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Voters Wonder, 'Whose City Is It Going to Be?'
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"My biggest concern is the disparity," says Valerie Shade, 51, of Anacostia, who is here with the congregants of Hughes Memorial United Methodist Church. "This city is becoming a city of haves and have-nots. We're losing a sense of community."
Amin Muslim, 50, of Ward 7 says the city has not prepared its workers to take advantage of the current boom times.
"Gentrification is supported by construction, and our children aren't being prepared for those jobs -- steamfitters who make $30 an hour or plumbers. There is no vocational training," he says. "The misnomer is that we need to be preparing our kids for college; not everyone is college bound. We set them up for failure, and then they drop out."
The state of the schools and the support for the city's young, especially those who are poor, is on the minds of many in the mostly middle-age audience.
Benjamin Contee, 66, is a retired mail carrier who lives in Anacostia. He's looking for a mayor who will provide programs for the young people "who feel lost."
"It's sickening to see these young men walking around with nothing to do," he says.
Deirdre Jordan, 49, of Ward 8 has lived her life in the District and worries about her son, a fourth-grader at W.D. Patterson Elementary School. "This is a brand new school, Patterson, and I'm concerned there is not proper funding to maintain it," she says. "My son is in a class of 27 students and one teacher and no aide."
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Lisa Dunson, 43, a former police officer from Virginia, also lives in Ward 8. Young men gather at all hours outside her apartment building. "They have no place to go and nothing to do," she says. "Sometimes the police come to watch them and then simply move on.
"I was praying recently when I heard gunshots. It didn't even faze me. I just got lower on the floor; I was already on my knees."
Dunson adds, "I still love this city, and I will not leave it."
That explains why she and hundreds of others are here. "You can look in a person's eyes and see if they are sincere," says Addie Cooke, 74, of Fort Stanton.
