D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray showed up for his keynote address at the Urban Land Institute’s annual real estate conference proudly waving his arrest citation and still sporting the zip tie on his right wrist.
“I call this my badge of honor,” he told the forum of several hundred area developers.
Gray spent nearly eight minutes recounting his arrest for disorderly conduct Monday night when he and several D.C. Council members protested the federal budget bill that woul strip funding for some services in the city. He said the group hadn’t started out with the intent to be arrested on Capitol Hill.
“It was one of those things, as you’re marching, the spirit moves you,” Gray said. “It just seemed it was our right to let them know the District has been treated shabbily.”
He said the march wasn’t a statement on abortion or needle exchange clinics, although he did note that D.C. has one of the highest HIV infection rates in the nation. Rather, Gray said, it was about the District getting autonomy.
“I don’t understand why the District of Columbia has to be the laboratory for the ideological views of others,” he said.
Gray also drew laughs when he noted that his daughter bailed him out by bringing the $50 for the citation.
“It’s really heartwarming to see when your kids really care about you,” he joked.
