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Steve for Mayor
STEVE DONKIN's
Prescriptions
for what ails D.C.
Give DC a heart transplant:
Vote STEVE DONKIN for Mayor
Brought to you by the D.C. Statehood Green party,
not by corporate interests.
Please support our campaign:
To volunteer, call 202.986.9438.
Donkin for Mayor, 1708 New Jersey Ave, NW, 20001-2431.
Paid for by Donkin for Mayor. Philip
Barlow, Treasurer. www.donkinformayor.org
& sdonkin@smart.net |
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health care
Symptoms : The life expectancy for black men in D.C.
is the lowest of any state. Our infant mortality rate remains
criminally high our HIV infection rate is ten times the national
average, and our asthma rate is the third highest in the nation.
Since the Mayor closed D.C. General, our only public hospital,
people have died unnecessarily due to the increased travel time
resulting from over-crowded emergency rooms at private hospitals.
Diagnosis: The deterioration of D.C.'s public
health
care services for the 80,000 D.C. residents without health
insurance, caused by the privatization of our health care delivery
system.
Remedy : Reinstate our public hospital with a Level-1 trauma
center. Institute universal public health care that covers
everyone regardless of income, employment status, or citizenship
status
Steve Donkin, Ph.D.
Many years experience working professionally in science consulting
& project management on issues of human & environmental health. |
education
Symptoms : A recent Parents United for D. C. Public Schools' study showed that per-pupil costs have
risen since 1991, placing D.C. below the per-pupil level of all
neighboring MD & VA public schools. In addition, D.C. has failed to
develop special education programs within DCPS. Instead we have sent
most children with special needs to special education programs outside
the D.C. school system at great expense (with the trans portation cost per
child alone averaging $10,000 a year).
Diagnosis: Chronic under- & misfunding in DCPS budgets.
Remedy: Develop special education programs within DCPS, utilizing
under-enrolled and surplus school buildings. Restore adult education and
vocational training programs. Create a public school budget that reflects a
commitment to put " children first." Implement a fair & progressive
tax system
that eases the burden on low & moderate-income residents & ends subsidies
to private special interests, freeing up public monies to adequately fund
education.
Steve Donkin, educator
Steve is a D.C.
public school volunteer currently working
toward certification for teaching in the D.C. public schools. |
housing
Symptoms: Homelessness, lack of affordable housing, loss
of Section 8 (low-income) units destruction of public housing,
and out-of-control, taxpayer subsidized commercial develop
ments that gentrify our neighborhoods. In the last 10 years,
D.C. has lost 16,000 rental units. At least 600 families are on
the waiting list for emergency shelter.
Diagnosis: The Urban Institute recently reported that the areas
"booming housing market has intensifed hardships for very
low-income households" both for renters and homeowners. The
"most prevalent problem is affordability." Roughly 66%
of all low-income renters pay more than 30% of their income for
rent.
Remedy : Create new housing units for low- and moderate-income
citizens, using our Housing Production Trust Fund, which currently
has $31.5 million in it - enough money to build 12,000 units right
now. Toughen rent control laws.
Steve Donkin, affordable housing advocate
Two decades of affordable housing advocacy, both as a community
organizer for Atlanta ACORN in the 1980's and currently with
numerous affordable housing coalitions in D.C. |
d.c. statehood
Symptoms : D.C. residents pay one of the highest
per-capita income tax rates and serve in the military. Yet we have
no vote in Congress, and we lack control over our own tax dollars,
criminal justice system, and locally passed laws and initiatives.
In 1992, we passed a domestic partnership law but were prevented
by Congress from implementing it for nine years. In 1998,
Initiative 59, which allows access to medical marijuana for
terminally ill patients, was passed by 69% of the voters, yet
Congress continues to prevent its implementation. Congress also
continues to prevent us from using our own local tax money to fund
a needle exchange program to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Diagnosis : Continued disenfranchisement of D.C.
residents, lack of autonomy and a plantation mentality"
caused by decades of colonial rule by Congress.
Remedy : Statehood for D.C., which includes local empowerment
permanent enfranchisement, and full rights of U.S. citizenship.
Steve Donkin, dc activist citizen
One of the D.C. Democracy seven, who were arrested in Congress,
tried and acquitted for casting D.C. residents' "vote"
against Congressional meddling in our local budget. |
environment
Symptoms: An asthma epidemic among D.C.s children, many
"Code Red" unhealthy air days, continued decline of
the Anacostia River, and a devastating loss of green space
throughout the city.
Diagnosis: Mayor Williams claims to be pro-environment yet
his administration has failed to enforce current recycling laws,
to protect neighborhood green spaces from development, to
properly monitor areas of high public health concern such as
River Terrace, and to address the environmental causes of poor
public health such as the PEPCO plant emissions and combined
sewer overflows into the Anacostia.
Remedy: Aggressively pursue compliance with clean air
regulations. Expand public transit and natural gas buses.
Increase bike lanes. Start an intensive tree-planting campaign.
Provide strict oversight of trash transfer stations and enforce
compliance with regulations regarding their proper operation.
Preserve and expand green space. Expand and fully enforce a
recycling program.
Steve Donkin, environmentalist
Long-time environmental activist & bicyclist, Steve
holds a Ph.D. in Biology from Georgia Tech where he was a
founding member of the student environmental organization. |
campaign
finance
Symptoms : outside corporate executives are major
contributors to our current elected officials. For example,
executives and other employees of Doctors Community Healthcare,
Inc., the Arizona-based firm selected to run D.C.'s privatized
health care system, contributed more than $62,000 to the Williams
campaign between August 1001 and January 2002. Only 24% of the
money Williams collected during that time came from D.C.
residents.
Diagnosis : Mayor Williams and many of our other
elected D.C. officials are in the debt of major corporations,
developers, and investors seeking public funding tax abatements,
and other corporate welfare for their development tourism,
entertainment & sports schemes.
Remedy: Limit individual election contributions. Ban contributions
from non-D.C. residents seeking contracts or subsidies from the
local government. Ban "bundling" of contributions by
individual employees of corporations.
Steve Donkin, unbought
public citizen
Does not accept corporate
donations,
nor do any DC Statehood Green Party candidates.
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Vote
STEVE DONKIN
for Mayor
Vote for the other Statehood Green candidates on November 5 . .
. . . . .
Michele Tingling-Clemmons: At-Large City Council
Ed Chico Troy: Ward 1 City Council
Jenefer Ellingston: Ward 6 City Council
Adam Eidinger : U.S. "Shadow Representative
Joyce Robinson-Paul: U.S. "Shadow" Senator
www.dcstatehoodgreen.org
@ 1314 18th Street NW & @ 202 .296.1301
Research, design & editorial services donated by Statehood Green
Party members.
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