WASHINGTON INTERFAITH NETWORK
1226 Vermont Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 518-0815
Contact: Martin Trimble 202-518-0815
301-802-1065 (cell)
PRESS RELEASE
CHURCH LEADERS TO MAYOR & DC COUNCIL:
NEIGHBORHOODS FIRST BEFORE BASEBALL
$200 Million Fund to Rebuild Neighborhoods Should be Top
Priority for City Action
75 Clergy and lay leaders from Washington Interfaith Network (WIN) will
attend the DC Council's Finance and Revenue Committee hearing on Thursday,
June 12 `h at 10 am at the John Wilson Building at 14 `h &
Pennsylvania Ave, NW to deliver a clear message to the DC Council &
Mayor Anthony Williams: Neighborhoods First!! WIN leaders will demand that
DC Mayor Anthony Williams keep his promises to create a $200 Million
Neighborhood Investment Fund and to rebuild 8-10 DC neighborhoods before
providing public financing for a new baseball stadium.
Specifically, WIN leaders will demand that the DC Council and Mayor
take action on Bill 15104-"DC Neighborhood Economic Development and
Investment Amendment Act of 2003"-before taking action on baseball
financing legislation. Last week, Council member Jack Evans introduced
Bill 15104 with 8 other council members (Cropp, Chavous, Fenty, Graham,
Ambrose, Orange, Allen, and Catania) that would raise at least $100
million to capitalize the $200 Million Neighborhood Revitalization Fund
called for by WIN.
In December 2002, Mayor Williams pledged before 600 WIN leaders at
Beulah Baptist Church to create the $200 Million Neighborhood Investment
Fund and to start immediately to address neighborhood blight in the area
around Beulah Baptist in Deanwood Heights, NE (Ward # 7) where church
trustee Walter Coates was brutally murdered on New Years' Eve last year.
The Mayor has taken no action in Deanwood Heights or other targeted WIN
neighborhoods (Brightwood, Columbia Heights, Washington Highlands,
Eckington, etc.) because he has been too busy promoting a $338 million
public financing scheme to lure the Montreal Expos to DC. At the press
conference last week, WIN clergy announced their Neighborhoods First
Campaign to hold up action on baseball until the neighborhoods see action
and get equivalent resources for rebuilding.
WIN is a city-wide, multi-racial, non-partisan citizens organization
with 52 congregation, union, public school, and community organization
members representing 25,000 DC families. WIN is affiliated with the
Industrial Areas Foundation, which is the oldest and largest
communityorganizing network in the US. The late Saul Alinsky established
IAF. Other IAF affiliates in the DC Metro area are: Action in Montgomery
(AIM), Montgomery Co., MD and Baltimoreans United in Leadership
Development (BUILD). |