Comments on: Empower DC Rallying Against Sale of Public Property

By: M

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:33:51 +0000

I'm w/ IMGoph. I saw these 'community activists' work at a meeting last year regarding school property reuse. The local community association spent two months gathering input and working to create a petition to the city stating what those of use who live nearby (mostly old and some new residents) wanted. The last meeting this group showed up with a poor presentation, pretended to speak for the 'community' and demanded that the city use the buildings for uses that we had specifically petitioned against.

By: IMGoph

IMGoph — Fri, 15 May 2009 17:14:03 +0000

q: how did i prove their point? i never said i was specifically opposed to their protest, but i did say that their protest could have been better packaged to convince the masses that they're right. i think it was an opportunity squandered.

By: Rob

Rob — Thu, 14 May 2009 23:37:24 +0000

It's pretty bad...we thought we were electing a reform mayor; he attended all the rallies, and then, when mayoral fund raising time came, he essentially turned to the developers, real estate interests and big boys. After all these years of such good constituent service and such a reform image. He didn't even need to cater to the big boys, he was going to win big anyway. Reminds one of Nixon, he had no need whatsoever to bug the Democrats or anything of that sort, he was slated to win against McGovern no matter what. Worse, he wants to look like Obama, but acts like George W., from trying to slip in unqualified appointees for cronyism, appointees the council refuses to consider, down to defying and ignoring the legislature, as though they were not a co-equal branch; many council members are flabbergasted.

By: Q

Thu, 14 May 2009 21:33:33 +0000

Sinclair you ain't kidding. SG and IMGoph just proved Parisa and Kimberly Johnson's point. Since when does a community activist group have to have a pedigree? Geez, maybe if they called themselves the Proliteriats against Gentifrication, SG and the "others" would recognize the cause.

By: Empower DC At It Again - Housing Complex - Washington City Paper

Empower DC At It Again - Housing Complex - Washington City Paper — Thu, 14 May 2009 20:04:20 +0000

[...] week, activists joined together in front of the Wilson Building. And in late March, they gathered by the office of Neil Albert, head of the city’s office of [...]

By: Sinclair

Sinclair — Thu, 14 May 2009 17:07:21 +0000

Wow. SG.

That was flat-out racist. Holy crap.

By: Kimberly Johnson

Kimberly Johnson — Sun, 10 May 2009 16:45:23 +0000

The District of Columbia was the first city to have a majority black population, and continues to suffer in the form of high poverty, crime, and illiteracy rates because of it. The disinvestment in low-income residents came at the hand of specific policies to disenfrachise

These policies take the form of the privitization of critical social services( making quality services difficult to obtain for many working class individuals). The policies are the same ones that Mayor Adrian Fenty has perpetuated, with the closure of schools, the privitization of mental health care, education, and childcare and D.C. The massive firings of district employees at a time when the country is in economic crisis.

Empower DC's contiuially standing in the face of power, confronting politicians, like Mayor Adrian Fentys, whose policies favor the elite, yet do little for the the cities low-income and working class familes, is why I am a proud member of Empower DC and urge those who wish to be part of a grassroots movement to protect low to moderate income residents, should visit our website at http://www.empowerdc.org.

By: Parisa

Parisa — Sun, 10 May 2009 12:45:46 +0000

Empower DC is the only city-wide, grassroots membership based organization working to build political power for low and moderate income DC residents and address the critical issues impacting our lives - housing, child care, public property and more. Empower DC does not take any government or corporate money and is "unbought and unbossed." The people commenting on this blog above me are obviously of the class of people who prefer DC to match their complexion and their lifestyle only, who have paid little attention and even less care to the fate of their neighbors, and who prefer the displacement of those who built and sustained this city in its more difficult years. Empower DC will continue to fight for low income housing because we believe that quality housing is a human right. Yes, we refer to DC as Chocolate City - because DC was the first major American city to be majority Black and we celebrate that. Yes, we call our event Funk Fenty because we don't suck up to those who oppress and attack our community in their efforts to enrich the rich. We will not sit by as some try to turn DC into a Disneyland for the rich. Empower DC is committed to community organizing to uplift DC residents. If you are down with that, call us at (202) 234-9119.

By: SG

SG — Thu, 07 May 2009 15:14:29 +0000

Empower is just the low-income housing lobby of DC. Sorry, but it's true. Their motto should be "keep DC ghetto!"

By: IMGoph

IMGoph — Thu, 07 May 2009 14:46:07 +0000

empower DC comes across as a bunch of petulant children. funk fenty? seriously? you're going to title your event with a veiled verbal assault on the person you're trying to convince to change their mind on something?

between them and the answer coalition, i don't know who's more irrelevant.