f/ Thursday, April 5, 2012
Kenyan McDuffie - Candidate Opening Statement
Thank you residents for coming out this evening to hear me , and to become more educated about me and my platform. I am a product of Ward 5, born and raised in the city. That alone does not qualify me to run for candidate, what makes me qualified for the next Council Member is that I possess the key components, as a dedicated candidate of integrity: I have worked for Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, who is rather demanding, so I know what it is like to work for constituent services. I am someone who will be responsible for the need for oversight, and for legislation, and strong community service. As well, we need someone who has the ability to restore the integrity in this city and hold the government accountable. As a civil rights attorney, I have personal experience in holding the government accountable; as an attorney I have held persons in government accountable, thats exactly what we need. At the end of the day, we need somebody, who is going to go to the government and fight for the residents of Ward 5. I will look at the over -saturation of some of the social service concerns in the Bates Streets area, and enhance public safety. These are not campaign topics; these are the things I have lived out. What you have is not someone who will go to the District building and then disappear. The things that are important to you are important to me, my wife and my children. I invite you to visit my website for more on my history: www.mcduffieforcouncil.com 1. What is your vision for the pace and character of community economic development in light of the changing demographics of Ward 5, particularly in the neighborhoods situated west of the train tracks? Excellent question One thing in my bio speaks of me as a student of community development that is what I got my degree in from Howard University. It is important to me to place emphasis on community; we need to ensure that the community has a voice and equity; obviously the folk in the development industry have to make sure they meet their economic concerns. The city has interest to ensure that it generates the revenue through taxes. My vision is one that makes sure development is responsible, sustainable, and community-oriented, to make sure there are strong community amenities that are enforceable; provides green space which is important to residents in Ward 5, and in residential areas respect existing integrity of housing, to make sure these projects fit what the community wants. To make sure businesses are not thrown up without the community having a say. During economic development we often forget small businesses, we need to focus on development of small business corridors, and we always hear that the Rhode Island Avenue is a Great Streets development and North Capitol Street, also, but it is a main Street to be developed. We need to make sure some of the boards come off of these businesses, and provide the retail we deserve. Lots of corridors have been blighted and forgotten, I want to ensure there is a budget for these projects to be done. FOLLOW-UP a. What kind of businesses would you encourage, and conversely, what kinds would you seek to limit or restrict? One of the things we need in this neck of the woods, is a quality grocer, very important, now many folk travel a distance for their shopping needs; we need diversity in retail, nice sit-down restaurants , to complement Boundary Stone and Rustic (quality and affordable), given our demographics and the high number of seniors we have in this community.
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b. What steps will you take to make sure our seniors dont get displaced? I need to emphasize senior tax abatements is available and offer seniors to participate, we need to make known to seniors the eligibility of the benefit; truly affordable housing; appreciation in property value, as well as taxes, and as we do these new developments make sure that the housing is truly affordable, we need to be mindful to enforce inclusionary zoning laws. 2. How would you advance public safety so that residents (both long term and more recent arrivals) will feel safe in their homes and on the streets without fostering an environment which has the look and feel of a police state? Thats a wonderful question, I have emphasized that what residents want is enhanced police safety without the feel of a police state. We need community policing, which is often misinterpreted. It does not mean the hiring of many officers just to put in the streets; we need to make sure that cadets are hired to keep up with the policing needs; make sure police are out meeting and speaking with neighbors to cultivate relationships, using segways and bikes; this will make residents feel more interested in participating in public safety. The first aspect is to make sure the police have the equipment they need to do their jobs, making sure police are visible, but the other part, many people dont want to hear, is that neighbors/residents have to participate, even if it means speaking up, even if its the neighbor up the street when persons are peering into cars and they have no business there; partnership between residents and MPD work better. As a former prosecutor, I prosecuted cases only to turn around without witnesses. Having case where we cant prosecute should not exist in our communities. Residents can write Community Impact Statements anonymously; those things can go a long ways. FOLLOW UP: a. What do you propose to do to ease racial tension? Particularly around the Bloomingdale community where this rivaling transition and gentrification exists, what is unique about me as a candidate, is that I have lived my life here, also as a young professional; we have to be sure we eliminate these artificial barriers. My perspective as a long term resident and professional is to ensure that City Council transcends race, gender, sexual orientation and religion. b. How will you combat truancy? Wow, thats a mouth full, I dont know if I can answer in sixty seconds. One way is to increase parental involvement, sometimes we tend to look solely at test scores or what happens within the four walls of school, so to me it is what happens in recreation centers, parks and libraries, we need to extend the hours and enhance the quality of programs that both children and parents will enjoy, these will create a community of education, kids who are early on engaged with parents involved they will be the ones to graduate from high school and wont be trying to steal our wallets and purses. 3. What will you do to help insure that children in Ward 5, and for that matter, adults who are so inclined and so motivated, have the opportunity to attend quality schools without leaving their community? Wow! This is as if I wrote some of these questions myself. I am a resident, a husband and parent of two young daughters, Im fortunate that my family hit the lottery; unfortunately, we have to attend school 5 miles away. Fortunately, they are going to bring one to McKinley Tech, Brookland and another on the ground. I will take steps to ensure quality middle schools come to Ward 5. But we need to look further to include quality elementary and high schools. Take for instance Dunbar, the budget is going to be cut, they have some 600 students, they project 400 next year. We need to ensure that the math is accurate,
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and elementary schools have quality buildings and curriculums, this is a way to inspire confidence in parents, especially young parents, who want to consider public schools, the only way to inspire confidence and to attract them is that we have quality schools, quality programs and a budget to fund them. FOLLOW UP: a. What is your position on the tension between regular public schools and the public charter school movement? I would say the tension that exists is extremely unfortunate. We lose sight of the goal for all schools quality education for our children, the reason for its creation. We have to think about why charter schools were created in the first place, parents felt that they could not get a quality education in public schools. We must ensure that parents have all options in the best interest of the kids; I will not take sides; my position is to make sure kids get a quality education. b. What strategies would you implement to prepare our children for college or vocational training beyond secondary school? A very important question, my dad graduated from Bell Vocational in 1967, right in this building that used to be Armstrong Vocational. We no longer have the vocational schools; we need to understand that not everyone goes to college, we need to make sure we are connecting students with the resources they need. Phelps for example is doing a great job, has great equipment, we have to take advantage of the resources we already have. My dad graduated with electrical training when he graduated from high school. 4. How do you propose to address the mounting issues of traffic gridlock and walkability in Ward 5, particularly west of the train tracks, especially given the significance of development projects that are either already underway (Rhode Island Row) or planned for the near future (McMillan), inside or just outside the boundaries of our neighborhoods? We have to think more creatively about transportation; the intersections of North Capitol Street and Michigan Avenue are already at capacity. We start talking about development, we need to think more about transient transportation, we need to develop around apartments and housing metro stations, and this would get people to use public street cars, circulators, metro, and buses. We need to ensure qualified traffic studies. We need to give some folk the ability to get in and out of the wards, more transiently. We need quality transportation studies that take into consideration how much transportation will increase and the impact, to minimize existing traffic congestion. FOLLOW UP: a. What is your take on the parking space conflict between some of our longstanding traditional churches and some of our newer residents? It goes back to the tension that has existed for years now, the new folks versus the older residents, it is unfortunate, but real. We need to better relationships between the pastors of the churches and neighbors to eliminate some of the hyperbole and some of the emotions involved, but we need to ensure that people have a place to park; perhaps communicating with residents who have less parking and going a little further to park, rather than parking right across from the churches. We need to accommodate residents and have respectful conversation to ensure that residents have parking.
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b. What do you believe the city can and should do to increase pedestrian safety for our seniors, especially those whose diminished mobility leave them particularly vulnerable at street crossings? This is a controversial and is really an unpopular issue with residents who have had speed camera tickets. I am a proponent of red light and speed cameras at appropriate intersections where it really helps citizens where streets are dangerous, and decrease speeding; but not as booby traps. We want to make sure we have the Department of Transportation involved as well.
[Audience Questions] a. How do you envision improving communication about city plans, especially those who are not internet users and are not contacted by their ANC Commissioners? The City Council needs to engage civic associations, as well as ANC Commissioners in free flow communication, the civic associations are the ones who are closest to our neighborhoods; we need also we make sure they have communications between the Mayors office of Communications, and that they are doing their job, they are the ones who are to ensure that our citizens are engaged on all levels. As City Council Member I will plan community office hours; take the show on the road and spread the word throughout wards to ensure that the citizens interests are represented and to engage their Council Members at the City Council. b. What will you do to promote better transportation in Ward 5? Ensure WMATA and Metro are doing a better job getting in the community; for example, you wake up to go to a bus stop, you have gone to for the last ten years, and its gone, we must make sure WMATA and METRO are doing a better job of outreach to the community, we need to demand better services and communication about service and rate changes and shorter waits to get the bus. c. How do you feel about Statehood? I worked for our warrior on the Hill, Delegate Norton to promote Statehood, and to get legislation passed in order to have a vote. We need also to have quality elected officials with integrity to make the case for Statehood, dedicated to public service (to know that this job is about improving the quality of life for all residents, not self-service) with little fraud, waste and abuse as possible. My Specific Involvement I am a member of McMillan Advisory Group, weve got tension that currently exist now regarding development and retail, some folks who dont want to see anything on the sight. In my own community, I helped to start a Scholarship Committee ten years ago, some folk feel slighted on how to divide; there is confusion who serves on the committee with the newest stakeholders. My emphasis is doing whats in the best interest of our citizens. I believe we need to deal with facts. I have even started a Community Day to help deal with some of the issues in our neighborhood. d. What is your position on DC Government providing development subsidy to Developers? The question seems a little incongruent. Sometimes we provide subsidy where it seems there is no need. I am not for subsidy for development that is not sustainable and where there seems to be no benefit. e. What would you think was Council Member Thomas greatest success, and what do you think was his greatest failure? Thats a tough question, I ran against him in 2010 because I felt there were more failures than successes. I challenged him two years ago because I felt we needed stronger leadership. I would say his greatest
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accomplishment is organized labor. His greatest disappointment was his plea of guilt and failure to the citizens; I would say there could be no greater failure or disappointment. f. How would you work to give Ward 5 Middle School students access to middle schools without the out-of-bound process? Thats a good question, when it comes to Ward 5 middle schools, particularly because we have not had a middle school, it appears as though Ward 5 students should have preferences. What we dont want to see is a quality school to come, and be in fluxed by students from outside of Ward 5; this is something I would adamantly fight against. We need to make known to Ward 5 parents the opportunity, quite frankly, try to attract back some of the families who have taken their students out to schools like Hardy and Bertie Backus, and hopefully have the government to give them some incentive. Closing Statement Thank you civic organizations for organizing C.O.V.E. and giving much thought to it. I just want to ask you all to give some thought to how you would like to see Ward 5. Does it matter that your Council Member has made a pledge not to accept donations from LLC corporations (bundling); does it matter that the City Council Member will fight for quality education and economic development. If these things matter to you, you have a tough choice; an awesome responsibility to educate yourselves, to make sure that we bring to the table what you really want. I believe I have the best combination professionally and as a community servant. My job as an Attorney General paid me more than I would make as a City Council Member, my community experience, professional and life experience are three important reasons to elect me, if you want to transform Ward 5 with integrity and tackle fraud and waste. This job is about public service. I humbly ask for you vote on May 15th.
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