One last post about DC

(written in DC, posted from Chicago, why can’t wifi be everywhere?)

Election fever is getting under way throughout the US as Senators, Representatives, mayors and councils approach November’s mid-term ballot. DC is a little different, having no voting representation at Congress. But the local government elections are still taking place, and midweek I bumped into Mayor Fenty out on the campaign trail as he seeks re-nomination as the Democratic candidate in the Primary process. Lots of placards, lots of enthusiasm, and good natured rivalry between the teams of volunteers, each praising their candidate to the skies. All so familiar.

Later that day I met some locals who were less impressed with their political masters:

On a long hot walk back from the launderette (hotel fees for laundry are extortionate!) I was making my way along Rhode Island Avenue and saw a small huddle of tents on an otherwise disused patch of land, surrounded by railings festooned with slogans, flyers and peace flags.

The locals here claim that the site, known as Parcel 42, had been promised for affordable housing, for which there is a serious shortage especially for returning soldiers. Mayor Fenty, they said, had then changed his mind and promised the site to a commercial property developer. Some things, it seems, are not so different in the US after all.

In response, the locals decided to occupy the site. This weekend they will be holding a demonstration outside the Mayor’s office and, while I’m sorry I can’t join them, I wish them well.