The Manhattan Project
Morning Roundup: Second Helpings Edition
Compromise Uncertain on Same-Sex Marriage Law
Fire at 17th and L NW Forces Evacuations
Sculpture Garden Ice-Skating Rink Remains Closed
>> The District's poverty rate is the highest in nearly a decade, and the employment rate for African American adults is at a 20-year low. [WaPo]
>> ACK! OMG! The Hair! The Hair! Blood on the Hair! [Princess Sparklepony]
>> bam! smack!@ Pow! [craigslist]
>> WASA says it has repaired the two holes that were leaking raw sewage into the Anacostia River. [WaPo]
>> Adam Clampitt has filed papers to run as an independent against Carol Schwartz for her at-large D.C. Council seat. His campaign chair is none other than Judith Terra, the socialite and arts patron who played a large role in the campaigns of Mayor Adrian Fenty and Ward 4 Council member Muriel Bowser. [City Desk]
>> "For one bright moment, my faith in local government had been restored." [IntangibleArts]
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"The District's poverty rate is the highest in nearly a decade, and the employment rate for African American adults is at a 20-year low."
And once again the Washington Post turns over its pages to Ed Lazere's axe grinding.
I got five words into that article before I knew it was not going to be a real article but rather just one more press release from Lazere's institute-of-one.
As I always say, I think he is adding value to the discussion, but I can't stand how the Post keeps on parroting his missives without putting it in the context of "so said a report by a guy who in single-minded in his pursuit of raising your taxes".
I was wondering when the Lazere link was gonna get posted here. He really outdid himself in the "duh" department with this one. Here's a question: suppose you're at the poverty line and you finally get a decent job or someone offers you a ridiculous sum for your home in DC. What do you do? You take the money and move someplace where you can afford to live, thereby leaving only those who cant or refuse to work.
Cant wait to see how he spins this to be an indicator that DC's tax rate is too low.
Lazere lost all credibility when he kept wrongly stating that the baseball stadium was going to be paid for by the average DC taxpayer. It was paid for by a special tax on only very large companies (like corporate law firms, lobbying groups, etc.). The average DC taxpayer sees NO tax increase. Is there a 'trickle-down' cost to the average taxpayer? Only if the average taxpayer is using a huge corporate law firm or similar business, and even then not likely or noticeable.
Once he went all over town lying about this he lost all credibility with nearly everyone except apparently the Washington Post.
I wonder how long it'll be before we get the nutcase 'illegal immigrants caused all this' crowd in this forum.
This is a repost from my WP post, but, hey, I'm in DC, why should I work hard?....
I'll never forget when the massive construction project putting up new buildings was going on next to Union Station. I spoke with the construction foreman there. He said he was under instruction to hire as many DC residents as possible. He understood this to mean he needed to hire black people predominately. His company went literally next door to the homeless feeding shelter in the old school there. He said he literally begged for unskilled labor there. No one would even walk 100 feet to his labor site to apply. And the wages were apparently quite good - around $20 an hour to start.
I myself have had similar experiences. I sometimes have small construction jobs I need done. I try to hire DC residents first. But FAR too often they won't show up for an appointment or when they do they are rude, unprofessional, and clearly have little desire to work.
There are Help Wanted signs up all over DC, in nearly every unskilled industry. The Federal government has been hiring at an unprecedented level, in large part because of 9/11, and because of other bloat in the government. You can't go much more than half a block in DC without running into a construction site. And those folks are always looking for labor, both skilled and unskilled.
If you can't get a job in DC today then you simply aren't trying.
Sure, it may not be your dream job, but it would be a job.
But that would require actual work. And that's more than many in DC are willing to do.
Now Hillman, you know that isn't true. Some of these guys didn't apply for construction jobs because they didn't want to get dirty.
Go to any construction site in DC or the suburbs and count how many DC plates you see on the pickups parked onsite. You've got Latino workers getting up at 3am and driving in from West Virginia for those jobs, while clowns in DC can't be bothered to not wear flipflops to job interviews.
If my high school guidance counselor wasn't already dead I would have killed him then kicked his dead body aside to be at that hearing and see what Marion Barry's response was to hearing that his much-lauded 'disenfranchised' worker wouldn't work if it meant getting dirty.
It amazes me just how much construction work there is in this area. Travel out toward Manassas and the roads are literally choked with construction trucks.
Which is why it's such BS when people say that you can't find a job in the DC area.
What they mean to say is they can't find a job where they can still sleep til noon, do nothing for the rest of the day (unless you count showing up drunk or high for 30 minutes then going home), and collect a very large paycheck.
Current economic conditions in DC should be a case study on calling shenanigans on the 'disenfranchised DC worker' theory. If there were ever a time when there is work for everyone it is now.
The 'disenfranchised' crowd now has a new boogeyman - the illegal immigrant. Convenient, but again total BS. Even with illegal immigrants there is still near full employment in the DC area.
And here's a thought.... you have to expand your job search beyond your own block. Traditionally people would move to look for work. Apparently that's no longer something people are willing to do.
Remember those news reports about builders out in Montana and other areas trying to recruit workers to help build those ugly new developments out there? They offered free housing, free transportation, and apparently very good wages, even for unskilled labor. I wonder if even a single unemployed DC resident took them up on that.
The excuses are wearing thin. Yet, they keep getting made.
What's sad is that this whole mess clouds a very real issue - that the actual working class is indeed getting screwed, as their money doesn't get them much of a life anymore.