D.C. Council Chairman and mayoral hopeful Vincent Gray rolled out his plan to grow the District’s economy through economic development, job creation and bureaucratic cutting as he continued to build support in his stronghold east of the Anacostia River.
Many of the city’s unemployed are on the city’s east side. Although the District averaged a 10 percent unemployment rate in June, Ward 7 was home to a 19 percent unemployment rate and Ward 8 residents suffered from a 30 percent rate.
Gray’s “Plan for Jobs and Economic Development” calls for an “East of the River Planning Group” to be coordinated by the deputy mayor for planning and economic development, one of several projects that would fall under the deputy’s purview in a Gray administration. The planning group “will focus on economic development opportunities in Wards 7 and 8,” the report said.
Those opportunities, the report later says, would include linking public transportation from areas of high unemployment to areas where jobs can be found. Gray says he would also work to align job training programs to meet local hiring needs by engaging employers. He would also rely heavily on the Community College of the District of Columbia to provide training opportunities for residents.
Other key points of Gray’s plan:
» Create health care exchanges so small businesses can pool their resources to buy pricey plans.
» Push federal legislation that would make the District a special tax jurisdiction where catastrophic insurance reserves used to finance auto and banking industry bailouts would be exempt from federal taxes.
» Reduce red tape in the city’s bureaucracy so small businesses can more easily establish themselves and do business in the city.
Gray also used his plan to take swipes at his rival, incumbent Mayor Adrian Fenty.
In response to Gray’s announcement, Fenty made one of his own Wednesday. He awarded $2.5 million in job training grants to D.C. training providers and community-based organizations. Fenty said the cash will go toward helping the unemployed in Wards 5, 7 and 8 by training them for work in “green” industry, health care and information technology — some of the very same fields Gray mentioned in his plan.
mailto:[email protected] “>[email protected]
