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sunday, april 11, 2010
LOCAL HOME PAGE
55, 9 a.m. 68, noon 73, 5 p.m. 64, 9 p.m.
Obituaries Lech Kaczynski, 60, came to power in Poland in 2005 promising a “moral revolution.” C6
Hit the brakes
The Nuclear Security Summit means street closures starting Sunday night, which could lead to serious gridlock. See which streets are closed and share information about traffic. Go to washingtonpost.com/local.
MARYLAND
Scholarly summit
The Johnnie-Mid Seminar breaks a social impasse between neighboring schools in Annapolis. C4
FELONS’ RIGHTS
Change is called unfair to nonviolent offenders
by Anita Kumar
richmond — For the second time in a week, Virginia Gov. Rob- ert F. McDonnell has angered black leaders and civil rights groups, this time when they learned of his plans to add an- other step for nonviolent felons to have their voting rights restored. McDonnell (R) will require the
offenders to submit an essay out- lining their contributions to soci- ety since their release, turning a nearly automatic process into a subjective one that some say may
C
DC MD VA S
JOHN KELLY’S WASHINGTON
Another blooming marvel
The inspiration for Kenwood’s many cherry trees may have come from the famed tourist magnet on the Tidal Basin, but there’s nothing secondhand about the spectacular display. C3
Another squall for McDonnell
NEW RULES ON
prevent poor, less-educated or mi- nority residents from being al- lowed to vote. “It’s another roadblock,” Sen.
Yvonne B. Miller (D-Norfolk), a member of the Virginia Legisla- tive Black Caucus, said when she was told of the change. Miller has repeatedly intro- duced unsuccessful bills to allow nonviolent offenders to have their rights restored automatically. “This is designed to suppress the rights of poor people,” she said. McDonnell faced a national
firestorm last week after he de- clared that April will be Confeder- ate History Month without in- cluding any reference to slavery. He was rebuked by President Obama and former Virginia gov- ernor L. Douglas Wilder — the na- tion’s first African American president and its first elected Af- rican American governor, respec-
offenders continued on C3
Witnesses describe beating at pizza shop
SARAH L. VOISIN/THE WASHINGTON POST
Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D), accompanied by his wife, Michelle, and their daughter, Aerin, 1, greets supporters at campaign headquarters.
D.C. mayor launches reelection bid
Fenty defends brusque style, citing record on schools and crime
by Nikita Stewart
D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty knows that some people dislike his management style but insist- ed Saturday that his leadership has led to better public schools, a lower homicide rate and more ef- ficient city agencies. Cheering volunteers filled his
Georgia Avenue campaign head- quarters Saturday as Fenty (D) launched his reelection bid. Fen-
ty said he has “ruffled some feathers” since taking office in 2007, but always to make the city better. “We pledged early on that we would not always make the polit- ically popular decision,” Fenty said, adding that he should be awarded a second term as the city’s top executive. In the Sept. 14 Democratic pri-
mary, Fenty faces 10 challengers, including D.C. Council Chair- man Vincent C. Gray, who has edged him out in early polls, which also show a waning ap- proval rating for Fenty. African Americans, in particular, have been turned off by the 39-year-
old mayor. He said he would spend the next few months “re- minding people that tough deci- sion-making is the way to go if you really want real change.” Several of Fenty’s actions re- sulted in protest and, in some in- stances, legal reversals, such as terminating social workers in- volved in the case of a mother who killed her four children and setting up checkpoints in the Trinidad neighborhood after a spate of violence. The city was ordered to rehire some of the social workers, and the checkpoints were struck
fenty continued on C4
“We pledged early on that we would not always make the politically popular
decision.”
— Mayor Adrian M. Fenty
Pr. George’s police say man resisted, seemed impaired
by Ruben Castaneda
Prince A. Duncan-Lollis wan- dered behind the counter of a Pa- pa John’s pizza shop in the Largo area one recent night to ask the manager about a job, he said. The manager told Duncan-Lol- lis, 20, to leave, and when he didn’t, the man called Prince George’s County police. Moments later, Duncan-Lollis was facedown on the ground out- side, being punched and kicked by at least two officers, according to two witnesses. One officer ground Duncan-Lollis’s face into a rock in a flower bed, one wit- ness said. Duncan-Lollis, who is 5-foot-8 and weighs 150 pounds, did not fight back or try to escape, the witnesses said. In separate inter- views, each witness described the
MARVIN JOSEPH/THE WASHINGTON POST
“I was trying to get a job,” says Prince Duncan-Lollis, 20.
officers’ actions as “terrible.” The witnesses spoke on the condition of anonymity because they feared retaliation from police. Maj. Andy Ellis, a police
spokesman, said the officers used the proper amount of force. Po- lice reports indicate that Duncan- Lollis was combative and might have been under the influence of drugs, perhaps PCP, which made him behave irrationally, Ellis said. “He was resisting, absolutely,”
police continued on C10
From rot to riches in Prince George’s
Investors buy, fix up and resell houses that are casualties of the foreclosure crisis
by Ovetta Wiggins
The house on 29th Street in
JAMES M. THRESHER FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
Patrick Ricker talks with son Patrick Jr., who is helping out with interior restoration of a house that is being prepared for resale.
Mount Rainier is a shambles. Mold and mildew cover the walls. The carpet reeks of urine. A chan- delier in the dining room and din- gy white curtains in the windows are the only reminders that the house was once a home. “They let it sit so long it became
a crack house,” said Karl L. Gran- zow Jr. as he walked through the
building, looking out for rodents, roaches or their remains. Despite the condition of the house, it is just the type of proper- ty that Granzow, his business part- ner, Patrick Ricker, and other in- vestors have been snatching up in Prince George’s County since the housing bubble burst about three years ago. Granzow and Ricker bought the home on 29th Street a few months ago. The properties are inexpensive. They are inside the Capital Belt-
With teachers’ contract, Rhee begins to live up to the hype
achieved something important enough to actually merit all the praise and hoopla that have made her the nation’s most celebrated schools chief. Rhee’s tentative agreement with the Washington Teachers’ Union is a genuine breakthrough, and not just for the District. As- suming that it gets final approv- als, it makes the city’s schools a national model for education re- form. It gives her a chance to cre- ate the lasting change that she’s said she wanted from the start. In particular, the contract
I
t took her nearly three years, but D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee has finally
ROBERT McCARTNEY
weakens teachers’ seniority and tenure rights in innovative ways without eliminating them entire- ly. That makes it much easier to weed out ineffective teachers — and bless Rhee and the labor lead- ers for doing it. In return, teachers receive a 21 percent increase in base pay,
new training programs and pro- tections against instant or arbi- trary dismissal. Just as impressively, in negoti-
ating the contract, Rhee showed that she was capable of maturing as a leader and learning from mis- takes. She can still be stubborn and needlessly combative. But she
made some compromises instead of continuing to try to impose her entire agenda on the school sys- tem all at once. The whole endeav- or was in doubt in October when she fired hundreds of teachers in the middle of the school year. “I think she understands now
that she can’t just go charging in and expect everybody to follow, that she has to work with the teachers,” said Jack Jennings, president of the independent Center on Education Policy. The contract is also a milestone for teachers unions. For years, critics have been skeptical when
mccartney continued on C4
way. And they are in communities where redevelopment projects and new construction are under- way. Granzow and Ricker said their company, Property and Industry Coordinators, has bought and ren- ovated eight homes in the past year. Most of them are in Mount Rainier and Hyattsville. Bright Lusk Properties, a family-owned business in Hyattsville, has bought three since 2008. All are in Hyatts- ville, one of the Prince George’s
communities hit hardest by the foreclosure crisis. Last year, Prince George’s had
13,412 foreclosure filings, more than any other jurisdiction in the state. A filing could mean that the homeowner received a notice threatening foreclosure or that the property was sold at auction or was repossessed. The county, with 13.8 percent of the state’s housing units, had 31 percent of the state’s
flip continued on C10
One of the coolest in the parade
RICKY CARIOTI/THE WASHINGTON POST
Jonnie and Dot Seek of Arlington meet Slapshot, the Capitals mascot, at the cherry blossom festival parade. More photos, C3.
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