What They Didn't Do on Their Summer Vacation
With our mayor back in town after a two-week jaunt to London, Europe and Africa -- just in time to bid farewell to D.C. Council members as they take off for their eight-week taxpayer-supported summer recess (vacation) -- it seemed only fitting to take a closer look at the city over which they collectively and blissfully preside.
D.C. Jail
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It just didn't seem possible, but in this cash-flush city, which can spend $8 million of local tax money on a Corcoran Gallery of Art roof project and $10 million to help expand Arena Stage, indigent inmates at the D.C. jail cannot rely on the D.C. government to provide them with sundries such as soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes and deodorant to meet their basic hygiene needs.
Think I'm kidding?
It was like pulling teeth to get this, but after three exchanges, the following was finally pried out of the Department of Corrections: "Volunteers [churches and community groups] augment this service and have made available 'free' toiletries to these inmates as supplies last. The Department's proposed FY '07 budget was reduced in the area that provides for hygiene kits. But for the volunteers, we are uncertain whether we could adequately provide this service. Volunteers have offered and provided this service for a number of years."
Mental Health
On that note, I journeyed this week to the D.C. Mental Health Department's mental health center on Spring Road in Northwest Washington to find out if the story about stifling heat in the 100-year-old building was true.
The temperature outside was approaching 90 degrees when I arrived about noon. The lobby felt comfortable, but the upstairs floors were warmer. Large fans stationed in the hallways circulated the tepid air.
In the pharmacy, where, I was told, medicines and drugs should be maintained at temperatures not exceeding 75 degrees, a thermometer on a worker's desk registered 80. The temperature had reached 85 the previous day, the worker said. Employees on other floors declared stifling heat in the building was often unbearable.
Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Administration
On to the Bundy building at 429 O St. NW, home of the Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Administration. A building guard couldn't locate anyone to authorize my entry, so I was confined to the lobby. Still, I could see layers of old paint hanging like stalactites from the hallway ceiling -- a warm welcome to the physically disabled and people with mental retardation who enter for service.
Two days later, I received a copy of a statement by Local 383 chief shop steward Belinda Wiley that she delivered at a recent mayoral forum. Wiley spoke of worker health problems caused by conditions in the building and described the pervasive smell of mildew, growing mold and the presence of rat droppings. Color photographs of those conditions are on my desk. A federal judge is weighing a demand to place the agency under court supervision.
