Alexander For Ward 5 City Council

…Because You Know That It's Time For A Change!

Our 5 Goals For Ward 5

Ian Alexander has developed a strategic plan for Ward 5 that will 1) improve the image of our ward; 2) promote economic development within our ward; 3) promote services and programs that benefit our residential neighborhoods in the ward; 4) establish crime prevention programs within our ward; and 5) improve recreational and educational opportunities for our children and seniors.

1. IMPROVING THE IMAGE OF OUR WARD

Ward 5 is plagued by an abundance of liquor stores, abandoned properties, and trash transfer stations. These problems are located right next to our homes. They not only tarnish the image of the ward, but also reduce its attractiveness to new homebuyers and businesses. If elected, Ian Alexander will seek to ban the issuance of new liquor store licenses in our ward and would work closely with neighborhood leaders, ANCs, law enforcement officers, and community activists to close those problem liquor stores. He would fight to remove the problem waste transfer stations in the ward by proposing new legislation. Also, because the current tax code that establishes the higher tax rate for vacant properties has too many loopholes to be effective, Mr. Alexander will also sponsor tough, new legislation regarding vacant property tax rates.

2. PROMOTING ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN OUR WARD

Ward 5 has the largest amount of industrial space of all the wards in the city. However, most of that space is not being used. The New York Avenue corridor is perhaps one of the most valuable tracts of land in the city. If elected, Mr. Alexander will initiate legislation to provide tax relief for community friendly businesses and seek to further streamline the process of establishing and locating a new business in the District — this will bring many new jobs into Ward 5! He will lobby the area’s grocery store chains and encourage them to open more stores in Ward 5. Currently, Ward 5 has only two food shopping centers that serve its 67,600 residents. Because economic development cannot be successful without job training, Mr. Alexander will promote the formation of job training programs that provide apprenticeships for at-risk youth.

3. PROMOTING PROGRAMS AND SERVICES THAT BENEFIT THE RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOODS OF OUR WARD

If elected, Mr. Alexander will fight to keep the homestead exemption that provides a lower property tax rate for owners who live in their own homes. The Control Board is considering eliminating this exemption! He will work closely with the Department of Public Works to re-establish services such as street and alley cleaning, mowing our public parks, trimming our trees and planting new ones. He would also like to see the return of bulk-trash pick-up and the return of our recycling program.  These services have been eliminated or reduced during the city’s fiscal crisis. Alexander want to work with the police department on pursuing aggressive drivers who threaten the safety of our youth and seniors.

4. ESTABLISHING MORE CRIME PREVENTION PROGRAMS WITHIN OUR WARD

Although crime is down in Ward 5, we have nothing to celebrate. Unfortunately, many of our citizens do not feel comfortable taking an evening stroll through their neighborhoods. Ward 5 still has the highest high school dropout rate and highest youth-incarceration rate in the city. If elected, Alexander will work to establish peer mediation between rival gangs in Ward 5. Such programs have proven successful in other parts of our city. He will lobby to expand the scope of the Community Prosecution Initiative. This would assign a prosecutor to handle all cases within the police service areas of Ward 5. Currently, only those residents served by the Fifth Police District are covered by this successful program. Mr. Alexander will request that rigorous enforcement of drug-free zones around schools. He will encourage the public works, police, fire, and housing departments to form joint task forces to close down crack houses and open-air drug markets in our neighborhoods.

Many neighborhoods of Ward 5 have inadequate recreation facilities for youth and seniors. Mr. Alexander will propose establishing facilities that can accommodate both youth and seniors so that the two groups can successfully interact. There is so much that our youth can learn from the more senior members of our community. These facilities will be state-of-the-art recreation centers constructed in various hubs of the ward, each of which would specialize in a particular area, such as team sports, dancing and the arts, or computer science. He would also promote programs to combat teen pregnancy, teen drug use and drug dealing by teens.

5. IMPROVE EDUCATIONAL OPTIONS FOR CHILDREN AND SENIORS

Next to a healthy home life, education is the most important part of a child's life. Schools should be child centered, but ours are bureaucrat heavy. Until recently, for every 10 students, there were three administrators, yet in some cases, one teacher for every 35 students. To support this bureaucratic nightmare, our teachers are overburdened with unnecessary paperwork when they could be spending more planning time for the classroom. If elected, Alexander would provide rigorous oversight on the Council and work closely with the community, Board of Education, Control Board, and Congress to provide common sense solutions to these complex problems. Alexander also supports School Choice and is in favor of the Charter School Program. He also does not want to see the current Out-of-Boundary Program dismantled by the current Public School Administration.

ABOUT IAN ALEXANDER

Ian Alexander, the son of two public school teachers, is originally from Poughkeepsie, New York. He has resided in Ward 5 since 1995. As a student at Catholic University, he was the first Black to serve as President of the Student Government.

He was the youngest member elected to the Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC 5C-12) representing part of the Brookland community and still holds this position. As a community leader, he has advised the District Government and City Council Members on matters of public policy including decisions regarding street planning and repairs, recreation, social services programs, health care programs, public safety and sanitation issues. As an elected official, he considers it his responsibility to personally walk the neighborhoods and meet the people he represents.

Ian Alexander wants to hear from you. Please call him at 202-635-3800 or visit his campaign headquarters at 4007 12th Street, N.E. (across from the Brookland Elementary School).

Paid for by the "Alexander For Ward 5 Campaign Committee" Mark Rauschenberger, Treasurer.
4007 12th Street, N.E. / Washington, D.C. 20017 / Mailing Address: P.O. Box 4511 /
202-635-3800 (Phone) / FAX: 202-635-3900 E-mail Address: Alexander1998@juno.com
A Copy of our report is filed with the Director of Campaign Finance of the D.C. Board of Election and Ethics.