CRITICAL ACTION ALERT:
We have until August 8th, 2018 (13 days from the 7/26 writing of this post) to get me -- Eric Jonathan Sheptock -- on the ballot as a DC mayoral candidate for the November 6th election. I need 3,000 signatures in order to get my name on the ballot.
A -- I can try to get at least 250 signatures per day myself. That would be both tedious and onerous.
B -- 30 people can commit 4-6 hours between now and August 6th and get 100 signatures each.
(Twice as many people would need to work only half as hard.)
I like Scenario B a lot better than Scenario A. Besides, it makes sense for a candidate who wants to get at least 100,000 votes in a city where 145,000 of its c. 700,000 residents are on food stamps to first get 30 or so foot soldiers to work for him or her.
INSTRUCTIONS:
TEXT my cell phone 240-305-5255 with YOUR FULL NAME and the word "PETITION" in order to let me know that you are available to assist with ballot petitions.
If you have friends who you are certain would be ready, willing and able to help, then have THEM text THEIR NAMES and the word "PETITION" as well. (I would need to be able to contact each petition circulator individually.)
Given the weather forecast for the next few days, I will travel to where you are IF YOU HAVE A GROUP OF AT LEAST FIVE (50 PETITIONE CIRCULATORS who can meet for an hour.
Given the urgency of the matter, it is better for you to arrange to come to me. I am always at my church (Church of the Epiphany -- which serves the downtown poor) by 7:15 AM on Sunday mornings. Epiphany is located at 1317 G st nw, DC and sits across the road diagonally from the 13th and G exit of the Metro Center Subway Station. Doors open at 6:30 AM and I'll be there until at least 9:30 AM -- later if I know you are coming. (I'll have the petitions with me, in case you come.)
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Before I address the immediate political reasons as to why at least 30 Washingtonians should each put their best foot forward for a few hours over the next 13 days to ensure that their long-ignored concerns are addressed by the next administration, I'll list just a few of the benefits of having:
ERIC JONATHAN SHEPTOCK
as DC MAYOR beginning in January 2019.
Together.....
We can stop and reverse DC gentrification on all of its levels with its many facets!!! ***
We can create government transparency and accountability!!! ***
We can promote positive policing without racial bias!!!***
We can defeat entrenched racism -- even "soft racism"!!!
We can connect low-wage workers to living-wage/housing-wage jobs!!!
We can cause DC Government to promote the interest of its CURRENT residents!!!
We can exponentially increase the public's interest in local politics!!!
We can teach people how their government works!!!
We can create a constant and MEANINGFUL line of communication between DC Government and DC denizens!!!
We can make Washington, DC the epitome and example of something GOOD for other cities to model themselves after!!!
YES WE CAN!!!
*** The first three ideas, though I've been aware of their importance for some years now, had their importance reinforced by people's social media interactions with me over the past two months. The others are long-standing concerns that were not prominently mentioned in social media posts to my pages, but which I'll commit to addressing as mayor nonetheless.
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1 -- In order to realize any of those goals, we must address the most immediate political concerns first. If I don't get 3,000 good petition signatures (from people who are registered to vote as members of any party or as independents), then I won't be able to force the conversation around affordable housing or government transparency; as, I won't be a candidate. (I'm running as an independent.)
2 -- Neither petition circulator nor a petition signer is thereby committing to voting for ERIC JONATHAN SHEPTOCK as DC MAYOR. In either instance, you'd only be supporting getting me on the ballot, so that I can force the conversation about issues that are important to DC residents.
3 -- My being on the ballot would, in and of itself, exert "maximum pressure" on a mayor who has shown herself to have a pattern of disregard for the concerns of current DC residents. It would reinvigorate DC residents who feel forgotten and ignored by causing them to pay attention to local politics and to go to the polls in November. Should incumbent mayoral candidate MURIEL BOWSER promise to do better and end up breaking that promise, it would be more likely that those whose hopes were thwarted would inundate City Hall with their statements of displeasure.
4 -- If Muriel Bowser were to become the first incumbent to get re-elected since 2002, then her second term would ensure the perpetuity and irreversibility of DC Gentrification and the displacement of lifelong and long-term DC residents. She has taken several big steps to ensure the permanence of gentrification. They include her efforts to modify the city's 20-year development plan such that it gives developers more rights and poor citizens less rights. They also include her successful effort to push out government watchdog Traci Hughes who combatted Mayor Bowser's contract steering wherein she'd sought to award unmerited contracts to her political cronies. The list goes on.
5 -- The future work of the non-profit and social justice communities in DC would be to no avail if Bowser were to win a second term. Once the voting base's demographics have been shifted dramatically enough by gentrification, the former majority will become the minority and vice versa. ELECTION 2018 might very well be the last opportunity that DC's 145,000 food stamp recipients or other demographics have to make their voices heard politically. It's conceivable that, by the 2022 mayoral election, Blacks and poor long-term DC residents will make up no more than 30% of the population, having been gentrified into neighboring Maryland against their will.
That said, will you please
put your best foot forward until August 8th, 2018
in order to ensure that Muriel Bowser has some viable competition and is forced to address your concerns???
If so, scroll to the top and follow the instructions.
Thank you.
