This edition of The Collins Council Report drops on the cusp of an action-packed budget season.
On Tuesday, April 2, D.C. Council members discussed a bevy of topics. Within the next couple of weeks, readers will learn more about the controversy surrounding project labor agreements and marijuana dispensaries near schools.
For now, feel free to read about the council’s efforts to:
- Carve out an ideal arena deal with Monumental Sports & Entertainment
- Ensure free appropriate public education for Department of Corrections residents with disabilities
- Expand District residents’ access to gas-to-electric appliance conversions
- Provide recompense for long-displaced condominium owners
In Spite of Questions, the D.C. Council Approves Arena Financing
The D.C. Council voted unanimously in support of the Downtown Arena Financing Partnership and Revised Budget Temporary Amendment Act, with D.C. Councilmember Vincent C. Gray (D-Ward 7) absent.
The legislation allocates $515 million in capital funds toward the renovation of Capital One Arena over the course of three years.
In the days and hours leading up to the vote, questions surfaced of whether council members violated the District of Columbia Open Meetings Act, which provides members of the public to observe any meeting where public officials are discussing public affairs.
On Monday, Mendelson maintained that no substantial business had been conducted when he and other council members met with Leonsis.
At the council breakfast preceding Tuesday’s legislative meeting, council members raised concerns to Nina Albert, D.C.’s deputy mayor for planning and economic development, about terms of the agreement that the District government and Monumental Sports & Entertainment are entering.
Albert told council members during Tuesday’s council breakfast that the total costs of projects facilitated by Monumental Sports & Entertainment’s over the next three years — including the expansion of Capital One Arena into a nearby shuttered mall and the construction of a new Wizards practice facility — stand at $800 million.
Minutes earlier, D.C. Councilmember Charles Allen (D-Ward 6) , cognizant that the $515 million allocated by the council wouldn’t cover the entire process, inquired about other funding sources. He cautioned against the executive tapping into the funds for PACE, a D.C. Green Bank program that provides long-term financing on building upgrades that curb utility costs.
D.C. Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie (I-At large), chair of the council’s Committee on Business and Economic Development, emphasized the need to approach the process in a “clear-eyed, sober” manner.
For several minutes, other council members — Allen, and Councilmembers Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5) and Trayon White (D-Ward 8) — posed questions about proposals to: move the 70 and X2 bus stops away from the intersection of 7th Street and H Street, facilitate a the creation of a new practice facility for the Washington Wizards, assign 17 Metropolitan police officer to the area surrounding Capital One Arena, and the implementation of a “permanent” drug-free zone.
Parker later said on the dais that the council wasn’t giving a blank check to Monumental Sports & Entertainment, but continuing a long-term relationship.
“It’s a green light for us to continue engaging in good faith with Monumental so they can stay in the District,” Parker said. “I want to acknowledge the council for making this possible. Without it, the process of revitalizing Downtown would’ve been bleak.”
D.C. Councilmember Anita Bonds (D-At large) took a trip down memory lane as she set out to remind her council colleagues of the Gallery Place/Chinatown before former Washington Capitals, Bullets/ Wizards, and Mystics owner Abe Pollin, and more recent changes that took place in the pandemic era.
“Yes, we’re the council and concerned about how the dollars will be spent but we have a history to pull on and that more immediate history that tells us what without a viable, active downtown and one centered around a sports arena, we would look like back in the day,” Bonds said.
“It wasn’t representative of a progressive community moving forward with residents and businesses,” she continued. “This arena means a lot to many of us who’ve been around for a long time and it means even more to young people who want to be a part of it.”
A Question of a Free, Appropriate Public Education for Young DOC Residents
On Tuesday, the D.C. Council unanimously approved the Special Education for Young Adults in the Custody of the Department of Corrections Temporary Amendment Act of 2024.
This emergency legislation, introduced by D.C. Councilmember Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2), designates the D.C. Department of Corrections (DOC) as the District agency to provide a “free appropriate public education to DOC residents with disabilities, as dictated by District law and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
The legislation comes three years after the School Justice Project, Washington Lawyers’ Committee, and the law firm of Terris, Pravlik & Millian, LLP filed a class-action lawsuit against the District for denying students their special education instruction during their incarceration at DOC.
That year, a federal district court judge issued a preliminary injunction in what came to be known as Charles H. v. District of Columbia. The injunction mandated the District to provide students with hours of special education and services mandated by their Individualized Education Program.
It also obligated the District to submit monthly reports documenting their progress in providing students with free appropriate public education.
Shortly after, at the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year, the District designated Maya Angelou Public Charter School, not D.C. Public Schools (DCPS), as provider of educational services at D.C. Jail. Last year, Pinto introduced the Leading Education Access for Reentry and Necessary Success (LEARNS) Amendment Act to enhance special education services D.C. Department of Corrections and, among other provisions, mandate that the corrections department evaluate students for special education services.
The LEARNS Amendment Act later became part of the Secure DC Omnibus Amendment Act. Sources close to The Informer said that officials within the Bowser administration expressed apprehension about the evaluations, and possible explosion of the special education student pool.
Earlier this week, the Washington Lawyers’ Committee and School Justice Project, in conjunction with law firm Nixon Peabody LLP, filed another federal class-action lawsuit against DCPS, the Office of the State Superintendent of Education, and the Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBOP). This time, the lawsuit focused on alleged deprivation of eligible D.C. students with disabilities of an education that they were entitled to while serving a sentence in FBOP facilities across the U.S.
Representatives of the School Justice Project hinted at this lawsuit last year, telling The Informer that close to one-third of the 125 young people transferred from DOC to FBOP last spring had no high school diploma, nor had their special education accommodations been met.
“No one tracks them,” the representative said. “No one knows if they have a diploma or special education needs.”
D.C. Council Weighs in on Gas-to-Electric Appliance Conversions
On the first reading, the D.C. Council unanimously approved the Healthy Homes and Residential Electrification Amendment Act.
As it currently stands, the Healthy Homes and Residential Electrification Amendment Act creates the Healthy Homes Program, through which low- and moderate-income households could volunteer for the District government-funded conversion from gas to electric appliances.
It also prohibits the D.C. Housing Authority from installing appliances that combust fossil fuels on site when making a conversion through the Rental Assistance Demonstration program.
This legislation, which D.C. Councilmember Charles Allen (D-Ward 6) introduced last year, is intended to accelerate the District’s transition from fossil fuels to electric power by retrofitting 30,000 households with electric appliances by the end of 2040.
It would be paid for by the Sustainable Energy Trust Fund. Bowser administration officials recently confirmed that the fund would offset the rising electricity costs. They told The Informer that further funding of the Sustainable Energy Trust Fund would come from fees the District pays in lieu of purchasing renewable energy credits.
A pilot program launched last fall financed electric retrofitting for Deanwood and River Terrace residents in Northeast. Some of those residents — like Michelle Hall and Doris Bishop of River — testified in support of the legislation last May. The Rev. Dr. Lewis Tait, pastor of The Village Church and member of the Washington Interfaith Network, also spoke favorably about the Health Homes and Residential Electrification Amendment Act before the D.C. Council’s Committee on Transportation and the Environment.
The aforementioned will be featured in a future Informer story.
Meanwhile, Mark Rodeffer, chair of the Sierra Club DC Political Committee continues to relish the unanimous passage of the Healthy Homes and Residential Electrification Amendment Act. He called it a step in the right direction for the District.
“The 13-0 vote shows that the D.C. Council is serious about combating climate change and transitioning off fossil fuels through electrification,” Rodeffer said. “We need to start the transition off gas with D.C.’s most vulnerable households so that they’re not left with the multibillion dollar cost of our aging gas pipeline system.”
At large Councilmember White Lays Out Roadmap for Talbert Condo Owners’ Relief
At-large D.C. Councilmember Robert White’s emergency bill, titled Relief for River East at Grandview Condominium Owners Temporary Amendment Act of 2024, solidifies a process that D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) and housing counseling entity NACA devised to make displaced condominium owners at River East at Grandview Estates whole.
The bill also included an unanimously approved amendment by D.C. Councilmember Vincent C. Gray (D-Ward 7) authorizing a grant of up to $15 million for the completion of the Skyland Town Center project in Southeast.
Since 2021, when the D.C. government told dozens of condominium owners that they had to move out of their Anacostia-based abodes, they’ve been in a state of limbo due to lingering questions about mortgage relief and other forms of recompense.
In recent months, DHCD has been negotiating with mortgage lenders for loan forgiveness, to no avail.
The legislation attempts to rectify this situation by enabling DHCD to enter a grant agreement with NACA through which NACA would be able to provide housing counseling services as it has already done with at least half of the homeowners.
The condominium owners would be able to receive affordable mortgage options from NACA without their mortgage on River East at Grandview Estates , nor their credit score, being hurdles. NACA would also provide recommendations to D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) about additional assistance needed, based on individual circumstances.
Other elements of the legislation provide future property tax relief and give Bowser the authority to forgive the condominium owners’ Housing Production Trust Fund and Home Purchase Assistance Program (HPAP) loans.
The mayor and DHCD would have to send the condominium owners a letter by May 15 specifying if and when they’re receiving loan forgiveness and by how much.
Additionally, condominium owners applying for HPAP again could navigate the process based on the income that qualified them for the program when they entered it the first time. The income provision also applies for entry into inclusionary zoning units, which they would be able to do without attending an orientation or a homeownership class.
DHCD would also be able to provide up to $150,000 more to the condominium association while Bowser would be required to create a program that provides a rental option to those who choose to rent or don’t qualify for a mortgage.
Per the legislation, DHCD would be required to provide written notice to each owner by May 1 specifying that arrangement.
Finally, Bowser would be allowed to provide $300,000, divided evenly among condominium owners, to cover moving expenses.
On Tuesday, White acknowledged the River East at Grandview condominium owners for navigating an arduous process, including a hearing last November, to reach a crucial turning point in their battle for recompense.
“Without you, we couldn’t have gotten to this point,” White said to the condominium owners as he spoke from the dais. “I also want to thank DHCD, the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Economic Development, Office of the Chief Financial Officer, our budget team, our Office of General Counsel, and NACA for their partnership in getting this across the finish line. This is an important and productive step, and I’m committed to seeing this through.”
Kayla Benjamin, Washington Informer environmental justice reporter, contributed to this report.