxygen, after each song. But she's still one of the greats.
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Arlington, Va.: Feel free to tell me where to go, but I don't know that I have a whole lot of sympathy for the car thieves who got shot. OK, the guy shouldn't have shot them; he should have done a few other things first. And they were "only" stealing a car, not threatening his life. But I can understand his frustration; especially in PG County, what good is calling the cops going to do?
Do you think the thieves are people who probably would have ended up in front of a gun anyway?
Marc Fisher: Let's start out by agreeing that if he had called the cops, and if the cops had caught the bad guys, they would have received at the very most a stern talking-to by a judge who would immediately send them out to go steal more cars.
That said, however, shooting a kid who's ripping off your car seems just a tad over the top. Does this free me to off the neighbor whose dogs bark at 4 a.m. or the jerks who mow their lawns on Saturdays at 6 a.m.?
It's really just amazing that the PG authorities have not yet arrested our vigilante friend. Killing someone who is not in the act of physically attacking you is, at the very least, manslaughter.
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Arlington, Va: I was very impressed with the figure that Prince George's county has had over 10,000 auto thefts in 2003. A friend of mine had his car stolen out of his development's parking lot in Greenbelt last week and there's the fellow in Laurel who shot some people stealing his car. This is a full-scale industry out there and I wonder if there's anything that could be done to slow the epidemic.
Marc Fisher: At the end of the story on the vigilante--can we try for a link to it? thanks, Rocci--Prince George's state's attorney Glenn Ivey reports that even his car was stolen. It really is an epidemic, especially among teenagers, and there's only one way to slow it: Prosecute every case and slam the kids with some real time.
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Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.: Marc -- In yesterday's chat by Nina Reese, Dept of Education, she stated:
"Around 68,000 students attend D.C. public schools. The president has asked and so far, Congress has set aside $15 million for the School Choice plan. Roughly 2000 students stand to benefit from this plan."
$15 million to benefit fewer than 1 percent of the students in DCPS seems obscene, to say the least. Wouldn't that money be better used making district-wide improvements? Crazy.
Marc Fisher: No, the sad truth is that the D.C. schools would disappear that $15 million faster than you can say "phony requisitions." But that still doesn't justify vouchers. Vouchers are a corporate welfare program for some very rich players: the Archdiocese, whose schools would received almost all of the voucher money, and a handful of wealthy private schools. Should D.C. parents have alternatives to a failed public system? Yes, and they do: The charter schools, which have been embraced by 15 percent of the city's families.
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Washington, D.C.: How about a column on which members of the D.C. Council sent their kids to private schools and who opposed school vouchers?
Marc Fisher: I don't have the list in front of me, but if I recall correctly, most of the council members who have school age kids use private education, but at least a couple use the public schools. But I don't see the point here: The private schools that fancy politicians send their kids to are the
$22,000 a year variety, and the vouchers, which top out at $7,000, would pay for kids to attend Catholic schools and that's about it.
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Herndon, Va.: Mr. F: Welcome back! I see the latest (unless I missed one) D.C. mini-scandal is procurement folks in the schools purchasing non-existent items. What really worries me is the chief operating officer knowing nothing about it until the Post brings it to his attention. I trust the culprits will at least be suspended for a few days without pay.
Marc Fisher: More likely, they'll get government's favorite punishment for wrongdoers, the always popular suspension WITH pay. I've always wanted to get me a couple of those. And the punishment part of that is what exactly?
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washingtonpost.com: Man Who 'Had Enough' Kills Suspect (Post. Sept. 4)
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Ballston, Va.: "Why not let principals push kids into buying the requisite number of Cokes that will get the school a new scoreboard?"
Marc, did you watch Daria last night too? That was exactly the topic of one episode that was on.
Marc Fisher: Fraid that's news to me. Did they portray the anti-commercialism folks as stuck-up spoilsports?
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Silver Spring, Md.: Was the Moonies thing actualy an article in the Times, or just an ad? Big difference ...
Marc Fisher: It does say "Advertisement" atop the spread, but since the ad is from the organization that owns the paper, the distinction is not quite as meaningful as it would otherwise be, no?
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Derwood, Md.: Washington Times: We're to believe that Richard Milhouse Nixon came back and the purpose of his return trip did not involve getting Bernstein and Woodward? Yeah right ...
Marc Fisher: Nixon is quoted as saying that he and other dead presidents "will make public to the world the true nature of the devil, Satan (Lucifer.)" Which, depending on how you look at these things, could mean that we will once again have Dick Nixon to kick around.
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Del Ray/Alexandria, Va.: Well Marc, as I read the articles about parking hassles at FedEx and traffic snarls anticipated tonight, I cannot help but give thanks to all my friends and neighbors who helped us avoid the Redskins stadium at Potomac Yards. You are always quick to condemn NIMBYs and happy to slap around Jim Moran, but in this instance both were right in their opposition. And to those who say "Yeah, but look what you got instead!" I would add that the big box retail and cineplex are of tax benefit to the community and bring in a lot of business from outside the city. Certainly they add traffic, but nothing like the monstrous noise, light pollution, littering, and traffic congestion of a major sports venue. Not all change is good. There are always alternatives. Sometimes the neiborhood folks are right and sometimes they win!
Marc Fisher: OK, you're certainly right about the tax benefits, but the folks I know who live in that area are not too keen on the semi-eternal traffic generated by the big boxes, and the idea of a football stadium that's used maybe 10 days a year sometimes seems to them like an awfully enticing alternative.
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Herndon, Va.: Mr. F: Your suspension with pay from the Post starts at 1:15 p.m. today and runs through noon next Thursday. Enjoy!
Marc Fisher: I'm liking this already. In fact, you're all suspended. Go home and think carefully and seriously about whatever you've done wrong.
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Washington, D.C.: Regarding the vigilante in Laurel, couldn't he have just shot out his own tires?
Marc Fisher: Wouldn't that have been a fabulous story? Heck, he'd have gotten a movie contract as well as a front-page story. And he wouldn't even need a lawyer.
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Arlington, Va.: I think we should reserve judgement before convicting the "vigilante." There were four car thieves, right? Seems to me he had as much justification to use deadly force as that PG cop who plugged the wrong man in Fairfax a couple of years ago.
Marc Fisher: I don't think so. The cop--though chasing the wrong man--could reasonably be assumed to be in fear of his life because of the way the driver had fled, the evasive moves. I don't buy the idea that the cop was right to kill that guy in Fairfax, but that was a far murkier case than this one. In this case, as the shooter readily admits, he had any number of less deadly alternatives.
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PG County: Oh, and he won't get a movie deal now?
Marc Fisher: No way. Depending on how the legal stuff shakes out, he's somewhere between a murderous thug and a misguided everyman finally fed up with the lawlessness around him. Either way, it's not a very inspiring or compelling saga.
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Laurel, Md.: I doubt the Post is completely proud of all its advertisers, either.
Those places with small ads in the sports section probably don't offer the same kind of massage I get at my gym.
Marc Fisher: Good point. But wait, you mean those places aren't just there to relax shoulder muscles from all the typing we do in this town?
(Still, you have to admit that messages from dead presidents beats massage parlors for funky advertising hands down.)
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Silver Spring, Md.: Marc, "that house" on Columbia Blvd. sold, and it looks like the new owners are doing some substantial renovations (dumpster in the driveway, lumber in the yard, etc.). Have you followed up to see if the notoriety affected the price, and what the buyers knew/cared about it?
Marc Fisher: That's the murder house that I wrote about a couple of months back, and I'm glad to hear that it sold. Thanks for letting me know; I'll try to look into it.
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WUSA TV NEWS: Isn't there a point where this area achieves local news saturation? WUSA is replacing "Who Wants to be a Millionare?" with a news show anchored by Derek McGinty. With his resume, he can't come cheap and producing another news program has to be exhorbitant.
Why can't we in D.C. just lighten up and watch a frivolous game show?
Of course, I'm spending my day typing to a news chat so maybe I need to reassess my own priorities.
Marc Fisher: No, no, no reassessing of priorities is permitted. You might find yourself suspended with pay.
So it's more game shows you're after? Actually, the distinction between game shows and TV news shows is considerably less than it once was. The theme music is pretty much the same. And the answer to Who Wants to be a Millionaire in this case, I guess, is Derek McGinty, no?
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Washington, D.C.: Anything new in the Chief Moose saga?
Marc Fisher: His book comes out on Sept. 15 and the publisher has done a good job thus far of embargoing the text. Reporters all over the place are trying to get their hands on it to see if there's anything new in there. Moose has been working on getting on all the big TV chat shows to push the book, so you'll be hearing a lot from him in the days leading up to the sniper trial. Watch carefully, maybe he'll weep for us again.
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Capitol Hill, D.C.: On the vigilante -- the real answer nationwide would seem to be stop spending billions on small time drug use offenders, and dramatically increase the penalties for other crimes. It's the same small numbers of people stealing the cars, breaking into houses, etc. Stop the idiotic war on small time druggies and focus resources on the actual things that make a difference in people's lives.
Marc Fisher: Well, yes and no. Obviously, druggies make up an enormous proportion of those who are arrested and jailed, but they also make up a strong majority of those who commit those other crimes you're talking about getting tough on. So you'd be snaring the same people if you got tougher on robberies and thefts. Last time I checked, about three quarters of those folks who were arrested in Washington tested positive for some illegal drug.
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Washington, D.C.: Clearly it's wrong to shoot someone for stealing property, but we should give the guy some slack. How many of us would confront the thief in a rational way? He probably took the gun out just to threaten them, and things got out of hand. Wrong? Yes. Understandable? Maybe.
Marc Fisher: It's hard for me to imagine being in that guy's shoes since I would never live in a house that had a gun in it. But I was once on the receiving end of a similar situation. A nut job wielding a tire iron once came at me as I sat in the driver's seat of my car. I was parked next to his vehicle and he thought I had damaged his car door, so he came at me. Just as he was about to slam the iron through my front windshield, I rolled down my window and told him that he probably didn't want to do that because there was a cop on the corner behind him. He stopped just long enough for me to gun the engine and scram. There was no cop.
But the point is that he was able to stop in mid-rage. Anyone should be able to stop in mid-rage. Our friend in Prince George's didn't.
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Bored Office: Comment: My cousin ran over a guy and broke his legs because he caught him trying to steal his car (in Chicago). Nothing happened to him and I think violence is bad, but you have to protect yourself right? Also, Mr. Fisher, are you saying that the WWII Monument isn't a good thing? We have memorials for every other war in our history to pay homage to the people who gave their lives to save this country, this monument is a long time coming.
Marc Fisher: I'd have to hear more details about your cousin's incident to know where I stand on that one. We could all come up with scenarios in which the bad guy gets hurt and that's entirely justified, but the basic rule is a good one: You can't use deadly force against someone unless your life is endangered or you are under immediate physical attack.
On the memorial, I think a World War II memorial is long overdue and would be a splendid addition to Washington. It should have been rich in historical content and symbolism. It should have taken a prominent place along the Mall, in Constitution Gardens, where it was originally supposed to be built. It should not be the empty, cliched design that is being built and that guarantees that future generations will say, What's that memorial about? And it should not strip all future Americans from the ability to use the Mall as a place for mass gatherings, as this WWII Memorial will.
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Did you damage the car door?: We want to know!
Marc Fisher: No. I had done no damage. The full story, however, has plenty of blame to spread around. The guy had repeatedly and intentionally parked in my assigned spot and parked me in to a space from which I could not exit. So I did let the air out of his tire. Though I can make the argument that I was justified to do so, it was still bad form. Here's my lame excuse: I was 22. Now you know.
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Washington, D.C.: Marc -- I'm curious about your intro posting re: John Hinkley. I might have missed an article (if so, can you post?), but why do you think he's trying to "snow" anybody? My understanding from articles I have seen is that he was reviewed by doctors from both sides that say he is healthier. Mental illness is a disease, let's not forget and shouldn't be discounted or dismissed arbitrarily.
Marc Fisher: I spent some time yesterday reading the long history of this case. Hinckley has repeatedly sought permission to travel around town with his parents, without supervision from the folks at St. Elizabeths Hospital. Each time his lawyers have claimed he is in remission, new evidence has emerged that he is collecting pictures of Jodie Foster or that he's written about his desire to hurt her or some other sign that all is not exactly peachy keen in his mind. The prosecutors have a thick file of doctors concluding that Hinckley has a stronger ability to fool the authorities than he has control over his faculties.
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Mt. Rainier, Md.: The Prince Georges police seem to have dropped off the radar screen, yet they don't actually seem to have changed policies or old bad habits. There was a report issued by the consultant from NY; what is the response? (I haven't heard of them beating up anyone in a while, so maybe they HAVE gotten the word...)
Marc Fisher: A nasty wag suggested earlier today that our vigilante sign up as a Prince George's police officer.
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LoCo MoCo: Up here in Silver Spring I've heard that rank and file police are saying helicopter coverage to set up a perimeter was delayed when the guy who eventually shot the Montgomery County police officer first got away. MoCo, unlike most counties nearby, does not have its own helicopters and must ask Maryland State Police for backup.
Any idea why our vaunted County Exec hasn't seen fit to obtain such a basic law enforcement tool?
Marc Fisher: News to me, though I know that local police departments are generally very good about sharing that sort of expensive resource.
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Alexandria, Va.: I just saw "Bowling for Columbine," which I could help thinking about when I heard about the Laurel incident. I had some problems with the movie, but thought he was dead-on (no pun intended) in focusing in on the irony that so many people who have never been the victim of any crime or violence feel this compulsion to have lethal weapons available to defend themselves. The Post headline declares he had "had enough." Has he ever had a car stolen before?
Marc Fisher: He could have claimed this was his tribute to the late Charles Bronson. Then he would have gotten that movie contract.
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Kingstowne, Va.: Would your response to the vigilante be different if he shot someone trying to steal his hybrid-electric car instead of his SUV? I know Bob Levey's would!
Marc Fisher: Now that you mention it, the guy indeed should get points taken away for defending an indefensible vehicle. But isn't there a bit of a contradiction in using force to defend your hybrid? A bit like serving steak at a vegetarian's birthday party, no?
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Washington, D.C.: I always thought there was one important miscalculation in the voucher program numbers. Unless you have to be currently enrolled in a D.C. Public School to obtain a voucher, won't some of the students already be attending a charter, parochial or private school. We already know that there a children who meet the financial requirements to get a voucher in the charter and parochial schools. The question is how many. Will this program really just save 1500, 1000, 500 or no students currently enrolled in an under-performing school?
Marc Fisher: Good point. It's clear from experiences in cities that have vouchers that they tend not to be used by the poorest of the poor--the kids who are most in need of extra attention, but whose parents are generally the least involved in their education. Rather, it is the striving working class that is most likely to use vouchers, and those are generally the people who are already trying to get their kids the best advantages they can through charter and parochial schools.
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Palookaville: My objection to the NFL bash is not that it deflowers the Mall, since as you rightly point out, the Mall ain't been a virgin in a loooonng time. My objection is that it whores out the military.
Marc Fisher: Well, let's not blame the military. The rank and file are just trying to take advantage of a sweet deal, a chance to see a concert up close and free of charge (though in the rain.) I'd direct that criticism more at the brass, who, like the Park Service, could have insisted that the event be de-commercialized.
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Washington, D.C.: Hinckley and Pollard in court on the same day -- what were the odds of that!
Marc Fisher: It's a great town.
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Silver Spring, Md.: In almost any other jurisdiction, the vigilante would be prosecuted, because the powers-that-be would recognize that vigilantism is as dangerous to the police and innocent bystanders as to criminals. But the normal rules of political behavior don't seem to apply in PG County.
Marc Fisher: I was surprised at how equivocal prosecutor Ivey was in his statements. You'd think he'd see a clear public interest in discouraging vigilantism.
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PG County: I think I heard on the new that in that neighborhood alone there have been MANY car thefts recently. This guy included. This is the third time he's been victimized recently. The time before he was shot at. These kids start getting out of his car when he comes and you're telling me he doesn't fear for his life? You're crazy! I'd have shot them too.
Marc Fisher: If he was indeed shot at on a previous occasion, that certainly helps his case, but if these kids are not the same kids, and if they were unarmed, he doesn't have much of a foundation to stand on.
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Columbia Heights, Washington, D.C.: I'm not thrilled with today's events on the Mall, but for me one of today's more upsetting news stories was the funding problem and resulting delayed completion for the Tivoli Square project. Completion date for that is currently 2006 (although they estimated 18 months at groundbreaking), and the DCUSA (Target) project -- which has barely begun -- isn't supposed to be finished until 2007. Why can't the people who railroaded the NFL thing on the Mall get to work on these neighborhood initiatives next? Seriously, why does it take so long to get anything done in this city?
Marc Fisher: There's a good story in the District Weekly today that shows how flimsy that deal may have been, using a federal program for transit-oriented development to pay for a Giant parking garage. Now that piece of the deal seems to be collapsing. Bottom line: That project is very risky, and no one wants to take on more than a tiny bit of that risk.
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Arlington, Va.: C'mon now, folks! I saw BB King at Wolf Trap the other night and in everything I read since there wasn't one mention about his size or the fact that he has to sit down through his shows (due to bad knees due to diabetes due to weight and it circles around). Give Aretha a break and R-E-S-P-E-C-T!! I never see this kind of stuff mentioned about male singers. How come nobody ever says that Steven Tyler looks anorexic and far too old to be wearing spandex and baring his chest, which, if he didn't shave it, would be covered with grey hairs!!! BTW -- he admits to dying his hair as well!
Marc Fisher: Ok, good point, and a good note on which to end this session, which is already well into overtime. So: Let's all hope for relatively dry skies and a good show tonight, despite the commercial overload. And thanks to all of you for coming along. The column returns to the paper Sept. 14, and I'm back here with you next Thursday at the usual time.
Stay cool and please, don't shoot.
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