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WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Members of the D.C. Statehood Green Party
blasted plans by Mayor Anthony Williams and D.C. City Council for major
sports facilities and related projects, to be funded with the money of
D.C. taxpayers but with minimal public accountability or involvement in
the decision.
"It's clear that by the time public hearings are allowed on
projects like this, they're already a done deal," said Crystal
Sylvia, a party member and an organizer in the Health Care Now
Coalition. "That's what happened with the new convention center,
which is costing taxpayers close to $1 billion. During meetings on the
D.C. General land transfer, the D.C. Office of Planning has made it
known that they intend to build a stadium adjacent to RFK for D.C.
United, the soccer team, in addition to a baseball stadium. But
we've seen no public announcement from the mayor about this in the
media."
"The Mayor talks about achieving representation for D.C. in
Congress, but his administration has violated the basic principles of
democracy ever since his election in 1998," said Steve Donkin,
referring to Mayor Williams 'State of the District' address at Dunbar
High School on Tuesday, March 5. Donkin will make a formal announcement
soon that he will seek the D.C. Statehood Green Party's nomination for
Mayor of Washington, D.C. in the 2002 election.
"The Mayor's flouting of campaign contribution laws, his
dismantling of D.C. General Hospital, his 1999 threat against UDC, his
privatization of public services and resources, and now the construction
of publicly funded sports facilities in preparation for the bid for the
2012 Olympics -- these are schemes to satisfy the agenda of the
Financial Control Board and conservatives in Congress, and to serve the
Mayor's backers in the real estate, hotel, insurance, and other
corporate lobbies, in contempt of the needs and demands of D.C.
residents."
"Democracy in D.C. will not be achieved by the D.C. vote -- by
representation in Congress," added party member Gail Dixon, a
former elected member of the D.C. Board of Education. "It'll be
achieved when District residents gain the power of political
self-determination with the option for statehood, and when our own local
elected officials show accountability to the people of D.C. instead of
to powerful business elites. Without both of these, democracy doesn't
exist. This is what the Statehood Party has demanded for 30 years, since
the days of Julius Hobson and Josephine Butler, and it's what citizens
must demand now, for ourselves and our children."
While praising the Mayor's announcement of raises for District teachers,
Statehood Greens note that it coincides with growing publicity about the
stadium construction and the 2012 Olympics bid -- and a freeze on the
purchase of school supplies, announced on Friday, March 8, until the end
of the year because of a budget shortfall.
"It's an obscenity that education has languished, including
athletics and other programs, while the Mayor and Council members and
their business cronies having been making plans for multi-million dollar
stadiums," said Statehood Green activist Debby Hanrahan.
"Right now D.C. public schools have only one regulation baseball
field. How dare we fund stadiums and Olympic construction before we have
sufficient school sports equipment and programs, music and art,
tutoring, safe schools, and all the other necessities of
education!"
Mayor Williams recently told a group of high school students that
congressional oversight of D.C. is "immoral," although he
himself served as Chief Financial Officer for Congress's takeover of the
District. During his March 5 speech, Mayor Williams asserted that
"The Control Board is not coming back on my watch." Statehood
Greens point out that the Financial Control Board -- his former employer
-- doesn't need to return, since the Mayor himself is enacting many of
the Control Board's and Congress's most regressive and harmful policies:
privatizing public services and soaking taxpayers for projects to
benefit corporate cronies.
FIELD OF SCHEMES
D.C. Statehood Greens recommend the exposi "Field of Schemes: How
The Great Stadium Swindle Turns Public Money Into Private Profit"
by Joanna Cagan and Neil deMause, for investigative reporters and D.C.
residents who want to understand the stadium scam.
In August, 2000, Mayor Williams hosted a luncheon for Republican
politicians in Philadelphia during the Republican National Convention.
During the luncheon, Mayor Williams boasted to Republicans that his
administration is "building oversight,"
"accountability," and "review," and claimed,
"We're about bringing back this city and making this city
accountable for results for our people." But the theme of the
luncheon was not health care, housing, good schools, or democracy for
D.C. It was "Bring Baseball Back to Washington" -- building a
new ballpark in the District.
"New stadiums and arenas are overwhelmingly built with taxpayer
money -- an estimated $11 billion of it over the course of the 1990s,
plus billions more in hidden tax subsidies and 'infrastructure'
improvements. The best way to get rich at public expense today is to own
a sports franchise. In cities like Cleveland and Baltimore,...
sports-themed urban 'renaissances' have done nothing to help city
schools and neighborhoods scrambling for funds." --
"Field of Schemes"
"The theme of the Mayor's speech, 'One City, One Voice,' shows how
poorly he understands democracy," noted Angela Flynn, a member of
the D.C. Statehood Green Party's steering committee. "Democracy
means many voices and the right to speak freely for ourselves. Mayor
Williams doesn't speak for me. He doesn't speak for all those D.C.
residents who will suffer lack of health care, displacement from their
homes, and the waste of the money we pay in taxes because of his
policies. 'One City, One Voice' means that the rest of us don't
count!"
Contact:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator 202-518-5624, scottmclarty@yahoo.com
More Information:
The D.C. Statehood Green Party http://www.dcstatehoodgreen.org
Field of Schemes: How The Great Stadium Swindle Turns Public Money Into
Private Profit. Book by Joanna Cagan and Neil deMause http://www.fieldofschemes.com
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