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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote]

Still leaning toward Mendalsohn. He gets sh#t done, even though I don't agree with him on everything. He doesn't make waves and he seems to have a clean nose. Services in the city are decent and I'm loathe to bring in anyone who wants to make it more difficult for businesses to operate.

DC's tax base is in a very precarious position right now and frankly I'm worried about businesses leaving, which then begins a downward spiral for the city.

[b]Sometimes change isn't always good, especially from newcomers with limited experience in government.[/b] It's pretty insane to jump from ANC rep to Chair of the Council. IMHO.
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Agreed.  It is going to be critical over the next five years to have council members who actually understand how the DC budget and DC business interests are intertwined.  It is frightening to think that Mendelson currently has the most knowledge on these issues---but NONE of the rest of the council or candidate Palmer--know anything about business.  Why is this important? City revenues are declining, the city's population isn't growing, and the Council's expenditures keep increasing.

A lot of the city's revenue comes from commercial real estate taxes.  An office building that is occupied by tenants has a much higher tax assessment than a building that is empty.  There are a lot of empty office buildings downtown as tenants are not renewing leases or reducing space as a result of the "work from home" paradigm shift.   The impact of these empty buildings is just starting to be felt, as it takes awhile for a building's assessment to align with its actual value.  So over the next few years, there will be less money coming into the District's coffers. (And while there's lots of talk of trying to convert older office buildings to residential but that is very, very difficult to do successfully---due to the column placement, ceiling heights and lack of light in mid-block circa 1980 office buildings.)  Add to this decline in revenue the fact that the DC Budget has continued to increase substantially over the last several years even though there has been no growth in the District's population.  More expenditures with less revenue is not sustainable.

Here's another example of the Council's lack of business understanding:  the progressive bloc on the Council recently passed "emergency" legislation mandating that all hotel rooms get cleaned daily.  They did this despite the fact that during Covid, neither hotel guests nor hotel employees wanted additional unnecessary exposures, and because there has been an environmental trend to reduce the amount of cleaning chemical use, etc.  So rooms were being cleaned prior to a guest's arrival and after departure but not daily during a guest's stay unless specifically requested by the guest.  The hotel union did not like this and ---because the unions OWN the progressives---that bloc of council members passed "emergency legislation" mandating daily room cleaning.  Passing laws using "emergency legislation" bypasses the usual open hearing and deliberation process, so the hospitality industry had no opportunity to provide input with their perspective on the issue.  (Note that this legislation was passed this spring, even though the true "emergency" days of the pandemic were long over).  [b]The "tips" legislation affecting the restaurant industry is similarly being forced down the throat of the local restaurant industry, even though a substantial proportion of the servers didn't want it.  [/b]

The Council's progressives do not care to understand how different business sectors in the District operate.  [/quote]

First, servers aren’t the only people affected by this; many restaurants tip out other restaurant staff (e.g. bussers, hosts), denying them a living wage. Where are their voices in this conversation?

Second, DC voters overwhelmingly voted for the tipped wage, and the DC Council, led by Mendelson, overrode the will of the voters. Now DC voters will have another chance to vote for the tipped wage. I sure would like to be confident that our next Council chairperson will respect the will of the voters this time around.[/quote]

Yeah, I was actually with the PP on pretty much everything until this. One of the few things I appreciated about Allen et al (who I think are largely ineffectual) was their opposition to the council overriding prop 77. If you followed that debate closely, you'd know that industry was pretty divided on that legislation but that there were still many supporters within the industry. They just tended to be people with less political clout -- not just busters and host, but servers at mid-priced or inexpensive restaurants (where tips are lower because the food costs less), as well as tipped workers outside of restaurants, which includes many (mostly women, many of them immigrants) who work in the beauty industry. The council's decision to override the voters on that issue was a huge eff you to not only the voters, but to the many, many tipped workers in DC who don't wait tables or bartend at popular, high priced restaurants in wealthier neighborhoods. I will probably never forgive the mayor, Mendo, or the other council members who voted to override.

That said, I do think PP makes some good points about the progressive wing of the council. It pains me to say it because I'm progressive, but the way it works in local politics... it doesn't even matter. Most of the time Allen and other progressive are doing absolutely nothing aside from some retail politics on a few pet issues that keeps key constituents happy. Anything hot button (crime, schools) they are mealy mouthed and do nothing. They are fearful of taking a real stand on some of these issues because it is easier to be a "pure" progressive if you don't have to confront some difficult problems. But I don't need a pure progressive. I want someone who actually works for the people.

Christina Henderson is my favorite council member and I'd like to see more candidates like her. She's progressive but practical.[/quote]

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