Metro Briefs

DISTRICT

Norton helps push schools takeover bill

D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton yesterday introduced a bill aimed at congressional approval of Mayor Adrian M. Fenty’s proposed takeover of the city’s public schools.

The D.C. Council approved Mr. Fenty’s shift in school governance by a 9-2 vote April 19, and Congress and the president must approve the plan.

Mrs. Norton’s bill will be marked up by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform today.

The measure, if approved, will allow the public school system to be elevated to a Cabinet agency under the mayor’s office. It also will repeal the section of the Home Rule Act that established the Board of Education in its current form.

Mrs. Norton, a Democrat, also introduced a bill that would increase the salary of D.C. Chief Financial Officer Natwar M. Gandhi from $186,600 to about $279,000.

The increase was promised to Mr. Gandhi after D.C. officials learned that he was considering leaving his job to manage the finances of Amtrak. That bill also is scheduled for a markup today.

Barry wants study of tollbooth use

D.C. Council member Marion Barry plans to introduce legislation today to establish a commission that would study placing tollbooths at the District’s borders.

“Every other jurisdiction in America has the right to set up tolls to defray infrastructural costs associated with transportation — why shouldn’t we?” said Mr. Barry, Ward 8 Democrat and former D.C. mayor.

Under Mr. Barry’s proposal, the commission would study the feasibility of using a tollbooth system and would publish a report of its findings. The study would consider the locations, structure, traffic and economic impact of such a program.

Mr. Barry said tollbooths could allow the District to recoup revenue lost from visitors who use the District’s roads, bridges and emergency services “without any obligation to contribute financially” to the city.

“Fairness dictates that Congress relaxes the restrictions on the city’s ability to recapture some of this revenue through tollbooths, or enable us to directly tax nonresidents through a commuter tax,” Mr. Barry said.

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