Loganite John Settles Running for At-Large DC Council Seat

From Rachel Nania. Check out her blog, Sear, Simmer & Stir. Follow Nania on Twitter @rnania, email her at rachel[AT]borderstan.com. 

An April 23 special election will take place to fill the at-large City Council seat, recently vacated by Phil Mendelson (D) when he was elected council chairman. As the candidates gear-up for their campaigns, we will introduce you to each of them. Today: local resident John Settles.

The other announced candidates are Patrick Mara, Matthew Frumin and Michael A. Brown (who lost his At-Large seat in November to David Grosso).

Now living in Logan Circle with his wife and three children, Settles is a long-time resident of DC. He grew up in the Shepherd Park neighborhood in DC and later graduated from Howard University. Settles has worked in real estate, lending, entrepreneurial training and economic development, and has served on non-profit boards and started his own businesses.

“I am a housing finance and development professional, but my passion for eliminating waste, fraud and abuse in government has led me to politics,” Settles said in a press release.

“I want to prove that people with integrity, compassion, and vision can still make a difference in a political system that has let us down so much. I am willing to start courageous conversations. We have a real opportunity to fix our broken politics and send a message that we will no longer stand for self-serving politicians playing games while we are working hard every day to raise our families and earn a living.”

Settles’ campaign includes a HELPS DC plan, where he focuses on the following points:

• Housing/Neighborhood Development: More affordable housing options while keeping the identity and charm of our neighborhoods in tact.
• Education:  A comprehensive Cradle-to-College network that improves proficiency; offers challenging and creative learning environments; expands arts, technology and life skills programs; and graduates work-ready students.
• Labor/ Economic Development: Greater resources for small businesses targeted work force development programs and incentives for green manufacturing and knowledge based companies.
• Public Safety: We need to be reassured our neighbors will remain safe and are served by first responders who are equipped with state of the art tools and facilities.
• Senior Services:  Programs for our seniors that allow them to live with dignity in quality housing with sufficient food and access to services.  We also need to capture seniors wisdom as mentors in our schools and community builders in their neighborhoods.

“The city is finally growing; however, the continued growth and, just as important, the retention of young professionals and families will depend upon creating more quality housing that is affordable, developing more high performing schools, attracting more high paying jobs, supporting more small businesses, makings streets safer and providing more support to our senior citizens so they can live with dignity,” Settles said.

“I will be knocking on doors and talking to voters across the District over the next few months laying out my vision for a DC Council that prioritizes restoring the trust so that DC can be the world-class model of a city every resident deserves.”

For more information on John Settles and his campaign, visit his website.

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