City Life--Why Fenty should win, even though he's an insufferable jackass.

Well, looks like DC has got a humdinger of an election coming up for mayor. Before I weigh in and you, god forbid, take anything I'm about to say seriously, read the following paragraph:

Notice. I'm not a DC lifer. I've only been here on and off since 1994. I am not steeped in the history of the District. I have not celebrated each high point, or suffered through every low point. Nor am I in tune with many issues that don't directly affect my dear olde Ward 4. (God, I sound like a nearsighted, gentrificatin', under-educated bag o' dicks when it comes to DC politics, don't I? Please don't answer that.)

Because I have a beard and know how to rock the thoughtful, psudo-intellectual, 'might be an out of work philosophy professor' look while sipping coffee over at Qualia, strangers are always coming up to me and asking for help weighing the pros/cons of Mayor Adrian Fenty and Council ChairVincent Gray. Or, maybe that's just the syphilis hallucinations kicking in and I'm really just giving advice to my thumbs. Again. Either way, my opinion is sought after, be it by real or imaginary appendage folk. Moving on...

Fenty is getting my vote this year. Lest you think I'm just being all cavalier about this decision (you've got SOME attitude!), let me break it down for ya one time. Here's how I'm going to do this. I'm going to rank the issues based on two categories: Shit EVERYONE in DC cares about, and shit only I and a handful of "tweed ride" veteran Ward 4 folk care about. Let's get started.

GET BEHIND THIS DC:

• Public Safety: Crime is down. Even better-- violent crime is down. I haven't heard a gunshot in almost 9 days as of this writing. It's August--I EXPECT to hear shots near every night. (Unless this points to machete specialists MS-13 completing their takeover of the drug trade.)
  
  So, hats off--Fenty and his appointed Chief Lanier must be doing something right, and I'd like it to continue, please and thank you. Gray doesn't even have a public safety plan on his website, and the election is 6 weeks away. So...are you going to get on that, Councilman?

• Education: Fenty appointed Michele Rhee as DC schools Chancellor, and I'd like to see where this story ends, to be perfectly honest. Plus, Fenty stood by her when she fired 241 teachers this past month. That took real guts to let her dismiss that many so close to the election. And maybe just a little bit of stupidity. My kind of public servant.
  
  Gray, again, other than promising education for everyone from birth to age 24, doesn't really have a plan on how to pay for it, nor how to accomplish it. Or, how to deal with under-performing schools. This for me, sums up the Gray campaign--It all sounds great from a distance, but the closer one gets, the less details seem to be available.
  

ALL YOU WARD 4 BICYCLISTS AND STREETCAR LOVERS, LISTEN UP:

• Bicycle Infrastructure: Fenty is an avid bicyclist, so guess what? He takes care of us fellow peddlers. I feel like we could do with some more places to lock up, especially in that CoHi target area, but there's no doubt he's incorporated bicycling into his transportation policy, especially judging by expansion of bike lanes both on 14th and on Georgia Ave. Even though bicycle lanes are death traps. But, another time for that argument.
  

Nothing to say that Gray won't continue this trend--I just don't think it will be one of
his pet projects.

• Streetcar Project: Georgia Avenue: Fenty wants 'em, Gray seems to want to do something a little more worthwhile with the money instead. I want them, because I'd like to see what even more access to Georgia Avenue would do for economic development.
  

Nothing against Vincent Gray, who is the kind of person you want in public service, to be honest. He just doesn't have executive office in him.

I kind of feel the same way about him as I did about Hillary Clinton. I mean, Hillary, by all accounts, was a pretty terrific Senator. But, she gave it all up for a run at president. I mean, what's WRONG with being a good Senator? Why mess with that? Similarly, what's WRONG with being DC council president, with your hands on the purse strings? I don't get it. Maybe it's just because I'm an unmotivated slob.

So, if me and the Washington Post have our way, we'll have four more years of the prickly, irascible, pissed off dandy hat wearer from Mt. Pleasant.