By Harry Jaffe Buppies and yuppies unite! You hold the power to elect the next mayor of the nation’s capital.
As the race for mayor takes shape, it’s becoming clear the city is already well divided between first-term Mayor Adrian Fenty and D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray. Each can count on about 40 percent of the voters.
Fenty once was the favorite son whose political domain spread from both banks of the Anacostia River west to the Potomac; after spending his first term alienating most residents, his base is down to the white folks he has yet to diss and his family members — and favored contractors.
Gray has yet to break a sweat in his bid. But he has the black middle class in his camp already, simply because he’s not Fenty. The unions love him. The Old Guard that lost out to Fenty in the last campaign is counting on Vince to restore its vintage perks and power.
The balance in some national political races has been at the mercy of soccer moms or Joe six-packs or the Moral Majority. In our little slice of the political world, we are in the thrall of the young urban professionals, of any race or gender.
If there was any doubt, witness Vince Gray’s whiplash-inducing pivot on the matter of funding for D.C.’s streetcar project. Facing difficult choices because of $500 million in revenue shortfalls, Gray cut $47 million from the streetcar program in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. Yuppies yelped.
They started Tweeting and blogging and threatening to flee to Fenty. Gray couldn’t take the heat. Twelve hours later he had “found” the money for the streetcars. He took to the dais to say the city would borrow enough cash to keep the streetcar program in motion.
I am all for most of the novel approaches to transportation that Fenty and transportation chief Gabe Klein have proposed. Devoting lanes on downtown streets for bicyclists? Great idea. More dedicated connector buses for main thoroughfares? Sensible. Streetcars? Gimmicky, unnecessary; unproved and costly. Why try a 19th century technology to solve a 21st century problem?
But streetcars appeal to the yuppies. The idea tickles their cute, toy city bone. Kind of like San Francisco. They are spiffing up H Street Northeast, where the streetcar line would debut. Check the blog traffic that spun Vince Gray’s head; it came from Web sites such as “H Street Great Street” and “Greater Greater Washington.” They called on their supporters to lobby hard against Gray. They did; it worked.
The chairman’s actions were revealing and disappointing on many levels. He showed no backbone; rather, he bowed to pressure. He prefers to serve yuppies rather than the city’s more needy folk. He agreed to cut funds for disability assistance, emergency rental housing and aid to the homeless. He “found” $47 million for streetcars?
But Vince Gray wants the yuppies to love him and vote for him. They are the New Washingtonians. Fenty risks losing these natural allies.
What next — Vince Gray in a smart car?
Harry Jaffe’s column appears on Tuesday and Friday. He can be contacted at [email protected]
