Dear Ward 5 neighbors,
With DC Public Schools on spring break, the Council on a brief recess before budget oversight, and DC Emancipation Day yesterday, it was a quiet week in the Wilson building. Even still, my team and I are hard at work preparing for budget hearings, following up on constituent services requests, and connecting with neighbors at community events.
This season provides numerous opportunities for you to make your voice heard for the future of the District. It is hard to overstate how critical it is for neighbors to submit written testimony and/or sign up to testify for the Council’s budget oversight hearings, which will start in earnest this coming Monday, April 20. We need to hear about your experiences with District agencies, and where you think our money should and should not go to ensure we are delivering for residents and streamlining services. You can view the schedule of hearings here, and when you click on a hearing and select “See hearing details,” you’ll see two buttons that make it easy to either “Submit Testimony” or “Register to Testify.”
Some highlights of upcoming hearings include the Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) on Monday, April 27, the Department of Transportation (DDOT) on Monday, April 27, and the Office of Unified Communications (OUC) and Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) on Wednesday, April 29. These are just a few examples of hearings where you can weigh in on how we allocate our resources to these agencies, and I hope you’ll take time to view the full schedule and consider where you will show up and speak up.
Countless other opportunities to shape the future of the District are included in today’s newsletter, including the RFK Campus Community Site Walks on April 18 and 23, the DC Healthcare Access Trust nominations which have been extended to April 22, a Metro Town Hall on the New Bus Network on April 28, a survey to tell MPD’s Fifth District where you think they should patrol, and giving your feedback on the Draft Future Land Use Map which has been extended to May 17.
My team has also been part of several recent community events to ensure neighbors are equipped to exercise one of their most fundamental rights—the right to vote—in the upcoming primary election on June 16, 2026. This will be the District’s first election using ranked choice voting (RCV). The DC Board of Elections has been conducting numerous training sessions to equip neighbors, and my team has accompanied community leaders like Bob King and Hazel Thomas through senior buildings in Fort Lincoln for hands-on demonstrations. We will continue these efforts over the coming weeks, including with another senior-focused event tomorrow and an RCV Town Hall at the Woodridge Library.
Whether it’s through voting, testifying, nominating, or giving feedback on countless projects, I simply want to remind us of our power—both individually and collectively. The time is always right for linking arms and working together to build healthy communities across Ward 5 and the District.
