Abe Pollin was a larger than life figure in DC and he helped to transform downtown DC. He was involved in many charitable causes and he will be missed by many Washingtonians who never even knew that it was Abe Pollin who gave them a helping hand when they needed it. He is an example to all people on  how to live a generous and decent life. I extend my sincere condolensces to his wife and family.

Thank you to Luis Gomez, www.onephotographaday.com, for these wonderful event pictures.

http://lgomezphotos.viewbook.com/clark_ray_nov_19th#/1/

“Today’s announcement of the closing of the Washington Blade is a sad day not only for the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender  (GLBT) community in the District of Columbia but for people across the nation. For forty years the Blade has been the paper of record for the community. I was encouraged to read on the Blade webpage that the staff with Publisher Lynne Brown and Editor Kevin Naff, are looking to the future and I wish them only success. We need them and we need the newspaper no matter what its name is. At the end of the day it is not the paper’s name but the staff that is the heart and soul of the paper and the Blade staff are great!”

I share the grief and suffering of the parents, family and friends who have lost an innocent 9-year-old boy shot to death in his home in Columbia Heights, and have compassion for those residents of Shaw who have been shaken by two recent shootings.

I also share the dismay of those community activists in Shaw who recently received an email from one Councilman who wrote that such violence is “not a legislative problem.”

Crime is everyone’s problem, and it must be the number one priority of our elected officials. We cannot play the blame game when it comes to solving crime and making our neighborhoods safe. There is a role for everyone including a major one for our legislators.

All the people of the District know that the Mayor, Council, police, prosecutors, churches and communities all have a role in protecting our families and neighborhoods.  If no person is immune to the tragedies brought by crime, then no elected leader may claim selective exclusion from responsibility.

As a former reserve police officer, I know the many facets of this threat to our neighborhoods.  If we cannot make our homes, schools, and neighborhoods safe places to live and work then we will not have made our City the place we all want it to be.

When I am on the DC City Council, I will be working with every group to craft legislation which will both make our neighborhoods safer and protect our civil liberties. I know there is no silver bullet to eradicating crime, but we must continue to work and not accept that making our communities safer and protecting the rights of the innocent are mutually exclusive. By working together we will be able to pass the legislation that  gives law enforcement the tools they need to get criminals off our streets and to keep them off our streets. The current revolving door of justice is not serving us well.

Each of us has a role; each of us can effect change.  It is time that every elected official recognize that they must place the safety of our families and neighborhoods as a top priority.

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Washington, DC – Clark Ray, candidate for City Council At-Large, today blasted the only member of Council who has been notably absent, just as that chamber is gripped in high drama.

“This week, every member of Council wrestled with a school reform crisis, except one: Phil Mendelson,” Ray said.  “The at-large councilman has truly been at large this week.”

“We need to focus on DC’s problems, and Councilman Mendelson has now missed critical hearings of the Council, hearings which his own colleagues have termed unprecedented, instead going to a meeting of a national association.”

“There is only one thing worse than politicians fighting while DC’s problems go unsolved, and that’s when they don’t show up at all,” Ray said.

Mendelson was absent from the high-stakes matters at the Wilson Building in order to preside over a conference of the Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations (AMPO).  According to the organization’s website, the meetings in Savannah, GA “focus on transportation authorization, MPO structure, finance, climate, and more.”

Ray said Mendelson’s role in the far-away policy conference is no match for the issues that faced the Council this week.

“While I am sure it is a nice personal honor for Councilmember Mendelson to be elected President of an association, and to confab with fellow thinkers about urban planning, I think Councilmembers must get their priorities right,” Ray said.

“The people’s business in the District of Columbia must come first at all times.”

ON SCHOOL REFORM

“I am a strong supporter of school reform and think it is crucial that Michelle Rhee remain as Chancellor to provide the continuity that our schools have not seen in many years. But the hearings evidenced a breakdown in government and community relations.  We need emergency attention to questions of oversight, budget transparency, and community engagement-especially on the part of parents-if reform is to endure.”