Part of the Solution

The guy with the dazzling smile in the picture with me is my old friend, John Salatti. I don't mean that he's old, although I have known him for 36 years so you would think he might be old by now... but he's probably the youngest guy I know. He's a husband, a teacher, a lawyer and a damned good person. For the last several years, in addition to running a company that takes him all over the world teaching lawyers to speak English (instead of Lawyer-ish),  he's been working in Washington, D.C. as a neighborhood commissioner.

D.C. is a rather unique place to live. It's not exactly a city, but neither is it a state. It's got people who pay taxes to the government, but they don't have an actual voting representative in Congress. Over 617,000 people live there, people who work in education and entertainment and hospitality  and the military  and, oh yeah, the Federal Government. The District  is governed by a Mayor and a  13 member City Council. They are aided and advised by the neighborhood commissioners.

The commissioners are the people who get the call when a little old lady gets snowed in at her house and has no one to shovel her sidewalk. They will steer you to the right office if you need help paying off your utility bill or navigating the zoning rules. You want to hold a block party or a take back the night walk? Call your commissioner. They meet all the residents, they make the connections, they solve problems. And they do it all for free. They have to stand for election and win enough votes to earn the position. And then they do all that, day in and day out, on their own time, simply because they want to make DC a better place to live.

This year, there's a seat opening up on the DC City Council. John has decided to take a shot at it.  But it's going to take a whole lot more than he's used to spending on his neighborhood race. I can't think of a better guy for the job.  So I just made my first donation to a political campaign. It wasn't a big one, but I believe in my friend, so I did what I could. I figure there's a bunch of folks out there who feel the same way and all those little checks will add up into a pile of money for him.

If you'd like to learn about John and his campaign, click here.

If you'd like to help out with a donation, you can send it to:

Salatti for Ward 5
131 U Street NW
Washington, DC 20001

Let the best man win...

Comments

  1. Liz Imbrie, photographerFebruary 2, 2012 at 5:02 PM

    Two of my favorite leading men! Godspeed, Sallatti!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks, Liz, and very many thank to you, Greg!

    ReplyDelete

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