Yesterday’s COW HIGHLIGHTS, 2026 Budget Hearing —-> Fwd: Budget Testimony 2026: Appalling contradictions fitting for the GOP

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[feel free to share — especially if you have the emails of the folks who testified below]

Here are a few of the powerful testimonial highlights from yesterday's 2026 DC Budget Hearing, linked below. 

About half of the 379 people who signed up to testify were able to endure the 14-hour hearing and actually testify.  

Many groups, including the Fair Budget Coalition of which I and many others are members, showed in force and rallied on the steps of the Wilson building yesterday morning demanding the Council not fulfill the Mayor's brutal budget cuts and elimination of sanctuary city values that will bear down on the backs of working-class DC families the most.

Unfortunately, there were many voices that could not attend due to the immense duration of the hearing, so they were not heard. 

But, they, along with you can post your written testimony on this site here: https://lims.dccouncil.gov/Hearings/hearings/896  Just Click “Submit Testimony”

The hearing went until past midnight, more than fourteen hours long.  And, for those who had great testimony after 10pm, I cannot access it because Youtube cut off after 12-hours.

Next Budget Rally June 23!

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A FEW 2026 BUDGET TESTIMONIALS


———- Forwarded message ———
From: Chris R. Otten <crotten2@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Jun 18, 2025 at 11:07 PM
Subject: Budget Testimony 2026: Appalling contradictions fitting for the GOP
To: Evan Cash <ecash@dccouncil.us>, <pmendelson@dccouncil.gov>, <cow@dccouncil.gov>
Cc: Nadeau, Brianne K. (Council) <BNadeau@dccouncil.gov>, <bpinto@dccouncil.us>, <mfrumin@dccouncil.gov>, <jlewisgeorge@dccouncil.gov>, <Zparker@dccouncil.gov>, Allen, Charles (Council) <callen@dccouncil.gov>, <wfelder@dccouncil.gov>, <abonds@dccouncil.gov>, <chenderson@dccouncil.gov>, <rwhite@dccouncil.gov>, <kmcduffie@dccouncil.gov>

Testimony for the Record
 Chris Otten – Ward 1 Resident, Community Organizer

My name is Chris Otten, a 25-year resident of Adams Morgan living in a limited equity coop. This budget exposes who bears the burden when revenue falls short: everyday people—working-class DC residents, vulnerable neighborhoods, and Black and brown communities.

To plug a budget gap, the Mayor proposes removing over 50,000 DC people, kids, moms, families, from DC Healthcare Alliance—an unconscionable act that could literally cost lives. Meanwhile, millionaires got richer during COVID—and some of them even showed up here at the Wilson building to say: “Tax us more.” We should listen. Don’t kill people. Tax the rich. A small percentage increase could go a long way to stop the brutality!

The appalling contradictions are throughout the Mayor's budget—look at the RFK deal. Bowser’s budget hands acres upon acres acres of public land and $1 billion-plus subsidy to a billionaire NFL owner, so that we can lead in rushing yards, touchdowns and sacks while DC schools lead in reading and math illiteracy, and DC is in the tops of the nation in maternal mortality, HIV, asthma, and diabetes.

We don’t need football at any price—we need healthcare, education, social housing and jobs.

Please remove all RFK-related details from this budget. Let’s debate the stadium handout in the fall to allow time to root out the worst provisions, not sneak it in now.

The Mayor also proposes gutting our values as a sanctuary city—cutting immigrant services while expanding funding for untrained police willing to collaborate with ICE. All this, while many of those residents being oppressed have committed no crimes at all and instead serve their community and society honorably and diligently.

This budget is not grounded in equity or care. It’s corporate welfare for the rich—and austerity, displacement, and death for the rest of us.

Let’s talk land. Developers have already devoured Union Market, The Wharf, Shaw, Anacostia—displacing tens of thousands of families and half the city’s Black population, killing hundreds of small local businesses, and hollowing out and homogenizing DC culture like colonizers do. 

Now these land speculators are moving on to new cities, leaving DC's carcass behind—and blaming us for daring to fight back.

And Bowser’s helping them, by pushing a wave of deregulation policy changes in all things, our budget act, like:

  • Attacking TOPA, ERAP, SNAP . . . etc.

  • Making it nearly impossible to appeal bad zoning decisions.

  • Loosening eviction rules, hastening displacement.

  • And trying to bury the Rental Act in the BSA, attempting to avoid further debate and quickly getting this attack through.

This is brutal. It makes you wonder: When did Muriel Bowser switch parties?
Because this budget reads like a GOP dream—corporate handouts, deregulation, and no regard for the people.

So I ask: Will this Council stand up for DC residents?

I ask you Councilmembers, act like we are the bluest city in the nation. Strip all non-budgetary policy riders from the Budget Support Act—like the Rental Act, the stadium deal, the sanctuary city stuff and any other harmful policy changes not germane to the budget. 

If the Mayor wants those changes, she can introduce them as standalone legislation—subject to open hearings and public debate.

And instead of cuts, let’s raise revenue the right way:

  • Use public land for municipally owned social housing—just like Montgomery County is doing—producing permanent affordability and long-term revenue.

  • Tax millionaires and billionaires—a modest increase on the top brackets can prevent healthcare cuts and displacement.

  • And tap the $700M Rainy Day Fund—because the orange skies say the storm is already here.

If DC is truly a progressive city, now is the time to act like it—not just with words, but with votes.

Unless, of course… that’s too woke.

Thank you.

Fwd: Fair Fridays: The Budget is Everybody’s Business

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———- Forwarded message ———
From: Info FBC <info@fairbudget.org>
Date: Fri, Jun 6, 2025 at 10:13 AM
Subject: Fair Fridays: The Budget is Everybody's Business
To: Info FBC <info@fairbudget.org>


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DC for Reasonable Development
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Fwd: [RFK Press / Public Update] Social Housing Stadium Tweak Could Provide Critical Revenue to Avoid Devastating DC Budget Cuts

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[FORWARDING A GOOD READ]

———- Forwarded message ———
From: Social Housing for All! <socialhousing@savedcpublicland.org>
Date: Thu, Jun 5, 2025 at 9:10 AM
Subject: [RFK Press / Public Update] Social Housing Stadium Tweak Could Provide Critical Revenue to Avoid Devastating DC Budget Cuts
To: Socialhousing <socialhousing@savedcpublicland.org>
Cc: <chenderson@dccouncil.gov>, <rwhite@dccouncil.gov>, <abonds@dccouncil.gov>, <kmcduffie@dccouncil.gov>, <wfelder@dccouncil.gov>, <callen@dccouncil.gov>, <zparker@dccouncil.gov>, <jlewisgeorge@dccouncil.gov>, <mfrumin@dccouncil.gov>, <bpinto@dccouncil.gov>, <bnadeau@dccouncil.gov>, <pmendelson@dccouncil.gov>

PRESS & PUBLIC UPDATE – SAVE DC PUBLIC LAND
socialhousing@savedcpublicland.org

–June 5, 2025—

Stadium Deal Tweak: Social Housing at RFK Could Provide Critical Revenue to Avoid Devastating DC Budget Cuts

WASHINGTON, DC — With the harsh realities of Mayor Bowser’s proposed FY2026 DC Budget settling in, many are left wondering whether she quietly went down to DC BOEE and changed her party affiliation to Republican.

More than 50,000 lower-income DC residents risk losing healthcare. Childcare subsidies—vital to working families and the city’s workforce—face major cuts. Equity-focused programs are being gutted. Across the board, residents face a wave of deep human needs reductions.

Yet buried in this painful budget is a glaring contradiction: massive corporate welfare.

One analysis estimates the Commanders stadium deal could cost DC taxpayers over $1.3 billion. Meanwhile, Bowser offers tax breaks to ultra-wealthy crypto-tech bros—all while working families are expected to bear the cost of these giveaways.

SOCIAL HOUSING AT RFK: A SMART, SUSTAINABLE, REVENUE-GENERATING ALTERNATIVE

As the DC Council launches quickly into budget hearings, Councilmembers have the opportunity to intervene and stop the Mayor's cuts and realign the city's values with its budget. A critical fix: incorporate a social housing component into the RFK Stadium site deal.

Instead of handing over acres of public land tax-free to billionaire Commanders owner Josh Harris, DC should retain and develop this land into mixed-income, municipally-owned housing. Known as social housing, this model provides not only deeply affordable homes but also long-term, revenue-generating assets for the city via rents and home sales.

Social housing is not a theoretical solution as evidenced by some on the Council looking to incorporate successful models from Europe. We also have a closer example: Montgomery County’s growing portfolio of municipally-owned developments, including The Laureate near Shady Grove. These projects are delivering both housing access and steady income to the local government.

Integrating social housing at RFK could transform a lopsided stadium deal into an engine of equity and economic resilience—helping to cover infrastructure and debt costs without pushing the burden onto working families.

With budget deliberations ongoing, and the DC Council’s Committee of the Whole meeting on June 18 to review the 2026 DC Budget in toto, now is prime time for smarter, more just use of public land and public dollars.

###

For more on social housing, visit:
https://savedcpublicland.org/the1617project/socialhousing/



2025 — 2026 City Council Budget Schedule — Be Ready to Testify

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DC Budget Hearing Schedule was recently released (you can testify): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1s8Uo-p7DgL7S3XgtEASdeSWFF-Nu2FhS/view?usp=sharing

Here are key Budget dates:
  • May 27 – Mayor drops her budget proposal (Note: NO initial Council hearing with the mayor this year)
  • May 29 – June 17 – Budget oversight hearings by committee. See the full, detailed Hearing Schedule in the attachment.
  • June 18 – The “big COW” hearing on the full budget
  • June 23-25 – Committee markups
  • July 14 – First vote on the Local Budget Act and the Budget Support Act
  • July 28 – Second vote on the Local Budget Act
  • TBD – Second vote on the Budget Support Act

SPECIFIC AGENCY OF INTEREST HEARINGS:
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DC for Reasonable Development
(202) 854-8327‬
www.dc4reason.org

Tour of Montgomery County’s Premier Social Housing Project Draws Significant Interest and Praise

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Debby Hanrahan, (202) 462-2054
debby@savedcpublicland.org

Tour of Montgomery County’s Premier Social Housing Project

Draws Significant Interest and Praise
More than twenty DC residents travel on the redline and tour the Laureate to learn from this ambitious municipally-owned Social Housing model

Shady Grove Metro, May 2, 2025 —  On the first Friday in May, over twenty DC affordable housing advocates, current and former Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners, retired members of the DC zoning board, and City Council staff made their way to the end of Metro’s Red Line for a guided tour of The Laureate — Montgomery County’s flagship social housing pilot.
laureate_tour_2025.jpg

“How fortunate is DC that a viable solution to our city’s affordable housing crisis lies just at the end of the red line?” pondered Rondell “Magic” Jordan, DC public property advocate and participant in the failing DC Inclusionary Zoning program.

Once a stalled private development, the Laureate was revived through innovative public intervention. Rather than let the project collapse, Montgomery County stepped in with bond financing, securing a 90% stake in both the land and future profits. The original development team has a 10% ownership stake, was compensated for their entitlement work, and now manages the property’s operations on behalf of the County.
This bold move marked the beginning of the County’s social housing initiative — and it’s working. The success of the Laureate has already spurred planning for several additional social housing projects nearby.

laureate1.jpg
Currently, 30% of the Laureate’s units are permanently income-restricted. Due to its municipal ownership structure, more units may be converted to below-market rents over time as the County captures additional equity from ongoing revenues. In addition, affordable housing voucher holders are especially welcomed and encouraged to apply for housing at the Laureate.

“There’s real help to be found in this municipal housing model,” said Damiana Dendy of DC Jobs With Justice. “Social housing is self-sustaining and predictable in part because it's insulated from the whims of shifting federal policy and federal funding every election cycle.”

In exploring the Laureate, tour participants witnessed a dense new building complete with modern amenities including a pool, fitness center, co-working space, children’s play area, and thoughtfully designed units — all underscoring the idea that affordability doesn’t mean sacrificing quality.

“It’s not what you would normally see in traditional public housing – it’s diverse, dignified, and welcoming. Plus, there is a real local stake in ensuring it stays that way,” said James Salt, a member of Democratic Socialists of America and DC public property advocate.

laureate2.jpg

“It was exciting to see a housing finance model that doesn’t have to surrender the candy store to the private sector,” said Laura Richards, longtime Ward 7 resident, Committee of 100 member, and formerly a member of the zoning board. “Too often—McMillan, Takoma Metro, West End—public land has been handed over for token amounts of affordable housing. The result is luxury development with little community return. We need a new approach—one that keeps land in public hands and serves the public good.”

Representatives from Montgomery County’s housing agency and Laureate staff guided the tour group through model units and explained the project’s financing structure, answering questions about how the project was tailored to the county’s affordability needs. Notably, the Laureate includes three-bedroom units — a requirement in the deal to accommodate families.
laureate4.jpg

“This model flips the old script,” said Kerry Kemp, Ward 2 resident living nearby 1617 U Street, NW. “Instead of giving away land, air rights, and tax breaks to developers promising to include some short-term affordability, maybe, this project is showing how municipal control can guarantee long-term affordability and community stability and in doing so also capture real equity to produce even more!”

As housing costs continue to rise across the region, the Laureate is being increasingly seen as a proof of concept for bold local leadership seeking long-term affordability through creative and efficient municipal financing and ownership.

“If DC can prioritize time and money for stadiums, it can find the time and money for social housing,” said Will Merrifield, Director for The Center for Social Housing and Public Investment. “Otherwise, all this talk about equitable development absolutely rings hollow.”

###
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Housing, Stadiums, and Priorities – Some Links, Studies, Research for Thought — Re: [TakomaDC] Fw: Metro Site

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I mentioned I’d share some links, so I took some time to dig a bit. Over the years, I’ve come across pieces that have shaped how I think about housing in DC—and I hope some of this can spark useful conversation, whether you agree or not.

We all know DC is facing an increasingly dire and unaffordable housing crisis. I believe the continued focus on building privatized Class A studios and one-bedrooms isn't the solution—it often drives costs up, not down. I’ve included some reports below that speak to that point.

What I do believe can help turn the tide is developing a robust Social Housing ecosystem.

Here’s two key reasons (among others) why:

  1. Social Housing is insulated from the volatility of federal investment cycles.

  2. It’s a self-sustaining, municipally owned model that can actually drive costs down by making construction and financing more efficient and the profits are reinvested back into the project.

But as to the links below, they aren’t meant to be the final word—but rather a place to start (or continue) a shared learning process. 

We all want to house families of all incomes, and that especially means prioritizing those who’ve been left behind in DC’s boom times over the last 15+ years. 

And, some folks including me want to ensure public land, like at Metro sites, don't perpetuate the same gentrification problems but seek to repair the displacement harms and racism of the past.  The status quo #BuildingAsUsual won't result in this objective unfortunately as the track record shows.

All of these important questions and concerns come at a time when we’re seeing some questionable priorities from city leadership.

For example, this week brought reports that the Mayor and the billionaire-owned Washington Football Team are in closed-door negotiations for a new $3-billion RFK stadium. This could leave taxpayers on the hook for hundreds of millions—possibly over a billion—for luxury play time, while housing costs remain sky-high. Link to story

Nearly simultaneously, the Mayor also announced “extraordinary measures” to cut government spending—freezing hiring, considering furloughs, and potential closures of public facilities. Link here

It's so strange to be discussing something so fundamentally important as shelter for humans and solutions therein when our government over the past two budget cycles has found tremendous priority, time, and DC money to fund billionaires' dream play spaces.

Nonetheless, here are a few links to chew on—hoping they help deepen the conversation:


###


Still Prescient Thesis — Selling Shelters: Public Property Gentrification in Washington, D.C.

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SELLING SHELTERS: PUBLIC PROPERTY GENTRIFICATION IN WASHINGTON, D. C.

(c) 2008

By Katie Wells, PhD Candidate, Department of Geography, Syracuse University

Introduction:
Public property in Washington, D.C. is being sold quickly, quietly, and without a systematic method. Shelters, libraries, and firehouses have become boutique hotels and luxury condos. Perhaps no place better exemplifies these practices than the Franklin School homeless shelter. Public shelters, as a specific type of public property, offer an inroad to public property redevelopment. Franklin School appears as an historical landmark ripe for redevelopment in the urban landscape, but its presence as a “surplus” public property only hints at the breadth of aesthetic, political, and economic conditions underlying its long record of failed sales and contested use. This thesis uses the recent events surrounding Franklin School shelter’s hotly contested sale and the public property management system to support a central argument about the changing relationship between public property and the urban landscape and its implications for the geography of gentrification. I argue that Washington, D.C. is experiencing a new and neoliberal form of gentrification: the gentrification of public property. I contextualize this
phenomenon within neoliberalism and explore its inner logic of revaluation and dispossession, which I contend work respectively through mechanisms like historic preservation and public property disposal. Franklin School shelter’s genesis and the resistance that has stalled its sale illuminate the tensions under advanced capitalism between homelessness and gentrification in particular and struggles over accumulation and social justice in general. The empirical work is based on literature reviews, archival research, open-ended interviews, and cartographic methodologies.
(see attached)
pdf icon KJWells_061108.pdf
pdf icon 102MichLRev.pdf
pdf icon 36UrbLaw273.pdf

DC Dems, MAGA Republicans: Two Sides of the Same Coin?

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On December 17, 2024, the DC Council gave final approval to the Downtown Arena Revitalization Act, locking in over half a billion dollars in taxpayer-funded renovations for Capital One Arena. The deal ensures the Washington Capitals and Wizards stay in DC through at least 2050.

That means the Mayor and your City Council members (all Democrats or “independent” Democrats) signed off on this massive capital investment for a billionaire’s play space—just weeks after Donald Trump was re-elected. Your tax dollars on corporate welfare layaway, and they’re not done yet.

With the new year and 2025 inauguration, Mayor Bowser and several high-profile Councilmembers kicked off a tour cheering on the return of the Washington Football Team to a revitalized RFK Stadium—a project that could cost DC taxpayers hundreds of millions, if not a billion dollars, to fund yet another luxury sports venture.

Then in February, the U.S. President demanded DC city officials address the growing “unsightly” tent encampments. DC Mayor, Muriel Bowser acknowledged Trump's directive and on March 7, 2025, she sent in bulldozers to destroy encampments sheltering DC residents already displaced by the city’s worsening affordability crisis—giving unhoused residents just one day's notice to vacate, a clear departure from the city’s usual 14-day policy.  She then turned those machines on Black Lives Matter plaza that has really upset Jamie Foxx among others.

And now, that same DC Mayor and the whole gaggle of DC City Councilmembers stand before a Republican-controlled federal government, pleading for mercy—asking Congress not to slash $1 billion from DC’s local budget, warning of devastating impacts to human services and vital programs.

The gaslighting feels staggering.

Year after year, DC’s leaders prioritize giving away public property and financing to construct stadiums, luxury condos, and high-end hotels—while barely maintaining scraps of funding for truly affordable housing. Worse yet, they continue to annually flirt with cutting housing vouchers, emergency rental assistance, and critical social services that working-class and poor residents rely on for survival, including the most recent legislation making it easier for slumlords to evict struggling working DC families from their homes (warning: link to gov spin website).

Democrats, Republicans—two sides of the same coin?

Chris Otten

—

DC for Reasonable Development
(202) 854-8327‬
www.dc4reason.org

DC Dems, MAGA Republicans: Two Sides of the Same Coin?

Leave a reply

On December 17, 2024, the DC Council gave final approval to the Downtown Arena Revitalization Act, locking in over half a billion dollars in taxpayer-funded renovations for Capital One Arena. The deal ensures the Washington Capitals and Wizards stay in DC through at least 2050.

That means the Mayor and your City Council members (all Democrats or “independent” Democrats) signed off on this massive capital investment for a billionaire’s play space—just weeks after Donald Trump was re-elected. Your tax dollars on corporate welfare layaway, and they’re not done yet.

With the new year and 2025 inauguration, Mayor Bowser and several high-profile Councilmembers kicked off a tour cheering on the return of the Washington Football Team to a revitalized RFK Stadium—a project that could cost DC taxpayers hundreds of millions, if not a billion dollars, to fund yet another luxury sports venture.

Then in February, the U.S. President demanded DC city officials address the growing “unsightly” tent encampments. DC Mayor, Muriel Bowser acknowledged Trump's directive and on March 7, 2025, she sent in bulldozers to destroy encampments sheltering DC residents already displaced by the city’s worsening affordability crisis—giving unhoused residents just one day's notice to vacate, a clear departure from the city’s usual 14-day policy.  She then turned those machines on Black Lives Matter plaza that has really upset Jamie Foxx among others.

And now, that same DC Mayor and the whole gaggle of DC City Councilmembers stand before a Republican-controlled federal government, pleading for mercy—asking Congress not to slash $1 billion from DC’s local budget, warning of devastating impacts to human services and vital programs.

The gaslighting feels staggering.

Year after year, DC’s leaders prioritize giving away public property and financing to construct stadiums, luxury condos, and high-end hotels—while barely maintaining scraps of funding for truly affordable housing. Worse yet, they continue to annually flirt with cutting housing vouchers, emergency rental assistance, and critical social services that working-class and poor residents rely on for survival, including the most recent legislation making it easier for slumlords to evict struggling working DC families from their homes (warning: link to gov spin website).

Democrats, Republicans—two sides of the same coin?

Chris Otten

—

DC for Reasonable Development
(202) 854-8327‬
www.dc4reason.org