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Friend --
Hope you've been able to enjoy fall in Ward 6. It's Friday, and
before you check out for the weekend and tune in for some fun
Halloween activities, I wanted to get the latest information to you on
many fronts. We've got news on vaccines for children, Halloween
activities this weekend, and more.
With the projected rainfall today, tonight, and a bit tomorrow, be
sure you check that your drains are clear.
Spooky Quick Links: Vaccines for
Kids | Halloween in The 6 | Public Safety | Redistricting Hearing | Leaf
Collection | Free Bikeshare | DDOT Director | CHAW Lease | Navy Yard Profile | Monthly Basic
Income | Free Trees | COVID Resources | Outdoor Office
Hours
Details Announced for Vaccines for Kids 5-11
Just announced today are details for planned vaccine distribution
once the CDC approves the Pfizer product for children ages 5-11. At
this point, the FDA has approved the vaccine (under emergency use
authorization), which comes in a different dosage than the adult
version, and DC Health anticipates approval by the CDC as soon as next
Tuesday. Once that approval is given, the product will be shipped out,
meaning vaccines won't be available immediately. DC is set to receive
around 24,600 vaccine doses initially.
More than 60 locations in the District have been set as providers
for administration of the vaccine to children ages 5-11 once it is
approved, and can be found on Vaccines.gov
once they are offering the product. Vaccines will initially be
available at select community pharmacies such as CVS, Giant,
Grubb’s, Safeway, Walgreens and Walmart, as
well as health clinics throughout the
community. Children’s National Hospital has already
announced that in addition to offering the COVID-19 vaccine to their
pediatric patients at their eight primary care locations, they will
also be offering the vaccine via their Mobile Unit throughout the
community. You can also check directly with your pediatric
provider.
The Department of Health has also announced several "pop-up"
clinics around the city in November. To date, there are three
locations scheduled in Ward 6 and there will be more announced soon.
DOH has said they will announce further details soon, but expects
these will be treated as first-come, first-serve (i.e., no
registration website). I will share more details about the hours and
specifics as they are announced by DC Health:
-
Kennedy Recreation Center: 1401 7th St., NW, on November
10.
-
Payne Elementary School: 1445 C St., SE, on November 13.
-
KIPP Leadership Academy: 421 P St., NW, on November 16.
I am concerned that this does not cover all our neighborhood and
have already asked DOH to add additional site, in particular in
Southwest where there are no pop-up clinics currently scheduled. While
certainly helpful, these three sites don't meet all the needs or
spread out the accessibility across Ward 6. DC Health has committed to
me more sites are in the works and that they will focus on greater
neighborhood distribution.
Halloween happens in Ward 6
Halloween is always a special time (is it a full season at this
point?) in Ward 6, and even as we continue to exercise caution around
the spread of COVID-19, there's a lot happening around the ward.
Here's a quick, and almost certainly incomplete, rundown of
activities:
Sunday is the Official Day to Trick or
Treat: Right now, the weather forecast looks great. Be
sure to be safe and it's advised even outdoors, that the kids should
wear a mask.
 Hill-O-Ween! Hill-O-Ween is back!
Well, the rain might dampen some of the spirit, but the organizers say
it is on rain or shine! Hill-O-Ween will happen at Eastern Market from
5:30-7:30 pm. Check
out their website and sign up for email updates.
James Creek Haunted Alley: On Saturday,
join Ward 6 Mutual Aid and neighbors at James Creek for a haunted
alley walkthrough from 5-7 pm. More
information here.
Mt. Vernon Triangle Fall Fun Day:
Saturday from 10 am to 12 pm, Milian Park (5th and Mass, NW). Includes
a mini monsters parade and dog costume parade and contest. More
here.
Lincoln Park Pet Costume Contest:
Howl-to-the-Chief's annual pet costume contest returns in Lincoln
Park. Details
here.
Public Safety Update
 Recognizing public safety remains a concern for
many Ward 6 neighbors, I wanted to continue to share some updates on
the important steps to make our community safer now and ensure we’re
laying the groundwork for greater safety in the coming years. While it
can seem overwhelming given the size and scope of our criminal justice
system, it can be useful to think about our efforts in two buckets:
holding people accountable (after a crime is committed), and
preventing crimes from being committed in the first place.
In the first bucket, that’s where MPD, federal law enforcement
partners, federal prosecutors, public defenders, and more all work. In
the second bucket, that’s where we invest in violence interruption
work, support for victims of crime, rehabilitation while incarcerated,
support for returning citizens to reduce the number of repeat
offenders we have, and targeted deterrence through things
like public space improvements in known hot spots, job training +
family support focused directly on high-risk individuals, and
more.
In the middle of both buckets are our laws, which focus both on
accountability (stronger gun laws and penalties), supporting survivors
and victims of crime navigating the system, and reducing the number of
repeat offenders, which makes us safer ultimately when we are able to
pull people away from the cycle of violence. This is why you hear me
talk about this challenge as needing "both/ and” solutions involving
both accountability and preventing crime with public health focused
interventions and programs. If you have specific questions about what
we're working on, please don't hesitate to ask.
Last year, I created and funded a Gun Violence Prevention Director,
set in the City Administrator’s office, to spearhead much of our
focused deterrence efforts. I’ve written about her unique position
nationwide before, but this Kaiser
Health News profile does a nice job highlighting some of her work,
which is just getting started, but often goes unseen in our daily
conversations around crime.
A few ward-specific updates:
Related: Years ago I helped create the Private Security
Camera Rebate Program, which helps offset the cost of installing
security cameras on your property in exchange for providing any
footage to MPD that can assist in an investigation. It's been very
successful in solving everything from package theft to more serious
crimes. If
you weren't aware, learn more here.
Redistricting Hearing in Ward 6
The District's review of the 2020 Census data and required
redistricting of the Ward lines continues. The Council's special
committee on redistricting, chaired by Councilmember Elissa Silverman,
met two weeks ago for its first hearing and has begun individual
ward-level hearings for residents to share their recommendations. Make
no mistake, this is incredibly hard. The math is very straight-forward
that Ward 6 will have to become smaller, but it's unclear where and
what that will look like. On November 3, 10am, this special committee
will host the hearing specifically for Ward 6. You can sign up to
testify via Zoom, or email your comments and recommendations
to [email protected] or
by visiting https://www.elissasilverman.com/redistricting.
Following the hearings, the special committee (which I'm not a member
of) will vote on a proposed new Ward-level map in
mid-November.
Leaf Collection Begins Monday
 Its fall and it's time to collect those leaves -
leaf collection begins on November 1. As usual, don't bag your leaves
- rake them to the curb or in your tree box as the collection window
gets close. Collection is done by vacuum. You
can find more info and schedules here -- note that every
neighborhood should be visited twice between Nov 1 and Jan 15. And
keep in mind, these schedules always fall behind based on weather and
other issues. Feel free to connect with my office if your street has
been overlooked.
Free Capital Bikeshare Membership for DC Residents
As the ongoing safety inspections for WMATA
Metrorail cars are set to continue through mid-November, I wanted
to make sure you were aware of one way to help get around the city: free
30-day Capital Bikeshare memberships.
Public Hearing on the Next Director for DDOT
This week, the Council held an all0-day public hearing to consider
the nomination of Everett Lott as the next Director of the District's
Department of Transportation. I know safe streets and road and
sidewalk conditions are a major concern across Ward 6, so I'm
sharing my opening remarks here so you have a sense of what I'm
looking for from the next Director. We cannot have business as usual
as we keep losing DC kids to dangerous driving and bad road
design.
CHAW Lease Renewal Advances
Almost everyone in Ward 6 has a CHAW story. The legendary community
art center has played a formative role in so many of our lives and
been a big part of making Ward 6 a great place to live. I've been
working with my colleagues at the Council to get the Capitol Hill Arts
Workshop a new and longer lease in their building. Last week, the
Council's Committee on Business and Economic Development advanced
legislation unanimously to do just that. It now advances to the
Council for two votes before granting permission for CHAW and DC
government to engage in a new 20-year lease.
Spotlight on Navy Yard
For neighbors in Navy Yard and Capitol Riverfront, check out this
quick
read profile in Axios DC.
Monthly Basic Income Expands Locally
Earlier this summer, the I helped lead the Council to create a monthly
basic income for tens of thousands of low-income working families and
adults, part of an effort that also funded thousands of vouchers
for homes for our homeless neighbors and a major investment in our
child care sector with a small increase on taxes for high-income
earners. Just this week, Montgomery County has announced a similar
pilot, which approaches the policy a little differently - it'll be
great to be able to compare the impact from each and learn what works
best. While the two programs take different approaches, the end result
is one that has a lot of promise for our residents and region: more
money in the monthly budget to help families make ends meet. More
in DCist.
Free Trees. Yes, Really!
On this rainy Friday, just a quick plug for the District's
excellent Riversmart
program, which covers most of the cost to make installations that
prevent water runoff into our rivers when it rains heavily. That
includes free trees that are delivered and planted by the good folks
at Casey Trees.
Reminder: COVID-19 Resources for DC Residents
 Get Vaccinated: For DC
residents 12 and older, it's
free and very easy to get vaccinated right away near your
home.
Track Data and Metrics: The District has made a
lot of helpful information available to all residents to evaluate risk
by understanding the impact of COVID-19. Check
out the data here.
Are you a community group or organization wanting to hold a
vaccine clinic? Check out DC's
Vaccine Exchange program, which helps local groups, ranging from
nonprofits to community groups to faith-based organizations pull
together vaccine clinics. This is a great resource to support the
excellent work many groups are already doing on the ground.
Wear a Mask in Public Indoor Settings: Vaccines
are the most important tool, but so is being smart about minimizing
spread -- wear a mask when you are around others indoors (and for
prolonged periods outdoors). The
District continues to have an indoor mask requirement. Please wear
your mask when around others or in public spaces indoors. Don't give
employees at businesses a hard time -- just wear the mask. And get
vaccinated if you haven't yet. It's safe and really effective at
preventing serious hospitalization and death and slowing the
transmission to others.
Self-Testing in Ward 6: If we're going to beat
this virus, testing will be a critical part of our fight. After DOH
initially rolled out only a single self-test site for all of Ward 6, I
asked DC Health to expand the number of self-test sites in the Ward
and am happy to share they have expanded to five sites (covering all
four quadrants of our Ward) offering simple COVID-19 test kits you can
use at home. The locations are:
- Arthur Capper Community Center (1000 5th St SE)
- Rosedale Recreation Center (1701 Gales St NE)
- Southwest Library (900 Wesley Pl SW)
- Watha T. Daniel Library (1630 7th St NW)
- DC Health (899 N Capitol St NE)
Testing Sites are still operating: Find
daily updates about where and when here.
Fall Outdoor Office Hours
 Just plugging the two
outdoor office hours on the calendar at the moment for Ward 6
neighbors. These are opportunities for you to talk with me and my team
directly about any issue, big or small, on your block, in your
neighborhood or in the ward. And we ask that everyone wear a mask to
ensure we can offer both a welcoming and comfortable environment for
everyone.
See you around the neighborhood,
Charles Allen
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