Decaying bridges nationwide symbolize failure to put people back to work,
protect the American Dream for the 99%

After votes by Congress to block the president’s jobs plan unemployed workers and local residents joined protestors nationwide declaring an “Economic Emergency for the 99%.” On the eve of the Super-Committee’s expected recommendations to enact more job-killing budget cuts, activists and concerned citizens held a sit-in on the structurally deficient Key Bridge today, calling on Congress to create jobs, stop cuts and make Wall Street banks pay.

Hundreds of residents formed a human chain across the Key Bridge. The protesters unfurled an 80-foot banner that read, “DC Bridges need work, so do we.” The District has the region’s oldest bridges, with an average age of 57 years; 30 of them are in structural trouble.  Thousands of jobs could be created repairing bridges like this one, and roads and parks and schools. The District unemployment rate is 11.1 percent, a record high. Ward 7 has the highest unemployment in the city at 21 percent.

The nonviolent demonstration was part of a national day of protest at decaying bridges against policies that have enriched the 1% richest Americans and impoverished the 99%. People are holding sit-ins at bridges across the country and other sites in need of repair to protest Wall Street banks and demand Americans be put back to work now.

“The economy, the banks and our leaders are failing the 99%,” said Robin Porter, an unemployed worker. “We can’t wait any longer for action. We need jobs—not more budget cuts. The Key Bridge needs repair and is a symbol of our leaders’ failure to pass a jobs bill or do anything to help the 99%, while the bankers and other members of the 1% keep getting richer.”

Next week, the Congressional Super-Committee is scheduled to release plans that will make deep budget cuts that could kill millions more jobs; cut Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security; and worsen the economic emergency facing the 99%.

Among the protestors were community leaders, including the Rev. Patricia Moten of First Rock Baptist Church. “There are unemployed people right here in Washington who could be put to work repairing the Key Bridge,” said Moten. “But instead of siding with the people of Washington, Washington politicians like Sen. Mitch McConnell are siding with the Wall Street banks that creating this mess and trying to pass more job-killing budget cuts. Until we start seeing jobs here in the District, and until the economy starts working for people who work for a living, we’re going to keep protesting.”

Robert Williams is an unemployed accountant who participated in the sit-in. Williams, who is now washing dishes and waiting for temporary work, said: “Instead of taking away people’s jobs, and their Medicare and Social Security, we should be putting people back to work and making Wall Street banks pay for wrecking the economy.”

Three years after Wall Street banks crashed the economy, 25 million people are still unable to find full-time work and the gap between the 1% and the 99% continues to grow. But instead of creating jobs, Congress continues to ignore the concerns of the 99%, and focuses on job-killing budget cuts and tax giveaways for the rich.

“It shouldn’t have to come to this, but banks and the politicians are refusing the fix the economic emergency that exists in this country,” said Porter. “We have no choice but engage in nonviolent civil disobedience to make our voices heard. It’s past time for a change. We need an economy and a country that works for everyone, not just the 1%. How long will the District have to wait until people can get back to work to support their families again?

Pictures:  On OurDC Facebook page

Updated 5:00pm: Still waiting….

Updated 3:48pm: Pizza arriving from the a twitter supporter to OurDC members in Sen. McConnell’s office.

Updated 2:13 pm: NBC Washington: Unemployed D.C. Residents Occupy Sen. Mitch McConnell’s Office
WELOVEDC: Occupy McConnell

ThinkProgress.org PROTESTERS OCCUPY MITCH MCCONNELL’S OFFICE

Updated 1:50pm: Coverage from ROLLCALL: Protesters Stage Sit-In In McConnell’s Office
WTOP: DC residents storm Senate minority leader’s office
WJLA: OurDC stages lobbying sit-in at McConnell’s Senate office

Updated 12:26 pm: Video

More than 20 District residents entered Sen. McConnell’s office shortly after 10 a.m. this morning pledging to remain until the Senate Minority Leader grants a face-to-face meeting on the Rebuild America Act. As the Senate prepares for a critical vote on the $50 billion infrastructure spending bill. OurDC members are lobbying senators via cell phone from Sen.McConnell’s office.

The legislation calls for immediate highway and transit investments of at least $387.3 million in the District of Columbia that could support approximately 5,000 local jobs.

OurDC will provide Twitter updates @thisisourdc and phone interviews on the sit-in as it progresses to news organizations as the Senate prepares to vote on this portion of the American Jobs Act.

Join the Work That Needs Doing campaign to document your community.

That is why Our D.C. is participating in the Work That Needs Doing campaign. We want our neighbors to document all the jobs that are ready to be completed in our communities today. From the broken Metro escalators to the defaced stop sign near your house, every D.C. ward has work that needs doing.

The District is in a fiscal crisis and our communities are in crisis everyday. The effects of high, long-term unemployment are clear: theft, murder, homelessness, at-risk youth, drug dealing, eviction and shut-off notices.

While many of these are long-term problems to address, we can head in the right direct with the passage of the American Jobs Act. Passage of this bill will mean real money and real jobs for our community.

• $87 million for impoverished D.C. schools. This money will modernize technology and science labs and renovate our schools creating 1,100 jobs.
• $387 million to improve D.C. highways, transit and rail infrastructure creating 5,000 jobs.
• $20 million to revitalize and refurbish vacant and foreclosed homes.

Take a picture of a project ready to be fixed or completed.

We need to pass this bill and move beyond the false choice of jobs or cuts. The creation of new jobs for our neighbors is non-negotiable.

The jobs are ready to be finished.

More than 50,000 District workers should be earning $12.50 an hour under provisions of the Living Wage Act of 2006. City regulations implementing this act, as well as the act itself, require certain contractors and subcontractors to pay a living wage. Group home workers from throughout the city were among the scores of workers who have filed nearly 50 official complaints with DOES calling for enforcement; but the complaints have received no action.

Living Wage supporters chanted, “There’s no Gray area, it’s the law, it’s written in black and white.” A delegation of workers tried to present Mallory with copies of complaints that have been filed with DOES and invited her to speak to the rally. The workers were given conflicting statements about Mallory’s availability and she never addressed the group.

Sign up here to get involved with the campaign.

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