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Looks like Michael Brown finally made it to the council. The DC Board of Elections and Ethics certified the Nov. 4 general election, making Michael Brown officially an at-large councilmember.
Ok, ok, we all know that newly elected member of DC Council Michael Brown is really a Democrat. He was born a Democrat. He voted in the primaries as a Deomcrat this year. His entire life has been sitting on the side of the Democrats.
Of course this makes no difference other than whether or not he can serve as an at-large member on the Council since there are already two others not elected to a specific ward. DC’s law says there can’t be more than three non-Ward members of the same party. Council chairperson Vincent Gray and at large members Phil Mendelson and Kwame Brown hog up those seats, leaving DC residents to choose among non-Democrat candidates.
So, Michael Brown went Independent making him eligible and he won. And now the GOP has an issue with it.
Category: Our Elected Officials, Real Estate/Development, DC United | 
Posted By: David Gaines @ 2:36 pm 
Politics is an amazing thing. It’s one of those arenas where every single word you say counts. “I did not have sexual relationships with…” is a classic. So is, “B!tch set me up…”
Speaking of Marion Barry, who’s in the latest Chuck Brown video, he has been pushing for building a soccer stadium at Poplar Point — something the residents of Ward 8 want; the owners of DC United want; something even I want, and I’m not into soccer like that. But Fenty has spoken again and it’s not sounding too promising.
Click map for more details.
Just as Mayor Adrian Fenty swept all the precincts in DC a couple of years ago, presidential candidate Barack Obama also won 100% of the precincts. According to DCist, where I first found the map:
Obama even won 100% of the vote in Precinct 97, though the DCist says it was reported that there were only 10 votes.
While speaking in Alexandria, VA, the other day, Barack Obama was asked why someone should vote for him instead of Clinton:
Tomorrow is the day DC, Virginia and Maryland voters go to the polls to vote for whom they want to see on the presidential tickets.
Now that President George Bush has given the last nod for Adrian Fenty to take control over the school system, he is going to be expected to resurrect a broken system. And the list of issues is vast.
One of the more pressing issues is going to be physical structures the kids get their education in. Unusable bathrooms, drippy ceilings, rooms too hot or too cold. A lot of money has been allocated towards rehabbing the school buildings, but it’s apparently not that easy in DC to make things happen.
The Post had an article, though, about one man who is able to steer through the nonsense that comes with a lot of money and a lot of government and make things happen. Allen Lew, chief executive of the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission, has been able to take the controversial baseball stadium for the Washington Nationals and show it is possible. Not only is the stadium on schedule, it’s also on budget. Regardless of rain, snow, sleet and government.
Just before my homeboy Mike left to go back to North Carolina, we headed out to Anacostia and joined in on the Martin Luther King Peace Walk. Though we were recovering from a weekend of partying, three nights in a row, we made the long trek, down MLK Blvd down to where Mayor Adrian Fenty was speaking.
The parade was moved some time ago to April, hoping to be able to have a parade in honor of MLK without the threat of harsh weather. The weather this day, absolutely beautiful.
Category: Our Elected Officials, Education/Recreation, Crime/Public Safety | Posted By: David Gaines @ 10:57 pm The moment we’ve been waiting for is finally here. Adrian Fenty, DC’s rookie mayor, introduced his new vision starting with a takeover of the public school system. The 58,000-student system has been in ruins for years now and Fenty is going all in, betting his political reputation and future on turning the system around.
Obviously the school system needs some serious attention. One of the District’s most pressing issue in my opinion is the extremely high crime rate. The homicide level may have gone down recently, but let’s not pretend that it’s acceptable. One of the key factors in having such a disgraceful level of homicides and other violent crimes is the decrepit state of the school system. Anyone else watch “The Wire
The other day in the paper, there were some letters to incoming mayor Adrian Fenty written by residents. These letters addressed the lesser known issues around the city such as the trash which begins in the streets and ends up in the river, the abandoned buildings which invite criminal activity and the reversible lanes on Connecticut Avenue which increases the frequency of dangerous driving habits.
Obviously we all want to see something done to correct the public safety issues, the educational system issues and other key concerns, but sometimes just focusing on the smaller more manageable issues can really go a long way.
So what would I write if I wrote a letter to newly sworn in mayor Adrian Fenty? Let’s see…
Adrian Fenty isn’t playing around!
Without listening to anyone, asking for any advice or opinions, worrying about doing a thorough national search, he simply named Cathy L. Lanier the next police chief of MPD. Just like that. It’s his party, and he can do as he wants to.
With only one candidate on his radar, Fenty immediately filled the vacancy after former chief Charles Ramsey “stepped down.” She’ll be the first permanent female chief in the District, leading a force of 3,800.
Congratulations to Adrian Fenty for his first victory after officially being named Washington DC’s next mayor. The councilmembers finally agreed to a plan to provide the 1,200+ parking spots needed to prevent being fined an obscene amount of our money.
Unfortunately, it’s a pyrrhic victory. To make it happen they had to allow above ground parking structures which are eyesores and nonexistent in DC. With the stadium area being planned as the nxt big thing in DC, it’s going to be built up with a big giant black eye. Two of them.
And to make it worse, they’re not being reinforced to support being added onto with future development and all we got out of the Lerners is their word that one day they’ll agree to tear them down and build something more conducive to what DC residents are used to want and deserve.
Anyone remember Jerry Maguire’s handshake deal with Cushman’s dad that was stronger than oak?
Reinoso, one of the first Hispanics to serve on the board of education, has a long background in public education, having volunteered to teach interview schools at Ballou and Spingarn High Schools in 1992.
Fenty’s team so far is starting to take shape, and it’s looking like they’re going to make the impact that everyone is expecting from Fenty.
Well, it’s now officially official.
Adrian Fenty will be the next mayor of Washington, DC. And so far, everything I’ve heard, read and seen about what to expect has been impressive. Fenty is a different kind of mayor and it’s exciting to see that a major change is coming.
And he’s not coming alone. After pulling off a coup d’etat by luring Dan Tangherlini away from Metro and retaining Tene Dolphin as his chief of staff, he named the city’s attorney general and his general counsel and both bring an impressive background.
Linda Singer, a Harvard Law School graduate, oversees 18 offices and 70 staff members for Appleseed, a nonprofit organization dedicated to social causes. Peter J. Nickles, who practices corporate law, has also been known to do pro bono work for those who normally wouldn’t be able to receive his level of counsel.
Well, when he got to Metro, it was obvious he was on a mission. Dan Tangherlini, while serving as interim manager, brought a sense of change, a feeling that someone is thinking about the riders and hope that one day riding Metro would be virtually worry-free.
And now, he steps down (in anticipation of Adrian Fenty being elected mayor tomorrow) to serve as city administrator. Though I hate to see him go ,considering I ride Metro every single day, I’m glad to see he’s going to be in a position to have an even larger influence in Washington, DC.
As we wait for Fenty to officially become the next mayor, there is no doubt that he put the beat down on the other mayoral candidates during the primaries. As a matter of fact, no mayor has ever destroyed their opponents as soundly as Fenty did with an unprecedented sweep of all the wards, the precincts (all 142!) and essentially the entire city.
Even in Linda Cropp’s backyard Fenty got twice the number of votes than she did. In his backyard, he took home almost 70% of the votes.
With the city’s endorsement, what should he do next? Jonetta Rose Barras of the Examiner gives some suggestions as far as who should join Fenty as he ushers in the “new guard.” And she doesn’t just hint at who.
Try Brenda Donald Walker, deputy mayor for children, youth, families and elders. And DPR Director Kimberley Flowers. Then she writes, “Don’t forget Anne Witt at the Department of Motor Vehicles or Chief Technology Officer and serial District law violator Suzanne Peck. Dr. Gregg Pane is a nice guy; the health department needs more. Patrick Canavan’s magic might return if he were moved from the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs.” She would’ve suggested Deputy Mayor for Operations Herbert Tillery, but he already submitted his resignation.
Well, she was right when she said she wasn’t shy.
Michael Brown is also speaking up. He’s one of several hopefuls for Fenty’s soon-to-be former Ward 4, but anyone who’s been paying attention knows the odds are slim. It’s one thing that Fenty apparently is going to endorse Muriel Bowser who was in his camp during the campaign. Brown? Well, when he decided to quit, he threw some cheap shots at Fenty on his way to endorse Linda Cropp. And now Brown thinks Fenty’s neighbors might want him to replace Fenty? Amazing.
