Washington D.C. recorded its lowest homicide rate in 45 years in 2009. The number of murders dropped twenty-five percent from 2008: falling from 186 to 140 in a single year. Even more impressive is the decline since 1991, where killings in Washington D.C. spiked at 489 deaths.

“It’s huge,” said D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier. “We’re making an impact.”

While the District’s improvement is heartening and well above the ten percent national per-capita rate decline, when compared to many other large cities, D.C. still ranks among the most dangerous cities in America. In 2009, there were 23 killings per 100,000 D.C. residents, almost four times the per-capita rate for New York City.

The Seventh Police District had the highest number of murders (40) last year, while the Second District (which contains Georgetown, Dupont Circle, and Cleveland Park) was among the safest areas of the city, with no killings reported in 2009.

Photo from Flickr user Davidsonscott15 used under a Creative Commons license.

A globalized economy means we’re all equally subject to hefty tuition bills. Last week, the Washington Business Journal reported that foreign students contributed about $17.6 billion to the American Economy last year, making higher education one of the United States’ top service sector exports.

Students attending schools in DC contributed about $304 million, and the 1,804 foreign students who attended Georgetown University last year contributed $59.7 million in enrollment, tuition, fees and living expenses. Georgetown’s international students were second on the impact list for the District, trailing students from George Washington University, who contributed about $92.3 million.

A report by the Institute of International Education found that the number of foreign students studying in the US rose over eight percent last year, the highest yearly gain since 1980.

According to data from Georgetown’s Office of International Programs, 16 percent of the students who attended Georgetown University during last year’s fall semester were undergraduates while 55 percent were graduate students. They represented 124 different countries, and South Korea (199 students), China (161 students), and India (142 students) were the most highly represented.

Photo by Flickr user bradipo, used under a Creative Commons license.

Patrick Deneen (left), an associate professor of Government at Georgetown and director of the Tocqueville Forum, hosted a chat on the Washington Post’s website yesterday to explain and defend the Archdiocese’s decision.

Deneen spent a large part of the chat trying to re-frame the issue as the church being forced into giving up business relations with the city:

I think the basic premise of the Post’s story requires clarification. The premise of today’s story was that the Catholic Church was threatening to cease to provide charitable services if the law legalizing gay marriage is passed. In point of fact, it is the DC government that would cease to license or contract with the Church unless the Church conformed to a definition of marriage that violates its faith tradition.

Without a set of broader legal exemptions allowing for the Church to remain faithful to its definition of marriage, it will cease to be permitted by the City to provide the contracted and licensed services that it has for well over a century. The Church’s fundamental desire in this controversy is to continue its desire and freedom to serve.

At one point, a reader asked how the first amendment protections of religious freedom played into the debate.  Deneen replied:

There is a basic conflict here between the claims of those seeking the legalization of gay marriage and the claims of religious liberty – not only for religious institutions per se, but individuals (such as individuals who might offer privately contracted services, such as wedding photographers, whose faith beliefs could be compromised by providing their service to a gay couple, and who would be subject to anti-discrimination lawsuits).

Another area where there is a conflict is the right of religious organizations not to provide certain services or benefits, such as certain spousal employment benefits or adoption services. More broadly (going beyond the gay marriage issue), without exemptions, religious organizations can be forced to act in ways that go against their tenets, for instance, in being forced to provide contraceptive benefits in health care policies. Here the various claims run against the free exercise clause of the First Amendment. In these sorts of instances, there is a demand that religious organizations essentially act as secular organizations.

Were you inspired by the seven eight strangers who set up shop in Dupont Circle this summer?  Want your own shot at reality show infamy?

You’re in luck: MTV is doing casting for the next season of Real World in D.C. tomorrow!  Just head over to Town Tavern at 2323 18th Street NW between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. with a recent picture and photo ID.

The press release for the casting call even gives some hints about what they’re looking for in the next season’s cast members:

It’s important to us that The Real World reflects the diversity of the general population. This season we’d love to include a person who is physically challenged, an individual struggling with weight issues, someone who has been affected by a natural disaster, a cast member who is a product of home or alternative schooling, and an individual who wants to bring the spotlight of The Real World to a cause, condition, or social issue they care deeply about or are personally affected by.

If auditions aren’t enough to satisfy your Real World graves, don’t worry.  The Voice will be covering the D.C. season of the show in next week’s feature!

In 2007, a blaze broke out at the Georgetown Public Library, destroying large portions of the building and leaving the neighborhood without a permanent library for years.  Soon after the fire, the city sued the contractor that had been doing repairs to the library at the time for $13 million, alleging that the heating guns used started the fire.

Unfortunately for D.C., the contractor is contesting that claim, and the lawsuit has revealed that D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services did a less than stellar job investigating the fire.  Washington City Paper’s Jason Cherkis unearthed court documents and e-mails between the FEMS and the Office of the Attorney General that show the full extent of the investigators’ negligence.

Cherkis’s post is a must-read, but here are a few of the major allegations:

• Lt. Craig Duck led the investigation despite having no training in fire investigation.
• Duck thoroughly bungled the investigation, throwing away crucial evidence.  The evidence he did hold on to was not properly secured or catalogued.
• Investigators may have breached national standards by not making and keeping notes while investigating.
• FEMS was extremely uncooperative when OAG asked them for the requisite documentation from the investigation, failing to hand over investigators’ notes and photographs.

Photo from Flickr user randomduck, used under a Creative Commons license.

It’s a wonderful day in Georgetown’s neighborhood!

While Georgetown’s town-gown relations can get pretty testy, according to researchers at Westfield State College, GU is actually one of the best neighbors in the country [PDF].  Georgetown made their “Best Neighbor” honor roll in their recent survey of colleges and universities.

The presentation, “Saviors of Our Cities: A Survey of Best College and University Civic Partnerships” emphasizes that the current state of the economy makes the relationships between universities and their surroundings even more important than ever before.

They ranked universities that they felt “demonstrated…long-standing cooperative efforts with community leaders to rehabilitate the cities around them, to influence community revitalization and cultural renewal, and to encourage economic expansion of the local economy, urban development and community service.”

While Georgetown didn’t earn a spot in the top 25, we did make the honor roll.  The honor role highlights over 100 colleges and universities that “figured prominently in lengthy cooperative efforts with community leaders to rehabilitate the cities around them.”

Georgetown’s Vice President of Student Affairs Todd Olson cited programs run through the Center for Social Justice, such as business consulting with non-profits, direct service and tutoring and working with local jails and prisons as evidence of Georgetown’s commitment to the local community.

“Across the city and region there’s a lot that we do really well,” Olson said. “There are a lot of needs in this community. We need to continue looking around and keep building those connections. We haven’t finished that work, but I believe we have a laudable track record.”

Much of Georgetown’s community service is created through student-run initiatives, such as Grassroot Hoyas, a student-founded and run group that goes into D.C. schools to promote AIDS awareness.

“What I admire most about Georgetown is its deep commitment to social justice,” Grassroot Hoyas founder Tyler Spencer said. “While so many students volunteer in amazing ways around the world, Grassroot Hoyas has helped us realize that we can and should work to solve problems that exist right in our backyard.”

No comment on the cars, but as for the music, they brought the goods: five of the rockinest, the groovinest, and the dancinest acts in the world, including MGMT, Wale, and Dan Deacon. Just check the lineup, pick your night(s) and show up!

Tickets are free (FREE!) but, fair warning, the MGMT show may cost you your dignity: to get tix, you’ll have to test drive a KIA car. And for the Thursday show, you’ll need to RSVP and have an ID that says you’re 21. But for all the rest, just show up to 3330 New York Ave NE and get on with it!

Monument-filled AND college-kid friendly!

A new report by the American Institute for Economic Research ranked Washington D.C. as the fourth best metropolitan area to attend college, according to the Washington Post.

The report highlighted the 75 best college locations in America, subdividing the list by city size.  D.C. was grouped into the major metropolitan category, and finished behind only New York, San Francisco and Boston.

The rankings were determined based on 12 factors, including the number of college students per every 1,000 residents and the cost of living.  D.C. particularly excelled in the student to resident ratio category, with 81 students for every 1,000 residents.  We also had the lowest unemployment rate and the second-highest average income of the major metropolitan areas in the study.

With new neighbors’ groups popping up left and right, it looks like we’re in for another year of fights between residents and the University.  But Georgetown’s not the only school dealing with a seemingly perpetual town-gown rift—as an article in yesterday’s Washington Post makes clear, other local colleges are also plagued by conflicts over students living off-campus.

So what exactly are our nearby peers dealing with?

At Catholic, neighbors are pressuring the Metropolitan Police Department to enact a zero tolerance policy for disorderly conduct.  For UMD-College Park, a recent debate about whether to maintain rent control for single-family houses turned into a fight over whether or not students should be living off-campus.

Permanent residents can make trouble for administrators as well as students, the article points out, by leveraging their power over zoning and construction issues to pressure schools.  For example, in 2001, GWU was not allowed to increase enrollment or begin new construction projects until it started housing at least 70% of its students on-campus.

The article also provides some good background about what’s been going on in Georgetown, with mentions of the stymied 2000 Campus Plan and the tragic 2004 fire that killed Daniel Rigby (MSB ‘05), as well as quotes from current Citizens Association of Georgetown president Jennifer Altemus.

Perhaps the most interesting Georgetown tidbit in the article, though, is the discussion of the soon-to-be-inaugurated Magis Row.  The article implies that the program may have been conceived of in hopes of appeasing neighbors as the University tries to pass its 2010 Campus Plan (emphasis mine):

Each house will have four students, a faculty or staff adviser and a theme, such as living green or redefining the hip-hop movement. The houses are meant to be “the best of both worlds” for students who want to live in a house but still have ties to campus, said Jeanne Lord, associate vice president for student affairs.

Students must have high grades and clean records to live in the “coveted houses,” so Lord expects that they will be tame, role-model neighbors—just what the university needs as it prepares to again submit a 10-year plan to the zoning board.

Unfortunately, the last time the University tried to present Magis Row to the neighbors that way, it didn’t quite work out…

Ever get the feeling that 2010 is just way too long to wait for the next D.C. mayoral campaign?  Well the New Organizing Institute, a progressive advocacy and campaign training program, has got you covered.  As part of their summer BootCamp they’re holding a mock election for D.C. mayor.

Alfredo Fletes (SFS ‘09) emailed us and asked us to support his candidate, Batwoman, “a feisty, Jewish, lesbian, red-headed, former circus performer and superhero.”  Batwoman sounds promising, but she does have some stiff competition—the Atom, Batgirl, Cyborg, the Green Lantern, Spiderman, Superman and Wonder Woman are all in the running as well.

What solidified Batwoman’s place in our hearts, though, is her stance on one of the most pressing problems of our time: the Sellinger Sparrow.

Every time I stroll by Sellinger Lounge and catch a glimpse of the lonely sparrow pecking at a leftover stale bagel, or chirping at his own sad reflection in the window, my heart aches knowing that he or she can’t indulge in the same pleasures of being a free bird.

It’s time that we come together as a student body to FREE THE SELLINGER SPARROW. And Batwoman wants help lead the release efforts; she takes bird equality seriously …

How should we go about liberating the Sellinger Sparrow?  Should we work with University Facilities? Call DC Animal Control? Or ask the Corp to fund his release?

The vote will take place this Friday, but to show your support before then you can follow the candidate of your choice on through their individual websites and their Twitter and Facebook accounts.