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Fenty Seeks Small Rise In Spending
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Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) said he did not share some fellow council members' dismay over the missing specifics. "That happens during the budget process," said Barry, a former mayor who prepared many budgets. "I don't think we should get bent out of shape over that."
Barry, who is chairman of the Committee on Housing and Urban Affairs, homed in on Fenty's plans to create affordable housing and to end homelessness. Fenty told council members that the budget would create a $19 million housing fund to put 400 individuals and 80 families in stable housing next year and "more than 650 individuals and 150 families by 2010."
Barry objected to having the Department of Human Services administer the program, saying the agency "has no track record of producing housing." In December, Gray blocked Fenty's plan to put Human Services in charge of another housing initiative, shifting the duties to the Housing Production Trust Fund.
But Fenty asked the council to be "open-minded" and to get away from placing homeless people in shelters. "It's just inhumane to continue going in that direction," he said.
Barry also questioned why Ford's Theatre would get $10 million, significantly more than any of the other 43 groups receiving one-time grants under Fenty's proposal. The Town Hall Education Arts & Recreation Campus, which is known as THEARC and serves underprivileged children east of the Anacostia River, would receive the next highest amount, $2 million.
In an interview, Fenty said the city's downtown has been revived with such investments and renovations. "This particular project is part of continuing that transformation," he said.
Fenty said he expects the council to amend his proposal. "We think there will be some adjustments," he said.
Earlier in the day, council member David A. Catania (I-At Large), chairman of the Committee on Health, said he hoped the mayor would agree to amend the budget to include his proposed "universal health-care" plan, which Catania said would provide insurance to about 45,000 uninsured residents currently ineligible for Medicaid and the District's Health Care Alliance.
The $21 million program, which would begin in July 2009, would be funded by new taxes on cigarettes and health companies.
