A Push to Put Government to Work

"Anybody who had anything to do with Ward 4 politics were all with Jarvis," Fenty said. "But there are a lot of regular people. And they don't go to Ward 4 Democrats' meetings. And they don't go to citizens association meetings. And they don't go to other things. They just want the government to work."

Vehicle maintenance aside, Fenty is a bit of a control freak. A lean, almost gaunt triathlete, he has kept his gleaming head meticulously shaved ever since his hair started receding in law school. On even the steamiest days, he wears a suit, dress shirt and tie and insists that top aides do likewise. He also insists on driving, aides say, on the assumption that no one knows the streets as well as he does.

Fenty traces his interest in the mayor's office to growing up in a town that was famous for not working. He is careful not to point fingers at then-mayor Marion Barry, now a Democratic council colleague in Ward 8 who endorsed his candidacy this week.

But Fenty's high school friends remember reading about the cronyism and dysfunction in city government and about Barry's descent into addiction. Two years after Fenty graduated as a valedictorian at Mackin Catholic High School (now part of Archbishop Carroll High School) in 1988, FBI agents arrested Barry smoking crack cocaine in a downtown hotel.

"It was when things were getting really bad," said Carrie Brooks, who worked with Fenty at a Cleveland Park ice cream shop. "It wasn't a proud time for the city government."

Fenty remembers "my friends just moving out of the city and the general feeling that if you could get out of the District of Columbia, you should get out as quickly as possible." He gives credit to Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) for digging Washington out of bankruptcy but says more needs to be done to restore pride, close the growing gap between rich and poor and persuade the middle class to move back home.

Fenty has few detailed ideas for accomplishing those goals. To fix the city's troubled public schools, his top priority, Fenty said he would appoint a deputy mayor for education and study successful reforms in New York, Chicago and Miami. To reduce crime, he would borrow a police accountability system pioneered in New York. To fix unresponsive agencies, he would borrow a government accountability system pioneered in Baltimore.

Council colleague and mayoral opponent Vincent B. Orange Sr. (D-Ward 5) said Fenty sounds like "a kid about to take an exam" when he talks about other mayors' innovations. Fenty said common sense dictates finding programs that work and applying them at home.

Fenty's supporters don't focus on his position papers. They talk about his character, his commitment to addressing the big problems and the tenacity he brings to his job.

"I think he is genuinely committed to public service," said his older brother, Shawn. "Popular culture now is, you shouldn't ask for help from the government. Well, the government is the people collectively assembled to do tasks that the individual couldn't do as one: Educate our children. Build streets and infrastructure. Government has that role, and it should function. And I think Adrian's sincerely committed to that."

Fenty's childhood was steeped in democratic ideals. His parents met at a Sears store in Buffalo, N.Y., where Phil Fenty, a former Marine, was hired to sell tires after protesters had demanded more jobs for blacks. Jan Perno, a young woman of Italian background, was working at the candy counter. Their families were furious about the interracial relationship, so the couple packed up and moved to Washington in 1967.

It was an exciting time in the nation's capital. The couple joined the Poor People's Campaign and Vietnam War protests, marching for peace and social justice. When their second child was born Dec. 6, 1970, they named him Adrian Malik, after Malcolm X.