Economist.com Cities Guide: Washington, DC Briefing - May 2006

News this month

Closed for business

The public schools in Washington, DC, have long been beleaguered; now the District’s superintendent, Clifford Janey, is expected to announce plans to close or merge 30 of them. Many school buildings have scores of rooms that remain empty thanks to declining enrolment—more than 10,000 students have left the District’s public schools over the past five years. Mr Janey’s proposal would rid the system of 1m square feet of space by the end of the summer, and another 2m square feet by autumn 2008. Principals are now scrambling to keep their schools off the closure list.

The district’s declining enrolment largely stems from dissatisfaction with the public-school system. The city spends more on each student than any state in the country, yet its schools continue to perform poorly. As dissatisfaction grows, more parents are turning to charter schools, which are free of the District's direct control and have been championed by Anthony Williams, DC’s mayor. Over one-fifth of city students now attend the District’s 51 charter schools—up from none ten years ago. The city’s charter schools are also looking more attractive when compared with the cost of local private schools. According to the Washington Post, fees at the city’s elite private schools will break $26,000 this year—as much as some of America’s colleges.

Testing ground

Meanwhile the District is struggling to meet standards set by No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the White House’s flagship education reform passed in 2001. In April local public-school students started taking new standardised tests to comply with NCLB. In the past the District used tests that measured students’ performance against that of other students throughout the country; under NCLB schools must test their students against set standards. DC’s school system had to pay a $123,000 fine last year for not adopting the new test earlier.

While the old test was comprised entirely of multiple-choice questions, the new exam—known as the DC Comprehensive Assessment System—requires students also to give brief explanations of their answers. The District’s students had not performed well under the old system, consistently ranking below average. In 2005 more than half of the District’s schools—81 out of 147—were listed as “in need of improvement” under NCLB because they failed to make adequate progress in their test scores. The District has administered training for students and teachers to familiarise them with the new test.

Waffling

A plan to build an expensive new city hospital may have the mayor’s support, or it may not. Anthony Williams continues to send mixed signals about the project: though he has touted the idea of the National Capital Medical Centre (NCMC) in the past, he recently appointed a task force to assess the project’s necessity. He also asked the District’s city council to put NCMC-related bills on hold until the task force issues its recommendations, which probably won’t be before July at the earliest.

It was Mr Williams himself who closed the city’s public hospital, DC General, in 2001. He then signed an exclusive agreement with Howard University in 2003 to build a new hospital on the same site. Council support for the NCMC is mixed. Proponents say that a hospital in eastern Washington is sorely needed; others argue that money for the facility—$400m in all, with $212m from the city—could be better spent addressing healthcare problems by other means. Several related proposals are pending, including bills for financing and location. The council is expected to pass legislation in early May to free up more than $200m from tobacco settlements for healthcare, some of which could be used for the hospital.

Court battle

Since the attacks of September 11th, the city has seen tension between officials, who are trying to protect federal buildings, and residents, who are concerned with their own safety. The most recent tug-of-war has been between the Supreme Court and nearby residents over a proposed barricade to protect the court from truck bombers. On April 27th residents won a victory when the DC Public Space Committee, comprised of local politicians, voted unanimously to deny the court’s request to install pop-up security barriers on a block of A Street, which extends east from behind the Supreme Court building.

At issue was the safety of nearby buildings in the event of a truck bomb blast on A Street. The court proposed a mobile barricade that could block traffic in the event of an emergency, but neighbours complained that the barricade would direct a blast at their houses. The court’s spokeswoman, Kathy Arberg, insisted that the barrier would dissuade bombers from staging an attack in the first place. The court has not decided how to proceed: it could challenge the committee’s vote in court or work out an alternative security plan with the District’s transport department.

On track

Plans are slowly moving ahead to extend the Metro to the region’s two international airports. In late April government officials revived a scheme to run the proposed Metro extension to Dulles International airport under Tysons Corner, a retail and restaurant complex, rather than on an elevated rail through it. The tunnel had been ruled out as too expensive, but proponents, including Dragados, a Spanish company that wants to build it, argue that the cost estimates of up to $800m have been wildly exaggerated. As a result Virginia’s governor, Tim Kaine, ordered a new analysis of the cost of tunnelling as opposed to building an elevated track. Critics are grumbling that the tunnel will prolong the project, which is scheduled to reach Tysons by 2011 and Dulles itself by 2015.

Meanwhile Maryland officials have started giving serious consideration to extending Metro’s Green Line 20 miles north to Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI). Maryland officials are reportedly concerned that BWI will become less competitive if it is not accessible by Metro. Maryland legislators voted in late March to approve a $1m study of the proposed rail extension.

Catch if you can

May 2006

“The Persians”

Until May 21st 2006

Turmoil in the Middle East, a foolish war launched by a leader whose father fought a similar war, the collapse of a superpower—one might think that “The Persians” was penned by a contemporary playwright trying to send a message to a certain American president. In fact, “The Persians” is the oldest extant play in the Western canon, written by Aeschylus in 427 BC. The plot centres on the after-effects of the battle of Salamis, in which the Greeks triumphed over the powerful Persian Empire. After the cast gives a brief history lesson, they enter character as the Persian king’s advisers, pondering the fate of their forces.

The actors do justice to Ellen McLaughlin’s excellent translation with fine, often powerful, performances. Though the play is unrelentingly grim, moving from nervous uncertainty to shattering depression, the drama mercifully plays out in one act without intermission.

The Shakespeare Theatre, 450 7th St, NW. Tel: +1 (202) 547-1122. Tickets: $26-$64.75. For more information, see the theatre’s website.

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