Comments on: Politics and Prose Pissed at ANC Nut

By: Sue

Sue — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 11:56:44 +0000

Fisher consistently misrepresents anything involving development politics in this/his neighborhood. And the Post responds to complaints about his coverage by saying we don’t police facts in op-ed pieces. It’d be less of a problem if Metro did a better job on city politics, but often the only account in the paper is Fisher’s.

So I understand why Winstead didn’t return Fisher’s calls (though I’d have made a different judgment). And I don’t think that failure to call a reporter justifies ridicule and misrepresentation.

There are other ways to verify the facts (speak to other Commissioners on the ANC, ask DDOT who complained and/or to see the record of the complaint) or to make the case for public space permits. You could have done either of those things before posting this.

By: Fister

Fister — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 01:20:02 +0000

They all should leave good enough alone and let the people enjoy the few amenities in the neighborhood.

By: Mike DeBonis

Mike DeBonis — Sat, 31 May 2008 21:22:00 +0000

That gets to my main beef with Mr. Winstead: He should have returned Marc Fisher’s repeated phone calls. I think his stance about public space is perfectly defensible—the law is clearly on his side—it just would be nice if he would defend it.

By: Sue

Sue — Sat, 31 May 2008 10:53:23 +0000

to clarify — Winstead denies that he complained to DDOT about the bench at Politics & Prose which, as he points out, is close enough to the building that it wasn’t clearly in public space. It wasn’t posing any danger or serving some commercial use. He saw no violation — apparently DDOT measured and concluded otherwise.

By: Sue

Sue — Sat, 31 May 2008 10:46:35 +0000

Actually, thanks to Fisher, it looks like there’s some less-than-righteous indignation regarding Winstead.

Politics & Prose seems to just assume that this ANC Commissioner is behind the incident — geez, why don’t they ask everyone to harass the (unnamed) DDOT inspector who actually issued they ultimatum? Winstead denies he did.

And the permit in question involves a one page application and a one-time $19 fee, so this is really a tempest in a teapot.

That said, I agree generally with P&P’s comments re DC’s climate for small businesses. They’ve just chosen the wrong target for their anger/frustration.