Praising Mayor Vincent Gray’s selection of Beatriz “BB” Otero as deputy mayor for health and human services would be easy. After all, she comes with an impressive resume and has been a vital contributor to the richness of District life for more than two decades. I personally credit her with enhancing my understanding of the District’s Latino community. During my days as a daily reporter, when a colleague and I wanted to write a series of stories about the tensions that existed between blacks and Latinos, Otero introduced us to key Hispanic leaders. When she ran for a seat on the D.C. Board of Education, I endorsed her candidacy. Though she lost, she became even more involved in public education, co-founding CentroNia and the D.C. Bilingual Charter School. Her participation on various boards — Center for the Study of Social Policy and the Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness — further underscores her knowledge and expertise.
Still, I cannot support Otero’s selection.
For the past four years, the District lived without a deputy mayor for health and human services. (It also lived without a deputy mayor for public safety.) Several independent citizens’ surveys, taken over the past year, indicated the majority of residents were very satisfied with the direction of the government — sans the duo.
In other words, Gray has been trying to fix something that wasn’t broken. But he has ignored the major challenge facing the city: a potential $600 million budget shortfall for fiscal 2012.
Most executives, staring at such an enormous problem, would move quickly to reduce administrative overhead. Gray has done just the opposite, restoring, for example, the defunct deputy mayor for health and human services, which formerly was called the deputy mayor for children, youth, elders and families. The only savings Gray has achieved, thus far, is in the number of words in the position’s title.
Truth be told, the District can’t afford Otero. It also can’t afford Paul Quander, the deputy mayor for public safety. Those two positions cost taxpayers $370,000 a year — excluding benefits and bonuses. Add their salaries to the $200,000 chief of staff Gray has hired and we’re talking real money.
Instead of shelling such funds for administrative personnel, who some have described as glorified coordinators, Gray could use that money to lessen the blow of pending budget cuts to services.
The Department of Parks and Recreation currently needs more than 30 frontline workers to staff centers and run programs. Based on their minimum salaries, at least 19 “recreation specialists” could be hired with the money Gray is paying to his deputy mayors and chief of staff.
D.C. Public Schools could hire at least 10 teachers. The Child and Family Services could pick up a similar number of entry-level social workers. And the Metropolitan Police Department could bring in 12 new officers.
Given those choices — administrators over frontline workers — deciding how to spend $570,000 seems easy to me. What do you think?
Jonetta Rose Barras’ column appears on Monday and Wednesday. She can be reached at jonetta@jonetta rosebarras.com.
