The Jack Evans Report

Jack Evans • May 18, 2011

On April 30, I celebrated my 20th anniversary of being elected to City Council representing Ward 2, and on Friday, May 13, I will celebrate my 20th anniversary of being sworn in, which makes me the longest serving current councilmember. When I finish this term I will be the longest serving councilmember in history; it’s a good time for reflection.

The first Ward 2 Councilmember was John Wilson, who took office in January 1975 and served until December 31, 1990. He was sworn in January 2, 1991 as Chairman of the Council, creating a vacancy, which had 15 candidates in the special election. I won the election with 2,926 votes, 360 more than Jim Zais. Bill Cochran and Clarene Martin each received 1,050 votes.

Sharon Pratt had just been elected Mayor and had taken office in January 1991. The finances of the city were not bleak and two weeks before my swearing in, there were three days of riots in Mt. Pleasant after a rookie police officer shot an Salvadoran man.

Things in the District went from bad to worse. Mayor Pratt, Chairman Wilson and the Council did not have a good working relationship, which meant legislation was hard-pressed to get passed. Then in 1993, Chairman Wilson hung himself in the basement on his Washington home, rocking both the political arena and citizens who had found hope in his leadership. By 1994, the District’s finances had further deteriorated and Mayor Pratt approval ratings declined drastically. The Mayor’s election in 1994 saw the return of Marion Barry as mayor. By the end of 1995, Congress imposed a Control Board, which gave Congress the power to override all financial decisions made by the mayor and city council.

They were turbulent days. The turning point came in 1996, when we saw a resurgence of life come to D.C. With Mayor Williams’ election in 1998, he joined Chairman Linda Cropp, with myself as finance and revenue chairman and chief financial officer Natwar Gandhi to lead the city in a comeback in both business and population. As I look back, I remember great challenges and great progress. Our city stands today as one of the most dynamic in the country, with strong finances and a AAA bond rating, a measure of how financially stable an institution is.

I was 37 years old, single and living in a condo in Dupont Circle when I was first elected. My mother died on Mother’s Day in 1993 and my Dad in 1996. I married Noel, my first wife, in 1994 and moved to 32nd Street in Georgetown. We got a dog in 1995 and then had triplets in 1996. We moved to P Street in Georgetown and I was reelected in five subsequent elections.

In 2003, Noel died of cancer. Kayla died in 2007, a year after getting another dog. I married Michele, the woman I am still married to, in September 2010 and am running for re-election in 2012. I just celebrated my 40th high school reunion.

Life as a city council member does not always lend itself to working eight hours a day or normalcy in the traditional sense, but I wouldn’t trade any of it. My identity as a politician and family man has defined my life. There is still much work to be done and I look forward to a great future.

Georgetowner • May 4, 2011

This week Council’s Subcommittee on Redistricting held two public hearings in the Council Chamber. According to federal law, the District must perform a redistricting of its eight Wards within 90 days of the Council’s receipt of the Census report, which happens every ten years. This year we have to complete our work by July 14. After the Ward redistricting process is complete, the Council will review and make adjustments to the boundaries of the Advisory Neighborhood Commissions (ANCs) and Single Member Districts (SMDs), both slated for this fall, with the entire process wrapping up by the end of the year.

In my 20 years on the Council, there is no issue I have encountered that evokes a stronger emotional reaction than redistricting. There are two primary approaches the Council could take in reviewing the Ward boundaries. One, to move as few people as possible within the outskirts of the legal parameters we face would attempt to minimize the disruption to the extent we can. Another, to move each ward as close to the mean as possible with the rationale that it is not fair to have Wards 7 and 8 as the lowest populated Wards in the District. There is no way to make everyone happy in the redistricting process, but my goal will be to maintain and reunite neighborhoods when possible, making use of census tract lines, natural boundaries and major traffic arteries to create logical Ward borders within the framework imposed on us by federal law.

The average population of all the Wards of the city is 75,215, based on a total District population of 601,723. When divided by eight, this creates a “target,” or benchmark number for the Council to use in determining necessary changes in boundary lines. The minimum allowable population per ward is 71,455, and the maximum population 78,976. According to the Census data, this means that Ward 2 must lose at least 939 residents to be within the statutory requirements, or as many as 4,700 residents to get to the average population. In contrast, Ward 7 must gain at least 386 residents or 4,137, to get to the target. Ward 8 must gain at least 742 residents at minimum or 4,503 to get to the target number. With regard to SMDs, the target size is 2,000, with an ideal number of 301 SMDs. The minimum population for an SMD is 1,900, and the maximum population 2,100.

The process is far from complete. We heard from a number of witnesses this week and will continue to consider input received electronically or by mail in the coming days, before introducing a plan for mark-up in the next several weeks. After the mark-up, the Subcommittee on Redistricting will hold a third hearing to receive public input on the plan, prior to its review by the full Council. I invite all residents to participate in this process and to visit our redistricting website at DCCouncil.us/Redistricting2011, which has important information about the redistricting process.

Georgetowner • April 20, 2011

Georgetowner •

On April 1, Mayor Gray submitted his Fiscal Year 2012 budget proposal to the City Council.

The total budget for the District is $9.6 billion. Of that amount, 58% or $5.5 billion are locally raised funds, 27% or $2.6 billion are federal grants, and the remainder is enterprise funds raised and spent by entities such as the Convention Center and Water Authority. The federal money is the same amount proportionally that the states receive. I must stress that the federal government does not make any separate contribution to the District. This federal payment was eliminated in 1996.

The unique problem with the Mayor’s budget is that it calls for $300 million more in spending than the FY 2011 budget. The budget has grown by over 3% when budgets of cities and states nationwide are shrinking. The Mayor then intends to pay for this increase by cutting spending by $187 million and by raising taxes $127 million. The spending cuts are modest and do not have any measurable effect. It is interesting to note that the DCPS budget actually increases, the only school budget in the nation to do so.

The proposed tax increases are problematic. The budget increases the income tax on persons making over $200,000 from 8.5% to 8.9%, the sales tax from 5.75% to 6%, and the parking tax from 12% to 19%. It also extends the sales tax to live theatre events, implements combined reporting on corporations and doubles the Circulator bus fee from $1 to $2.

This budget marks the first time the City has proposed raising the income tax in thirty years and will once again make the District the highest taxed in the region and the fifth highest in the nation. The other tax increases are also anti-business and not competitive. None of these tax increases are necessary.

If the Mayor wants to increase spending in certain areas, he should offset those increases by making hard decisions to spend less elsewhere. This has not happened.

Absent from the budget are any funds to increase the size of our police force to 4,000 sworn officers. Because of reductions in the public safety budget, the police force is in danger of falling below 3,800 officers that Chief Lanier believes to be necessary. The City needs at least $40 million to get back to the 4,000-officer level.

I will be working with my colleagues on the Council to eliminate these tax increases and to fund our police department. Last year for the first time, I voted no on the FY 2011 budget. We cannot afford to move forward another budget in which we don’t live within our means.

Georgetowner • April 5, 2011

It is that time of the year when everyone is giving their “State of the […]” speeches. The President delivered his State of the Union. The Mayor delivered his State of the City. Some of my Council colleagues even give “State of the Ward” speeches. So instead of a speech, I thought I would relate my own “State of the City” here.

I would not trade our situation in Washington for any other jurisdiction – city, county, or state. Financially, we are in a better position than every other city and state. Although we face serious budget shortfalls, they in no way impair our ability to provide for our residents and businesses. In fact, we will be spending as much in Fiscal Year 2012 as we have ever spent. Our problem is that we don’t spend our money wisely. We continue to spend over half of our revenues on social services and education without demanding high quality services.

In terms of public safety, our city is safer than at any other time in the last 20 years. Violent crime is way down and still declining. Although robberies and theft are high so far for this year, we can and will address that. My major concern is to hold our police force at 4,000 officers. We are currently at 3,850 and losing 15 officers per month to retirement and relocations. I will be identifying funds and a plan to bring us back up to 4,000 officers.

Our public school system continues to struggle. The jury is still out on our progress over the past several years. We have done much in the area of school renovation, but not as much to reform education.

Finally, I am greatly concerned about the scandals surrounding Mayor Gray, Council Chairman Kwame Brown, and some of my fellow Councilmembers. The scandals have really hurt the District’s image over the past three months and have partially undone 10 years of hard work. The individuals involved need to bring these issues to a conclusion and act accordingly. We have too many challenges ahead of us for these distractions.

Overall the state of our city is good, but we still have a ways to go. I am committed to getting us there.

Georgetowner • March 22, 2011

It’s springtime, and one’s idle thoughts turn to baseball. March 31 is opening day for the Washington Nationals. At 1:05pm, the Nats take on the Atlanta Braves in the season opener at Nationals Park.

Since the Nationals started playing baseball in RFK stadium in April 2005, I have attended every opening game. Although I had never attended an opening game for any team before and had been to very few baseball games, I have come to look forward to baseball season. This year, the Nationals should be better. Having finished in last place every season since 2005, we are all hoping for some improvement. Certainly, the team has acquired a lot of talent during the offseason. The question is how improved our pitching rotation is.

Little is heard anymore about the decision to bring a baseball team to Washington and to build a new stadium. The stadium has worked out better than anticipated. The District borrowed $584 million to build the stadium and identified other sources of revenue to pay off the loan: 1.) a 1% increase in the commercial utility tax; 2.) a tax on businesses with gross receipts of over $5 million; and 3.) revenue generated from the stadium itself, including rent and sales tax on concessions, tickets and apparel.

Together, these taxes raised $14 million more than is necessary to pay the debt service. All contingency funds have been fully funded and the excess revenue will be used to pay off the bonds early. This stadium financing method is used as a model by other jurisdictions.

Development around the stadium has occurred but has been slowed by the recession. Recently, with credit markets becoming more accessible, development is proceeding. I stated at the time that it would take ten years to build out the area. Keep in mind that it took that long to develop the area around the Verizon Center, a part of town which was much more commercially developed than the baseball stadium area.

So as we look forward to another season, if you are a baseball fan, make sure to run over to a game after work or on a sunny weekend. Play ball.

Georgetowner • March 9, 2011

It has not been a good two weeks for the District.
Two Sundays ago, District residents learned from the Washington Post that Kwame Brown, the Chairman of the City Council, was responsible for the city leasing two “fully loaded” 2011 Lincoln Navigator SUVs at $1600 and $1900 per month, respectively. As if it wasn’t enough that the cost was excessive in these difficult times, he also rejected the first SUV because the interior was the wrong color. The fact that the city already had a car for the Chairman made it even worse.
The Post also ran a story stating that Mayor Vincent Gray had hired many senior staff at record salaries and had hired the children of some of his staff members. Also, the Mayor himself had a “fully loaded” 2010 Lincoln Navigator SUV leased for him by the Metropolitan Police Department at $1900 per month. As the week went on, the stories got worse.
It was learned that the administration had hired Mr. Sulaimon Brown for $110,000 per year. The next day, when it was discovered that Mr. Brown had a checkered past, he was fired. This led to a press frenzy and allegations that the Mayor was hiding from reporters.
Then, as if it couldn’t get any worse, it was disclosed that Dr. Allen Sessoms, President of the University of the District of Columbia, had spent thousands of dollars on travel and, you guessed it, had leased a “fully loaded” Lincoln Navigator SUV.
Everyone in the city was taken aback by these events. At a time when the city is struggling to balance its budget and show Wall Street and the new Republican Congress that we are acting responsibly, these revelations have done nothing to bolster the District’s image.
Mayor Gray, Chairman Brown and President Sessoms all need to address these issues head-on. In the case of Kwame Brown, the Attorney General is negotiating to return the two SUVs. Whatever cost the city incurs must be paid by Kwame Brown and not the taxpayers. If it means paying the city $17,000, so be it. Dr. Sessoms must also explain and justify his expenses or, as in the case of Kwame Brown, reimburse the University.
Let’s hope that these events are one-time lapses in judgment and are not repeated. The District cannot afford to once again become the butt of late night television jokes. It took many of us too long to undo the damage the last time this happened.

Georgetowner • February 22, 2011

As many of you are likely aware, my longtime friend and Committee Clerk, Jeff Coudriet, recently lost his fight with cancer. Ward 2 and the entire city have experienced a great loss.

Jeff served as my Clerk for the Committee on Finance and Revenue and knew the District’s budget and financial workings like no other. It was exemplary of this character that he always took the time to share this knowledge with others—new Council staff, members of the media, and anyone else who might be interested in the workings of the District.

Over a decade of public service to Washington also took Jeff to the Alcoholic Beverage Regulatory Administration and the office of Ward 6 Councilmember Sharon Ambrose. He served as President of the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance, the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, and as a board member of the Logan Circle Community Association. Jeff stayed just as busy outside of the Wilson building as he did while at work, and we are all better off for it.

Jeff was a part of a special group of dedicated Ward 2 residents who worked so hard to make our neighborhoods and our city great. He was one of the most positive, uplifting, and inspiring people I have ever known or worked with. I valued his loyalty, his support, and above all his friendship.

As we go through our daily lives, drone on through deadlines, and move from function to function, I know that when my spirit begins to sag, I can recall those things that made Jeff so special—intelligence, charm, enthusiasm, and love of life—and feel rejuvenated. Anyone who knew Jeff at all knew that he was one who strived to leave the world better than he found it.

It is impossible to put into words the contributions Jeff made to our city and its residents and the loss we are all feeling now that he is gone. My staff and I extend our condolences to Jeff’s family and friends, and deeply mourn his passing.

Donations in Jeff’s memory can be made to the Jeff Coudriet Memorial Community Education Fund, Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, 1929 18th Street, NW, PMB 2000, Washington, DC, 20009 or online at SteinDemocrats.org. Funds given in Jeff’s name will be used to support community education activities and events during the annual Pride Season.

Georgetowner • January 26, 2011

Every ten years, all Colleges and Universities in the District of Columbia must file a Campus Plan with the DC Zoning Commission. For Georgetown University, their next ten-year plan was due before December 31, 2010, and they officially filed it on December 30.

The original proposal presented to the community included plans for an increase in student enrollment from 2009 levels. It did not provide any additional housing on the traditional campus. The plan proposed converting the University-owned property on what is known as the “1789 Block” into mixed-use buildings, constructing an 83-foot tall smokestack to replace a 10-foot tall chimney, and adding 700 parking spaces to accommodate additional traffic to the campus and hospital.

Although the Campus Plan filed by the University removed the development proposal for the 1789 block and the construction of the new smokestack, which were non-starters to begin with, the plan filed did not include any language to address the off-campus student population.

The single most important issue raised by the community is increasing on-campus student housing, specifically behind the gates at 37th and O Streets, NW, with the goal of having all students housed on campus. Even if students who live off-campus in our neighborhood are well behaved, it is too much of a strain on residents. When you have houses and tenants that are not well behaved, the burden becomes impossible.

I was very disappointed with the plan filed, and I have strongly urged Georgetown University to rethink their campus plan filing and produce a plan that houses 100% of undergraduate students on campus.

Georgetowner • January 12, 2011

Happy New Year!

After all the election events of last year, we are settling into the New Year at the John A. Wilson building and the beginning of Council Period 19. We have a new Mayor, Vince Gray, and a new Council Chairman, Kwame Brown. Everyone is eager to get to work on the challenges facing the city. Chief among these challenges is the need to live within our means while we preserve core government functions.

For Council Period 19, I will continue on as Chairperson of the Committee on Finance and Revenue, which is responsible for matters relating to taxation and revenue, as well as general obligation bond acts, revenue anticipation notes, industrial revenue bonds, and new to the Committee, the Convention Center and Sports Authority. The committee has oversight over the following agencies:

Office of the Chief Financial Officer
Office of Financial Management
Office of Financial Operations
Office of Finance and Treasury
Office of Tax and Revenue
District of Columbia Lottery and Charitable Games Control Board
Washington Convention and Sports Authority
Board of Real Property Assessments and Appeals
Destination DC (Washington, DC Convention & Tourism Corporation)
Multistate Tax Commission

Joining me on the Committee will be Councilmembers David Catania, Michael Brown, Muriel Bowser and Marion Barry. I will also continue to serve as a Member of the Committee on Economic Development, the Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary. Other Committee assignments were made to various Councilmembers.

In what is a once-a -ecade ritual, I will co-chair, along with Councilmember Michael Brown, the Council’s Subcommittee on Redistricting, which is responsible for developing a realignment and reapportionment of the District’s political subdivisions based on the 2010 Census.

I’m excited and ready to get to work in Council Period 19. We have some important and tough decisions ahead, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to continue to move our city forward.