When Mayor Adrian Fenty sought to take over the District’s public schools after taking office in 2007, he often said that without a substantial turnaround in education, nothing else the city did would really matter. A report released today by the Justice Policy Institute largely bears out that opinion, finding that continuing investments in public education are a better long-term solution to crime than more police and prisons.

The report — it’s here — finds that while the District has made strides in improving public education and has seen consequent drops in violent and property crimes over the last decade, continuing disparities in achievement have tracked closely with crime. In the District, the two poorest wards — 7 and 8 — have seen both the lowest level of educational attainment in the city and the most stubborn crime rates, with violent crime falling less dramatically than in other wards and property crimes increasing. Not surprisingly, the report says, youth of color are at the largest disadvantage, facing greater barriers to educational achievement and a higher chance of being involved in crime.

Looking forward, the group recommends that the District reverse its trend of spending more money on police and prisons than on education, parks and recreation centers. In the long run, it says, increasing the graduation rates for young men in the city could produce annual savings of over $66 million in crime-related spending. Some of the most important investments the District can make, it says, are on early-childhood education programs and on ensuring that kids stay in school. Additionally, more resources need to be targeted for where they are needed most — in short, schools in Wards 7 and 8.

Martin Austermuhle blogs at DCist . The Local Blog Network is a group of bloggers from around the D.C. region who have agreed to make regular contributions to All Opinions Are Local.

A joint committee in the House of Delegates voted 25-18 Tuesday night to send the marriage equality bill to the floor. Today, the bill was held over until Thursday. Proponents say they are a few votes short of the 71 needed to pass, but the speed with which the measure is moving toward a vote suggests the votes are either there or nearly there.

Recent efforts to court Republican support bore fruit when Anne Arundel Republican Bob Costa voted in favor of the bill. Republican Del. Pat Hogan (Frederick) has indicated that he is undecided. Democratic Del. Sam Arora continues to confuse; last year he supported marriage equality, then changed his mind and opposed it in committee, and then changed his mind and supported it on the floor. Arora abstained during the committee vote on Tuesday.

Arora and other members of the committee who subsequently voted against the bill, voiced support throughout the hearing for amendments that would make civil unions legal in Maryland rather than legalizing same-sex marriage. All efforts to amend the bill were defeated.

The delay in floor consideration will give marriage equality opponents ample time to prepare amendments to the bill. The votes on the amendments will be an early indicator of whether the 71 votes needed for passage have been secured.

[Continue reading Todd Eberly’s post at The FreeStater Blog.]

Todd Eberly blogs at The FreeStaterBlog. The Local Blog Network is a group of bloggers from around the D.C. region who have agreed to make regular contributions to All Opinions Are Local.

Where should the District build its next streetcars after the H Street and Anacostia lines under construction today? That should depend on which neighborhoods want to help make them succeed.

The streetcar, ultimately, is an economic development tool with transportation benefits, rather than strictly a mobility tool. A streetcar makes new development more desirable and increases the value of existing homes, offices and stores.

To pay for the streetcar, the District should set up mechanisms to capture this added value from the neighborhoods that benefit. Before promising a line to any corridor, policymakers should work with local businesses and residents to set up a financing plan.

In other corridors, like Wisconsin Avenue, where access isn’t the obstacle to growth, bus priority is a better transportation tool than the streetcar.

The streetcar is not about speed

The streetcar is not going to be faster than a bus. It may be slower, since the streetcar could get stuck behind other vehicles more often. Some plans even suggest that in future corridors, the streetcar run the local service and most buses switch to limited-stop.

[Continue reading David Alpert’s post at Greater Greater Washington.]

David Alpert is founder and editor of Greater Greater Washington. The Local Blog Network is a group of bloggers from around the D.C. region who have agreed to make regular contributions to All Opinions Are Local.

In a very emotional hearing last week, folks testified in favor of and against marriage equality in Maryland. Last year, after passing in the Senate, marriage equality legislation lacked the the 71 votes needed to pass in the House of Delegates. Since that time, much has happened. Same-sex marriage was legalized in New York, Washington state just legalized it as well, and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Proposition 8 in California — which took away the right to same-sex marriage — was unconstitutional.

The march of history is clear. Marriage equality will come to every state, it’s only a matter of time. Public opinion has shifted considerably in recent years, and the trend is clearly in favor of same-sex marriage. In seven states, plus the District, same-sex marriage is now legal. Voters in Minnesota, New Jersey and North Carolina will soon consider the issue. Maryland still has a chance to lead on this issue, to set an example for other states.

I reiterate something I wrote last year on the day same-sex marriage died in the House of Delegates:

Today, I simply want to ask every member of the House of Delegates to look forward, beyond this vote, beyond 2012 or 2014. Look 20 years into the future, a future where same-sex marriage is legal everywhere — a likely scenario given the dramatic changes in public opinion on the issue. Future generations will look to this era in American history with the same confusion and embarrassment that our generation looks to the era of segregation and anti-miscegenation laws. That future generation will wonder how intolerance, hate and bigotry could have so defined our public policy with regard to gender preference, much the same as we wonder how we ever believed that the color of one’s skin should determine one’s rights.

Many members of the General Assembly will have children, grandchildren or great grandchildren among that future generation. I ask those members, what will you say when your child or grandchild asks what role you played in the fight for equality? Will you be able to say that you stood at the vanguard of the battle, that you cast a vote for equality that rippled across other states and set a new standard for tolerance? Or, will you lower your voice and your head and explain that when the time came to stand and be counted — to lead — you simply weren’t up to the task?

Twenty years from now, will you be proud of the vote you’ll cast?

Just over 45 years ago, the Democratic Party was divided over the issue of civil rights and the question of black equality. Democrats dominated national politics, and party leaders and even presidents had tried to ignore the issue of civil rights out fear it would tear the Democratic coalition apart. In the end, President Johnson and committed activists in the House and Senate pushed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. And guess what? It shattered the Democratic Party coalition. The party lost its national dominance. It lost the White House in 1968, ’72, ’80, ’84, ’88, 2000 and 2004. It lost its hold on Congress.

Last night, the Zoning Commission began its public deliberations on Georgetown University’s campus plan. While the commissioners appeared far from reaching a final decision on the plan, the contours of the discussion were well fleshed out. Watch it for yourself right here.

While all five of the commissioners attended the meeting last night, Commissioner Marcie Cohen is apparently recusing herself from the decision, so only four opinions matter. And relatively shortly into the proceeding you could begin to see where those opinions stand.

As he was throughout most of the testimony, Chairman Anthony Hood displayed a can’t-we-all-get-along attitude. He repeatedly cited the recently approved Howard University campus plan as a model. It appears that he hopes against hope that a compromise between the school and its opponents can be reached.

Vice Chair Konrad Schlater took the most pro-University line of the commission. Early on he cited how GU is the largest private employer in the District. Late on he made it clear that he rejected the possibility of GU housing all its students either on campus or outside the 20007 zip code. He acknowledged that a nuisance does exist from students living in the neighborhood, but he appears to believe that the campus plan is not the proper way to address those concerns.

[Continue reading Topher Mathews’s post here at The Georgetown Metropolitan.]

Topher Mathews blogs at The Georgetown Metropolitan . The Local Blog Network is a group of bloggers from around the D.C. region who have agreed to make regular contributions to All Opinions Are Local.