Statehood Greens to Mayor-Elect Adrian Fenty: Side with D.C. Voters, not with the Federal City Council and Other Corporate LobbiesThe DC Statehood Green Party Monday, December 18, 2006 Contact:
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- DC Statehood Green Party leaders challenged Mayor-elect Adrian Fenty today to represent the people who elected him on November 7, rather than the Federal City Council and other corporate lobbies. "We know that the Federal City Council, real estate and big landlord lobbies, and other wealthy interests are pressing Mr. Fenty to enact their agenda," said Statehood Green Party activist John Ely. "We remind Mr. Fenty that he was elected because of his dedication to the needs of the people of the District of Columbia, especially their housing, education, and health care." The Federal City Council is a secretive, elite roundtable of local business leaders. It has consistently promoted policies leading to gentrification, displacement of D.C.'s chiefly African American middle- and low-income working population, and privatization of services and resources. Among the Federal City Council's recent accomplishments have been the closing of D.C. General Hospital, the District's only full-service health care institution, and the enactment of school vouchers and a charter school system; these goals were sought in cooperation with Congress, which holds veto power over District legislation, policies, and budgets. On September 13, the day after the Democratic primary, Mr. Fenty met with Federal City Council chair Terry Golden. Statehood Greens listed several issues in which the agenda of Federal City Council and other corporate lobbies are in conflict with the interests of D.C. residents: . Adrian Fenty has named a Federal City Council employee, Victor Reinoso, as Deputy Mayor for Education. Mr. Reinoso advocates a takeover of the D.C. Board of Education, transforming it into an appointed advisory body. Mr. Fenty, after he won the Democratic primary in September, said that he would consider a takeover. Mr. Fenty also chose Neil Albert as his new Deputy Mayor for Economic Development. Mr. Albert was C.E.O. for Ed Build, a private education services and construction firm created by the Federal City Council and the New Schools Venture Fund, an investment group tied to the national charter school movement. "Bureaucratization of the School Board would be a serious blow to the democratic rights and needs of D.C. residents -- especially our children," said Gail Dixon, Statehood Green and former elected at-large member of the School Board who lost her seat because of Mayor Williams' partial privatization. "It would be an attempt to use the Board to enact Federal City Council policy, especially the expansion of D.C.'s failing charter school program. We opposed Mayor Williams partial bureaucratization a few years ago, and we now oppose the takeover bid just as strongly. We need our public schools to be modernized and provided with up-to-date equipment and textbooks, not privatization schemes and a toothless, unelected School Board." For further information on the School Board takeover, visit Statehood Greens expressed disappointment that Adrian Fenty has acquiesced to current Mayor Anthony Williams' proposal to close the Martin Luther King, Jr. Library in downtown D.C. and build a new central library on the site of the old Convention Center. Mayor Williams, with the help of Council Chair Linda Cropp and Ward 3 member Kathy Patterson, is seeking emergency legislation to convert the current downtown library site into a lucrative giveaway for real estate and development cronies, say Statehood Greens. Meanwhile, four neighborhood libraries (Benning, Anancostia, TenleyTown, and Shaw) have been closed for two years, with little to no interim services, and other branch libraries are in serious need of repair. "D.C. taxpayers' money should be spent on improving the existing central and branch libraries and keeping them open, rather than for lining the pockets of real estate firms with a land grab at the MLK, Jr. Library site," said Statehood Green Party member Maya O'Connor. "Mayor Williams' Library Transformation Act, which has been defeated twice already, would lease away the MLK, Jr. Library building for 99 years at $1.50 a square foot -- a real estate handout on prime downtown D.C. land. We urge Council to defeat any such legislation, whether it's introduced next week or next year." Petition to Preserve Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library As Our Central Library: http://www.mlk2stay.org/ TENAC (D.C. Tenants' Advocacy Coalition <http://www.tenac.org>) has reported that the Office of the Tenant Advocate has less than $400,000 to help tenants in legal trouble, and the District, with more lawyers per square foot than anywhere else in the world, has a severe shortage of lawyers willing to assist tenants on a pro bono or nominal fee basis. Meanwhile, 49,000 D.C. tenants face eviction. Because of the high cost of lawyers, low income African American and Latino residents are especially vulnerable. "Will Mayor Fenty side with AOBA [Apartment and Office Building Association of Metropolitan Washington], which wants rent control and tenant protections repealed, or with D.C. tenants?" asked Jane Zara, Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner (ANC 1D01) and Statehood Green. NBC4's Tom Sherwood reported on November 29 <http://www.nbc4.com/politics/10416500/detail.html> that Jack Evans, chair of the Council's finance and revenue committee, had begun informal talks about bringing the Redskins back into Washington, D.C. from their Maryland suburbs. Mr. Evans claimed that "once the Nationals baseball team vacates old RFK Stadium after 2008, the site could be demolished and prepared for a 100,000-seat football stadium." Statehood Green Party member Debby Hanrahan has noted that the Sports and Entertainment Commission is seeking new soccer and lacrosse stadiums, presumably to be built at taxpayer expense <http://www.dcwatch.com/themail/2006/06-11-15.htm#hanrahan>. Statehood Greens express hope that Mayor Fenty will maintain his resistance to taxpayer-funded stadium boondoggles, especially after news that the price of the South Capitol baseball stadium has climbed over $700 million. MORE INFORMATION The DC Statehood Green Party "The District's power behind the scenes: Washington Post-connected business group wields influence over city's legislative agenda" (exposé on the Federal City Council) By Kathryn Sinzinger, The Common Denominator, December 13, 1999 http://www.thecommondenominator.com/121399_news1.html
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