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March 18, 2025

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Email Commissioner Cava at 4D04@anc.dc.gov. 

Peak bloom is coming soon! My personal favorite spot to go to see cherry blossoms is at the National Arboretum. Let me know if you have a favorite tree in the neighborhood!

Happy March, neighbors!

It's been a challenging time to be a District resident these last few weeks, with the federal government coming for our job force, our local policies, and finally a huge chunk of our budget (that consists of our OWN, not federal, tax dollars). What was exciting was the huge upwelling of residents, elected officials, and organizers fighting back last week to preserve our own autonomy in spending our own budget dollars. The fight's not over yet and there will be more to come, but it was exhilarating to participate in making dozens of calls to Congress and get (so far) a great step in the right direction during so much otherwise bad news. Learn more about what happened from the Post (gift link) and NBC, and read below about how you can get involved.

Also, I'm excited that my "Bottle Bill" resolution passed last month! It's in support of Bill B26-0058, The District Recycling Refund and Litter Reduction Act of 2025, introduced by Councilmember Nadeau on January 15th. You can read more about the bill on the 3RC website (Return, Refund, and Recycle Coalition), and CM Nadeau's webpage also provides background information on the bill. This Post article lays out not only what the bill would do, but the important community-organizing work that has gone into supporting this effort this time around. Read the resolution as passed here.

Get Involved in the Neighborhood

This month, I'm highlighting two ways to give back and get involved in the neighborhood. 

Project Petworth March 22 Cleanup

On Saturday, March 22nd at 9am, Project Petworth is organizing an all-day spring cleaning event around the entire Petworth neighborhood. Bring trash bags, gloves, trash pickers, a dustpan and broom, and lots of friends to welcome in the spring season and help keep our neighborhood beautiful. You can RSVP for the 2025 Petworth Spring Clean event on Facebook or Eventbrite and remember to spread the word!

Free DC Ward 4 Kickoff Event

Food, community, and celebrations have been important parts of every freedom movement to build the strength and resilience we need to persevere through darkness. We’ll need those practices now more than ever, and on March 30 everyone in the Ward 4 community is invited to put them into action!

Join Free DC’s Ward 4 team for a Community Kickoff on Sunday, March 30, 1-3 pm at Rhizome DC (6950 Maple St NW). We’ll have activities, music, a chance to learn about the campaign, and time to be together. Members of Free DC who live in Ward 4 will be there to welcome you, help you connect with neighbors, and have a great time! Click here to register: https://freedcproject.org/event-list/ward-4-community-kickoff

Check out the new Food Waste dropoff bin in front of the Petworth library!

Please be in touch!

You can reach me at 4D04@anc.dc.gov, or call or text (202) 503-9141. Please reach out any time with ideas, questions, or to share about something DC government is doing right or needs to fix. I will do my best to find the right person to help with your concern.

Protect Our City and Our Neighbors

Our District leaders, broad coalitions of community groups, and individual neighbors, residents, students, and parents all showed up on Capitol Hill last week to push back against the poison-pill provision in the House spending bill stripping DC of our authority to spend almost $1 billion of our own tax dollars. In the end, the bill passed the Senate without a fix, but the Senate then passed a stand-alone bill that would return control of our current year budget to DC. We are now waiting on the House to pass a similar bill and the President to sign it - so more advocacy is needed! Free DC continues to be a great place to organize, including being phenomenal community leaders in the budget fight last week and now. Definitely get involved with Free DC to find out how you can help support the ongoing budget battle for our $1 billion, so we don't have to lay off teachers, firefighters, police officers, community health workers, and more! Sign up for their news at https://freedcproject.org/.   Resources for Federal Workers: Tonight @ 5 pm: Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes-Norton is holding a Telephone Town Hall for District Federal workers. Tuesday, March 18, 2025, Time 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm. Pinless participant dial in (833) 408-1990. Also streaming URL: http://norton.house.gov/live Mayor Bowser has set up a new website with resources for federal workers losing their jobs. Visit fedsupport.dc.gov. You can use this website to get information about enrolling in health care through DC Health Link, to learn more about Unemployment Insurance, to find mental health resources, and more.  The Mayor recently had a Town Hall to introduce these initiatives, you can watch it here and read through the situational update here. I'll continue to share resources about other groups organizing to defend DC in future newsletters. We can engage in this fight with joy and without fear - and we each can make a difference!

That's it for this edition. If you have questions, concerns, problems with District services, ideas for improving Petworth, or something you would like me to update or write about, drop me an email to let me know!

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