PRIDE GOETH BEFORE A FALL

The recent incidence of Mayor Adrian Fenty's mayoral regime provokes normal sensibilities. However, Washington, D.C., has so few such citizens remaining in the town that outrage cannot and isn't expected by anyone. He glibly signals his innocence and near inability to commit errors. Else, he merely refuses to answer. He peddles his political goods to his 500 dearest friends. Adrian's well-liked by "capitalist pigs." His intentions are noble, even visionary, as he fights "for ole D.C." He sees a shining D.C. nestled upon the Potomac River; it will be a beacon to all mankind (especially well-heeled ones, who share his love of the finer things.) He's part "Little Lord Fauntleroy" in garish sportswear that resembles "pantyhose" and part Artful Dodger.

What is truly disturbing about Adrian Fenty is that he is not alone. He represents a type of Post-Yuppie, Post-Urban Pioneer citizen, who dominates the levers of power in Washington, D.C. This is not to say that they are the ultimate "caller of shots" in D.C. Rather, the real power behinds the scenes allows these people to run amok throughout D.C. They are children on a tear. There is no half-baked idea that doesn't "grab" their imaginations. The only issue in debate is the matter of funding. In the language of children, they seek an "allowance" from Congress, tourists, and commuters.

They are all car-haters. Hence, any idea that is anti-car seems "responsible" and "wise." They hope to force a metropolitan area that has its population zooming to ride public transportation, forgetting utterly in its inability to do that task. They envision every street in D.C. to be a ghetto each of which is walled-in by buses which have been purchased as a "smarter way to travel."

They are seriously considering a trolley system. Why? Why use this older mode of travel when the government has previously abandoned it, and the provision of electricity suitable to keep it going is entirely outside the District officials' ability to guarantee? As Congress wrings its hands over exactly how to provision the booming population of America with electricity and other basic utilities, including water, the District of Columbia will have a vast quantity of trolley cars awaiting the required electricity, not to mention the construction of the system. People, such as Mayor Fenty, will be peddling about expressing enthuasiasm for the project and talking about the new jobs and tourist money that the trolley will bring to Washington. You should understand that what these D.C. creeps are expressing is "San Francisco-envy."

As a real leader, Mayor Fenty peddles around Washington, protected by motorcycle cops and provided by them with an eternal "green light," greeting his people (The Urban Arrogant), promoting fitness, and "envisioning" D.C.'s future. He sees twenty years ahead routinely. What do you call someone who sees things no one else can see? Whatever the proper term, one can say with certainty that he's not alone in dreaming. In the old days this collective "spell" was blamed on "swamp fever."

MAYOR FENTY: AVANTGARDE OR 'BAMA?

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty of Washington, D.C., is a thoroughly modern politicians, according to criteria used by the contemporary press. He's a "comer" who may be leading a Democrat presidential ticket in eight or ten years. This is especially true if the "movers and shakers" in D.C., including Capitol Hill, can "upgrade" the District of Columbia" into the "State of Columbia." A "make-over" certainly seems possible, especially if all the really positive, enlightened people put their shoulders to it. Governor Fenty is a better platform for president than Mayor Fenty.

Besides being, in the words of Woody Allen, a "glibe, young cosmopolitan," Mayor Fenty is a man of vision. He sees a shining city in a swamp. It's future D.C. All that's needed is a little funding. Construction will be a big part of it, and Metropolitan Washington D.C. has some of the richest builders in America just waiting for politicians to offer them a deal they can't refuse.

Therefore, Mayor Fenty appears to be a "hot" politician. He gets things done.

Still, for all the glittery facade, there is reason to believe that he's just another D.C. 'Bama.

The African American Establishment in Washington, D.C., arose from ambitious sons and grandsons of slavery. A steady train of African Americans worked their way north to D.C., as well as to other places. The liberating forces that began most significantly during the FDR/Truman years carried more of these African Americans into prosperity. The "Ole Southern Charm" of Washington, D.C., was, in a sense, preserved by the established African Americans, rather than the dwindling numbers of White Southerners who still called Washington, D.C., home. The "Gold Coast" in Washington, D.C., was the heart of "Black Dixie."

For many years observant African Americans in small towns throughout the South could see what the White leadership was doing that was working well and what they were doing that was not working well. There was no money-generating plot that worked better than "taxing" Yankee cars passing through the town. They could be "nailed" coming and going. Sheriff's could be creative about moving violations.

A favorite trick was for a major route, allowing 65 miles an hour speed for cars, to pass through a "town" of ten shacks that mandated 15 mile an hour speed limits. Additionally, car break-downs in these robber-barron citadels could end up costing a bundle, starting with the tow.

As Yankees got wealthier and yearned to sample Florida sunshine, the flood of cars heading South became a bonanza. None of this was lost on the leaders of the African America communities in these scattered but numerous towns throughout the New York to Miami corridor. They saw the Scott-Irish preying on their northern neighbors' caravans. They saw that it worked. Ambitious people don't forget money-making schemes. They may re-package them, but they are going to use them again. Why? Because they have seen that they work.

African Americans came up from the South, perhaps bearing little material wealth, but they had within their heads the knowledge of the tried and true means of making money. Tax the "strangers' cars." Money from various routes came to this core of 'Bamas during their transplant years in Washington, D.C. Many grew very wealthy. They created the African American Gold Coast and came to dominant the very important African American institution in D.C., the Prince Hall Masonic Lodge.

It is the Prince Hall Masonic Lodge that has given the local community most of its African American leaders. It has also preserved the "hidden knowledge" of the 'Bama: Tax the Strangers' Cars.

Mayor Fenty is a scion of this tradition. I would be surprised if he was not a member of the Prince Hall Masonic Lodge. I would be surprised if he were not well-known to the Gold Coast Establishment. But, even were he an alien to both, he would still bear in his soul the essence of the D.C. 'Bama: Tax the Strangers' Cars.

Mayor Fenty and former Mayor Williams were and are the High Priests of Vehicular Terrorism. It is my thesis that Robber-Barons aren't "Knights in Shining Armor." This conclusion should be perceived as a political caveat.