PETE ROSS

CANDIDATE FOR WARD 2 COUNCILMEMBER
www.ward2.com

12 August 2000

Dear Ward 2 Neighbor:

I am a Democratic candidate for City Council for Ward 2. In my initial letter to residents, I told you a little about myself and my reason for running for office. My first challenge is to win the Democratic Primary on September 12. I need your help.

I want you to understand the kind representation you have received during the last nine years in its simplest form. As you know, voting rights are an acutely sensitive topic to residents of this City. Several years ago, the citizens of Washington voted overwhelmingly in favor of a referendum that would limit campaign contributions. Jack Evans was one of -those Councilmembers who voted to reverse that citizen mandate and increase the limit on campaign contributions to its current level. Sound familiar? Sound like Congress?

You may be interested further in seeing who has been contributing to Jack Evans' campaign. That information, which was provided by the Board of Elections and Ethics, is available on my website. Take a look. You'll see that less than 10% of your incumbent's campaign contributions have come from the voters of Ward 2, and you will see that more than 50% of those contributions have come from real estate and real estate-related investors, businesses, and law firms. The information speaks for itself, and Jack Evans' actions speak for themselves.

I abhor the actions of our very own City Councilmember in ignoring the will of the people of Washington. If you want to know what you can expect from me, read on...

As your representative:

• I will deal frankly and openly with residents' concerns, and 1 will respond to all complaints and requests in a timely, courteous manner.
• I will hire a staff that represents the diversity of Ward 2 constituents.
• I will not be employed in an industry that lobbies the City Council.
• I will aggressively support meaningful historic preservation that goes beyond superficial facade restoration and preserves scale as well as substance.
• I will support only those amendments to the Comprehensive Plan that have been subject to full public scrutiny.
• I will support Comprehensive Plan amendments that require Universities and other large tax-exempt institutions to abide by meaningful campus plan boundaries that protect tax-paying residents at all costs.
• I will support Comprehensive Plan amendments that permanently eliminate the potential for over-concentration of ABC establishments in our neighborhoods, which will effectively eliminate the need for moratoriums.
• I will strongly oppose encroachment of office buildings, hotels and other inappropriate non-residential uses into our residential neighborhoods.
• I will not support a baseball stadium or an Intermodal Transportation Center - ITC (a massive parking garage and staging area for trucks, tour buses, and automobiles) in Shaw or NoMa (North of Massachusetts Avenue).
• I will not compromise the goal of concentrating new housing in the East End of downtown, both north and south of Massachusetts Avenue.
• I will support appropriate economic development - especially retail - in the downtown area and in our neighborhood commercial corridors.
• I will limit emergency legislation to real emergencies, rather than using this mechanism to reward special interests or avoid public scrutiny. I will support a process that allows all sides to be heard before decisions are made.
• I will support regulations that ensure the citizens fair compensation for use of public space in all of its forms: sidewalk cafes, utilities in the street, sidewalk vendors, street and alley closings, and public telephones.
• I will require that our precious schoolyards and playgrounds throughout the City be reserved exclusively for the use of children rather than parked cars, businesses such as flea markets, or rats.
• I will welcome community participation in such activities as park maintenance, and I will protect the fruits of their labors rather than let municipal neglect lay waste to their efforts.
• I will work with the Deputy Mayor for Economic Development to ensure that the retail businesses in Southwest benefit equally from the relocation of Federal agencies into the Navy Yard area, as well as those in Southeast.
• I will support strict enforcement of residential parking regulations to ensure that residents living near commercial corridors have priority use of street parking.

If you believe in clean Government, uncorrupted by special interests, and you want a voice in decisions that impact your neighborhood, vote for Pete Ross for Ward 2 Councilmember in the Democratic Primary on September 12, 2000.

Sincerely yours,
Pete Ross