While the nonprofit complex pulls out the stops to stem the Council bleeding the people of DC even more, the smokescreen from the “dumpster fire” “debacle” “sh*tshow” of a DC Council budget vote on Tuesday July 21 has worked.

The fog of class war has the Council Chair saying things like it would be tantalizing to cut immigration services, emergency rent support, and other human services to make up for a stupid move to tax small publications in the District (The Ad Tax).

Playing both the perpetrator and now the self-proclaimed hero, CM Mendelson says he can eliminate the ad tax on small publications by moving some money around from the capital budget, cutting mental health services, and some other piddly wrangling. If this all seems a bit hexing, and wrong, it is.

What a slick move, a smokescreen. First, this “debacle” has got the advocacy community to scramble their bases to beg the Council not to cut $18M more in services to real DC people instead of bringing on fire from the people demanding that the overall first budget vote be completely trashed and we start over. See FBC breakdown of the first Council vote on July 7th below:

The DC budget vote as shown above, even if the recent threats of 18M in cuts is reversed, is an absolute atrocity and in fact criminal to the working people of the District during a pandemic. There are no cuts to the Metropolitan Police Department budget for example!

Second, this confusing creepy clown show led by the Chairman during DC’s FY2021 budget process has allowed all Councilmembers, even the so-called progressives on the dais to deflect away from the broader call of the people to take the capitalists boot off working families necks by defunding MPD, raising taxes on the rich, and moving monies from proposed luxury projects to projects that could really help people now in the pandemic such as from the proposed McMillan Park giveaway to the long-stalled reopening of Crummell School for those families who are struggling in Ivy City.

That is, Councilmembers can avoid dealing with the obvious huge gaps in human service funding by tweeting out memes and rhetoric about a “dumspter fire” and receive rounds of applause by advocates who in turn move back from stronger positions to the passive prone begging not to hurt the our people further.

Result: the Council, yet again, escapes accountability as to how really horrid that first budget vote is and the continued harm that DC’s budget will bring onto the most vulnerable in the District, especially now during pandemic.

Meanwhile, with all the content that the so-called urbanists pull off with the help of developer contributions, the budget vote is as important as one retweet of a DCist report. David Alpert is far from concerned about what this budget means for DC’s communities of color.

Conclusion: Its all perplexing but a skillful clumsy show put on by the Chair, Phil Mendelson and sheepish Council colleagues. The Chairman however is in the driver seat, commanding control over the city and outcomes for all its people in perpetrating an oppressive racist corporate agenda to crush Black families and communities of color and working residents of the District of Columbia.

To see this agenda and the people who pull the puppet strings, click the following links:

• DC Federal City Council
• Washington DC Economic Partnership
• DC BID
• Metro Washington Council of Governments

By: Chris Otten, DC4RD, co-facilitator

Save McMillan Park #FACTS

Context: McMillan Park is 25+ acres of open land at North Capitol Street and Michigan Avenue, NW, still largely as it was when the federal government opened it in 1905 to control typhoid and other water-borne diseases in the city. Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., it was a public, integrated park until WWII, when it was closed for security purposes. The national and local historic landmark, with panoramic views of downtown Washington, was bought by the city in 1987 for $9.3M. Take a look at the history of the federally protected historic landmark at McMillan Park.

The Mayor’s McMillan Plan and Behavior:

The proposed plan is to privatize and demolish McMillan Park as we know it in order to build two+ million square feet of residential, commercial and medical space. This plan has in part been approved by the DC Zoning Commission, the Mayor’s Agent for Historic Preservation and a premature DCRA demolition permit has been issued. These decisions are being appealed, with a temporary stay now in effect from the DC Court of Appeals.

Reasons to Halt Demolition & Save McMillan:

• Because the closest Metro stop is over a mile away, the project will generate 20,000 new vehicle trips/day at N. Capitol/Michigan Ave. and there’s been no study of impacts to emergency responders and on this emergency route from center city;
• Health effects will worsen for an area of the city with some of the highest asthma rates, especially in our children;
• The major land, water and air impacts from the massive demolition and construction have only been superficially examined;
• The District requirement for an environmental impact statement/assessment has been ignored;
• Cell 14, the most north-east sand filtration water cell, is being used now by DC Water to prevent nearby flooding when ever it rains;
• The number of truly affordable units for families, about 25, is embarrassingly low for a project that will have some of the most expensive residential units in the city;
• Residents and businesses will be displaced by the inevitable rise in property values, stimulated by the panoramic views;
• The DC Auditor questioned the ethics in a lack of competition in picking the developer;
• The DC Government is paying millions for lawyers, architects and others, including to a Baltimore pr firm to “neutralize public opposition;”
• The new library requested by the community is absent;
• See more details of the corruption around McMillan Park here.

sign the MCMILLAN PARK petition
CLICK HERE

DC Feedback put out our press release with an update on the July calendar here.

and . . . RUN FOR ANC!

Perhaps Mr. Racine ought to be on the phone with Police Chief Newsham to discuss training on the rights of Americans to peacefully gather in public spaces when organizing against displacement.

#BrooklandManor is woke @kenyanmcduffie @tweetelissa @cmdgrosso @AnitaBondsDC @RobertWhite_DC ::: RUBBER-STAMP ZONING = Displacement pic.twitter.com/v2PW3mguTC

— realityDC (@dc4reality) May 23, 2017

On Monday, June 12, 2017, just a mere couple of weeks after the DC Zoning Commission rubberstamped the approval of a project that will destroy #BrooklandManor, the cops are acting as developer agents to harass and finish off the displacement of existing DC families and residents living in Ward 5.

Of course, Ward 5 Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie favors this displacement, as he goes on and on writing letters consistently supporting these projects and the wholesale removal and police harassment of black families from DC.