Coming Home

Hi, I'm Johnny. One of two photographers heading down to D.C. for this melee of tradition. This is going to be an interesting trip for me, mainly because its also a trip home. I've lived (excluding college obviously) in the Washington D.C. area all my life, and I'd thought I'd share some facts about the city, and why this election means so much to the residents.

A quick primer:

Population: Roughly 591,000 residents. That's just a few thousand shy of Boston, but 150,000 less than Columbus. The metro area boasts more than 5 million. D.C. is one of the nation's leaders in traffic congestion as many people who work in the city commute from Maryland or Virginia.

Mayor: Adrian Fenty has been in office for two years, preceded Anthony Williams who in turn was preceded by notorious mayor Marion Barry. Fenty, once in office, hired Michael Rhee to the post of "School Chancellor" to take control of the district's troubled school system.

Demographics: 55.6% Black, 36.3% White. Obama won here with 90% of the vote. Kerry captured 85%. Either way, the end of the Bush Administration and the ushering in of the first black president holds a special place for Washingtonians. On an ethnic level, sure. But on ideology and politics, lets just say that Bush wasn't the most welcome here and it seems Obama has been greeted in open arms.

Representation: None! A common misconception about the district is that it has a voice in Congress. Thats a half truth. Congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, the district's only voice in Congress, is allowed to vote in commitees but is completely barred from vote on the floor of the House of Represenatives. Which means in turn Washington D.C., a city bigger in population than Wyoming, is put on equal ground legislativly with Puerto Rico, Samoa, and Guam. There have been debates going on for years bringing up the idea of D.C. voting rights or even statehood, but none of them have successfully passed through the legislative branch. It seems that Obama will be supportive of such a measure, but with all the problems on his plate, I doubt we will such much happening with this issue for awhile.

So there are some quick facts. I hope they help put this inauguration in context to what it means locally (they do foot the bill for the Inauguration by the way). I'm leaving town in a few hours, and I can't wait to start sending images from whatever's happening down here.