Chairman Phil Mendelson

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]

WASHINGTON, DC – Phil Mendelson today introduced the “Truancy Referral Emergency Amendment Act of 2015” and the “UDC DREAM Amendment Act of 2015.”

The “Truancy Referral Emergency Amendment Act of 2015” – co-introduced by Councilmember David Grosso – clarifies the term “unexcused absence” as missing a full day of school for referral to Court Social Services Division (CSS) of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia and to the Office of the Attorney General (OAG).

“We currently have students being sent to court who are chronically tardy but not chronically truant,” Mendelson said. “An immediate need exists for this legislation so these youth do not end up inadvertently involved in the juvenile justice system.”

Chairman Mendelson also introduced the “UDC DREAM Amendment Act of 2015” to provide District residents, regardless of federal immigration status, the ability to receive in-state tuition and local financial aid at a UDC school or campus as long as they meet certain District graduation and residency requirements.

“Providing these students with in-state tuition and access to local financial aid will allow to them to obtain a post-secondary education and enable them to contribute to the District’s economy,” Chairman Mendelson noted.

Also of note, the Chairman referred the “Universal Paid Leave Act of 2015” to the Committee of the Whole. The legislation will establish a fund that will enable workers in the District of Columbia to receive up to 16 weeks of paid leave for a major life events. The government-run fund will be supported by payments from employers, the self-employed, and certain individual employees. Chairman Mendelson has committed to holding a public hearing on the bill this fall.

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]