Some news stories from the past week involving Chairman Mendelson:

Proposals from DC Mayor Muriel E. Bowser Will Dominate Council Agenda – Bowser is poised to win approval from the council Tuesday for a deal in which the city will sell land for that project at a below-market price in exchange for the developer including more than 100 affordable housing units.  Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) said that, despite some reservations, he is prepared to recommend approving the sale.  [The Washington Post]

DC Council Votes on Land Deal for Shaw Whole Foods – Mendelson and Councilwoman Mary Cheh had both previously expressed concern about the property’s $1.4 million sale price. The site is expected to be assessed at more than $17 million for 2016. At the time, officials from MRP and Ellis explained that the difference had to do with the requirement to build 30 percent of the units as affordable.  [Washington Business Journal]

DC Council Approves Spending Plan for Surplus $23 Million – Several council members last week questioned whether those efforts would have enough oversight and requested more details on Bowser’s plan. Tuesday’s unanimous vote came after days of hurried, closed-door meetings at government headquarters, as the mayor’s staff sought to assuage council members’ concerns.  Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) had floated an amendment to withhold some of the funds until the mayor’s office provided answers, but he said that by Tuesday morning, lawmakers had been given “considerably more information” to make their decision.  [The Washington Post]

How DC Turned $27 Million into $400,000 – In Mendelson’s Sept. 15 letter to Kenner, he urged Bowser’s team to do better. “I urge the Executive to use its bargaining power to improve this deal for the city,” he wrote. “The fact that there will be 107 below-market housing units and a much-wanted grocery store does not change the fact that two independent appraisals find the city’s price to be about $5.5 million below value.”  Mendelson said the money could have gone to helping end the homeless crisis, to other affordable-housing projects or to the nearly 50-year-old Garrison Elementary, one of the city’s oldest and most run-down public schools, which lost half of its redevelopment funding this year.  [The Washington Post]