Ward 6 Update: Hains Point, RFK Transit News, and A New Park Opens!

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We recently filled the meeting room at Southwest Library to talk all things FY27 budget. Yes, really: Many folks tuned in, in person and virtually, because this is an incredibly difficult task before us. You can read more below, and you can watch the presentation and view the slides. Thank you, as always, for being engaged.

But there's still plenty to celebrate, from yesterday's sunny Bike to Work Day and a new park to public space remaining accessible. And what's the future of transit looking like around the RFK stadium campus? Let's get to it.

QUICK LINKS: Where We Are in the Budget Process | Public Safety | Future of Transit Around NFL Stadium | Ranked Choice Voting Explained | New Downtown Park! | And A New Public Restroom | Rat Abatement | Hains Point | 8th Street Bus Priority | For Healthy DC Plan Holders | Protect Your Home from a Tax Sale | Biking to School | Events | ANC Meetings

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Next Up for the FY27 Budget

Thank you to everyone who joined me and my team for my annual Ward 6 Budget Town Hall! As we get down to the decision-making side of the budget, it was invaluable to hear your questions and priorities as Ward 6 neighbors. People love to spend their weeknight wading into the weeds on DC's budget, right?

The Council's budget oversight hearings have concluded, which means we're now in the markup phase, when committees formally put together their budget recommendations. For me, that means my team and I are finalizing changes and repairs to the major proposed cuts by the Mayor at the Department of Energy and the Environment.

At the committee level, you'll see some changes to the budget, but even larger debates are in store once committees finish their work. We will fund what we can, make changes here and there, and look to work with the full Council to identify additional changes once the entire budget is back together. Each chair, including me, can only work with the budgets of the agencies under our jurisdiction. But many of the larger needs, ranging from reversing the devastating cuts to early childcare to housing to health care, will require decisions by the full Council. That process will take off starting this coming week and continue through the time we hold our first vote on June 9. In the next newsletter, I'll have a report out on what steps my committee has taken and where my priorities are within the full body. We will hold our committee vote on Friday. Once we publicly circulate our proposed changes, you can read about them in our Committee Report, which will be posted here.

If you're looking to better understand the budget as proposed by the Mayor, I'd encourage you to review the presentation I gave during last week's Budget Town Hall. I spent time going through each major area to highlight the major decisions made. 

Public Safety Update

Juvenile Curfew Update: As a quick update, in April, I joined my colleagues to vote in favor of a balanced permanent bill that creates a targeted and time-limited curfew tool the Mayor and Chief of MPD can employ when needed, while also putting in place a requirement to offer a place where young people can go and be safe. I think that strikes the right balance between wanting our public spaces to be welcoming to everyone and recognizing that there are times when these gatherings are orchestrated with the intent of being disruptive. The Council, I suspect, will continue to debate more immediate changes. I know Councilmember Lewis George is planning to move a large omnibus bill that expands offerings to young people, which will include parts of several bills I've authored to open our rec centers on weekends and evenings and to prioritize our playing fields for youth sports during key times.

Ward 6 Public Safety Updates

MPD makes arrest in 2022 homicide: A suspect in a homicide from October 2022 at 1200 North Capitol St. NW was charged by MPD while already at the DC Jail. Good work by MPD to identify the suspect, who was being tracked by MPD's Fugitive Task Force.

MPD arrests two juveniles in April attempted carjacking: MPD announced an arrest last week of two juveniles involved in an attempted carjacking from early April on the 700 block of 11th Street NE.

No New Metro Station at RFK? Don't Dismiss the First Proposal, Even As I'll Fight for the Strongest Transit Plan Possible

This week WMATA released proposals for the future of public transit around the future Commanders stadium. This plan was something I secured funding for in our current budget. The media headline has focused on a recommendation against a new Metro station (I'll cover that more below), but it misses that there's some encouraging planning here that can ensure the new stadium is the most transit-accessible in the country and proposes a substantial transit investment along the H Street and Benning Road corridor. The proposal echoes the calls I've been making for a major overhaul of the existing Stadium Armory station to better handle large crowds and proposes a Transit Center with dedicated, high-frequency bus service via a bus rapid transit design from RFK to Union Station — something dubbed the Gold Line (I think some fans are going to end up calling it the Burgundy & Gold Line). This is absolutely the right call, especially after losing the Streetcar, and it is planned to be a center-running, dedicated bus lane, creating a new east-west route not just for games or major events but for every day of the year. While the details are yet to be finalized, these buses should have dedicated bus lanes that cut past gameday traffic and get out onto H Street. If we want it to work, it has to move fast. I strongly believe the Gold Line should immediately be planned to extend all the way east to Minnesota Avenue NE and west to at least Georgetown. This can realize the critical and missing east-west connection that the original streetcar plan was meant to bring to life.

We can easily look to both Capital One Arena and Nationals Park as examples of how people take transit to sporting events, and there's no reason an NFL stadium can't find enormous success doing the same. If a neighborhood is transit-accessible, people will use it. And, of course, thousands of people won't just be flocking to the area for an occasional football game. We'll also have roughly 5-6,000 new homes for residents, meaning north of 10,000 new residents who depend on this transit service every single day. So, it's good to hear Metro planning significant improvements at the Stadium-Armory station, including new escalators, elevators, and stairs, and expanded mezzanines for the north entrance.

But it's a missed opportunity not to pursue a second Metrorail station near the site. While many feel a useful spot could be on the north side of the stadium, the transit authority says the project would be too complex and too expensive, costing north of $1 billion. I'll be honest, I'm skeptical of that total, but I also know this isn't the end of the conversation. 

A second station wouldn’t just serve football games. It could shape the long-term growth of the entire neighborhood. You don’t have to look farther than NoMa to see how transformative a Metro station can be for surrounding development. Building the station now essentially guarantees that in 15-20 years, we could get a new neighborhood to spring up around the station, which will bring more homes for people and better connect neighborhoods like Kingman Park, Carver-Langston, and all along Benning Road to the metro system. 

I had fun chatting with Grant & Danny on WJFK the Fan about how Commanders fans should feel about a transit-first game day, and broke down the proposal with WUSA9 and Fox5.

Ranked Choice Voting: Pizza Toppings Edition

Keep an eye on your mailbox because the DC Board of Elections mailed your ballot to you this week. As you've probably heard by now, this will be DC's first election under ranked-choice voting, which voters overwhelmingly passed as a ballot initiative during the 2024 General Election. 

But now it's getting real, and you might be doubting whether you understand Ranked Choice Voting. So let's talk about it in terms we can all relate to: What kind of pizza should the group order? As a teaser: With traditional voting, you might get stuck with anchovy as your topping, even though the majority didn't want it. But with ranked choice voting, you end up finding the crowd favorite of pepperoni. Watch the short 2-minute video to see how RCV works and, in this example, how we get to the topping most people want! 

Big thanks to Ward 6's own Pupatella for hosting us to shoot this video.

Spring Fling Fills Newly Opened Cobb Park

Last weekend, I joined the Mount Vernon Triangle CID for their Spring Fling, which brought people together in Ward 6's newest green space: Cobb Park.

This is a park I literally spent years fighting for and reversing cuts in the budget to get built. We were told this couldn’t be a park, that no one would want green space here. What we saw at the Spring Fling — families and people of all ages getting outside and enjoying live music, a new playground, and plenty of green space — shows it was worth the fight. 

Great communities deserve great public spaces. And creating places where residents, workers, students, and visitors can build community is important for the future of our city. Thank you to Kenyattah Robinson and his team at the Mt. Vernon Triangle CID, hundreds of neighbors, and many iterations of ANC 6E, who stayed strong for years to get this project done. Be sure you find your way to Cobb Park this spring!

A New Public Restroom in Ward 6

One new addition in Cobb Park last weekend was a brand-new Throne public restroom! If you haven't used the one at Eastern Market Metro Park or elsewhere in the city: These are free, accessible restrooms for anyone to use. They're well-maintained (and clean!) and provide a needed service to residents and visitors.

Despite their importance to residents and visitors alike, Thrones throughout the District are at risk, as the Mayor's proposed budget eliminates funding for them. While the Throne at Cobb and Eastern Market Metro parks are for sure there through September, I remain focused on restoring this funding in the FY27 budget.

DC Health Targets Rats Near Eastern Market

DC Health’s Rodent and Vector Control Division is conducting a three-pronged approach to address rats in the alleys behind 7th Street, 8th Street, and North Carolina Avenue SE. Over three weeks, the team will use an anticoagulant bait, an anticoagulant tracking powder, and a non-lethal fertility-control bait. Throughout the process, the team will monitor the area, and follow-up abatement efforts will happen as needed.

Fighting for East Potomac Park and Public Access at Hains Point

I’ve heard from many neighbors recently about the future of East Potomac Park and the Trump Administration’s efforts to reshape the public golf course at Hains Point, which is one of three affordable, accessible public courses with deep community history and broad public use in DC.

Recently, there was significant concern after the federal government moved to terminate National Links Trust’s lease at East Potomac Park amid proposals to transform the course into a Trump-branded championship golf destination. Since then, a new agreement has brought more certainty about what comes next, including news that National Links Trust will continue operating East Potomac Park, and the immediate threat of the course shutting down has passed. At Langston and Rock Creek, the agreement also allows long-planned improvements and investments to move forward. That's a welcome change that preserves the important history of those courses — particularly Langston, which has a vital role in Black golfers' access to the game.

But important questions remain about the long-term future of East Potomac Park. Federal officials have committed to a public process and to maintaining affordable, accessible golf, but there is still uncertainty about what future redevelopment proposals could look like, and I want to see all those commitments in writing.

As I shared this past week, East Potomac Park is about far more than golf. It’s one of DC’s great public spaces and is home to trails, playgrounds, fishing access, waterfront recreation, biking, walking, running, and family gatherings. Even though the land is federally controlled, East Potomac Park is part of Ward 6, and our community deserves a voice in its future.

8th Street Priority Bus Lane Construction Begins, Grant Money Available to Impacted Businesses

DDOT started construction on the 8th Street Bus Priority project on April 8, and today, you can begin to see how this corridor is being reshaped for the better.

Bus priority projects like this one may not look like major infrastructure upgrades, but when complete, they move thousands of residents, workers, and customers much faster. A bus that moves faster and shows up when it is supposed to will attract more riders. The C53 and C55, which both go through 8th Street SE, are among the busiest bus lines in the entire WMATA system.

For businesses along Barracks Row, don't miss the grant money available to help offset the loss of revenue while this project takes place. Find out all of the information you need here. This was funding I set aside in the current budget to support our local businesses through the process.

Are You Under the Healthy DC Plan?

The DC Health Benefit Exchange Authority is informing the public that residents may be at risk of losing their health coverage under the Healthy DC Plan. More than 2,000 residents need to provide updated information to the Exchange by May 31 to keep their coverage.

If this could be you, please keep an eye out for mail, phone calls, and emails from DC Health Link, as they may be trying to verify your information to help you maintain health insurance coverage. Additionally, you can find out if you need to update your information by logging into your DC Health Link account.

You Can Act Now to Protect Your Home From a Tax Sale

If you're past due on your home's property taxes, it's possible that the lien on your home might be sold at the annual DC Property Tax Sale in July.

This puts your home at significant risk of foreclosure, which could mean you lose it. Legal Aid DC and Legal Counsel for the Elderly can help check if you should qualify for property tax benefits or exemptions, apply for a payment plan or tax relief, and/or file an application for forbearance to stop a sale from happening.

If you need legal help, you can call Legal Aid DC at 202‑628‑1161 ext. 7 if you are younger than 60 years old, or Legal Counsel for the Elderly at 202‑434‑2120 if you are 60 years old or older by June 10.

Rain Didn't Stop Bike & Roll to School Day

On May 6, I joined families from schools across Capitol Hill for a great morning of Bike and Roll to School Day! A little bit of rain didn't slow us down as student performers showed off their skills, everyone warmed up with exercises — even DC Water's Wendy the Waterdrop — and we celebrated all the ways we can get where we're going without a car. This is always a fun time, and I'm always pleased to serve as emcee. Thank you to the Ward 6 Public School Parents Organization for organizing such a fun event!

Upcoming Events

• Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Performance: Friday, May 22, 5 to 6:30 p.m., at Eastern Market Metro Park (701 Pennsylvania Ave. SE)
  Weekly performances at the Park continue with Barracks Row Main Street!
  
  
• Ward 6 Roll Off Day: Saturday, May 23, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at Watkins Recreation Center (420 12th St. SE)
  DC residents are encouraged to bring their large, non-hazardous materials for disposal. These include items such as household furniture, old clothing and toys that can't be donated, old rugs, and more. Here's a list of what's not accepted.
  
  
• Memorial Day: Monday, May 25
  DCPS will be closed, and city services will be adjusted for the holiday. 
  
  
• Transportation Improvement Program Public Form: Thursday, May 28, 5 to 6 p.m., at DDOT Headquarters (250 M St. SE)
  DDOT is hosting a meeting for DC residents to learn more about the development of the fiscal years 2026-2029 Statewide Transportation Improvement Program and to comment on the project listings.

Upcoming ANC Meetings

• ANC 6D: Monday, May 18, at 7 p.m., virtual
• ANC 6/8F: Tuesday, May 26, at 7 p.m. at DDOT Headquarters, 250 M St. SE, Room 124, and virtual
• ANC 6E: Wednesday, May 27, at 6:30 p.m. 

Locate your Advisory Neighborhood Commission here.

See you around the neighborhood,

Charles Allen