Budget Priorities
Dear Budgeteers:
The city council has now posted the schedule of the public hearings
it will hold in the coming weeks concerning the District’s budget for
2014,
http://tinyurl.com/cdcf6dx. Mayor Gray will
formally submit his proposed budget to the council on March 28, and the
council will hold public hearings on the Fiscal Year 2014 Budget Request
Act of 2013, the Fiscal Year 2014 Budget Request Act of 2013, and the
Fiscal Year Budget Support Act of 201 from April 10 through May 2.
Citizen input during this year’s budget process will be critically
important in helping to determine the District government’s policy,
priorities, and attendant spending levels in FY2014. For example, in
recent weeks Mayor Gray has released reports detailing the findings of
two government-led initiatives, one focused on the environment and the
other on affordable housing — the Sustainable DC Plan,
http://www.sustainable.dc.gov/finalplan; and
Bridges to Opportunity: A New Housing Strategy for DC,
http://www.taskforce2012.org. In addition to
the normal competition for government funding that occurs during the
budgetary process, it is not clear how these two new competing
initiatives from the Gray administration will have an impact on the
FY2014 budget that the council will formally adopt in May. For example,
to what extent are some of the policy recommendations detailed in the
mayor’s Sustainable DC Plan (e.g., developing a one-hundred-mile
citywide bicycle lane network, developing a wind farm to power District
government and private facilities, establishing a "pay-as-you-throw"
pricing structure for city trash collection services, establishing
community solar and renewable energy systems, expanding the use of
District land for urban agricultural projects, and establishing a new
Food Policy Council within the District government, etc.) going
to find their way into our city’s funding priorities?
Where do these priorities fit within the goals and priorities of most
District voters and taxpayers? What will be sacrificed within the
current District budget to make room to fund them?
Gary Imhoff, themail@dcwatch.com
Dorothy Brizill,
dorothy@dcwatch.com
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War on Cars and by Extension Drivers
Mary C. Young,
marycyoung@starpower.net
I do not object to anyone who wants to ride a bike — go for it! I do
object to the behavior modification that is being imposed on everyone —
if the city wants all of us out of our cars they need to start with
children and begin to inculcate in them how great it is to ride a bike
to school and sports and the movies and to shop. Then you will have a
generation that is already on the bike rather than try with the older
folks who are set in their ways ( I am one of them) and find it very
difficult to walk one mile with shopping bags. In fact, I offer rides to
the older folks I see in my neighborhood who are trying to do their
shopping and lugging home groceries.. We need some deference for the
elderly and disabled.
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Gary writes "[Jaffe] used to live in Chevy Chase, in a neighborhood
where residents can’t get to anything without driving." [themail, March
4] I lived in the Chevy Chase neighborhood a long time ago and walked to
everything. Stores, restaurants, the Chevy Chase Lounge, and for the
old-timers, "Basil’s Fallen Leaves" bookstore. I took the bus down
Connecticut Avenue and was able to get to DuPont Circle in a matter of
minutes. Chevy Chase, DC — a livable, walkable neighborhood!
Also, Lon Anderson said that policies that support public
transportation options "threatens the future of Washington." He said as
much when the Barney Circle freeway project was killed in 1996. I
suspect that the future of Washington continues to be bright, despite
Mr. Anderson’s dire predictions.
I recently joined Car2Go, and it is a great, innovative service. I
still see a lot of cars downtown.
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InTowner
March Issue Content Uploaded
P.L. Wolff,
intowner@intowner.com
The March issue content is now posted at
http://www.intowner.com, including the issue
PDF in which will be found the primary news stories, community news,
letters to the editor, and museum exhibition reviews — plus all photos
and other images. Not included in the PDF but linked directly from the
home page is the What Once Was feature (this month titled "Tanglebank:
Childhood Home of Architect Arthur Cotton Moore"), as well as Recent
Real Estate Sales, Reservations Recommended, and Food in the ‘Hood.
This month’s lead stories include the following: 1)
"Contemporary-Styled Low-Rise, Mixed-Use Residential/Retail Building
Proposed for Venerable Adams Morgan Exxon Station Site;" 2) "Historic
Anthony Bowen YMCA to Move Into Exciting New Space;" 3) "16th Street
Morning Rush Hour Bus Service Southbound From Adams Morgan to Increase."
Our editorial this month addresses the imperative, "With
Sequestration Now a Reality the City Council Will Need to be Especially
Prudent" (From the Publisher’s Desk). Your thoughts are welcome and can
be sent by clicking the comment link at the bottom of the web page or by
E-mail to letters@intowner.com. The next issue PDF will publish early in
the morning of April 12 (the second Friday of the month as usual). For
more information, either send an E-mail to newsroom@intowner.com or call
234-1717.
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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
On Thursday, March 21, from 2:00-6:00 p.m. at the Cleveland Park
Library, 3310 Connecticut Avenue, NW, staff from the DC Office of Tax
and Revenue (OTR) will provide free assistance with DC income and
property taxes. No appointments. First come, first served.
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All postings should be submitted to themail@dcwatch.com, and should
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