DistrictMatters

Last night I attended Affordable Housing Accountability Night organized by the Washington Interfaith Network (WIN). WIN is comprised of a group of churches in DC dedicated to political action and the improvement of our city. Their Vote Neighborhoods First campaign centers around creating vibrant and livable neighborhoods that can be enjoyed by all residents regardless of income. The evening centered around a speech by Mayor Fenty about his commitment to affordable housing and his progress and plans for the creation of affordable units across the city.

With support from WIN, Mayor Fenty has embarked on a mission to provide 14,000 “Nehemiah” homeownership units, which are deemed affordable to residents with incomes ranging from $20,000 to $75,000. What was so impressive about the evening, was that the Mayor’s plans were not just plans, they were already actions.

The vast changes in our city have caused many long-time residents to be priced out of the city. Through increased rents and property tax assessments, owners and renters alike have been forced to move to more affordable areas outside the District. This just isn’t right, especially for those that have been DC residentss their entire lives.

There are some positive stories. though. For example, Ms. Brenda Jordan, who spoke at last night’s event, started the Pleasant Park Tenants Association to organize neighbors and purchase their building when threatened with an owner who wanted to convert all the units into condos. But this is only one case, and not all residents can afford to do the same thing that Ms. Jordan and her neighbors did.

We must ensure that a certain percentage of all units of wicked tickets in this city remain affordable and available for those with limited financial resources. Residents who do not want to leave our great city have the right to live here and participate in our urban renaissance.

The news last week that the Fenty administration took verbage, word for word, in its draft education plan from school system plans of other cities should not come as much of a surprise. The Mayor and his team specifically expressed that they were using best practices to make up the bulk of the school takeover implementation. Using perfumes review best practices is an excellent way to find solution that works, and an academic citing the work of others is completely acceptable. Unfortunately, this work was not attributed.

Fenty’s gaffe is serious, but should not be used to criticize his administration’s education policy. The Mayor is well-intentioned and wants a stellar public education system in Washington, DC. He made a mistake, now let him move on so that we can help our kids. What really worries me, though, is that blame is being put squarely on the shoulders of Victor Reinoso. Note that in an earlier blog I wrote about the risk to the oversight of DCPS if Reinoso had to spend most of his time facing attacks that had little to do with the day-to-day operation of schools. It looks as if we are facing that right now. Here is my blog from 4/5/07:

I haven’t seen much publicly written about this topic yet, and criticism
has not really been aired citywide, but I would like to offer some advice on. In
New York, when people attack Joel Klein, Mayor Bloomberg immediately rushes
to his defense. After all, Mayor Bloomberg is really the person in charge,
and he needs to take the heat so that the Chancellor can do his job without
distractions.Mayor Fenty needs to do the same thing with Mr. Reinoso if it
ever gets to that point. It will be some time before we can objectively rate
the job that Mr. Reinoso is doing, so let’s not make predictions or launch
ad homonym attacks. Only the children will suffer if the new education
system falls prey to politics and public relations.

We are now at “that point.” Now is the time for Mayor Fenty to ensure that Victor Reinoso is protected so he can effectively manage DCPS. We all know that plagarism is wrong, but let’s put our childeren first and let the Deputy Mayor for Education concentrate on the job of educating our children.

Mayor Fenty’s citywide shake-up continued last week with the firing of Gregg Pane, the director of the Health Department. While Pane came to DC with excellent credentials, health problems in the District persist, and I applaud the Mayor for his aggressive approach. Unacceptable levels of infant mortality, HIV/AIDS, diabetes, obesity, asthma and now even staph have combined with an access problem in poor neighborhoods to create a real emergency. Just as with our school system, it is time for drastic change.

I hope that Mayor Fenty looks to cities around the nation for qualified health professionals and best practices when choosing a candidate. Whether it is New York City’s successful HIV/AIDS prevention campaigns or California’s proposed health care plan, we need to look to other regions and cities to find solutions that work elsewhere. We also need to seriously examine the bureaucracy to make sure that DOH employees are performing adequately and that we have the most qualified and dedicated employees.

Furthermore, I believe that the new director of DOH needs to improve response in the event of a large public health outbreak. This is a real possibility and an unprepared government can prove deadly. Washington, DC, can and should be an example to the rest of the country of quality heath care and health care emergency services. We residents deserve it. should demand it, and should hold our public officials accountable.

The saga unfolding around Greater Southeast Community Hospital (GSECH) has, once again, ignited a debate about corporate profits vs. quality health care. Councilmember Catania has justifiably caused a stir by accusing the corporate owner, Envision, of putting profits ahead of patient care. What is happening at GSECH mirrors the healthcare crisis going on around the country. Unfortunately, it’s in our home town, and the neediest of District residents are the ones suffering.

Quality health care is a right, not a privilege for only those who can afford it. Our leaders must find a way to ensure that DC residents have access to health care without first being frisked by corporate number crunchers. Governor Schwarzenegger has a far-reaching plan in California that guarantees coverage for every Californian. DC residents deserve coverage as well.

As long as the federal government continues to avoid dealing seriously with the nation’s out-of-control health-care crisis, local leaders must lean heavily on Congress and the White House to make necessary changes and improvements while, at the same time, protect local residents from corporate profiteering. I applaud David Catania’s efforts to stand up to a large corporation and to champion the cause of those who need our help desperately–too many struggling residents of the District of Columbia in need of medical attention.

DC has serious health care problems. Finding ways to increase access, improve quality of care and upgrade facilities present big challenges to our city on an ongoing basis. But a scary epidemic is in our midst; and surprising little is being done to stop it. HIV/AIDS infects approximately one in 20 DC residents, and perhaps even more. It is not a problem faced only by the gay community or the African American community, as many believe. HIV/AIDS is a threat to all of us. Unfortunately, the DC HIV AIDS Administration (HAA) has been ineffective in curbing the spread of the virus.

Residents are not getting tested at the rates they need to be; there is little public education about prevention and treatment; the city is not tracking those with HIV/AIDS to help prevent its spread; and non-profit organizations paid by the District to help fight the epidemic are not held accountable for their performance. This must be fixed.

Last week, I met with David Mariner from DC Fights Back who helped me understand the complexity of the epidemic in the District and brought me up to speed on some of the necessary solutions.

HAA must function at a higher standard. We need increased public awareness to educate residents about prevention and risk. We must do a better job focusing on prevention. For example, New York City distributes up to five million condoms each month. DC has been unable to distribute 250,000 condoms over the past eight months. This is unacceptable. Treatment and care also must be improved, and this requires partnering with non-profit groups with expertise, but we must also hold them accountable.

While DC has a higher HIV/AIDS rate than any other state in the union, we are lucky to have organizations like DC Fights Back to help educate our leaders and find concrete policy solutions.

Last Thursday, most of us spent the day eating turkey and watching football; appreciating all that life has given us. But for 250 children, Thanksgiving was spent behind bars at the Oak Hill Youth Center, the District’s juvenile detention facility. On Thanksgiving Day, I visited Oak Hill with Jauhar Abraham, CEO of The Peaceoholics. We were allowed to share Thanksgiving dinner with the residents of the facility.

Never before in my life have I felt so much pain. Just days before, a riot broke out in one of the buildings, and several of the residents were still confined to their cells. The tension in the air permeated everything and everyone. I realized that Oak Hill is not a place that rehabilitates inmates, it seems to create more anger. This was validated when Jauhar from the Peaceoholics told me that 90 children who were released from Oak Hill were later murdered. This is the face of juvenile justice in the District, and it continues to foster the cycle of violence that plagues our city.

Oak Hill is symbolic of the challenges that we face as we move forward in the District of Columbia. For years, birthday quotes Oak Hill has been ignored and children have grown up to become either criminals or a statistic. Finally, Mayor Fenty is working to change the facility and I support efforts that will improve the environment so we can have the best possible chance to rehabilitate our youth and welcome them to contributing to the continuing progress that our City needs.

This will not be easy. It is clear that the approach to this issue over the past several decades has failed. It will require fresh ideas and energetic leadership on City Council to find a solution and support Mayor Fenty’s efforts. Anything less is unacceptable.

More than a year ago, I became involved in the School Libraries Project (SLP), a non-profit supported by the Capitol Hill Community Foundation as well as DCPS. Realizing that the disrepair of our public schools included the libraries, a group of concerned parents on the Hill took matters into their own hands and began raising money to renovate the libraries in neighborhood schools such as Brent, J.O. Wilson and Peabody. On October 24th, the final library will be complete, capping a multi-year effort that highlighted the commitment of an entire community to solve a serious problem.

As good as this project is, it serves only one neighborhood and eight schools. Thousands of children around our city deserve to have quality libraries. SLP is one of the few public school successes ocurring before the launch of Mayor Fenty’s aggressive school reform plan. IT is also one that needs to be expanded.

Parents and residents in neighborhoods all across the city have a great example in SLP to see what their own schools can become. I encourage you to visit SLP and see for yourself. It truly is a model we should strive for as a city. My hat goes off to Todd Cymrot, Suzanne Wells, Catherine Townsend and many other parents who made this vision come to life.

In a blog posting from several months ago, I mentioned the concerns held by Fraternal Order of Police President, Kris Baumann, about the coming surge in DC violence. It appears that the surge is upon us, as children are being murdered nightly on the streets of DC. Each child that loses his or her life is a piece of DC’s future that disappears. The surge in violence saddens me, but also makes me more determined to fix our city.

Last night, I attended the Peaceoholics annual awards benefit. Jauhar Abraham, the CEO and co-founder of the Peaceoholics, who is also a close friend, gave an award to one of the greatest success stories of youth turning their lives around. The infamous Choppa City Girls terrorized Anacostia just last year. The girls were sisters and attended Anacostia High School. Businesses, bus drivers and other students lived in constant fear of attacks by the gang.

One day, the girls were introduced to the Peaceoholics. Through the mentorship offered by Jauhar and other co-founder, Ronald Moten, the girls went from causing violence to preventing it. It was the Peaceoholics that made them realize the futility of their behavior. Jauhar took them under his wing and even brought them to North Carolina to visit various universities and worked closely with the schools to ensure that the girls would be accepted. Now, two of the sisters are attending Shaw University in Raleigh and frequently come back to DC to work side by side with the Peaceoholics to fight violence.

Jauhar and Moe are special people. Our city owes them a debt of gratitude for all the good work that they do every day. The Choppa City Girls are just one of countless Peaceoholics success stories. They are a prime example of a community coming together to save our children. Let’s salute them!

As a Lieutenant in the United States Navy Reserve, I am required to serve in an active military capacity one weekend per month and two weeks per year. During times of crisis, I can be called to go to war in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. While I have not been sent to a war zone, I have been to other hot spots around the world, such as post-tsunami Indonesia, where I was part of a humanitarian relief effort. Serving in thhe Navy has been an extremely rewarding experience for me, as it has been for many others.

How does this connect to issues in DC? Sometimes, the military may be one of the only ways out for kids living in dire circumstances. While many youth in DC have fractured families and are surrounded by guns, drugs and crime, the military offers them a way to travel, become better educated, learn discipline and organizational skills, and perhaps pick up a trade that can be of value in the civilian world. In many ways, the military can harness young energy in a positive way that can turn lives around.

The war in Iraq has tainted the reputation of the military, despite the hard work and dedication of our young men and women in uniform. But let’s remember that the military has been around since before our nation was born, and it has fostered some of the most well respected leaders in the history of our nation. Most of our Presidents have been in the military and so have many successful CEOs, writers and other outstanding citizens. The military is not the solution for everyone, but for some of our city’s youth, it may just well be. I am proud to serve my country in the United States Navy and I know that many other DC residents are as well.

District Matters is back after a month-long hiatus. Though I haven’t posted in the past few weeks, my crusade to make this city a better place for everyone has been ongoing throughout the summer.

As many of you know, keeping a strong and vibrant middle class in this city is a passion of mine. It is key to maintaining a strong and healthy tax base and will secure the long-term finanical health of our city. But a middle class must be about more than finances. A strong middle class must concern itself with the matter of human decency. When I read the data today from the U.S. Census Bureau about the widening income gap between blacks and whites in DC, I was extremely disheartened. The latest figures show that whites earn a median income of $89,000 per year while blacks earn only $34,000. The numbers don’t lie; we have a problem on our hands.

This income disparity cannot be cured overnight. But the DC government can do its part to help level the playing field. We need quality schools, improved job training, quality health care and improved constituent services. DC residents in all income categories bring value to this city; we must provide possibilities for those with fewer opportunities to shine. I am committed to finding concrete policy solutions that will enable all residents in Washington to live productive, decent lives. DC is a family, and we must behave as such.