Ward 8: Best Campaign Yard Sign?

Anyone who has ever run for public office knows once you decide to run, one of the first things to determine are your campaign colors. Many times campaign colors will reflect a candidates personality or just clever campaign strategy.

With 12 people running it looks like all the primary colors have been taken. We can talk all day about who we think will the Ward 8 City Council seat on April 28^th, but for today let’s see who wins for best campaign yard sign. Any thoughts?

Blue

Blue is the color of the sky and sea. It is often associated with depth and stability. It symbolizes trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, faith, truth, and heaven. Blue is considered beneficial to the mind and body. It slows human metabolism and produces a calming effect. Blue is strongly associated with tranquility and calmness. In heraldry, blue is used to symbolize piety and sincerity.

Leonard Watson with a Classic Blue & White

Sheila Bunn with a  Blue and Lime Green Combo

Yellow

Yellow is the color of sunshine. It's associated with joy, happiness, intellect, and energy. Yellow produces a warming effect, arouses cheerfulness, stimulates mental activity, and generates muscle energy. Yellow is often associated with food. Bright, pure yellow is an attention getter, which is the reason taxicabs are painted this color. When overused, yellow may have a disturbing effect; it is known that babies cry more in yellow rooms. Yellow is seen before other colors when placed against black; this combination is often used to issue a warning. In heraldry, yellow indicates honor and loyalty. Later the meaning of yellow was connected with cowardice.

Sandra "S.S" Seegars  with a Classic "S.S." Yellow

Jahaur Abraham with a brighter Yellow

Red

Red is the color of fire and blood, so it is associated with energy, war, danger, strength, power, determination as well as passion, desire, and love. Red is a very emotionally intense color. It enhances human metabolism, increases respiration rate, and raises blood pressure. It has very high visibility, which is why stop signs, stoplights, and fire equipment are usually painted red. In heraldry, red is used to indicate courage. It is a color found in many national flags.

Natalie Williams - Red and White with a bit of Washington NFL Football Team Maroon

Eugene Kinlow with a Red, Black & White combo

Purple

Purple combines the stability of blue and the energy of red. Purple is associated with royalty. It symbolizes power, nobility, luxury, and ambition. It conveys wealth and extravagance. Purple is associated with wisdom, dignity, independence, creativity, mystery, and magic. According to surveys, almost 75 percent of pre-adolescent children prefer purple to all other colors. Purple is a very rare color in nature; some people consider it to be artificial.

LaRuby May and the Grape Purple 

Orange

Orange combines the energy of red and the happiness of yellow. It is associated with joy, sunshine, and the tropics. Orange represents enthusiasm, fascination, happiness, creativity, determination, attraction, success, encouragement, and stimulation. To the human eye, orange is a very hot color, so it gives the sensation of heat. Nevertheless, orange is not as aggressive as red. Orange increases oxygen supply to the brain, produces an invigorating effect, and stimulates mental activity. It is highly accepted among young people. As a citrus color, orange is associated with healthy food and stimulates appetite. Orange is the color of fall and harvest. In heraldry, orange is symbolic of strength and endurance.

Greta Fuller and Historic Preservation Orange

Green

Green is the color of nature. It symbolizes growth, harmony, freshness, and fertility. Green has strong emotional correspondence with safety. Dark green is also commonly associated with money. Green has great healing power. It is the most restful color for the human eye; it can improve vision. Green suggests stability and endurance. Sometimes green denotes lack of experience; for example, a 'greenhorn' is a novice. In heraldry, green indicates growth and hope. Green, as opposed to red, means safety; it is the color of free passage in road traffic.

 Trayon White and Jolly Rancher Green

 Anthony Muhammad and classic Green & White

 Stuart Anderson with another version of Green & White

Marion "Chris" Barry with Marion Barry Green

April 1st --> Ward 8 City Council Candidate Forum

Ward 8 City Council

Candidate Forum!

Have you decided who you are voting for as your next Ward 8 City Councilmember on April 28, 2015? If you are still sorting through the bunch, the Anacostia Coordinating Council along with 30+ Ward 8 and city-wide community based organizations would like to invite you to participate in the upcoming candidate forum!

The forum will include a Ward 8 Resident Straw Poll. Come out and vote your candidate of choice!

Ward 8 City Council Candidate Forum 

When: Wednesday April 1, 2015

Time: 6:30pm - 9:00pm

Where: F.W. Ballou High School - 3401 4th St., SE

Straw Poll: Ward 8 Vote

Bring a friend and neighbor with you! See Flyer Below...

A Perspective on the Ward 8 City Council Election

ART of WAR Concept: Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win. _________________________________________________________________________________

I wanted to take a moment to discuss my thoughts on this election season in Ward 8. Sitting on the sidelines and being an observer has allowed me to see some things that I probably would have missed if I was involved as a candidate.

Every election is different. There are different issues, different candidates, different voters and even the timing of the election season is different. An additional change I have noticed since 2008 is that candidates are now actively using social media, blogging and neighborhood listservs to get their message across to voters. All have become effective tools for candidates to reach voters. With the election starting in the winter months these have been heavily utilized.

I’ve also noticed that there are more people who are taking an active interest in who is running and their platform to improve the quality of life in the Ward. It is always a good thing when there is heavy participation the in community. It forces candidates to be their best which in turn helps the community.

And like every election, there is always talk about getting several candidates to drop out of the race with the expectation that they will all support another in an effort to beat the incumbent. This is noble thinking, but these are the types of conversations that need to take place two years in advance. When a person commits to picking up their petitions and spending their time, money and effort just to get on the ballot, rest assured that they are going to run to complete the race.

Yet still, this conversation has to happen - not for the purpose of eliminating competition, but instead with the goal of combining resources and talent. I for one believe that it takes more than one person in leadership to bring about the type of change needed to really improve the quality of life in our Ward 8 neighborhoods.  It is evident that each candidate has unique talents that include public policy, fundraising, public relations, and community organization. Unfortunately, over the year's, these talents have worked independently of each other. When you can bring all those talents together we will be able to push a candidate forward. Not doing so will create the same frustrations 4 years from now during the next election.

If the conversation happens I think we would learn that not everyone really wants to be the Ward 8 Councilmember, instead they just want to be involved in the process of improving Ward 8. This is a good problem. All potential candidates have to have an honest conversation with each other to determine who has the desire, patience, ability and resources to hold this office. Then the person chosen, has to have the heart and “vision” to position the others to be in charge of other initiatives.

These initiatives can even be an At-Large City Councilmember.  I believe that in a couple of years, Ward 8 can actually have two At-Large Councilmembers if people are willing to work with and help each other succeed. In addition to the City Council, the person has to have the vision to position others to chair District Boards & Commissions and even the DC Democratic State Committee. We are going to need residents who are in key positions that have influence over zoning, housing, utilities and the large District political initiatives. You see we need a team effort where we will all be able to shine to implement a shared vision for improving our community. Remember we are all fighting for the same thing(s).