Results tagged “dccouncil>”

Yesterday the Washington Post asked a number of local political watchers, myself included, if we thought Mayor Adrian Fenty would be re-elected in 2010. Some said yes, others said no. I stressed that without a credible challenger – and none has yet stepped forward – Fenty would cruise to a second term. Well, if that capable challenger ends up being D.C. Council Chair Vincent Gray, Fenty may have to start looking for a new job.

With a D.C. Council vote on same-sex marriage just over a week away, a compromise proposed to assuage concerns expressed by the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington remains uncertain.

Should the District's early-out/easy-out retirement payments be considered a "bonus"? This is the debate in the latest chapter of the overarching tiff between the Fenty administration and the D.C. Council. The Examiner's Michael Neibauer reports today that four District employees have been denied such exit payments by the Department of Human Resources, after the Council approved a 2010 budget which outlaws all "bonuses and special payments" to District employees.

Here's an interesting bill currently before the D.C. Council, courtesy the Examiner's Michael Neibauer: Harry Thomas Jr. (D-Ward 5) and Michael A. Brown (I-At large) have introduced legislation that would establish 50-foot "safety zones" around any District of Columbia transit stop. The idea here is that any crime committed inside one of the "safety zones" would carry additional penalties and even extra jail time, sort of like how if you commit a traffic violation inside a construction zone, the amount of your ticket doubles (in this case, it would be 1.5 times the maximum fine and 50 percent more jail time). The proposed zones would of course encompass all D.C. Metrorail stations, but they would also include every one of the roughly 3,500 bus stops in the city, which, if you picture it, would cover a really substantial portion of the city. Think this is a good idea?

As expected, D.C. Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) today formally announced that he will be seeking re-election in 2010. The announcement was coupled with the launch of his campaign web site.

Tom already told you about Tim Craig's story in today's Washington Post, which outlines how D.C. Council Chair Vincent Gray used council stationery to solicit a $20,000 contribution from Comcast to help pay for Democratic Party activities at last year's national convention. But potentially even worse news for Gray also came today in the form of this story by Washington Times reporter Jeffrey Anderson, which alleges that some questionable work was performed on Gray's Hillcrest home by developer William C. Smith & Co. – a huge company that has a long list of contracts with the District government, and doesn't usually offer basic home repair services.

The D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics today rejected an initiative petition on the issue of legalizing same-sex marriage in the District of Columbia. The petition was filed by an anti-same-sex marriage coalition led by Bishop Harry Jackson.

With relations between Mayor Adrian Fenty and the D.C. Council as strained as they are, you'd think the city's chief executive might do what he could to make things just a little bit better. But if a hearing today before the council on the ongoing Department of Parks and Recreation contracting scandal serves as any indication, that doesn't seem to be the case.

The same-sex marriage bill currently before the D.C. Council passed its first formal hurdle today, as the Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary voted to move the bill on to the full council for debate (see more at D.C. Wire). The committee approved the bill by a 4 to 1 vote; Council member Yvette Alexander (D-Ward 7) was the lone dissenter. Before voting, the committee altered the bill's language to remove a provision that would have eliminated domestic partnerships, as well as broaden the religious exemption. With 10 co-sponsors, the bill is expected to pass the full council with no trouble at all. A full council vote is expected on Dec. 1.

The Board of Trustees of the University of the District of Columbia are proposing a tuition increase at the David A. Clarke School of Law for the 2010-2011 school year. The proposed increase would see residents paying $4,425 per semester, and $8,850 per semester for non-residents. Currently, UDC law students pay $3,675 per semester, and non-residents $7,350.

Congress Heights on the Rise had the scoop Sunday morning: former D.C. mayor and current Ward 8 Council member Marion Barry is currently filming a pilot for a reality television series. No joke.

No word yet on when the show would make its way to TV or on what network, but folks are telling The Advoc8te they have seen the film crews trailing Barry about town and that members of his staff have confirmed that they are in fact filming a pilot for Barry's reality show. No idea yet on what the focus of the reality show will be, but if in fact true, The Advoc8te isn't really all that surprised. Wasn't it just the next illogical progression for the ultimate showman - his own reality series?

The D.C. Council's Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary may have just spent two long days hearing public testimony on the same-sex marriage bill for no good reason. A draft report coming out of the committee and currently being circulated to the rest of the council argues that marriage equality already exists in the city, and a law legalizing it isn't much more than a formality.

As the political fracas continues over the $82 million in parks and rec contracts that D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty quietly funneled through the D.C. Housing Authority (much of it handed to contractors with cozy ties to the mayor), members of the D.C. Council are demanding accountability. None more so than Council member Michael A. Brown (I-At Large). Or not. No, he is. Really. We think.

D.C. Council member Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) has introduced a bill that would ban more than a dozen hazardous chemicals from being sold in the District, the Examiner reports. Among the materials listed in the proposed ban: Mattresses and furniture containing polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs, which act as flame retardents; food or beverage containers intended for children younger than 6 that contain Bisphenol-A, or BPA, which has been linked to neurological health problems; and body scrub beauty products that contain synthetic microbeads, which are often blamed for contributing to oceanic pollution.

Rumors about a possible D.C. Council run by ANC 1C chair Bryan Weaver have been circulating for weeks now, and DCist had been dutifully pestering the longtime Adams Morgan activist to confirm his intentions for some time before ... getting royally scooped by Loose Lips this afternoon. Sigh. Weaver "filed exploratory papers with the Office of Campaign Finance on Tuesday," Mike DeBonis reports.

It was obviously pre-planned, but the ongoing D.C. Council hearing on the same-sex marriage bill just had a little awwww moment. D.C. resident and local architect Andy Rollman started it out with his testimony, during which he explained that he's been a happily single gay man all of his life, up until recently.

As the 2010 election season gets underway, DCist will endeavor to interview as many of the candidates for city office as we can. This week, we speak with At-large D.C. Council member Phil Mendelson (D), who is currently running for re-election.

So D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles gave Ward 3 Council member Mary Cheh (D) some flowers today (City Desk even has a photo of said flowers). He did this in an attempt to apologize for telling a Washington Post reporter he thought Cheh, who recently criticized the Fenty administration for trying to keep Ximena Hartsock in her job at DPR for a while longer, was "stupid" and "an angry woman," remarks that struck this writer as pretty sexist. So it's hard not to raise an eyebrow at least partially at the act of giving this "angry woman" some flowers to appease her irrational temper.

Legislation legalizing same-sex marriage in the District is going to pass, and no one is more aware of that fact than its opponents. Seeing that they've got little chance of swinging any votes on the D.C. Council, they've instead announced an offensive that will include pushing Congress to stop the legislation from taking effect and using the courts to enforce the federal Defense of Marriage Act on the city.

I only made it through watching about 3 1/2 hours of Monday's D.C. Council hearing on the same-sex marriage bill before I had to call it a night, and the majority of speakers I heard supported the legislation. Gay, straight, and religious leaders alike came forward to share moving personal stories about what it would mean for the longtime committed same-sex couples in their lives to finally be able to marry. But there were plenty of opponents among those who testified as well. Many cited their anger that the bill's passage appeared to be a foregone conclusion, since it already has enough co-signers to clear the full Council. Others referenced deeply held religious beliefs that marriage can only be between one man and one woman. The tone of the evening ranged from reasoned discourse to tears to outright shouting.

The D.C. Council Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary's hearing on the same-sex marriage bill is going on now, and you can watch it live online.

The story of Pepin Tuma, the local lawyer who back in July was arrested by a D.C. police officer after singing the words "I hate the police" while walking down U Street, has made its way in front of the D.C. Council, leading to serious talk about revising the District's disorderly conduct laws. The Legal Times blog and Huffington Post both covered Friday's hearing, during which Tuma testified about his experience while flanked by pro bono counsel from his former firm, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. And it looks like Tuma's message got through to Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary chairman Phil Mendelson. From the BLT: 'During the hearing, Mendelson made it clear he thought it was time for changes in the law, pointing out that parts of it were more than a century old, and that it had been criticized by Gerald Ford’s President’s Commission On Crime in the District of Columbia.' Unsurprisingly, D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier and D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles have expressed their opposition to changing the law, which currently allows officers latitude in making arrests for what they deem to be disorderly conduct. The officer in this case, however, is being investigated by both the police department's Internal Affairs Bureau and the independent Office of Police Complaints, according to Huffington Post.

Let's just say that the Fenty administration and the D.C. Council aren't planning any friendly get togethers any time soon.

Mary Cheh is a smart lady. She's got tenure at George Washington University Law School and has a master's degree from Fair Harvard. That said, it was slightly mystifying to read the following, located about halfway through an interview Cheh gave to the Washington Post magazine. Cheh's gee-whiz tone throughout (the best part of being a politician: "hugs and the free food") certainly didn't help when the magazine asked what her biggest "goof" was. Cheh's answer:

As we wrote this morning, Monday's going to be a long day for members of the D.C. Council's Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety, as they hear public testimony on the same-sex marriage bill. The committee has since released the list of witnesses for Monday – all 100 of them.

If you've got a whole lot of free time on Monday, think about heading down to the John A. Wilson Building. On that day, the D.C. Council's Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety is holding a hearing to record public testimony on legislation that would legalize same-sex marriage in the District. The hearing is shaping up to be one of those marathon sessions where Council members struggle to stay awake as they participate in a ritual of representative democracy: letting everyone have their say.

Ward 1 D.C. Council member Jim Graham is relinquishing his lead role in oversight of the city's taxicab industry, despite an earlier determination from Council Chair Vincent Gray that Graham should keep taxis in his portfolio as chairman of the public works and transportation committee. Graham has asked Gray to transfer taxicab oversight powers to the Committee of the Whole.

Both D.C. Wire and WJLA have updates on the health of former mayor and Ward 8 D.C. Council member Marion Barry, who was hospitalized early Tuesday morning to be treated for "dehydration," according to his spokesperson. Barry remained in Howard University Hospital's intensive care unit on Wednesday, according to both reports, and will likely not be discharged for at least a "few days." Seems kind of extreme for a case of dehydration, but considering Barry's age and health (he's 73, has diabetes and recently underwent kidney transplant surgery), we suppose it makes sense for his doctors to be overly cautious. Barry spokesperson Natalie Williams elaborated to WJLA that Barry's doctor also diagnosed the councilman with a mild infection.

At last, we have the details on the D.C. Council committee hearing on the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Amendment Act of 2009, aka, the same-sex marriage bill that members of the D.C. Council, led by David Catania (I-At large), did indeed introduce this morning.

The D.C. Council voted today to give preliminary approval to a bill that would allow District of Columbia voters to cast early ballots and to register and vote on Election Day. The Post has more on the story.