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ENVIRONMENT and Oh RATS
MY INVOLVEMENT
I have been an active member of the various versions of such community organizations as the Dupont Environment Committee, Rat Patrol, and League of 8,000 Voters. I am certified to trim city sidewalk trees. Most of my efforts have been with rat/sanitation violations and graffiti. In 1997, I won a Distinguished Service Award from Dupont Circle Citizens Association for “…steadfast fight against rodents and those individuals who contribute to that menace has earned him the utmost respect and gratitude of the residents of this community…” In 2008 received a DC government Pathfinder Award in 2008 for “leading the way in the fight against rats.” Dupont resident Kathryn Kailian is nicknamed Ms Rat and I am nicknamed Mr. Rat. While Ms and Mr. Rat are no relation, we have both persistently fought the good fight against sanitation violations and rats.
Much of my service as an ANC Commissioner since 2007 is a continuation of the same volunteer work I have been doing for decades.
RAT PATROL
Our neighborhood’s Rat Patrol received recognition from coast to coast, but we never received any recognition from the District government. Although Mayors and their administrations have changed over the years, the District government remains underwhelmingly committed to the necessarily endless war on rats.
Dupont Circle Citizens Association’s (DCCA) Dupont Environment Committee in the 1990s started our neighborhood Rat Patrol. The logic was simply that no one knows our neighborhood better than people who live in our neighborhood. DC Department of Public Works (DPW) sanitation inspectors were understaffed and could not adequately cover sanitation problems in our city. Rat Patrol volunteers would work in pairs, walk around a few neighborhood blocks once a week and report sanitation violations to DPW Inspectors for corrective action. The program worked really well mainly because neighbors soon learned that someone cared enough to be checking for problems and peer pressure encouraged residents and businesses to clean up. What eventually doomed the program was DPW Inspectors finally realizing that Rat Patrol was generating work for the Inspectors that they did not want to do. Rat Patrol slowly ended because we got no action or response from DPW. This great exercise in community involvement died from lack of support by the District government.
RAT FOR THE MAYOR
While Sharon Pratt Kelly was Mayor in the 1990s, rat infestations were increasing and the city was not responding to complaints. Out of frustration, I double bagged a dead rat and at a Dupont public forum presented the Mayor with the dead rat. That night she was not offended, sympathized with me and said that she understood the frustration over the lack of city services. However since it was an election year, the next day there was political spin about offending the Mayor. Still, I did make my point and the Mayor did understand.
LEAGUE OF 8,000 VOTERS
Following Marion Barry’s election as Mayor again in the 1990s, but before he took office, Barry announced that he would fire all the city’s sanitation inspectors. We were outraged and joined with residents throughout the city to collect one thousands signatures in each ward. In less than a week, we had 8,000 signatures. Thus was born the League of 8,000. This organization brought everyone from throughout our city to work together. Rats are everywhere. DCCA’s then President Marilyn Groves co-chaired with Hillcrest Civic Community Association’s Vincent Spaulding. The league was able to save the jobs of all the Inspectors, add more inspectors and push DPW to make badly needed improvements.
Collecting 8,000 signatures from throughout the city and bringing people from throughout the city to work together was very important. My favorite League moment was from one League of 8,000 meeting. My alter ego in a dog costume, Scoop the dog, had made an appearance. We were waiting for someone important to appear, forgotten whom. A policy wonk talked endlessly about trash-transfer station policy to Scoop the dog.
DC ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING COMMISSION
The first DC Environmental Planning Commission was begun decades ago. Over time, the Commission squabbled itself to death. In the 1990s, the City Council recreated the Commission. The Commission reported to Councilmember Schwartz. Councilmember Jack Evans appointed me DC Environmental Planning Commissioner for Ward 2.
We were unsuccessful in fighting to get CSX to stop endangering our city with rail shipments of hazardous waste. If a railcar of chlorine ruptured near the Capital and if the wind is in our direction, then every living creature in our neighborhood dies. Interstate transportation is federal and President Bush refused to act. CSX halts hazardous waste shipments through our city for only two reasons-when Bush goes to the Capital and for Britney Spears performing on the Mall.
SCOOP, MAYOR’S CLEAN CITY COORDINATOR and SWEEP
Vincent Spaulding, then Clean City Coordinator for Mayor Williams, organized a pilot program for Ward 7’s elementary schools called “Safety and Sanitation.” Participating in this informative and entertaining program was DPW, MPD, US Park Police, US Attorney’s Office, a high school’s drama class along with McGruff the crime dog and Scoop the dog. The presentation was about safety and then a short play about sanitation. The show usually started with the song, Who Let the Dogs Out and out came Scoop and McGruff.
Despite the success, or maybe because of it, DPW’s Solid Waste Education and Enforcement Program (SWEEP) stopped the program because SWEEP was responsible for education. Since then SWEEP has done nothing.
SANITATION ENFORCEMENT
One of the more frustrating efforts for the Dupont Environment Committee is trying to get simple sanitation violation statistics from Departments of Public Works and Health (DPW, DOH). DOH has been reasonable. DPW has argued that to protect the innocent they cannot release the actual address of any ticketed violation until all appeals are completed. Rather than provide a computer printout, DPW Inspectors must manually hide the exact address of each violation before the information can be released. I am sure this has nothing to do with the fact that on the rare occasions that we have been able to nag DPW enough to get any statistics they show that usually about one ticket is written per Inspector per workday.
SOME PROGRESS
DPW has continued to show an underwhelming interest in fighting rats and supporting citizens. DOH to their credit has made efforts to fight the rat problem. Our DOH Ward 2 rat abatement expert, Ronnie Herrington, has day after day persistently made a valiant effort to eradicate rats. DOH manager, Gerard Brown, has organized a successful pilot rat abatement/cleanup program in our neighborhood and that program has now expanded to Georgetown. Mr. Brown has also organized several rat-training seminars taught by a nationally recognized rat expert for District workers and citizens.
PROBLEMS
One of the more regrettable characteristics of the DC government is the old joke (Or is it a joke?) that the only problems the DC government has are DC residents who complain about problems. Until that systemic attitude is changed and residents are no longer viewed as the enemy, the DC government will continue to fail to provide adequate and appropriate services to residents.
RAT SUMMIT
When Tony Williams became Mayor in 1998, he held a Rat Summit. Citizens were hopeful of improvements to come. The only action out of the Summit was the rearranging of deck chairs at Departments of Public Works (DPW) and Health (DOH). Williams promptly lost interest in one of our city’s major public health problems. Although since then, DOH has done a much better job since the realignment than DPW ever did. Scoop the dog also appeared at the Rat Summit to make the point that rats eat dog poop and spread disease.
We did learn from the Summit that only exterminating rats is not enough because they breed too fast. The only progress against rats is a combination of cutting the rat’s food supply and killing the rats. That means correcting sanitation violations must be a priority.
FLAT RAT ALLEY
There is a long alley in our Dupont neighborhood that has justifiably earned its nickname of Flat Rat Alley. Flat Rat Alley is parallel to and east of Connecticut Avenue NW and between Q and R Streets NW. You could walk the alley and count the number of car smashed dead rats. Department of Health’s Gerard Brown organized a multi-agency pilot program to clean up Flat Rat Alley. For me, the best aspect of this pilot program was for the first time DC agencies, property owners, business owners and managers and residents worked together instead of against each other. Some sanitation problems continue, but overall there has been real progress. The pilot program shows that everyone working together can make a difference. The only downside was typically the underwhelming support we got from DPW’s SWEEP.
The fight against rats and the sanitation violations that feed them is never ending. We can and must continue to make progress. As the Flat Rat Alley showed, it really does take everyone working together.
TREES
In the years before the DC government resumed pruning city sidewalk trees, Dupont Environment Committee stepped in. A professional horticulturist and arborist taught the hands-on tree trimming sessions. Residents were certified to trim city sidewalk trees. Dupont Environment Committee provided the needed tools. We were restricted to trimming only city sidewalk trees and had to keep both feet on the ground when trimming.
DUPONT ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE
This all-volunteer committee has had several incarnations over the years. Originally, this committee was responsible for Rat Patrol. For the past several years, Don Jones has ably led the committee. Don and the committee have been involved actively with sidewalk trees, graffiti abatement, rats/sanitation violations, and a myriad of other neighborhood environment concerns. This past spring for a neighborhood cleanup, the Committee asked neighbors to clean up their block and got Foundry United Methodist to provide a neighborhood drop off collection point for hazardous waste materials. Don has retired and the committee may continue as is or be reconstituted with separate committees to each deal with specific concerns/issues.
GRAFFITI
I started cleaning graffiti in public space about 15 years ago. I have continued to clean graffiti in public space on a regular basis. More recently, Dupont Environment Committee and Historic Dupont Main Streets formed a Graffiti Task Force. Volunteers clean graffiti in public space once a month. Throughout the year, we report graffiti to the DC government.
I probably average over two dozen graffiti hits cleaned every week.
We are grateful for the progress that resulted in the DC government hiring professional graffiti cleaners. They remove larger graffiti in public space and with the permission of the property owner, will remove graffiti on private property.
Now in the planning stage, Historic Dupont Main Streets hopes to hire someone to remove graffiti in our Dupont neighborhood.
PRO-GRAFFITI RALLY
A few years ago, Steve Aupperle, my gardening buddy, and a DCPS teacher called about a rally at our Dupont Circle fountain. The rally was pro-graffiti and paint cans were available and free for the taking for would be vandals. Steve and I debated what to do. Since the signs for the spray paint read, “FREE” we loaded up armfuls of cans and put them into a nearby US Park Police cruiser. The pro-graffiti people were not happy. Steve and I then tried to start a dialogue with the pro-graffiti advocates. Interestingly, all the graffiti advocates we talked with were young and lived in the Maryland and Virginia suburbs. We talked to no one who lived in DC, but they chose to hold their rally in our city and neighborhood. All argued that graffiti was constitutionally protected free speech. I always responded with, then why don’t you express your free speech and spray paint your parent’s home. I never got a satisfactory answer to that question. Never got a satisfactory answer to why they did not spray paint in Maryland and Virginia, but had to come into our city to “express themselves.” I am proud that we tried to talk with and understand these young people. Also, glad that a US Park Police Officer stood nearby just in
MY INVOLVEMENT
I have been an active member of the various versions of such community organizations as the Dupont Environment Committee, Rat Patrol, and League of 8,000 Voters. I am certified to trim city sidewalk trees. Most of my efforts have been with rat/sanitation violations and graffiti. In 1997, I won a Distinguished Service Award from Dupont Circle Citizens Association for “…steadfast fight against rodents and those individuals who contribute to that menace has earned him the utmost respect and gratitude of the residents of this community…” In 2008 received a DC government Pathfinder Award in 2008 for “leading the way in the fight against rats.” Dupont resident Kathryn Kailian is nicknamed Ms Rat and I am nicknamed Mr. Rat. While Ms and Mr. Rat are no relation, we have both persistently fought the good fight against sanitation violations and rats.
Much of my service as an ANC Commissioner since 2007 is a continuation of the same volunteer work I have been doing for decades.
RAT PATROL
Our neighborhood’s Rat Patrol received recognition from coast to coast, but we never received any recognition from the District government. Although Mayors and their administrations have changed over the years, the District government remains underwhelmingly committed to the necessarily endless war on rats.
Dupont Circle Citizens Association’s (DCCA) Dupont Environment Committee in the 1990s started our neighborhood Rat Patrol. The logic was simply that no one knows our neighborhood better than people who live in our neighborhood. DC Department of Public Works (DPW) sanitation inspectors were understaffed and could not adequately cover sanitation problems in our city. Rat Patrol volunteers would work in pairs, walk around a few neighborhood blocks once a week and report sanitation violations to DPW Inspectors for corrective action. The program worked really well mainly because neighbors soon learned that someone cared enough to be checking for problems and peer pressure encouraged residents and businesses to clean up. What eventually doomed the program was DPW Inspectors finally realizing that Rat Patrol was generating work for the Inspectors that they did not want to do. Rat Patrol slowly ended because we got no action or response from DPW. This great exercise in community involvement died from lack of support by the District government.
RAT FOR THE MAYOR
While Sharon Pratt Kelly was Mayor in the 1990s, rat infestations were increasing and the city was not responding to complaints. Out of frustration, I double bagged a dead rat and at a Dupont public forum presented the Mayor with the dead rat. That night she was not offended, sympathized with me and said that she understood the frustration over the lack of city services. However since it was an election year, the next day there was political spin about offending the Mayor. Still, I did make my point and the Mayor did understand.
LEAGUE OF 8,000 VOTERS
Following Marion Barry’s election as Mayor again in the 1990s, but before he took office, Barry announced that he would fire all the city’s sanitation inspectors. We were outraged and joined with residents throughout the city to collect one thousands signatures in each ward. In less than a week, we had 8,000 signatures. Thus was born the League of 8,000. This organization brought everyone from throughout our city to work together. Rats are everywhere. DCCA’s then President Marilyn Groves co-chaired with Hillcrest Civic Community Association’s Vincent Spaulding. The league was able to save the jobs of all the Inspectors, add more inspectors and push DPW to make badly needed improvements.
Collecting 8,000 signatures from throughout the city and bringing people from throughout the city to work together was very important. My favorite League moment was from one League of 8,000 meeting. My alter ego in a dog costume, Scoop the dog, had made an appearance. We were waiting for someone important to appear, forgotten whom. A policy wonk talked endlessly about trash-transfer station policy to Scoop the dog.
DC ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING COMMISSION
The first DC Environmental Planning Commission was begun decades ago. Over time, the Commission squabbled itself to death. In the 1990s, the City Council recreated the Commission. The Commission reported to Councilmember Schwartz. Councilmember Jack Evans appointed me DC Environmental Planning Commissioner for Ward 2.
We were unsuccessful in fighting to get CSX to stop endangering our city with rail shipments of hazardous waste. If a railcar of chlorine ruptured near the Capital and if the wind is in our direction, then every living creature in our neighborhood dies. Interstate transportation is federal and President Bush refused to act. CSX halts hazardous waste shipments through our city for only two reasons-when Bush goes to the Capital and for Britney Spears performing on the Mall.
SCOOP, MAYOR’S CLEAN CITY COORDINATOR and SWEEP
Vincent Spaulding, then Clean City Coordinator for Mayor Williams, organized a pilot program for Ward 7’s elementary schools called “Safety and Sanitation.” Participating in this informative and entertaining program was DPW, MPD, US Park Police, US Attorney’s Office, a high school’s drama class along with McGruff the crime dog and Scoop the dog. The presentation was about safety and then a short play about sanitation. The show usually started with the song, Who Let the Dogs Out and out came Scoop and McGruff.
Despite the success, or maybe because of it, DPW’s Solid Waste Education and Enforcement Program (SWEEP) stopped the program because SWEEP was responsible for education. Since then SWEEP has done nothing.
SANITATION ENFORCEMENT
One of the more frustrating efforts for the Dupont Environment Committee is trying to get simple sanitation violation statistics from Departments of Public Works and Health (DPW, DOH). DOH has been reasonable. DPW has argued that to protect the innocent they cannot release the actual address of any ticketed violation until all appeals are completed. Rather than provide a computer printout, DPW Inspectors must manually hide the exact address of each violation before the information can be released. I am sure this has nothing to do with the fact that on the rare occasions that we have been able to nag DPW enough to get any statistics they show that usually about one ticket is written per Inspector per workday.
SOME PROGRESS
DPW has continued to show an underwhelming interest in fighting rats and supporting citizens. DOH to their credit has made efforts to fight the rat problem. Our DOH Ward 2 rat abatement expert, Ronnie Herrington, has day after day persistently made a valiant effort to eradicate rats. DOH manager, Gerard Brown, has organized a successful pilot rat abatement/cleanup program in our neighborhood and that program has now expanded to Georgetown. Mr. Brown has also organized several rat-training seminars taught by a nationally recognized rat expert for District workers and citizens.
PROBLEMS
One of the more regrettable characteristics of the DC government is the old joke (Or is it a joke?) that the only problems the DC government has are DC residents who complain about problems. Until that systemic attitude is changed and residents are no longer viewed as the enemy, the DC government will continue to fail to provide adequate and appropriate services to residents.
RAT SUMMIT
When Tony Williams became Mayor in 1998, he held a Rat Summit. Citizens were hopeful of improvements to come. The only action out of the Summit was the rearranging of deck chairs at Departments of Public Works (DPW) and Health (DOH). Williams promptly lost interest in one of our city’s major public health problems. Although since then, DOH has done a much better job since the realignment than DPW ever did. Scoop the dog also appeared at the Rat Summit to make the point that rats eat dog poop and spread disease.
We did learn from the Summit that only exterminating rats is not enough because they breed too fast. The only progress against rats is a combination of cutting the rat’s food supply and killing the rats. That means correcting sanitation violations must be a priority.
FLAT RAT ALLEY
There is a long alley in our Dupont neighborhood that has justifiably earned its nickname of Flat Rat Alley. Flat Rat Alley is parallel to and east of Connecticut Avenue NW and between Q and R Streets NW. You could walk the alley and count the number of car smashed dead rats. Department of Health’s Gerard Brown organized a multi-agency pilot program to clean up Flat Rat Alley. For me, the best aspect of this pilot program was for the first time DC agencies, property owners, business owners and managers and residents worked together instead of against each other. Some sanitation problems continue, but overall there has been real progress. The pilot program shows that everyone working together can make a difference. The only downside was typically the underwhelming support we got from DPW’s SWEEP.
The fight against rats and the sanitation violations that feed them is never ending. We can and must continue to make progress. As the Flat Rat Alley showed, it really does take everyone working together.
TREES
In the years before the DC government resumed pruning city sidewalk trees, Dupont Environment Committee stepped in. A professional horticulturist and arborist taught the hands-on tree trimming sessions. Residents were certified to trim city sidewalk trees. Dupont Environment Committee provided the needed tools. We were restricted to trimming only city sidewalk trees and had to keep both feet on the ground when trimming.
DUPONT ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE
This all-volunteer committee has had several incarnations over the years. Originally, this committee was responsible for Rat Patrol. For the past several years, Don Jones has ably led the committee. Don and the committee have been involved actively with sidewalk trees, graffiti abatement, rats/sanitation violations, and a myriad of other neighborhood environment concerns. This past spring for a neighborhood cleanup, the Committee asked neighbors to clean up their block and got Foundry United Methodist to provide a neighborhood drop off collection point for hazardous waste materials. Don has retired and the committee may continue as is or be reconstituted with separate committees to each deal with specific concerns/issues.
GRAFFITI
I started cleaning graffiti in public space about 15 years ago. I have continued to clean graffiti in public space on a regular basis. More recently, Dupont Environment Committee and Historic Dupont Main Streets formed a Graffiti Task Force. Volunteers clean graffiti in public space once a month. Throughout the year, we report graffiti to the DC government.
I probably average over two dozen graffiti hits cleaned every week.
We are grateful for the progress that resulted in the DC government hiring professional graffiti cleaners. They remove larger graffiti in public space and with the permission of the property owner, will remove graffiti on private property.
Now in the planning stage, Historic Dupont Main Streets hopes to hire someone to remove graffiti in our Dupont neighborhood.
PRO-GRAFFITI RALLY
A few years ago, Steve Aupperle, my gardening buddy, and a DCPS teacher called about a rally at our Dupont Circle fountain. The rally was pro-graffiti and paint cans were available and free for the taking for would be vandals. Steve and I debated what to do. Since the signs for the spray paint read, “FREE” we loaded up armfuls of cans and put them into a nearby US Park Police cruiser. The pro-graffiti people were not happy. Steve and I then tried to start a dialogue with the pro-graffiti advocates. Interestingly, all the graffiti advocates we talked with were young and lived in the Maryland and Virginia suburbs. We talked to no one who lived in DC, but they chose to hold their rally in our city and neighborhood. All argued that graffiti was constitutionally protected free speech. I always responded with, then why don’t you express your free speech and spray paint your parent’s home. I never got a satisfactory answer to that question. Never got a satisfactory answer to why they did not spray paint in Maryland and Virginia, but had to come into our city to “express themselves.” I am proud that we tried to talk with and understand these young people. Also, glad that a US Park Police Officer stood nearby just in
