Mayor Muriel Bowser’s campaign to mend D.C. alleys is back with stops throughout Wards 1 and 2.
“AlleyPalooza 3,” which Bowser launched today, is intended to bring improvements to alleys in each of the District’s eight wards.
In the Borderstan coverage area, the mayor is targeting alleys near:
It’s no secret that Mayor Muriel Bowser’s proposal to place up to 29 families in transitional housing at 2105-2107 10th St. NW has prompted some questions from neighbors.
As part of her plan to close DC General, Bowser seeks to build new housing at several sites across the city, including one on a lot about two blocks west of the 9:30 Club at 10th and V streets NW. Bowser is looking to use the land for a “modern building [that] will complement the look and feel of the neighborhood,” according to a handout from the mayor’s office. In addition to apartment-style housing, the facility is slated to have playground and recreation space, a computer lab for residents, a common dining area and ongoing support services and programming for families. (more…)
Mayor Muriel Bowser last night had tough words for critics of her plan to put homeless families in a new facility near the U Street corridor, telling locals their community has a responsibility to help the District’s poor.
Speaking before more than 100 residents crowded into a room inside the YMCA Anthony Bowen, Bowser defended her proposal to place up to 29 families in transitional housing at 2105-2107 10th St. NW by 2018 under her plan to close the D.C. General homeless shelter.
The property at 10th and V streets NW, which is about two blocks west of the 9:30 Club, currently includes an unused church and a vacant lot. But Bowser is looking to use the land for a “modern building [that] will complement the look and feel of the neighborhood,” according to a handout from the mayor’s office. In addition to apartment-style housing, the facility is slated to have playground and recreation space, a computer lab for residents, a common dining area and ongoing support services and programming for families.
Locals can start parking their cars on snow emergency routes tomorrow evening, Mayor Muriel Bowser announced this afternoon.
The snow emergency is scheduled to end at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, she said at a news conference. Since 9:30 a.m. Friday, individuals who have left cars on 16th Street NW, U Street NW and other roads have faced fines and losing their vehicles to tow trucks.
For residents who used the $1-per-day-parking at the DC USA retail development, they will have until 8:30 p.m. tomorrow to get their cars. Otherwise, they will have to start paying DC USA’s standard parking fees.
(Updated at 10:55 a.m.) Mayor Muriel Bowser this morning issued a state of emergency and a snow emergency for the U Street corridor area and the rest of the District in advance of a potentially historic snowstorm that is set to arrive tomorrow.
More than a foot of snow could fall in D.C. over the next few days, according to the National Weather Service. The District is under a blizzard watch from Friday afternoon to Saturday night.
Under the state of emergency, the District is able to access federal resources to help with the snow. With the snow emergency, locals with cars parked along snow routes must move them by 9:30 a.m. tomorrow, or get fined and towed.
Mayor Vincent Gray: As of Wednesday, three DC councilmembers have called for his resignation. (Luis Gomez Photos, file photo)
From Rachel Nania. Check out her blog, Sear, Simmer & Stir. Follow Nania on Twitter @rnania, email her at rachel[AT]borderstan.com
On the heels of DC Mayor Vincent Gray’s recently exposed shadow campaign, three of the city’s 12 sitting concilmembers have now called for Gray to resign on Wednesday due to the scandals in his 2010 Democratic Primary campaign against incumbent Mayor Adrian Fenty.
Councilmembers Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3), David Catania (I-At Large) and Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4) have said Gray should resign in the wake of federal prosecutors investigating Gray’s 2010 election campaign for illegal funding. Catania even went so far as to call the mayor a “joke,” adding that he is a “laugh line” and an “embarrassment.”
What is notable about Cheh’s Wednesday statement is that she endorsed Gray over incumbent Fenty in the September 2010 Democratic Primary. It was not a popular move among Cheh’s constituents in the upper Northwest Ward, which voted overwhelming for Fenty over Gray.
So what exactly happened to account for these accusations? Well, it is reported that Gray’s 2010 campaign misreported (or failed to report) $650,000 funneled from local contractor and (major) local political donor, Jeff Thompson. (Read more about Thompson in the Washington City Paper – in particular, how his home and office spaces were raided in suspicion of illegal activities related to the 2010 campaign.)
On Wednesday, Gray spoke about his allegations in a press conference where he confessed that he was not aware of the illegal reporting of contributions to his campaign. Gray said that he has no intentions of resigning.
Whether or not he was aware of it, Eugenia Clarke Harris, an aide in Gray’s campaign, pleaded guilty to charges that unreported money was used in campaign efforts to beat out incumbent, Adrian Fenty. Two other aides have pleaded the same charge. According to NBC Washington, Harris could receive 30 to 37 months in prison, and a fine between $6,000 and $60,000.
And even though Thompson’s contributions hardly made a ripple in the money pond of the election (Gray reported raising and spending about $2 million, whereas Fenty spent nearly $5 million), local politicians and supporters are outraged and feel betrayed by the candidate that campaigned on integrity.
Early this morning, ABC7/NewsChannel 8 reported that “Campaign workers for D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray tell The Associated Press that day laborers who worked at polling places on Gray’s behalf in 2010 were routinely paid $100 in cash — twice the legal limit.”
Borderstan Area Voted Overwhelmingly for Fenty
The Dupont, Logan and U Street areas of DC voted overwhelmingly for Fenty over Gray in the September 2010 primary. Fenty carried 9 out of 10 local precincts, winning six with more than 70% of the vote.
DC’s electorate is overwhelmingly Democrat, which means winning the Democratic Primary is almost always tantamount to election. But, in the November 2010 general election, Fenty got approximately 23% of the vote in a write-in campaign organized by Fenty supporter Joshua Lopez. Locally, Fenty got 30% in Ward 1 (which includes the U Street corridor and Adams Morgan) and 39% in Ward 2 (which included the Dupont and Logan areas). For example, Write-In (Fenty) received 43% of the vote in Precinct 16 at 15th and R Streets NW.
