Councilmember Trayon White sent a letter to Mayor Bowser about complaints against the management company of Marbury Plaza apartments.

On Saturday, January 22nd, Councilmember Trayon White sent a letter to Mayor Muriel Bowser to address the plethora of residents' concerns regarding TMAM Associates Management, Inc - the management company over Marbury Plaza apartments and their lack of response.

Mayor Muriel Bowser and the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) announced a new $40 million round of the Bridge Fund Grant Program that will provide financial support to brick and mortar businesses grappling with the COVID-19 public health emergency in the restaurant, entertainment, and retail sectors.

“Our small businesses are still recovering from revenue losses experienced during the first two years of the pandemic and the impact of the new COVID variants,” said Mayor Bowser. “They continue to need flexible financial support to ensure they can nimbly respond to ongoing challenges. I thank the DC Council for their partnership in making this new Bridge Fund round as flexible as possible and look forward to working together to ensure local businesses make a strong comeback in 2022.”

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Performance Oversight Hearing Synopsis

MOLA | Serve DC

January 24, 2022
 

There were no public witnesses. Director Alexis Squire spoke on the myriad of programs that the office does regarding serving the community in the District. The office has consistently supported and promoted the work of AmeriCorps throughout the city, in addition to dealing with emergency preparedness and volunteerism/outreach.

The office worked with their Summer Youth Emergency Preparedness Academy to teach students of the work and opportunities of careers in that field, as well as offered CPR training to residents. They are looking to recruit more volunteers for their Volunteer Snow Team that assists residents with snow removal during storms. The Volunteer Portal that they created has been a key help to aggregating volunteers for the office.

In addition, amongst the programs and events they engaged with in Ward 8, ServeDC assisted with the Frederick Douglass Bridge unveiling and held the Serve 202: Partnerships and Priorities Series at Busboys & Poets in Anacostia.

The Committee on Recreation, Libraries & Youth Affairs held a Public Roundtable on the following Legislation:

• PR24-0483 – “BOARD OF LIBRARY TRUSTEES C BRIAN WILLIAMS CONFIRMATION RESOLUTION OF 2021”

Watch Recap: https://youtu.be/NLYPEBYnYKU

Legislation Highlights & Summary 

Week of 1/17-1/21

• A large number of public witnesses and housing advocates testified 
• A number of witnesses testified that DHCD needs further transparency and accountability, especially regarding the HPTF. There is not enough information currently available about award or denial of applicants, where remaining HPTF money is going, and why the mandated 50% of funds are not going to extremely low income (ELI) applicants (those earning between 0 and 30% of the area median income)
• The most affected ELI households are Black and Brown families and non-native English Speakers
• CM White and CM Bonds will be visiting the residents at Park Southern to check the conditions and listen to their concerns. Many of the residents mentioned having worked with Ms. Lockridge in the past. 

• All legislation was approved without discussion
• The Developmental Disability Eligibility Reform Amendment Act of 2021 (B24-0268)
  • Introduced by CM Nadeau, co-introduced by CM T. White, Lewis-George, Silverman, R. White, Allen, Cheh, Bonds
  • Summary: To amend the Department on Disability Services Establishment Act of 2006 and the Citizens with Intellectual Disabilities Constitutional Rights and Dignity Act of 1978 to clarify the eligibility of services provided by the Department on Disability Services to include individuals with solely developmental disabilities; to require that the Mayor seek any waivers and exemptions from federal Medicaid statutes, rules, and regulations necessary to extend the “People with Intellectuals and Developmental Disabilities Waiver” and the “Individual and Family Supports Waiver” to individuals with developmental disabilities; and make conforming changes.

• Introduced by Chairman Mendelson at the request of the Mayor
• Summary
  • To amend the Grandparent Caregivers Pilot Program Establishment Act of 2005 to no longer require that a child reside in the grandparent’s home for the previous six months or that the grandparent have been the child’s primary caregiver for the previous six months as a condition of eligibility, and to no longer disqualify a grandparent if the child’s adult parent resides with the grandparent and the parent has a verifiable medical disability; and to amend the Close Relative Caregiver Subsidy Pilot Program Establishment Act of 2019 to no longer require that a child reside in the close relative caregiver’s home for the previous six month or that the close relative have been the child’s primary caregiver for the previous six months as a condition of eligibility, and to no longer disqualify a close relative if the child’s adult parent resides with the close relative and the parent has a verifiable medical disability.
  • This expands the ability of close relatives to be the primary caregiver for children, and removes certain disqualifying factors to ensure that the best interest of the child is the central factor in determining the appropriate caregiver.

• Robert Matthews is widely supported by advocates, especially kinship care groups, for his progressive and supportive views on the work that Child and Family Services should be carrying out. He has been serving as Acting Director of the Agency and has over 24 years of experience in child- and family-serving organizations

• Theresa Silla has 12 years of experience working with systems that address the root causes of homelessness and has been a consultant and policy advisor at the Interagency Council on Homelessness since 2015. Ms. Silla has not discussed at length the Mayor’s current policies regarding the clearing of encampments and disposal of residents’ belongings.
• Additionally, there was a staff appointment confirmation that was approved.

Meetings & Hearings schedule

To say the 801 Men's Shelter is amazing feels like an understatement.

Ward 8 Redistricting Committee Appoints Vice-President in January 19th meeting.

The 39-member Ward 8 Task Force is chaired by Commissioner Brian Thompson (8A03), serving as President, and resident Marcus Coates, who is Vice President. The taskforce will solicit public testimony and host map discussions via Zoom meetings on Feb. 2, Feb. 16 and March 2. On, March 16, three maps will be selected for a final vote, which will be held on March 30. For more information, email Councilmember White’s Chief of Staff Wanda Lockridge at [email protected] or Chair Brian Thompson at [email protected].

The Ward 7 and 8 Redistricting Taskforces encourage residents to draw their own maps for consideration. The DC Office of Planning (OP) has created an online tool to facilitate this. Residents can find it at https://dcredistricting.esriemcs.com/redistricting/. General information on redistricting can found at https://planning.dc.gov/page/district-columbia-2021-ward-redistricting or https://www.elissasilverman.com/redistricting.

Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen (D) has yet to appoint his taskforce.

VaxDC FAQ
VaxDC: Vaccination Entry Requirement for Certain Businesses – Guidance and FAQ

To help stop the spread of COVID-19, the District of Columbia is launching a city wide vaccination entry requirement (VaxDC), which calls for establishments to verify that patrons are vaccinated against
COVID-19.