Here are my priorities.
Public safety.
Everyone deserves to feel safe in their community. I'll push to combat the root causes of crime, which are poverty, truancy, displacement, and lack of public services. Those factors tend to trap people in cycles of desperation and hopelessness. I'll also support the Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (ONSE) in its efforts. The public health approach of the ONSE uses community-based strategies to prevent crime. I'll also push for a common-sense level of police and security patrolling on our streets and in our buildings, including in our parking garages.
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As for traffic safety, I'll push the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) and the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) to make more meaningful efforts to achieve Vision Zero. That's D.C.'s goal to see zero fatalities or serious injuries on our streets. More consideration needs to go to Florida Ave. NE, New York Ave. NE, and North Capitol Street, all of which are high-injury network corridors.
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One way to get there is to build safe infrastructure that protects everyone—drivers, pedestrians, rollers, and cyclers—and I'll support every effort to that effect. That includes building a connected, protected network of bike lanes. The lanes we have already on First Street and on M Street are excellent, but having a bike network with gaps can be more dangerous than having no lanes at all. We have to expand. This article discusses a second line of attack: incentivizing safe driving and removing reckless drivers from our streets until those drivers have completed traffic safety courses. Achieving Vision Zero means we need to hold irresponsible drivers accountable. I'll advise the Council to reconsider the Automated Traffic Enforcement Effectiveness Amendment Act of 2022, which would boost that effort and avoid inequitably targeting low-income people for whom fines can be unduly burdensome.
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Affordable housing.
One in ten D.C. residents is facing housing insecurity. Among that population, families, children, youth, Black, and Hispanic residents are overrepresented. Households with children constitute 35% of the D.C. population yet account for 52% of those grappling with housing insecurity. Black non-Hispanic residents comprise 41% of D.C.'s population but 68% of the housing-insecure. Hispanic residents, at just 7% of D.C.'s population, comprise 14% of the housing-insecure. All of this is unacceptable.
Per the Urban Institute, the biggest reason for housing insecurity is simple unaffordability. Not at all surprising. Everyone is aware that housing in this city is ridiculously expensive. I'll do everything in my power to help make it more affordable. It's all the more important because Mayor Bowser's FY25 budget proposes cutbacks to many of D.C.'s housing programs, including the Housing Production Trust Fund (HPTF), which is the city's flagship program for supporting dedicated affordable housing.
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I'll advocate to protect the HPTF and similar capital subsidies, such as bonds from the D.C. Housing Finance Agency, to protect and expand affordable housing. I'll support the building of mixed-income developments wherever possible and the relaxing of exclusionary zoning laws across the board. Next year, the D.C. Council will delimit how much new housing is allowed in the District via a rewrite of the city’s Comprehensive Plan. Throughout that process, I'll advise the Council to increase housing of all types, both market-rate and affordable, to bring costs down. I'll push developers to include the maximum number of dedicated affordable units in any new development. I'll also support subsidized housing programs like the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program, which stabilizes families across racial demographics. Lastly, I'll support programs that provide permanent housing to those experiencing homelessness as well as programs designed to reconnect those folks with their communities and loved ones, which is a direly underappreciated intervention.
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Landlord accountability.
Some of our landlords are plainly failing to provide adequate service. Safety concerns abound. Vehicle thefts, violent outbreaks, and break-ins due to lack of security have been downplayed. Blatant degradations of service, like the removal of concierges from our lobbies, have been explained away. Our housing is supplied by big businesses. A business will generally do what it can get away with. So we have to apply pressure and hold our landlords accountable. As your Commissioner, I'll work closely with the Office of the Tenant Advocate (OTA) to do just that.
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D.C. has strong tenants' rights protections. Short story: back in 2021, I lived in an old, moldy building in Mount Pleasant. My landlord decided to sell the place so it could be knocked down to make way for a new condo. The building housed lots of low-income Hispanic residents whose rents had been fixed at low rates for decades (dating back to when Mount Pleasant was low-wealth, ergo undesirable to developers). My landlord offered us each $4k buyouts and lied to us, saying we'd find comparably priced options in the neighborhood. In truth, there was nothing remotely comparable. The idea was simply to clear us out. We partnered with a tenants' rights organization, negotiated, and eventually received $25k each. Moral of the story: as D.C. renters, we have weight to throw around. We should do so.
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D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb has filed a lawsuit against 14 of the city's biggest landlords. These include Camden Development, Inc. (Camden Noma), Greystar Management Services, L.P. (The Hale), and Bozzuto Management Company (130 Flats at Constitution Square). In other words, every property manager owning and operating apartment buildings in 6E06 stands accused of illegally colluding to artificially raise our rents. That lawsuit rests in the hands of the Office of Attorney General (OAG). As your Commissioner, I'll stay in regular contact with the OAG to solicit updates and provide feedback wherever possible. Any and all updates will be included in my monthly newsletter.
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Transparency & communication.
The office of Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner demands availability. It's a hyperlocal office and involves issues as time-sensitive as licensing, traffic safety, sanitation, and trash collection. It requires accessibility and visibility.
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I commit to responding to all communication within 24 hours of receipt. Before I'm sworn in, I'll launch a public-facing website including my contact info, helpful links, and a blog of updates and my voting record. A monthly newsletter will also be sent out. I also commit to holding in-person meetings once per month a week before the monthly meeting of the Commission so I can bring all of your concerns to my colleagues in ANC 6E. These meetings will take place at Wunder Garten, Uptown Cafe, or another public place (I'm open to suggestions) at convenient, prescheduled times.