Release: Monday, Jan. 31, 2022
Contact: Nick DelleDonne ,
delledonne.n@comcast.net, 703 929 6656
Are DC Taxpayers Hidden Funders
Of Smart Growth Bike Advocacy Groups?
Based on available public documents, DC taxpayers have been indirectly funding and without appropriate oversight, the Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) and Greater, Greater Washington (GGW), a leading 'smart-growth,' generally pro-development organization.
According to records from the DC Office of Contracting and Procurement (OCP), in the 8-month period from July 2019 to March 2020, the DC Council allocated $725,000 to an entity named DC Surface Transit, Inc., also known as DC Sustainable Transportation.
In the same period, The Washingtonian magazine reported GGW had lost a major funder and faced an uncertain future. “The influential urbanist site is scrambling to plot a way forward,” wrote Andrew Beaujon in The Washingtonian, March 8, 2019.
Interestingly, at the time, David Alpert was Executive Director of both GGW and DC Surface Transit, Inc., which lists its address as a mailbox at WeWork, 1440 G St. NW.
Regarding WABA, its 2020 IRS tax return shows that it reported $1.7 million dollars in revenue, $862,000 from taxpayers, see page 9 in the link below, including much of it from a ‘no bid’ contract with the DDOT. Only 6% of WABA’s came from membership dues. Over $1 Million went to staff salaries, including $109,000 for its executive director.
WABA spent $163,834 on “fundraising,” but we ask, fundraising from whom? Developers? WABA exercised its right to refuse to disclose the names of its major contributors (see pages 22-23). Of seven unnamed contributors, was the biggest contributor the DC taxpayer? But who were the sources of WABA’s other contributions to the tune of hundreds of thousands? WABA’s 2020 IRS Return is here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KitE93-96GMElsK4PLuRq7ro7j77KlGS/view?usp=sharing
Dupont East Civic Action Association (DECAA) is concerned that the Council has failed in its in oversight of how taxpayer money is being spent on transportation and the District Department of Transportation (DDOT), which has come under fire for maladministration. DECAA has requested 3 years of tax returns, including schedules and attachments, with financial statements from WABA, Greater Greater Washington and DC Sustainable Transportation. Under IRS regulations the tax returns must be furnished within 30 days of a request.
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