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When Mayor Vincent Gray delivers the State of the District address tonight from a Ward 7 middle school, he’ll be met by activists unhappy with his handling of the city’s homelessness crisis.
The Fair Budget Coalition, with help from the artist collective Luminous Intervention, will project a message demanding action on the side of Kelly Miller Middle School from 6:45 to 8:30 p.m. tonight. A funeral march by current and formerly homeless people, organized by the homeless-led People for Fairness Coalition and featuring a coffin, will begin at 6:45 p.m.
“It’s real good to put $100 million in affordable housing,” PFFC member Robert Warren said in a release. “But how many lives we lose in the process? In those two or three years [waiting for new housing to be built] when you have things that you can do right now to solve the crisis and you’re not doing them, then you’re responsible for contributing to people’s homelessness, poverty and death. You’re keeping people impoverished. The best way to keep people out of poverty is to give them shelter from the storm. That’s the way to save lives.”
This demonstration will perhaps be overshadowed by the allegations directed yesterday at the mayor by businessman Jeffrey Thompson. According to CNN, Gray will address the accusation that he was aware of a 2010 “shadow campaign” conducted on behalf of his mayoral effort at the top of his speech.
Mayor Vince Gray tells CNN he’ll address the campaign finance allegations against him at the top of tonight’s State of the District address.
— Dan Merica (@danmericaCNN) March 11, 2014
Gray’s opponents are also preparing their own remarks. Andy Shallal will live-stream his response at 8:15 p.m., Councilmember Muriel Bowser will respond on DCTV at 9 p.m., and Vincent Orange will use that channel at 7 p.m. Wednesday for the same purpose.
