{"id":2864,"date":"2021-10-13T11:00:45","date_gmt":"2021-10-13T11:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/?p=2864"},"modified":"2021-10-13T11:11:47","modified_gmt":"2021-10-13T11:11:47","slug":"wabas-dc-funding-raises-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/dc\/2864","title":{"rendered":"WABA\u2019s DC Funding Raises Questions"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Release:\u00a0Wednesday,\u00a0Oct. 13, 2021<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Contact:<\/span><\/span>\u202f<\/span><\/span>Nick\u00a0DelleDonne\u00a0,\u202f\u202f<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

delledonne.n@comcast.net<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>, 703 929 6656<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

WABA\u2019s DC<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0Funding<\/strong>\u00a0Raises Questions<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

DC taxpayers are subsidizing the Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA), funding a big chunk of its budget.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps<\/span> the major public advocate for\u00a0bicyclists\u00a0in the region, WABA identifies itself as a nonprofit, tax exempt, educational corporation that lobbies elected officials, including members of the DC City Council.\u00a0 It calls itself “a<\/span> powerful<\/span> movement to make biking the best way to get around<\/span> [<\/span>and its] membership. . . \u00a0helps us stand tall when we advocate and organize for safer streets, connected trails, and better places to ride.”\u00a0 Registered<\/span> as a 501(c)3 organization<\/span>, it is a membership organization with<\/span> nominal “<\/span>pay-what-you-can” dues<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

However, the major part of WABA's budget comes from the DC Government, according to online city contracting and federal tax\u00a0records<\/span>.\u00a0 The city allocated\u00a0$655,731 in\u00a0FY2018, $849,377 in\u00a0FY2019, $292,998 in\u00a0FY2020 and\u00a0$1,105,507\u00a0in\u00a0FY2021, or almost $3 million over the last four years.\u00a0\u00a0Here is a link to WABA 2018 tax return <\/span>https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1JsNqQx9be0a4GkcBsotejtj3NiB4FyLL\/view?usp=sharing<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

On the expenditure side, WABA appears to have a staff of almost 20 people\u00a0with such titles as Outreach Manager,\u00a0Adult Education Coordinator, Youth & Family Coordinator, Business Partnerships Coordinator,\u00a0Membership & Development Coordinator\u00a0and\u00a0DC Bike Ambassador Coordinator.\u00a0 It also has corporate sponsors, including\u00a0JBG<\/span><\/span> SMITH Properties, REI Coop clothing store, and Uber and Lyft.<\/span><\/p>\n

With its overwhelming city financial support, the question arises: How independent is WABA?\u00a0 Is it really a DC agency spending taxpayer money to advocate for itself?\u00a0 Should it register with the DC Board of Ethics and Government Accountability (BEGA) as a lobbying organization.\u00a0 Is this a relationship that the DC Auditor and the Inspector General should take a look at?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Release:\u00a0Wednesday,\u00a0Oct. 13, 2021\u00a0 Contact:\u202fNick\u00a0DelleDonne\u00a0,\u202f\u202f\u00a0 delledonne.n@comcast.net, 703 929 6656\u00a0 \u00a0 WABA\u2019s DC\u00a0Funding\u00a0Raises Questions DC taxpayers are subsidizing the Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA), funding a big chunk of its budget. \u00a0 Perhaps the major public advocate for\u00a0bicyclists\u00a0in the region, WABA identifies itself as a nonprofit, tax exempt, educational corporation that lobbies elected officials, including members of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2864\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}