From bus cuts to congestion pricing, Ward 2 candidates weigh in on diverse environmental issues

The candidates vying for the Ward 2 seat on the DC Council are slated to square off again next week at a forum sponsored by the Logan Circle Community Association and Dupont Circle Citizens Association. The upcoming debate follows a Feb. 6 forum where six of them presented aggressive environmental agendas that included strengthening the District’s response to climate change and encouraging non-driving modes of transportation.

The standing-room-only Ward 2 environmental forum featured candidates John Fanning, Jordan Grossman, Daniel Hernandez, Patrick Kennedy, Kishan Putta and Yilin Zhang — all of the Democrats in the race at the time except Jack Evans, who is seeking to regain the seat after his January resignation in the face of a scheduled expulsion vote. An eighth Democrat, Brooke Pinto, joined the race a week after the forum; Katherine Venice, the only candidate for the Republican nomination, did not participate. Except for Hernandez, the same candidates are seeking to qualify for the June 16 special election — two weeks after the June 2 primary — to fill the current vacancy.

At the Feb. 6 forum, held at the Edlavitch DC Jewish Community Center and sponsored by the DC chapter of the Sierra Club, the candidates fielded questions on topics ranging from clean rivers to the fate of RFK Stadium.

All approved of the plan to install a new protected bike lane on 9th Street NW between Florida and Pennsylvania avenues — a project designed by the District Department of Transportation that has stalled amid suspicions that the mayor’s office quietly campaigned against it. Emergency legislation to push the project forward is scheduled for a vote by the DC Council on Tuesday.

Regarding the recently canceled plan to extend the Union Station streetcar line into Georgetown, the Ward 2 candidates disagreed — during a “lightning round” limited to three-word answers — on whether additional bus lanes would be a better option. Although there was no dispute that more transit options of some kind are necessary, Grossman, Putta and Hernandez suggested that expanded bus or Metrorail service would be better than the streetcar.

The candidates all condemned proposals in the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s draft budget to cut bus lines operating in Ward 2, including elimination of the D1 and D5 routes and consolidation of the D2 and G2 lines. 

“We have to work together to make sure there is reliable public transportation in all different forms,” Zhang said. “Other countries have done it. We can do it.”

Most candidates also agreed that historic preservation regulations need to be relaxed enough to accommodate environmentally friendly modifications like solar panels — a step the DC Historic Preservation Review Board moved toward in its November guideline update. Putta, an advisory neighborhood commissioner in Burleith, called for a more transparent review process so homeowners clearly understand what they can and cannot do. 

“There are new guidelines out there and they’re a step forward, but it’s still confusing,” Putta said. “It’s still not easy enough for people to be able to put a solar panel on their roof and do their part to help improve our climate.”

The candidates as a whole took a hard line on DC’s power companies, particularly pushing for the parent company of Washington Gas to hold to its promise of moving away from greenhouse gases. When the Canadian firm Altagas purchased the local utility company in 2018, an agreement with DC’s Public Service Commission stipulated reduced use of fracked methane, which accounts for almost a fifth of the District’s greenhouse gas emissions.

The “No Pepco Pledge” was something of a divisive topic. All of the candidates at the forum except Fanning and Kennedy have signed onto the pledge, agreeing in part to reject donations from Pepco, Washington Gas and other fossil fuel companies as well as from their lobbyists. 

Kennedy, an advisory neighborhood commissioner in Foggy Bottom, said he took issue with a further requirement that’s part of the pledge: the public release of minutes of all meetings with Pepco or Washington Gas representatives. 

“In my experience as commissioner, if you are going to stipulate what happens in a private meeting with somebody, then people will just stop sharing information with you,” he said. “You cannot act on behalf of your constituents with imperfect information.”

Fanning, an advisory neighborhood commissioner in Logan Circle, said he was concerned that the restrictions on accepting donations would unfairly limit Pepco employees in the ward from having a say in the election. 

The discussion of the “No Pepco Pledge” also offered candidates the clearest chance to comment on the ethics scandal surrounding Evans, who, according to the findings of investigations last year, violated multiple ethics rules by taking official actions to benefit his consulting clients. 

“I signed because my commitment to ethics and integrity is more than ‘Just trust me,’” Hernandez said. “We had a council member that was representing for 29 years and said ‘Just trust me.’ We need to do better.”

There were also differences over what to do with RFK Stadium: Most candidates agreed the aging sports facility should be torn down and replaced at least partially with affordable housing, with precautions taken to ensure it does not contribute to runoff into the Anacostia River. 

Fanning alone disagreed, arguing that renovating the site as a functional football stadium was a better approach — and pointing to the economic benefits Nationals Park has brought to the Navy Yard and Capitol Riverfront areas. But Fanning also acknowledged the need for affordable housing at the location. 

“I think we can make this work for everyone,” he said.

Grossman was called on to speak about reservations he’s expressed on congestion pricing, a policy that would charge drivers of single-occupancy cars to enter parts of the city at certain times. Grossman said his priority with transportation is making alternatives to car use more attractive, noting that many of the DC residents who rely most heavily on cars are those who have been displaced to areas farther from the city center. 

“My top priority when it comes to transportation is making alternatives to car use as attractive, as reliable, as safe and as affordable as possible,” Grossman said.

Zhang, Putta and Kennedy expressed similar concerns; Hernandez and Fanning were less reserved in their support for congestion pricing.

The next Ward 2 forum is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, March 5, at Foundry United Methodist Church, 1500 16th St. NW. Vetern DC journalist and political analyst Tom Sherwood and WAMU personality Kojo Nnamdi will serve as moderators. Reservations are sold out,