At large Councilmember Robert White. Photo courtesy of the candidate's campaign.

In February, we introduced the three candidates in the Democratic at-large race: Nathan Brown, Tyrone Carmichael, and incumbent Robert White. GGWash endorsed White in previous races. While on the Council, White has made education, affordable housing, workforce development, and aiding returning citizens his focus.

As DC grapples with a housing crisis, transit equity issues, and income inequality, we wanted to see how candidates weighed in on these and other important issues.

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.

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.

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.

Brown and Carmichael did not submit petitions to the Board of Elections to qualify for the ballot. White is therefore the only candidate in the at-large Democratic primary. Here’s what he had to say:

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?

Yes, I do support building more housing in the District, the goal of 36,000 units by 2025, and going beyond 36,000.

Housing has been a top policy focus for me. Last year, I took on a leadership role as Chair of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments Board of Directors. I pushed hard to address the housing crisis, and along with my Maryland and Virginia counterparts, I led the Board in a unanimous passage of a resolution committing the region to build 320,000 new housing units over the next ten years.

We can all agree that there is no program or combination of programs that will sufficiently address our backlog of affordable housing. We have to build or create new housing, with a focus on affordable housing and workforce housing.

I’ve been pushing the DC government to work with office building owners who own older, vacant office buildings to convert them into affordable housing. And now, as Chair of the Committee on Facilities and Procurement, I am pushing agencies to formally identify unused District properties. If re-elected, I would like to work to transfer unused government properties to organizations that can develop affordable housing.

2. 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? Would you encourage further growth along transit corridors? If not, where would you prefer?

Yes. New housing should be evenly dispersed.

I know that many residents don’t like a lot of change in their neighborhoods. People don’t want construction crews on their streets or they are concerned about their neighborhood losing its character, but the reality is that we each have to do our part to address the housing crisis. We really have to commit, as a city, to solving this crisis, especially some of the more low-density areas that have a history of excluding affordable housing programs.

I support zoning changes that are necessary in order to open up new housing opportunities. We have to increase density and we can not concentrate it in just specific areas of the city. Without more housing throughout our city, we will continue to see rent and home prices rise.

And yes, I do support more growth along transit corridors. As we increase density and work to slow down displacement, we have to be conscious of the impacts that it can have on our transit system. We don’t want residents to feel that they must purchase a vehicle in order to get around conveniently and reliably. More housing around transit corridors would encourage the use of public transportation.

3. Much of DC’s public housing 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, such as the New Communities Initiative led by DMPED and DCHA?

Residents are generally distrustful of any redevelopment of public housing, and understandably so, considering the District has yet to get it right. When I began my term of Council, the redevelopment of Barry Farm was a big topic. I went to visit several units, and the conditions were terrible. Many complaints had long gone unaddressed, and the units I saw had clearly been neglected. Yet, some residents did not want to leave - and that speaks to the level of distrust. Residents do not have faith that they will be able to return to their community.

However, I do believe that we can improve living conditions and increase density without displacing residents. If we look at New Communities as an example, I believe the concept has the potential to work and that the failure has been in the execution.

One of the issues that we are constantly running into is the need for larger units. This was another reason that some residents did not want to leave Barry Farm. They were worried about going from a 3-bedroom unit to a 1-bedroom. It’s incredibly difficult to find an affordable 2 or 3 bedroom unit for a family. Developers in the past have said that it’s too expensive to build those units, and we end up with buildings that have all studio or 1 bedroom affordable units just to meet the requirements. While there are some legislative tools we can take to increase the number of 2- and 3-bedroom units into agreements, we have to work with DMPED and DCHA as we increase density, to fund and require larger units that can accomodate families.

4. 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?

Yes, I co-introduced and continue to support the Vision Zero Omnibus legislation.

Increasing pedestrian safety has to be tackled from a few different angles, but I think a very important, yet underrated issue, is the number of unmarked crosswalks and how long it takes to address them. We’ve all been tempted to grab a can of paint and go out there and fix them ourselves. There is a lot of red tape or wait time for what is seemingly a simple work order. This is low-hanging fruit that can save lives. So, as we are working on the implementation of the larger parts of the legislation, we also need to address the issues that aren’t legislative but are just as critical to making our streets safer for pedestrians.

5. 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?

I know that there will be times where we will lose on-street parking to be able to increase transit options and infrastructure. I have supported since before my time on the Council, and continue to support, expanding our bicycle infrastructure. With oversight of WMATA under my committee jurisdiction, I have also been vocal about the need to expand dedicated bus lanes. To be specific, we need a dedicated bus lane on 16th Street.

Last month at a Council legislative meeting, I spoke in support of the 9th Street bike lane project. I realize that for this particular project, there was a compromise that allowed the allotted number of parking spaces to remain the same. This was important there because parking is a vital issue that affects and sometimes displaces places of worship.

We have seen churches that were here over a hundred years ago displaced by development and parking. The very institutions that the Black community has relied on during really tough times - Jim Crow, the Civil Rights era, the more recently the Black Lives Matter movement - are struggling to keep their place in our community. So when we talk about infrastructure, we have to recognize that sometimes a parking issue is larger than the few 9 x 18 spots. This means building more relationships in communities and working through tough issues together. This is a place where I have tried to lead and will continue trying to lead.

When we do have these conversations about changing infrastructure, the goal is not only to bring everyone to the table, but to have respect for each affected community’s perspective. We cannot allow ourselves to get gridlocked. We’ve seen how ineffective that has rendered our federal legislature, and the harm that it causes constituents. The worst thing that we can do, and what will continue to slow progress on public transit and safety efforts is to exacerbate the tension between communities.

6. 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?

With our new housing targets, and the goal to increase density, PUDs continue to be a key tool to increase the amount of housing and the amount of affordable housing. There is a clear need for community input, and even opposition, but we cannot allow every project to get held up by people who have a philosophical opposition.

In the Comprehensive Plan, we have to protect the rights of residents to have a voice in development in their neighborhoods. We can do this by adding clarity on standing to oppose a project. Concerns with gentrification or other neighborhood-specific concerns can and should be addressed within the Comp Plan and with our Zoning Commission, and not in federal courts with judges that are not directly accountable to District residents.

7. Councilmember Charles Allen recently proposed that DC provide most residents with up to $100 per month on their SmarTrip cards. Should you serve on the council, it’s likely that you’ll have the chance to vote on this legislation. Would you support it? If not, why not? What changes would you make to the bill?

Yes, I co-introduced the legislation, and as Chair of the committee that has oversight of WMATA, I gave my full support.

There was initially a bit of pushback on having this benefit available to everyone, rather than a merit-based program; however, I think it’s absolutely necessary that it be extended to everyone.

Public transportation is not just for low-income residents, and we should be careful to not stigmatize or frame the use of public transit. We know that increasing the number of people that use public transit has great environmental benefits, so we should be pushing as many people as possible to use our transit system.

8. Do you support the Mayor’s decision to declare the sidewalks along K Street NE under the railroad tracks “pedestrian passageways” and permanently clear the sidewalks of persons experiencing homelessness? What, if anything, would you change about how the city performs the periodic clearing and cleaning of sidewalks that have become the site of similar encampments?

As a city, it is important that we don’t forget that when we are discussing encampments, the tents, or clearings, that we are talking about people. Many of us recognize the health and safety risks of an increasing number of people living in close proximity under an underpass. So I understand why the sidewalk was declared a pedestrian passageway.

But we have a fundamental problem when so many residents facing homelessness prefer to sleep outside under an underpass rather than in our shelters. The state of our shelters for residents without families is sad. Just as we have rebuilt shelters for families, we now have to do the same for residents without families.

As a more short term measure, any time the city has to take an action in the name of health or safety that displaces homeless residents, we must make sure that action is coupled with housing and mental health resources.

9. DC had an over $300 million surplus last fiscal year, which went to funding a rainy day fund, affordable housing, and infrastructure projects. Would you change anything about the current DC budget? How would you support using the District’s budget surplus for DC’s affordable housing and transit needs?

Now more than ever, we are seeing the value in the District having a full surplus. It has allowed us to have an immediate response to the COVID-19 public health emergency. We have been able to do much more than other jurisdictions so far.

We can’t yet predict the extent of the impact that the public health emergency may have on our economy and our upcoming budget. However, there is no doubt that housing will still need to be a priority for major investments, particularly for low- and moderate-income residents. We have close to 40,000 residents that have filed for unemployment within the last 2 weeks, and those benefits are not going to be as much as most residents may have been earning before. We don’t want anyone to lose their housing, and so I would like to see us expand the Emergency Rental Assistance Program.

In terms of transit, we may see some impacts to WMATA’s budget and so I think the priority for the District will be to be prepared to fill in any gaps that may result in barriers to accessible and reliable public transit.

10. The District continues to face significant income inequality. What specifically do you think the District should do to close this gap?

While the District has taken the important step of raising the minimum wage, we all recognize that it is not a living wage. We can continue to raise the wage, but residents will not feel any relief if we aren’t prioritizing equitable solutions to the cost-heavy burdens.

I’ve discussed affordable housing in previous questions, but it’s worth mentioning again that the cost of housing in the District is really widening the gap. We have a dangerously small middle-class according to our Chief Financial Officer in our recent Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. We have to be able to keep our moderate-income residents and families in the city or we will continue to pour millions of dollars into benefits programs that sustain people but do not lift them up.

Income inequality has had an intractable impact on the health of people of color in the District. With a lack of access to health care facilities and primary care physicians east of the river, the problem continues to compound. This means when people do get to a doctor, their conditions are worse and harder to treat. I will continue to advocate for a full hospital east of the river and more amenities and programs that prevent hospital visits in the first place.

The opportunity gap in our schools aligns in a sad way with income inequality. We have to push harder for improvements in our education system and increase wrap-around services to help students work through serious trauma. Many low-income students of color see education as a way to break generational cycles - I know that I did. But it is up to the adults to make the system work for our students.

I am committed to continuing to address the systemic issues that we have been trying for so long to navigate around or fixing with short-term solutions.

Thank you for your consideration.

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.