Wrap Up of At-Large D.C. Council Candidate’s Forum Held on March 14th

Last Monday, March 14th, the Georgia Avenue Community Development Task Force Held a forum for the candidates running for the at-large D.C. Council seat vacated by Kwame Brown when he was elected Chairman.  The Special Election will be held on April 26th. The forum was held in the auditorium of the historic Park View School, 3560 Warder Street. The candidates present were:

• Tom Brown
• Dorothy Douglas
• Joshua Lopez
• Patrick Mara
• Alan Page
• Vincent Orange
• Bryan Weaver

The only candidates that was not present for any part of the forum was Sekou Biddle. Candidates that were unable to attend due to conflicts were Arkan Haile, Jacque Patterson, and Sekou Biddle. Due to a conflict with another forum, the candidates arrived at different times, so not all candidates were available to answer every question. Each candidate had two minutes for an opening statement.

For those unable to attend, the following clips were made by the GACDTF for each of the questions giving to the candidates in advance, and also of the following rapid fire questions.

Question 1: Of the committees you will assume, which is the most important to you, and as it relates to Georgia Avenue, what will be your primary legislative effort?

Question 2: The site of the former Bruce Monroe school is now available for development. What do you think should happen to that site? To what extent will you include the Task Force in implementing legislation and budget actions in the redevelopment of that site?

The rest of the questions, including those from the audience, can be found after the jump.

Question 3: The Lower Georgia Avenue Streetscape funding was removed from the DDOT budget, and we would like it refunded. Streetscape improvement is a major issue for residences and businesses. Will you support refunding the Lower Georgia Avenue Streetscape, and if so where will you get the funds?

Question 4: Will you support the expansion of the DC Circulator bus up Georgia Avenue?

Question 5: How would you as an At-Large Councilmember legislatively or through the budget process, propose to help the Georgia Avenue community to continue to provide a mix of housing for residents at all income levels?

Question 6: How would you enforce regulation that requires employers to hire a percentage of DC residents?

Rapid fire questions

Questions from the Audience
Audience Question 1: What types of programs will you implement for ex-offenders to reenter Washington, D.C., such as employment and housing?

Audience Question 2: Given the fact that millions of dollars go outside of the city for college education to Congress, what will you do to get more of those funds for our local colleges here and for UDC in particular?

Audience Question 3: I run a non-profit next door called Park View Kids Zone. I work in this immediate community with about 60 youth and teenagers from about a six block radius of where we stand right now. I have a very direct question for you. I understand Bruce-Monroe is a very hot topic. It’s been all over the news. Everyone is talking about it. No one seems to be talking about this school [Bruce-Monroe @ Park View] which is already open. Do you support renovating this school as well as the Park View Rec Center which has been promised for the past six years and not been done. Do you support renovating this school and if so what would you do to push through the red tape. It seems the Bruce-Monroe issue is holding up the kids I work with effecting this exact site.

Audience Question 4: To those candidates that have economic development, financial oversight, accountability, and transparency as your #1 priority, the auditor general just came out with a report recently that said only 14 out of 75+ D.C. agencies met CBE utilization law on the books. Other than shaming directors of agencies, what would you do as a city council person to enforce the law?

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Tags: Community Involvement, DC Council, elections

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