Alex Koma
@AlexKomaDC
Senior D.C. politics reporter, WAMU 88.5. Pittsburgh born and forever a Hokie. Send story ideas or spam to akoma(at)http://wamu.org
RFK might be getting all the ink, but lobbying filings suggest DC United/the Washington Spirit are majorly stepping up the push to renovate Audi Field. They've hired Tom Daschle's firm/ArentFox Schiff (home of ex-CM David Grosso, among others) and paid them up to $15k monthly...
With nearly 6,700 votes and turnout unlikely to go past 7300 (the last special election total) it’s hard to imagine this changing much. White will likely score a narrow but definitive victory.
Lots more votes just counted in Ward 8, including what looks like early voting ballots. White keeping his lead, again because the three challengers are splitting the vote.
News: Council Chair Phil Mendelson is planning a first vote on the RFK stadium deal as soon as NEXT Friday, per a source. (Fixed from last tweet!) Lawmakers will need to vote a 2nd time: it's unclear when. Some CMs have bristled at this coming right after next week's hearing...
Here's another twist to this story: The company behind this push is running ads and has a new website: nodcgamblingbailout.com A letter to the Council says the firm is run by "several public interest oriented lawyers" trying win money for DC: static1.squarespace.com/static/687640c…
A weird D.C. story gets weirder: An anonymous LLC that is suing the five biggest sports betting operators in D.C. under a 300-year-old law named after a British monarch is now paying top dollar to lobby the D.C. Council.
Here's a sign of how dire things are for D.C.'s homeless services system: The Council found a compromise to avoid a move to large, communal shelters BUT that requires tossing out migrant families who've been staying at Harbor Light in NE for months... wamu.org/story/25/07/14…
By the end of the summer, families, some of whom have lived at the Harbor Light Center migrant shelter for months, will have had to find somewhere else to go as they are told they have to leave the District’s last city-funded migrant shelter. Read more at streetsensemedia.org/article/reside…
This is a good point, and I’d add: does anyone remember how difficult it was to pass the RFK transfer in the first place? Is the threat that Congress will pass an entirely new stadium bill in a few days? Mendo’s willingness to consider a vote in August suggests he buys it tho
I don't think this is huge. The House is out on its own recess as of next Friday, through until Sept. 2. There are limited tools at its disposal to do anything to force a D.C. Council vote.
.@Vote4DC dropped more ballots in Ward 8. Trayon's lead shrunk, but he's still up by ~200 votes over Sheila Bunn. With 7,700 votes cast, this race has blown by turnout for the 2015 special and could approach turnout for the 2024 general. Still low, but not as low as feared.
News: At-Large SBOE Rep. Jacque Patterson (@DC_Edvocate) tells me he’ll file to run for DC delegate tomorrow. He’s fresh off chairing Sheila Bunn’s Ward 8 campaign. He’s the first serious challenger to Eleanor Holmes Norton…if she runs again. I’d expect to others file soon.
Ward 7 CM Wendell Felder just came by to talk to both Trayon and Sheila Bunn: their victory parties are side by side each other. It’s a small world here in DC.
First results are in: Trayon White leads by a few hundred votes over Sheila Bunn, but pretty close. These are likely all the early votes and we need to wait for Election Day tallies.
It's election day in Ward 8! @Vote4DC says 4,522 people voted early coming into Tuesday: we'll just have to see who shows up before 8 p.m. About 7300 people turned out for the 2015 special elex, and 7800 for the 2024 primary. Seems reasonable we'll wind up short of that today.
A bit surprising: JLG's amendment succeeds and I-82 is out of the budget, for now. Nadeau, Frumin, JLG, Parker, Allen, R. White, and Henderson in support. Mendo thought he had the votes Sunday. But all expressed interest in some other compromise between now and the second vote.
Now we turn to the other initiative, I-82, on the tipped minimum wage. Janeese Lewis George is backing an amendment to remove it from the budget. Interestingly, Kenyan McDuffie circulated this change to bring the wage to $10/hour, but he withdrew it to pursue another compromise
Now we turn to the other initiative, I-82, on the tipped minimum wage. Janeese Lewis George is backing an amendment to remove it from the budget. Interestingly, Kenyan McDuffie circulated this change to bring the wage to $10/hour, but he withdrew it to pursue another compromise
