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Showing posts with label DC City Council. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DC City Council. Show all posts

Thursday, March 20, 2014

At-large Candidates on Bicycling, Marijuana Legalization, and LiquorLicenses

Nate Bennett-Fleming, Pedro Rubio, and John Settles, three candidates for the At-Large City Council seat in the April 1 Democratic primary, met at a candidates' forum on Tuesday, March 18, at the Black Cat nightclub (1811 14th Street NW).

One doesn't know how to ride a bicycle.

Another is a skateboarder.

One has never smoked marijuana.

One wants to extend operating hours for liquor licensees.

The conversation ranged over a wide variety of topics. Here is a selection of comments about issues of particular local interest.

Bicycles

A question about bicycle policy also asked the candidates about their person bike use. Bennett-Fleming admitted he did not know how to ride a bicycle.

"I learned how to read at three, but I never learned how to ride a bike," he said.

Bennett-Fleming proposed (as one of many "small solutions") making drivers answer some questions about pedestrian and bicycle safety when renewing their driver's licenses online.

Rubio said he was in favor of more bicycle lanes, increased traffic police visibility, and more street cameras. Rubio said he was a skateboarder and wanted to make streets safer for skateboards.

Settles produced his bicycle helmet from under the table to demonstrate his creditibility.

"This speaks to the difference between me and people running on the council. I ride every day," he said.

Settles went on to say "some of my fellow cyclers" are part of the problem, running red lights or failing to observe the law. But he also said police could be more aggressive against drivers who fail to pay heed to bicyclists.

See a video of the candidates' answers to this question below. If the video below will not play, see it on Youtube here.

Marijuana

Will Sommer of Washington City Paper asked the candidates for their views on marijuana legalization in light of the March 11 decision by the District of Columbia Board of Election and Ethics (DCBOEE) to allow a possible referendum on legalization to go ahead if supporters can gather enough signatures.

John Settles said he never smoked marijuana, but was glad to support decriminalization. He said he would support any decision made by the voters. "I won't disrespect the votes like the attorney general vote," Settles said, referring to the recent court decision that effectively overruled a D.C. referendum in favor of an elected attorney general.

Rubio, after recalling a childhood neighborhood riddled with drug dealers, said he was not in favor of legalization now "but will be down the line". Rubio said he had smoked marijuana.

Bennett-Fleming also said he had smoked marijuana when he was a student at University of California at Berkeley. He called the present D.C. law "restrictive" and said he would "uphold legalization".  

Liquor license related issues 

Near the end of the evening, one question brought some general opinions about D.C. liquor licensing practices together with specific comments on the recent proposal by D.C. Councilmember Jim Graham (D-Ward One) to license party promoters.

Bennett-Fleming was against Graham's proposal. He said D.C. had to have "solid nightlife options", so he was in favor of longer open hours for liquor licensees.

"I would look into extending operating hours, particularly on the weekends," he said.

Bennett-Fleming went on to say that small groups of residents shouldn't be allowed to obstruct liquor licenses.

"We can't let small groups, you know, two or three ad hoc groups, stop liquor licenses, stop development, stop nightlife," he said. Bennett-Fleming said he would look into changing D.C. regulations on this matter.

Rubio and Settles also said they were against Graham's proposal for licensing promoters. Settles recalled working as a D.C. party and concert promoter "in college and after college".

Anita Bonds, the incumbent and a candidate for re-election, did not attend the forum.

In addition to Will Sommer, Sarah Anne Hughes of the DCist and Clinton Yates of the Washington Post questioned the candidates. The event was sponsored by the Washington City Paper, which has an audio recording of the entire event available here.

Friday, January 17, 2014

Muriel Bowser on local Dupont/Logan/U Street Issues

Ward 4 City Councilmember and mayoral candidate Muriel Bowser spoke last night (January 16) to a group of approximately 60 potential voters in the ballroom of the Chastleton Cooperative (1701 16th Street NW). The event was co-hosted by several Commissioners from midcity Advisory Neighborhood Commissions (ANCs) and by the Bowser campaign.

Bowser spoke to the crowd about her biography, accomplishments, and vision for the future. See a one-minute YouTube sample of the beginning of Bowser's address below.

If video will not display, see it on YouTube here.

 

Here is what Bowser said about some of the issues of purely local interest, posed at a subsequent question-and-answer session.

16th Street Bus Traffic

ANC 2B/Dupont Circle Commissioner Kishan Putta (district 04) began the question-and-answer portion of the evening by asking Bowser about the difficulties that riders in his district were experiencing on the 16th Street bus (S1, 2, and 4). Putta told Bowser the buses were often full by the time they descended from Columbia Heights down to the area below U Street. Putta solicited another member of the audience to testify to the severity of the problem. The other member of the audience said on some mornings ten city buses pass by without stopping.

"We made some adjustments in the last year," Bowser said. "It sounds like we need to do more."

Bowser went on to say there was not a lot of extra space to add buses on 16th Street during rush hour, and special lanes were really not an option. However, Bowser said there could be improvements in "bus prioritization". Federal money had gone to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) for this purpose. WMATA had in turn transferred to funds to the District Department of Transportation (DDOT).

"But DDOT hasn't done anything about it," Bowser said.

Bowser also mentioned "bus signalization". This would enable approaching buses to send signals to traffic lights, which would help keep buses moving more smoothly through congested areas.

Reeves Center Land Swap

Bowser touched on the state of the proposed land swap that would trade the Reeves Center (14th and U Streets) for a parcel of land in Southwest Washington, in order to allow the construction of a stadium for the D.C. United soccer club. (See SALM blog post of January 7.)

"With the soccer stadium, it's not a fait accompli," Bowser said. "There are many moving parts to that."

Bowser called D.C. United "good neighbors" in D.C. and said they had approached the land swap deal thoughtfully. However, she was not enthusiastic about the land swap deal.

"It's not perfect. A land swap is a bad idea because we don't know the true value of the Reeves Center," Bowser said.

Bowser concluded that the $150 million that D.C. is putting into this deal would be better spent rebuilding the District's middle schools.

"What we should be doing now is challenging all the council members not to rubberstamp a deal that they haven't seen," Bowser said. "That's number one: let's get a good deal for the residents."

Charter Schools vs. Community Schools

An audience member objected to the way charter schools were developing, especially the way the students with the most involved parents ended up in charter schools, and the rest ended up in community schools.

"This is the problem of not being able to put the toothpaste back in the tube," Bowser said.

Bowser said she expected to continue to see a lot of charter schools attempt to open, but not always serving the people who needed them.

"We ought to be able to limit the number of charters that open and be able to direct what part of the city they open in," she said.

She continued: "You also probably know I have the unpopular idea that charter schools have to educate kids in their neighborhoods."

Bowser recalled that she had a big argument with journalist Tom Sherwood on this issue on WAMU's "Kojo Nnamdi Show". However, her opinion was unchanged.

"I do think we have to have a neighborhood preference for charter schools," Bowser said.

At the end of the question-and-answer session, ANC2B Commissioner Stephanie Maltz (district 03) thanked Bowser for coming to speak.

Also attending were ANC2A Commissioner Jackson Carnes (district 07), ANC2F Commissioner Chris Linn (district 03), ANC2B Commissioner Mike Silverstein (district 06), and Jack Jacobson, Ward 2 representative on the DC State Board of Education.

Thursday, October 17, 2013

ANC2B Urges Redskins Name Change

Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 2B/Dupont Circle passed a resolution supporting a DC City Council call to change the name of the Washington Redskins. The ANC resolution was passed 8-0, with one abstention, at a regular monthly meeting on October 9.

The 'skins in 2005 (Wikipedia)
The resolution is the first by a DC government body to condemn the Redskins' team name, according to ANC2B Commissioner Kishan Putta (district 04). Since the vote, Putta said in an interview later, ANC2B has received support from members of other ANCs. Putta also said other ANC may soon join ANC2B in passing resolutions condemning the team name.

In a statement before the vote, Putta noted that, of all names of sports team, "Redskins" is the only word which is listed in the dictionary as "offensive". Putta also cited Martin Luther King Jr.'s remark concerning judging people not by the color of their skins, but the content of their character.

The DC City Council resolution is proposed by Councilmember David Grosso (I - At Large). The council will vote on Grosso's sense-of-the-Council resolution on November 5, according to information on Twitter. Eight other Councilmembers have already indicated they will support the resolution.


A .pdf copy of the resolution is available here.

Abigail Nichols (district 05) was the abstaining Commissioner.