DC Council

A few weeks after the DC Council voted, with enthusiastic guidance from Chairman Phil Mendelson, to disapprove the DC Public Education Master Facilities Plan 2018, Mayor Muriel Bowser sent a letter indicating her “disappointment” with the…

I had gone downtown mostly to run errands. As I was about to head back to my Brightwood neighborhood, I discovered the two signs just inside the overhang between the escalator to the Metro Center subway station and the exterior side wall…

The DC Council is considering important legislation that would strengthen the 2016 Incarceration Reduction Amendment Act (“IRAA”), which allows people who committed crimes when they were young to petition the court for a reduced sentence…

The high cost of a self-cleaning public restroom at a Virginia Metrorail station recently garnered headlines as an example of wasteful spending, but its removal earlier this year need not disrupt the District’s own plans to pilot two…

Four months after the first challenger entered the Ward 2 DC Council race with hopes of unseating embattled incumbent Jack Evans, the contest now features five hopefuls jockeying for votes in the Democratic primary come next June. In…

The House of Representatives is showing renewed interest in statehood for the District of Columbia. With the House leadership all on board and Democrats holding a majority, the House could pass the Washington, D.C. Admission Act this year,…

When at-large DC Council member Elissa Silverman publicly challenged Chairman Phil Mendelson last week, asking whether he traded parts of the Committee on Finance and Revenue’s portfolio in exchange for certain members’ affirmative votes…

A vocal anti-police brutality activist is the second declared candidate for next year’s race for the Ward 7 seat on the DC Council, while another neighborhood leader is actively exploring a run for the position currently held by former…

At first glance, DC Council Chairman Phil Mendelson may appear to have achieved a complete victory last week in his efforts to maintain or even maximize control of the legislature. Despite strong objections from several colleagues,…

They may have been at each other’s throats earlier this year during an acrimonious budget debate over relocating Benjamin Banneker Academic High School to the Shaw neighborhood. This week, however, DC Council Chairman Phil Mendelson,…

Now that Jack Evans has resigned from the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s board of directors, is there really any question as to whether he should also step down as Ward 2’s representative on the DC Council? When news…

It isn’t just some handy cliché for which many of us reach when we can’t seem to precisely describe the potential danger inherent in a situation. In fact, there is such a place as the slippery slope. How and when did Ward 2 DC Council…

It’s understandable that some DC residents might feel as if they’ve been cast in a remake of Groundhog Day. In that 1993 film, Bill Murray’s character keeps waking up to the same day, replete with the same remarks and the same behavior by…

“Small businesses are the backbone of the U.S. economy.” It’s a common refrain touted by politicians, news outlets and others. So why don’t I, the owner of a family child care business, feel a sense of pride and recognition when I hear it?…

There’s a major battle being waged between Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey DeWitt and the DC Council that impacts DC’s balance and division of power. Let’s not forget, however, that the outcome will have major repercussions for the health…

A proposal to issue nearly $70 million in DC revenue bonds for the renovation of historic Howard University dormitories won approval from the DC Council this week. The measure will also provide a boost to long-awaited restorations of two…

The DC Council held its encore vote Tuesday on the $15.5 billion fiscal year 2020 budget and financial plan, with members providing unanimous support; they also approved revisions to the current fiscal 2019 budget. The 13 legislators don’t…