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The comprehensive DC politics roundup — Jan. 13, 2022
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VaxDC draws GOP criticism
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With DC's new vaccination requirements set to take effect Saturday morning, a coalition of congressional Republicans is calling on Mayor Muriel Bowser to reverse course — with one grabbing attention and criticism for comparing the vaccine mandate to government policies in Nazi Germany.
The new requirements — known as VaxDC — apply to patrons of restaurants, bars, gyms, theaters, sporting venues and certain other businesses as of 6 a.m. Saturday.
On Wednesday, Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz and 19 GOP colleagues introduced a bill to nullify what he called "the mayor's unconstitutional order for businesses and other establishments to enforce proof of vaccination for entry." The legislation was referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.
Despite the ability of federal officials to overturn local decisions, the current political dynamics mean the legislation is unlikely to move forward. The House and Senate are both in Democratic hands, and President Joe Biden has implemented his own vaccine requirements that are being challenged by GOP officials.
This week, the DC Republican Party also criticized the policy, which DC's Democratic mayor established with broad support from the DC Council. "Political theater," the party tweeted in response to a Bowser tweet about the requirement kicking in this weekend. "All for the uber-liberal Democratic Primary voters. More restaurants will close. Even more people will move out of the city."
Unlike many states where vaccine and masking requirements have been a contentious issue, the solidly blue District hasn't seen the same level of rancor. According to the District's most recent voter registration statistics, 5.53% of DC voters are registered as Republicans; 76.43% are Democrats, and 16.6% are registered as independents.
"DC’s public health experts formulated the vaccine requirement as part of our omicron action plan to keep residents and visitors safe," Deputy Mayor John Falcicchio tweeted in response to the criticism from GOP members of Congress. "We understand that some may disagree but we have been moved by how well our residents, visitors and businesses have implemented mitigation measures and know they will do the same with the vaccine requirement."
Amid the political debate, the DC Chamber of Commerce released a statement this morning expressing support for the VaxDC requirements. Angela Franco, the group's president and CEO, added a call for patience as businesses — many of them currently short-staffed — check for compliance.
"Our region’s economic vitality depends on our businesses, both small and large, to remain open. While we support these mitigation efforts, we understand the impact this mandate will have on our businesses already struggling from staffing shortages," Franco said. "We ask our community to be patient as our businesses accommodate this new mandate. We all share the common goal of returning to normalcy, where businesses can operate at full capacity."
— WaPo's Meagan Flynn covers the response to the comparison to Nazism: "A Republican member of Congress drew swift condemnation Wednesday after comparing D.C.'s upcoming vaccine mandate to Nazi Germany — marking the latest instance in which a GOP lawmaker has chosen to compare measures intended to quell a public health emergency to Nazi practices that culminated in the genocide of millions of Jews.
"Rep. Warren Davidson (Ohio) made the comparison while responding to Mayor Muriel E. Bowser’s (D) reminder on Twitter that, beginning Saturday, patrons will need to show proof of coronavirus vaccination to enter restaurants, bars, theaters or other places where people congregate indoors. Religious and medical exemptions are allowed. Davidson tweeted, 'This has been done before. #DoNotComply,” and included a Nazi-era identifying document emblazoned with a swastika."
" … Jewish organizations described his Nazi comparison as “disgusting” and exploitative of modern history’s darkest tragedy. The Auschwitz Memorial responded directly to Davidson condemning his comments." [WaPo]
— '‘Disgusting’ | Holocaust survivor calls Congressman’s tweet about DC offensive' [WUSA9]
— 'Republican opposition to D.C.’s vax mandate has escalated to Nazi comparisons' [DCist]
— 'Conservatives push for boycott of GOP club over DC vaccine mandate' [The Hill]
— 'DC restaurants, bars begin checking vaccination status this weekend' [WTOP]
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Mayor Muriel Bowser announced the upcoming launch of a $1.5 million pilot program to provide direct cash assistance to new and expectant mothers. Administered by the DC-based nonprofit Martha's Table, the program will provide $900 per month to 132 residents of wards 5, 7 and 8 over the next year.
"Having a newborn is a big life change, and we also know how critical those first months and years are to a baby’s life," Bowser said in a press release. "This program is about supporting new and expectant moms with cash so that they can have the autonomy and flexibility to make the best choices for them and their baby."
Dubbed Strong Families, Strong Future DC, the initiative is similar to direct cash transfer programs in several other cities across the country. The DC Council inserted funding in the fiscal year 2022 budget at the behest of Ward 5 DC Council member Kenyan McDuffie, who attended Bowser's midday press conference announcing the program. "This is one of many steps to address the racial wealth gap in our city," he said in a statement praising the launch.
- With DC's newly drawn wards now in effect, the redistricting process shifts to boundaries for the District's advisory neighborhood commissions. The chair of the DC Council's redistricting subcommittee, at-large member Elissa Silverman, has laid out an expected timeline that will lead to an initial vote on boundaries for the ANCs and single-member districts by May or June. Final council action would occur in June. Ward task forces are holding their initial meetings this month, with follow-up sessions slated through March; all of the meetings are open to the public, Silverman notes. The plans from each of the eight ward task forces are due by the last week of March, and the subcommittee will proceed to hold at least nine public hearings — one per ward, plus one for the entire city. Under DC law, each single-member district must have between 1,900 and 2,100 residents using 2020 census data. Although most ANCs have between five and nine SMDs, there is no minimum or maximum. An ANC may cross a ward boundary under certain circumstances.
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► REGIONAL - 'Omicron surge appears to be nearing peak in resource-strained region.' WaPo's Joe Heim, Rebecca Tan and Teo Armus: "The region’s omicron surge may be approaching its peak, according to public health experts, as coronavirus cases continue to strain resources across the District, Maryland and Virginia.
"The peak in new cases could arrive as early as next week, though hospitalizations, a lagging indicator, would continue to climb for a week after, said Neil J. Sehgal, an assistant professor of health policy and management at the University of Maryland School of Public Health.
" 'Many of us forecast that we would be in our peak in the region by about the third week of January, and that’s probably still reasonable,' Seghal said." [WaPo]
► 'How DC’s limited health emergency helps hospitals recuperate.' WTOP's Megan Cloherty: "A shortage of hospital staff as the omicron variant continues to infect and make people seriously ill has all but forced the D.C. mayor to declare a limited public health emergency through Jan. 26 to allow the hospitals flexibility in how they operate.
" … The limited public health emergency allows hospitals to shift to a Crisis Standard of Care, which permits clinics to suspend elective procedures, hire staff who are licensed out of state or recently graduated with supervision, and allow care partners, such as behavioral health and home health centers, to accept patients when a lower level of care is needed." [WTOP]
► 'DC set to receive millions to speed up removal of lead-based paint, lead pipes.' Candace Y.A. Montague and Kaela Roeder for The DC Line and Street Sense: "Thanks to the passage of the infrastructure bill and the American Rescue Plan, the District is set to receive millions in federal funding with the goal of completely removing lead pipes from its infrastructure by 2030.
"However, both the city and advocates say the available money falls far short of what is needed to address the full amount of lead pipes and lead-based paint found in properties and public space across DC. Exposure to lead causes a variety of health consequences, and properties with lead pipes and lead-based paint are most common in the District’s poorest wards.
"The total estimated cost of Lead Free DC, a plan to remove lead from the District’s water infrastructure, is about $1 billion, according to DC Water’s vice president for marketing and communications, John Lisle. That means the federal funds the District anticipates receiving for this purpose — $28 million annually over the next five years from the infrastructure package, and $10 million annually from fiscal year 2021 to 2023 from the American Rescue Plan — will cover only a fraction of the total cost of removing the District’s remaining lead service lines, Lisle said." [The DC Line]
► 'As pandemic strains school workers, substitute teachers in D.C. demand higher pay.' DCist's Debbie Truong: "A substitute teacher, [Carey Francis] has taught music to students at H.D. Woodson High School in Northeast, D.C. for most of the 2021-2022 academic year. She said she teaches the same roster of students each day because the school does not have a permanent teacher in the role.
"The job has included many more responsibilities during the pandemic: she wipes down desks between class periods and constantly reminds teenagers to pull their masks over their noses. But she said her pay — $120 a day, without benefits — does not come close to matching what she feels her work is worth.
"Francis is among a group of educators demanding city leaders boost pay for the more than 550 substitute teachers in D.C. Public Schools. The group, Washington Substitute Teachers United, is encouraging its members to skip work one day each week until the school system agrees to pay them more." [DCist]
► 'MLK Day: King family to lead D.C. march for voting rights.' WaPo's Ellie Silverman: "The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s family will honor the late civil rights leader on Monday by demanding action on federal voting rights legislation.
"King’s eldest son, Martin Luther King III; his wife, Arndrea Waters King; and their daughter, Yolanda Renee King, are leading a march on Martin Luther King Jr. Day across the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge in D.C. at 10 a.m. before joining the city’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Peace Walk urging the Senate and President Biden to enact federal voting rights legislation.
" 'MLK Day has always been a day on, not off. When we call for 'no celebration without legislation,' we’re not urging Americans not to honor this day — we’re asking people to honor Dr. King through action to protect the right to vote,' Martin Luther King III, chairman of the Drum Major Institute, a nonprofit started by his father, said in a statement to The Washington Post. 'We’re directly calling on Congress not to pay lip service to my father’s ideals without doing the very thing that would protect his legacy: pass voting rights legislation.' " [WaPo]
— 'D.C. statehood activists support MLK Peace Walk' [Wash Informer]
► 'D.C. police officers sued over allegedly illegal stop-and-frisk.' DCist's Colleen Grablick: "Two D.C. police officers are facing a lawsuit for allegedly conducting an illegal stop-and-frisk of a man in Columbia Heights in 2019.
"Filed in the U.S. District Court for D.C. earlier this month, the suit alleges that officers Noah Duckett and Byron Alacron followed Rudy Flores, harassed him with homophobic language, and illegally stopped and searched him based on the officers’ unjustified suspicion that Flores was involved in gang activity. The Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, the group representing Flores, described the incident as one of the 'devastating' consequences of the Metropolitan Police Department’s opaque gang database, which contains majority Black and Latino residents.
" 'The police attempted to justify the stop-and-frisk by alleging Mr. Flores was hanging out with known gang members without providing any evidence to support the allegations. This stop was part of a pattern of unjustified stops-and-frisks of Black and Hispanic/Latinx people in the District by the Metropolitan Police Department,' reads a statement on the suit from the Washington Lawyers’ Committee." [DCist]
► 'D.C. Council decides fate of contested $70M D.C. Lottery contract.' WBJ's Rebecca Cooper: "A D.C. Lottery advertising and marketing contract worth nearly $70 million has officially been awarded to a team led by Taoti Creative after the incumbent bidder had protested the agency's selection earlier this year.
"The contract went live Jan. 3 via 'passive approval,' meaning that the D.C. Council did not take action to stop it from going into effect.
"D.C.-based Taoti Creative was awarded the contract in March. D.C.’s MDB Communications, the incumbent on this specific contract since 2016 and an advertising and marketing contractor for the D.C. Lottery since 1993, appealed the award. MDB’s protest to the city’s Contract Appeals Board was denied in November, setting up Taoti’s contract for approval by the D.C. Council." [WBJ]
► 'Ward 7 celebrates Lidl grocery store coming to Skyland Town Center.' Wash Informer's James Wright Jr.: "Ward 7 residents and leaders say they’re thrilled that Lidl, a supermarket chain based in Germany with stores throughout the U.S. including Maryland and Virginia, will open its first store in the District at the Skyland Town Center located in the ward.
" 'This is absolutely fantastic,' D.C. Councilmember Vincent Gray (D-Ward 7) said at the groundbreaking ceremony on Jan. 8." [Wash Informer]
► COLUMN - 'A group furnished hundreds of homes during the pandemic for free. Now, it needs a home.' WaPo's Theresa Vargas writes about FurnishHopeDC — a nonprofit "born during the pandemic to provide furniture and household items to residents of Wards 7 and 8."
"Niki Mock, a Bethesda resident whose volunteer work took her into those neighborhoods early in the pandemic, created the nonprofit after noticing two things: Her neighbors getting rid of quality furniture and people a few Zip codes away in need of it.
" 'There is more than enough for everyone to have a couch and a dining table and chairs,' Mock says about the amount of furniture in the Washington region. 'It was just a matter of: How do we get it from one place to another?' " [WaPo]
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Recently published by The DC Line: Over the summer, the DC government announced a settlement in the 32-year class-action lawsuit that sought extensive reform of the city’s child welfare system — a case initially known as LaShawn A. v. Marion Barry Jr. With the end of court oversight, can DC’s system now ensure the safety, protection and well-being of the District’s most vulnerable children? Reporter jonetta arose barras conducted a six-month investigation, funded by SpotlightDC: Capital City Fund for Investigative Journalism, in pursuit of the answer to that question.
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Nurses rally outside Howard University Hospital to protest working conditions across DC [ NBC4, 7News, Fox 5]
'Ward 8 residents react to Council member Trayon White’s mayoral bid' [ Wash Informer]
'A D.C. piano man left behind by pandemic recovery' [ WaPo]
Regional: 'The DMV's varying pandemic responses' [ Axios]
'D.C. to upgrade 75,000 streetlights with energy-efficient LEDs' [ DCist]
'40 years ago, a 737 crashed into the 14th Street Bridge during a snowstorm, killing 78' [ WaPo]; '40 years ago on WTOP: Air Florida crash, fatal Metro derailment, snowstorm' [ WTOP]
'ANC postpones decision on license for Capitol Hill queer bar' [ Wash Blade]
'Renderings revealed for house-rotating Cleveland Park project' [ UrbanTurf]
'MPD's new bloodhound officer is cute, but he also 'fills a void' in the department' [ WUSA9]
South Korea’s Kookmin Bank Ltd. steps in to avoid foreclosure auction for Union Station's retail, commercial space [ WBJ]
'FOX5 chief meteorologist Sue Palka stepping aside after 36 years' [ WaPo]
'15 ways to volunteer on Martin Luther King Jr. weekend' [ DCist]
'How to spend your D.C. MLK weekend outdoors' [ Axios]
'Halcyon just tapped a new incubator leader' [ WBJ]
'Hospitality startup Sonder opening 3 new D.C. locations' [ Bisnow]
Restaurants
- 'A Southern American restaurant with West African flare is opening in downtown DC' [Washingtonian]
- 'Ghostburger slides into Las Gemelas to serve chorizo sloppy Joes and nachos' [City Paper]
Arts and Entertainment
- 'The National Portrait Gallery has commissioned portraits of Donald and Melania Trump' [Washingtonian]
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ICYMI — the top-two clicked items from DL's last newsletter: Tweet: 'The Southwest Waterfront, circa late 1960s' [@OldTimeDC]; Tweet: 'DC Council challenger lays out plan to reform legislative branch's operations if elected' [@maustermuhle]
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Nurses rally for better working conditions amid the pandemic:
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Spotted last night at Union Station:
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Wednesday's fiery sunset over DC:
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