Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree with her on some issues, but can't get pass her views on homeless encampments and abolishing the police. I'm sticking with the devil I know.

I went looking for “abolish the police” on her website but couldn’t find anything. Can you share a citation?

It's part of her stump speech and was also in the Washington Post election guide that was published on Sunday. More violence interrupters and less police. I'm not sure she has said abolish, but she is definitely 100% de-fund.

Ummm. No. She is not. She has essentially the same position as everyone else running. Fund better. More mental health supports. More transparency.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree with her on some issues, but can't get pass her views on homeless encampments and abolishing the police. I'm sticking with the devil I know.

I went looking for “abolish the police” on her website but couldn’t find anything. Can you share a citation?

It's part of her stump speech and was also in the Washington Post election guide that was published on Sunday. More violence interrupters and less police. I'm not sure she has said abolish, but she is definitely 100% de-fund.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree with her on some issues, but can't get pass her views on homeless encampments and abolishing the police. I'm sticking with the devil I know.

I went looking for “abolish the police” on her website but couldn’t find anything. Can you share a citation?

It's on their GQP talking points website, but they swear they are DC Democrats. Lol.

I hope they aren't getting paid for this because it's pretty transparent.

Anonymous wrote:I agree with her on some issues, but can't get pass her views on homeless encampments and abolishing the police. I'm sticking with the devil I know.

I went looking for “abolish the police” on her website but couldn’t find anything. Can you share a citation?

I agree with her on some issues, but can't get pass her views on homeless encampments and abolishing the police. I'm sticking with the devil I know.

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.

Sometimes change isn't always good, especially from newcomers with limited experience in government. 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). 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.

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

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.

Sometimes change isn't always good, especially from newcomers with limited experience in government. It's pretty insane to jump from ANC rep to Chair of the Council. IMHO.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Erin Palmer is endorsed by Washington Teachers Union, which is why she opposed reopening. Same with Janeese Lewis George, Robert White, Brianne Nadeau, Charles Allen, and others. It's not just a matter of keeping schools open; it's every educational policy that's pro children vs. pro employment benefits. For example, some of these progressives are trying to eliminate testing under the pretext of spending more time teaching, but the reality is WTU wants testing eliminated so there's no hard data to hold teachers accountable.

I'm a parent and I want PARCC eliminated because it's a waste of time and doesn't help my kids in the least. I'm not even going to stay with the rest of your right wing talking points. Good luck voting for your Republican, I'm very happy with Janeese Lewis George as my council member, and I'll be very happy if we get Erin Palmer and Robert White in office.

Exactly. The people testing helps are not in the school buildings. It’s a waste of everyone’s time, and the sooner it’s gone, the better.

TBH my child improved more in writing in the lead-up to PARCC than he had all year. I do think there's a disproportionate focus on PARCC (seems to take up two whole months) but it definitely is a positive. It's also very helpful in assessing MS and HS options.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Erin Palmer is endorsed by Washington Teachers Union, which is why she opposed reopening. Same with Janeese Lewis George, Robert White, Brianne Nadeau, Charles Allen, and others. It's not just a matter of keeping schools open; it's every educational policy that's pro children vs. pro employment benefits. For example, some of these progressives are trying to eliminate testing under the pretext of spending more time teaching, but the reality is WTU wants testing eliminated so there's no hard data to hold teachers accountable.

Oh, well that decides my vote against her.

Lol, the only people that I know who are very anti-WTU are not able to vote in the Dem primary in DC. So have fun voting against her in the general election I guess.

Ok. I've never voted for an R in my life.

I don't know if you paid attention to the various schools discussions over the past 2 years, but during the school closures a lot of people discussed how their support for the WTU ended. They are all D's.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would vote for her if she could say something like "I will definitely not support council efforts to close schools again and move to return normalcy to kids." Hell, I'd vote for Mendo if he said that.

One issue voter right now.

In what universe do you think the Council is going to move to close schools again? That ship has sailed. No one even has the guts to propose a return to mandatory masks in schools when disease spread is high. It’s normal again, whether we like it or not. Time to find a new issue to obsess over.

Well, when the Council considered closing schools in January, 2022, I began to think all bets are off. I have zero trust that the wackadoodles on the Council won't try something again. Hell, we are still the only place in the country with a vaccine mandate for all schoolkids, despite the fact that the vaccines for the 5-11 set are proving to be fairly useless for the people that get them or for anyone around them.

Stop spreading misinformation. It protects them against hospitalization and severe disease.

It's not. The risk for hospitalization and death is tiny for that age category. Cutting in half a tiny number is a tiny number. And basically has no impact on transmission (hence no protective effect on others). Add to that declining efficacy over time.

Plus does the Council even get that you have a high percentage of AA kids who aren't getting vaccinated, and do they care what a mandatory vax would mean for those kids' attendance and school retention? The Council is nuts around this issue. They shouldn't be trusted trying to make decisions about schools and covid.

Anonymous wrote:Her constituent services at the ANC level have been fantastic!

I agree. I'm in her ANC and her constituent services are top notch. She works hard, unlike Mendelson who is just hoping to coast.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Erin Palmer is endorsed by Washington Teachers Union, which is why she opposed reopening. Same with Janeese Lewis George, Robert White, Brianne Nadeau, Charles Allen, and others. It's not just a matter of keeping schools open; it's every educational policy that's pro children vs. pro employment benefits. For example, some of these progressives are trying to eliminate testing under the pretext of spending more time teaching, but the reality is WTU wants testing eliminated so there's no hard data to hold teachers accountable.

Oh, well that decides my vote against her.

Lol, the only people that I know who are very anti-WTU are not able to vote in the Dem primary in DC. So have fun voting against her in the general election I guess.

I wish that were true, but LOTS of Dems are anti-union and anti-WTU in particular. Lots. So I wouldn’t take this to the bank.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Erin Palmer is endorsed by Washington Teachers Union, which is why she opposed reopening. Same with Janeese Lewis George, Robert White, Brianne Nadeau, Charles Allen, and others. It's not just a matter of keeping schools open; it's every educational policy that's pro children vs. pro employment benefits. For example, some of these progressives are trying to eliminate testing under the pretext of spending more time teaching, but the reality is WTU wants testing eliminated so there's no hard data to hold teachers accountable.

Oh, well that decides my vote against her.

Lol, the only people that I know who are very anti-WTU are not able to vote in the Dem primary in DC. So have fun voting against her in the general election I guess.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would vote for her if she could say something like "I will definitely not support council efforts to close schools again and move to return normalcy to kids." Hell, I'd vote for Mendo if he said that.

One issue voter right now.

In what universe do you think the Council is going to move to close schools again? That ship has sailed. No one even has the guts to propose a return to mandatory masks in schools when disease spread is high. It’s normal again, whether we like it or not. Time to find a new issue to obsess over.

Well, when the Council considered closing schools in January, 2022, I began to think all bets are off. I have zero trust that the wackadoodles on the Council won't try something again. Hell, we are still the only place in the country with a vaccine mandate for all schoolkids, despite the fact that the vaccines for the 5-11 set are proving to be fairly useless for the people that get them or for anyone around them.

Stop spreading misinformation. It protects them against hospitalization and severe disease.

Anonymous wrote:Erin Palmer is endorsed by Washington Teachers Union, which is why she opposed reopening. Same with Janeese Lewis George, Robert White, Brianne Nadeau, Charles Allen, and others. It's not just a matter of keeping schools open; it's every educational policy that's pro children vs. pro employment benefits. For example, some of these progressives are trying to eliminate testing under the pretext of spending more time teaching, but the reality is WTU wants testing eliminated so there's no hard data to hold teachers accountable.

Oh, well that decides my vote against her.