“Public Land Surplus Standards Amendment Act of 2009”, Bill 18-0076.

PUBLIC HEARING, COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS AND THE ENVIRONMENT Mary M. Cheh, Chairperson, and COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, Kwame R. Brown, Chairperson. Friday, May 29, 2009 Agenda items: “Public Land Surplus Standards Amendment Act of 2009”, Bill 18-0076. Testimony by David Schwartzman, DC Statehood Green Party

We proudly support Empower DC’s campaign to preserve public property and Bill 18-0076 because it prioritizes community needs by creating an effective community accountable review process to keep public property public. We reiterate our strong commitment to neighborhood public schools, housing for the homeless, and public libraries. We say there should be no more sell offs of these vital facilities to big developers who convert them to condos and luxury apartments. We must prioritize the needs of our working class majority, reversing long-standing policies of the Mayor and Council, which have heavily favored the wealthy and corporate interests.

Passage of this bill would serve to protect our local commons, reversing a trend of poorly regulated privatization which has contributed to the growth of speculative investment prioritizing profit over meeting essential needs. These policies have surely contributed to generating the current depression. In DC privatization has been a major component of urban structural adjustment, the top down implementation of policies that have widened the income gap, contributing to persistent high poverty levels and inadequate income security of our residents. Just as we must protect the global commons, in particular a livable climate, so we should take immediate steps to preserve and expand our local commons, thereby contributing to a higher quality of life for our residents.

I will now focus the rest of my testimony on one vital use of public land, which should be expanded, urban gardening and farming. There are many dedicated residents and groups working to provide healthful organic food from this source. More, not less, public land should be dedicated to this use. Specifically we recommend that the DC government should:

1) Encourage, subsidize and support “Grow Food in DC Coops” in neighborhoods, especially those with high proportion of low income residents who suffer most from bad nutrition, high food prices and lack of exercise.
2) Create apprenticeship programs focusing on urban agriculture, energy conservation and solar energy technologies in our public schools, partnering with non-profits, businesses and unions. Then our District's Green Collar Job Initiative will fulfill its promise, to provide 21st century employment for our youth, while improving the quality of life for all residents.
3) Focus on involving children, youth and the elderly in our urban gardening programs.
4) Finance, restore and build affordable housing for all in need, housing with state-of-the-art energy conservation and solar technologies, plus space for urban gardening.
Urban farming in the District could be a vital component of our local carbon-emissions reduction program, by replacing the commercial supply of food from fossil-fuel intensive industrial agriculture.

Another DC is Possible! Keeping Public Property Public is vital to making it happen.

dschwartzman@gmail.com 829-9063

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