Newly released documents from the District of Columbia reveal in 2020 the city spent over a quarter million dollars to paint “Black Lives Matter” on a public street near the White House as part of an election-year anti-Trump publicity stunt.
Two years later BLM's “Defund The Police” initiative proved so politically toxic D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, who ordered the street painting, ran campaign ads in the Democrat primary claiming she supported the police.
But at the time, Bowser and D.C. leaders opened up taxpayer funds to paint leftist political slogans on Washington streets.
Judicial Watch received 25 pages of records in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from the Washington, DC Department of Transportation which “show the cost to taxpayers to repaint the Black Lives Matter slogan on a street in the nation's capital was over $270,000,” the group announced.
“DC crime is out of control but local leaders continue to waste $270,000 in tax money promoting the extremist Black Lives Matter movement in the heart of Washington DC that is racist, anti-police, anti-American, and often violent,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.
On June 5, 2020, after days of protests and riots in DC led by the Black Lives Matter movement, a team of artists, residents, District employees, and demonstrators painted “Black Lives Matter” in 50-foot-tall yellow capital letters and the District's crest, which resembles three stars above an “equals” sign, on 16th Street NW near the White House. The following day, demonstrators painted “Defund the Police,” a key demand of the Black Lives Matter movement, alongside the “Black Lives Matter” message.
According to the documents, the total cost of $271,231 includes $53,551 for paint and supplies, and a whopping $217,680 for labor.
JW reports:
In a purchase order dated September 15, 2023 with the description “Black Lives Matter Plaza Redo”, a vendor charged DC-based Equus Striping a total of $53,551.20 for supplies for “BLMRedo2023”. These supplies included “StreetBond 250 Yellow-BLM (MMA)”, “StreetBond 250 Catalyst”, and “StreetBond Primer”, plus shipping.
The labor for the repainting was provided by a subcontractor called Dewberry and totaled $217,680.
A memorandum of negotiations for the project dated April 13, 2023 indicates that the project required a foreman, operator, laborer, carpenter, and mason. Equipment included a backhoe/loader, portable air compressor, Bobcat, dump truck, pick-up truck, and service truck.
The memorandum also indicates that the hourly rates submitted by the contractor on March 9, 2023 were rejected. After negotiation, the contractor submitted lower hourly rates and were accepted on April 13, 2023. The negotiated pricing was signed off on by DC Department of Transportation officials Dr. Eloka Kingsley Achebe (Deputy Program Manager), Jaswant Matharu (Project Manager-Local Paving), and Gaiyath Naanou (Resident Engineer-Local Paving).
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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