May 2, 2007
Servathon Fundraising Hits the Final Stretch
Down here at DCist HQ, you know what really gets us going?
Well, yeah, Dismemberment Plan reunion shows, sure. And voting rights.
What's really got us worked up lately, though, is the response we've gotten to a little idea we had to put a team together for Greater Washington Servathon 2007. We just hoped to raise a little money and spend May 5th doing a little work for a good cause. With the help of our readers, though, we're going to do a lot more than that.
First, we're going to crush our original fundraising goal of $2000. In fact, since you can still donate until the weekend, we're challenging the team and our readers to get to $3000. Click on over to the Team DCist web site and pledge $5 or $10 of support for the good work done by Greater D.C. Cares. For the many team members that have already pledged their own time and money: why don't you pass on the link to the donation page to your friends, family, and coworkers to kick in their support?
Secondly, our team outgrew our expectations and outgrew our first project site at Hine Elementary School. As we reminded readers last week, anyone who joined our team after April 21 needs to sign up for another project. Volunteers from all the sites, however, will get together at Buffalo Billiards at 1 p.m. for an after party where there will be prizes for the top volunteers and more importantly, free beer and food for all the participants.
See you Saturday!
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Jeff: Let it die already. To correct your mischaracterization, it's not the idea of doing good works that is silly. It's the Hine Jr High (it's a Jr High, not an Elementary) project that's stupid. We pay their maintenance staff and the school system overall a small fortune. You'd think that would cover things like painting. So the idea of us not only paying someone to do it, then having us come in and do it for them - that's what rankles.
Other projects are probably much more deserving, and we're not already paying someone our hard earned tax dollars to do it for us. What I don't understand is why you don't concentrate on other projects that aren't supposedly already being done with DC taxpayer dollars.
So unbunch your holier-than-thou panties already.
Jesus, Hillman.
Your tone is pretty chilly towards a few folks just volunteering just to do something nice for the human race for a few hours. Give me a break. Regardless of your thoughts on "who pays for what," it would be decent of you to just stop being such a massive crank for a half a second and chill out.
If you don't want to donate, don't donate. Pretty simple response. Besides a desperate need for attention, why the desire to fart off so meanly at a simple reminder post?
I didn't catch even a whiff of "holier-than-thouness" in Jeff's post. Also, it's the DCist team, not "Team Jeff," so why bite his head off?
Anyways, good on ya DCist. No matter what you do, pills like Hillman are going to have something nasty to say about it.
Hillman:
Hine JHS is in a location the gentry aren't afraid of. Matter of fact, there is talk of relocating Hine because DC Needs More Condos.
Perhaps this is a Realtor's Open House.
When is DCist going to spring for some sort of virtual octagon so that the more contentious commenters can "take it to the street", so to speak?
Crank:
Perhaps I misunderstood Jeff's post, but it sounded like the same passive-aggressive crap other DCist writers (I think it was Heather) posted when we dared point out that doing the work that DC maintenance staff are being paid for was stupid.
If I misunderstood his intent then I do apologize.
But the wording "worked up" and very defensive statement about how they just wanted to do something nice led me to believe it was intended as a reference to my comments in the past on this subject, and remind me a great deal of the same guilt trip language I've seen from many in the nonprofit and do-good community.
I'm probably a little touchy on language like that and I may read too much into it because I live in the epicenter of namby-pamby do-gooder central..... residential Capitol Hill. And I'm sick to death of the snobbery and arrogance that some (but certainly not all) in the do-gooder community exhibit toward those they think aren't volunteering enough regardless of the possible stupidity of the cause.
But my point still stands. And I limited my observations quite specifically to working on DC schools. It's stupid to paint DC schools, when there are so many private foundations that don't suck up DC tax dollars that could use the help much more.
And I responded in part because it's a very valid question that everyone seems afraid to address for fear of being called racist or classist or such. Why do we keep volunteering to fix up DC schools? It's been going on for as long as I can remember. Why should DC maintenance workers do anything at all if they know eventually the citizens will come do it for them?
I'm all for do-good projects. But it pays to pick your projects. And DC public school fixups are just putting lipstick on a pig, while the lipstick-applier we already pay sits back and does nothing.
I am truly sorry you don't care for my posts. But no one is forcing you to read them. And I try very hard to limit my negativity toward ideas, not people. On this particular one I did address DCist Jeff personally, and that I probably shouldn't have done.
Mike:
There is talk of closing Hine. But I hear the current plan is to keep the heinous and outdated building and do a stunningly expensive retrofit to make it offices for the DC school administration.
This is a fairly stupid idea that does nothing for the neighborhood and costs the city a ton of money but in terms of expensive retrofit and in lost revenue.
I can't pretend to know the education needs of DC (other than to state the obvious, that we spend a fortune for school system that is generally but not always just horrifying substandard), but I'd think a smart city would use that massively valuable parcel that Hine sits on for something other than what it is. I can't imagine a more high dollar parcel in all of Capitol Hill. Many of those kids don't actually live within the immediate neighborhood.
It'd make far more sense for them to either sell the parcel but dictate that it's new building and use be mixed (with neighborhood-oriented retail on the first floor and an actual underground parking garage that the area could really use) or keep the land, tear down that monstrosity and redevelop it as the same sort of mixed use project, drawing tons of rent for decades. It'd greatly enhance that little area, and it'd make the city tons of money.
Hillman, I think it's pretty obvious you misread this post. Clearly "worked up" doesn't mean "pissed off" when the things cited as the cause are GOOD things, like having more people than expected sign up for the fundraiser you're sponsoring. Even the other two examples cited (D-Plan shows and getting voting rights for DC) are things that DCist would appear to be excited about in a positive way.
Just because you got some grief in the previous thread where you tried to dump all over this project, it doesn't mean this post has anything to do with you. Or at least it didn't, until you chose to jump ugly with an almost exact repeat of your earlier rant . . .
I'd say at best it's ambiguous. You usually hear 'worked up' used in a negative sense. And you usually hear "gets us going" used in a negative sense.
As for ranting, I am guilty as charged. But, then, who would read these chats if we all kissed each other's butt and sang happy songs all day?
Isn't ranting and presenting and reading opposing points of view the entire reason for Comments sections?
And my rants do have substance, whether you agree with them or not.
in context, it's not ambiguous at all. jeff compared this event to to other things DCist was truly excited about and has been hyping. Stop nitpicking, all y'all.
I thoroughly enjoy the dcist website and was very interested in supporting you all for the Servathon, which I think is a very worthy cause, despite comments that our tax dollars should pay for what you are doing. I did donate to your team and was disappointed that there was no acknowledgement from the dcist staff, just a generic e-mail from DC Cares. Perhaps they do not provide you with information regarding the donors to your team in order to thank people properly? Good luck tomorrow and I hope you have far exceeded your goal.