Photo by dbking

When Councilmember Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) arrived at a discussion on gentrification yesterday at a community center on Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue SE, his hobbled gait gave away his 75 years. But a lively speech about displacement and his ability to handily defeat all comers on election day show that he’s certainly not down, nor is he out.

That’s not stopping two contenders from rising to the challenge, though.

Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Darrell Gaston formally announced his run for the Ward 8 council seat today after a few months in exploratory mode. He’ll soon be joined by fellow Commissioner Sandra “S.S.” Seegars, who plans on kicking off her own campaign in mid-October.

Gaston, who at 25 is old enough to remember the mayor-for-life’s downfall and resurrection, said that the ward’s endemic poverty — Barry recently called his own bailiwick a “ghetto” — and ongoing threat of gentrification adds urgency to the need to replace Barry.

“The reason we have poverty and gentrification now is that we have a councilmember that’s failed to do anything when he had housing and workforce development as a [D.C. Council] committee. He didn’t put forth one jobs plan or a housing plan,” said Gaston. “I think that Ward 8 is ready for a councilmember with a current record of accomplishments and not a seven-year free pass.”

Seegars said the same, commenting that Barry’s lack of action has left the ward at risk. “I believe this time, because of gentrification, the people know now to get another leader. I think he’s sitting there just to collect a paycheck. People are tired, and they want someone different,” she said.

Of course, all the talk in the world about something new and different doesn’t diminish Barry’s electoral record. In 2008, crushed Seegars, taking 77 percent of the ward’s votes. In 2004, it was much the same — Barry got 57 percent, Seegars under five percent. Each time Barry has run for council, he’s faced a divided field, but even if all of his challengers had united behind one contender, Barry would still have won.

Barry doesn’t see to his age as a limitation, either. “To me, age is just a number,” he told the Washington Informer in early September. “My health is fine. My kidneys are operating well and my high blood pressure is under control.” He also hinted that he was grooming successors — a dozen of them.
 (He’s also giving away free turkeys again this year, but this time with strings attached.)

The names of few other potential candidates for the seat have been floated, including Peaceaholics co-founder Jauhar Abraham, but he hasn’t filed paperwork with the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics or the Office of Campaign Finance. (Then again, neither has Barry, for that matter.)