Are we still a bunch of bigots, Mr. Silverman?

Some of the politicians most insistent on invading the Seven Locks neighborhood and tearing down its school have some owning up to do.

Let's start with County Councilman Steve Silverman. He couldn't defend the expensive Kendale replacement school with facts, so he slandered community residents to the Washington Post, implying that our opposition to the project was motivated by racism.

Here's a story we ran more than a year ago, on January 11, 2005:

County Council President Steve Silverman has run out of honest arguments for tearing down a thriving elementary school in the heart of the Seven Locks neighborhood and building a big subsidized housing project in its place.

Commenting on local opposition to the planned but unannounced demolition of Seven Locks Elementary School, Silverman tells Washington Post columnist Marc Fisher, "The buzzword you hear is that they're for affordable housing, but it's not 'compatible.'"

Then Silverman said what he really thinks of the parents and neighbors who oppose his plan to rip out the core of their neighborhood: "Racism and economic class issues are always lurking beneath."

He thought he could silence a community by accusing them of bigotry. Perhaps he has been trying to cover up for something that the Inspector General, or perhaps a special prosecutor, should investigate.