Looking Back to the FY 2024 Budget

Because we have not yet received the budget for fiscal year 2025 – which begins October 1, 2024, it seems like a good time to look at some of the key investments I made throughout Ward 1 in this year’s budget and how they are being implemented.

It’s going to be a tight budget year. We can expect to see cuts – perhaps significant cuts – in the Mayor’s budget, and I’ll be working to preserve some of these programs that require ongoing funding, making sure that we don’t lose momentum on projects that enrich Ward 1.

Let’s look at some of those fiscal year 2024 budget projects and programs:

• Traffic control officers. Added two officers at the corner of 14th & Irving streets to keep bus and bike lanes clear and moving. They started their work in December of last year. They are on site Monday – Friday 12-6 pm.
• Violence prevention. Nearly $4.5 million to bolster the violence prevention program for Columbia Heights, Park View, and LeDroit Park, and to introduce these services to the vicinity of 14th & V St.
• Shaw Clean Team. We expanded the service area to the 1900 block of 8th Street NW.
• 600 block of T St. $200,000 for grant funding for a pilot program to provide substance use disorder and behavioral health services in the vicinity with a focus on opioid use intervention. The grant has been awarded to HIPS and outreach just began.
• Splash pad and fountain repairs. $750,000 for maintenance of the fountain/splash pad at Columbia Heights Civic Plaza and 14th and Girard. The Department of General Services is preparing to procure a vendor.
• Amigos Park. $800,000 to finalize design and build out Amigos Park (Mount Pleasant St. and Kenyon St.). We are currently working with the new property owner of the former 7-11 space to come to an agreement on the full park design. I hope to be meeting with them very soon.
• Targeted substance use disorder outreach. $750,000 to expand the targeted substance use disorder outreach approach piloted in the Columbia Heights Civic Plaza; this funding will address the similar challenges of individuals in adjacent neighborhoods, including U Street, Lower Georgia Avenue, and Mount Pleasant Street. Grants have been awarded to community organizations and outreach projects have begun.
• Green Slow Streets. $1 million for a “Green Slow Streets” program in Ward 1, targeting blocks of local streets with poor sidewalk conditions, ADA issues, drainage problems, tree canopy needs, and traffic safety simultaneously. DDOT is assessing candidates for the program, with a goal of refurbishing 2-4 blocks with current funding.
• Street vending. With support from Chairman Mendelson we finally passed the street vendor law early in 2023 and included funds for its implementation in the current budget year. The law creates a better experience for customers, residents, and the vendors by establishing an organized vending zone and a manager, helping vendors complete all appropriate license applications, and turning over enforcement to the Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection.
  
  DLCP has begun issuing licenses to vendors in the Columbia Heights Zone and their enforcement team is in the zone multiple times a week. The selection process for the vending zone manager is in the final stages, and we expect the manager to be in place in early April.
• Public life study. $400,000 and two community planning positions for a public life study and streetscape designs for Mount Pleasant Street and central Columbia Heights. The sidewalks and public spaces are decades old and in need of a significant refresh to support the vibrancy of these neighborhoods. This study will look at how public space is currently used, how it can be improved, and how the constellation of a dozen+ plazas and public spaces can be better coordinated to serve the community. This study will also review the street vending zone and how to improve public infrastructure to accommodate that commercial activity. The Office of Planning will be awarding a contract soon to conduct the study; ANC 1A recently established a special committee to support this work.

• Safety Ambassadors. I added $250,000 to the budget to hire additional safety ambassadors in Adams Morgan, more than doubling the size of the safety team. Team members provide a highly visible presence throughout the neighborhood, walking streets, alleyways, and business corridors, and working with MPD. They get to know Adams Morgan residents, visitors, and employees and provide an extra level of hospitality and help to address quality of life concerns in the community. The Adams Morgan Business Improvement District announced just this week that they have hired two new ambassadors and plan to hire one more. The ambassadors are on duty 10-8 on Sundays and Mondays, 10-midnight on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, and noon to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.
• Open Streets. $1.6M for Open Streets, which includes continuing Georgia Ave Open Streets every October.
• Park View Recreation Center. A total of $16 million for this renovation. We anticipate the Department of Parks and Recreation will award a contract to an architect and builder, which will allow them to hold community engagement meetings on design. I’ve asked that DPR expand the scope of that planning and engagement to include the new park at Morton and Warder Streets and the future permanent park at the Bruce Monroe site, so that all three of those neighborhood spaces are considered holistically.
• Stabilization Center. $9.5 million for a stabilization center in Columbia Heights at the old FEMS station at 1338 Park Road, NW. The Department of Behavioral Health and DGS are in the process of selecting a contractor to renovate the space and anticipate the center will open in mid-2025.

Watch for more of these kinds of projects in the next budget. I’ll also be working to protect funding for the programs that require funding year after year, such as the Clean Team and violence interrupters, and to preserve funding for the larger capital projects, such as the Park View Rec Center. I and your neighbors could use your help: please consider testifying before my committee and other committees once the budget oversight hearings get started next week.