"Better Choices Campaign" Looks To Fund DC Forward

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

With District services already slashed past the bone and "down to the marrow" according to Council Chair – and putative Mayor – Vince Gray, labor advocates and their allies are launching a campaign tonight to preserve important public services during the budget crisis. “A cuts-only approach also would devastate the city's ability to address rising poverty and the need for more job training,” says Ed Lazere of the DC Fiscal Policy Institute. The campaign will urge increases in progressive taxes to protect investments the city has made in schools, libraries, rec centers, and health care. - photo: community activists protest Mayor Fenty’s service cuts at the Wilson Building in April; photo by James Davis/Save Our Safety Net