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Friend --
Now that Capital
Weather Gang has officially declared winter over and spring here,
it's time for Ward 6 to put its best foot forward as we all come out
of our winter hibernation. As a way to celebrate and reconnect with
each other, please join me and my team for The Great Ward 6 Spring Clean on April 2
to do a little spring cleaning around the ward. Sign-up to join us at
one of our locations across Ward 6, or just grab a neighbor and clean
up your own block or alley - and be sure to post some pics with
#GreatWard6SpringClean! The point is pretty simple: let's all welcome
spring by taking a few minutes to show off our neighborhood pride and
do a little spring clean on the block, in the alley, or at the park.
More details below, and a lot of updates to jump into to!
Long Newsletter, Short Links: Budget Town
Hall | Public Safety | Trucker Convoy | COVID-19 |
Metro For DC | Harris Rider
| Paid Family Leave | NE DC
Water | Win on the Water | Teachers Running for Office | Open Caption Movies | Literary Hill | Anacostia
River Fest | Build First at Greenleaf
| Tax Credit for Longtime Homeowners | Free Tax Prep | Solar Options
| Southwest Library | Office
Re-Opened | The Great Ward 6 Spring
Clean
 Ward 6 Budget Town Hall
If spring is in the air, most people think about cherry blossoms,
but our team's digging into the $19.5 billion budget proposal that
just dropped from the Mayor. This week, the Council receives the
Mayor's proposed budget, kicking off several months of hearings,
number crunching, and debates about our shared priorities before the
Council approves the final product. As part of that process, we always
reach out to Ward 6 residents to hear what's important to you. So I'm
excited to announce we're going to have a hybrid Ward 6 Budget Town
Hall on Thursday, March 31, from 6-7:30 pm, with limited seating
available at the Southwest Library and an online live stream for
everyone. RSVP
for either in-person or live here.
As in past years, I'll take you on a tour of the Mayor's proposed
budget and lay out some of my priorities. But then I want to turn it
over to Ward 6 neighbors - both in-person and online - to make
comments or ask questions about your priorities or projects in the
Ward and across the District.
Public Safety Update
We had a tragic and painful double shooting this week in Ward 6
outside of Potomac Gardens apartments, where a 22-year-old
and a 62-year-old were murdered in what investigators believe was
a targeted shooting. MPD is looking for the public's help in solving
this crime. I've been in contact with MPD and Potomac Gardens'
Resident Council President, as well, and have asked DCHA to address
several community and resident leadership concerns.
In other public safety news, MPD, working in partnership with the
NYPD, announced the arrest
of a man suspected of shooting five individuals who were likely
unhoused in a horrific series of attacks in both DC and New York City.
I'm grateful for our detectives and officers for their fast work
before someone else was harmed, and I'm mourning our residents lost to
this senseless cruelty.
MPD
also just yesterday announced an arrest in the carjacking a few weeks
ago on H Street, charging the individual with armed kidnapping and
carjacking, when when the car was taken with a mother and child still
inside. Both mother and child safely escaped shortly after. MPD also
may have connected the individual to a separate carjacking, in yet
another reminder that the majority of violent crime is caused by a
small, mostly identifiable group of people. I continue to push all of
our agencies to focus their efforts on this group in a targeted way.
But this is another example of the focused and coordinated work of the
Car Jacking Task Force being able to make an arrest and hold this type
of violence accountable.
 The District continues to take a both/and
approach to public safety I've been talking about -- meaning we need
to be focused on both
prevention and rehabilitation and on traditional law enforcement if we want to
see sustained decreases in crime. I have led the District in pursuing
a fully-funded public safety response, because it works and it has
immediate results. Recently, for example, the Office of Neighborhood
Safety and Engagement, which heads up much of the District's violence
prevention and interruption work, released
some high-level data showing declines or smaller increases compared to
city-wide data. Given the spike in violent crime the District is
experiencing (and across many parts of the country), a small decrease
or flat levels are progress, compared to areas where violence
interruption work isn't taking place. The Office of the Attorney
General also runs a violence interruption program called "Cure the
Streets", and their team that will begin work
in neighborhoods around NoMa/Sursum Corda was just announced by the
agency.
In the coming weeks, we will have a robust debate on public safety
funding in next year's budget, and I'll hold public hearings on the
Mayor's proposals for each agency in the public safety cluster. You
can weigh in in writing or virtually at any of our hearings. To sign
up, just email [email protected], and
let my team know at which agency's hearing you plan to testify.
Finally, this
Southwester piece has a good run down from a recent public safety
meeting, with a lot of the key folks needed to make that change happen
at the neighborhood level.
Ward 6 Updates:
Arrest
Made in February Carjacking on Capitol Hill
Arrest
Made in Three Robberies on Pennsylvania Avenue
Trucker Convoy: I am certain most Ward 6 neighbors
have noticed, or been impacted by, the ridiculous trucker "convoy"
that is starting to try more and more to get into District
neighborhoods after spending the first week circling the Beltway. For
safety reasons, this has pushed MPD, in partnership with federal law
enforcement, to have near daily rolling road closures to try and
contain the convoy to highways and prevent them from coming into
downtown and residential neighborhoods. This creates pressure points
all over and causes massive headaches for neighbors. Keep an eye on Alert
DC for road closure information. If you're able to forgo a trip in
the car right now, the weather is nice enough to give a new Capital
Bikeshare E-Bike a spin or take metro. Both options aren't likely
to be disrupted by a bunch of truckers with vague and unspecific
complaints about federal policy that have no tie to our neighborhoods
or even to reality. I'll remain in close contact with MPD about ways
we can minimize disruption to neighbors just trying to get to school
pick-up or run an errand.
Somewhat Related: If you're a District of
Columbia school employee, did you know you can get $200 toward the
purchase of a new bicycle (for yourself)? So if you're tired of your
commute being disrupted or high gas prices, take
advantage of this offer.
COVID Precautions -- Prepare for Whatever is Next
We don't know yet how it will play out in the US, but cases are
spiking dramatically in other countries, and now is the time to
prepare. We have tools that can help us, tools we've developed
painstakingly over the course of the past two years: vaccines,
testing, physical distancing measures, and masking when we can't
physically distance. And while we've experienced a steep decrease in
cases following the omicron surge, we've been here before. I'd urge
you to prepare responsibly, even as we hope for the best possible
outcome.
DC Health continues to operate COVID centers throughout the city.
For Ward 6, the location is on Barracks Row at 507 8th St., SE, and
it's open every day except Tuesdays. Check
the locations' hours here, as each varies a bit. At these sites,
you can:
- Pick up rapid tests
- Take a PCR test
- Get vaccinated and
- Pick up masks for adults or children.
All at no cost to District residents! We don't know what this new
subvariant may mean for us, but if you haven't gotten vaccinated, do
so now before you're at risk again. Here
are 50 locations close to Ward 6 where you can get protected - for
free. Let's prepare now so we're not scrambling later.
Finally, just as a reminder, businesses in the District have the
right to require masks for customers and patrons. Please do not give
our small businesses a hard time as they do their best to balance the
needs of their staff, their customers, and what they feel is best for
their operations.
Council Committee Holds Metro For DC Hearing
In a major step forward
for my Metro for DC legislation, the Council's Committee
on Transportation and the Environment held a public hearing to
consider the bill. As a reminder, Metro For DC would provide every
DC resident with a monthly balance of $100 on a registered SmarTrip
card. It was a great hearing with a lot of support for the bill and
some thoughtful ways to consider improving the legislation or
expanding it. The next step will be a vote in Committee, which hasn't
been scheduled yet. To follow along with the bill's progress and learn
of any needed advocacy, you can join
a dedicated mailing list here. I'm grateful to my Ward 3 colleague
Councilmember Mary Cheh, who chairs the Committee, for holding the
hearing.
Congress Blows Opportunity to Get Rid of Harris Rider
In what can only be described as a failure of leadership, Congress
passed a budget proposal that left in place a budget rider forbidding
the District from creating and maintaining a regulated marketplace for
the sale of legal marijuana, known as the "Harris Rider" after Rep.
Andy Harris. Rep. Harris represents Maryland's eastern shore and, it
should be noted, has never appeared on a ballot for District residents
to elect. The
rider has been in place since 2015 and has done real damage.
Because our non-medical marijuana market exists in a so-called gray
area (DC voters made legal the consumption of marijuana, but the
Harris rider prevents the District from creating a legal system of
sale and regulation), it leads to public safety risks like robberies
and bad actors being bad neighbors -- a
problem we've long contended with along H Street NE's western end.
It was expected that House leadership would remove the rider in its
budget, clearing the way for the District to create and maintain a
safer, taxable, and regulated industry that would benefit District
residents. Instead, in just the latest example of why DC needs its own
full representation in both the House and Senate, we were once again a
bargaining chip to earn votes. More
from DCist.
DC Expands Paid Family Leave Benefit to 12 Weeks, Lowers Tax on
Employers
Earlier this month, DC's
CFO announced the city could expand the amount of paid time off up to
12 weeks available to anyone who works in the District, while at
the same time lowering the tax that funds the leave on employers. This
is great news as DC offers one of the most generous paid family leave
benefits in the country and can still provide some relief to our local
businesses. I fought hard and remember how tough it was to get this
law passed during my first term. To see it play out in a way that is
benefiting people in a critical time of need and doing so without
putting an outsized burden on our businesses is encouraging. If you
want to learn how you can use these benefits, start
here.
DC Water Meeting on Construction in NE DC
For neighbors in a few large sections of northeast, DC Water is
about to undergo major pipe replacement work, and a lot of neighbors
are understandably concerned about the timeline and effects on
parking. I'm going to host a virtual meeting on Tuesday, March 29, at
7 pm, with DC Water. I'm encouraging any impacted neighbors who want
to learn more about the project and work on solutions with minimal
residential disruption to join us. RSVP
here for the link.
Ft. McNair Pauses Plan to Create Restricted Water Space
For Southwest neighbors (and all DC residents who enjoy getting out
on the water), I'm happy to report the US Army Corps of
Engineers (USACE) has officially paused their efforts to establish a
restricted area of the Washington Channel. This has been a multi-year
fight that would have dramatically limited the public's ability to
enjoy the water and river access in the Washington Channel, without a
real justification. This announcement comes more than a year after a
town hall I helped organize with Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton's
leadership and the USACE's lengthy review. So thanks to our many
incredible community advocates, and now get out and enjoy our open
waterways!
Teachers Can Now Run for DC State Board of Education
Last month, I worked with Councilmember Janeese Lewis George to
introduce and pass a bill that would allow DCPS teachers and other
public school employees to run and serve on DC's State Board of
Education, a nonpartisan body that helps dictate school policy. Until
this bill passed as an emergency measure, DC had an awkward and unfair
system where teachers and staff at public charter schools could run
for the Board of Education, but teachers at staff at DC Public Schools
could not. So some of the folks with the most familiarity with our
schools weren't allowed to run without first resigning from their
jobs. I appreciate the support from the State Board of Education
members, including our own Ward 6 SBOE member Jessica Sutter, in
making this change and ending this nonsensical double standard. Recap
in The Afro.
Bill Requiring Some Open Caption Showings at the Movies
Re-Introduced
This week, I re-introduced a bill that would require movie theaters
to offer screenings for films that include open captioning. This is a
bill I first introduced a few years ago after working closely with
some of our neighbors who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. There's a
simple solution that makes the movie-going experience far more
accessible to more of our neighbors and offers benefits to seniors,
families with young children (who enjoy reading the text), and anyone
else who has experienced impacts to their hearing or just likes
captions. Read
a little more here.
Literary Hill BookFest is Back on May 1
After a hiatus to go virtual during the worst days of the pandemic,
the Literary Hill Bookfest is returning to in-person at the North Hall
in Eastern Market on Sunday, May 1. This is an annual celebration of
DC's local authors, poets, publishers, and almost anyone else
associated with literature and books. Learn
more here and save the date!
April 10: 8th Annual Anacostia River Festival
Save the Date for the 8th Annual Anacostia River Festival, coming
up on Saturday, April 10, with activities planned on the river in the
morning and in the park in the afternoon. Learn
more here.
After Pressure, DC Housing Authority Commits to Build First at
Greenleaf
Happy to share at its most recent meeting, the board for the DC
Housing Authority voted to approve a resolution moving forward on a
redevelopment for Greenleaf public housing only with guarantees that
there will be zero displacement and a home for every current resident.
Along with several residents and community leaders who testified, I
wrote a letter urging the DC Housing Authority Board to honor
their commitment to residents as the details of the work start to get
considered more concretely. This is an effort I'll be watching closely
to ensure as we take on this much needed work to update and modernize
critical public and affordable housing, no one is being forced to move
out of their community.
Tax Credit for Long-Time, Low-Income Homeowners
In a hearing earlier this year, I learned that only five (!) people
had applied for a tax credit that put money back into the pockets of
homeowners who are low-income. The Lower Income, Long-Term
Homeowners Credit was passed by the Council to ease the effect of
rising assessments and taxes on low-income residents who have lived in
their homes seven consecutive years or more. If that's you, make sure
you don't miss out on it this year. This is a great benefit for senior
residents in their own homes or any longtime residents who are living
in the same homes their family may have owned for generations.
The current requirements for receiving the credit are:
- You must have owned and occupied the property as your principal
residence for at least the last seven (7) consecutive years;
- The property must be receiving the Homestead Deduction;
- The total household income of all household members of your
residence must not exceed the Household Income Limit Table listed in
Section D on the Schedule L; and
- Your application must be filed by December 31 of each year.
Interested homeowners should call (202) 727-4TAX (727-4829) for
more information. Check
out other tax credits available here at all income levels.
Free Tax Prep Help for Families Earning $58,000 or Less
 Tax season is here, and the United
Planning Organization offers a great tax prep service for
income-qualified DC residents, beginning in February. This is an
excellent way to ensure you're getting all of the benefits you're
owed, including both a federal and local Earned Income Tax Credit that
often puts money back in your pocket. And if you need to, you can also
talk with banking representatives, sign-up for Medicare or Medicaid if
eligible, and more.
Another local nonprofit, Catholic
Charities DC, also offers the same free tax prep services.
Take Advantage of More Sunshine to Lower Your Electricity
Bill
With spring here and Daylight Savings in effect, you might be
loving the extra daylight. You'd love it even more if you had some
solar panels turning all that sunshine into power for your house and a
lower (or even negative) energy bill. And did you know that you live
in the jurisdiction with the most valuable incentives to go solar? If
you haven't explored it yet, I
strongly recommend you check out these solar incentives, including
some great
options for anyone on a fixed income.
The Southwest Neighborhood Library is Award-Winning. No,
Really!
I know we're all proud of the new Southwest Neighborhood Library,
but now we know we aren't just being proud neighbors. The new building
was recognized by the Design
Build Institute of America in its 2021 awards for Best in Design -
Engineering. Kudos to the team at DC Public Library, Turner
Construction, Perkins & Will, and StructureCraft Builders USA for
the recognition. If you haven't checked it out yet, maybe you should
stop by on March 31 when we'll hold the Ward 6 Budget Town Hall inside
the library!
Our Physical Office is Open Again
We're thrilled to announce that after nearly two years of mostly
working remotely and in the community, our team is returning to the
Wilson Building in Suite 110. We'll be working on a hybrid telework
schedule moving forward, which will allow us to re-open the office 5
days per week while also maintaining a daily presence in Ward 6.
Again, we're in Suite 110 in the John A. Wilson Building (1350
Pennsylvania Avenue, NW), Monday-Friday from 9 am to 5:30 pm. Stop by
if there's something we can help you with! We'd love to see you! And
remember that proof of vaccination and masks are required.
 April 2: Join the Great Ward 6 Spring Clean
It's been a long two years with neighbors largely having to stay
indoors and away from each other. But as we welcome in warmer weather
and longer days, I want to bring us together to do a little spring
cleaning together. On Saturday, April 2, join me, my team, and your
Ward 6 neighbors to step outside and do a little clean-up on your
street or alley. My hope is we get a bunch of neighbors to take steps
both big and small to give our community a little glow up. Whether for
15 minutes or an hour, just a little effort makes a big difference,
and it's a great way to reconnect with neighbors as the weather warms
up. Plus, show off your pride and hard work using
#GreatWard6SpringClean on social media.
My team will also be organizing five locations around the Ward
where you can show up and help out at a local park or public space if
that's easier for you. RSVP
here for either!
If you need cleaning bags and gloves, we're going to set up on
Friday, April 1 (no joke) from 4-5:30 pm at Eastern Market Metro Park
to distribute supplies if you need any. Let's get back out together
and give Ward 6 a good cleaning.
Charles Allen
P.S. - Just one more plug for the Ward 6 Budget Town Hall, since
it's two weeks away. You
can RSVP for an in-person slot (limited to 60 people) or RSVP for the
Zoom broadcast. Either way, you'll be able to ask questions
live.
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