Today I led a majority of the Council in sending a letter to @EleanorNorton thanking & supporting her work to bring the RFK site to District control. We also spoke unequivocally: we will not support an NFL stadium as part of the future of the RFK campus. The debate is done. While yesterday’s offensive comments by a team coach is yet another reason not to spend public money on the team, the fact remains simple: football stadiums are a uniquely bad use of a tax dollars. We can learn from other cities: hailnorfk.com/other_nfl_stad…

The new vaccine registration portal is a big improvement! But we know not everyone is online or uses a call center. I’ve partnered w/ Ward6MutualAid to turn online Q’s into a hardcopy questionnaire. Working with partners to use in community, but welcome anyone using it if needed. For orgs that want to use this, remember that you will need to enter the info collected online or thru call center on behalf of the neighbor you’re helping. DC Health also allows secondary contact info to help schedule for someone without ready access to email or phone.

I don’t want this to go unnoticed. @AGKarlRacine + team are correct here. The Council adopted several temporary evictions moratoria because everything we knew at the time told us keeping people in stable housing would lower #COVID spread / deaths. THREAD washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/… A few weeks back, I co-chaired a roundtable with @BrianneKNadeau and @AnitaBondsDC to find out if the evictions moratoria had accomplished our goals. Spoiler: it has in many ways. You can watch here, where we learned that our predictions were correct: dc.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.ph…

Reservation 13 in #HillEast is about to see some action. DC is starting the process for “phase 2” redevelopment. This isn’t RFK Stadium or the parking lots; this is the area to the south of Independence Avenue & east of St. Colettas & and the southern Metro entrance. (THREAD) So, next steps?
- 1st is a Sept 2nd mtg abt whether the city should “surplus” these lots.
- After that, the city makes a call for redevelopment proposals.
- Bids would be evaluated, community & ANC input brought in, then city picks winner.
- Council hearings & votes.

As promised, here’s a long thread on how my Judiciary Committee budget will reinvest your tax dollars in building a safe and just DC by investing in communities with non-police resources. First, we have to talk about the status quo. (1/21) It’s worth remembering, it’s very likely that in some of our hardest hit communities, a combination of policing/prison funding is one of the largest investments the government is making in those neighborhoods. It would be hard to say its an investment paying off.

Time for a budget thread. MPD will start Fiscal Year 2021 on October 1 with a budget that’s $33 million *less* than they have today. It’s been reported as an increase, so let’s dig into the details, with some thoughts on how the Judiciary Committee got to our proposal. (1/19) First, we're redirecting MPD $$ into communities in ways we know work. Second, we have more local police per capita than any other city, and we’re *still* in the middle of a homicide crisis. We must get at the root causes of violence, or we’ll also stay #1 in mass incarceration.

No bill fixes all, but today I shared our emergency police reform bill:
✅ Bans chokeholds
✅ Releases body-worn camera video & officer name w/I 72 hours after officer-involved fatality & serious use of force
✅ Forbids officers from viewing BWC prior to writing initial report 1/ 2/
✅ Strengthens and expands the Office of Police Complaints’ independence and authority
✅ Allows OPC to pursue investigation when MPD officers don't report misconduct they witness
✅ Adds community members to Use of Force Review Board and makes head of OPC voting member