Dear Neighbors, I hope you are enjoying the first few days of spring, as declared by the Capital Weather Gang earlier this week. This year the start of spring coincides with the start of budget season at the DC Council, so I’ll be breaking down the Mayor’s proposed budget for you today. I’ll also share updates about traffic safety in Ward 4, actions being taken to address gun violence on Kennedy Street, community events, and more! Unpacking the Proposed DC Budget This week the Mayor released her proposed $19.5 billion budget for Fiscal Year 2023, which runs from October 1, 2022 through September 30,

Dear Neighbors, From launching Ward 4 CARE community outreach days to new legislation and updates on city services and neighborhood events – we have a lot of ground to cover this week. Let’s dive in! Ward 4 News and Legislative Updates Legislation from the Community: The CLEAN Collections Act During our community walkthroughs with neighbors, we identified an issue with several multifamily buildings in Ward 4. These buildings are not serviced by DPW, so they rely on private collection companies to pick up their trash. However, many of these multifamily buildings only have a small number of trash and recycling

Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George, joined by six other Councilmembers, introduced the Containing Litter and Ensuring Adequate Neighborhood (CLEAN) Collections Amendment Act of 2022 to address trash overflow and rodent infestation across the District by requiring adequate trash and recycling cans and more regular waste collection in multifamily buildings. “As more people work from home and DC’s population grows, we’ve seen trash pile up around residential buildings – dirtying our streets, prompting illegal dumping, and drawing rats and vermin to our neighborhoods,” said Councilmember Lewis George. “The CLEAN Collections Act will make our communities cleaner and healthier by requiring

Dear Neighbors, I hope your Women’s History Month is off to a good start! I was lucky to wrap up this week speaking to our young bright scholars at Brookland Middle School about the importance of women’s history and women’s rights. We have a lot of good news to share this week, including: a big expansion of DC’s paid family leave program; emergency legislation to protect our urban tree canopy; permanent legislation sealing eviction records; fruitful performance oversight hearings; preliminary maps adjusting Ward 4’s SMD/ANC boundaries were released for feedback; the launch of Ward 4 CARE Days; the nonprofit that will run the Cure the Streets site in Ward

I am thrilled that the District will expand paid family leave benefits for private sector workers to 12 weeks of parental leave, 12 weeks of medical leave, 12 weeks of family care leave, and 2 weeks of pre-natal leave. This change will provide workers precious additional time to share with their babies, take care of sick family members, or recover from serious illness without having to sacrifice their paycheck. This issue has been close to my heart since needing to take unpaid leave to take care of my father before he passed away. Expanding paid family leave is how we

Dear Neighbors, Part of what makes our Ward 4 community so strong is that it is made up kind, committed people who look after one another. By checking in on our neighbors, volunteering, being civically active, and living out our values, we create welcoming, inclusive neighborhoods and help address systemic inequities and unmet needs across Ward 4.   Today I’m excited to announce a new initiative that doubles down on that neighborly spirit: Ward 4 CARE Days of community outreach. Throughout 2022, we will be visiting every neighborhood in Ward 4 to knock on doors and check in with neighbors about issues they’re

Dear Neighbors, I want to begin by thanking every resident who made time to join our Listen As We Climb community listening sessions over the past two months. We had 7 events, covered 17 Ward 4 neighborhoods, and heard from more than 300 Ward 4 residents about how to strengthen our community! I can’t tell you how valuable it was to hear your perspectives, which are grounding the work I do on the Council on your behalf. Shoutout to my team for working hard behind the scenes to coordinate these events, and stay tuned for an exciting announcement next week about the

Dear Neighbors, Ahead of the holiday weekend, I’m sharing the latest news for our community. This week included major changes to DC’s public health measures, an important traffic safety update for Truesdell Elementary, and quite a few legislative updates from our oversight hearings. I also have updates on city services, neighborhood events, and community resources. Before I get into it all, I want to thank residents from North Portal and Colonial Village for joining our community listening session this week, and remind Petworth and Brightwood Park neighbors to tune in next Thursday for the final Listen As We Climb session! Ward

Dear Neighbors, I’m coming to you with our performance oversight highlights from this week, updates on Ward 4 transportation projects, and the scoop on where to get your flowers for Valentines Day Weekend. I’m also looking forward to hearing from Ward 4 residents tomorrow at our Ward 4 Community Budget Forum to shape my work on the DC budget this year. We also have quite a few updates on city services, neighborhood events, and community resources that you don’t want to miss. Take a look below! Ward 4 News and Legislative Updates Ward 4 Highlights from Performance Oversight Hearings This Week Performance

Dear Neighbors, I’m looking forward to leaving today’s rain behind us and enjoying some sunshine over the coming days. Here’s the latest on what’s happening at the DC Council and in our Ward 4 community. There’s a lot to be excited about this week, including the Council approving a major (well-deserved) pay bump for child care workers in the District. Also, in case you missed it, yesterday I sent a bonus newsletter to highlight some of the ways you can make your voice heard these coming weeks. The first community meeting on redistricting Ward 4’s ANC/SMD is happening this Sunday, I’m hosting a