Monthly Archives: August 2011

ANC 2-C Chair & Shaw Main Streets Executive Director Alexander M. Padro just received $56,000.00 from Metropolitan Development to spend on the community.   Padro has ignored African-American businesses along the 7th Street, NW corridor for years with their grant request to Shaw Main Streets to enhance the facades of their businesses.  Long time Shaw businessman “Butch” Lucas requested a grant from Padro’s Shaw Main Streets to enhance his businesses and was totally ignored.   Padro was under investigation by the DC Office of Campaign Finance and Ethics a few years ago for allegedly voting on economic development projects in the ANC 2-C Commission while receiving funds simultaneously as  an advisory neighborhood commissioner and head of the Shaw Main Streets.   DC residents lobbied the District of Columbia Government not to provide anymore funding to the Shaw Main Streets and the government responded favorably by reducing Main Streets public funding.    Perhaps Alex should use the money to put the unemployed adolescents and young men to work that constantly hang out in front of the Shaw subway stop in his ANC 2C-01 Single Member District – don’t forget the drunks and dope addicts in his single member district and ANC  Kevin Chapples single member district that hangout daily in the 1500 Block of 7th Street and also the panhandlers in Padro’s single member district that hangouts at our local 7 Eleven.

DC Mayor Gray is living up to his campaign promise to improve the secondary educational facilities in the District of Columbia.  Mayor Gray had a ribbon cutting ceremony this week opening the new Woodson Senior High School in Northeast and will open the new Wilson High School in Northwest this week.  ” The Mayor is committed not only to a clean and safe secondary educational environment in the District of Columbia he also wants top flight teachers,” said ECCA President Al Hajj Mahdi Leroy J. Thorpe, Jr.

District residents with children can thank DC Mayor Gray for his pre-school legislation that allows three year-old children to enroll in DC Public Schools without financial cost.  Maryland residents with children under four years of age will have to pay for pre-schooling.  Mayor Gray is working on his vision to educate infants and toddlers in the District of Columbia to reach them at an early age to prepare them for better tests scores and academic promise.

Mayor Vince Gray’s Administration donated free bike safety helmets to Shaw residents via the COPE Red Hats Patrol. “The Mayor and his administration wanted these kids to feel safe wearing these free donated helmets while they rode their free donated bikes around Shaw after receiving the bikes from the COPE Red Hats Awards Block Party held on 7/23/11.  “Mayor Gray and his administration are working hard to bring  jobs and programs to the youth and Shaw as well as stimulate jobs for adults as economic development projects began in Shaw,” said ECCA President & COPE Red Hats Chairman Al Hajj Mahdi Leroy J. Thorpe, Jr.

The ECCA – East Central Civic Association had the DC Government shut down the unhealthy Chinese restaurant today located at 1703 6th Street, NW for this entire weekend.  The restaurant had oil spills in the alley, trash debri on and around the property, mice cited inside the restaurant, holes in the cielings inside the restaurant where food is cooked and stored, food containers placed on the floor where mice can get into them, greasy rags in the cooking area and more.  ” We had to make the complaint. We tried working with the restaurant but they ignored the ECCA complaints and the real estate properties littered with trash debri of our neighbors and the unhealthy environment inside the restaurant while serving customers,” said ECCA President Mahdi Leroy J. Thorpe, Jr.