At-large council profile: Goodwin stresses need for equitable economic development

Marcus Goodwin still talks about Arthur’s.

The Columbia Heights convenience store was a longtime community institution around the corner from his mother’s house, and Goodwin said it used to be “our local source for any convenience,” utterly beloved in the neighborhood where he grew up. When the store closed its doors in 2015, he was devastated.

“But with the arrival of a CVS nearby and a Giant, they were priced out of business,” Goodwin said. “This is a multi-generational family business that was no longer able to pay rent because their clientele had largely left to shop at the bigger retail shops.”

It’s a phenomenon Goodwin sees far too often in the District today — and it’s part of what inspired his campaign against at-large DC Council member Anita Bonds this year.

An associate at the DC real estate firm Four Points, Goodwin is running in the June 19 Democratic primary, pledging to fight for District development that doesn’t neglect communities of color.

“I grew up in a Columbia Heights that was 72 percent African-American in the 2000 census,” Goodwin said. “Today it’s below 32 percent. For us to lose the 40 percent of our neighborhood’s community that was African-American — almost wholesale to white residents — is not accidental. It’s not caused by market forces. It’s caused by the inability of our leaders to take hold of making sure economic development happens equitably. I want to be someone who’s competent and cognizant of the problems we have.”

Of course, the District’s problems aren’t limited to housing. In addition to property tax relief for longtime homeowners, Goodwin wants to “fund after school programs and shift school personnel from the administrative office to the classroom,” the Afro-American reported. At forums he also talks about closing the achievement gap and boosting resources for vocational education. In addition, Goodwin told The DC Line he’ll support minority-owned businesses and ensure that, when neighborhoods are redeveloped, “we have publicly available, well-vetted community benefits agreements.”

“If we had an online, publicly available system, we would allow people the opportunity to understand the full suite of things they should demand and expect in their community,” he said. “We’d have more community-serving retail, more mom-and-pop businesses, local restaurants, barber shops, dry-cleaning businesses — businesses that serve and are run by the working class, not corporations like Chipotle or Subway that are overrunning these working-class communities but don’t provide any career opportunities. It’s not to pick on these companies; I eat their food. But we need more support for small, local business.”

These local businesses, Goodwin said, should be given “below-market rents in retail space.”

“There’s no one on the council that’s as focused on [the community] as I will be,” he said.

Goodwin’s campaign website is GoodWinForDC.com.

This post has been updated to correct the URL for the campaign website.