Photo by dracisk 365/365.

When Vince Gray defeated former mayor Adrian Fenty last fall, many were unsure about how the then-Chair’s style would play out. But one thing that we were pretty sure about is that Gray would likely be a little less prickly than his predecessor when it came to dealing with the media and the community. With his “One City” platform and a promise to hold weekly press conferences, Gray’s positioning as the approachable mayor certainly earned him a few extra votes.

So how’s that attitude serving for Gray so far? Well, not very well. It’s one thing for the city’s Mayor to be publicly available — it’s another thing for him to do it in a way that isn’t putting people to sleep.

Writing in the Washington Business Journal about a speech Gray delivered on June 27, Douglas Fruehling outlines Gray’s problem concisely:

Heralding a headquarters relocation and new grocery store at The Yards, Mayor Vincent Gray made what was billed as a major speech on the subject, instead droning on for 30 minutes in a 5,000-word speech that meandered more than a Virginia Woolf novel.

Gray certainly has a tendency to be long-winded at the podium. (Just take a look at his 2010 State of the District address, if you don’t believe me.)

But it’s not just speeches. Take this column in the Washington Informer, penned by Gray. It’s about economic development east of the Anacostia River. It’s also 775 words that just drags on and on and on. And when the Mayor tries to branch out to channels where charisma is a must — say, television or the internet — the results are either painful, or simply a whole bunch of Powerpoints with little additional context.

Now, I realize that Gray is never going to have the dynamism of Adrian Fenty. But surely, the District’s Executive Office can do a little bit better than just uploading a couple of slides or rattling off a few dozen platitudes and calling it communications.