{"id":2927,"date":"2022-01-31T13:05:33","date_gmt":"2022-01-31T13:05:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/?p=2927"},"modified":"2022-01-31T13:28:16","modified_gmt":"2022-01-31T13:28:16","slug":"are-dc-taxpayers-hidden-funders-of-smart-growth-bike-advocacy-groups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/dc\/2927","title":{"rendered":"Are DC Taxpayers Hidden Funders Of Smart Growth Bike Advocacy Groups?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Release: Monday, Jan. 31, 2022<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Contact:<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>Nick DelleDonne ,\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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

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

Are\u00a0DC Taxpayers Hidden Funders <\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Of Smart Growth Bike\u00a0Advocacy Groups?<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

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

Based on available public\u00a0documents, DC taxpayers have been indirectly funding and without\u00a0appropriate oversight,\u00a0the Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) and Greater, Greater Washington (GGW), a leading 'smart-growth,' generally pro-development organization.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

In the same period, The Washingtonian<\/i> magazine reported GGW had lost a major funder and faced an uncertain future. \u201cThe influential urbanist site is scrambling to plot a way forward,\u201d wrote Andrew Beaujon in The Washingtonian,<\/i> March 8, 2019.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.washingtonian.com\/2019\/03\/08\/greater-greater-washington-lost-a-big-chunk-of-its-funding-now-what\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Interestingly, at the time, David Alpert was Executive Director of both GGW and DC Surface Transit, Inc., which lists its address as <\/span>a mailbox at WeWork, 1440 G St. NW.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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

Regarding WABA, its 2020 IRS tax return shows that it reported $1.7 million dollars in revenue, $862,000 from\u00a0taxpayers,\u00a0see page 9 in the link below, including much of it from a \u2018no bid\u2019 contract\u00a0with the DDOT. Only 6% of WABA\u2019s came from membership dues. Over $1 Million went to staff salaries, including $109,000 for its executive director.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

WABA spent $163,834 on \u201cfundraising,\u201d but we ask, fundraising from whom? Developers? WABA exercised its right to\u00a0refuse to disclose the names of its major contributors\u00a0(see pages 22-23). Of seven unnamed contributors, was the biggest contributor the DC taxpayer? But who were the sources of WABA\u2019s other contributions to the tune of hundreds of thousands?\u00a0 WABA\u2019s 2020 IRS Return is here:\u00a0<\/span>https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1KitE93-96GMElsK4PLuRq7ro7j77KlGS\/view?usp=sharing<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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.\u00a0DECAA 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.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Join the neighborhood discussion and action forum, HearUsNow! <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

hearusnow@googlegroups.com<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n

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

\u00a0Join Dupont East Civic Action Association<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Dedicated to Community Engagement and Civic Action<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Release: Monday, Jan. 31, 2022 Contact:\u00a0Nick DelleDonne ,\u00a0\u00a0 delledonne.n@comcast.net, 703 929 6656 \u00a0 Are\u00a0DC Taxpayers Hidden Funders Of Smart Growth Bike\u00a0Advocacy Groups? \u00a0 Based on available public\u00a0documents, DC taxpayers have been indirectly funding and without\u00a0appropriate oversight,\u00a0the Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) and Greater, Greater Washington (GGW), a leading 'smart-growth,' generally pro-development organization.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 According to […]<\/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-2927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2927","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=2927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2927\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}