Local
Council to focus on familiar themes in new session
By: Michael Neibauer
Examiner Staff Writer
January 5, 2009
The D.C. Council this week will start its 18th session since Home Rule with one new member and five returning members fresh from their swearing-ins at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center on Friday.
New at-large Councilman Michael Brown, independent, took his first oath of office Friday, while at-large Councilman Kwame Brown, Ward 4 Councilwoman Muriel Bowser, Ward 7 Councilwoman Yvette Alexander and Ward 8 Councilman Marion Barry, all Democrats, took their second. Ward 2 Councilman Jack Evans, D, the body’s elder statesman, was sworn in for a fifth full term.
Council Chairman Vincent Gray, emcee of the event, spoke of ending poverty, improving public education, preserving public safety and securing voting rights. Those issues, he said, will be the council’s focus over the next two years as it continues “along the path of progress.”
The city must reconnect with its youth, preserve the black middle class, protect businesses from overtaxation and win voting rights or statehood, said Michael Brown, the body’s only new member. He also applauded Republican Carol Schwartz, the council member that he replaced.
“There’s a tone we have to change in this city, about treating people with a little more dignity, a little more respect, a little more compassion,” said Brown, a D.C. native and son of the late Commerce Secretary Ron Brown.
The District’s future is bright, said Evans, who first took office on May 15, 1991. The city is well-positioned to handle the recession, he said, but there is still “a lot of work ahead of us.”
“We've never faced the future in a better situation than we have today,” he said.
The council gave itself a raise in late 2006, from $92,520 to $115,000 per year, but the pay increase applied only to newly elected or re-elected members. Evans, Barry and Kwame Brown — one of two members to oppose the increase — were in the middle of their four-year terms at the time and had to wait until 2009 for their salary bump.
There’s not a great deal of action expected during the first legislative meeting of the year on Tuesday. The big news might be the bills that are introduced, and the big question is whether Councilmen David Catania or Jim Graham will float a gay marriage measure.
“I don’t know,” Catania said Friday. “It’ll probably be later.”
New at-large Councilman Michael Brown, independent, took his first oath of office Friday, while at-large Councilman Kwame Brown, Ward 4 Councilwoman Muriel Bowser, Ward 7 Councilwoman Yvette Alexander and Ward 8 Councilman Marion Barry, all Democrats, took their second. Ward 2 Councilman Jack Evans, D, the body’s elder statesman, was sworn in for a fifth full term.
Council Chairman Vincent Gray, emcee of the event, spoke of ending poverty, improving public education, preserving public safety and securing voting rights. Those issues, he said, will be the council’s focus over the next two years as it continues “along the path of progress.”
The city must reconnect with its youth, preserve the black middle class, protect businesses from overtaxation and win voting rights or statehood, said Michael Brown, the body’s only new member. He also applauded Republican Carol Schwartz, the council member that he replaced.
“There’s a tone we have to change in this city, about treating people with a little more dignity, a little more respect, a little more compassion,” said Brown, a D.C. native and son of the late Commerce Secretary Ron Brown.
The District’s future is bright, said Evans, who first took office on May 15, 1991. The city is well-positioned to handle the recession, he said, but there is still “a lot of work ahead of us.”
“We've never faced the future in a better situation than we have today,” he said.
The council gave itself a raise in late 2006, from $92,520 to $115,000 per year, but the pay increase applied only to newly elected or re-elected members. Evans, Barry and Kwame Brown — one of two members to oppose the increase — were in the middle of their four-year terms at the time and had to wait until 2009 for their salary bump.
There’s not a great deal of action expected during the first legislative meeting of the year on Tuesday. The big news might be the bills that are introduced, and the big question is whether Councilmen David Catania or Jim Graham will float a gay marriage measure.
“I don’t know,” Catania said Friday. “It’ll probably be later.”
