Ambitious Schedule Puts Fenty at Odds With Traffic

The mayor said he uses the lights and sirens only when he is traveling on official business. But he used the equipment en route to a fundraiser for a D.C. Council candidate in Ward 4 one night. His two-vehicle motorcade rushed up 16th Street NW to get to the event at a former council member's home, where Fenty was scheduled to speak.

No rule prohibits the mayor from traveling in that fashion, said Carrie Brooks, a spokeswoman for Fenty. "If he's on time and there's no rush to the next place, he doesn't" use the lights and sirens, she said. "But for good or for bad, people do expect him to be all over town during the course of the business day. It's a little easier to get around on the weekends when there's no traffic."

Fenty's predecessor, Anthony A. Williams, rarely used lights and sirens when he traveled, said Tony Bullock, who was a Williams press secretary. He recalled his boss using the emergency equipment only once, after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, when Williams attended a meeting at the White House.

"As a day-to-day, get-through-traffic utilization, that was not permitted and wasn't done," Bullock said. "He liked to make phone calls and read in the car, and it's hard to do that with the 'whoop, whoop' of the siren."

When council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) was mayor, he once traveled with lights and sirens while the ABC News program "Nightline" was taping a segment about him. He was headed to Hains Point to play tennis.

Barry would not comment on Fenty's travel practices. "I'm busy trying to be a good legislator," he said.

Fenty has flown around the country to learn the best practices of other big cities. A few of the mayors he visited said they avoid using lights and sirens in their cities.

In Los Angeles, with its tangle of crowded freeways, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa generally does not use lights and sirens because when other cars pull over, the city's notoriously bad traffic gets worse, spokesman Darryl Ryan said.

"We want to continue the flow of traffic," Ryan said. "The mayor considers himself a regular commuter, just like everyone else."

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino also refrains from using lights and sirens, except in public safety-related emergencies, spokeswoman Jennifer Mehigan said.

The result: "He's always late," Mehigan said.

One night this week, Fenty tried to make a quick exit from a meeting of the Central Northeast Civic Association in Ward 7, but residents did not want him to go. The mayor, who had two more events scheduled that evening, said he might have to cut back on his outreach.

"I told my staff, I said, 'I think I can go to about three community meetings a night,' " Fenty said, addressing 30 people in Ward Memorial AME Church. "We're finding out it's tough to do three community meetings, provide answers and travel."