Jaffe Harry - Dream city: race, power, and the decline of Washington, D.C

My friend and colleague Chuck Conconi once told me that writing a book is like walking through a room full of mashed potatoes. He's right. And most days one of my three daughters would wade in and ask: "Is the book done yet?"

David Black, our literary agent, did everything but write the book. He coaxed and cajoled us through the early stages. He became my coach, my therapist, my punching bag, and through it all, my friend, who said long before I believed him that I could write a book. If not for his patience and deft negotiations, the book would have stayed in manuscript form.

I needed many editors. Brian Kelly, my editor at large, helped at the conceptual stage and kept me on course during long diner lunches and squash matches. Jane Leavy was our most careful reader. She made me reach deeper into myself and the material, and like the best editors, made it better. Gerri Hirshey read and said what I needed to hear, when I needed to hear it. Marc Jaffe gave "strength to my elbow" and provided a crucial mid-course correction. Barbara Marcus cut the fat with a scalpel. We're also indebted to Paul Aron at Prentice-Hall Press for recognizing the value of our book and taking it through the early stages; and to Dominick Aufuso and Cassie Jones at Simon & Schuster for their patience and commitment in seeing it through to the end.

The reporting for this book began years ago while I was writing for Regardie's, the gutsy monthly magazine that flourished in the eighties. Bill Regardie was the best publisher imaginable. He gave me the time and the space to develop an understanding of the "money, power, and greed" that make Washington tick. At Washingtonian, I want to thank Jack Limpert, my editor, and publishers Philip and Eleanor Merrill for their forbearance during the actual writing. Mark Plotkin introduced me to city politics, as he reminds me all the time.

Tom and I owe a great debt to all our sources. Hundreds of people were willing to share their recollections, insights, and emotions, even though many of the events were painful and unpleasant to recall. My special thanks to Al Arrington, Carol Thompson Cole, and Carroll Harvey for their generosity in time and spirit.

Finally, I want to acknowledge my friend John Wilson, who was perhaps my deepest and most constant source. He was there during many of the events that we describe. He knew the characters and gave us the unvarnished truth about them. I only wish that he were here to read it and tell us everything that we missed.

Harry S. Jaffe

First, I want to acknowledge someone I don't know. A few years ago, a burly man sat next to my son and me in Florida during a spring-training baseball game between the Boston Red Sox and the Baltimore Orioles. The man turned to me and said derisively, "Oh, you're from Washington. You must either work for the government or be on welfare."

Such bigotry stung, and inspired me to tell the country more about the nation's capital.

For this project, I thank Harry Jaffe for proposing a book on Washington and seeing the value of my work as a journalist with ties to the city's diverse black communities. And my appreciation to Harry's wife, Cindy Morgan Jaffe, whose empathetic support was matched by her counsel on substance.

Thanks to my son, Peyton. Even as I am having my first book published, he's getting his first driver's license. Both make me very nervous, but my son unfailingly makes me proud. And to Deborah Jones Sherwood, his mother, for being such a good one and for encouraging me early on to reach further than I could see.

I'm grateful to sustaining friends Nancy Lewis and Gene Bachinski, superior journalists both, who, while they taught me the value of fine food and wine (they feed me a lot), offer me the warmth of unyielding loyalty. To Bob Galano and Terry Dale, for true friendship and frequent refuge from a weary land. And to Phyllis Jones, passionate and committed, with unusual understanding of local Washington and its racial complexity.

A posthumous debt of gratitude to Herbert Denton, Washington Post city editor, who encouraged my initial interest in hometown Washington, and to Post editor Milton Coleman, whose support and enthusiasm allowed me the opportunity to write so much about it.

My thanks to the many good District government workers who each day try to do a difficult job made even more difficult by decades of poor management. And, finally, an acknowledgment of debt and appreciation to the tens of thousands of black middle-class Washingtonians who are not featured in this bookthe individuals and families who do not make the news but each ordinary day make their homes, businesses, and communities places of pride and decency. They deserve so much more recognition, appreciation, and help than their governmentor the mediais likely ever to give them.

Tom Sherwood

In memory of my father, Josef, who taught me to love books.
And for my mother, Zelda, who believes in me.

Harry S. Jaffe

For my son, Peyton, who once innocently illuminated all the time spent on this project by tellinga caller, Hes not here; hes working on that damn book.

Tom Sherwood