Linda Cropp

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Council Chairman

Council Chair

6. When the Council is organized at the beginning of the next session, will committee Chairmanships be based on seniority or party?

6. Legislative bodies across the country use seniority and party as an approach for the selection of Chair of Committees. In using seniority and party, it allows citizen participation in addition to the Chair of the legislative body. The seniority system is time honored. Citizens by their continuous reelection of an individual gives extra credibility to their role as Chairman of a committee. Additionally, the majority party in office reflects the desire of the citizens as to whom should be in a commanding role. As always, I give great weight to citizens.

7. What are you priorities for the first hundred days of the next Council session?

7. The Council must immediately focus on the budget. This requires the establishment of budget assumption and priorities. The Council will be brought together in a retreat to start that process. Public hearings on performance measures of all the agencies must be held. Strong oversight is a must l must organize the Council and the Committees.

8. During the next Council session, how will the City Council work with the Mayor, the Control Board, the Advisory Neighborhood Commissions and other citizens (to?) Participate in shaping the city’s economic development? Will the comprehensive plan play a significant role in this process?

The Council has played a major role in getting the Mayor and Control Board to work together. The initial management reform meetings and the consensus budget procedure developed this year is a reflection of that cooperation. The Council can invite more interaction with the ANC's through the hearing process. The Comprehensive Plan will play a major role in shaping land use in the city.

9. Are you in favor of making greater use of the District of Columbia Auditor. If not, why not. If so, what are the first two investigations the auditor should undertake during the next session of the Council? Typically, Council hearings are held during regular business hours, making it difficult for many citizens to participate, however, recently some have been “staggered” so that they fall in both regular business and evening or Saturday hours. Will you support making staggered hearings standard practice?

9 Yes, the Auditor is an important position that should be utilized. However due to statutory mandates outnumbering appropriate staffing, adjustment are needed and are occurring. Procurement and contracts need additional review. I support staggered hearings. However, the cost must be taken into consideration. Hearings after hours and on weekends require overtime of the regular staff. Fiscal realities must also govern our actions or the District will once again be in deep debt. We have required the hearings to be televised at night and on the weekends. This enables many citizens to view and submit testimony. Most records remain open to allow additional testimony. This has proven to provide the greatest involvement for citizens. This is another area to make improvements.

11. Should the Charter of the District of Columbia be revised? If not, why not? If so, how? What action(s) will you take to make it happen?

Yes, the Charter should be revised. Charter review is a normal function of most city and state governments. Many have had several reviews. The Districts concern was that Congress would get involved and make changes not necessarily agreeable the citizens. Well, they have already done that so the citizens should have some input. We should do a complete review, including a review of our governance structure. The Council can appoint a Charter Review Commission. In my opinion, their recommendations must have citizen input. Congress would then be petitioned for the actual review and changes due to Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution.

12. What should be the Council’s relationship to the Federal and Federally mandated powers that be. In the short term, how should the Council work with the Control Board. What, for example, would be your response if the Control Board took an action you oppose? What do you think the District's relationship with the federal government should become? What steps should the Council take to achieve that relationship.

12. The Council should balance the budget for fiscal years 2000 and 2001, eliminate the accumulated deficit with the fiscal year 2000 budget and not miss any payrolls. This will enable the Financial Authority to go dormant. Until such time, we must work with the Authority on behalf of the citizens. The relationship should then become one of support when needed. The federal government has and could continue to assist the District in many ways, i.e. staff and waivers for certain programs. The FIRMA legislation enacted by Congress is quite clear regarding the process for differences of opinions between the Authority and local government. However, through meetings, open dialogue and one to one discussions between the Chairmen of the Council and the Authority, we have been able to keep those disagreements to a minimum.

13. What will you do to see that the next Council does a better job than the current and previous Councils did of protecting the rights of District government employees, including their right to bargain collectively, while honoring the right of D.C. voters and taxpayers to have a quality work force?

13 . The Council must do a better job to educate D.C. workers the importance of living in the District. With more than 50% of the workers paying for services in Maryland and Virginia, the Districts economy was impacted badly. Revenue shortfalls led to drastic measures in order to keep the city afloat. Collective bargaining is an appropriate labor practice that I support. However, the city cannot spend money that it does not have. The 1999 budget reflects training and pay increases that will empower taxpayers to have a quality work force.

14. The City's approach to economic development in the past has been a focus on downtown and such big ticket items as the Arena and Convention Center. Do you think that approach should be continued for the  most part? How much attention should be given to the city’s blighted neighborhood commercial strips? Should the next head of the Department of Housing and Community Development have a strong track record in neighborhood economic revitalization? Or would you expect the new National Capital Revitalization Corporation to take the lead in revitalizing neighborhood commercial strips.

14. Neighborhood and downtown revitalization should be planned simultaneously. A city cannot survive without strong neighborhoods. Tourism is the Districts number one industry after the government. Without a competing Convention center, the District relinquishes scores of millions of dollars annually. Prior to approving the Convention Center downtown, the Council approved TIFF and the NCRC legislation. Those two pieces will encourage development in the neighborhoods. They have been successful in other cities. The neighborhood strips should be given much attention. The DHCD head should have a good record in neighborhood economic revitalization.

15. How will you foster efforts to make D.C. residents more employable and to develop jobs.

15. More employable D.C. residents start with the schools. The schools graduate the workforce. Further, companies look at school graduates to determine where they will locate. Better schools, better schools, better school are a must. The climate for businesses must also continue to improve, including refined regulations and taxes in an effort to attract more businesses. DOES must do a better job in training and placing those who are unemployed. Enforcement of hiring requirement in D.C. is a must.

16. What role should the Council play in making sure that the District’s public education system prepares the city's young people to support themselves adequately and to take their place in the twenty-first century work force? Will the university of the District of Columbia be involved? If so, how?

16. The Council’s statutory role in the city’s public education programs is somewhat restricted to budget oversight. It is through this process that the Council can play an influential role in reforming public education in the District. The University of the District of Columbia must play a major role in any revised school-to-work initiative, through expanded teacher training programs and private-public partnerships. I am committed to developing a more effective oversight process that is more closely tied to specific goals and performance objectives for the schools. Additionally, we must integrate the different services that we provide in the city for youth. That will enable us to spend the monies from different agencies more wisely.

17. What role should the council play in making sure the city has an accessible master school facilities plan?

17. The Council, through its Committee on Education, Libraries and Recreation, has an oversight responsibility for D.C. Public Schools. It must continue to exercise this authority. The Council’s oversight includes the review and consideration of the school system's physical plant needs and associated budget requests. Any hearings held by the Council are open to the public and testimony provided is available to the public. To the extent the master facilities plan is the subject of a hearing, related information will be accessible publicly through the Council.

18. What role will the Council play in making sure the school budget spells out what the taxpayers are getting for their $545 million dollar investment in public education?

18. Through a more intensive oversight process, the Council must steadily move toward an overall program-budgeting process. The budget should reflect the priorities. This is one way of clearly delineating education performance goals and priorities, as well as developing specific cost-analysis data. In the final analysis, District taxpayers must hold all of its elected officials accountable for their significant investment in public education. The city’s children deserve the most effective and efficient utilization of the District’s limited resources.

19. What, if any, steps should the Council take to make sure the Department of Human Services implements welfare reform. Should such support services as Child care, transportation and appropriate adult education be available to people trying to move from welfare to work?

19. Continued oversight, programs that will hold funding until welfare recipients have been on the job for a year and development of a transportation mechanism to take TANF recipients to job locations. Child care is a must to move people from welfare to work. Substance abuse treatment will also enable individuals to move from welfare to work and get children from foster care. The feds will only allow adult education for a short period. We must use education with a job so continued improvement can occur.

20. Are you in favor of having a prison in the city that will house adult District residents who have felony convictions? If so, where? Under what conditions? Should it be public or private? If private, should he city have a say in selecting the contractor and in monitoring the performance of the contract?

20. Yes. The Ward 8 Councilmember supports having a prison located in that Ward. Support for such a facility should have community support. Part of the rational is that such a facility in Ward 8 would create economic development in an area in dire need of jobs. By sending D.C. prisoners to other localities, we provide jobs in other areas. The city must play a major role in the appropriate design and location. If the prisoners are felons, they will be under federal government control and the Feds will decide the contractors. They should interact with the District on decisions. All contracts should be monitored for performance.

21. What action will you take to make sure the buried tanks and unexploded munitions as removed from the Camp Simrns/Oxon Run target range?

21. I will ask the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers to excavate and remove all munitions and hazardous materials from this area. The Corps should work with the city's Department of Health and the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency to monitor the area to ensure the safety of residents in the vicinity and to facilitate development of the site.

22. What is your position on privatization of Metro Bus service?

22. Metro Bus service should not be privatized. The District lived under awful service with D.C. Transit. Buses would stall at the bottom of the hill, citizens would exit and get on other buses at the top of the hill. The driving force for any decisions regarding Metro bus service must be customer-oriented. Over the years, budgetary constraints have resulted in cuts in bus service, thereby adversely affecting some areas within the District. Residents have complained that these areas are those where persons are most dependent upon public transportation. It is incumbent upon Metro and the District’s WMATA Board members to study, identify and implement the most efficient and economical way to provide bus service throughout the District.

23. What should the Council do to improve the effectiveness of solid waste management in the Department of Public Work? How important is recycling?

23. To effectively improve the Solid Waste Management Program in the Department of Public Works, the Council should consider the following: (a.) Devise different trash collection routes. (b.) Radio dispatch and empty truck to the site of a full truck to prevent the current four to five trips per day for dumping. (c.) With the implementation of the recycling program, this will allow those areas that currently have a second collection day for solid waste to have one collection day for regular waste and one day for recycling. The logic behind these recommendations are stimulated by the fact that recycling will reduce the amount of solid waste from District households therefore reducing the need for more than one collection day.

24. What, if any, actions should the Council take to see that emergency regulations on buffer zones around solid waste transfer stations are enforced and made permanent. Do you consider this legislation to be overly burdensome regulation? Would you welcome its expiration?

24. 1 supported the emergency and temporary legislation adopted by the Council requiring a 500 foot buffer zone around solid waste transfer stations. This would insure fair and equitable and environmental cleanliness and safety within our residential neighborhoods. If the District can locate and identify areas outside the residential neighborhoods that can adhere to the 500 foot buffer zone requirement, then consideration should be given to those areas. For a city of such rich and clean neighborhoods I do not consider my position or the proposed legislation to be overly burdensome. Permanent legislation is pending in the Council Committee on Public Works, which I support.

25. Do you favor discharge petitions for transfer station and tobacco and Liquor advertising legislation?

25. No. It is my believe that they have the votes to pass and will become law. I introduced the tobacco legislation.

26. D.C. Citizens get surprised by budgetary demands for major maintenance items that were put off, such as schools and police stations. What should the Council do to see that the District of Columbia has a capital budget that provides for maintaining the city's infrastructure?

26. Steps have been taken to have a continued maintenance program for our infrastructure. The city must not continued with deferred maintenance. The newly established Reality Office will help to keep the city on track with maintenance. We have adopted a new approach for renting space and space utilization that address the problem. A certain amount is in the capital budget to deal with the schools.

27. Year after year the city’s stock if affordable housing declines. What, if any, strategies do you favor to stop the loss of and increase the stock of affordable housing? Support retention of Rent control? Adopt and implement a comprehensive affordable housing strategy? Commit to a specific number of affordable housing units during each year of the nest Council session? If so, how many? Promote employment and social service programs that will enable people who receive housing assistance to become as economically self sufficient as possible? If so, what agencies would be providing these services?

27. Measures that I have supported which will help stem the loss and increase the stock of affordable housing include: Federal tax credits for first-time homebuyers; local funding of the home purchase assistance program; continuation of rent control and tenants’ first right to purchase programs; issuances of tax-exempt mortgage revenue bonds by the D.C. Housing Finance Agency to lower the cost of financing single family 'home purchases and the cost of developing rental housing; requiring recipients of bonus commercial office space from alley closings and zoning density increases to contribute funds towards the development of affordable housing; and enactment of recent Council legislation to establish the National Capital Revitalization Corporation and authorize the use of creative mechanisms such as tax increment financing to spur needed housing and economic development throughout the city. Moreover, I will continue to focus on the Council's twin priorities of improved service delivery — particularly in the areas of public safety, public schools and public works — and tax cuts, in order to reverse the hemorrhaging of middle class residents from the city.

28. Identify two recommendations of the tax revision Commission, other than the commuter tax, with which you agree and explain why. If there are not two that you favor, identify two problems the tax commission attempted to address and suggest alternative recommendations.

28. I agree with the Commission recommendation that the federal government should make an annual payment in lieu of property taxes (PILOT) to the District, or, alternatively, a formula-based federal payment to the District. The federal government receives and uses public services and should reimburse the District for those services. If the federal government were to acknowledge its property tax responsibilities through a PILOT to the District, we could afford to implement another Commission recommendation that I favor, which is a reduction in the commercial property tax rate to make it competitive with our surrounding jurisdictions. A reduction in the commercial property tax rate has the potential to spur economic development, increase employment opportunities for residents and increase revenues to the District which could be used to improve the quality of life.

29. The District of Columbia’s experience with federal grants is very disappointing. It fails to obtain and, in many cases, even apply for grants that could provide urgently needed funds. Even worse, contracting and grants that could provide urgently needed fund. Even worse, contracting and grant-making operations in some agencies, such as the Department of Health, are so inadequate that the city is unable to spend grant money it does receive. What will you do as a member of the Council to turn this situation around?

29. I support contracting out some of the functions of the Office of Grants Management and Development to ensure that the city, once and for all, applies for, receives, and spends all of the Federal grant funding to which it is entitled.

30. Many District children and youth seem to be without opportunities for constructive activities. Cutbacks in recreations service and programs make it very difficult to help youth stay out of trouble. Can the city afford to correct this situation? Can it afford not to? What, if any, role should the Council play in expanding after-school and recreational programs, particularly in undeserved areas of the city?

30. Recreation is extremely important to the education of our children outside of school hours. Those activities provide structure, direction and learning experiences to our youth. With that in mind, I introduced and the Council passed a Recreation Act that allows private entities to donate money specifically for recreational use. Due to the legislation that I introduced, monies have been obtained and used for recreation expansion even when the city did not have extra dollars. Now that the finances of the city are stabilizing, expansion of recreational and after-school programs are possible.