jonetta rose barras: DC’s summer of significance
Typically, at this time of year, it’s mostly crickets around the John A. Wilson Building: the DC Council has recessed, and its members have scattered to their various vacation spots. However, deep into July, Chair Phil Mendelson is facing…
District Links: Council set to vote next week on revised RFK stadium deal; GOP bill would enable…
The DC Council will vote next Friday on a deal with the Washington Commanders for redevelopment of the expansive RFK stadium campus, with revised terms that Council Chair Phil Mendelson estimated will save DC taxpayers between $779 million…
District Links: Mendelson, Commanders reportedly reach revised terms on stadium deal; new report…
Mayor Muriel Bowser and other District officials broke ground this morning on a $27.5 million project to construct a new Fort Davis Community Center and install upgrades to the adjacent 4.6-acre park.
District Links: House panel advances DC budget riders on party-line vote; Trump stadium threat spurs…
A House subcommittee yesterday voted 9-6 on a party-line vote to advance an appropriations bill that includes an array of DC-related riders described by Republicans as legitimate "constitutional oversight" of the District but decried by…
District Links: House panel set to vote today on budget riders decried by Norton as anti-home rule;…
The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government is slated to vote later today on a fiscal year 2026 spending bill that contains a long list of restrictions on DC's authority, including a ban on the use of…
District Links: Mendelson rebuffs pressure for RFK vote but cites ‘constructive’ talks…
"There's no need for interference," DC Council Chair Phil Mendelson said today in response to yesterday's letter from the chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee urging a vote within the next few weeks on the RFK…
jonetta rose barras: The DC Council engages in unauthorized spending and endorses the actions of…
There seemed to be exuberance around the DC Council’s first vote to approve an amended version of Mayor Muriel Bowser’s $22 billion Fiscal Year 2026 Budget and Financial Plan. The legislature’s changes, as expected, included restoring…
District Links: House oversight chair pushes for DC Council action on stadium deal ahead of recess;…
The GOP chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is pushing for the DC Council to vote before its planned August recess on the deal to redevelop the RFK stadium campus.
District Links: Ward 8’s Trayon White prevails in closely bunched field to regain council…
With a spread of less than 500 votes between first and last place, Trayon White Sr. is the projected winner of the Ward 8 special election to fill the vacancy that arose when the DC Council expelled him for ethics violations related to his…
District Links: Council delays initial vote on contentious housing reforms for two weeks; voters…
The DC Council had a busy day yesterday with consideration of the fiscal year 2026 budget, but the agenda wasn't quite as heavy as expected after a last-minute decision to postpone its initial vote on a package of housing reforms to DC's…
District Links: Council gives initial OK to budget package after adding funds for Ranked Choice…
The DC Council voted unanimously this afternoon at its Committee of the Whole meeting to approve the fiscal year 2026 budget package released yesterday by Chair Phil Mendelson, with only a few changes.
District Links: Early voting kicks off in Ward 8 special election; Senate bill in limbo amid efforts…
Early voting is underway in the Ward 8 special election to fill the DC Council seat left vacant when the DC Council expelled Trayon White Sr. for ethics violations related his pending federal bribery charges.
jonetta rose barras: Where is the DC Council’s Committee on Finance and Revenue?
The DC Council met earlier this week for its third administrative meeting in as many weeks. Chair Phil Mendelson had called members together to focus, yet again, on reconfiguring Mayor Muriel Bowser’s $22 billion Fiscal Year 2026 Budget…
District Links: Committee advances housing reform bill with changes decried by Bowser; Trump again…
The DC Council's Housing Committee voted this morning to advance legislation that includes changes to the DC's eviction laws and the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act, but the already contentious debate is only beginning.
District Links: Legislators weigh priorities as Mendelson works to develop final budget plan;…
With the DC Council scheduled to take an initial vote on the fiscal year 2026 budget next Monday, Chair Phil Mendelson hinted at an administrative meeting this morning that it's unlikely he'll be able to identify available funds to restore…
District Links: Newly opened Cedar Hill hospital struggles with staffing; housing tops…
Housing availability and affordability ranked as the overriding concern of residents participating in an initial DC Office of Planning survey conducted as a starting point for the District's forthcoming Comprehensive Plan, dubbed "DC…
District Links: DCHA embarks on plan to modernize 3,500 units thanks to $700M in revenue bonds;…
The DC Housing Authority yesterday announced plans to modernize and renovate nearly 3,500 affordable housing units at 19 sites across the city, funded largely by $700 million in industrial revenue bonds authorized by the DC Council this…
jonetta rose barras: DC’s mayor and council play dodgeball around Washington Commanders stadium deal
“The whole dynamic is pretty toxic,” declared one of nearly a dozen DC political and government insiders who agreed to speak with me for this article. Their names were withheld so that they could speak candidly about behind-the-scenes…
District Links: Council weighs ‘guardrails’ to avoid future budget delays; Mendelson…
As members of the DC Council discuss budget proposals at an informal work session today, Chair Phil Mendelson raised the prospect of establishing sanctions in hopes of preventing a repeat of the two-month delay in Mayor Muriel Bowser's…
District Links: Council set to consider expanded juvenile curfew with amended provisions; Trump…
The DC Council is poised to consider emergency legislation later this afternoon that would expand the District's juvenile curfew law for the summer, but amendments are likely to scale back several of the provisions initially recommended by…