Finally, Mayor Adrian Fenty is talking about jobs. I’m sure LL will have much more on this. But I wanted to get the discussion started. Last night, Fenty announced a joint effort with the Washington Interfaith Network to train the unemployed in home weatherizing and then put them to work on area homes. Doesn’t this just seem a little small? WaPo writes:
“In a city where the unemployment rate recently reached 12 percent, the announcement at Covenant Baptist Church east of the Anacostia River is a big deal, organizers said. The network, known as WIN, and the mayor will pledge to weatherize for free between 2,000 and 4,000 homes of low income residents to cut their energy bills, and it will train and hire up to 700 unemployed residents to do the work.”
In translation: the mayor and WIN will hire about 700 workers for seasonal, non-union, temp jobs. But the pay is good, as WaPo reports: “Rev. Lionel Edmonds, pastor of Mount Lebanon Baptist Church and a co-founder of WIN, said the jobs will pay $13.25 to $25 per hour, depending on the task.” And Edmonds is a long-time do-gooder who isn’t afraid to speak out against government mismanagement and lead a fight against a troubled D.C. Police Chief. I just wish their efforts to lower the unemployment rate were bolder.
Meanwhile…
Prince of Petworth revisits the new Chipotle in Columbia Heights. He finds that it’s always busy. Does this mean Chipotle has added value to the 14th Street strip? Or do people just like burritos. There’s a whole site dedicated to hating on the burrito chain which includes testimonials. Here’s one from an ex-manager that’s kinda awesome:
“I’ve been with Chipotle for almost 10 years. I was let go exactly 11 days short of my 10 year anniversary. I had a company car, I would’ve had a nice 10 yr anniversary gift, and 2 months of Sabbatical along with my 3 weeks of vacation. The reason for my termination was be cause I was not developing people which was bullshit. I had promoted someone from crew to Kitchen Manager a month prior and I had entries in the Journals, which they said I had none. I know they fired me because of how long I was there and to save on money. Chipotle is so big on “promoting from within” that people are getting promoted too quick and aren’t even the right people to manage the store or manage shifts. I, as a manager, wasn’t going to promote just anyone to help run my store. I find it hard to believe that some can be hired as a crew and promoted to each manager level in 5 months and be ready to run a store…especially with how high Chipotle’s standards are. The person who took over my store was an SM for a few weeks before being promoted to Appentice and she’s apparently turned my store upside down and doesn’t know what the fuck she’s doing.”
Dee Does The District quits DCPS but not teaching.