David Schwartzman -- Candidate for At-Large Member of the Council of the District of Columbia
My top priority is to confront the crisis of everyday living now faced by a majority of our residents.
Lets organize together for:
More Democracy, not Less!
Reverse the erosion of democracy (e.g., school governance, lack of budget transparency) being pushed by our Mayor.
A tax system and budget that is more transparent and accountable, insuring a detailed review of tax exemptions and abatements for commercial and non-profit properties. Taxpayers and elected officials must be able to evaluate the community benefits (if any) from these tax giveaways to big developers and other corporate interests.
Lets keep Public Property Public. No more real estate sweetheart giveaways or handouts for billionaires – Stop taxpayer-funded subsidies for economic development serving no one but the profiteers.
Progressive taxes for District residents, REDUCE the tax rate for the working class majority, and RAISE it for the top 5% ($252,000 and above family income) and even more for DC millionaires, supporting income security, tax fairness and more revenue targeted to meet essential needs…truly affordable housing for our majority, child care, first rate neighborhood schools…Now the DC tax structure has the top 1% income bracket of families, averaging $3 million/year, paying a lower rate than all families, except for those living in dire poverty. A modest hike in DC millionaire's taxes will generate $ hundreds of millions in revenue, MD has raised their taxes, why can't DC? Obama says he will repeal Bush's tax breaks for the wealthy, why can't our DC Democrats in charge do the same here? (Will my "independent" Republican opponent Catania support this approach even though he has long refused to implement tax fairness?)
DC Jobs for DC Residents! Stronger measures are needed to get big developers to comply with First Source hiring (51% DC residents) and Living Wage requirements (see below). Defeat Poverty in DC: The 30% poverty rate of DC children is a shocking reality, yet our Mayor and the Council have yet to effectively confront this human rights violation against our children. Here’s what I propose: Lets create green jobs for our unemployed, especially our youth with apprenticeship programs in our high schools. Raise the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefit to above poverty level, provide substance abuse treatment for all in need, job training for 21st Century Jobs. Fire Gandhi now! Reorganize the Office of Tax and Revenue to truly serve the majority of DC residents. Get the tax cheaters who are falsely claiming out-of-DC residency to pay DC income taxes. Curb corporate welfare and make our tax structure both progressive and more capable of funding essential needs. BAN THE BOX!: End discrimination against ex-offenders in employment and housing now.
Eco-Action and Health:
Immediate action to curb the childhood asthma epidemic and huge Metro DC carbon emissions driving global warming. A major source of both is traffic congestion especially from commuters, producing air pollution which triggers childhood asthma and other health problems for all residents. Lower Metro fares, not raise them once again as WMATA recently did. Students should ride free, just as in London! Start planning now for a DC Congestion Charge to make this possible. For more information go to:
http://www.dcstatehoodgreen.org/testimony/2010_04_01_wmata_rate_hikes
Traffic fines should be calibrated with income, as is the case in Finland, with the wealthy paying the biggest fine. The fine to income ratio should be the same for all. Traffic fines are going way up. More regressive fees with low income folk hit hardest. Fine revenue should be targeted to fund essential needs in our budget and not go into the general fund. Meanwhile Fenty and Rhee’s offices racked up more than $1,000 in unpaid parking tickets and traffic fines (Washington Post, April 24, 2010, B01).
Dear voter,
I am running for the nomination of the DC Statehood Green Party for the At-Large Council seat. Two seats are up for the November election. Only one seat can be occupied by the three parties with ballot status, the Democratic, Republican and Statehood Green Party. My main opponent will be David Catania, an “independent” Republican and strong ally of Mayor Fenty, who has supported an anti-worker and pro-big business agenda, even more so than most of the Democrats on the Council.
I ran for the same seat in November 2008, gaining 18,596 votes, coming in 3rd ahead of two “independent” Democrats who outspent me 5 to 1. I won the most votes per dollar spent (I raised about $4000; for example the winner, Michael Brown had a campaign treasury of over $220,000. He spent $4/vote (remember his robocalls), I spent 20 cents/vote. I need to raise a lot more money this election simply to get our message out to voters to gain a seat on the Council. So please consider donating a few dollars. But I will not accept corporate donations unlike the Democrats and Republicans. My party refuses to be beholden to corporate interests, rather we pledge to be fully accountable to the great majority of DC residents who have borne the burden of policies coming out of the “Corporate-occupied” Wilson Building.
If elected my office will be an organizing center for all groups and individuals dedicated to improvement of the well being and quality of life of our residents. Unlike most now on the Council my office will not a meeting place for deal-making with big developers and corporations pushing the agenda of selling off public property.
"A more just DC, a better life for all"
~ David Schwartzman, Candidate for DC Statehood Green Party
