By James Wright, Special to the AFRO jwright@afro.com
The District’s mayor’s budget proposal includes many provisions that address the concerns of African Americans.
Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) held a reporters’ roundtable March 26 at the John A. Wilson Building. The purpose of the roundtable was to brief reporters on her 2019 fiscal year budget.
Muriel Bowser is the mayor of the District of Columbia. (AFRO Stock Photo)
“I gave the budget to the D.C. Council on March 21 and testified for it on March 23,” Bowser said. “The council will go through their usual 54-day review period in which they will make changes, if any, that they see fit. This year, the council will vote on it at the end of May, which is earlier than usual.”
The $14.5 billion budget proposal includes investments in infrastructure, education, affordable housing, health and human services, economic opportunity, seniors and public safety. One of the key line items in the budget is $300 million for a new, state of the art hospital on the St. Elizabeths East campus in Ward 8.
“This new hospital will replace the United Medical Center,” the mayor said in response to a question by the AFRO. The United Medical Center is the District’s only comprehensive medical facility east of the Anacostia River and it has been plagued over the years with financial problems due to the high costs of treating uninsured patients and questionable financial management.
Bowser put $6 million for water bill relief for District residents. There has been ongoing controversy about the exorbitant rates that African-American churches and residents are being charged on their water bills that is due to a federal mandate to fix the city’s aging storm water system and has nothing to do with their own water usage.
Bowser told the AFRO that she is well-aware of the matter and has sent a letter to DC Water indicating that their rates are unfair to District residents. In the meantime, she said water bill rates will continue to rise and the $6 million will help District churches and residents.
“We are proposing some relief,” she said. “The $6 million will be used to help low-income households and others. We are also asking DC Water to match the $6 million in relief and freeze some of the charges on residents’ water bills for three years.”
There are only three full-service grocery stores in both Wards 7 and 8 and Bowser’s budget has funded a program to deal with that.
“I am aware that developer Jair Lynch is looking to bring a grocer in the Penn Branch shopping center in Ward 7 that could be Fresh Foods and there is an effort to bring Good Foods Market in another part of Ward 7 as well as a grocer in Ward 8 on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue. That is the purpose of the Neighborhood Fund.”
Affordable housing is an issue for many Black District residents and the mayor funded the Housing Production Fund Trust at the level of $100 million. She allocated $1.5 million in capital funds to expand the Model Cities & Congress Heights Senior Wellness Centers in Ward 8 and $12.5 million increase for childcare investments, including an increase in childcare subsidies.
D.C. Council member Trayon White (D-Ward 8), who has publicly disagreed with Bowser on some issues regarding his ward, praised her budget.
“Muriel Bowser answered the call with not all but a lot of great wins for Ward 8,” White said in a message to his constituents urging them to get involved in the budget process. “It’s in the council now so our work is not done.”