TENAC CHRONICLES TENANTS UNDER SIEGE...

YEAR-END CRISIS FOR ALL!

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Written by JMG Wednesday, 14 January 2009 15:51

BUT HELP IS ON THE WAY!

Let's be clear, Mayor Adrian Fenty is not the enemy of tenants, nor do we view him as such. While he has not done much to advance the tenant cause, he still has abundant time to do so. He could take a giant step in that direction by reinstating Grayce Wiggins as D.C. Rent Administrator.

True, we did not endorse Fenty, but we made no endorsement for mayor, a step unusual for us. Fenty would likely have received our endorsement, except for a "reverse double flip" he made on a key Council rent control vote, and never explained. That was then, this is now. After eight years of Anthony Williams, Fenty is still in his shakedown cruise, and needs more time to prove himself. After all, Herblock once gave Nixon a clean shave, and Fenty is certainly not Nixon. We wish him well.

Mayor Fenty has an historic opportunity to do vital things for this city, if he rises to the occasion, and we devoutly hope he will. His tenure will coincide with that of President-elect Barack Obama at a time of national economic crisis. Having the first African-American President, and an African-American mayor of Washington, DC is history writ large, and an extremely fortuitous turn of events in the nation's capital.

Abraham Lincoln's words ring out anew: "The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise -- with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country."