Question 1:
Age: 40
Occupation: Founder/Director of Hoops Sagrado, a Ward One-based nonprofit for at-risk youth
Education: Bachelor of Arts, Howard University
Qualifications for office sought:
Bryan Weaver is a long-time community activist, Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner (ANC) serving in his fourth-term (including three years as Chair), and communications professional with 15 years of experience in progressive causes. He has worked on coalition building in local and national politics, promoting livable and affordable urban neighborhoods, crime prevention, education, community and economic empowerment, and affordable housing issues. In 2007, Bryan was named the city's best ANC Commissioner by Washington City Paper. He also served as the president of the Adams Morgan Community Association.
Bryan is the founder of Hoops Sagrado, a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit organization founded in 1996 that takes at-risk youth from Washington D.C. to the highlands of Guatemala every summer for a 5-week program of basketball (training, clinics and tournaments), cultural exchange, leadership development and mentoring, Spanish immersion, English tutoring and community-building activities. Hoops Sagrado also gives scholarships to Mayan teens interested in finishing high school and going on to college.
Prior to founding Hoops Sagrado, Bryan served as a Field Representative and Organizer for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Local 500. In addition, he served as Press Secretary for The Body Shop, USA, as well as Assistant Press Secretary for the Democratic National Committee. He has worked as a communications consultant and contractor for many progressive campaigns and causes such as the Education Trust - a national think tank dedicated to education policy, the Stand Up for Steel Campaign, and the 2004 Athens Olympic Committee Bid. Bryan started his career in politics as an aide to the late Senator Paul Wellstone and as an aide to Reverend Jesse Jackson.
Question 2: How to increase tax revenues? Before raising taxes, Mayor Gray and the Council must make a concerted effort to collect business taxes that are already on the books and eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse already identified by the executive and legislative branches namely through the D.C. Auditor and Office of the Inspector General (OIG) reports.
The District of Columbia is owed millions of dollars in outstanding fees and we must collect them before considering raising taxes. We don't need new fees, but we do need to collect on the ones that we are currently owed including millions of dollars in outstanding parking tickets.
Instead of a "millionaire's tax," I firmly believe the entire D.C. tax code needs to be re-written from top to bottom and at a minimum we need to expand our income brackets to at least six brackets. I would suggest one new bracket at $124K, another bracket at $350K and another bracket at $1.5M.
In addition, it should also be noted that we have actually cut income tax rates over the last decade. D.C.'s top tax rate has fallen from 9.5 percent to 8.5 percent, and income tax collections as a share of household
income have fallen as well. So, even with a new rate for high-income households, most D.C. families would still face lower taxes than they did a decade ago.
Plus, high-income residents can claim D.C. income tax payments as a deduction on their federal income taxes, which would reduce the impact of an increase in their city taxes. Most importantly, because D.C.'s top rate now starts at $40K of taxable income, creating new high-income brackets would provide a way to separate taxes paid by very high-income residents from the taxes paid by middle-income households.
Questions 3: How to reduce spending? Making cuts to city services is never easy, but the District may not be able to close its budget gap without making some very difficult decisions. However none of those decisions should be made without the direct participation of those affected. As a legislator, I would be sure to meet with any organization/affected group before proposing a budget cut that affects them. I may not be able to prevent that budget cut from happening, but I would work hard to make sure their voices are heard before decisions are made.
Currently millions of the District's money is being spent on capital improvements. While there is no doubt a need to improve much of the District's infrastructure and many facilities, the Council needs a better grasp on what improvements are actually needed and how the contracts for those improvements are vetted.
We also must reign in overtime at every level. While overtime is necessity it is not an entitlement that employees should expect to supplement their base salary.
As caretakers of the District's fiscal stability, the Mayor and Council need to determine what is most important. Far too often we continue to find money for things that are not necessarily priorities (or give large, long-term tax abatements to ethically questionable developers), but then we allow systemic, long-term infrastructure problems (like lead in the water) continue to be minimized to fund non-priorities.
We need to create an independent budget agency that reports back to both the Council and Mayor on the fiscal impacts of all proposed legislation. This way, when legislation comes forward, citizens will know if it is fiscally sound and prudent. While this agency would report to both the Council and Mayor, it would be fully independent.
Questions 4: Will Council salary be your only employment income? Yes, and I have also committed that as long as there is a budget gap in the city, I will take a $25,000 pay cut and encourage my fellow council members to do so as well. The money, $325,000 per year should all members comply, will go directly back into the city's safety net.
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