5061089 Resolution 20-575, “Chuck Brown Memorial Commemorative Work Emergency Declaration Resolution of 2014”

A RESOLUTION

 

20-575

 

IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

 

July 14, 2014

 

 

To declare the existence of an emergency with respect to the need to approve the commemorative work in Chuck Brown Park to be known as the Chuck Brown Memorial.

 

           

            RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this resolution may be cited as the “Chuck Brown Memorial Commemorative Work Emergency Declaration Resolution of 2014”.

           

            Sec. 2.   (a) On May 28, 2014, Chairman Phil Mendelson, at the request of the Mayor, introduced PR 20-808, the Chuck Brown Memorial, Carter G. Woodson Memorial, and Metro Memorial Park Commemorative Works Approval Resolution of 2014.  That legislation was referred to the Committee of the Whole, which held a hearing on the resolution on July 2, 2014.

            (b) The proposed Chuck Brown Memorial contained in PR 20-808 has received necessary approvals from all relevant local and federal boards and commissions, including the Commission on the Arts and Humanities, the National Capital Memorial Advisory Committee, the National Capital Planning Commission, the Commission of Fine Arts, the local Advisory Neighborhood Commission, and the Commemorative Works Committee.

            (c) The Chuck Brown Memorial is designed to celebrate the life of District resident Charles Louis “Chuck” Brown (1936-2012), an American guitarist and singer known as the Godfather of Go-Go, who in 1942, at the age of 15, moved to Washington, D.C., where he developed his musical style to compete with disco.

            (d)  The memorial will honor a local legend and educate visitors on Brown's contributions to Go-Go, a subgenre of funk music, which he pioneered in and around Washington, D.C., in the mid and late 1970s.  The memorial will include a mural incorporated into a plaza that will list Chuck Brown's discography along with several sculptures of instruments representing those used to perform Go-Go.  

            (e)  Because all necessary approvals have been obtained, funding has been identified, and planning for the Memorial is well underway, and because the opening of the memorial could coincide with what would have been Chuck Brown’s birthday on August 22, 2014, the memorial should be approved prior to the Council’s recess beginning on July 15, 2014.

            (f)  PR 20-808 contained approvals for 2 other memorials which have not yet received all necessary approvals from local and federal entities.  PR 20-808, however, cannot be adopted only in part to approve the Chuck Brown Memorial.  Because of procedural time constraints, the Council could not act to consider another resolution submitted before the recess.

            (g) Approval of emergency legislation will allow the development of the Chuck Brown Memorial to proceed over the summer. 

           

            Sec. 3    The Council of the District of Columbia determines that the circumstances enumerated in section 2 constitute emergency circumstances making it necessary that the Chuck Brown Memorial Commemorative Works Emergency Approval Act of 2014 be adopted after a single reading.

           

            Sec. 4.   This resolution shall take effect immediately