The weather was great in Washington for the DC Council Legislative meeting, Tuesday morning at the John Wilson Building.
A moment of silence
Morning meetings are the best, and while much is happening on the hill, many bills were introduced in the Council Chambers, starting with bringing back life to Pennsylvania Avenue. As if our President Elect\’s property isn\’t vital enough? Before you get carried away, a little unknown history fact is that, Pennsylvania Avenue is modeled after Paris, according to Councilmember Jack Evans. Councilmember Evans has much history with the city, especially as the longest serving Councilmember. Moreover, before you see ladies sipping tea down Pennsylvania Avenue, the street ownership must be sorted out.
Not a bad introduction of bills for the first legislative meeting of the new year. It caught the attention of the council with a few co-sponsors. Moving right along, the meetings have etiquette and Chairman, Phil Mendelson wanted to remind Councilmembers to speak in turn, although he often was delayed in his response to move the meeting forward. Perhaps so many papers.
The Council\’s Introduction
Many papers were passed out in the Council Chambers. Introducing bills from campaign contributions, to prevention of heavy backpacks, to accessing fresh food, grocery store fronts, to case settlement disbursement management. The most common supported introductory bill was affordable housing, along with the resources, and services to best serve the residents in the city; especially the elderly who are on a fixed income and have difficulty paying property taxes. Speaking of taxes, maybe the bag tax is helping the city\’s budget, but what won\’t be helping the city\’s budget anytime soon is taxing cannabis, and all the council, besides Councilmember Grosso agreed.
Ward 5 Councilmember McDuffie re-introduced a bill \”Expand Access to Justice Act 2017,\” with a few co-sponsors. Overall, it was a great introduction to the new year, in time for a new council, along with federal administration, and time for a new start, beginning with affordable housing.