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With Days Left as Mayor, Gray Signs Soccer Stadium Bill – “This is a part of Mayor Gray’s legacy, much like the baseball stadium was a part of Mayor [Tony] Williams’ legacy,” Council Chairman Phil Mendelson said at the bill signing.  [DCist]

Bowser’s “Fresh Start”, New Blood on Council Heralds New Era for DC Government – “There’s a change a-coming,” said council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D), who will begin his first four-year term as chairman Friday. “It’s too soon to say what that change will look like.”  [The Washington Post]

Bowser Touts “Fresh Start” at Inauguration – “I do not believe, as a former chancellor once said, that collaboration and consensus building are way overrated,” Mendelson said. “Rather, the only way to achieve deep and lasting reform is through collaboration and consensus building.”  [Washington City Paper]

DC to Move Forward with Marijuana Legalization Despite Congressional Ban – I don’t feel that I have any choice,” Mendelson said. “The voters have spoken.”  [RT]

Phil Mendelson Says It’s His “Duty” to Send Marijuana Law to Congress – D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson is ignoring the “Super City Council.”  Mendelson says he will submit Initiative 71, which would legalize marijuana possession for personal use in D.C., to Congress, arguing that it’s his duty under the Home Rule Charter to do so.  “The duty to transmit is not discretionary in my view,” he said at a press conference today. “There’s no money involved on our part in whether a person commits a crime or not, so I’m not sure what Congress was intending with their language.”  [Washington City Paper]

DC Council Chairman: Marijuana Rider Doesn’t Block Transmittal to Congress – “I’m not trying to defy anybody. I’m responsible for transmitting the initiative,” Mendelson said in a phone interview Tuesday. “I have a very clear requirement in the Home Rule Act to transmit the legislation. Congress has the ability to step in when that legislation is transmitted, so I don’t see anything that’s provocative here and I certainly don’t intend any provocation.”  [Roll Call]

DC Jail Health Care Contract Raises Activists’ Ire – The concerns were enough to give Mr. Mendelson pause over the issue.  “Corizon has a reputation for attracting a lot of lawsuits in the area of inmate care,” Mr. Mendelson said Tuesday. “Until 2006, when the model for health care changed at the D.C. Jail and the current contractor was brought in, the city suffered huge, huge losses from lawsuits as a result of health care.”  [The Washington Times]

DC Council Gives Final Approval to Soccer Stadium Deal – Bowser and Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) acknowledged that hundreds of millions of dollars of needed capital improvements remain but said the stadium would not prevent the District from finding the money for other priorities.  [The Washington Post]

Borrow It: How DC Will Fund Its Share of the DC United Stadium – Gray also proposes to shift $6 million in operating funds to cover debt service on the stadium borrowing, which is expected to run $7 million annually starting in fiscal 2016.  “I would be surprised if there was any significant debate,” Council Chairman Phil Mendelson said Tuesday.  [Washington Business Journal]

Bowser and Chaffetz Agree: 2024 Olympics Would Be Great for Washington, DC – Still, the marijuana issue threatens to become a flash point in city-federal relations.  Bowser has signaled that she will support efforts to keep pushing the pot initiative forward. And Chaffetz said he believes the budget language clearly blocks the city from moving forward with legalization. “That issue has come and gone,” he said.  D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) said he plans to send the referendum to Congress for a mandatory review period, but Chaffetz said he would not seek to intervene at that point. “It’s already been dealt with,” he said. “It’s crystal clear in the law.”  [The Washington Post]

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                 Phil Mendelson, Chairman of the Council of the District of Columbia, issues the following statement regarding pending Congressional action that would prevent the District from implementing Initiative 71.  Initiative 71, adopted with just under 70% of the vote, would legalize the possession and use of marijuana by individuals in the District.  While the Congressional rider, attached to a must-pass appropriations bill to fund the entire Continue Reading