The fact that Majority Leader Marian B. Tasco and rookie Councilman Curtis Jones Jr. cosponsored a resolution last week calling for a suspension of sales of foreclosed houses had a political significance far beyond the substance of the bill, observers said.
It may have been the outward sign of a truce between warring factions of the city's African American politicians.
The sides separate themselves geographically, from the West and Northwest sections of the city. U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah (a Jones ally) heads the West faction, and the Northwest has traditionally been the territory of former U.S. Rep. Bill Gray and State Rep. Dwight Evans (a Tasco friend).."
The feud is decades old, its origins murky, but one insider called last week's partnership "a real positive sign" that signals "some level of detente."
Jones agreed, calling Tasco a "political mentor."
"I think it indicates that the cold war between the Northwest and West is beginning to subside," Jones said. "The days of territorial politics are being replaced with issue-based politics, and if it continues along that path, it is a new day."
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