Dear Neighbor,
I’m excited to announce that I am joining with Shaw Main Streets and District Cleanups to host an Earth Day Community Cleanup at Bundy Dog Park on April 22 at 11 AM. Shaw Main Streets and District Cleanups are two incredible community organizations dedicated to supporting communities and ensuring our neighborhoods are thriving. I hope you will join me! You can sign up here.
We’re deep in budget season now! I’m fighting to ensure funding for Ward 2 priorities, including adequate staffing at our public safety agencies, supports for small businesses, and Downtown recovery. Two of my bills I’m working to fund are the BEST Act and the RECOVERY Act. The BEST Act streamlines business licensing procedures to make it easier for new and existing small businesses to operate in DC. The RECOVERY Act is my blueprint for a vibrant, resilient, and safe Downtown that reimagines our city center into a mixed-use destination. I need your help making sure my colleagues know that these bills are a priority for residents. If you support the RECOVERY Act and the BEST Act, it’s important that my colleagues hear from you. You can find contact information for your at-large Councilmembers here.
Thank you for your support and I look forward to seeing you at our community cleanup on Earth Day, April 22nd!
My best,
Brooke
Public Safety Data and Information Sharing: On Tuesday, the Council passed Councilmember Pinto’s bill to ensure the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (CJCC) has access to data they need to analyze risk factors that contribute to youth homicides. This analysis is crucial to understanding effective intervention and preventing future violence. As Chairwoman of the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety, Councilmember Pinto is committed to passing common-sense, actionable solutions that fill gaps and make our communities safer.
Budget Next Steps: Next week, Councilmember Pinto is hosting two Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety hearings on a number of key public safety. Learn more about how to sign up to testify here!
Want to know how the budget process works? Check out this infographic below to learn more:
In the last few weeks, Councilmember Pinto and Team Pinto have been out and about in Ward 2 and across the city including to:
- Celebrate the arts and culture at the Building Museum
- Uplift local businesses at the District Bridges’ Neon Party
- Enjoy the beautiful Cherry Blossoms and attend the festival opening ceremony
- Meet with DC PAVE (Parents Amplifying Voices in Education) about key budget priorities
- Discuss budget priorities with the DC Coalition Against Domestic Violence
- Visit the DC Peace Academy to hear directly from violence interrupters about what they need to be successful at preventing and deterring violence
- Tour Garrison Elementary School to discuss opportunities and challenges at the school
- Play in the Georgetown Law annual Home Court Charity Basketball Game, a tradition Councilmember Pinto participated in as a student that brings professors and elected officials together to support the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless
- Celebrate the opening of the “We Who Believe in Freedom: Black Feminist DC” exhibit at MLK Library
- Attend a community walk with residents and businesses in the 600 block of T Street NW
- Meet with Main Streets leaders to discuss budget priorities
- Attend ANC 2F’s monthly meeting
- Meet with Moms Demand Action community leaders about reducing gun violence in our communities
- Attend BuildWithin’s tech apprenticeship graduation
Washington Blade: Bill calls for designating D.C. street in honor of gay former slave. “‘Beginning in the 1880s, William Dorsey Swann ran a group known as the ‘House of Swann’ and organized balls, largely attended by queer, formerly enslaved men who would gather to dance and cross dress,’ according to Pinto’s statement, which she released on Feb. 28 at the time she and the other Council members introduced the bill.”
DCist: Bowser Proposes MPD Take Over Functions Of D.C.’s Troubled Crime Lab. “‘I am concerned — there’s a reason that these services are provided and offered under a separate agency,’ Pinto said of Bowser’s changes. ‘It is important that there is a level of independence for the folks who are coming to the crime scene, collecting evidence, and testing that evidence.’”
DCist: Bowser Offers Bigger Tax Breaks For Office-To-Housing Conversions In Downtown, But Critics Question Value. “Councilmember Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2), who introduced her own downtown-focused bill last month known as the Recovery Act, says she’s supportive of Bowser’s broad goals, but thinks the city needs to focus on ideas other than just tax breaks to spur the transformation of downtown. ‘I am happy that downtown revitalization and recovery are central to the mayor’s strategy for the city. I think we’re aligned that it needs to be a focus, and that we need to be providing incentives for these types of conversions because they’re so costly,’ she said. ‘But I think the Recovery Act is a much broader, more comprehensive blueprint that provides multiple different tools, whether it’s tax incentives, grants, or prioritizations for things like child care and safety.’”
Team Pinto is going on neighborhood walks with each of our amazing Ward 2 Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners! This week, we’re highlighting ANC 2B02 and Commissioner Jeff Rueckgauer. Victoria from Team Pinto met with Commissioner Rueckgauer to walk ANC 2B02 in the Dupont Circle neighborhood. They discussed the Dupont Deckover project, traffic concerns, and needed improvements to the efficiency and effectiveness of 311. If you live in ANC 2B02, you can reach Commissioner Rueckgauer at 2B02@anc.dc.gov.
Did you know? ANC 2B02 is home to The Phillips Collection, America’s first museum of modern art.
- Just as we’re enjoying the warmer weather, so are rats and other rodents. Here are some simple and straightforward steps you can take to help reduce rodent activity in your neighborhood! To report rodent complaints, please call or text 311 or download the DC311 app. Learn more: https://dchealth.dc.gov/page/rodent-control-tips-residents
- Announcements from the Department of Public Works: Residents are asked to observe posted street sweeping hours. Vehicles in violation of posted parking restrictions will be subject to $45 fines and a $100 relocation fee. The Sidewalk Shoveling Exemption is now available for District residents who are 65 years or older or have a medically recognized disability. Registration will open on April 10, 2023, and closes September 30, 2023. Residents may apply for the Sidewalk Shoveling Exemption at dpw.dc.gov. DPW’s Helping Hand Program will lend tool kits that include rakes, brooms, shovels, and trash bags for groups planning neighborhood clean-ups. A $20 refundable deposit is required for tool kits. Visit dpw.dc.gov for more information or to schedule your neighborhood cleanup.
- MPD is hosting Easter activities this weekend! Check out the schedule below for a “Hop with a Cop” event near you!
