Issues

Safe Streets Make Strong Communities

The roads and sidewalks that run through our community help keep us connected to the people and places that are important to us. We use them to visit friends and neighbors, take our children to school and get to medical appointments, run errands, and to get exercise and stay healthy.

But when our roads feel unsafe, sidewalks deteriorate, and crosswalks fade, the simple act of walking, biking, or driving can become dangerous and even deadly. In 2021 alone, we tragically lost three neighbors in traffic crashes in ANC 5B. For many neighbors, it is difficult not to view these tragic deaths, and the countless near-misses we witness and experience every day, as the inevitable result of neglect by the District government and inaction by local leaders.

Dangerous roads and inadequate infrastructure divide communities and make it difficult for us to stay closely connected as a community.

Other, often wealthier, parts of the city often have freshly-paved roads, ADA-compliant sidewalks, ample multimodal transportation options, and modern infrastructure. Our neighborhood, by contrast, has long been plagued by pothole-riddled roads, narrow and uneven sidewalks, non-ADA-accessible crosswalks, car-centered transportation options, and outdated roadway designs that make our streets more dangerous for everyone who lives in and commutes through our community.

We deserve better.

Traffic safety concerns were what first led me to run for ANC, and traffic safety is still the number one issue I hear about from residents today. I am proud to have worked with residents to successfully procure traffic calming throughout 5B05 over the last year and a half. Notably, I requested and DDOT approved updated infrastructure for roughly twenty blocks or intersections, alleys, and sidewalks in 5B05 since I took office.

Take a look at the map to see how I've helped to make our community safer and more connected.

I believe we have more work to do to make our streets safer for all roadway users, and to improve public transportation options and reliability in our neighborhood and throughout our community.


Below: A map of all of the traffic calming and other road, sidewalk, and alley improvements I've secured in SMD 5B05 since taking office last year.

Legend

A Place to Call Home


Our neighborhood has undergone tremendous transformation since the late 1800s,* when the first housing subdivisions began to replace farmland. Residents at the time, who were mostly white, attempted to limit Black homeownership by imposing racial covenants on properties throughout the community. In 1948, after the Supreme Court declared racial covenants to be unenforceable, the neighborhood quickly diversified, becoming the wonderful, thriving community we know and love today.


Today, our community is facing new challenges. Since 2015, housing costs for renters and buyers throughout the city have increased by almost 30%, pricing out many residents who aspire to become our neighbors. These constraints have been particularly challenging for low- and moderate-income families and first-time homebuyers. They have also made it more difficult for longtime neighbors to stay in our neighborhood.


We need to find solutions to keep housing affordable so that those who want to come to, or stay in, our community and contribute to its vibrancy can afford to do so. This means finding ways to increase the production of affordable units; providing resources to seniors who need help remaining in their homes; and helping low-income residents with rental and homebuyer assistance.


*For more about our neighborhood's history, please check out Brookland resident Robert Malesky's well-researched post, "A Short History of Brookland" in his Bygone Brookland blog.

Addressing Environmental Inequality

Nationally, communities of color and low-income communities are more likely to be exposed to environmental toxins. Locally, the same is also true. Nearly half of all of the District's industrially-zoned land is located in Ward 5, representing about 15% of the total land area in Ward 5. Industrial facilities here include public and private trash transfer stations; WMATA and school bus depots; rail yards; D.C. government vehicle repair and storage facilities; auto repair shops; paving, asphalt and road construction facilities; and more. These industrial facilities can expose residents to toxic fumes and runoff, attract disease vectors (such as rats), and contaminate the soil.

Ward 5 also has the highest concentration of actively-leaking underground storage tanks (LUSTs). These tanks are often used to contain petroleum products, hazardous waste, septic material, and other toxic substances. Our community saw the harmful effect of LUSTs firsthand after an underground gas tank at a Chevron station on Riggs Road in Chillum, MD, began leaking in 1989. In 2001, an uncontained gas plume from that leak migrated underground into the majority-Black Riggs Park neighborhood, causing cancer, miscarriages, and other serious health problems, according to residents.

Neighborhoods with large swathes of industrial space and paved areas (like parking lots) also create "heat islands"—areas that experience higher temperatures than outlying areas. Unfortunately, Michigan Park and Brookland are among the hottest neighborhoods, temperature-wise, in D.C. This urban heat island effect is caused by reduced natural landscapes, such as tree canopy cover, and by human activities such as automobile use (which also contributes to increased incidence of asthma).

These urban heat islands can be dangerous for those who have health conditions that are exacerbated by extreme heat and poor air quality. Residents in the eastern half of D.C. tend to be more likely to have health conditions that make them more susceptible to the effects of extreme heat than residents living in the western half of the city.

On a local level, we can help to address the disproportionate environmental harm borne by our community by:

  • Supporting the sustainable redevelopment of existing industrial sites;

  • Preserving or creating green space, especially in industrialized and urban heat island areas; and

  • Increasing public transit service and multimodal transportation options.

As Commissioner, I have encouraged developers to utilize permeable materials where possible, plant trees to expand the tree canopy, reduce parking, and encourage bike use by providing bike storage or CaBi subscriptions.

I was also proud to introduce a resolution, which passed unanimously, in support of a D.C. Council bill that would expand public transit in underserved communities. The bill—the Metro for DC Amendment Act—would invest $10 million per year in a Transit Equity Fund to expand bus service and add bus routes in communities where residents tend to live in low-income neighborhoods, have the longest commutes, and pay more per trip to travel on public transit.

I was also proud to vote for a resolution calling on the Mayor to renovate Crummel School in Ivy City, instead of allowing developers to turn it into expensive housing, so our neighbors have green space, a recreation center, and a safe place for children and youth to play.

People-Centered Leadership on ANC 5B

As the full-body Commission (ANC 5B) expands and talented new candidates step up to serve, we have an opportunity to turn a new leaf on ANC 5B and fulfill the objective of an ANC: to bring government closer to the people. My top priorities on the Commission will be to:


1️⃣ Put resources back into our community. ANC 5B should adopt a community-centered budget that redirects taxpayer funds directly back into our neighborhoods through grants and events that support neighbors in need and help our community to flourish.


2️⃣ Improve accessibility. For years, ANC 5B meetings have been held on weeknights, when many residents are unable to attend. Further, ANC 5B has never offered translation or interpretation services for our non-native English-speaking and deaf or hard-of-hearing neighbors. We should offer in-person and weekend meetings and obtain interpretation and translation services for our meetings to reach a broader audience and ensure the views we hear reflect our wonderfully diverse community.


3️⃣ Foster engagement, service, and leadership. We should harness our community’s talent, encourage participation, and cultivate future leaders by creating an ANC 5B block captain program and transparent resident committees to advise ANC 5B on important issues.