This City Owes You!

On Friday, posters for Calvin Gurley, candidate for Chairman of the D.C. Council, appeared on lampposts throughout downtown. He is apparently attempting to present an alternative to frontrunner at-large Councilmember Kwame Brown and former Ward 5 Councilmember Vincent Orange. Merits of his platform aside, Gurley's slogan, "This City Owes YOU," struck me as quite odd. The city did owe me, but I finally received my tax refund about a month ago. It reminded me of when a resident, in his mid-thirties, emphatically demanded that Councilmember Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) provide him with a big screen TV to watch at the Kennedy Recreation Center. "This city owes you" seems to be a message that responsible city leaders should not send.