Shawington

“Is a position on the DC Council really a full-time job?” That’s a question I frequently receive from voters. It’s a fair and understandable question. In about 3/4 of the states, state legislatures generally are in session about four months out of the year, generally from January until April. In Texas, the legislature meets just every other year! It’s expected that legislators work another job. Smaller city councils and county seats operate in a similar way.

But in Washington, D.C., our city council is in session year round, with the exception of a short recess in August. The D.C. Council is also not just our city council, it’s also essentially our state legislature and county government all in one.

Several states do have “professional legislatures” that are considered full time, according to the Council of State Governments: California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. The average salary for the nine full-time legislatures is $67,077.22 - the median is $57,619. The highest paid is California ($110,880) followed by New York and Michigan (about $80,000). (These are 2005 stats - it is a 2007 report). In states with part time legislators, salaries are significantly less. You can read a full report here.

According to the National League of Cities, the average salary for city councilmembers in cities with a population of more than 200,000 with a mayor-council form of government (who, according to the National League of Cities “are more likely to be working full time for the council”), is $39,061.

The current salary for D.C. Councilmembers is $120,175 (for those elected or reelected since the new $115,000 salary took effect, including an annual automatic Cost of Living Adjustment). That amount will rise again, in accordance with the COLA, in January.

That’s more than the combined average salary of what are generally considered full-time professional state legislators and city councilmembers in large cities ($106,138). It’s also about equal to the average salary of state governors ($115,778 as of 2005), according to CSG.

Voters deserve to have a full-time councilmember. Yet, my opponent is 1 of 2 members of the 13-member D.C. Council who holds a second job. (Note: Councilmember Mary Cheh will also be returning to teach at George Washington Law School after taking a leave of absence during her first year on the Council). But aside from the full-time issue, isn’t there an inherent conflict of interest in a lawmaker also working at a major lobbying firm at the same time?

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You may have missed them, but there were recently two interesting articles on the retail in and around the Washington Convention Center.

In its July edition, The Intowner featured a story noting some of the challenges nearby small business owners face, such as Azeb Desta, owner of Azi’s Café, who says, “Business is getting better but is not okay,” noting that “maybe twice” have conventioneers come to her business just a block away. Chatman’s D’Vine Bakery & Café owner and baker Debra Chatman, agrees that “it is really hard getting people to come in.”

Wednesday’s Washington Times reports on lawsuits stemming from the Convention Center’s retail space, which, five years after opening, still is not completely filled. This week, the Convention Center was hit with a half million dollar verdict for conspiring to keep local disadvantaged small businesses out of the retail space within the building in order to favor a politically connected businessperson. According to The Times:

The dozen retail spaces that line the outside of the convention center have been a sore spot for the five-year-old complex. At least four tenants have filed lawsuits against the WCCA over problems with construction on their spaces. In addition, eight neighboring retailers have filed a joint suit against the convention center charging that it hasn’t lived up to promises made before construction started.

Once touted as economic development catalyst, the 12 spaces still haven’t all been leased.

My opponent routinely hails the Convention Center as one of his achievements for Ward 2. It cost the taxpayers of this city $850 million in public financing, just short of the baseball stadium, and it’s not delivering. We are paying about $36 million each year alone on debt service associated with its construction. But that’s ok, because it created jobs and brought in more conventioneers to the city who spend money here, right? Wrong. According to a Brookings Institution report, “After building an entirely new
convention center with almost double the exhibit space, the Washington Convention Center Authority has seen effectively no increase in attendance or hotel use.”

The fact of the matter is, the Convention Center has truly become the great white elephant that some feared. It is a convention center designed solely for conventioneers, not as a means for neighborhood revitalization. The first of the retail spaces were not ready for occupancy until three years after opening, and are still not finished today. Conventioneers enter through Massachusetts Avenue or are dropped off and picked up by bus on L Street, giving them no incentive to visit neighborhood businesses. Even the retail spaces inside the convention center don’t actually connect to convention center space. Seventh and Ninth Streets are mostly lined with a long wall, providing no street life. A Convention Center hotel, long planned, is still several years away. It’s an unforgivable case of poor planning and a tremendous missed opportunity.

There still is a chance to reclaim some of the lost potential. Let’s get way finding signs with maps and directories of neighborhood restaurants and shops up along Massachusetts Avenue and L Street. Let’s take action with respect to long vacant commercial properties that line 7th and 9th Street. Let’s finish filling the retail spaces and resolve outstanding lease disputes with small business owners. Let’s get our priorities back on track.

(3 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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As an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner in Logan Circle, I enjoyed working with our small, local businesses to help them succeed. Over the years, I have watched them struggle with permit and license paperwork, loss of pedestrian access during periods of construction, and rising property taxes. Throughout the city, our small businesses are facing difficult times and we are losing more and more to chain stores. At least one study has ranked the District, when compared with states, dead last for small business survival.

We are doing something wrong. When I’ve visited San Francisco or growing up in New York, I’m astounded by the amazing diversity of small shops and restaurants, even in the heart of downtown. But in DC, you have to look quite hard to find a place to buy a newspaper in Chinatown or a slice of pizza or lunch to do from a local spot downtown. Earlier this year, I was sad to see Candida’s World of Books in Logan Circle close, a long-term result of the cutting off sidewalk access to her store, soon after it opened, during a prolonged period of surrounding development.

This week, we held an event at Rice Restaurant, just across the street from the former Candida’s, which is now an empty storefront. I had the chance to work with owner Sak Pollert when he opened, helping him navigate the process of applying for a liquor license and sidewalk cafe. Now, his property taxes have skyrocketed. He basically has to sell a month’s worth of Pad Thai to cover the costs.

The DC Council has not taken adequate steps to help. Last year, they passed legislation to provide $11 million for small business relief. That may sound like a lot, but considering there are between 20,000 and 25,000 small businesses in the District, it amounts to about $500 each. That’s an insult. It’s not worth the time and paperwork for a small business, and, of course, it would cost the DC government money to administer the program. Predictably, the election-year “plan” fell apart.

Then, the DC Council tried something else… a reduction in the commercial property tax. Ultimately, they settled on reducing the tax rate for the first $3 million of assessed property value (amounting to $21 million in savings for commercial property owners, and amount that was significantly scaled back as soon as the budget tightened). The problem with that approach… it is billed as helping small businesses, but it actually applies to all owners across the board. In other words, as Council Member Jim Graham recognized, it provides greater relief to the Marriott and large land owners than to small businesses.

As a Council Member, I’ll make sure that small businesses get the attention and tax relief they deserve. That’s why I will introduce the following measures to address these issues before we lose more of our small businesses:

Create an Office of the Small Business Advocate

As I discussed, it is tremedously difficult for small business owners to navigate the government bureaucracy. No organization is currently dedicated to assisting and advocating for small businesses in DC. My proposal is that DC adopt a program that borrows from cities such as Chicago and San Diego, as well as the federal Small Business Administration. In fact, in 2007, San Francisco voters, by referendum, called for such a program. The DC Office of Small Business Advocate would:
Include a staff member for each of eight Wards responsible for building relationships and outreach to each small business in their ward.
Provide ombuds assististance with licenses and permits, zoning, and regulatory applications; assist with impact of street and sidewalk construction.
Disseminate information regarding grants and other financial assistance.
Provide impartial analysis of the impact of legislative and regulatory programs on small businesses. Testify before the DC Council and government agencies to present the affect on small businesses of various proposals.
Prepare annual report on issues facing small businesses in the District, provide recommendations for addressing them, and analyze effectiveness of existing programs.
Examine potential avenues for tax relief and reduction of fees.

Provide Needed Tax Relief
I am committed to enacting a reasonable cap on the percent that property taxes can rise in a single year, similar to the limit placed on residential properties. There is currently no limit to the size of the increase.
I would develop a tax credit targeted very specifically to small, local businesses who have faced steep rises in rent or property taxes in past years.

These proposals are meant only as a beginning. I value your thoughts and suggestions.

(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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Cary meets with the new principal and assistant principal of Shaw Middle School at Garnet Patterson, Brian Betts and Kimberly Douglas.

This is an exciting time for the DC schools and there is rightful optimism for the future of the District’s children. This week, I met with Brian Betts, the new principal of Shaw Middle School at Garnet Patterson, and Kimberly Douglas, the assistant principal. Tonight, Ms. Douglas will introduce the new leadership of the school and its aggressive plan for moving forward at the Mount Vernon Square Neighborhood Association’s monthly meeting. I’m encouraged by their outreach to the community.

I was impressed with the drive of the new leadership, who are on a mission to raise the quality of education at the school. They are in the process of hiring a team of highly qualified teachers from across the country, and a candidate arrived for an interview as our meeting concluded. The staffing at Shaw/Garnet Patterson will almost entirely change.

Mr. Betts knows the neighborhood well. A former resident of French Street just blocks from the school, Betts spent the last several years in the Montgomery County Public Schools. He certainly fits the “Army of Believers” hired as new principals by Chancellor Rhee. Last year, test score significantly increased at the school, but Principal Betts is on a mission to drive them up much more. When asked whether he is concerned with the rise of enrollment of DC’s charter schools, Mr. Betts predicted that the improved scores, new facilities, highly-qualified teachers, and neighborhood outreach would bring students back into neighborhood schools, reversing their declining enrollment.

How can the community help? Principal Betts notes that its school activity fund, which helps fund trips for Shaw Middle School’s famous marching band, is empty. A google search reveals this interesting tidbit about Principal Betts: As a teacher in Germantown, Maryland, Betts took two cream pies in the face and was dropped in a tank of water, all to raise money for the school’s Principal’s Discretionary Fund. Truly, this new principal is one who will get it done. We can help as well, by identifying potential corporate sponsors for school activities.

We’ve also got to keep pressure on the DC Council, as well as the school administration, to move forward. I am concerned that the DC Council has delayed $50 million in funds for school modernization, which will hurt Ward 2 schools such as Francis Junior High, which is being combined as a K-8 with Stevens Elementary. Francis must be redesigned to meet the needs of younger children. While the Council is right to demand that the school administration be more forthcoming in sharing information, there can be no speed bumps as the new school year quickly approaches. The Council must support the new principals and teachers by releasing the funds or our students will pay the price.

Likewise, while we’ve heard political pledges to rebuild Shaw Middle School, which has been combined with Garnet Patterson, my meeting with Principal Betts confirmed that there is no plan and no time line. I’m very concerned that if it takes over seven years to rebuild our libraries, how long will it take to construct a new, state of the art school to serve Ward 2 neighborhoods? Let’s start the design process, with community input, and set a firm schedule for moving forward. I’ll make sure we stay on track past the political promise season.

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Yesterday, we made it official. We filed our petitions, including the signatures of over 850 registered Democrats from every neighborhood in Ward 2, with the DC Board of Elections and Ethics. That’s more than triple that required by law.

I want to express my great appreciation to all of many neighborhood activists and volunteers who spend their evenings and weekends at supermarkets, metro stations, community meetings, and going door to door collecting the signatures of their neighbors. There’s no doubt that we will be on the ballot and it is because of your hard work in spreading the message of this campaign: We deserve and should expect to have a Council Member who works for us full time, is accessible and responsive, and who advocates on the nuts-and-bolts issues that will make our neighborhoods an even better place to live.

We are gaining momentum. Last week, we took nearly 40% of the vote in an endorsement meeting of the Ward 2 Democrats. Our website readership, which has grown each and every month, surpassed over 2,500 individuals and 5,700 visits in June alone. We’ve opened a campaign headquarters above Kramerbooks in the heart of Dupont Circle. When September 9, we’ll be ready to provide new leadership for the future of Ward 2 and our city.

Tonight, we begin our “Coffee With Cary” tour at Java House at 17th and Q Street in Dupont Circle. We’ll be there from 6-8 p.m. to meet you, answer questions, and discuss the issues that are important to you. Future Coffee with Cary events will follow each Thursday in a different Ward 2 neighborhood. I hope you’ll join us.

(2 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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On July 1, I visited the firehouse at 13th and L Streets N.W. to introduce myself, tour the facility, and listen to questions and concerns from firefighters.

Engine 16 is among the top five busiest engines in the city, responding to 18,000 calls per year, and is the first to report to the White House in the event of an emergency. It serves all of Ward 2. Nicknamed the “Midnight Express,” Engine16, Tower3, Amb16, and BFC6 received the Company of the Year award in 2007.

I discussed issues of importance to firefighters and public safety with Battalion Fire Chief Kenneth L. Crosswhite. Firefighters are particularly concerned that their facilities, many of which are 70 years old, are in desperate need of renovation. According to Chief Crosswhite, renovations are delayed due to lack of available funds and restrictions imposed by historic preservation regulations. Firefighters are also concerned that disability benefits are inadequate and that their pay that is lower than the regional average. Firefighters are told by the city government to do more with less, according to Chief Crosswhite, who hailed the effectiveness of DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services Chief Dennis Rubin.

Although many firefighters would like to live in the District, most cannot afford to do so. According to Chief Crosswhite, nine out of ten firefighters live outside of DC. Most live about 25 miles of the city, which would make it difficult for them to assist should there be an emergency.

I also spoke with Chief Crosswhite about inoperable fire hydrants around the city, which fall under the responsibility of DC WASA. Inoperable fire hydrants are supposed to be repaired within 5 or 10 days. In addition, DC’s hydrants need to be fitted so that they will work with the equipment of neighboring states, which is particularly essential in case of a disaster or terrorist attack. This process is underway.

As a full-time council member, I will protect public safety and ensure that the needs of the fire department are understood and met.

(No Ratings Yet)

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Today, Mayor Fenty held a press conference to tout legislation that will finance the O Street Market revitalization, called “CityMarket at O.” Finally, the end is in sight. This project began in 2001 when Roadside Development purchased the historic market. Then, in 2003, the market’s roof caved in under a heavy snow storm.

Unlike the quick citywide action we saw earlier this year when Eastern Market went on fire, the O Street Market, which will provide extraordinary boost for the Shaw community, got stuck in red tape: hearing after hearing from historic preservation to zoning. It’s final (hopefully) two hearings are coming up in July before the DC Council, as it considers the tax increment financing package (TIF) to move it forward. It’s about time. Actually, it’s way past due.

City Market at O will bring the largest Giant in the District, retail and restaurants, affordable senior housing and market-rate apartments and condos, and a significant amount of underground parking. The project will also reopen 8th Street (currently an island in the Giant parking lot) to traffic.

It’s not quite over yet. After approval of its financing package, Roadside will need to obtain the necessary permits to begin construction, a process that is expected to take an additional year. After groundbreaking, construction is expected to take 12 to 18 months. During that time, Giant will provide free shuttle bus service to nearby stores.

I’ve supported and cheered for this project for years — as an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner in adjacent Logan Circle, as a board member of Shaw Main Streets, and as president of the Mount Vernon Square Neighborhood Association.

The real hero in this battle is Roadside Development. How many others would have held on after so many years?

This is a big step forward and there is much more work to do. Onward and upward to addressing vacant and nuisance properties, bringing retail, and making the neighborhood a safer place to live.

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On June 24, I joined Shaw residents as they discussed a surge of recent shootings and ongoing criminal activity at a meeting of the Convention Center Community Association.

Police have recorded at least 11 incidents of gunfire over the past 6 weeks, with a shooting averaging about every third day, as reported on Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Kevin Chapple’s website. One individual was shot multiple times on June 20. His wounds were not life threatening. Police believe he came into the area for a drug purchase.

In addition, Shaw residents expressed their frustration with the lack of police attention to obvious and ongoing criminal activity, including craps games, pot smoking, and late night noise, and a situation in which police did not immediately respond to a report of gunfire. Third District Commander George Kucik attended, answered questions, and committed to providing increased attention to the neighborhood.

I have strongly advocated for immediate installation of ShotSpotter, technology that will allow officers to respond immediately and with pinpoint accuracy to gunfire. I am also working with Shaw residents to find solutions to crime and to strengthen community policing.

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Today was an interesting start for many Ward 2 residents. For me, the day began by getting a late start after waking up to find my alarm clock did not go off, a result of the electricity outage in my Mount Vernon Square neighborhood. By that time, I already had an e-mail from an irate Ward 2 resident who observed that although so many of the traffic lights were not functioning at busy intersections, during rush hour no less, he did not see any police or traffic officers directing traffic. I later learned reading the news today, that several pedestrians were in fact hit by cars as a result.

Halfway to work on the metro, I found myself stranded at Chinatown due to the (first) fire at Metro Center. The display screens in the metro station, which seem to always be up to date with the elevator outages around the city, today provided no information other than the expected arrival of the next train. Passengers struggled to make out the muffled announcements in the train and on the platform. Is Dupont Circle open or closed? Is service restored to Metro Center? When is service expected to resume?

As I exited and began my walk to work, fire trucks and other emergency response vehicles began arriving for what was a second fire at the metro. Outside the metro station, I overheard this conversation, “No one knows what is going on. They are not telling us anything…”

In DC’s defense, the emergency/e-mail-cell phone alert system did work today, and I recommend signing up for it. In each case today, however, it confirmed the obvious. It told me there was a power outage when I had no electricity. It told me that there was a fire at Metro Center when I found myself stuck at Chinatown.

So what can the city do differently? Well, first, the city needs to have a plan for a quick response for this situation. If there is a power outage and traffic signals become nonoperational, the city needs to have people directing traffic at all significant intersections. In addition, the electronic signs in the metro stations need to provide useful information. Metro might also consider some way of improving the sound of its audio system, which is extremely difficult to understand. Finally, how do we avoid this happening again? Were these fires and power outages a result of crumbling infrastructure? Let’s invest our money the right way.

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Does it bother you too?

The DC Council is now apparently developing legislation to allocate $150 million of public funds to building a soccer stadium. Don’t get me wrong, I’d like to see a new soccer stadium in the District. In fact, this year, I got together a group of friends to go to a DC United game on my birthday.

But $150 million in public money for construction costs?

This is on top of the $800 million spent on the baseball stadium and reports that my opponent is now pushing for a new football stadium for the Redskins.

Sure, let’s support owners who will make an investment in DC by locating here by improving the infrastructure to make it happen — expanding metro capacity and upgrading stations, repaving streets and reorganizing traffic flow, installing new sidewalks and street lighting, developing new bus routes — everything that is needed to make it safe, easy, and enjoyable to go to a game. But paying for construction for a private business, that’s where I would draw the line. I’d like to open a nice deli, but I’m not asking the DC government to build me a store.

Just last night, I organized a meeting with government officials and about two dozen downtown residents to develop a plan for improving a long neglected and forgotten neighborhood park, one of many in the District. The circle center of the park was filled with cardboard boxes of those who had made the park a semi-permanent home. The park reminds me of ancient ruins I explored on a recent visit to Israel — stones around the perimeter have crumbled and are in disarray, the sidewalks are grown over with weeds and grass, remnants of light fixtures of a time past line the park. Residents avoid the area, which is between Union Station and the Convention Center, the gateway to downtown, because they do not feel safe. Of course, the question of the night was where will the city find the money for renovating the park when they can’t even seem to maintain it? Well, when it comes to a few hundred million here and there for stadiums, finding money seems to be no problem. Where there is a will, there is a way.

Professional sports teams get money for stadium construction and luxury boxes. Residents scramble to organize clean ups to make the filth of neighborhood parks bareable. Kids are left on the streets.

It’s time to tell the DC Council that we expect a change in priorities. Before the city spends $150 million on construction costs for another stadium, let’s see it adequately maintain and renovate every single one of our neighborhood parks so that they can be used by residents and their children. Before the city provides another multimillion dollar giveaway for a ballpark, let’s see the city provide enough funding to keep its recreation centers open on weekends. Before the city writes that next big check to a wealthy sports team, let’s see it find the money to give significant tax relief to struggling small businesses.

(2 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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