You Be The Editor: One Day's Tips
In this installment of You Be The Editor, I'll give you a taste of the best of one day's story suggestions from readers, and I welcome your votes and views on which, if any, of these story tips a columnist would be best advised to follow up. Here we go:
--Anonymous missive accusing the head of a mid-sized county government agency in Virginia of various misdeeds, including steering contracts to friends. Allegations are specific, but no hard evidence is included and the package arrives with no return address or other contact.
--Neighborhood activists email word of impending approval by D.C. Historic Preservation Review Board of a plan to raze the Takoma Theatre, a grand old 1920s movie house in Takoma, D.C. The theater has been boarded up for some years, but remains cherished by some who live nearby.
--Georgetown residents involved in volunteer work maintaining Book Hill Park, the city-owned park adjacent to the burned-out Georgetown branch public library, pass along extended correspondence in which they ask the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority if they can tap into a fire hydrant for water for the beautiful plantings, because until now they had used the library's water. WASA rejects the request, saying community gardens are not permitted to use fire hydrants.
--Georgetown residents (very strange cluster of Georgetown stories on this day; the bulk of my story tips generally come from the suburbs, with Montgomery, Arlington, Alexandria and Loudoun generally leading the way) pass along the latest on the longstanding campaign to save the old trolley rails on P and O streets NW. The government seems intent on tearing up the old rails, which are not only a lovely piece of city history, but enormous fun to drive on.
--A good friend calls to report that the National Park Service is seeking to tear down the charming little boathouse alongside the Potomac River in Georgetown where Jack's, a longtime business along the water, rents kayaks and canoes.
--A well-liked school principal quits out of disgust with how her system is managed and several parents at the school suggest trying to get her to go public with her insider view of the problems schools face in that jurisdiction.
--A reader writes about his experience at RFK Stadium, where he was attending a Nationals game and was approached in the stands by team officials, who asked if he would be interested in performing that evening as one of the racing presidents, the giant figures of Lincoln, Jefferson, Washington and Teddy Roosevelt who run a nightly footrace for the fans' entertainment. But when the fan expresses interest, the team official notes that if the fan gets inside the Teddy Roosevelt costume, he is not permitted to win. "Teddy can never win," he quotes the team official as saying. He declines the honor. Time to launch a big investigation? Teddygate?
Ok, that's enough for now--there's a whole stack of other possibilities, but these are the best of this day's crop. If you had to follow up on one of these stories, which would it be and why?
By Marc Fisher |
May 21, 2007; 6:20 AM ET
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Posted by: SoMD | May 21, 2007 07:22 AM
I agree with SoMD--school principal. But my own reasons are more selfish--the principal at my son's school is retiring, and I wonder whether she's the subject of the story.
Posted by: Zach | May 21, 2007 08:00 AM
"Anonymous missive accusing the head of a mid-sized county government agency in Virginia". That's the one, Marc. You have specifics, so FOIA the necessary paperwork and impress us with your detective skills!
Posted by: Inspector Gadget | May 21, 2007 08:15 AM
The anonymous missive -- very mysterious & if it's a company that's taking contracts from entities like, say, the federal gov't it's our tax dollars. And if it's a private company we may be doing business with it and want to know this stuff. See if you can find a paper trail....
Posted by: | May 21, 2007 08:26 AM
Toss the story re the racing presidents to John Kelly. He is always looking for column ideas (or so he says in his chat), and this story seems to have the right tone for him. The preservation stories might be right for him too--the boathouse story, the trolley rails story, and the Takoma Theatre story.
For you, I'd recommend the story re the school principal. Definitely up your alley. You do outrage re the schools so well.
For the contracts/favoritism story, maybe Michael Shear? He might have relevant NoVa sources.
Posted by: THS | May 21, 2007 09:20 AM
It's a close call between the school principal and mid-sized county government agency in Virginia. Both are of interest since they are directly tied to our taxes. As a NoVa parent I want to hear what the principal is saying (mine is retiring this year and I wonder if it's her) but I also wonder if the government agency in question is in Fairfax, where I live.
Posted by: cab91 | May 21, 2007 09:35 AM
Marc, investigate the mid-size agency in VA allegations. Government scandles are always newsworthy.
Posted by: Curious | May 21, 2007 10:02 AM
Jack's Boathouse: It ties in with the Georgetown Waterfront and the proposed GU Boathouse in the C&O Canal National Historical Park.
Jack's is a link between joining large scale development along the G'Town Waterfront and the proposed GU Boathouse in the public NHP, and expanding large-scale commercial and private development and use into the substantially wild and very scenic NHP.
Posted by: None | May 21, 2007 10:09 AM
NO!!! Why won't they let Teddy win? The rest is just blah-blah-blah...same old, same old. It's a given that government breeds corruption and nepotism and that agencies who are supposed to protect stuff (historic and environmental) are as likely to sell out as to do their job. And EVERYBODY already knows that the school system sucks.
Go with Teddy story. It may not be ground-breaking but at least it'll be interesting.
Posted by: Mara | May 21, 2007 10:17 AM
I have to agree with those who say the school principal story, depending on the school system. If it is DC, I am sadly afraid that would not be news. If it is Montgomery or Fairfax, it would be.
The county govt. one sounds juicy, but with no hard evidence and no way to followu p, what you got in the mail is little more than a poison pen letter.
Posted by: Jack | May 21, 2007 10:40 AM
Easy - The school principal story. If it's DC, then it's another pointer to Fenty as to where he needs to go to root out the problem. If one of the 'burbs, it gives indication that the folks out there are simply better at covering up.
Everyone knows that Roosevelt I won't win until either the last game this year or the first in the new stadium.
The Mid-sized government story probably requires (no offense intended) a much more prolonged and detailed investigation than a daily columnist / blogger can provide.
The theater? Fairly typical of "preservationists". Unless there is some sort of specific architectural significance to that building, it's simply not worth the story.
Posted by: mikes | May 21, 2007 12:47 PM
The comments are sane today. How did this happen? Anyway, here's my echo:
1. School principal
2. County agency
And yes, send Teddygate to John Kelly.
Posted by: WW | May 21, 2007 01:09 PM
Wow, people are making sense today. The school principal is a no-brainer. No matter the jurisdiction it holds relevance and follow up on an always hot button topic.
Plus, tracking this principal down and offering her a platform might actually lead to changes or at least the publicity of things people don't even know are wrong yet.
In short, it provides the most opportunity to promote improvement and/or change.
The VA government story could be any crazy person dropping info off, who knows. Assign that to a go-getter intern and if something is worth following up, let them do the leg work, then you can follow up.
Posted by: Ryan | May 21, 2007 02:10 PM
Wow, people are making sense today. The school principal is a no-brainer. No matter the jurisdiction it holds relevance and follow up on an always hot button topic.
Plus, tracking this principal down and offering her a platform might actually lead to changes or at least the publicity of things people don't even know are wrong yet.
In short, it provides the most opportunity to promote improvement and/or change.
The VA government story could be any crazy person dropping info off, who knows. Assign that to a go-getter intern and if something is worth following up, let them do the leg work, then you can follow up.
Posted by: Ryan | May 21, 2007 02:10 PM
Wow, people are making sense today. The school principal is a no-brainer. No matter the jurisdiction it holds relevance and follow up on an always hot button topic.
Plus, tracking this principal down and offering her a platform might actually lead to changes or at least the publicity of things people don't even know are wrong yet.
In short, it provides the most opportunity to promote improvement and/or change.
The VA government story could be any crazy person dropping info off, who knows. Assign that to a go-getter intern and if something is worth following up, let them do the leg work, then you can follow up.
Posted by: Ryan | May 21, 2007 02:10 PM
Oh geez, sorry about the repeats.
Posted by: Ryan | May 21, 2007 02:11 PM
All of those stories are pretty interesting, although my neighbors doings are likely the least interesting, Jack's aside.
The main question I'd want to know is how the Georgtown library park people expect to use hydrants that as well so sadly discovered, don't work?
The principal and the whistleblower are real stories.
Teddygate? Fun, and on your turf.
Yesterday, he had a huge HUGE lead, but stopped to talk to a blonde just before the finish line.
Posted by: Georgetowner | May 21, 2007 03:11 PM
All of those stories are in some way about a self-absorbed person or a group of people who are privileged (G-Town).
Marc, why don't you dig up a story about real people going through real problems.
Posted by: Yeah, right | May 21, 2007 05:11 PM
Just a point of fact: the rail tracks in Georgetown are STREETCAR tracks NOT trolley tracks. We longtime, native Washingtonians bristle at our beloved former streetcars being tabbed as trolleys. Passengers waitied ar CAR STOPS, not trolley stops.
Posted by: leetee1955 | May 21, 2007 05:52 PM
Hey Marc, how about doing a story letting us know if Keith Washington shot anyone lately.
Posted by: Fred | May 21, 2007 05:54 PM
I agree with majority of previous posters.
1:Anonymous missive. Has the capacity to lead into many diverse areas.
2:School Principal. Affects almost everyone in the district.
3: If the editor disagrees please explain why, and then fire his/her ass.
Posted by: | May 21, 2007 11:53 PM
Not sure how many times this post will be displayed. Got error messages.
I agree with majority of previous posters.
1:Anonymous missive. Has the capacity to lead into many diverse areas.
2:School Principal. Affects almost everyone in the district.
3: If the editor disagrees please explain why, and then fire his/her ass.
Posted by: Count Bobulescu | May 21, 2007 11:55 PM
The most important stories are obviously the three related to Georgetown.
The two stories which should be ignored are the schooll principal (undoubtedly sour grapes) and the anomynous missisve, which is suspicious on so many levels it should be treated like the cow flop it surely is.
Posted by: Lex Pk | May 22, 2007 10:09 AM
I think anyone who pays attention to the Racing Presidents already suspects that they will not let Teddy win (though my guess is that he will at the final game this year). I doubt that anyone with the Nats will go on the record with that, though. But I would think if they were letting anyone run in the race, they wouldn't offer Teddy as an option.
Posted by: Cosmo | May 22, 2007 10:57 AM
Do the article on the principal
Posted by: Ntlekt | May 22, 2007 11:31 AM
Definitely the principal-schools operate under a veil of secrecy and intimidation and it is time they were exposed.
Posted by: NOVA | May 22, 2007 01:48 PM
I'd like to read about the DC Prinical over any of the other suggestions. This may be something Mayor Fenty needs to hear.
Posted by: Mia | May 23, 2007 01:29 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.
Go with the school principal story.
While most (but not all) of the others can be of interest, the story about management of the school system has a direct, immediate, and long-term impact on our children. Even though we may not live in that particular jurisdiction, the ideas for improvement generated by that discussion can possibly be applied to any/all school systems.
I put that one first.