Responses of Ian Alexander to
GLAA 1998 Questionnaire for Council Candidates
1. If elected, what will you do to encourage the Council to exercise its powers more responsibly and thereby facilitate a speedy return of home rule powers to the District?
Ward 5 has become the city's dumping ground. Be it the disproportionate amount of trash transfer sites, homeless shelters, halfway houses, or the ever-increasing number of abandoned and boarded up buildings-Our community is in peril. I am running for City Council because I believe that we can do better in Ward 5-and we must. I believe that I have the honesty and commitment to serve both our ward and our city. Although the Council has temporarily lost a majority of its power, home rule will be restored once the city balances its budget for four consecutive years. The council has already balanced one budget. If elected, I would be steadfast in continuing a balanced budget and restoring these powers to our elected leaders.
2. The Council has seldom aggressively exercised its oversight powers over the District government. Instead, too often it has been passively and reactive in addressing the mismanagement problems that routinely plague the District government's administration. What will you do to improve the Council's performance of its oversight responsibility?
The purpose of a city council, no matter which city, is to practice responsible governmental oversight. If one recalls the history of the council, it was not truly until the early 1980's that Congress began to interfere with the budget process of the District. That being primarily as a result of the terribly unbalanced budgets that our Council sent to them.
However, the lack of governmental oversight has ramifications that trump Congressional interference. While I was walking down one of more troubled neighborhoods in Ward 5, I ran across someone directly involved in the politics of neglect. Mohammed Yassine is a taxi driver who came to our nation's capital looking for hope and prosperity. He invested much of his savings into a home on the unity block of V Street, N.W., during the 1980's and looked forward to raising his children, being a good neighbor and living the "American Dream." However, his dream soon spiraled into despair and misfortune as a result of government negligence. His neighbor's home-attached to his-was abandoned and soon became the eyesore of his neighborhood. In time, due to poor public schools and poor public works, over half the neighborhood left the District. This resulted in vagrants moving into his neighborhood. When I visited him, he went through a list of 10 agencies that he contacted. Each agency never responded to his requests. Contrary to popular belief, he can not afford to move out of the District. So there he remains.
If elected to the Council, I would work with the agencies of our city to ensure that they became proactive when seeking more accountable government. The Council must demand a comprehensive plan when holding more aggressive oversight hearings. Finally, the council must learn to become a body that practices-not just talks about-fiscal responsibility. Only when the Council does this, will our city services improve for our citizens.
3. Do you support passage and full funding for the new civilian complaint review system to be established by Bill 12-521, the "Citizen Complaint Review Act of 1998"?
Yes. I fundamentally support the passage of the Citizen Complaint Review Act of 1998. Although the old system of review was antiquated and truly did not serve the people as intended, we must have a system of policing the police in order to restore both integrity to those hard working, honest members of the D.C. Police Department and accountability for those who are not. As a member of the Council, I would continue to encourage Congress to fund this institution.
4. Do you support Bill 12-612, the "Opened Alcoholic Beverage Containers Amendment Act of 1998" (a.k.a. the "Chardonnay Lady Bill"), that would allow people to drink alcoholic beverages on their porches without fear of arrest?
Yes. It is absurd for the government to tell individuals that they are not permitted to drink alcoholic beverages on their very own patios without apprehension of being taken to jail.
5. In an apparent effort to bolster his standing with some segments of the District community, the recently ousted chief of the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, David Watts, instituted a zoning regulation earlier this year barring video stores from deriving more than 15% of their revenues from sexually-oriented videos. Do you agree that this attack on the rights of adult consumers is utterly unwarranted and that there should be no limits on the proportion of video store revenues derived from adult videos?
Yes. I do not favor placing limits on the share of video store revenues derived from adult videos. However, I also believe that members of the community should have a powerful say in where these "adult stores" are situated-if near their neighborhoods. In the cases of pre-existing stores, all sexually oriented videos should be placed out the reach of our children. DCRA should establish guidelines that separate "adult videos" from the rest of the store videos.
6. Will you support legislation to authorize and regulate the issuance of liquor licenses to establishments (in designed nonresidential commercial districts) that want to offer nude dancing as entertainment?
No.
7. Do you support Initiative 59 (or similar legislation) to legalize the use of medical marijuana when a patient's doctor recommends it as a means to combat some of the effects of AIDS, cancer and other diseases?
My problem with Initiative 59 lays in the fact that it is a "recommendation", not a "prescription." The passage of this type of legislation would open up the door for "quack-doctor" recommendations and hamper the prosecution of marijuana for criminal offenses. However, if elected to the Council, I would be open do looking at other solutions and ways of rewording such legislation.
8. The New York State Legislature recently passed legislation saying that: (1) doctors must report the names of people who test positive for HIV to public health officials; and that (2) health workers must attempt to have infected patients identify their sex or drug-use partners and then must notify those partners of possible exposure. Such measures are invariably counter-productive and discourage those most at risk from being tested and treated for HIV. Will you oppose any such legislation in the District?
Having been a member of the Putnam County Aids Task Force in New York State before attending college and having remained in contact with many people who I know what have HIV and AIDS, I do concur with your statement and oppose such legislation in the District. Legislation such as this truly does dissuade people from getting tested and seeking the treatment that they need.
9. Do you support an increase in District government funding to combat AIDS in line with the continuing increase in the caseload?
Yes. However, we should also look at the system in which we use to combat AIDS. It is to my understanding that over the past few years, the Administration for HIV/AIDS ("A.H.A."), failed to spend millions of dollars already appropriated to fight AIDS. This is morally wrong and is a result of a lax, dysfunctional system that was never administered correctly. If we as a city are to improve the system of fighting AIDS; we must first develop a comprehensive plan-something which seems rather foreign to member of the District government. And this plan must begin with prevention as the central focus. I am running for city council because I desire to exercise rigorous oversight over our government agencies and bring accountability back in order to best serve our citizens.
10. Do you support continued District government funding for the needle exchange program to combat the spread of AIDS?
Yes. I support needle exchange. However, I would make sure that more money would be allocated to programs that teach prevention. Moreover, I believe that we need more investment in comprehensive rehabilitation facilities with a proven track record. When getting petitions signed down in the worst sections of Ward 5, I met people who have been through rehab time and time again. I believe it to be morally apprehensible for us to fail our brothers and sisters again and again when they need our help the most.
11. Do you support legal recognition of marriages between partners of the same sex?
While I support some-sex relationships that are typified by love and commitment, I remain undecided on the issue of marriage. I strongly support domestic partnership. If elected to the Council, I would push to keep Congress out of local issues-more specifically, to get the spending ban lifted on enforcing this policy.
12. Do you support the current District policy, sanctioned by a court ruling, of allowing adoptions by unmarried couples?
Yes. I support the adoption of a child by any loving couple-straight or gay. As it currently stands, the foster care system within the District isolates and often victimize children, as they remain involved for the average of seven years within the system. Placing children in loving homes should be the number one priority of those members of the Council.
13. Do you support both an increased budget for the Office of Human Rights (OHR) so that its heavy case backlog can be eliminated, and the re-establishment of OHR as an independent, Cabinet-level agency whose Director has direct access to the Mayor.
Yes.
14. Will you support legislation codifying OHR's current practice of granting top priority to discrimination complaints from those afflicted with AIDS or other life-shortening conditions?
Yes. It would be immoral to deny someone with a short period on this earth with justice. Therefore, systematizing a priority list should be examined
15. Proposals for establishing a system of vouchers for private schools, whether here or elsewhere around the country, would funnel taxpayer dollars to religious schools controlled by denominations that frequently are aggressively homophobic. Will you oppose any legislation authorizing vouchers for religious schools?
Next to a healthy home life, education is the most important part of a child's life. Our current education system has forgotten this fact. Schools should be child centered, ours have become bureaucrat heavy. Until very recently, for every 10 students there were three administrators. Yet currently, only one teacher for every 30 students.
I am the product of a public education. My mother is a public school teacher and my father a member of the Yonkers Teachers Union in New York State. I support public education. However, I also realize that within the District, children are not being educated and more often than not are being passed through our dysfunctional system.
I am committed to educating our children to the best of our ability. I favor the right of parents to school choice-be it public schools, charter schools or religious schools that educate our children. We must never sacrifice our future for political gains.
"Alexander For Ward 5" Campaign Committee
Mark Rauschenberger, Treasurer
620 Michigan Ave., Washington, DC 20017
Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 4511 / Washington, DC 20017
Phone: 202-269-5606
FAX: 202-667-1057
E-mail: Alexander1998@juno.com
