A Tribute to Bruce Robey

The Hill and our city is a little less today.

Many of us have lost a good friend; we've all lost a true visionary and pioneer. Bruce Robey, co-founder of Voice of the Hill newspaper and the H Street Playhouse, died Sunday night at Washington Hospital Center after a suffering a heart attack.

I didn't know Bruce as long as many people in the community did, but like anyone who met him, I knew him well enough to know that he was a compassionate and driven man committed to family and his community, whatever community he found himself in.

Whether he was vacationing in South Carolina, "retiring" in West Virginia, serving in the Marines, or raising a family on Capitol Hill, Bruce was engaged and determined to make his mark.

Our neighborhood is a perfect example of how Bruce's impact will be felt for generations to come. He brought the neighbors of Capitol Hill into the digital era by creating one of the best community-based Web sites in the world.

Voice of the Hill.com gave Hill residents a place to gather without leaving their homes. It became a platform for news, information, gossip and the time honored tradition on the Hill of complaining about everything. Hill Talk was an on-line forum that sparked debate on every issue facing Ward 6 long before the listservs of today.

With the Web site came the newspaper. I don't think Bruce ever imagined himself the publisher of a newspaper, but he saw a need in the community and he filled it. That's the Bruce Robey I knew, a man who didn't let people tell him he couldn't or shouldn't do something. If he decided to do something, he did it. When Bruce hired me to work for the Voice about 10 years ago, he wanted to use the disinfectant of the press to hold our local elected officials accountable.

Today, Ward 6 boasts some of the most productive and accountable ANCs in the District. It wasn't always that way. Many of the ANC commissioners who hold office today were inspired to run for office because the Voice made them more aware of what was happening in their community. Likewise, many of the old commissioners who abused their office are no longer in office, again, because Bruce was determined to inform the public.

Ward 6 Councilman, Tommy Wells knows all too well Bruce's determination to speak truth to power.

"Bruce never sugar coated anything he said to elected officials," Wells said, "He was always straight forward and wincingly honest, which I found refreshing as I railed from the blows."

Wells says Robey was a true renaissance man living among us.

"He grew up in Anacostia and had so many different interests," Wells said. "The fact that he could start a profitable newspaper from scratch and he didn't do it as a young man, was extraordinary. He was also a fisherman and a musician, he was such a renaissance man that was truly a local homegrown star."

But where Bruce and his wife Adele really took a leap of faith was on H Street.

Today, H Street is a destination for the young and the hip. It's fast becoming the "New U" with restaurants, bars and theaters. Just last weekend, thousands of people flocked to H Street as the neighborhood celebrated its 6th annual H Street Festival & Bazaar.

That's not how Bruce found H Street, but it is how he left it. In 2001, when Bruce and Adele saw a void in the theater community the Robeys stepped up to create the H Street Playhouse. They used their own money to buy the old French's Restaurant and a theater district was born.

Anwar Saleem of the H Street Mainstreet knows that H Street is what it is today because of Bruce.

"Bruce had a vision he was a trailblazer," Saleem says. "When there was no entertainment he gave us that. He had the original vision. His dream was larger than the H Street Playhouse. He added his flavor to the pot."

Don Denton has been selling real estate on the Hill for 30 years. He first met Bruce in 1975. Denton knows the importance of having engaged neighbors like the Robeys.

"Bruce and Adele Robey are two of those most special Hill business people. They have not only raised their family here and operated their businesses here on the Hill for over 30 years, they have contributed mightily to the fabric of our community. Bruce stepped up to assume the Presidency of CHAMPS during two very pivotal years for the organization. When Bruce and Adele saw a need/an opportunity, they would risk their time and treasure to make it happen. They envisioned a second and complimentary newspaper for our community - and the VOICE of the Hill was born. They felt that the arts were an essential ingredient of any growing and prosperous community. They invested in H Street long before it became the popular thing to do - and the H Street Playhouse (their dream) is still today a major anchor for that thriving commercial community."

Bruce not only knew the importance of community, he also knew the importance of family. It was a lesson he taught me one day as we rode across Capitol Hill in his pick-up truck delivering copies of the Voice. As we were stopped at a traffic light, Bruce saw Adele walking across Lincoln Park.

"She brightens my every day, lad," he said with a breathless smile. "Every man should be so lucky."

Bruce, you brightened my life and our city in ways that will continue to shine for many years. Every community should be so lucky.

Posted by:  | 09/21/09   1  Comments | PermaLink

The Lost Art of Customer Service

This will be the last Malcontent Minute. With that said, I thought I would take this opportunity to go back to the reason I started writing this column - to complain.

This question has been living rent-free in my head for some time: Why is customer service so bad when we are near double-digit unemployment? Shouldn't people be happy to have a job and eager to keep it?

I know in my industry, everybody has ramped up their games - doing more for less. We've all seen too many of our friends get laid off. Nobody wants to be the next to go, so we're going the extra mile trying to make ourselves indispensable. Perhaps it's the silver lining to this economic tsunami. What doesn't kill us will make us better. That doesn't seem to be the trend in the customer service industry.

I've always been a believer that customer service should be "Job #1" in any job. It goes back to my days in retail and the restaurant business. I learned early that if you treated a customer well, they were like gold in your pockets. If you treated them poorly, they were like lead. I know the challenge for employers in trying to find good, hard-working employees who will show the same enthusiasm and pride in their work as the owner will.

Obviously, the incentives are different, and when companies like McDonalds and Starbucks set the minimum wage and benefits for service employees so low, it's hard to motivate. Particularly back in the days when unemployment was so low, if you didn't like your job, you could cross the street and get another one the same day. Those days are gone, but it hasn't seemed to help get me through the checkout line any faster or get my drinks served any faster. Yes, I'm impatient.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of people in the service industry don't share my opinion. More often than not, I have to wait far too long before a waiter greets me after I've been seated, then I sit and watch my drinks sit at the bar while my waiter chats it up with his co-workers. I have the utmost respect for waiters and bartenders. I spent many years doing both. A really good waiter or barkeep is like an artist. Alas, we are witnessing a dying art form.

You would think with the economy in the dump and people forced to cut back on things like going out to restaurants that they'd be bending over backwards to make sure you experience is a good one. That's not always the case. I know it's not all restaurants, but I have to say, I spend a lot of time in bars and restaurants - from cheap to expensive - and while there are some gems, they are too few.

It's not just restaurants where customer service has taken a vacation. It seems like every time I go to the grocery store or the big box store, there are more employees standing outside smoking than inside working. There used to be a day when you would go through the grocery store checkout and converse with the clerk. These days the only conversation I get at the checkout is the clerk on register 1 talking to the clerk on register 2 complaining about their jobs.

I was at the airport in Denver a while back at the rental car desk. The lines were really long. There must have been 8 employees behind the counter, each helping customers. Not one of them showed any sense of urgency. Between customers they chatted, made phone calls - the kind of stuff you do on your break. When I finally made it to the counter, the two employees began complaining about the previous customer and how impatient she was. I said to them, "You know I can hear you."

They laughed and said they weren't talking about me. I told them they were because I, too, was an impatient customer. They didn't get it.

Every time I am faced with bad service, I complain. I find a manager and I let them know exactly what happened, and then I let them know I won't be back. The problem is too few people complain. We've been beat down into this complacent herd that accepts the inevitability that we will be disappointed. No more. Our time and money is too valuable these days to hand it over to people who don't appreciate it.

Here's a tip for complainers who don't like face-to-face confrontation that I find to be very effective. If you pay by credit card, write a little note on the receipt with your complaint or compliment. The last thing every manager or owner does each night is go through the receipts. They will definitely see your note. I even leave my phone number so the manager can call.

Thanks for letting me get this off my chest. And thanks for reading.

Cheers,
Mark Segraves

(Copyright 2009 by WTOP. All rights reserved.)

Posted by:  | 05/10/09   30  Comments | PermaLink

Plotkin's a 'Down-Low Luddite'

Mark Segraves, WTOP Radio

Lud·dite (lŭd'ît) n.

One who opposes technical or technological change.

Down-low - slang

Often used to refer to something that is secret or hidden.

WTOP political commentator and radio talk show host Mark Plotkin is famous for several things, but those of us who know him well, know there is one trait that he is best known for: his aversion to technology.

Mark "Ludite" Plotkin. (Mark Segraves/WTOP Radio)

Channel 4 reporter and Dean of the Metro Scribes Tom Sherwood has known Plotkin for 25 years and describes him like this: "He's a klutz, he's worse than that. He's a ludite, he refuses technology."

Well, somebody has made the Chicago native an offer he can't refuse.

Plotkin now has a cell phone. Now while this would be news in and of itself, the story doesn't end there. Not only does he have a phone it's a "Down-Low" Phone.

Plotkin keeps the phone out of sight, but doesn't know how to switch it to vibrate, so when he gets a call he's outed by his own phone.

But the phone doesn't ring that often. And there's a reason for that.

D.C. Council member Jack Evans is counted among the few who call Plotkin a long-time friend.

"As I understand, it is a number that is given to only a select person. I don't know who that person is, but it isn't me. It's like his (rent controlled) apartment that none of us have ever seen."

So what would make Plotkin break down and get a cell phone and who is the one person he would share the number with? As one of his best friends, I'm disappointed to say it isn't me and I asked for the number.

But as I sat in the Senate press gallery with a frothing Plotkin, watching Sen. Max Baucus (D - MO) count the votes on the D.C. voting rights bill before casting the lone dissenting Democratic vote. I recalled something D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty once said, "The District would have voting rights by now if Plotkin would get a cell phone."

Plotkin makes no secret of his behind-the-scenes efforts to move the Davis Bill forward. He has made a habit of telling lawmakers exactly what to do. So I took a chance and asked Mayor 142 about Plotkin's new appendage.

"I'm not even gonna tell you what I know, this is one of those things only between Plotkin and I."

So, Plotkin and the mayor have "one of those things" between the two of them.

How does that sit with the chairman of the City Council who has known Plotkin longer than any of us?

"There are equal branches of government so the chairman should be able to have it too, he has mine," says Vincent Gray.

He's not the only one who wants the number. Sherwood says he'll get it if it's the last thing he does.

"I think it should be the goal of every journalist in town to get Mark Plotkin's number. And put in on the bathroom stalls.

I'm serious, If Mark wants to keep something secret, then the first thing we should do is find out what the number is. I will dedicate the rest of my life to this."

Now, according to WTOP's Technology Manager Brian Oliger, the station issued Plotkin a cell phone several years ago.

"He could never figure out how to charge it, so I would charge it for him when he asked me to, and he would use it for a day or two until the charge ran out."

Oliger says Plotkin had trouble operating the phone as well.

(Mark Segraves/WTOP Radio)

So I asked Mayor 142 if Plotkin had mastered the use of the cell phone.

"I can neither confirm or deny that I have Plotkin's cell phone number. I can neither confirm nor deny that he picks up his cell phone…if he has one."

As for Plotkin, his only comment about the phone after he realized it had a clock on it.

"These things are helpful aren't they?"

** I want that number and hereby offer a reward of $100 to the first person who provides me with the correct number to Plotkin's down-low. Post a comment or email me at msegraves@wtopnews.com.

Posted by: Mark Segraves | 09/20/07   1  Comments | PermaLink

The Idiocy of My E-mail Inbox

I get lots of e-mails. In fact, I get hundreds every day, and most of them I could live without.

But the ones that have been driving me crazy are those idiotic chain e-mails warning me about everything from killer termites being shipped from Katrina-ravaged New Orleans to the godless one-dollar coin.

What bothers me the most about these viral meteors of mis-information is not the time I have to waste clicking through them or the space they take up on my blackberry screen. What really burns me is the fact that most of them are B.S. or hurtful, and all of them can be debunked if the sender would just take 30 seconds to Google the subject line before shoving them down every inbox on their address book.

Here's a small sample from my inbox:

SUBJECT: It has begun... REFUSE NEW COINS

Bogus Message: This e-mail urges patriotic god loving Americans to refuse to take the new one dollar coins because the phrase "In God We Trust" has been left off.

Facts: All U.S. Coins and currency that are produced for circulation are mandated by Congress to carry the "In God we Trust" slogan, including the one dollar coins.

The 2007 and 2008 series had the slogan, along with the year and E Pluribus Unum etched along the side of the coin. The 2009 version has the slogan on the face of the coin.

SUBJECT: Arrogant Americans, Mr. President?

Bogus Message: This e-mail calls President Barack Obama "naive and arrogant" for a speech he gave in France last month. The e-mail correctly quotes the president as saying:

"In America, there is a failure to appreciate Europe's leading role in the world. Instead of celebrating your dynamic union and seeking to partner with you to meet common challenges, there have been times where America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive."

Facts: What the e-mail fails to include is the president's entire quote. Mr. Obama followed the above statement by emphatically chastising Europeans for being anti-American:

"But in Europe, there is an anti-Americanism that is at once casual, but can also be insidious. Instead of recognizing the good that America so often does in the world, there have been times where Europeans choose to blame America for much of what is bad. On both sides of the Atlantic, these attitudes have become all too common."

I'll let conservative talk show host Bill O'Reilly defend the President's remarks.

"That was the president's smartest move Friday. He complimented the Europeans, making them feel good, while at the same time gently scolding them for being foolishly anti-American. A very good sequence for Mr. Obama."

SUBJECT: South American Beef at McDonald's

Bogus Message: This e-mail urges a boycott of McDonald's because the hamburger chain is buying beef from foreign countries rather than farmers in the United States. The e-mail purports to be sent from Professor David Forrest from Texas A&M University and based on an original e-mail from the Texas cattle Feeders Association.

Facts: None of this is true. The Cattle Feeders Association never sent an e-mail and even has a link on the homepage of the website disclaiming the e-mail.

I called Dr. Forrest at Texas A&M, and he laughed at me. "No," he said, "I never wrote that e-mail."

SUBJECT: Please Read...It Was On Good Morning America

Bogus Message: AOL and Microsoft will pay you $245 for everyone you forward the e-mail to as part of "beta test."

Facts: Total crap. Really stupid people have been hitting the forward button on this one for more than 10 years. It took less than 30 seconds on Google to find out it is a complete lie.

I've got dozens more, and I bet you do, too. Feel free to share your favorites. But don't you dare e-mail them to me.

(Copyright 2009 by WTOP. All rights reserved.)

Posted by:  | 05/01/09   8  Comments | PermaLink

Driveways in D.C. Now a No-Parking Zone

Beverly Anderson is mad as hell. She just started to get tickets for parking in her own driveway.

That's right. The District of Columbia is ticketing people who park their cars in their own driveways.

"This is clearly an attempt by the city to extort money out of property owners," Anderson tells WTOP.

Anderson has received two of the $20 tickets in the past month. Anderson has owned the Capitol Hill house (and the driveway, so she thought) for more than ten years and has never gotten a ticket. And she's not alone.

It seems Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton has also been breaking the law in the eyes of the D.C. Department of Public Works.

"Not only has the Congresswoman been ticketed in her own driveway, she has received a towing ticket on her car parked in her driveway," writes Sonsyrea Tate Montgomery, a spokesperson for Norton. "She did what any other Member would do -and any resident. She contacted her Council Member, Tommy Wells, who assured her the Council will take care of this problem even if it means passing a new law."

D.C. Councilmember Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) says he's been getting lots of complaints.

"For the first time in anyone's memory," Wells says. "People are starting to get ticketed in their own driveways. This is ridiculous and we're going to get to the bottom of it."

To that end, Wells called the Director of the Department of Public Works, Bill Howland, to find out why his agency was issuing these tickets.

"I asked him what's going on," Wells said, "Is this some kind of revenue raising or policy change? He said he'd get back to me."

Wells said he asked Howland if his department would start issuing warnings for first time offenders.

"He said "No, we don't do that'," Wells said. "If the government is going to be unreasonable about this then we're going to have to look at changing the law."

So what does the law say?

"Any area between the property line and the building restriction line shall be considered as private property set aside and treated as public space under the care and maintenance of the property owner."

Basically what that means is most property owners in the District don't own the land between their front door and the sidewalk, but they are responsible for taking care of it. It's why you can get a ticket for drinking beer on your front porch in the Nation's Capital. You're technically on public space. It's also why the city can ticket you for parking in your own driveway if you don't pull your car deep enough into the driveway beyond the façade of your house or building.

To be clear, we're not talking about people who park in shallow driveways and let the rear of their cars block the sidewalk. The cars are off the road, off the sidewalk and in the driveway - just not far enough back for the city.

"This is ludicrous," Anderson says, "We were three feet away from the sidewalk. People have parked here for thirty years."

When Anderson complained to a supervisor at DPW she was told that she could lease the property from the District and avoid future tickets. Anderson, who uses the house as a place of business to see clients and regularly has several cars in her large three car driveway, scoffs at that idea. "The city is not going to extort money out of me," she says.

Mike Carter, Deputy Director for DPW says nobody is extorting money from anyone.

"These regulations have been in effect for some time," Carter says. "This is nothing new and we have been enforcing it city-wide."

Carter says the enforcement of the no parking on public space regulation is done in a consistent manner and adds that "citizens know they cant park in public space."

But does the average citizen know that the first half of their driveways are public space?

Carter said he would take a closer look at how the regulation is being enforced and get back to WTOP.

As for the offer to lease the public space back to the property owner, John Lisle with the District Department of Transportation says there is an application process for such a permit. Lisle says it could cost a property owner thousands of dollars per year, but very few applications have been submitted over the years.

Wells promises a legislative solution to the problem if the Fenty Administration doesn't do something. Councilmember Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) who chairs the DPW oversight committee says he's looking into it.

"We're trying to work that out," Graham said, "These are people who are in their driveways."

In the meantime, Anderson isn't sure if she's going to pay her tickets and be done with them or fight city hall. And no word on whether Norton might invoke her congressional privilege and ask that her ticket be excused.

(Copyright 2009 by WTOP. All rights reserved.)

Posted by:  | 04/24/09   78  Comments | PermaLink