WHO RUNS D.C.?  THE MAYOR AND

COUNCIL?  OR B.F. SAUL AND

CHEVY CHASE BANK?

          The outrageous firing of Grayce Wiggins, the best Rent Administrator in District history, raises the above question big time.  The mayor's fingerprints are all over Ms. Wiggins's pink slip, and below his, one strongly suspects, are those of B.F. Saul/Chevy Chase Bank, Wiggins's most ardent critics.

          The mayor is relatively newly-installed in office and arguably still in his "shakedown cruise."  After eight catastrophic years of Anthony Williams, moreover, tenants await much better things.  After the Wiggins dismissal outrage, however, it appears we will have to wait longer.  But while we wait, we also need to act.

          First, we demand the immediate reinstatement of Grayce Wiggins.  Second, we demand an explanation of her firing.  Third, we demand "hands off" tenants' rights by the developers, re-developers, and bankers.  They have been riding high in the saddle in this city for a long time.  Just take a look around and see the "condominium conversion craze" taking place all around us for confirmation of that outrageous fact, to say nothing of absurd "voluntary" rent increases, where tenants invariably give up far more than they get.