Tips From One Mayor to Another

By David Nakamura and Elissa Silverman
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, January 11, 2007

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's new BFF -- best friend forever -- paid him a visit at City Hall the other day.

Michael R. Bloomberg, mayor of New York City, dropped by the John A. Wilson Building on Tuesday afternoon after spending the morning on Capitol Hill.

As Wilson Building watchers know, Fenty (D) has patterned both his open-style "bullpen" office and his school-governance restructuring proposal after the models created by Bloomberg (R). For Fenty, aligning with Bloomberg lends gravitas to his new administration; for Bloomberg, playing mentor to young acolytes adds luster to his growing national political clout.

Having made three trips to the Big Apple, Fenty was eager to entertain Bloomberg. And the New Yorker came bearing gifts: a set of four identical wall clocks of the type usually displayed in, say, stock traders' offices to show times in different parts of the world.

Bloomberg said Fenty would be able to track time in the city's four quadrants -- SE, SW, NE, NW -- and handed him engraved nameplates to label the clocks. "Now you can be sure to leave no jurisdiction without service," Bloomberg said.

In return, Fenty gave Bloomberg a collection of D.C. lapel pins, as well as honorary citizenship. Putting his arm around Bloomberg for the cameras, Fenty made a not-so-subtle reference to Bloomberg's rumored ambitions to live in the White House: "We'd really like to have you as a D.C. resident."

Then, Fenty, Bloomberg and two dozen members of the New York and D.C. press corps headed up to the fifth floor and barged into the D.C. Council's first legislative meeting of the year, where Bloomberg delivered a short pep talk about the merits of mayoral control of schools. The council will vote on Fenty's plan this spring.

"I gave him honorary citizenship," Fenty announced, prompting Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) to quip: "Now you can pay us taxes!"

Not missing a beat, Bloomberg, a successful business executive who voluntarily reduced his mayoral salary as a symbolic gesture, responded: "Well, I make only $1 per year."

Representation of the Taxation

Speaking of taxes, tourists will learn the plight of D.C. residents when it comes to federal matters if council member Kwame R. Brown (D-At Large) gets his way.

Under a proposal Brown made Tuesday, giant LED boards would be placed outside the Wilson Building and the new baseball stadium that show just how much city residents are paying in federal taxes even though the city does not have a vote in Congress.

"The world will see our message," Brown said.

Each message board would cost about $27,000 to purchase and install, a bill that would be footed by, um, taxpayers.

MacFarlane's Other D.C. Team

Victor B. MacFarlane, the San Francisco real estate mogul who was introduced Monday as the new majority owner of D.C. United's operating rights, knows the value of teamwork when it comes to making his mark in the nation's capital.

MacFarlane has recruited several former D.C. government heavy-hitters to work for the D.C. office of MacFarlane Partners, his real estate management firm. Linda Greene, who served as chief of staff for council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8), is vice president for community affairs and public relations. Dana Bryson, who was chief of staff to former city administrator Robert C. Bobb, is vice president for business development.

Now, MacFarlane is wooing Bobb, who was recently installed as president of the D.C. Board of Education, a part-time job that pays $16,000 a year.

Bobb's expertise in city matters would presumably be helpful for MacFarlane, who is bidding to build a soccer stadium, along with residential and commercial development, on part of the 100-acre site known as Poplar Point.

When reached by telephone, Bobb said he is considering several options and declined to elaborate. But Julie Chase, a MacFarlane company spokeswoman, said: "It's fair to say Bobb has every intention of joining the firm, but it has not been defined what role he would play."

Song of the City

Shortly after Fenty concluded his inaugural address last week, Larry Hylton and N ova Nelson came to the stage. They weren't being sworn into office. They were capping the proceedings with a new song: "The Pride of D.C."

Composed by local songwriter Nolan Williams Jr. for the inauguration, the gospel-inflected ditty has the chorus:

We are building our pride

Turning the tide

Look now and see

The pride of D.C.

Williams, 37, the minister of music at the Metropolitan Baptist Church and a recording artist, said he was inspired to write a song about the city even before he was approached by Fenty's inauguration committee.

"Our city has gone through incredible change when you think about where we were 10 years ago in terms of the development of city life and culture," he said. "While it is easy to focus on the negative, there is much to be proud of about our city in this day and time."

A portion of the song can be heard at http://www.myspace.com/ThePrideofDC.

The Mouthpiece's New Boss

Anthony A. Williams's former spokesman Vince Morris has found a new job before his former boss has -- as press secretary for Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.).

"I admire him," said Morris, who was a reporter for the Washington Times and the New York Post. "You can say things like that when you're no longer in the press corps."

Staff writers Hamil R. Harris and Nikita Stewart contributed to this report.