ABCDE Cloudy 38/29 • Tomorrow: Partly sunny 41/26 • details, B8 Gone, but not forgotten TUESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2010


RENTS UP 22% IN A DECADE


Job hunters chasing limited housing stock


BY DINA ELBOGHDADY AND DAN KEATING


Rents in the Washington area


have soared to the highest level measuredinat least20yearsasan arrayofeconomicandpsychologi- cal forces thrust people into the rental market after the housing sector tankedinthe lasthalfof the decade. In this region, rental prices


WIN MCNAMEE/GETTY IMAGES Areflection shows VietnamWar veteran Paul Stancliff as he decorates a Christmas tree placed at the apex of the VietnamVeteransMemorial. A


tree placed at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial during the annual Christmas ceremony is decorated with cards and ornaments made by schoolchildren from across the country. Boxes of cards are also left at the foot of the tree so that visitors can read them and place them on the tree.


AGONYATTHEAIRPORT TSA’s embrace of technology draws questions


Agency hasn’t properly evaluated some devices it has bought, audits say


BY DANA HEDGPETH Before there were full-body


scanners, there were puffers. The Transportation Security


Administration spent about $30 million on devices that puffed air on travelers to “sniff” them out for explosives residue. Those machines ended up in warehouses, removed from air- ports, abandoned as impractical. Themassive push to fix airport


security in theUnited States after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, led to a gold rush in technology con- tracts for an industry thatmush- roomed almost overnight. Since it was founded in 2001, the TSA


Fast and furious TSA spending


$14 billion $8 billion


on more than 20,900 transactions with contractors.


on new—and often unproven— technologies.


on screening devices.$800 million


Future technology What is being developed for the protection of travelers. A12


has spent about $14 billion in more than 20,900 transactions with dozens of contractors. In addition to beefing up the fleets of X-ray machines and


Public servants feeling sting of budget rancor


Republicans, Democrats alike taking tougher line on salaries, benefits


BY KAREN TUMULTY AND ED O’KEEFE


Here are two words you don’t


hear much lately: public servant. More and more, when politi-


cians talk about government em- ployees—whether they are feder- al, state or local — it is with the kind ofumbrage ordinarilyaimed atWall Street financiers and con- venience store bandits. “We can no longer live in a society where the public employ-


ees are the haves and the taxpay- ers who foot the bill are the have-nots,” Wisconsin’s incoming Republican Gov. ScottWalker de- clared this month, as he raised the idea of stripping state work- ers there of collective bargaining rights. Outgoing Minnesota Gov. Tim


Pawlenty, who is mulling a GOP presidential bid, also sounded a class-war note last week on the op-ed page of the Wall Street Journal: “Unionized public em- ployees are making more money, receiving more generous benefits and enjoying greater job security than the working families forced to pay for it with ever-higher


workers continued onA6


traditional security systems at airports nationwide, about $8 billion also paid for ambitious new technologies. The agency has spent about $800 million on devices to screen bags and pas- senger items, including shoes, bottled liquids, casts and pros- theses. For next year, it wants more than $1.3 billion for airport screening technologies. But lawmakers, auditors and


national security experts ques- tion whether the government is too quick to embrace technology as a solution for basic security problems and whether the TSA has been too eager to write checks for unproven products. “We always want the best, the


latest and greatest technology against terrorists, but that’s not necessarily the smartest way to spend your money and your ef- forts,” said Kip Hawley, who served as the head of the TSA


from2005 until last year. “We see a technology that looks promis- ing, and the temptation is to run to deploy it beforewe fully under- stand how it integrates with the multiple layers we already have in place, like using a watch list, training officers at every check- point to look for suspicious be- havior and using some pat- downs.” Some say the fact that the


United States hasn’t had another 9/11-level terrorist attack shows that themoney was well spent. But government auditors have


faulted the TSA and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, for failing to properly test and evaluate tech- nology before spending money on it. The puffer machines, for ex-


ample, were an early TSA at- tsa continued onA12


Sorting out a huge amount of holiday cheer


surged 22 percent in 2009 froma decade earlier, according to the latest inflation-adjusted Census figures. Rates jumped in part be- cause 10,000 single-family houses that were occupied by their own- ers two years ago are now rental properties. Those houses tend to be larger and have higher rents thanapartments. People hunting for rentals are brushing up against biddingwars


Prices may vary in areas outside metropolitan Washington.


MD DC VA SU V1 V2 V3 V4 washingtonpost.com • 75¢


Region’s tenants caught in a clamp


between potential tenants, result- ing in rents topping $4,000 for modest homes in some of the area’s most coveted neighbor- hoods. Those from more dis- tressed areaswho have come here chasing jobs find waiting lists, more stringent credit checks and rents triplewhat they left behind. In local apartment buildings,


rents jumped 8.2 percent—about twice the long-term average — to $1,643 this year as vacancies dis- appeared, according to a study to be released next week by Delta Associates, an Alexandria-based research firm. The area’s vacancy rates are the second-lowest in the nation, afterNewYorkCity. “There’s been a structural shift


from owners to renters in this countryinthepast fewyears,” said GregoryH.Leisch, chief executive of Delta Associates. “It’s themost rapid shift I’ve ever witnessed in the 40 years that I’ve been in this business.” Although the high foreclosure


ratehelpedpushmorepeople into rentals nationwide, that factor was less influential in the Wash- ington region, many economists said. Instead, the local rentalmar-


rent continued onA15 Mullen urges Senate


to ratify arms treaty As more Republicans voice support, pact with Russia appears close


BY MARY BETH SHERIDAN AND FELICIA SONMEZ


The nation’s top military offi-


cer appealed to the Senate on Monday to ratify a new nuclear arms treaty with Russia, as sup- porters attracted more Republi- can votes,making it increasingly likely that the pact would be approved. The letter from Adm. Mike


Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, could intensify the pressure onwavering Repub- licans by putting them in the awkward position of rejecting themilitary’s advice on a nation- al security issue if they voted “no.”


l N. Korea makes some peacable gestures. A9


The letter came amid intense


efforts on both sides to sway senators on the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which could face a vote as early as Tuesday. Seven Republican senators have publicly supported it, putting the administration within two votes of victory. The WhiteHouse says it has the votes for passage. But the pact has gotten caught


up in the political tempest of the lame-duck session, with Repub- licans angry that the Obama administration is pushing the treaty and other favored issues before the Democrats’ Senate majority shrinks next year. “Our top concern should be


the safety and security of our nation, not some politician’s de- sire to declare a political victory and host a press conference before the first of the year,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) declared in a floor speech. He and the second-


start continued onA5


FCC is set to assert authority over access to the Internet


Firms wouldn’t be able to block rival sites or play favorites


BY CECILIA KANG Federal regulators arepoisedto MELINA MARA/THE WASHINGTON POST


U.S. Postal Service workers across the nation logged many hours Monday processing 1.2 million pieces of mail. At the CapitolHeights facility, ElizabethHarley, a 29-year employee, moves things along at the letter automation area that handles mostly holiday cards.


INSIDE SPORTS


Friedgen won’t retire, so U-Md. will fire him


Terps targeting former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach to replace 10-year coach after next week’s bowl game. D1


OPINION


Eugene Robinson: With “don’t ask” gone, a chance to mend fences. A19


BUSINESS NEWS..............A14 CLASSIFIEDS......................F1 COMICS..........................C7-8


EDITORIALS/LETTERS.A18-19 FED PAGE.........................A14 GOING OUT GUIDE.............C9


KIDSPOST........................C10 LOTTERIES.........................B4 MOVIES..............................C6


2STYLE New reads on Jackie O.


Two competing books offer similar takes on her days as an editor. C1


NATION&POLITICS


Possible carcinogen found in cities’ tap water


The chemical was discovered in 31 tests across the U.S., including Bethesda and the District. A2


OBITUARIES....................B6-7 TELEVISION.......................C5 WORLD NEWS....................A8


Printed using recycled fiber HEALTH&SCIENCE1 What my stutter


said about you More than 3 million Americans stutter. Here’s how one man learned to get the words out. E1


METRO


Critical time for Metro’s board As the system prepares to name a permanent general manager, the tenure of as many as eight of 14 board members is in question. B1


DAILY CODE Details, B2


4 0 1 0 


enact controversial new rules af- fecting Internet access, marking the government’s strongest move yet to ensure that Facebook up- dates, Google searches and Skype calls reach consumers’ homes un- impeded. Under the regulations, compa-


nies that carry the Internet into American homes would not be allowed to block Web sites that offer rival services,norwouldthey


be permitted to play favorites by dividing delivery of Internet con- tent into fast and slowlanes. The rules are set towinpassage


in a vote Tuesday by the Federal CommunicationsCommission,af- ter a majority of the panel’s five members said they planned to vote infavor of themeasure. The proposal, pushed by FCC


Chairman Julius Genachowski, seeks to add teeth to a principle known as net neutrality, which calls for all legal Internet traffic to be treated equally. Itmeans that a cable company such as Comcast could not slow traffic of Netflix video, while a wireless carrier suchasVerizonWirelesscouldnot blockcompetingWebvoiceservic-


fcc continued onA15


The Washington Post Year 134, No. 16


CONTENT © 2010


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