How can we make the District of Columbia truly “One City?”
Making genuine progress toward creating “One City” is the Mayor’s highest priority. Mayor Gray has said that One City “is the recognition that all District residents, no matter their differences, are bound together by a common destiny and a shared desire to make the city even better for the people who live here. Regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, ward or neighborhood, we all want a vibrant, sustainable city, where all residents have an opportunity to provide for themselves and their families, where every neighborhood is safe, where every student goes to a good school, where every tax dollar is spent wisely on a government that works, and where citizens’ voices really count.” Yet the District government cannot achieve this goal alone.
We’d like your thinking on some of the specific questions that we’ll be wresting with at the summit:
- How do we grow and diversify the economy?
- What do DC government, businesses, and non-profits need to do to help people who aren’t currently job-ready get the skills they need to find work, especially in growing sectors of the economy?
- In order to have healthy, thriving infants and toddlers, what District government services and resources will be most important for our families and communities?
198 results found
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Make One City possible by creating real opportunities for people of all income levels to live and work in DC
Use the City Budget process to:
• restore funding to preserve or build decent housing that people can afford
• increase support for adult literacy, job training and child care
• provide sufficient shelters and stable housing for homeless families and youth
• help low-income families and residents with disabilities to meet their basic needs
• restore funding for crime victims’ and domestic violence services
• maintain health insurance for DC residents
• protect food assistance for seniors.pursue options to increase revenue if needed to preserve or restore funding to critical services
654 votes -
Pay for the Summer Jobs Program should be based on performance and not age.
Many 15 year olders did a good job in summer 2011 and now they will be only able to make $5.25 an hour just because they are 15, which is a pay cut. Let 14 and 15 year olds compete for Jobs paying $7.25 per hour and working 25 hours per week. There are 14 and 15 year olds who have better attitudes, work skills and commitment than many of the 16 -21 year olds. Or let the 15 year old youth who worked last year maintain their $7.25 pay rate.
154 votes -
DC needs statehood
• Lack of a vote in Congress disenfranchises District residents
• No taxation without representation128 votes -
Designate a day each year for "Guitars Not Guns" day music festival.
Designate a day each year for "Guitars Not Guns Day" music festival. GnG is a non profit children's music charity providing guitars and lessons to foster care and at-risk youth in the city. The students have an anthem song they play and sing called "Set Me Free". If we create a day to celebrate their achievements, encourage other youth to join, have food and concert can bond all race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, ward or neighborhood through music. www.gngnca.org
204 votes -
Save the primary Montessori program at Langdon Education campus
The toddlers (3,4 and 5 year olds) in Langdon Education campus' primary Montessori classes have been thriving since 1997. Our three year olds are learning to count, sound letters and work on their motor skills such as writing their names. By four, these kids are doing simple addition and subtraction, reading easy readers and writing simple sentences. It's particularly amazing when you find out this is happening at a school where the student body is 95% black and 71% receive free or reduced price lunch. Instead of strengthening this program, parents received letters indicating the primary program will be…
61 votes -
Create tolls requiring indivduals to pay to enter the city.
A very significant portion of the workers come into the city every day from Montgomery, Fairfax, Prince Georges, Loudon counties and other points beyond. Other cities charge, which aids immeasurably to their bottom line with respect to revenue. This does a few positive things for the city. First and foremost it generates revnue. Secondly, individuals faced with the choice of paying tolls or ultilizing public transportaion would probably choose the latter as oppossed to the former. If that was the case then traffic and parking would significantly be affected in a positive way. Lastly, given the choice of the aforementioned,…
77 votes -
Create more transitional living for disconnected youth
The DC Alliance of Youth Advocates found that the District's rising homeless youth population are coming from failed systems of care with no stable place to live. We must invest in youth throughout their entire development- not stopping at 12, 16, 18, or 20. Let's prove their value in our community by designating affordable housing for homeless and at-risk youth.
169 votes -
Raise the Library's Budget so that it's 1% of the City Budget
No city agency provides more bang for the buck in terms of providing access to the knowledge and technology that can transform the lives of DC residents. The library system is the largest provider of free internet in the city, and from computer classes, to literacy programs for people of all ages, and even help for job seekers, it's being asked to do more with less every year. Its budget is somewhere around 0.6% of the city budget -- let's raise that to 1% and get some real ROI!
40 votes -
Cut out the parking zone permit program as it exist. I live in Ward 6, if I want to visit Ward 4 I should not be treated like some tourist.
Ward parking is ridiculous. If I live in Ward 6, I should not be treated like a tourist if I want to park in Ward 4. District residents should be permitted to park in any Ward they desire irrespective of their home Ward. Seems quite ridiculous that tourists from other states are treated the same as residents who visit Wards other than their home Ward.
25 votes -
Prevent further cuts to services for residents who need them the most, particularly children, residents with disabilities, and seniors.
Pursue options to increase revenue if needed to preserve critical services .
70 votes -
Re-establish trade schools and open new facilities for training adults who are not college bound.
I believe we should re-open many of the trade schools that used to exist in the District. All high school aged children are not college material. By doing this, it can encourage more enterpreneuership. We also need to consider providng more free training facilities to teach adults a manual labor skill, such as brick masonry, carpentry, roofing, etc. These individuals could be trained and put to use in turning some of the abandoned properties in this city into usable, viable living space for themselves as well as low-middle income individuals and families. This way you are instilling a new work…
29 votes -
Maintain and expand programs that ensure that DC is truly "One City" for all who live here, regardless of background and country of origin.
One of the things that makes DC so unique and special is that it is home to professionals, workers and students from all around the world. In order to ensure that our region's immigrant population not only survive, but thrive and thus make our communities and district an even better place to live and work in, we must continue to have programs that welcome and support these new and potentially new Americans. However, in the past few years, programs such as the Office of Latino Affairs have been cut. We need to make sure that authorities do everything in their…
95 votes -
The government needs to be accountable and transparent.
Accountability and transparency should be a requirement for each agency, the administration as well as the council.
47 votes -
20 votes
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18 votes
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Maximize Public Wi-Fi
The landscape of public communications has changed, and those who have lower incomes are hobbled by the monopolies of our internet service providers. The city needs to continue to expand offerings for free and public Wi-Fi access across the city and outside the bounds of public buildings. Metro Stations, Bus Stops, and Public Parks are all places where people stop and wait and could be going online. But beyond that are DC resident homes who cannot afford the monthly service cost for internet access. By expanding public Wi-Fi we could give people an option to use the internet in the…
21 votes -
Create ways for Non-profits to share space and resources
Hello, my name is Louis H. Henderson. I am interested in presenting ideas and ways for non-profit organzations, through Communicating needs and opportunities with one another can help make more efficient use of our buildings and office space. This will ultimately help them build the capacity necessary to serve " One City".
98 votes -
Develop Reservation 13 (DC General campus east of 19th Street SE) immediately
The city and nearby residents worked for years to get a plan in place. Now the plan is stalled. Get moving, DC.
44 votes -
to employ individuals who have been incarcerated to have career opportunities once they are released from jail
To give those who were once incarcerated to get the necessary job training that he or she needs in order to have a much better life where that person can practice recidivism which would result to that person not committing the same crime over and over again.
92 votes -
Create a committee, independent of the IG's office, to provide oversight on all agencies which award contracts.
There have been too many instances, both past and present, when contracts have been awarded to unqulaifed contractors for myriad reasons. I propose creating an entity which is independent of any existing government agency (ie, Inspector General, Contracting) whose only purpose is to perform quality control of all contracts prior to them being awarded.
41 votes