DC Mayor & GW Alumnus Vincent Gray Arrested

Politico.com is reporting that D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray has been arrested at Capitol Hill while protesting the current budget deal proposed by House Republicans in Congress. Gray, a GW alumnus, was among a crowd of more than 200 protestors who gathered near the Hart Senate Office Building to oppose the deal. Other members of the D.C. City Council were also arrested.

President Barack Obama is expected to support the proposed budget deal publicly at a press conference at GW's own Jack Morton Auditorium on Wednesday.

To read more from Politico, click here. And stay tuned to WRGW District Radio for updates on the mayor's arrest, the budget talks, and the President's visit to the SMPA building on Wednesday.

DC News Roundup

With Council Chairman Vincent Gray moving ever closer to his installation as mayor of DC, news abounds about the structure and content of his new administration.  Here is a brief collection of the important items of the last week:

Gray names chief of staff and city administrator, gives others walking papers

In the largest set of personnel moves since the departure of Michelle Rhee, Vincent Gray chose Gerri Hall to serve as his Chief of Staff and Allen Lew to stay on as City Administrator.

Gerri Hall is a former executive at Amtrak and is currently a vice preseident for human resources at Sodexho, a food services provider.  GW students will be familiar with the corporation as the manager of the J-Street and Mount Vernon dining halls.

Allen Lew currently serves as the director of the District's Office of Public Education Facilities Modernization, an office created in the Fenty administration to oversee school reforms.  In his new role of city administrator he will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of city departments.

Despite a petition drive by some DC residents to keep him on, Department of Transportation  director Gabe Klein submitted his resignation Wednesday.  Klein spearheaded the implementation of smart-growth strategies in the city, and was particularly well-liked by cyclists and public transit advocates.  

Former GWU President to Serve on Gray Transition Team

After an unsurprising victory in the DC mayoral election Tuesday, Mayor-Elect Vincent Gray unveiled his transition team today and included a name familiar to many GWU Students: Stephen Joel Trachtenberg.

Trachtenberg, the predecessor to current GWU president Steven Knapp, was selected alongside the president of the DC Chamber of Commerce, Barbara Lang, to advise the Mayor-Elect on issues of economic development. The pair were instructed to immediately address the District's soaring unemployment.

Trachtenberg, now 73, was the 15th president of the university from 1988 to 2007.

Chairman Gray Talks to Ward 2, Emphasizes Education Reform, Praises Chancellor Rhee

Democratic Party nominee for Mayor, and current Chairman of the City Council, Vincent Gray, spoke at a Ward 2 town hall at the Foundry United Methodist Church Thursday night as part of a series of public meetings his campaign is conducting across the district.

Introduced by Ward 2 Councilman, and chairperson pro tempore of the council, Jack Evans, Mr. Gray focused his remarks on education, emphasizing the progress made by outgoing school’s chancellor Michelle Rhee, and laying out his plan for success in other areas.

“I am as fervently committed to education reform as anyone in the city,” Gray declared, adding that he thought Ms. Rhee would always “do the best things we could.”

He praised the completion of universal pre-kindergarten services four years ahead of schedule, and stated that he believes it’s important to start education at an earlier age, even as young as six months.

Mr. Gray also signaled his support for the charter school program in the city.

“We have the most robust charter school movement in the nation,” he said, explaining that the 57 schools “make the public schools better.”

There are vast problems, however, that Mr. Gray declared he would work toward solving.

DC Council Chairman Vincent Gray to come to GW Campus

Vincent Gray, Chairman of the DC City Council and Democratic nominee for DC mayor will be coming to the School without Walls Thursday, October 14th as part of a series of town hall meetings in  each of the city's wards.

The meeting, one of eight scheduled, is intended to provide a forum for Ward 2 residents to come together and share ideas, according to Gray's campaign website.  The Chairman and presumptive mayor will be joined by each ward's councilmember and neighborhood advisory committee.  

Speaking at the School without Walls holds special significance for Gray; education policy was a central point of contention in his campaign against Adrian Fenty, and the fate of Fenty's prominent Chancellor for Public Schools in a Gray administration remains in doubt.

Ward 2 was not friendly territory for the Democratic nominee during the hotly-contested September primary - Fenty won the area by a 45-point margin, Gray's second worst showing after Ward 3.

Regardless of the possible opposition, Gray plans to speak with members of the community as part of his "One City" campaign mantra.  Gray's spokesman acknowledged in an statement to the Washington Post that the nominee realized he had a lot of work to do to win over his predecessor's supporters.

For anyone who cannot make the 6:30 meeting, WRGW News will be providing wall-to-wall coverage of the event right here at wrgwnews.com, including a liveblog and analysis of the forum.  For those who do wish to attend, the town hall is open to the public and will take place at the School without Walls, which is at 2130 G street across from the GW Delicatessen, and should last from 6:30 to 8:30pm.

Over 2,000 Alumni Return for Alumni Weekend

This weekend over 2,000 GW alumni from the undergraduate classes of 2005, 2000, 1995, 1960 and earlier came to visit GW in celebration the university's fourth annual Alumni Weekend. The jam-packed weekend kicked off on Friday with tours of dorms, the fourth annual Ramsey Student Investment Fund Conference, and a much-anticipated Barenaked Ladies concert at University Yard. Events on Saturday included a breakfast with deans from schools across GW, tours of campus and Thurston Hall, and a 3k run around the monuments with the basketball team and the Taste of GW, which showcased food from a dozen restaurants owned and operated by alumni.

Saturday evening, alumnus and Democratic nominee for DC Mayor Vincent Gray was honored in Duques Hall. He is one of three recipients of the IMPACT Award from the GW Black Alumni Association, along with Joseph R. Rogers Jr. and Daniel B. Fagbuyi.

A Sunday morning brunch and discussion featured Eleanor Clift, contributing editor for Newsweek, and Norah O'Donnell, chief Washington correspondent for MSNBC. The panel was moderated by Ellen Malcolm, founder and president of EMILY's List, a national organization dedicated to electing pro-choice Democratic women to office.

Each annual Alumni Weekend invites graduates from alternating graduation years, bringing together a wide range of ages and GW experiences back to campus.

Mayor Fenty Ousted in Primary

Washington, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty (left) lost his bid for the Democratic Party nomination Tuesday evening, rejected by primary voters after only one term in office.
D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray (right) prevailed over the incumbent mayor, receiving approximately 53 percent of the vote to Mr. Fenty’s 47 percent, with 90 percent of the precincts reporting.
Education reform, perhaps the most contentious issue in the election, has had liberals and teachers unions upset with the mayor since he enacted the changes in 2007.
The changes, imposed by School Chancellor Michelle Rhee, included closing schools, firing teachers and principals, and restructuring teacher tenure, now based more on criteria such as student test scores, rather than overall years teaching.
With the District of Columbia decisively Democratic (President Obama received 93 percent of the vote in 2008), Mr. Gray is heavily favored to win this November.
Mr. Fenty does have one shot, however, at winning another term: with no one having declared their candidacy yet for the Republican Party, the mayor can switch his affiliation to the G.O.P. and challenge Mr. Gray.

Latest Update: Mr. Fenty conceded the election Wednesday morning, stating that he will not seek the Republican nomination or a write in campaign, and pledged to work with Mr. Gray to ease the transition between mayors. "I feel I've had my turn," the mayor said.