Letters
March 2006

More than just a dog

It was just after Labor Day weekend a few years ago when I heard that my coworker at Park and Planning, Marsha Kadesch, had died in her home in Takoma Park. I didn't know her that well but our common link was Labrador Retrievers. We would share dog stories and I had looked forward to bringing my little yellow wiggly girl to meet her older gentleman for a splash in Sligo Creek. Her death was unexpected and bits of information started to circulate in the workplace. One was that her beloved dog Duke stayed right by her side as she died. A few of her closer colleagues got involved helping her friends and family to pick up the pieces. The word came back that the family didn't have a home for the dog and, sight unseen, with no call home to check, I volunteered to adopt Duke.

A week or so later Marsha's friends brought Duke to my house in Columbia. My family was unimpressed. My wife complained that she and the boys wanted a new puppy but instead I had brought home a sad old lumpy dog.

After a few weeks I figured I had blown it. He messed carpets, bit one of the kids, and had an ungentlemanly interest in our lab Maggie. Then one night I found him snoozing on the couch with his chin on my wife's lap. Duke had made the cut. He couldn't fetch or do any cute tricks. His sole objective was to follow my wife wherever she went. Somehow he knew Beth had just lost her father to cancer. Duke certainly knew cancer. Too old to do much of anything, he had pared it down to the basics. He focused on loving.

We just said goodbye to Duke, and wish to share our conclusion that in fact he was much more than just a dog.

— Joel Gallihue
Columbia, MD

Cartoon Hurts

I am both a regular reader of the Takoma Voice, and an African American Muslim. I wanted to take a moment to express the hurt and, yes, anger, I felt after reading the political cartoon published in the February 2006 Voice I am well aware that Mr. Brown is entitled to his opinions, but what rankled me was the snide, “more enlightened than thou” tone of his assessments.

Was his definition of blasphemy based upon personal opinion and a working knowledge of Islam?
It came across as the former.

And while there are those who use (misuse, actually) the tenets of Islam to justify the oppression of women (though I’d like to remind Mr. Brown that, sadly, other faiths contribute to this as well)—I think the flippant tone of the cartoon is closer to something heard or seen on Fox News.

Not that I wish to pigeonhole the cartoonist anymore than I wish to be pigeonholed as a killer because of my faith. (Before 9/11, I was a status quo black man. Feared because I was a potential purse-snatcher or something. Ah, for the good old days.) Guess I’m not sure what we are supposed to learn from the cartoon. Yes, violence is a bad thing. As is arrogance. From any side.

— Reuben Jackson
Washington, DC

Bill Brown responds:

Thank you, I appreciate your comments. I regret you were hurt by the perceived tenor of the cartoon. [www.takoma.com/features_citizenBill.htm]

I stand by the cartoon, however.

As you might expect I’ve given the current controversy over cartoons a great deal of thought. I include in my thoughts the much smaller, local controversies my own cartoons have caused in the past.

It may not be obvious to my readers, but do I put lot of effort into crafting cartoons that are coherent, to the point, and not overly offensive. Even so, I occasionally hear from people who are offended. I also hear from people who read a different point into the cartoon than the one I intended—sometimes completely the opposite. Sometimes people who enjoy my cartoons when they agree with them take umbrage when their own ox is gored, saying I am being unfair and even nasty. They never say that when I’m criticizing the other side, however.

I can’t always predict what will offend people, or how they will misread and see unintended messages. People see things in the drawing details, text, or caricature, that were never intended. Cartoons are like a Rorschach test—people project their own feelings and sensitivities into them. In short—everybody sees things differently.

I do review and edit with these problems in mind so that the point is as clear as I can make it, but if I tried to anticipate all the possible offenses the cartoon may cause, I would be paralyzed, and there would be no cartoon.

There’s been a lot of talk in the media about cartoons “crossing the line” into poor taste and offensiveness. For me there are two lines that I try not to cross. I try not to cross into offensiveness, but I also try not to cross in the other direction, compromising my beliefs, opinions, and principles.

After all, my job as a political cartoonist is to voice an opinion to get people to think and maybe even take action. If my cartoons cause someone such as yourself to disagree enough to write a letter, then I feel I’ve succeeded.

A new class of homeless:
middle class seniors

Perhaps I am one of the few strange persons who does not revel in the fact that her home value has increased over 300 percent since I bought it in 1983 and continue to be shocked by the prices received for homes in my neighborhood. I have been told what I "could get" if I placed my home on the market and I would not even consider paying that price. My home is nice, however, it is not worth the money I could receive in selling it.

I am one of those persons who thought I played the game right. I worked, retired, am working again; I raised my son, educated him, bought a home I thought I could afford in which I wanted to remain and believed that if I did all that, when my house was paid for, I could enjoy my "golden years." However, I, as many others who really believe in "home ownership," may find out, even though our homes are paid for, we might not be able to afford to stay in them in retirement.

I receive no particular thrill in the thought that my property tax bill could be larger than any mortgage payment I ever had and that my retirement funds could be out-stripped by real estate taxes. Some may say, well sell and down-scale, yet that is not an option with retirement communities going for upwards $4000.00 a month on the low end. Plus, scaling down does not necessarily mean a similar reduction in mortgage and real estate taxes.

If we who find it silly that the younger set is ecstatic when they pay $400,000 for a "fixer-upper" or silly and fiscally unwise, those who are banking that their salaries will increase by the time balloon payments are due on their "interest only" mortgage loans, are concerned about the possibility of being homeless as seniors, then it is time to say "enough."

At some point it must be said that homes being sold and/ or built are not worth the asking prices. At some point it must be said that we must really assess governmental services that in some way drive up property assessments or at least property assessments are driven up to pay the bills. If those who will be affected by rising home prices and the resultant higher real estate taxes don't speak up now, we may well find ourselves alongside the homeless (which is a disgrace within it self) sharing a warm heating grate.

—Gayle Fisher-Stewart
Takoma Park, MD

No to the Nom de Plume

Having just read the new issue of the Voice, I have a question about the propriety of printing an anonymous column. Posting a blog is certainly "Gilbert's" prerogative, but I don't think a newspaper should publish an anonymous column (unless it is marked as the viewpoint of the editors) nor promote an anonymous blog (as is done in the box in the lower right hand corner), suggesting that it is sanctioned by the paper. Richard Jaeggi, Mike Tabor, and Diana Kohn, not to mention the writers of letters to the editor, take responsibility for what they write, why shouldn't Gilbert?

All the best. It's a wonderful paper.

Anonymous--nah,

— Priscilla Labovitz
Washington, DC

One thing that most of us were taught in school was to identify oneself when expressing an opinion or reporting information as fact, and we were taught only to accept information as believable when the source was known and reliable. For these reasons, I am troubled by the growing acceptance of anonymous Internet blogs as sources of credible information. I am disappointed that the "Takoma Voice," a publication that I consider a legitimate source of news and opinion, is promoting and providing hyperlinks to the Granola Park blog which is authored by someone who chooses not to identify him/herself, simply using the pseudonym Gilbert.

—Emily Koechlin
Takoma Park, MD

Restore library funding

Our community gives very high priority to the construction of a new County library in downtown Silver Spring. We are, therefore, very troubled that the County Executive's proposed capital budget has moved design funding for the new library back two years to FY09, delaying construction and the opening of this important community resource until 2013. We think that it is critically important for the Montgomery County Council to restore immediate funding for this project so it can be completed on schedule.

Downtown Silver Spring is growing very rapidly. Over the next few years, more than 3000 new residential units will be constructed in the downtown area, significantly adding to the local population and creating new and challenging demands on public and private facilities. We are very concerned about the impact that this rapid growth will have on our neighborhoods, our schools, traffic and the public infrastructure.

Against this background, we believe that a new Silver Spring Library is urgently needed to meet the needs of our community and that the planned funding for its design and construction needs to be promptly restored. As we understand the County's plans to co-develop the new library with commercial development, the cost of the new facility should be manageable with current resources.

The Silver Spring Library, along with the Silver Spring Civic Building & Veterans Plaza, is one of two critical anchors of our downtown revitalization that needs to be completed as soon as possible. We share our neighborsâ concern that the Silver Spring community's priority and critical public facilities seem to have taken a back seat to private sector development projects.

We believe that it is essential that the County Council and the County Executive give highest priority to meeting the public needs of our neighbors in a timely fashion. They need to restore funding for the Silver Spring Library.

—Alan S. Bowser, Co-Chair
Neighborhoods Committee
Silver Spring Citizens Advisory Board

Takoma Park's housing policies need to be overhauled

During its January 30 meeting the Takoma Park City Council attempted to discuss tenant eligibility requirements for participation in the City's rent control program. Under current City law, rent control applies to every renter household, regardless of income level. The discussion was quickly squelched by two senior councilmembers, who opined that the City's rent control program effectively targeted low-income households. Apparently, no one on the City Council has read the University of Maryland's January 2005 report, Takoma Park, MD Rent Stabilization Policy Analysis. The report shows that a full 60 percent of the City's renters pay 30 percent or less of income (the national standard for housing affordability) on rent. Further, one-fourth of all renter households pay less than 20 percent of income on rent, prompting the report authors to conclude that these households "... are able to afford market level rents."

The tendency of rent control to subsidize the housing costs of non-low income renter households who would not qualify for assistance under any other housing program is a well-known flaw of rent control. [See A Reevaluation of Residential Rent Controls by Anthony Downs, "Allocation of Benefits to Non-Poor Households".] It is the City's homeowners and commercial property tax payers who foot the bill for this unjust subsidy, through higher property taxes needed to compensate for the reduced taxes collected from rent-controlled properties.

It is past time for the City Council to begin making decisions about rent control based on facts and not their personal opinions and biases. Several months ago Councilmember Williams asked the mayor to schedule a briefing to the Council by the authors of the University of MD report. The mayor failed to do so. This briefing should be conducted and the Council should embark on a serious effort to overhaul the City's housing policies and programs, including rent control. Continued lip service to these important issues is no longer acceptable.

— Jack Carson
Takoma Park, MD

Get coffee with Aaron

We are excited to report that Aaron Klein, Democratic candidate for District 20 in the State House in Annapolis, chose Takoma Park (our house in fact!) as the place to kick off his candidate coffees. Aaron spent more than two hours with our neighbors and us discussing his plans for education and for using the experience he has earned as Paul Sarbanes chief economist on the Senate Banking Committee.

It was great to hear from Aaron directly--all the more because he is an alumnus of Takoma Middle School and Blair High School. He intends to do 50 such coffees throughout the District 20 (which encompasses all of Takoma Park and much of Silver Spring), so keep your eyes peeled for a chance to sit down with Aaron.

He is just the kind of voice we need in Annapolis!

—Denis and Kari McDonough
Takoma Park, MD

Special interests trying to strip citizens of their ballot power

Montgomery County civic activists were disappointed last month to see the Montgomery County Delegation plod doggedly onward to strip citizens of their only way to directly work for reform in county politics. Local bill MC-604 was debated by our state senators, and Senator Jennie Forehand (D, District 17) offered an amendment to reinvigorate this bad bill by increasing the number of signatures of registered voters required to put a charter amendment on the ballot from 3 percent to 5 percent. This is a significant increase over the 10,000 now required by state law.

The powers behind the push for this bill were revealed to be the "Committee for Montgomery"--a group spearheaded by Richard Parsons, the Chamber of Commerce and the development industry which brought us the Endless Gridlock slate for the County Council and financed the "Vote No Coalition" to the tune of some $120,000 during the last election cycle. If the citizens of Montgomery County want our county to continue on the road that Northern Virginia is on--unconstrained growth, overcrowded schools and congested roads--they need only to acquiesce to this blatant attempt by "special interests" to both control our local government and reduce or eliminate citizen participation. Our state elected officials should be ashamed to be manipulated toward this very undemocratic scheme.

—Peggy Dennis
Potomac, MD

Chickens coming home to roost

The threat of avian flu spreading to our shores is so real that researchers from the University of Maryland are advising chicken farmers on how to deal with destroying and disposing of infected birds. These researchers may be surprised to learn that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) supports their efforts to cull birds as painlessly as possible. Their methods are clearly much more humane than the alternatives used in other countries. However, we must point out that their services would not be necessary if Americans granted chickens the respect that they deserve--by not eating them.

Bird flu represents the proverbial chickens coming home to roost: Modern factory-farming practices are a prescription for deadly viruses, with tens of thousands of animals cooped up in their own waste and so full of drugs that many can barely move. If dogs or cats were so hideously abused, everyone involved could be tossed into jail on felony cruelty-to-animals charges.

To make matters worse, according to the World Health Organization and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, consumers can get bird flu by eating an undercooked bird contaminated with the virus, and that could kill them. Already, tens of millions of people get sick and thousands die every year from eating contaminated meat. A virulent bird flu outbreak in the United States could make those numbers grow exponentially higher. Please visit GoVeg.com for more information.

—Bruce G. Friedrich
Director of Farmed Animal Campaigns
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)
Norfolk, VA

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