And for all you seemingly illogical people on here that speak to the fact that the former administra

To be precise, Mayor Vince Gray 's 2010 Lincoln starting home based travel agency Navigator costs $1,941 a month, according to a contract requested from the Department of Public Works. The SUV is leased starting home based travel agency by the "executive protection unit" of the police department. The contract describes starting home based travel agency the ride as "fully loaded," with a leather interior, navigational and entertainment systems, and a "power tailgate." The lease is for one year, with the option for two additional years. According to a footnote in the contract, the lease payments would drop to a more reasonable rate of $782 a month the second year, and $671 a year by the third. Navigators appear to be official mayoral vehicle of the District; former Mayor Adrian Fenty used to commute from his home to the Wilson Building in one, while using his Smartcar to get around starting home based travel agency once at work.
Council Chairman  Kwame Brown , meanwhile, drives a 2011 Lincoln Navigator that costs $1,963.28 a month. Brown's contract does not mention whether his ride is "fully loaded," but LL hopes it is, based on what he's paying. Brown's contract also appears to show the monthly rate decreasing greatly after the first year.
Taxpayers also paid an extra $1,600 fee to expedite the delivery of Brown's Navigator. DPW spokeswoman Linda Grant says her agency ordered the vehicle late and "wanted to have it here in time for the swearing-in ceremony." LL is sure all D.C. taxpayers starting home based travel agency are pleased to pay their share of that $1,600 fee to make sure Brown could ride in style from day one.
Grant didn't have an immediate answer starting home based travel agency as to why the contracts are so expensive. LL tried playing around on the Internet, but couldn't manage to convince anyone to lease him a car for anywhere near as much as the city's paying. The most expensive starting home based travel agency rate he found was about $1,200 a month on a 24-month lease. That would still cost less, over two years, than the leases DPW sent over. Also, in the category of 'just sayin': In the contracts Grant sent LL, it appears the city leases Chevy Malibus starting home based travel agency for $210 a month.
starting home based travel agency Brown's spokesman Traci Hughes says the chairman was "appalled" at the cost of the Navigator's lease, when he was informed by Hughes as she sought comment after LL inquired about it. The Wilson Building rumor mill was working overtime last week, saying Brown had requested an SUV that looked exactly like the mayor's. Hughes says that's not true. Brown was only asked if he wanted a town car or an SUV, she says, and he replied that he wanted a black SUV with a black interior. starting home based travel agency Hughes says Brown has just received his own copy of the contract and is trying to determine if it would be more expensive in the long run to back out of the deal, or just swallow the cost.
Close followers of city politics may recall that Brown owns his own (or did as of last summer) 2003 Lincoln Navigator. "I like cars. There's no question that Kwame likes cars ... I try to get the best value I can for the dollar I spend on my car," Brown told Post reporter Mike DeBonis in a piece focused on the sad state of Brown's personal finances.
Even closer followers may remember that when Gray was chairman he, at least initially, didn't use the city-funded car provided for him. LL knows that Gray occasionally drove (and once almost hit LL with) a black Chevy Tahoe SUV as chairman, which according to DPW, costs $1,025 a month. Grant says the lease on the Tahoe is over, and the car is "in the process" of being returned.
As of Friday morning, starting home based travel agency though, it was still parked outside the Wilson Building. starting home based travel agency Does that mean District taxpayers are still paying for it? And if so, why couldn't Brown just drive the Tahoe to save the $1,600 starting home based travel agency fee for expedited starting home based travel agency delivery of the Navigator? LL is still working on solving those and other mysteries. Stay tuned.
The current monthly lease agreement for the SUV is $1,941.00, which is the government rate and not a consumer rate. The selection and procurement for the Mayor's vehicle rest strictly with MPD.  Incidentally, according to MPD, this vehicle is comparable to the vehicles used by Mayors Fenty and Williams.
re: sedcdude, what's important is that Gray promised to govern differently. Don't you think that these outrageously expensive luxury car leases are inconsistent with "character, integrity, leadership"?
There's also the point that Gray is moving very slowly to fill key cabinet positions and set a clear course for his administration, while he's wasting no time getting a phat ride for himself. (Even Kwame appears to be an afterthought; the DPW spokesperson sounds like a good soldier when she doesn't say 'We didn't get the chairman a ride because we weren't asked to at first.') These actions might show (better than his vague 'one city' refrain does) what the new mayor's priorities are.
For those who pay even CLOSER attention, recall early 2005, right after Kwame became a Councilmember: he was riding all over town with a police lights on his dashboard, starting home based travel agency like a cop (or an idiot, you choose).
If the budget is tight this does not send a good message. They are both saying me first and who cares about the city's poor and needy. So much for the campaign empty promises. Adding two new cabinet jobs is also a waste! The overspending started early didn't it?
What about using those bikes that are all over this town? Hey Vince can't you and Kwame car-pool? Why am I imagining that both have the cd playing "Diamond in the back, sun-roof top, digging the scene with my gangster lean- uhooooooo!!!!
The issue as I see it is why did Gray choose to get a new lincoln when he could have driven the lincoln that Fenty used. Why did he get a 2010 model with all of the extras, starting home based travel agency when he could have used the older vehicle?
THE WHOLE CRUX OF FAGGIE FENTY'S ADMINISTRATION WAS DUE PART AND PARCEL TO HIS "BULLSHIT" THAT HE DIDNT NEED A DETAIL SO NO ONE CAN KEEP TABS ON HIM. I WANT MY MAYOR TO RIDE IN THE TANK THAT WAY HE CAN BE SEEN RIDING AROUND DC GOVERNING NOT BIKING. starting home based travel agency THAT PUNK RAN DC (INTO THE GROUND) FROM HIS BLACKBERRY WITH HIGHLY UNDER QUALIFIED, GROSSLY OVER PAID DRONES AND YALL SCREAMIN ABOUT MONEY ALREADY BUDGETED FOR THE TOP DC OFFICIALS TRANSPO.
YALL WHITE FOLK ARE SOMETHING ELSE. YOU THE SAME MUTHA FUCKAS WHO VOTED FOR OBAMA AND NOW WANT TO BLAME HIM FOR THE MESS WE ARE IN FORGETTING SO QUICKLY THAT IT WAS BUSH WHO GOT US IN THIS MESS. WE HAVE THE SAME DYNAMIC HERE.
THE WORST MAYOR WDC EVER HAD DRIVEN THIS GOVENMENT JUST LIKE HE DROVE THAT MORNING starting home based travel agency WHEN HE HAD THE ACCIDENT. WRECKLESSLY! OR ONE COULD LOOK AT THE OTHER METAPHOR HOW HE LET UNAUTHORIZED FOLK DRIVE HIS ADMINISTRATION. CARELESSNESS!
WHEN GRAY FUCKS UP MILLIONS OF TAXPAYER DOLLARS BY DOLING THEM OUT TO HIS FRAT BROTHERS AND FAKE ASS LOUD MOUTHS THEN MAKE SOME NOISE OTHER THAN THAT STAY IN YOUR BIKE LANES AND STOP WEAVING IN AND OUT OF TRAFFIC.
I get why Kwame wants a car, because his was repo'ed, but this is ridiculous. 24 days into "One City" and the mess is already overwhelming. Kwame, Gray, Thomas, all doing their best control board era impressions. Sweet.
Oh and btw, noodlez, Gray is already f'ing up millions starting home based travel agency of taxpayer dollars. Here is but one example. Sorry you're too dense to either (a) figure out how to turn off caps lock, and (b) realize what poor leaders we have in the Wilson building...
Mike, I agree that the rate does seem excessive, even for gov't. But I have no doubt that the office of the mayor nor council chair negotiated the 1900/month lease. That doesn't really address the stories angle which presumed that Gray was acting starting home based travel agency out of step with his predecessors. It also implies that Gray's "One City" thing translates to his mode of official transportation. Something even Alan fails to point out in this article.
Who cares about this. Every time during a budget deficit reporters start writing stories about how much politicians pay for transportation, travel, housing etc. It must be one of the top rules in the politico reporters handbook Rule: When in a budget deficit write about how much they lease the cars for.
If we just want to talk dollars and cents why dont we get rid of security and anything else that is not salary. There are real logistical reasons most of this stuff and the gov't rate is always higher than the consumer rate
You already look like a massive tool, and hiding behind the tinted windows of a Navigator doesn't help. No one is impressed. NO ONE. Even if you don't really care, why not at least try to give the impression that you are a public SERVANT and not some ego-driven moron who takes advantage of situations for personal gain, as opposed to greater public good.
Kwame Brown has no business in a seat that gives him the authority to make decisions about fiscal matters. His lavish lifestyle has him all up in civil court as his debtors are trying to recover their losses. For Kwame, securing starting home based travel agency the Chairman seat was all about the perks not about the people. His tired, raccoon starting home based travel agency looking behind needs to be riding one of Fenty's bikes as his growing gut tells us so. Not only Kwame but his obese wife too needs to definitely get on two wheels only and ride about town.
And for all you seemingly illogical people on here that speak to the fact that the former administrations rode about town in behemoth anti-green economy SUVs are clearly misguided. When we have a deficit as big as this one, as big as DC has ever seen, our so-called leaders SHOULD LEAD BY EXAMPLE by demonstratively cutting the fat and waste. In this sad economic starting home based travel agency climate, they are being wasteful at the onset in their newly gained powers. People starting home based travel agency are being displaced from their homes all across the nation. We are overlooking that fact here though apparently. Just last night I watched and heard Gray say Homeland Security was bringing 14,000 jobs to Southeast, however, he says many residents' skill set cannot compete for those type of jobs. Well then honey, get ready because we'll see coming across the borders our friends of Maryland and Virginia. Don't you see that he's trying to make the case now regarding his foreseeable solid fail in getting the unemployed empl