Johns to bring business eye to city leadership

Marie C. Johns says that, as D.C. mayor, she would run the city government as if it were a large corporation.

“I do feel my background with the executive leadership experience I’ve had, based on my career at Verizon [D.C.] and my many long years of experience in the civic sector in volunteer leadership, that that background is unique among the candidates and is the strongest background for mayor — someone who can understand the business of the city,” Mrs. Johns said during an interview with editors and reporters at The Washington Times.

Mrs. Johns, a former executive with the telecommunications company Verizon, is seeking the Democratic nomination for D.C. mayor in the Sept. 12 primary.

A key component of her platform is the reformation of the public-school system, for which Mrs. Johns proposes a three-part plan.

She said she would focus on early childhood education and parent education and literacy; provide an overhaul of the public-school system that would include a partnership between the mayor’s office and the superintendent; and revitalize the University of the District of Columbia (UDC) to include a technical college in Southeast.

“Public education is one of the most fundamental roles of the government, and until we get that fixed, we are going to continue losing our best and brightest. That’s a great vulnerability in Washington,” she said.

Mrs. Johns said keeping residents in the District and maintaining enrollment at public schools depend upon continuing the city’s economic revitalization. One way to do that, she said, is to make the District inviting to small businesses.

“We have to ensure that the city continues to be ’open to business,’ and work well for businesses,” she said. “I’m a strong proponent of business development, in particular small business, because I think for the health and the strength of the economy, a better gauge for that is how our small companies are doing as opposed to the large companies.”

To foster business development, she said, the District needs to improve five key agencies: the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA), the Department of Employment Services (DOES), the Department of Health, the Office of Personnel, and the Office of Contracting and Procurement.

DCRA “does not do its job well,” Mrs. Johns said, adding that the agency, which licenses and monitors businesses, is notorious for its complicated rules and bureaucratic red tape.

She said she would work with the private sector and DOES to provide residents with job training that will help them become productive, tax-paying members of society.

“I know [Mayor Anthony A. Williams] had his proposal to move in 100,000 new residents in the city, and that’s all well and good with people coming in,” she said. “But I firmly believe that the city is not going to be where it ought to be until we get more people who live here trained and working.”

Mrs. Johns, who has lived in the city for more than 30 years, said she plans to install an electronic counter in front the John A. Wilson Building to tick off the amount of federal income-tax residents pay.

That sign, she said, will help highlight that the District is not a state and does not have a vote in Congress.

She said she also would organize an essay contest for public-school students on why the District deserves representation, and will take those essays and a group of children to Capitol Hill to meet with members of Congress.

Mrs. Johns’ plans for public safety include increasing police visibility while having officers on the street build relationships with residents.

“We really need to connect a police officer to a community and then give that officer the time to develop the relationships and really know that community in and out,” she said.

Mrs. Johns said she would leave emergency medical services (EMS) under the purview of the fire department but would hire a medical director to oversee EMS functions.

“My philosophy at this point is that we are better off having the two functions together, but it has to function as one department,” she said.