DC Paid Leave Hearing to Focus on Economic Impact – D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson says the District will pass some form of paid leave mandate. He says he wants “a worker-friendly bill that is good for businesses.”  [NBC4]

Creation of New Metro Safety Group Pushed Back to 2017 – “This is crazy,” said Phil Mendelson, the chairman of the DC Council. He blamed bureaucrats within the transportation departments in the two states and the District for not moving quickly enough.  “They missed a deadline. They missed it not by a day or a week or an hour, they missed it by a year,” he said.  [WAMU]

DC Paid Family Leave Proposal Faces Two Hurdles: Cost and Mayor Bowser – The Council is set to hold a third hearing on the bill in February, at which point an amended version of the proposal could be presented for consideration, said Council Chairman Phil Mendelson. He has said that there is enough support on the Council to pass some version of the paid-leave bill.  [WAMU]

Council Upholds Emergency Ban on Cannabis Clubs After Members Change Votes – Mendelson explained that he supported the prohibition on cannabis clubs along with Mayor Muriel Bowser=&0=&and police Chief Cathy Lanier in order to remove ambiguity for law enforcement agents.  “I’m surprised at these comments [against the ban] because [the bill] continues legislation that was supported unanimously [last year],” Mendelson said. “The origin was from the executive and in particular the chief of police.”  [Washington City Paper]

Tardies at All DC Schools Would Not Count as Absences Under Proposed Law – This legislation will enable our government to continue the progress towards reducing truancy,” Mendelson said in a statement. “Most people think of truancy as an educational issue, which it is, but it also is an indicator of children at risk for entering the juvenile justice system. For these two reasons, it must continue to be our priority to tackle truancy.” [The Washington Post]

DC Mayor at Risk of Watching Her Marijuana Policy Go Up in Smoke – Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D), however, said he is inclined to go along with continuing Bowser’s proposed ban on pot clubs. “I haven’t heard any complaints” about the way things are going, he said.  [The Washington Post]

Phil Mendelson Vows Transparency by Requiring Campaign Donations – “The big issue for me is improving the council’s oversight function,” Chairman Phil Mendelson, at-large Democrat, told The Washington Times. “I want a better chance of a fair deal for the District.”  [The Washington Times]

DC Police Force Falls Under 3,800 for First Time in a Decade – DC Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) said that there is no personnel crisis. He said discussion four years ago over the 3,800 number was born out of “crisis of the moment” but does not necessarily reflect the city today.  Said Mendelson, who once chaired the council’s public safety committee: “I personally think it would be helpful if the staffing of police were larger.” He added, “At the same time, I really do not think the attrition we’re seeing now is surprising and should set off alarms.”  [The Washington Post]

From all of us at Team Mendo, we wish you and your family a Happy New Year!  See you in 2016!

In Closing a Decrepit Shelter, Does New Housing Need Private Bathrooms? – Some council members and witnesses pushed back, arguing that bathrooms are costly. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) prodded for data to support the claim that shared bathrooms are less safe. Council member Yvette M. Alexander (D-Ward 7) questioned whether it would be worth building fewer rooms and including private bathrooms.  [The Washington Post]

Council Weighs Eminent Domain for Alley – Mendelson balked at the idea that Zere thought he could attract anyone to pay more than he did, given that several of the lots appear to have little to no value at all. “I think that the lots are worthless, even the one that still has frontage,” Mendelson said.  [The Georgetown Dish]

Poorer Tenants Fear Being Pushed Out by Planned Congress Heights Complex – “There is no question in my mind that this is a classic situation of a landlord trying to force the tenants out through harassment,” said Mendelson, who said he had to meet with tenants outside during the summer because the air conditioning was broken. “Being in there, that’s the strongest thing they have. The minute they move out, they lose everything they’ve got.”  [The Washington Post]

Big Money for the White House and Congress.  Now for DC City Hall, Too? – Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D), who has sparred most with Bowser as she has attempted to consolidate power in her administration and away from the council and the city’s first elected attorney general, offered a terse response when asked about the PAC. “No comment,” he said.  [The Washington Post]

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]