Mayor Bowser welcomes 2019

Policy and personnel announcements dominated Mayor Muriel Bowser’s 2019 kick off Monday, January 7. Several local journalists including Martin Austermuhle from WAMU, Andrew Giambrone from Curbed DC, Fenit Nirappil from WaPo, and Cuneyt Dil from WCP and The DC Line covered the presser on Twitter and reported following the event.

Austermuhle tweeted the entire presser. Related to housing, the WAMU journo wrote:

“On housing: ‘We know we need to do 240,000 new units by 2025 [in the region]... 36,000 new units in Washington, D.C. Every neighborhood has to be part of that solution.’ She dodges a question on whether she'd want the Height Act amended to allow taller buildings.”

“On question about Bowser's plan for 36,000 housing units over next 6 years (which would be 2-3 times more units than over past periods), Bowser says she's considering lots of things, including housing at RFK/Poplar Point/McMillan, etc.”

“‘We have to think bigger about it,’ she says about producing housing. She admits that under current clip, D.C. could maybe get to 10,000 housing units every for years, up from 6,000 over the last four. But that won't get her to the 36,000 housing units she says are needed.”

‘We Have To Think Bigger About It’: Bowser Says D.C. Must Ramp Up Housing Construction is Austermuhle’s cogent recap of the mayor’s press conference and policy interests combined with data, important background information, and most important, DC Council Chairman Phil Mendelson’s perspective on housing and the Height Act in particular.

Related to housing are Giambrone’s tweets about the mayor’s pick for the Office of Planning, Andrew Trueblood:

That means he’ll be in a key role for changes to DC’s Comprehensive Plan/zoning regulations. Bowser says DC needs more housing and density to accommodate growth, but clarifies that she’s not intending to target the District’s “monumental core” area
— Andrew Giambrone (@AndrewGiambrone) January 7, 2019

Washington City Paper’s Morgan Baskin (housing reporter) latched onto the height idea and is writing about it in Bowser Upzone Watch. Stay tuned for more.

Talk about housing as a priority for 2019 and the second Bowser administration should come as no surprise given the attention paid to the topic by Mayor Bowser at her inauguration January 2. Read In a bold inaugural, Muriel Bowser says we need more housing, in every neighborhood on GGW to learn more.

The Washington Post’s Nirappil elevated the mayor’s choice for school chancellor in his Twitter coverage of Mayor Bowser’s January 7 press event. In his more robust coverage—D.C. Mayor Bowser to reappoint Police Chief Newsham, Superintendent Kang—of the press event, Nirappil discussed all the latest personnel announcements.

WCP’s/The DC Line’s Dil noted the mayor’s response to a question about an east of the river hospital: “On building new hospital EOTR, Bowser says period for negotiations expected to end in mid-Feb. Says the admin is currently requesting more info from GW Hospital and Howard Hospital.”

Other sources also reported on the last news from Mayor Bowser: D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser nominates new technology chief (StateScoop) and Bill taxing and regulating marijuana sales coming soon to D.C: Mayor Bowser (Washington Times).

Want to watch the presser? It’s right here: