Mayor Bowser has now unveiled her proposal for downtown DC and it’s wild stuff that is primarily reliant on the Federal government and the real estate industry making financial donations to the city for absolutely zero reason.

Here’s the plan:
- Increase residents in downtown by 15,000 in 5 years with a long term goal to have 100,000 residents living in downtown DC. How? Doesn’t say.
- Have the Federal government end remote work. How and why would they do this? Doesn’t say.
- Have the Federal government give away federal office buildings that are underutilized for either use by non-profits or conversion to housing (give away to developers?). How and why would they do this? Doesn’t say.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/15/dc-office-residential-conversions-downtown/

Also committed not to increasing property taxes. That should worry everyone about DCs future financial condition that these discussions are taking place. These folks are fundamentally unserious.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly is the Federal City Counil, and how do they get their money?

I like Tony Williams, but on whose behalf is he speaking?

It’s been around forever which tells me that you haven’t lived in DC very long. You could, ya know, read their website to find out what they’re about?
https://www.federalcitycouncil.org/

The fact that they have been around forever tells you absolutely nothing about who they represent.

Their website is a bunch of consultant-processed pablum that gives no clarity on precisely what their policy agenda is and where they get they money to fund it.

You honestly cannot figure out anything about this organization independently at all? So you’ve come to ask DCUM? Seriously?

Did you even bother to click on the link “About Us” or “Membership”?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly is the Federal City Counil, and how do they get their money?

I like Tony Williams, but on whose behalf is he speaking?

It’s been around forever which tells me that you haven’t lived in DC very long. You could, ya know, read their website to find out what they’re about?
https://www.federalcitycouncil.org/

The fact that they have been around forever tells you absolutely nothing about who they represent.

Their website is a bunch of consultant-processed pablum that gives no clarity on precisely what their policy agenda is and where they get they money to fund it.

Anonymous wrote:What exactly is the Federal City Counil, and how do they get their money?

I like Tony Williams, but on whose behalf is he speaking?

It’s been around forever which tells me that you haven’t lived in DC very long. You could, ya know, read their website to find out what they’re about?
https://www.federalcitycouncil.org/

What exactly is the Federal City Counil, and how do they get their money?

I like Tony Williams, but on whose behalf is he speaking?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bowser and the Council have no credibility in asking private sector workers to return to their downtown offices. the Council and their staffers work from home. Watch the meetings--They're all on Zoom. I dont think Mary Cheh has left her house in two years.
And most of Bowser's top appointees are still working from home, too. Bowser and Chief Contee aare out and about, but many if not most top officials in DC government are still at home.

Are they asking people to return? I've not seen that.

You haven’t been paying attention.

“Mayor Muriel Bowser’s administration has been vocal about the Biden administration returning the nearly 200,000 federal workers to offices in order to reboot downtown. ”
https://www.axios.com/local/washington-dc/2022/03/03/dc-economy-boost-federal-workers-return

And yet most DC council members and their staffs continue to work from home. Same with a number of mayoral appointees. "Do what I say, not what I do."

Bowser, her Office of Planning and her CFO need to realize that the downtown office market has changed, possibly forever. Best to encourage more office building to housing conversations and tighten DC's spending belt now.

Conversions are not the panacea people think they are. Residential property tax is 1/2 commercial and the process of devaluation to make it commercially viable would create so much blight that it will be hard to convince people to move downtown.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bowser and the Council have no credibility in asking private sector workers to return to their downtown offices. the Council and their staffers work from home. Watch the meetings--They're all on Zoom. I dont think Mary Cheh has left her house in two years.
And most of Bowser's top appointees are still working from home, too. Bowser and Chief Contee aare out and about, but many if not most top officials in DC government are still at home.

Are they asking people to return? I've not seen that.

You haven’t been paying attention.

“Mayor Muriel Bowser’s administration has been vocal about the Biden administration returning the nearly 200,000 federal workers to offices in order to reboot downtown. ”
https://www.axios.com/local/washington-dc/2022/03/03/dc-economy-boost-federal-workers-return

And yet most DC council members and their staffs continue to work from home. Same with a number of mayoral appointees. "Do what I say, not what I do."

Bowser, her Office of Planning and her CFO need to realize that the downtown office market has changed, possibly forever. Best to encourage more office building to housing conversations and tighten DC's spending belt now.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bowser and the Council have no credibility in asking private sector workers to return to their downtown offices. the Council and their staffers work from home. Watch the meetings--They're all on Zoom. I dont think Mary Cheh has left her house in two years.
And most of Bowser's top appointees are still working from home, too. Bowser and Chief Contee aare out and about, but many if not most top officials in DC government are still at home.

Are they asking people to return? I've not seen that.

You haven’t been paying attention.

“Mayor Muriel Bowser’s administration has been vocal about the Biden administration returning the nearly 200,000 federal workers to offices in order to reboot downtown. ”
https://www.axios.com/local/washington-dc/2022/03/03/dc-economy-boost-federal-workers-return

Anonymous wrote:Bowser and the Council have no credibility in asking private sector workers to return to their downtown offices. the Council and their staffers work from home. Watch the meetings--They're all on Zoom. I dont think Mary Cheh has left her house in two years.
And most of Bowser's top appointees are still working from home, too. Bowser and Chief Contee aare out and about, but many if not most top officials in DC government are still at home.

Are they asking people to return? I've not seen that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With Barry the problem was corruption. With Bowser & Council, the problem is sheer stupidity. I pray for Control Board.

Maybe instead of praying for your fellow citizens' votes to be disregarded because you don't like the people they elect, you should run for office yourself and see if people like your ideas better.

There is a corrupt taint to the Bowser administration when it comes to the overly-cozy relationship with crony developers.

Working with developers to build more housing is fine. Essentially giving away valuable land is another. Yet Council can't be bothered to say a thing.

Since when does “working with developers” have to mean giving away valuable waterfront real estate to cronies for $1?

Anonymous wrote:Also, the council needs to look at these landlords who squat empty properties as a tax write off and hike rents to maintain the vacancy. It's a disgrace.

Real enforcement would be great. Like, on anything. There are plenty of rumors about District officials sharing an address in DC to stay employed but who knows if they are substantiated - our local media does not look into it. If I were a journalist, I would not waste my time because there are no repercussions. Council seems unacquainted with the word "no" let alone something complicated like "accountability"

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With Barry the problem was corruption. With Bowser & Council, the problem is sheer stupidity. I pray for Control Board.

Maybe instead of praying for your fellow citizens' votes to be disregarded because you don't like the people they elect, you should run for office yourself and see if people like your ideas better.

There is a corrupt taint to the Bowser administration when it comes to the overly-cozy relationship with crony developers.

Working with developers to build more housing is fine. Essentially giving away valuable land is another. Yet Council can't be bothered to say a thing.

Bowser and the Council have no credibility in asking private sector workers to return to their downtown offices. the Council and their staffers work from home. Watch the meetings--They're all on Zoom. I dont think Mary Cheh has left her house in two years.
And most of Bowser's top appointees are still working from home, too. Bowser and Chief Contee aare out and about, but many if not most top officials in DC government are still at home.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The point is the city's finances are managed far better now than they were when the Control Board was put in place. There is no reason to think Congress would put unelected bureaucrats in charge of D.C. now that the District has managed its fiscal policy perfectly well for more than 20 years.

All bets are off when the GOP runs the House. There is no limit to the anti-democratic measures they'll take.

That's fine, but they won't control the Senate or the White House for the next two years, so they can do whatever they want and it won't have much effect.

Also, the council needs to look at these landlords who squat empty properties as a tax write off and hike rents to maintain the vacancy. It's a disgrace.