Five of the six candidates for Ward 7 DC Council. Images provided by candidate's campaigns.

In March, we introduced the candidates in the Ward 7 council race: incumbent councilmember and former mayor Vince Gray, and his challengers, ANC commissioners Kelvin Brown and Anthony Lorenzo Green, attorney Veda Rasheed, James Jennings, and Rebecca Morris.

The District faces a housing crisis, transit equity challenges, as well as an ongoing pandemic. We wanted to see what candidates have to say about the issues impacting the ward, city, and region.

As part of GGWash’s endorsement process for the 2020 DC Council elections, we’re running responses to our questionnaire, which was sent to candidates in contested races in Ward 4, Ward 7, Ward 8, and for the Democratic at-large seat (we already endorsed Patrick Kennedy in Ward 2).

As always, our endorsements will rest on who we think is most likely to best represent our interests, which include frequent, reliable transportation; accessible, affordable housing; and the land-use policies needed to support and expand both.

Gray, Brown, and Morris responded to our questionnaire; we received no response from Green, Rasheed, or Jennings.

Given Gray’s career, and depth of experience, his record on housing and transportation is clearest, and his responses include notable support for dedicated bike and pedestrian infrastructure. Overall, the responses from the three candidates below are mixed: Though clearly passionate about Ward 7, Morris is not particularly in favor of our view that the city needs more housing, while Brown supports citywide housing targets but not necessarily dedicated infrastructure.

The DC primary is June 2. Given the uncertainty of the coronavirus, all voters should request mail-in ballots as soon as possible. You can do this using the iOS or Android apps, which let you sign using your finger; print and then scan/email, fax, or mail a form you can automatically fill or fill by hand; or call 202-727-2525 or email dcabsentee@vote4dc.com to get a request form in the mail.

Gray, Brown, and Morris’ unabridged responses are below.

1. Do you support building more housing in DC? In particular, do you support the Mayor’s goals to add 36,000 units of housing by 2025? Would you support a more ambitious target than 36,000 new units of housing?

Kelvin Brown: I support building more affordable housing across the District. I also support the Mayor’s goal of adding 36,000 new units by 2025. However, our work to address this important issue must also include expanding rent control by eliminating the 1972 rule and setting

protections to help preserve housing and allow neighbors to age in place.

Vince Gray: Yes, I do support building more housing in DC and I support the Mayor’s goal to add 36,000 units of housing by 2025. This may require the use of height to create more density. In that regard, we need to have greater control over zoning decisions. When I was Mayor, I was promised by a ranking member of the House of Representatives that he would work to have that authority given to the District of Columbia.

As Mayor, in FY 2014, we began an annual investment of $100 million for affordable housing, with $287 million invested in the second year. Also, as Council Chairman, I introduced legislation, which was approved, to require that after the District reached 60 days cash-on-hand in its fund balance, that 50% of additional surpluses would be dedicated annually to the Housing Production Trust Fund. As a result of this legislation, the Housing Production Trust Fund will receive an additional $161.8 million this year prior to the Coronavirus pandemic. We must ensure that this historic level of investment in affordable housing is used effectively to create new units and to preserve the existing supply of affordable units through strategies such as the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA). Finally, we must safeguard that affordable housing funds are allocated to development projects through a fair and competitive process. As Ward 7 Councilmember, I would also support a more ambitious target than 36,000 new housing units, assuming the resources are available post COVID-19.

Rebecca Morris: DC does not have an issue with the amount of homes in the city, we have an issue with pricing. We currently have plenty of new apartments throughout the city, that have been built years ago and are still unfilled because housing is unaffordable. We should focus on building things such as hospitals, grocery stores, and other necessities in all wards to be able to accommodate the citizens we already have.


2. Do you support increased protections for pedestrians, such as those within the Vision Zero Enhancement Omnibus Amendment Act, which would reduce speed limits, ban right turns on red, and increase investments in sidewalks? What else would you do to increase pedestrian safety?

Kelvin Brown: I support portions of the Vision Zero Enhancement Omnibus Amendment Act and I’m committed to finding the best solutions to protect pedestrians, cyclists and motorists.

Vince Gray: Yes. I am a co-sponsor of the Vision Zero Enhancement Omnibus Amendment Act. Many of the provisions provided for in the act were adopted from transit plans in the Sustainable DC Plan, a program started during my tenure as mayor. I would look to the District’s Pedestrian Advisory Council and other international and metropolitan cities for additional best practices to increase pedestrian safety.

Rebecca Morris: I am not opposed to the bill, but I do believe there is a middle ground to this Act. I don’t believe we should place a ban on right turns, I do believe placing cross walk lights every busy road makes a huge difference for those who are trying to cross the street and cars not abiding by the rules to stop for pedestrians. Investments in sidewalks are would be great for the safety of pedestrians.


3. Would you support removing on-street parking for dedicated infrastructure, such as bus lanes and bike lanes? If not, why not? If yes, can you give an example of where you would remove parking for a bus or bike lane?

Kelvin Brown: I do not support removing on-street parking for dedicated infrastructure.

Vince Gray: Yes, I do support removing on-street parking for dedicated infrastructure, such as bus lanes and bike lanes. During my Mayoral administration, the District’s Department of Transportation led Move DC, a bold, but implementation-focused long-range transportation plan. The plan identified a future high capacity transit network, including dedicated transit lanes. I will continue to support implementation of a plan that creates crosstown transitways in the District. With a rapidly growing population, it is imperative that we continue to work toward getting more people out of automobiles, a longtime focus of mine.

In addition to bus lanes, I believe protected bike lanes provide safe, visible routes for cyclists separated from car traffic. With the District’s increasing population, it is important that we have alternative transportation methods, especially those that encourage and support transportation by means other than a personal vehicle. Protected bike lanes are critical to the District’s growth; cars will take up too much space in a city that could soon be home to over 800,000 residents.

I and several of my Council colleagues signed a letter expressing support for the overall effort of building more protected bike lanes in the near future. Building protected bike lanes is important but such efforts must engage stakeholders like our religious communities, many of which have a longstanding presence in our city. We share our city and by working together we can achieve more.

Rebecca Morris: No, a person who has the skill of driving a bus or riding a bike should know how to move around a parked car. There is enough room on the road for all three to exist.


4. Many developers in DC have gone through the Planned Unit Development process in order to add additional density beyond what is allowed by the zoning code. In exchange, PUDs must provide amenities like affordable housing or improved public space. But PUDs also take a long time and are subject to lawsuits, which ultimately makes the housing that they do deliver more expensive than it could be. How, if at all, would you improve this process?

Kelvin Brown: I will work with DCRA to curb illegal pop-ups and pop-backs.

Vince Gray: During the process to revise the Framework Element of the Comprehensive Plan, the Council heard many concerns about how the PUD process is broken. The Council approved language in the Framework Element of the Comprehensive Plan to prioritize affordable housing and minimization of resident relocation and displacement. I support efforts to improve the PUD process so that it functions in a way more in accordance with how it was intended.

Rebecca Morris: If we plan better, the process will better. I would like to have all the zoning codes taken care of prior to building. Poor planning tends to lead to long projects and lawsuits.


5. Councilmember Charles Allen recently proposed that DC provide most residents with up to $100 per month on their SmarTrip cards. Would you support it? If not, why not? What changes would you make to the bill?

Kelvin Brown: I support the intent of this legislation, however there is more work to be done to justify the need over other key safety net issues.

Vince Gray: Yes, I support the intent of the bill. However, I co-sponsored rather than co-introduced this transit bill because the funding mechanism for Councilmember Allen’s bill would strip necessary funding away from my Birth-to-Three legislation. Since we passed the Birth-to-Three for All D.C. Amendment Act of 2018, I have publicly committed to supporters of the Birth-to-Three movement that I would do everything I could to fully fund the $300 million cost of this landmark early-childhood education legislation over the next several years. One of the important tools I have spoken about for funding Birth-to-Three is using additional revenue that the Chief Financial Officer often certifies throughout the year. I had committed on many different occasions to try using this approach during this budget cycle. Therefore, while I am excited to support dedicating 50% of additional revenue to Councilmember Allen’s transit bill, I can’t support 100% of the revenue going to the transit bill, because this would likely cause Birth-to-Three to be without sufficient funding to fully implement all components for several years.

Currently, the District of Columbia is the nation’s leader with the most progressive and comprehensive universal early childhood education initiative for three and four-year olds.

We now have the opportunity to do the same thing for our youngest minds. We can get all of our children into high-quality childcare that provides a stimulating and enriching learning environment during the most important years of intellectual development. We can ensure that no family in the District pays more than 10% of their income on quality childcare. We can do all this if we have the political will to put the financial resources needed into funding Birth-to-Three.

Rebecca Morris: I think the idea is great and would support it, but I would believe its best for those who make below $35,000 a year, because they are the citizens who need it the most.


6. The DC housing market’s growth has been uneven and particularly concentrated in certain neighborhoods. Do you support the mayor’s goal to set production targets in each area of the city to evenly disperse new housing?

Kelvin Brown: I support the Mayor’s goal to set production targets across the city.

Vince Gray: Yes.

Rebecca Morris: As I’ve stated before DC does not have a numerical unit housing issue, we have an affordability issue. We need to focus on bringing necessities to our city. As a person who lives in the Minnesota/Benning Road area, and uses public transit daily the area currently has great bus and train routes, we do not need anything extra unless it consist of a free bus.


7. Would you encourage growth along transit corridors, such as Minnesota Avenue and Benning Road? If not, where would you prefer?

Kelvin Brown: Smart growth and mixed use development are important components that help build self-sustaining communities. Deanwood metro station is an example of a location where smart growth could work.

Vince Gray: Yes, except that we need to be very careful establishing even dispersal as a criterion in order not to disrupt established housing patterns simply for the sake of adding more housing. I was involved in a discussion recently where the conversation focused on changing longstanding zoning patterns to create more housing such as making existing housing smaller in some neighborhoods for establishing more housing units in particular areas. I encourage growth along transit corridors. In fact, much of the growth we already see along Minnesota Ave. and Benning Rd. is a byproduct of efforts I led. And there are more projects happening now and, in the pipeline, too. Some examples of these are the proposed modernization of the East River Shopping Center where parcels of the East and West side of Minnesota Avenue have been purchased and merged for development.

Rebecca Morris: Morris combined her answer to this question with the answer provided above.


8. Much of DC’s public housing, such as Lincoln Heights, is in disrepair. However, renovating or redeveloping this housing has historically meant disrupting the lives of its residents, if not outright displacing them. What, if anything, would you change about DC, and DCHA’s, redevelopment plans?

Kelvin Brown: On the Council, I will introduce and work to advance legislation that extends a wide cadre of services to assist families in public housing experiencing displacement due to renovation or redevelopment.

Vince Gray: Lincoln Heights is one of four District public housing communities slated for redevelopment into mixed-use, mixed income neighborhoods under the New Communities Initiative. This initiative, established in 2005, was designed to revitalize severely distressed public and subsidized housing with the understanding that concentrated poverty is not in keeping with best practices. However, program flaws created considerable implementation challenges.

During my Mayoral Administration, the District commissioned a team of affordable-housing experts who evaluated the program and made several key recommendations to strengthen the program. Among these recommendations were redevelopment timelines and financing requirements. Programs such as this initiative, if implemented effectively, would provide livable, healthy, affordable and dignified housing for some of the District’s most vulnerable population and would ease the strain on the District’s current public housing stock.

I believe the District needs to make strategic decisions in affordable housing that ensure the investments we are making with taxpayer resources are spent wisely to target those who most need our help, particularly seniors and other vulnerable populations. Finally, we must safeguard that affordable housing funds are allocated to development projects through a fair, equitable, and competitive process.

Rebecca Morris: If redevelopment is the plan, we should have places already set up for people who specifically live in Lincoln Heights to move into that’s within DC. The city often provides vouchers for people, and citizens often scramble because a lot of places do not take the vouchers. Evicting people out of public housing for renovations makes it the cities responsibility.


9. Mayor Bowser has said she would like Washington’s NFL team to return to the RFK site, which is located in Ward 7. Do you support or oppose building a new football stadium at the site? Would you support or oppose taxpayer subsidies for a stadium? If not a stadium, what else would you do with land around RFK?

Kelvin Brown: I would like Washington’s NFL team to return to RFK with a comprehensive community benefits agreement.

Vince Gray: I do not support bringing Washington’s NFL team back to DC until the team has a new name. Period. Were the team to change its name, I do not support using taxpayers’ money to fund the building of a stadium. When I was Mayor, the current team owner told me he would pay for construction of a new stadium but in the time since many neighborhood-friendly amenities have been erected at the RFK site. So, given the objectionable name and these new features, I no longer support a stadium at the RFK site.

The RFK area, much of which is in Ward 7, should be re-developed with many uses in mind i.e. affordable housing, job-creating commercial and retail spaces and parklands.

Rebecca Morris: I am not opposed to a new football stadium, if members of ward 7 would benefit most from it being here, meaning a percentage of each ticket and merchandise sold goes back into our community instead of a lump sum spent over a few years.


10. Do you support funding the DC Streetcar to extend east to Benning Road Metro in Ward 7? What other infrastructure to improve access to jobs, schools, and businesses would you support funding?

Kelvin Brown: While River Terrace residents have united and voiced opposition to this street car, I am also concerned about the cost of the project and the timeline for completion.

Vince Gray: Yes, but for any long-standing project like this one, I would want to hear from the community.

Rebecca Morris: No. We already have busses through out our neighborhoods, we should utilize our busses because they are quicker, the current streetcar that moves on H st moves very slow and adds on to daily traffic. When speaking to citizens on a daily basis, many will say that the streetcar was a horrible idea from the beginning.


11. What steps would you take to bring neighborhood retail, like grocery stores, to Ward 7? What other sorts of retail do you think Ward 7 needs?

Kelvin Brown: I would work with the Ward 7 Business Partnership and other key organizations to convene our community around the types of development that they are interested in having joint our neighborhood.

Vince Gray: Historically, the most disadvantaged and neglected part of the District has been the East End of the city. It deserves the kind of intensive economic, educational, infrastructure, and human-services investment that other parts of the District have seen in recent years. Since my return to office, I have introduced three economic development bills that are focused on bringing high quality, healthy food choices, retail and sit-down restaurants to Ward 7. The Council has passed all three bills.

One bill enhances tax incentives at nine targeted sites in Wards 7 and 8, (six of which are in Ward 7) while requiring 50% of the eligible businesses’ full-time employees to be District residents. The second bill lowers the commercial real property tax on the East End.

The third bill established the East End Grocery and Retail Construction Incentive program, whereby the District would pay for the bricks-and-mortar construction of new full-service grocery stores, retail shopping, and sit-down restaurant businesses at the targeted sites in the Ward.

Currently, for over 70,000 Ward 7 residents, there are only two full-service grocery stores. Additionally, more than three-quarters of the District’s food deserts are on the East End of the city, including Ward 7. To help end this food injustice, I introduced Bill 22-207, which is now law, called the “East End Grocery Incentive Act of 2018. This legislation created the East End Grocery and Retail Incentive Program within the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) to eliminate food deserts in Wards 7 and 8. The legislation also sought to fund nine large shovel-ready parcel sites in Wards 7 and 8 for development that would include full-service grocery stores, co-anchor retail, and a sit-down restaurant. Six of the nine sites are in Ward 7. The law states that the Grocery Incentive Act program “shall be funded “from the District surpluses after the District reached 60 days cash-on-hand, which it recently did, as verified in the District’s Comprehensive Financial Audit (CAFR). This means up to $161.8 million can now be appropriated to ending food deserts in Wards 7 and 8 through the construction of full-service grocery stores.

Rebecca Morris: I would like to see Ward 7 to have Eastern Market style grocery shops. Many citizens of Ward 7 shop with the Miller Farm at RFK stadium each Saturday morning to receive the freshest veggies and fruits. The DMV area is surrounded by farmers, we should have our local farmers selling their goods in markets throughout the city. This is not only a simple thing to do, but we would also have the access the healthier veggies and meats without breaking the bank.

Many members of Ward 7 have businesses on the side, that are not registered with DC, I would like to have more business forums and workshops so that Ward 7 Citizens would open up restaurants, clothing stores, barber shops, and salons.

Alex Baca is the DC Policy Director at GGWash. Previously the engagement director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth and the general manager of Cuyahoga County's bikesharing system, she has also worked in journalism, bike advocacy, architecture, construction, and transportation in DC, San Francisco, and Cleveland. She has written about all of the above for CityLab, Slate, Vox, Washington City Paper, and other publications.