Last night’s mayoral forum, hosted by Premier CDC in the very warm basement of a Ward 5 church, was not attended by Mayor Vincent Gray.
Because of scheduling conflicts, Councilmembers Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4) and Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) were also not able to attend. Vincent Orange (D-At Large) was able to stop by the economic development debate, but only for one question. Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) stayed longer, leaving an hour into the forum. Former State Department aide Reta Jo Lewis stayed until the last 30 minutes, then had to depart.
That left Busboys and Poets owner Andy Shallal, as well as two lesser-known candidates who were introduced to voters at a forum for the first time: Businessman Christian Carter and Ward 4 resident Michael Green.
“The reason I’m running for mayor of this city is because I woke up in the morning as a regular individual and decided that I felt as though big businesses and private interests … had their hands in my pockets, pushing the gentrification that wasn’t conducive for the average individual,” Carter said, saying D.C. doesn’t have proper gentrification but “almost an annihilation of long-term residents that have been here.”
“Even new residents that are here can’t even afford the places,” he continued. Carter said in the first 100 days of his administration, he would halt some developments by developers “that have had a bad track record of providing affordable housing” and “community outreach services.”
Carter, a former city contractor, was sued this year for unpaid rent on his business’ office space, from which they were evicted. He told the Post, “Yes, I’ve been evicted. Yes, my business is dying, has died. But it was not because I could not manage my affairs. … I’ve been isolated; I’ve been targeted; I’ve been assassinated by this mayor’s situation.” Carter’s also been accused of stiffing a subcontractor, though the candidate told the City Paper he’s innocent and the city owes him $100,000.
These situations were not brought up at last night’s debate.
Carter stressed that he’s a seventh generation Washingtonian, which got him in trouble with the audience at one point. He claimed that it wasn’t Marion Barry who created the summer jobs program, but his aunt Lillian D. Green under Mayor Walter Washington. The audience did not seem to buy it.
“My family put their blood, their sweat and their tears into making the city a place where you want to be right now,” Carter said during his closing statement. “We’ve been here 200 years. I don’t care if you’ve been here 200 days: I still want to represent you.”
Michael Green, “son of Washington, D.C.,” introduced himself as an “educator by trade.” He said in his first 100 days he would create a task force to address the “overabundance of condos.” He got a big laugh for his line to “pick the right color,” channeling Sulaimon Brown.
Green, answering a question about taking the “yoke off seniors,” claimed seniors and “traditional residents” are responsible for economic boom in city, and that Millennials are benefitting.
Shallal, on the other hand, said he’d provide free public transportation to seniors: “I think seniors get really incensed when we start talking about bike lanes all the time, when we start talking about things that have nothing to do with them. We feel that’s the most important thing we have to address.”
