Council chairman shares vision for DC with WANADA leaders

Council chairman shares vision for DC with WANADA leaders

At an informal meeting at WANADA headquarters with past and present dealer group leaders this week, DC City Council chairman Vincent Gray spent a good bit of his time speaking about the education imperative as the only sure basis for improved quality of life in the District, no less for the half million residents who live within its borders, the millions who live in and around the Beltway, and the millions more who visit from around the country and the world each year.

As the capital in the National Capital Area and the capital of the U.S., Washington, DC is also arguably the capital of the world, said Gray, and a vibrant, productive citizenry is fundamental to having the city be all it can be and all it needs to be.

A turnaround of the DC school system is job one, according to Gray. But more needs to be done than simply tearing out the dysfunctional infrastructure thats been going on over the past few years, he says. A workable plan is needed going forward that not only roots out the incompetent among educator professionals, but which also incentivizes the competent, he said. The parents of school children must be involved, too, from preschool levels, on up through high school, which hasnt been happening here, said Gray, and that must change now.

Referencing career education, Gray said it is lacking to non-existent in the city, at which point he listened with interest about automotive career efforts initiated by Toyota and separately by WANADA at the Phelps Career Center in Northeast and at Balou High School in Anacostia.

Gray pointed out with pride the recent opening of the community college division at the University of the District of Columbia that he had a hand in shaping, with which WANADA has been in contact regarding its Automobile Dealer Education Institute (ADEI) technician training program.

Another significant drawback to an improved quality of life in the District, Gray said, are the deep divisions that are surfacing between citizens along racial, economic and regional lines. Washington isnt black or white, rich or poor, upper Northwest or Anacostia, he said. Its Washington, DC, the city we call home and all want to be proud of, and I think Im one who can bring people back together, said Gray speaking of his campaign for mayor. Its not that being mayor commands a lot more salary or prestige than chairman of the council, but the mayor can be the change agent the city needs to make real progress, and thats why Im applying for the job, said Gray.

The mayoral contest between Gray and incumbent mayor Adrian Fenty will be determined in the Democratic Party primary election next month. At this writing, Chairman Gray is leading Mayor Fenty in the polls by a small margin of three to five percentage points.