DC Councilmember Chairman Vince Gray was unable to attend our MVSNA membership meeting last Tuesday because he was under the weather. He did send both his Council Chief of Staff and Campaign Manager to answer resident questions. We have coordinated with the Convention Center Community Association (CCCA) to hold a joint forum with the mayoral candidate on Tuesday, June 29 so that you will have a chance to ask him your questions directly. The joint meeting will be held at 7pm at the Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church's Fellowship Hall, 900 Massachusetts Avenue NW. Residents at the MVSNA meeting were particularly interested in Chairman Gray's positions on crime issues and legislation, which I would expect to be central to the discussion. The CCCA also has several other items on its agenda that may also be of interest to MVSNA members. Our thanks to CCCA President Martin Moulton for coordinating the joint meeting.
Any challenger can point fingers at the incumbent and blame him for every issue that is still unresolved. They can also make some public suggestions about how they will reform things. Talk is cheap. I'm interested in action. What has Gray ever done on the Council that has made a meaningful impact to downtown/shaw residents? I can think of items Evans, Wells, Graham, and Fenty have done. What the hell has Gray done? At the forum his staffers liked to take credit for things "he almost did" but then blamed the mayor or council for those things not fully materializing. That's not leadership...
Fenty is not perfect. But we've made great strides/reforms in certain areas. We can point all day at some things Fenty hasn't accomplished but I'm more concerned that Gray hasn't accomplished ANYTHING. Thus far my impression is that this challenger would be a step backward towards the patronage paradigm and would unravel some of the progress we've made under Williams & Fenty.
Posted By Jason / At 6/20/10 8:11 AM
