Latest News

We are days away from the Capital Pride Parade on Saturday, June 11!

Our team is getting excited - especially since we're joining forces with Ward 5 Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie and his team this year! I would love for you to walk with us to show your District Pride.

There will be plenty of beads to toss, music, and rainbow tutus to be enjoyed by all. If you are interested in walking with us, the organizers are asking that we report to the staging area by 3:00 p.m., located at 23rd and N Street NW.

Please contact Ashley Fox in our office at (202) 724-7772 to sign up or you may register here.

I hope you will join us!

Elissa.

Dear Resident,

Next year’s budget is done! It may not have been as climactic as the NBA Western Conference Finals Monday night (congrats Warriors!), but yesterday we passed an exciting FY17 budget for the District. After many months of meetings, negotiations, and community conversations, I’m thrilled to move forward with a budget that allocates funds to close D.C. General, preserve affordable housing for District residents, and increase unemployment benefits, among other successes for District residents. Thank you to Mayor Bowser and each of my Council colleagues for working collaboratively to pass a budget that I believe works in the interest of our residents and our city!

Dear Resident,

Over the past couple of months, I’ve shared quite a few updates about next year’s budget that my staff and I have been working hard to finalize with my Council colleagues. Yesterday, the Council voted on the Budget Request Act that proposes funding amounts for each District agency. The biggest news of the day: We are finally closing D.C. General and will open new ward-based family shelters in its place.

Dear Resident,

We’re in the homestretch on the Fiscal Year 2017 budget! Final committee decisions and recommendations take place tomorrow and Thursday. Highlights from some of the budget oversight hearings I attended over the last few weeks are below.

I also want to introduce you to Michael Ambinder, who recently joined our office as a legislative fellow. Michael is District educated, having earned his bachelor's, master’s, and law degrees from The George Washington University. He will be working on judiciary, environmental, and regulatory policy issues and is already proving to be a great addition to our team. We’re thrilled to have him onboard.

Dear Resident,

March Madness is over (Congrats Villanova and GW fans!), but budget season is still going strong! Mayor Bowser sent the D.C. Council her proposed budget for next year, and my staff and I are digging in to see if there are ways we can spend our tax dollars even more effectively. I am excited to see the Mayor invest in some of the priorities I asked for in my budget letter.

I’ll go into more detail about the budget below, and I encourage you to check the calendar of public budget hearings for District agencies. I welcome any thoughts or ideas you have on how we can better allocate funding for our government agencies, and I hope to see some of you at the Wilson Building in the next few weeks.

At-Large Councilmember Elissa Silverman and Ward 8 Councilmember LaRuby May today introduced a bill that would safeguard D.C. residents who neighbor a major economic development project, specifically the St. Elizabeths project in Ward 8, by providing additional financial assistance and legal resources to prevent gentrification. Additional co-introducers included Councilmembers Anita Bonds (At-Large), David Grosso (At-Large), Vincent Orange (At-Large), Mary Cheh (Ward 3), Charles Allen (Ward 6), and Brianne Nadeau (Ward 1). The bill was co-sponsored by Councilmember Brandon Todd (Ward 4).

The bill, titled the Displacement Prevention Amendment Act of 2016, would help current residents surrounding the St. Elizabeths campus in two ways: It doubles the maximum income tax credit available to District renters and homeowners through Schedule H in a targeted zone around the Ward 8 campus and provides additional resources, including legal assistance, to help residents purchase or remain in their homes.

Dear Resident,

Tonight Mayor Bowser will deliver her annual State of the District address at Arena Stage. The speech will preview the mayor’s budget priorities for next year. Our city is prospering and growing, but many challenges remain in making sure the District is a place of opportunity for all. In anticipation of the fiscal year 2017 budget negotiations, I sent Mayor Bowser and her budget team a letter outlining my priorities, which include major investments in affordable housing, evidence-based public safety approaches, meaningful workforce development, and a strong safety net. You can read my letter here.

WASHINGTON, DC – At-Large Councilmember Elissa Silverman today introduced a bill that would help increase the District’s supply of housing for our lowest-income residents by dedicating dollars allocated to the District of Columbia Housing Authority but unspent at the end of the year into a public housing repair fund. The bill, the Public Housing Rehabilitation Amendment Act of 2016, was co-introduced by Councilmembers Brianne Nadeau (Ward 1), Mary Cheh (Ward 3), and Charles Allen (Ward 6) and co-sponsored by David Grosso (At-Large).

The District of Columbia Housing Authority (DCHA) owns or subsidizes over 21,000 units of affordable housing across the city, including 8,300 units of public housing. These units house many of our lowest-income residents, and they have fallen into disrepair as federal dollars dedicated to public housing continue to decline. Some units are now uninhabitable but could be put back into use housing families if funds were dedicated for that purpose.

Dear Resident,

Budget season is in full swing! These last few weeks have been filled with performance oversight hearings, in which residents like yourselves have had the opportunity to tell both the Council and the Mayor’s office how you think DC government agencies are doing. Thanks to all who have come down to the Wilson Building, submitted written testimony, or sent me questions and feedback via email. The list of remaining hearings is here.

Do not fret if you have missed an agency you care about; there’s a second bite at the apple! In late March, Mayor Bowser will submit her proposed Fiscal Year 2017 budget to the Council, and then we will begin our second complete round of agency hearings.

I want to alert you to a very important hearing on March 24 about the amount of District tax dollars paying for a practice gym for our NBA team, the Wizards. More details are below. I hope you can come. And many of you have been asking about next steps on paid family leave; I have details on that below too! Keep reading!

At-Large Councilmember Elissa Silverman introduced a bill today that sets a $50 million cap on District taxpayer dollars to be spent on the proposed Wizards practice facility at St. Elizabeths in Ward 8. The bill, the Wizards Practice Facility Cost Containment Act of 2016, was co-introduced with five D.C. Council colleagues: Brianne Nadeau (Ward 1), Mary Cheh (Ward 3), Kenyan McDuffie (Ward 5), David Grosso (At-Large), and Anita Bonds (At-Large).

If construction and completion of the facility exceeds $50 million, the legislation allows only Monumental Sports & Entertainment, the owner of the Wizards, or another private entity to pay the additional costs.

Also this afternoon, Silverman, along with Cheh, Grosso, and Nadeau, filed a contract approval resolution, which will delay the deadline to approve the contract on the Wizards facility until April 7. This will give time for the Council’s Committee of the Whole to hold a hearing on the bill.