Half a decade into hosting DC’s edition of the annual Ride of Silence, I’m starting to get a little better at actually advertising the thing. It’s almost always on the official international list, and there’s once again a listing on the GGWash calendar.
This year, I even managed to write to 10 members of DC Council1 (and their Schedulers and/or Chiefs of Staff) to invite them to join us in early January — this is the time of year when usually I start thinking about the thing, but figure four months out is still way too early to expect anyone else to. This year, I just went for it the evening of Monday, January 5… and by the end of Wednesday had received responses from almost half:
1 Council member Kenyan McDuffie had just resigned his seat, and I did not bother writing to Anita Bonds or Trayon White
Ward 2 Councilmember Brooke Pinto’s scheduler wrote back to say “Thank you for the invitation and greatly appreciate the advanced notice! I will circle back closer to the ride to let you know if the Councilmember and any of our team members are available to join.”
Ward 5 Councilmember Zachary Parker’s Deputy Chief of Staff said, “Thanks for the early reminder to get this on the calendar!”
Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen’s Chief of Staff replied “Thanks so much…. We’ll hold that date on the Councilmember’s calendar.”
Ward 7 Councilmember Wendell Felder’s Office Manager & Scheduler replied that “Unfortunately, the Councilmember will be out of town on this date, but I will pass the invite along to the rest of our staff.”
As of February 7, the offices of Ward 1 Councilmember Brianne Nadeau, Ward 3 Councilmember Matt Frumin, Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George, At-Large Councilmembers Christina Henderson and Robert White, and Council Chair Phil Mendelson had not responded.
In March, some time after she had been appointed to fill CM Kenyan McDuffie’s seat for the year, I added Doni Crawford as well. Her staff told me she would be unable to attend but a member of her staff would.
Finally, in April, I contacted about two dozen candidates for various positions, from Mayor and Delegate to Council and DC State Committee.
The campaign of Elissa Silverman (running in the special election for Council At-Large) told me she would attend.
The campaign of Janeese Lewis George (running for Mayor) told me she has a prior commitment to another event.
The campaign of Rashida Brown (running for Council from Ward 1) told me they were checking her schedule.