Yesterday saw the first debate of the 2006 mayoral elections. Confused? Me too; where I come from, we hold debates in the same year as the election. Washington being the city of politics, these things are taken much more seriously here, and so we’re hitting the one-year countdown with five declared candidates. It’s not hard to imagine, as in past months, that the candidates are going to be going after each other and offering up the usual answers. But what if City on a Hill was running for Mayor? Well, there are 5 points, from small to large, to run on.
5. Fair Taxi Meters???With the city’s taxi metering experiment currently underway, we can expect to see some action on this by the end of 2006. The transparency of a meter is great, but let’s not forget to make sure the costs are economical for everyone: With a higher initial cost and a decreasing cost-per-mile as your trips goes on, it’s a win-win for everybody.
4. Public WiFi???Now in the planning stages in Philadelphia and enacted in several smaller municipalities in the area as well, including Alexandria, Va, the possibility of offering free internet access across the city can become a reality. It would be a boon to our economic, educational and emergency-preparedness goals, as well as quality of life.
3. Developing Anacostia???Aside from our city’s transient population of politicos and Northwest’s affluent population, many of D.C.’s residents are poor minorities in Southeast and Southwest. The city has an ambitious plan to develop the Anacostia River district, which includes the new Nationals baseball stadium. Let’s give it the resources it needs because we need to fix the housing crisis, crime and economic devastation there if we want to make our city into a unified whole.
2. D.C. Statehood???There remains no reason why half-a-million tax-paying citizens aren’t represented in Congress. Maybe it’s because they’re mostly minorities, possibly because they’re mostly Democrats, probably because the people who could change this don’t care. D.C. citizens deserve a mayor who does more than just ask nicely for their rights, especially when Congress interferes in D.C. politics. Let’s see a graduated statehood program in place by 2008, or there won’t be any cops protecting anybody’s inaugural parade.
1. Fix the Schools?I bet you’ve never heard this before. Here’s the deal: D.C.’s schools are a disaster, and we’ve got to spend millions more to fix them. Here are the benefits: less crime, a stronger economy and better quality of life?not to mention smarter kids. Councilmember Kathy Patterson (D-Ward 3) has a plan to raise hotel, parking and cigarette taxes to get the money. Let’s go for it and give D.C. kids what they deserve.
These are five D.C. public policies that need work, attention and some boldness. I imagine most of them weren’t covered at yesterday’s debate, or they were glossed over with vague promises or subject changes. It’s going to be a very long election cycle, but D.C.’s future mayor should know residents won’t be satisfied until they can surf the internet in a metered taxi driven past Anacostia’s gleaming new schools???with the state flag flying over them.
