Responses to the “Making Our Votes Count for a Better City Coalition and League of Women Voters Mayoral Forum Questionnaire
JULY 21, 1998

1. One of the most important mayoral responsibilities is selecting people to head the District’s government agencies, However, the new Mayor’s capacity to fulfill this responsibility is uncertain in light of the Congressional transfer of authority for management of nine major agencies to the Control Board (as part of the 97 Revitalization Legislation), what will you do if you feel that one or more of the heads of the agencies under the authority of the Control Board is not the best person to head that agency?

My primary goal as mayor will to see that the city continues on its progressive course of fiscal and managerial responsibility. By doing this, we will ensure that the mayor and the city council reacquire the responsibilities taken away from them by the creation of the financial control board in 1997. It is true that, by law, this will not happen until the passage of our fourth consecutive balanced budget. This means that for two years I will not have the power to appoint the heads of these nine agencies. But as your elected mayor, I will still have the considerable backing of the more than half a million citizens who reside in the District of Columbia. If I believe that the director of a city agency is not fulfilling the needs of our residents I will lobby vigorously to see that the situation is corrected. The control board cannot ignore the opinions of our elected officials or the people they represent.

2. One of the agencies without a director is the troubled Department of Health. What kind of a person would you be looking for to head this agency? Suppose you find a person who has a reputation for turning around find a person who has a reputation for turning troubled health agencies around and who is ready for another challenge, but this person says to you, “anyone who tries to address the District's health problems with the city’s inadequate health budget is courting disaster.” What will you do to fill this critical post? What is your timetable for significantly reducing deaths from preventable illness in the District? How will you make sure that scarce Medicaid dollars are spent effectively? In recent years, for example, the District has had to close nursing homes because of neglect and egregious mismanagement, Yet it ranks 48th in the country in using Medicaid funds to provide home and community-based services for frail an disabled patients.

There is no timetable for ensuring our citizens, the elderly especially, the quality of public health care that is expected and essential in any city in the United States. It is an issue that merits immediate action. My staff and I will concentrate a great deal of our efforts in agency reform to revitalizing the Department of Health. The gross mismanagement of the D.C. Village Nursing Home is a national embarrassment and will be one of the top priorities laid out for whoever takes over the department. The first step in reform is to hire a person with a proven track record of success in managing a large, urban public health agency. As mayor, I will work to provide the budget, the federal funding, and the inter-agency cooperation needed to attract the type of person we need. I will then give him or her a defined set of goals and timetables, with a focus on Medicaid spending for our elderly and handicapped residents, to achieve this goal.

3. Another troubled agency without a director is the Department of Consumer & Regulatory Affairs (DCRA). The idea of regulatory reform appeals to many people some of whom are advocates of reducing or eliminating regulations. Others feel very strongly that regulations need to be enforced with greater effectiveness. The DCRA vacancy is an opportunity to obtain the leadership that the District needs to make our regulatory system work for the city, What kind of a person would you look for to head that agency? Do you believe any of the recently passed “regulatory reform” measures will make the agency more effective? If you can’t identify such a measure, would regulatory reform measure or measures would you introduce? Under your administration, which now ignored regulations would be vigorously enforced? Is current funding for DCRA adequate for its mission?

DCRA must be reinvented. It needs a leader who is a proven manager, with a successful record in performance-based, results-oriented government and a commitment to customer service. The director must also be aware how the business of DCRA affects virtually every aspect of daily life in the city. DCRA should adopt a simple ethos: protect the public interest, implement regulations, and ensure compliance in ways that treat customers, applicants, and “compliers” as essential elements of economic health who deserve efficient service, due process, and the utmost courtesy. Measures proposed by the Control Board will not be successful if the basic operational culture of the agency remains unchanged. Enforcement is key and the agency will need additional inspectors cross-trained in several areas.

In addition to limited self-certification programs, the city should explore possibilities for contracting out functions best suited for private sector implementation. In addition, the city should make DCRA the #1 priority for information technology upgrades. Another essential element in reforming DCRA is creation of an employee culture that places high value on efficiency, courteousness, and problem solving. Employees should adopt a new mantra: The ultimate goal of DCRA is not to issue citations, impede legitimate actions, or partake in “gotcha” exercises, rather it is to promote the public interest through sensible interpretations of laws and regulations and to provide incentives for and facilitate voluntary compliance.

The Public Strategies Group, a consulting firm that pioneered the “winning compliance” approach, has helped dramatically improve compliance programs in Minnesota, Wisconsin, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and agencies throughout the national government in the United Kingdom. Under this approach voluntary compliance has increased dramatically, enforcement costs have shrunk, and regulatory bodies have achieved greater mission accomplishment. Elements of the “winning compliance” strategy include:

• seek the input of compliers when formulating rules (obviously well short of a veto power or other inappropriate inputs that would compromise the public interest)
• providing services that facilitate compliance, such as telephone help lines and complier choice of compliance methods
• establishing quality standards, guarantees, and redress for poor service to compliers giving compliers feedback on their level of compliance
• creating predictable and consistent incentives and consequences for compliance and noncompliance

As mayor, I would immediately seek to implement these elements in DCRA and other agencies after input from compliers, stakeholders, and public interest groups.

4. Present your approach to making a major District agency more effective. Start with the kind of person you would be looking for to head the agency. Then explain the strategy you would be looking for to head the agency. Then explain the strategy you would expect the official in charge to use and list the achievement milestones that will be reached in each year of your first administration. Select an agency other than the Departments of Health and Consumer Regulatory Affairs. Do not select the Metropolitan Police Department unless your approach differs significantly from Chief Ramsey’s.

Also, explain whether this agency turn-around will require an increase in funding, and if so, state the approximate increase in expenditures for each year of your first administration.

An Evans administration would have accountability as its touchstone — starting with the mayor himself. In short, I see a government that manages and budgets for results or outcomes; a government in which agencies are accountable for achieving results; a government where regulations are in sync with goals and desired outcomes; and a government culture that rewards agencywide and individual innovation and problemsolving. I also believe that the city should bolster its heretofore weak attempts to promote limited public/private competition and foster alternative service delivery mechanisms.

What follows is a precis of an overall plan for transforming the government into a customer- driven, results-oriented modus operandi. First, every manager in the government, including the mayor, would be required to spend one day a month either in the field, on the frontline, or in a customer service to gain firsthand knowledge from the viewpoints of citizen-customers. In addition, they could hear directly from city workers who sometimes have the most innovative and helpful suggestions and ways to solve problems.

I would adopt for the District a variation of the federal Government Performance and Results Act which is transforming the nature of federal budgeting and management. Adopted in 1993 with an implementation schedule that will complete the first cycle of “performance-based budgeting” in 2001, the law has enjoyed a promising start.

As mayor, I would direct every entity receiving city funding to perform a strategic audit. In consultation with the Council, stakeholders, customers, and interested citizens, agencies would develop a strategic plan articulating a clear, operational mission along with major goals in support of their mission. As in the case of the federal government, this process is helpful in identifying complementary, overlapping, and even contradictory aims among agencies. After aligning budget categories with these goals. agencies — again with input from the Council, stakeholders, and the public — would adopt performance plans for the next three years specifying progress towards these goals. Subsequent deliberations on budgets should focus more on priorities, outcomes, and results than arbitrary numbers. For example, discussions on training programs for unemployed citizens should redirect attention from inputs, such as total funding and how many people received training, to how many people found work with skills acquired during the training. Similarly, we should focus more on overall levels of compliance and means to promote regulatory compliance than on numbers of citations for noncompliance.

After three years, agency performance plans would be compared to actual performance. Management and budgetary decisions would be more concrete and results-oriented inasmuch as performance data is sound and incontrovertible. Agencies that met or exceeded goals would be rewarded and examined for lessons learned and “best practices.” In instances where goals are not achieved, assessments would be made about the whether the goals were reasonable, whether unforeseen circumstances caused complications, or whether sufficient resources were allocated. Chronic under- achievement would elicit options ranging from adjusting goals, reorganizing the agency, or adopting alternative service delivery mechanisms.

A significant byproduct of this process would be development of service standards for citizens and stakeholders. For example, we would decide exactly how long a motor vehicle inspection should take. Or exactly how long one should wait to have a construction permit issued over the counter. Or exactly how long a regulatory/compliance appeal should take. Only then, based on commonly accepted standards, can we assess whether citizens, taxpayers, and others are well served. In developing these standards, I would engage citizens and businesses about priorities — perhaps ward-by-ward or among customer groups. Later on, stakeholders and the government could issue report cards on agencies’ performance.

Within five years, we would have propelled the District into the forefront of enlightened municipal management and demonstrated convincingly that the need for something akin to the Control Board is long gone.

5. Should the Charter of the District of Columbia be revised? If not, why not? If so, how? What action(s) will you take to make it happen?

I am strongly opposed to the Control Board or Congress amending the charter regarding our basic form of government. That should remain the sole prerogative of the “governed” i.e. the citizens. Washington needs more elected officials directly accountable to the citizens, not fewer. I favor a “strong mayor” form of government, whereby an empowered chief executive is responsible for day-to-day management of municipal functions. This does not mean, however, that the city should not hwave a professional management team. As mayor, I would choose a professional city administrator who could operate free of political agendas, concentrating on the most efficient delivery of services to our citizens. It is important to remember that in New York City, Philadelphia, and Cleveland, which also had control boards, there was no consideration of changing their forms of government.

I would favor amending the charter to allow the mayor to hire (and hold accountable) the schools superintendent. Ultimately, the mayor should be accountable for the school system and only he/she can ensure that the myriad of other agency programs that affect our education system and youth complement initiatives of D.C. Public Schools.

6. What will be your relationship to the federal and federally mandated powers that be. In the short term, how will you work with the Control Board. What, for example, would be your response if the Control Board took an action you oppose? What do you think the District’s relationship with the Federal Government should become? What steps will you take to achieve that relationship?

Since the control board will have the power to manage most of our city’s agencies for the next two years, I will endeavor to foster a good working relationship with its chair and members. I will do the same with the various congressional oversight committees that play roles in the District's management and funding. I have stated the keys to reinforcing these relationships again and again. We need to build on the good work we have accomplished in the past two years and continually improve the quality of our budgetary responsibility, government services, and public safety and confidence. An Evans administration will prove that we can manage our own affairs.

7. What are your priorities for the first 100 days?

One of my top priorities in the first 100 days of my administration will be to meet with officials from the surrounding region to discuss ways of cooperating on issues of economic development and transportation. The majority of the District and its residents are too isolated from the economic boom being enjoyed by so many other metropolitan areas in this country. I want our residents to be able to share in the success that our neighbors in Maryland and Virginia are experiencing. The primary way of ensuring this is by attracting more businesses in to the city. I have a very strong track record during my tenure with the city council and as chairman of Metro of promoting business interests which benefit this city.

8. How will you do a better job than Mayors Barry and Kelly did of protecting the rights of District government employees, including their right to bargain collectively, while honoring the rights of DC voters and taxpayers to have a quality work force?

I believe that our city’s unionized employees should have the right to bargain collectively. There cannot, however, be a strike or work stoppage that puts the residents’ quality of life at risk. The people of this city deserve much better service then they have been receiving. It will be my top priority as mayor to streamline and regulate these services in order to deliver them on time and in a professional manner. In some cases, retraining of D.C. employees will be necessary. We have the people to get the job done. Unfortunately, they have been mired in a system that does not listen to them and doesn't consistently reward or correct people for the quality of their work. There are no incentives for these people to strive toward. As I have stated before, I will work with the AFGE and other unions, and with city management to accomplish this goal. I will institute a policy that will make sure management spends time on the front line so they can better understand the problems faced by our city's work force. If the case is severe enough and our residents are in danger of not receiving essential services, than I will take the necessary, appropriate actions. I will not hesitate to make the tough, sometimes-unpopular decisions when I have to ensure that the citizens of the District of Columbia receive the services they deserve.

9. Under your administration, how will the Mayor, the City Council, the Advisory Neighborhood Commissions and other citizens participate in shaping the city's economic development? Should the comprehensive plan be a factor?

The fault with many of the District’s economic initiatives is that they do not make enough of an effort to include citizens. Those initiatives which have done well, such as the MCI Arena and the Convention Center, have made strong efforts to address residents concerns. I have been a strong proponent of citizen inclusion in these efforts and will work on future projects to see that this participation is increased. As the candidate with the most experience with and knowledge of the Comprehensive Plan, I well know what a vital and important role it plays. I would seek to bring more citizen involvement in this effort and work to ensure citizen participation at each step of the process.

10. The city’s approach to economic development in the past has been a focus on downtown and such big ticket items as the arena and convention center. Do you think that approach should be continued for the most part? How much attention would your administration give to the city’s blighted neighborhood commercial strips? how? Would you look for a person to head the Department of Housing and Community Development who has a strong track record in neighborhood economic revitalization? Or would you expect the new National Capital Revitalization Corporation to take the Lead in revitalizing neighborhood commercial strips?

As you know, my ward encompasses the downtown area. I authored and lobbied for the BID- enabling legislation that led to the creation of two-business improvement districts downtown and one soon to be in Georgetown. I can use the same model to help revitalize some of the District’s more blighted commercial strips, notably Georgia Avenue in Northwest and Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue in Southeast. Not all neighborhood economic development has to be catalyzed by the creation of a convention center or an arena. The same goal can be achieved by nurturing small businesses and by attracting essential service providers such as supermarkets and department stores. Increasing the rate of home-ownership will also add to the stability of a neighborhood. How do you accomplish this? I will aggressively promote and assist local businesses. I proved my commitment to local businessmen and women when I introduced worker’s compensation reform legislation that was approved by the Control Board. This will help our businesses compete with Maryland’s. I will also work to ease the restrictions on businesses and decrease their taxes. The contributions they make in added jobs and a subsequently increased tax base far outweighs the temporary loss of revenue. I will also work to educate people about the tax benefits accorded to first-time home buyers. By attracting new businesses through tax incentives, nurturing small businesses through education and government assistance, and by increasing the rate of home ownership, we can ensure the steady and sound rejuvenation of our neighborhoods.

11. How will you innate efforts to make DC residents more employable and to develop jobs?

To develop jobs, you need to attract business. How do you attract business to the city? One way is to initiate economic incentives like the ones outlined in the previous question. Another way is to provide a workforce that is educated and knowledgeable. The advent of a charter school for hotel and hospitality services is a prime example of how we will prepare our residents for a fast growing field in the District. With the construction of the Mt. Vernon Square convention center, demand for qualified personnel to fill all types of jobs will be at a premium. The redevelopment of the Navy Yard and the Southeast Federal Center will also generate many jobs in the hospitality field. The time to ensure that District residents fill these job openings is now. Biotechnology firms are experiencing an industry-wide surge and are expected to continue growing for decades. We need to work on attracting these types of businesses to our city. Most importantly, we need a skilled workforce that will ensure that these jobs stay in the District. Accordingly, we have to develop and implement a plan to educate our young people to be able to fill these jobs. Let us make the changes and additions needed to our public school curriculum. We will offer the courses required at our state-supported university, U.D.C. We need to improve the way we educate our young people so they can meet the changing demands of the job market.

12. What role will you as Mayor play in making sure that the District's public education system prepares the city’s young people to support themselves adequately and to take their place in the twenty-first century work force? How will you carry out your role? Will the University of the District of Columbia be involved? If so, how?

I have a comprehensive plan to turn our public school system around and to prepare our students for the twenty-first century. I encourage you to read it, but for now let me just summarize the main points. First, I will hold all parties responsible for the better education of our young people accountable for their actions, including myself. If the reforms I implement are not returned upon by a marked improvement in school scores and attendance, than use your vote to hold me accountable. I will hold administrators and teachers accountable for the performance of their students. I will give them the funding to bring them up to par with neighboring jurisdictions and I will expect results. I will institute performance-based milestones that they will have to meet and be evaluated on. And I will take strong action against individuals and schools who do not meet these requirements.

A child cannot be expected to learn if he or she does not have the tools to do so. Nor can a student be expected to perform well in a building that is falling down around him. I will institute a comprehensive school facility improvement program to restore our schools that will encompass capitol improvement strategies as well as plans for preventive maintenance. We will fix our city’s schools. Also, I will work to give our students all the technical resources they need to excel in a twenty-first century economy.

Finally, I will make our schools a safe environment for children to develop their intellectual and social skills. I will expect and enforce zero tolerance for violence and guns in our schools. Violators will be removed immediately and prosecuted to the fullest extent. I will work with Chief Ramsey and the MPD to deal with this problem and to increase police presence at the most trouble schools. I will propose programs to help our young people with the problems of drugs and alcohol. I am going to work to give every school the authority to pass a dress code. I will not tolerate the disruption of the learning process or of the development of good moral character by violence or fear.

Just as we need to drastically improve the quality of our K through 12 education, we need to better meet the needs of our adult population by improving U.D.C. We have a wonderful opportunity to provide people with the skills and training they need for the twenty-first century job market through the revitalization of our university. I will work to increase funding for programs which will best help our residents achieve that goal.

13. What role will you as Mayor play in making sure the city has an accessible master school facilities plan?

The first thing I will do as mayor concerning this issue will be to commission a detailed physical inventory of our public school system. I will make sure the study has accurate and definable objectives and provides us with the most comprehensive information about the state of our public school stock. You can’t fix something if you don't know what’s out there. This will be the genesis of all our renovation efforts. This Master Facilities Plan will help us identify the most troubled areas and give us an accurate indicator of how long and how much money it will take to bring these facilities back on line.

14. What role will you as Mayor play in making sure the school budge spells out what the taxpayers are getting for their $545 million dollar investment in public education?

I will require that the superintendent and his/her administrators are held accountable for the distribution and expenditure of funds for the physical maintenance and the management of our public schools. As I stated before, they will be responsible for the improvement of our children’s education as well as for the renovation of our schools. They will have to provide periodic accounts of budget status as well as evidence that the goals they have laid out are being met in a timely and cost-effective manner. The District's residents and their children deserve no less.

15. Under your administration, what steps will the Department of Human Services take to implement welfare reform, Will such support services as child care, transportation and appropriate adult education be available to people trying to move from welfare to work?

The majority of people on public assistance who are able are trying to better their situations. The Department of Human Services and I will work to provide any assistance we can in order to help them achieve self-sufficiency. We will assist mothers who are in school or in job training with day care services. We will provide the transportation for people to get to training. We will provide the courses needed at U.D.C. to help people better qualify themselves for an ever-demanding job market.

16. Are you in favor of having a prison in the city that will house adult District residents who have felony convictions? If so, Where? Under what conditions? Should it be public or private? If private, Should the city have a say in selecting the contractor and in monitoring the performance of the contract?

I don’t believe that our current prison system is meeting the rehabilitative needs of its inmates or the economic needs of the District of Columbia. I am in favor of a well managed, publicly run institution to house our prisoners here in the District. There are a number of reasons why this is beneficial. First, we will not have to contract with privately run institutions out of state. Second, we would be able to keep the job revenue and subsequent taxes in the District. And third, relatives would be in close proximity to family members during incarceration, which I believe aids in the rehabilitation process. These are all issues that should be discussed in the public realm and should be decided by public mandate.

17. If you are elected Mayor, will there come a time during your administration that people can sit on their porches and stoops and walk to the store without fear from 7 am to 11 pm anywhere in the city? If so, when — what month in what year? List half a dozen public safety improvement achievement milestones that will be reached between your inauguration that eagerly awaited month and year.

As chairman of the City Council’s judiciary committee for the past two years, I have overseen the police and the District’s fight against crime. While we have made some progress, there is much work left to be done. Our violent crime rate is still four times the national average. As mayor, I will work with Chief Ramsey, the Metropolitan Police Department, and the community to ensure that this trend continues to decline. These are some goals for my administration’s crime initiatives:

Close Down Drug Markets: More police presence and my personal attention to all of the city’s open-air drug markets until they disappear.

Ridding Our Neighborhoods of Prostitution: This illegal practice spawns violence and drives away business. That is why I have introduced the “Metropolitan Police Department Civilization and Street Solicitation for Prostitution Emergency Amendment Act of 1998”. This act will give the police more leeway in making arrests of both prostitutes and johns in order to eradicate this problem.

Putting More Police on Our Streets: I will move 1,000 police officers out from behind desks and put them in our neighborhoods.

Driving Criminals Off Our Streets and Out of Our Neighborhoods: I will see to the eradication of criminal elements in our neighborhoods that affect our quality of life. I will seal up or bulldoze houses used for drug purposes, tow abandoned vehicles, promote tenant screening, enforce trespassing laws, put police officers in our schools, and intervene in gang-related issues.

End Revolving Door Justice: I will create a special court system to deal with drug traffickers so we can put them away quickly and for the maximum amount of time.

Empowering Neighborhoods and Citizens: I will work with the police chief to establish working relationships between the police and the community. There is no greater deterrent to crime then law-abiding citizens who are organized, have the police support they need, and willing to fight for their community.

So much of our quality of life is hinged upon the safety of our streets. People and businesses are attracted to where they feel safe and comfortable. I do not have a specific timeline for these aspirations, only that they are foremost in my mind. I need only to look at my wife and children to remind myself.

18. What action will you take to make sure the buried tanks and unexploded munitions are removed from the Camp Simms/Oxon Run target range?

Environmental hazards are cause for considerable concern among residents and environmental groups and both should be consulted with as a comprehensive plan is developed to remove these munitions.

19. What is your position on privatization of METRO bus service?

I am staunchly opposed to the privatization of METRO bus service. Serving as the chairman of METRO’s board, I can say that it works best as a regional, comprehensive system. We must not forget that METRO services the entire metropolitan area and that our region works best when we work with each other and not separately. In fact, Metro recently bid against a private contractor for the provision of bus service and was awarded the contract — showing that Metro can indeed provide service at a lower cost and with much greater benefits for the region.

20. What will you do to improve the effectiveness of solid waste management in the Department of Public Works? How important is recycling?

The effectiveness of solid waste management in the District can be measured very simply. Is your trash picked up regularly and on time; and is it disposed of properly? As with all city agencies, I will work with the Department of Public Works to ensure that schedules for pickups are maintained for every neighborhood and business in the city. We will develop performance measures that must be met and hold administrators accountable for them. As your mayor, I will also work to secure full scale recycling services for the District. If DPW cannot initially handle it, then I will obtain the most cost-effective private contractor for these services.

21. What, if any, actions would you take to see that the emergency regulations on buffer zones around solid waste transfer stations are enforced and made permanent. Or would you welcome the expiration of legislation, that you consider to be burdensome regulation?

I voted for and support the emergency legislation and have pushed for a hearing on the permanent legislation which will put a moratorium on future transfer stations in the District, keep in place temporarily the 500 foot rule and establish a task force to study the future of transfer stations in the District of Columbia and the metropolitan area.

22. DC Citizens get surprised by budgetary demands for major maintenance items that were put off, such as schools and police stations. As Mayor, what will you do to see that the District of Columbia has a capital budget that provides for maintaining the city’s infrastructure?

As I have stated many times in the past, particularly when being questioned about programs which have not been reinstated, we need to invest in infrastructure before we dedicate operational funds. As your mayor, I would conduct a facilities audit of all our agencies in order to determine what is needed to make them fully operational. Two prime examples of the need for this are the school system’s buildings and the Department of Public Work’s vehicle fleet. Both are in serious need of repair. There is no sense in throwing money at agencies or programs that don't have the capacity to spend it usefully.

23. Year, after year, the city’s stock of affordable housing declines. What, if any, strategies would you use to stop the loss of and increase the stock of affordable housing? Support retention of rent control? Adopt and implement a comprehensive affordable housing strategy? Commit to a specific number of affordable housing units during each year of your administration? If so, how many? Initiate employment and social service programs that will enable people who receive housing assistance to become as economically self sufficient as possible? If so, what agencies would be providing these services?

As I stated earlier, the availability of affordable housing and the movement of more families into home ownership are some of the keys to bringing our neighborhoods back to life. Working through the Department of Housing and Community Development, and in conjunction with community development corporations and not-for-profits, we will work to provide low-cost housing to working families. You must remember, however, that simply constructing new homes is not enough. It has to be tied in with the larger plan of economic development to ensure that it has easy access to public transportation, consumer and retail services, and health and child care services. Arbitrarily building new home developments with no thought to these aspects eventually becomes detrimental to the community.

I have always been a fervent supporter of rent control. In fact, without hesitation and in the face of considerable opposition, I have been the leader in the efforts to preserve rent control. While I would like to see more people buy homes in the District, and am working toward that goal, the majority of people in this city rent. As mayor, I would never support legislation to repeal something vital to so many people.

Something I am particularly concerned about is the amount of housing stock in the District that goes vacant every year. As mayor, I would support a plan to buy these units from their owners for renovation and resale to low-income families. DHCD would administer the program and would be responsible for their management during the transition. As part of the process, DHCD would require individuals buying units to attend job-training sessions and help them move toward self-sufficiency.

24. Name two recommendations of the Tax Revision Commission, other that the commuter tax, with which you agree and explain why. If there are not two that you favor, identify two problems the tax commission attempted to address and suggest alternative recommendations.

I have always argued that the District’s tax structure is flawed. Basically, we tax too much, especially in comparison with surrounding jurisdictions who have borne the fruit of businesses and residents choosing to work and live outside the District. The high costs of conducting business here represent lost opportunities to secure a broader, more reliable tax base.

I support the Tax Revision Commission’s proposal to consolidate the three commercial property tax rates into a single commercial property tax, as is the case in Maryland and Virginia. The 1.92% rate proposed by the Tax Review Commission would save commercial (class 4) property taxpayers almost $44 million annually and make the District a significantly more attractive place to conduct business. I believe that continued fiscal and management reforms and a freeze on new spending would offer a potential avenue to compensate for the consequent revenue shortfall.

I support combining residential rates in a single class at the current homeowner rate, but I oppose the commission’s proposal to eliminate the homestead and senior citizens’ exemptions.

I also favor repeal of $250 nonregulatory professional license, an arbitrary and disingenuous fees that drives away business.

25. The District of Columbia’s experience with federal grants is very disappointing. It fails to obtain and, in many cases, even apply for grants that could provide urgently needed funds. Even worse, contracting and grant-making operations in some agencies, such as the Department of Health are so inadequate that the city is unable to spend grant money it does receive. As Mayor, what will you do to turn this situation around?

Currently, the Office of Grants Management for the District is operating without oversight. This would be one of several agencies for which I would propose a major overhaul. First, we need to hire somebody qualified with a proven record of service in this type of financial management. The Office of Grants Management’s primary responsibility would be to identify what federal grants are available to district agencies. They would then educate these agencies in how to apply for and then manage the grants. Each agency in the District should have an arm that will go out and secure this valuable funding. It would be the duty of the Office of Grants Management to see that every agency has this capability. It would then serve an oversight function in order to ensure that the money was being spent properly.

26. Many District children and youth seem to be without opportunities for constructive activities. Cutbacks in recreations services and programs make it very difficult to help youth stay out of trouble. Can the city afford to correct this situation? Can it afford not to? What, if any, role should the Mayor play in expanding after-school and recreational programs particularly undeserved areas of the city?

As part of the education initiative I am proposing, I would create full-service “Community Schools” for our children. They would be open 15 hours a day, six days a week. They would combine education, health, social, and other services. In addition I will shift Title I funding in order to fund the first phase of a Smart Start program for our younger children. This innovative idea which originated in North Carolina, pools private and public funds for a community specific approach to child services. It would provide day care, dental and vision exams, immunization, parenting programs, and much more. The advantage to this program is that the community plays a large role in deciding how the dollars will be spent. This allows more money to be spent directly where it is needed the most and holds the community partly responsible for its success. The before and after-school programs we provide for our children are often times just as important as school itself. Having three young children myself, I am keenly aware of how crucial this stage of a person's development is. I want all our children to have every opportunity we can provide them. As your mayor, I will prove I have the knowledge and the commitment to do just that.