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Articles
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| Clean, Green and Creative ... ? |
VOICE writes, "Clean, Green and Creative ... ?
BY TOM SHERWOOD
Mayor Adrian Fenty went walking Monday.
He was wearing a full, dark suit. His tie was knotted to his neck on the humid, hot day.
He walked along 13th Street, NW, at Cardozo High School and then down the hill to the Metro stop at U Street. It's not a short walk.
He didn't break a sweat. How does he do that? The people around him, including the Notebook, were looking for air conditioning.
"If you get accustomed to walking, biking ... you get used to it," said Fenty, who is probably one of the fittest mayors in the nation. "
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The mayor was out walking and riding Metro buses and trains to promote "Car Free DC" Day in the District next Tuesday (Sept. 18). Passed by the D.C. Council, the car-free day obviously encourages more Metro riding, biking and walking. But the mayor is also highlighting another environmentally friendly initiative — a law requiring more "green" buildings to aid the city's air quality.
"By 2012, all the buildings that are going to be coming up in the city are going to meet our green building standard," said D.C. Office of Planning director Harriet Tregoning.
Tregoning is living what she preaches. She's turned her garage parking space at the agency's 801 North Capitol St., NE, headquarters into a place for bicyclists to park.
The mayor is not taking sole credit for environmentally friendly policies. He freely says that much of the initiative began under former Mayor Anthony Williams.
The D.C. Council is noticeably getting greener, too.
Ward 6 Councilman Tommy Wells sees the city as ripe for more bike trails and other incentives for non-motorized travel.
As for the car-free day, Wells told NBC4, "What we want to do is make it positive instead of negative. And that meant celebrating a great city you can walk, bike, take Metro, take the bus to get around, not just focusing on cars being bad."
Ward 3's Mary Cheh called it smart business to be green and said it meets a "moral obligation" to future generations.
The mayor and council are also establishing a "Green-Collar Jobs Advisory Council" that will promote environmentally friendly jobs from low-skill to high-tech.
Hundreds of thousands of cars and vehicles crisscross the District every day. Realistically, the car-free day on Sept. 18 probably won't make a dent. But the mayor sent a pretty good message on Monday. The city wants to keep heading in a new direction.
For more on car-free day, go to carfreedc.info.
• The old is new again. This doesn't really qualify as a recycling item. But "The Politics Hour With Mark Plotkin" has returned to WTOP radio (FM 103.5).
You may recall the talkfest switched to The Washington Post Radio a while back when the newspaper saw radio as a way to promote its products and reporters.
But Post Radio will be officially dead this month. And as of last Friday, the Plotkin show has returned to WTOP at 10 a.m. on Fridays. That's good news.
While it strived for quality, Post Radio never found an audience aside from "The Tony Kornheiser Show." On most days and programs, you could open the window to shout and get more listeners.
• Who's your candidate? NBC has a new 30-question test to see whom you should support for president based on your views on various issues. Take the test at politalk.com/candi-date.php. It was fun. The Notebook took it. We won't tell you the results.
• Fighting terrorism. As we respectfully paused this week to remember Sept. 11, 2001, the Notebook still couldn't get over the bureaucracy that has grown up around "security" efforts. Securicrats are surely taking over the world.
Here's a verbatim first paragraph from a news release sent recently from the Department of Homeland Security:
"WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is reminding air carriers and the traveling public that the temporary Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) accommodation allowing U.S. citizens to travel by air within the Western Hemisphere using a Department of State (DOS) official proof of passport application receipt will end as scheduled at midnight on Sept. 30, 2007. U.S. citizens who departed the country under this travel accommodation prior to Oct. 1 with a Department of State official proof of passport application receipt and government-issued identification will be readmitted with these same documents if returning to the United States after Sept. 30."
There was a lot more. But that's enough.
• A final word. Effi Barry died of leukemia this past week at the early age of 63.
Ms. Barry suffered slings and arrows mostly aimed at her then-husband Marion Barry throughout the ordeals of the 1980s and early 1990s.
Except for a few times, Ms. Barry kept her cool around circling reporters, always remaining protective of the couple's son and what little privacy she could find.
She more recently fought hard to make people — especially African-Americans — more aware of donor lists to aid leukemia victims and to fight HIV/AIDS.
But she promoted good health for everyone, talking not just about the leukemia that would take her life.
A "bright light," her former husband called her. "A bright shining light."
Tom Sherwood is a political reporter for NBC 4.
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Posted on Sep 20, 2007 20:12pm.
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