ABCDE METRO friday, december 3, 2010 35, 9 a.m. 41, noon 41, 5 p.m. 36, 9 p.m.
Obituaries Director Mario Monicelli, 95, was considered one of the fathers of Italian comedy of the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s. B6
Funding for Metro track fix advances
Panel approves circuit replacement work, boost in capital funds
BY ANN SCOTT TYSON AMetro board panel approved
a $10million project Thursday to replace track circuits as well as a plan to increase the capital funds available for safety upgrades the National Transportation Safety Board recommended after the June 2009 Red Line crash. Also, the panel approved des-
ignating $15.7million in existing funds in Metro’s annual capital budget for carrying out theNTSB recommendations, in addition to $10 million already set aside for that purpose in the spring by Metro interim general manager Richard Sarles. The full board is expected to
vote on both proposals at itsDec. 16meeting. Metro Chief Financial Officer
Carol Kissal said the transit agency plans to devote about $1billion over the next seven years to implementingNTSB rec- ommendations,
including
$262million on 14 projects and about $800 million for new rail cars. The NTSB recommended in
July that Metro replace more than half of its 3,000 track circuits because of the risk that they could malfunction and al- low trains to go undetected by the automatic train-control sys- tem, as happened in theRed Line crash that killed nine people and injured dozens. The NTSB warned that the
circuitmodulesMetro uses could seriously malfunction and pose an “unacceptable risk to Metro- rail users.” Although Metro is monitoring the problem circuits much more aggressively to man- age that risk, the board recom-
metro continued on B4
Rhee to aid incoming Fla. governor on education
BY NICK ANDERSON Former D.C. schools chancel-
lor Michelle A. Rhee has joined the education transition team of Florida Gov.-elect Rick Scott, ac- cording to a statement from the Republican’s office. Rhee’s three-year tenure as
leader of schools in the nation’s capital ended in October, after Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) lost his bid for reelection. Fenty named her to the post in
2007 after he took control of the city schools. She became a polar- izing figure in the District and in much of the education world, revered by some as an aggressive reformer and reviled by others as insensitive to teacher and com- munity concerns. She closed many schools and
fired or laid off hundreds of teachers. She also presided over rising test scores and reached an accord with the teachers union that launched a new perfor- mance pay system and reduced seniority rights. The statement from Scott’s
office described Rhee as a na- tionally “recognized education reformer” who will “help him find innovative ways to create a new education system for a new economy.” The statement did not make
clear what Rhee’s responsibili- rhee continued on B4
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VIRGINIA Getting an education
A panel will recommend that colleges and universities be open year-round, offer new public- private loans and limit the time required to attain a degree. B4
MIKEDEBONIS Pr. George’s old problem
Incoming county executive Rushern Baker has his hands full with the persistent problems of the police department, including fallout over the dismissal of Chief Roberto Hylton. B2
‘No
crisis’ in D.C.
water LEAD RISK ASSESSED
City, federal officials try to reassure public
BY TIM CRAIG AND ANN E. MARIMOW The risk of lead exposure inthe EVY MAGES FOR THE WASHINGTON POST In a work zone onD.C. 295, drivers are warned that the 35 mph speed limit is camera-enforced and that the speeding fines are doubled.
snapping away weeks after much of the construction ended, anger- ing drivers but still generating revenue for the District. Nearly 15,000 speeding tickets
Speed cameras and resentment linger W
With construction winding down in D.C. 295 work zone, drivers say it’s time for crackdown to end BY DEREK KRAVITZ
ork zone speed cameras stationed on D.C. 295 near the new Eastern Avenue bridge are
were generated by cameras in the work zone, near the Maryland border, between mid-August and the end of October, according to D.C. police statistics. The income from those tickets: at least $3.73 million. That assumes the tickers were all for speeding at least 10 mph over the posted limit, a routine threshold for city police departments. D.C. officials con- firm that the amount is in the ballpark. But there has not been much
construction at the site since mid-October, and drivers who regularly use the highway say now that the workers are largely gone, it’s time for the speed cam- eras to go, too. “If I had a saw, I’d cut the sign
downmyself,” said Jay Friedman, a retail store consultant who lives in College Park and travels the road several times a week. “The construction workers are gone. They’ve been gone.” The cameras were placed in
the work zone in July to guard workers from speeding vehicles after a “number of accidents in the vicinity,” said John Lisle, a spokesman for the D.C. Depart- ment of Transportation. “A lot of vehicles were not heeding the speed limits and were flying through the area,” he said. The posted speed limit on signs along the stretch of high-
District’s water supply is “fairly minimal,” according to the co-au- thor of a report on previous contamination in the city. And the head of the city’s water au- thority said Thursday that “the vastmajority” of homes are safe. Thomas Sinks, an epidemiolo-
gist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said he thinks there has been “proper corrosion control” by D.C. Water officials over the past four years. George S. Hawkins, general
manager of the water authority, said recent monitoring shows lead levels in city water meet standards set by the federal Envi- ronmental Protection Agency. “The system is getting better. Things are improving,” he said. “There is no crisis.” Hawkins stopped short of giv-
ing blanket assurances that the water in every home is lead-free, and he reiterated that house- holds with pregnant women and children should have their water tested if they doubt its safety. After a Washington Post story
on theCDCreport onWednesday, D.C. Water and CDC officials sought to reassure city residents that the drinking water is safe. On Wednesday, the CDC pub-
lished results of an nine-year study of the city’s water supply confirming that childrenliving in the District were exposed to high levels of lead after an ill-founded attempt to prevent the water frombeing contaminated. From 2004 to 2008, the Dis-
way is 35 mph, 10 mph less than other areas of the road. Those who are caught speeding be- tween 11 and 15 mph over the limit can get slapped with a $250 fine because speeding fines in work zones are doubled. Yellow and orange signs warn drivers of “PHOTO ENFORCEMENT” and “DOUBLE FINES.” Some minor construction
work and closures continue at the site, Lisle said, so the controver- sial speed cameras — the first deployed by the city in a work zone — have stayed put. Police and city officials say automated
cameras continued on B5
trict replaced lead pipes in public right of ways, but it was home- owners’ responsibility to autho- rize and pay for the work on private property. According to city records, there have been about 15,000 so-called partial pipe replacements. But in late 2008, on advice from CDC and EPA officials, D.C. Water sus- pended the program. Hawkins said city officials
discovered that partial pipe re- placements caused “short-term” spikes in the lead levels at the homes but that the problemsub- sided “within a fewmonths.” “What we discovered is par-
tials just did not work,” Hawkins said. “But is there a risk from a project done a year ago? The most likely answer to the ques- tion is no.” CDC officials said in an inter-
lead continued on B5
them on the playground with the tenacity of a Secret Service detail.
W Sometime in the past couple
of decades, the American childhood has been kidnapped by our country’s tremendous fear of strangers. But statistically, the gravest
dangers to young children are right at home. We learned that again this
week with the shocking death of 2-year-old Angelyn Ogdoc. Angelyn was on a five-story
walkway between Tysons Corner Center and one of its parking
PETULA DVORAK
garages onMonday when her grandmother, who was there with the little girl’s parents, suddenly grabbed her and allegedly threwher over the side. Angelyn plummeted 50 feet to the ground and died hours later at a hospital, according to Fairfax County police. Take a moment to shudder.We
all have.
Grandmother’s arrest more proof of mental-health care’s stigma among immigrants The grandmother, Carmela
e leash them, attach wireless alarms to their shoelaces and shadow
Dela Rosa, 50, was charged with murder. She was taken into custody right there in the parking garage. The circumstances of this one
are awful. I don’t know any parent who hasn’t pulled a kid away from a steep drop after shaking off the image of the child falling over. That part of the death was extremely unusual. But for a family member to be
arrested in the case is not. “Of all children killed under
age 5, over 60 percent are killed by parents,” said Philip Resnick, who in 1969 created a classifica- tion in American criminal
analysis—filicide—when he first studied and catalogued parents killing their children. “When it’s the grandparents,
that’s called grandfilicide. I have only seen a couple onesmyself,” Resnick told me. Sure, grandma is supposed to
be all cookies, kittens, needlepoint and hugs. But the stress of helping raise children can wear on grandparents who might already be dealing with other problems, and there are fewservices available to them, said Jennifer Crawford, a director at Family Services Inc. in Gaithersburg, which offers mental health, parenting and community services.
Crawford used to run
grandparenting counseling sessions when she worked in the District and said that for many grandparents, going through parenting all over again was tough, especially when “they’re being in a place where they developmentally shouldn’t be at this point in their lives.” We don’t know the full story
when it comes to Dela Rosa, of course. And even a worn-out, fed-up grandparent doesn’t just throw a child to her death. There are probably just two
explanations for what could have led to such a despicable act.
dvorak continued on B6 B EZ SU
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