DC Has ‘Discussion’ on Legal Pot on Fear Hearing Illegal – Council Chairman Phil Mendelson has said that by March the city would begin to treat Initiative 71 as law, which would in effect legalize possession without any way to buy pot legally.  [Reuters]

Pot Push Could Land DC Council in Jail – WUSA9 asked Council Chair Phil Mendelson about the letter, he said,”Congress is the bad guy in all this. Because Congress is the one that says they want to restrict what we can do.”  [WUSA9]

Marion Barry University — and Free Tuition?  DC Lawmaker Proposes Overhaul of UDC – Council member Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) joined Orange in co-introducing the measure. But Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D), who controls the committee dealing with UDC, called the proposal to rename the university after Barry “premature.”  Mendelson said he expects a commission to be formed to consider the appropriate way to honor Barry’s legacy.  [The Washington Post]

In 11th-hour Move, DC Finds More Hotel Rooms for Homeless Families – Before the filing was withdrawn, DC Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) said he was “troubled” by the breadth of the city’s request in court. “I suspect that the city lawyers felt somehow that strategically it was better to go for more than is needed,” he said. “But politically, it’s a poor choice.”  [The Washington Post]

Boom or Bust?  DC Lawmakers Try to Make Sense of Budget Contradictions – Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) lectured City Administrator Rashad M. Young on Bowser’s handling of budgetary matters, arguing that the hiring freeze, routine underspending and an expected $21 million court settlement made the program cuts unnecessary.  “There’s an excess of caution, an unnecessary level of caution,” Mendelson said. “You have it within your control to control spending and ensure the budget that was balanced remains balanced. The freeze has been really obnoxious to the council.”   [The Washington Post]

DC Firefighters’ $47 Million Overtime Bill Roils City Budget – DC Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) said he would urge Bowser (D) this week to make up the difference in the current spending plan by tapping an array of one-time funding sources and instituting a hiring freeze and other checks on her agencies to settle the dispute. But Mendelson said he saw no choice but to finally square up with the city’s firefighters.  “The reality is that the city has turned a blind eye toward this problem and lost at every level . . . and there are no options left,” he said. “It’s time to deal with it.”  [The Washington Post]

Broken Traffic Camera Contributed to Massive Revenue Decline, DC Police Say – “Public safety should be about making sure motorists are not running red lights and not speeding,” Mendelson said. “When we become too greedy about how much we are going to get in revenues, then when there is the slightest blip, we have a budget problem.”  [The Washington Post]

Bill Would Pack More Punch into DC Distracted Driving Tickets – “We continue to see a problem with distracted drivers on our roads,” Mendelson says.  [WTOP]

DC Police Start Giving Out Concealed Gun Permits – Mendelson said of Gura’s comments: “He must be thinking that everybody should be able to carry a firearm. “There is nothing in the law that prevents anyone from applying. . . . The law was designed to weed out those who don’t have a need to carry.”  [The Washington Post]

DC to Conduct Homeless Count Wednesday as Shelter Population Has Surged – To contend with a budget shortfall, D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) this month froze spending on an initiative to hire more case workers for city homeless families. D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) questioned the move this week, saying the city is not doing enough to get its homeless parents the services they need to help pull themselves out of poverty.  [The Washington Post]

DC’s $204 Million Surplus as Fiscal Puzzler for Bowser – Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) also said that spending the surplus would be unnecessary, explaining that sources to cover the current budget gap had already been identified. “The crisis is greatly exaggerated,” he said.  [The Washington Post]

Bowser Administration Says DC ‘Operating in Crisis Mode’ on Homeless Issue – “It seems we’ve thrown money at different places and maybe we haven’t thrown it in the right place,” said Mendelson, who re­organized the council this year to give his office more direct oversight of the city’s homeless budget.  [The Washington Post]

DC Hoping Obama Will Address Statehood in State of the Union Address – When asked what he would like to see the president discuss in the speech in a recent phone interview, Mendelson said, “Absolutely a reaffirmation with regard to [Obama’s] support for self-determination and equality for all district residents.” “This is a position that cannot be stated often enough because most citizens of the United States do not understand the unique status of the District,” Mendelson pointed out. “There’s a huge misunderstanding and so the more that there’s public discussion of our situation, it only helps us.”  [Roll Call]

Key DC Posts Remain in Flux Three Weeks Into Muriel Bowser’s Administration – DC Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) said he was “deeply concerned” about Staton’s departure. “The agency has made tremendous progress,” he said, citing renewed confidence across the government in the procurement department’s ability to conduct solicitations.  [The Washington Post]

Mendelson Bill Would Increase Penalties for Distracted Driving – DC Council Chairman Phil Mendelson introduced a bill this session, the Enhanced Penalties for Distracted Driving Amendment Act of 2015, to strengthen those penalties. It would increase the fines for those who are found to have repeatedly engaged in distracted driving, culminating in a driver’s license suspension for those who have three violations within eighteen months. The bill was co-introduced by Bonds, Allen, and Nadeau and referred to the Committee of Transportation and the Environment chaired by Mary Cheh.  [WashCycle]