Newsroom

Today, the DC Council’s Committee on Transportation and the Environment will meet at 3 p.m. to vote on Councilmember Charles Allen’s Metro for DC bill, which would allow all DC residents to sign up for a recurring monthly balance of $100 on their SmarTrip cards and dedicate at least $10 million annually to improving and expanding bus and transit service in the District. 

Today, the DC Council will vote on emergency legislation from Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen to give DC’s Department of For-Hire Vehicles authority to enforce traffic violations by app-based food, beverage, and parcel delivery services such as Uber Eats, Grubhub, and others.

The weather is (sort of) cooling down, the kids are back in school, our local coffee shops are breaking out the pumpkin drinks, and fall is just around the corner! Fall also means the legislative calendar at the Council kicks into full gear, because the current Council session ends December 31, and all bills that are going to pass need to do so by then. So it’s going to be a heavy legislative sprint to the end, and you’ll find the latest in the newsletters as they happen. If you want to learn more about the Council work coming up this fall, take a look at this roundup from DCist, which first highlights my Metro for DC bill. Of course, life in Ward 6 is also picking up – don’t miss the H Street Festival this Saturday and Art All Night next week at Eastern Market. So let’s jump into a long newsletter. Feel free to use the quick links to hop around. And as always, you can reply to this email or reach me or my team here with any issues.

Bills Address Black Families’ Land Loss in Division of Property and Waives Court Fees for Low-Income Residents 

Bill Includes Expansion of Crime Victim Compensation, Creating Crime Victim Counselors, Growing Hospital-Based Violence Intervention, New Tool to Help MPD Fight Stalking and Harassment 

I want to start this newsletter with a big thank you to everyone who came out for the return of Ward 6 Week after a two-year hiatus! It was great to connect with you all and get out into the Ward to celebrate our wonderful neighborhoods.

I hope you're having a restful and fun second half of summer! If you're like me and also mourning the Nats trade of Juan Soto and Josh Bell earlier this week, fill up on some positive local baseball news: our Capitol Hill Little Leaguers won the 10U DC State Little League title and are headed to Rhode Island to play against other state champs on the East Coast! I was excited to visit with the kids and wish them luck earlier this week.

Ward 6 Week is back! Join Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen August 7-13 for a week of fun activities highlighting all that our community has to offer. 

Have you ever thought, “why isn’t anyone talking about putting in speed bumps on this street?” or “why isn’t someone helping get a new business into that vacant building?” or “why aren’t we getting better benefits from developers on new construction?” Well, I'm excited to tell you about an opportunity to start solving some of those problems–and more! This fall, all 42 of our Ward 6 Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) seats will be on the ballot. That's 42 Single Member Districts (SMDs). After the redistricting last year–which was not just for the Ward lines but also for our ANC and SMD boundaries–Ward 6 now has four additional SMDs and many of ANC and SMD lines you're  used to have been adjusted to balance population size.

Beginning next year, DC residents who earn a lower-wage (think less than $60,000 for a family of four) will begin receiving a monthly check, akin to a first-in-the-nation monthly basic income.