In an appearance that resembled a political stump speech in the making, At-large Councilmember Michael Brown spoke at the April meeting of Advisory Neighborhood Commission 5A, criticizing Mayor Adrian Fenty for leading the District in the wrong direction.

The attendees warmly received Mr. Brown’s message, breaking into applause on more than one occasion.

In a follow-up interview, Mr. Brown did not dismiss the suggestion that he was running for Mayor in 2010. “It’s no secret,” said Mr. Brown. “People talk about it all the time that there is going to be a race between me and Adrian.”

Mr. Brown began his speech by saying that it was about “the direction of the city.” He then described the ways in which he believed the District of Columbia was going downhill.

Mr. Brown painted a picture of the District becoming a place of haves and have-nots, where longtime residents are pushed aside in favor of newcomers. Mr. Brown said it was time to decide “who this city is for,” explaining “we shouldn’t have to kick our folks out to make room for the new people.”

Mr. Brown said the result was a loss of respect between residents, who used to go out of their way to help each other. “There was a certain value system that we had in this city that we are losing,” he said.

Insufficient job training programs, lack of vocational and technical schools, and lack of economic diversity were all campaign themes aired by Mr. Brown.

Mr. Brown criticized Mayor Adrian Fenty and DC Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee for insufficient transparency and lack of communication. Mr. Brown also criticized the District’s school modernization program for failing to address what he said were the real problems facing District youth: lack of vocational/technical schools, gunfire, excessive video game playing, and lack of neighborhood amenities such as grocery stores.

Until those problems are solved, “it doesn’t matter how pretty the school is,” said Mr. Brown. Mr. Brown said the District also needed to do a better job of retaining young families with school-age children.

Mr. Brown pointed out what he called recent planning mistakes by the District. He cited as examples building Nationals’ Stadium without a parking facility and building the Convention Center without an attached hotel. “We are building these nice things but we are not planning properly,” said Mr. Brown.

“The direction and lack of vision is what concerns me,” he concluded.

Mayor Fenty responded to Mr. Brown’s criticisms by saying, “everyone is entitled to their own opinion.”