Voting extended!

Residents of Wards 4, 5, and 7 are invited to vote on the subject for a future commemorative work from now until Friday, September 1. The DC Office of Planning previously accepted nominations for commemorative works subjects and has now prepared information on each as well as a dedicated website for each ward to vote on. The selected subject will be the focus of artists and consultants hired by the Office of Planning to prepare a concept design of a work, with additional community feedback and updates informing the final design.

Read about the nominations and vote at https://publicinput.com/cwtap#4 by September 1, 2023.

Ward 4 Nominations

• DC Caribbean Carnival on Georgia Avenue – Long-standing celebration held on Georgia Avenue NW showcasing the traditions and culture of the Caribbean islands.

• Founding of DC Youth Orchestra – Organization providing access to musical training and the first youth orchestra to play at the Kennedy Center.

• Highway Revolts – Integrated coalition of activists who prevented the construction of a highway system through DC.

• Vanilla Beane – An influential milliner and small business owner who was inducted into the National Association of Fashion and Accessory Designers Hall of Fame.

• Neighbors Inc. – Actively fought against discriminatory real estate practices and promoted integrated communities in DC.

• Stephen Whatley – ANC Commissioner and veteran who fought for community participation in the redevelopment of Walter Reed.

• United Blacks Against Discrimination (U-BAD) – Organization that protested working conditions and racial inequality at Walter Reed.

Ward 5 Nominations

• Dr. Alexander Augusta – First African American medical professor and hospital leader in the US, highest-ranking African American officer in the Union Army, and civil rights activist.

• Charles L. Bryant and Robert E. Bryant – Founders of the oldest Black owned architecture firm in the US and mentors to young architects and engineers.

• Empower DC – Citywide non-profit focused on strengthening low-income Black communities.

• Enslaved People Who Built the U.S. Capitol – Recognition of enslaved people forced to construct the Capitol.

• Founding of Dance Place – Community institution providing access to movement arts regardless of means or background.

• Hurd v. Hodge – Landmark Supreme Court case that struck down racial covenants in DC.

• Integration of Lamond-Riggs Citizens Association – First integrated community association in DC and influential force fighting highways and advocating for Metro.

• Lillian Huff – Community and Democratic political activist who served as the chair of the first Statehood Convention and was appointed to the White House Conference on Libraries and Information Services.

• Mary Jane Patterson – First African American woman to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in the US and a prominent DC educator.

• Shirley Horn – Grammy Award winning singer who performed at the White House, was honored by Congress, and named to the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters.

• Sterling Allen Brown – Renowned poet considered an integral part of the Harlem Renaissance and DC’s first Poet Laureate.

Residents of Wards 4, 5, and 7 are invited to vote on the subject for a future commemorative work from now until Friday, August 25. The DC Office of Planning previously accepted nominations for commemorative works subjects and has now prepared information on each as well as a dedicated website for each ward to vote on. The selected subject will be the focus of artists and consultants hired by the Office of Planning to prepare a concept design of a work, with additional community feedback and updates informing the final design.

Read about the nominations and vote at https://publicinput.com/cwtap#4 by August 25, 2023.

Ward 4 Nominations

• DC Caribbean Carnival on Georgia Avenue – Long-standing celebration held on Georgia Avenue NW showcasing the traditions and culture of the Caribbean islands.

• Founding of DC Youth Orchestra – Organization providing access to musical training and the first youth orchestra to play at the Kennedy Center.

• Highway Revolts – Integrated coalition of activists who prevented the construction of a highway system through DC.

• Vanilla Beane – An influential milliner and small business owner who was inducted into the National Association of Fashion and Accessory Designers Hall of Fame.

• Neighbors Inc. – Actively fought against discriminatory real estate practices and promoted integrated communities in DC.

• Stephen Whatley – ANC Commissioner and veteran who fought for community participation in the redevelopment of Walter Reed.

• United Blacks Against Discrimination (U-BAD) – Organization that protested working conditions and racial inequality at Walter Reed.

Ward 5 Nominations

• Dr. Alexander Augusta – First African American medical professor and hospital leader in the US, highest-ranking African American officer in the Union Army, and civil rights activist.

• Charles L. Bryant and Robert E. Bryant – Founders of the oldest Black owned architecture firm in the US and mentors to young architects and engineers.

• Empower DC – Citywide non-profit focused on strengthening low-income Black communities.

• Enslaved People Who Built the U.S. Capitol – Recognition of enslaved people forced to construct the Capitol.

• Founding of Dance Place – Community institution providing access to movement arts regardless of means or background.

• Hurd v. Hodge – Landmark Supreme Court case that struck down racial covenants in DC.

• Integration of Lamond-Riggs Citizens Association – First integrated community association in DC and influential force fighting highways and advocating for Metro.

• Lillian Huff – Community and Democratic political activist who served as the chair of the first Statehood Convention and was appointed to the White House Conference on Libraries and Information Services.

• Mary Jane Patterson – First African American woman to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in the US and a prominent DC educator.

• Shirley Horn – Grammy Award winning singer who performed at the White House, was honored by Congress, and named to the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters.

• Sterling Allen Brown – Renowned poet considered an integral part of the Harlem Renaissance and DC’s first Poet Laureate.

Residents of Wards 4, 5, and 7 are invited to vote on the subject for a future commemorative work from now until Friday, August 25. The DC Office of Planning previously accepted nominations for commemorative works subjects and has now prepared information on each as well as a dedicated website for each ward to vote on. The selected subject will be the focus of artists and consultants hired by the Office of Planning to prepare a concept design of a work, with additional community feedback and updates informing the final design.

Read about the nominations and vote at https://publicinput.com/cwtap#4 by August 25, 2023.

Ward 4 Nominations

• DC Caribbean Carnival on Georgia Avenue – Long-standing celebration held on Georgia Avenue NW showcasing the traditions and culture of the Caribbean islands.

• Founding of DC Youth Orchestra – Organization providing access to musical training and the first youth orchestra to play at the Kennedy Center.

• Highway Revolts – Integrated coalition of activists who prevented the construction of a highway system through DC.

• Vanilla Beane – An influential milliner and small business owner who was inducted into the National Association of Fashion and Accessory Designers Hall of Fame.

• Neighbors Inc. – Actively fought against discriminatory real estate practices and promoted integrated communities in DC.

• Stephen Whatley – ANC Commissioner and veteran who fought for community participation in the redevelopment of Walter Reed.

• United Blacks Against Discrimination (U-BAD) – Organization that protested working conditions and racial inequality at Walter Reed.

Ward 5 Nominations

• Dr. Alexander Augusta – First African American medical professor and hospital leader in the US, highest-ranking African American officer in the Union Army, and civil rights activist.

• Charles L. Bryant and Robert E. Bryant – Founders of the oldest Black owned architecture firm in the US and mentors to young architects and engineers.

• Empower DC – Citywide non-profit focused on strengthening low-income Black communities.

• Enslaved People Who Built the U.S. Capitol – Recognition of enslaved people forced to construct the Capitol.

• Founding of Dance Place – Community institution providing access to movement arts regardless of means or background.

• Hurd v. Hodge – Landmark Supreme Court case that struck down racial covenants in DC.

• Integration of Lamond-Riggs Citizens Association – First integrated community association in DC and influential force fighting highways and advocating for Metro.

• Lillian Huff – Community and Democratic political activist who served as the chair of the first Statehood Convention and was appointed to the White House Conference on Libraries and Information Services.

• Mary Jane Patterson – First African American woman to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in the US and a prominent DC educator.

• Shirley Horn – Grammy Award winning singer who performed at the White House, was honored by Congress, and named to the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters.

• Sterling Allen Brown – Renowned poet considered an integral part of the Harlem Renaissance and DC’s first Poet Laureate.

Cast your vote to help select a person, place, idea, or event to be honored in DC. DC’s Office of Planning is providing design assistance to residents seeking to bring commemorative works to their communities in Wards 4, 5, and 7. Visit https://publicinput.com/cwtap#4 to read about the nominations and cast your vote by August 25, 2023.

The Ward 4 Community Job Fair is this Saturday, April 22 from 11am-3pm at Coolidge High School (6315 5th Street NW) in partnership with the Jobs Not Guns Coalition and ANC 4B.

The event will include government agencies, trade unions, and local businesses offering jobs, apprenticeships, and job training programs for DC residents.

Registration is encouraged but not required: www.janeeseward4.com/jobs.

Please let your neighbors know.

Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George has submitted her budget request letter to DC Mayor Muriel Bowser. The mayor is expected to share her proposed budget with the DC Council on March 22.

CM Lewis George notes that her budget requests are informed by the neighborhood listening sessions she held over the past couple of months. Her requests are centered around three core themes:

• Investing in city services and infrastructure,
• Building safer and stronger communities, and
• Becoming a more equitable District.

The letter addresses a number of issues such as housing, facilities, support for seniors, behavorial health, and more. Read the full letter.

Items of note to Lamond-Riggs below, copied from the letter.

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Restore programming at Fort Stevens, Lamond, and Petworth Recreation Centers. Over the past year DPR operating hours and programs were cut at several Ward 4 recreation centers, limiting social and recreational opportunities for our seniors and positive, healthy recreation outlets for our youth. Due to staffing challenges, experienced rec center staff were moved from sites where they have strong community ties. DPR must fund additional positions in FY24, offer competitive hiring incentives, and more actively promote the agency’s job openings so it can fully restore hours and programming.

$1 Million to fund the creation of a Riggs Park violence intervention team. I urge you to expand the footprint of the Cure the Streets program at the Office of the Attorney General by establishing a team to serve the Ward 4/Ward 5 Riggs Park neighborhood. Crew violence and turf battles are the primary drivers of violence in our community, including recent shootings and stabbings in Riggs Park. We must augment the capacity of violence interruption outreach to bring long-lasting resolutions to the feuds that plague Riggs-Lamond-Brightwood-Petworth.

Fund a WMATA bus route between Lamond-Riggs and Coolidge High School. Students in the Lamond and Riggs Park communities need safe – and soon to be free – routes to and from school. A new school-hours bus route dedicated to Coolidge High School’s eastern boundaries would help reduce truancy and keep kids from harm’s way of dangerous traffic.

I also urge you to maintain level funding, at a minimum, for the following priorities:

• The Brightwood Park-Petworth Cure the Streets program, and all OAG Cure programs.
• All grants for Ward 4’s Main Streets: The Parks, Upper Georgia Avenue, Uptown,
  Takoma, and Petworth.
• $935,000 for the Office of the Ombudsperson for Children.
• All local and TANF funds for child care subsidies, dedicated and rollover funding for the
  Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund, and funds committed to strengthening early
  childhood development through Healthy Steps and Healthy Futures.

Priority infrastructure projects for Ward 4 roadways and at School and Recreational Facilities.
The list below reflects new and outstanding maintenance, physical infrastructure, or small capital projects priorities. Many of these issues remain open work orders from my 2022 DPR summer readiness and DCPS back-to-school tours. Please contact my committee office for follow up and expected completion dates on these maintenance items:

• Coolidge High School track bathroom plumbing needs to be replaced
• Whittier Elementary School HVAC system replacements in old wing
• Lamond Recreation Center swing set requires a new installation
• Riggs-LaSalle Recreation Center neighbors request a track be added around their fields; spray park renovations
• Move up funding for rehabilitating Eastern Avenue, NE between New Hampshire and Whittier
• Include funding for a new park and connected cycle tracks around the future Metropolitan Branch Trail Trailhead at Riggs Road and South Dakota Avenue, NE
• Improve multimodal safety along South Dakota Avenue NE in Riggs Park/Fort Totten

Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George rescheduled the virtual budget forum/listening session to Wednesday, February 15 at 7:00 pm. Register at https://janeeseward4.com/listen.

Ward 4 CM Janeese Lewis George Listening Session for Lamond-Riggs
January 22, 2023
3:00 pm-5:00 pm
Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ
5301 North Capitol Street NE

Register at janeeseward4.com/listen or call (202) 724-8052.

Help inform CM Lewis George’s legislation, budget priorities, constituent services, and community initiatives. These listening tour sessions have been useful in the past, so please attend a session if you can. There is space on the registration form to enter questions/comments in advance of the session.

A virtual session will also be held on February 2 from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm (bit.ly/ward4-listen) for those who cannot or do not wish to attend an in-person session.

Event has ended

From Office of Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George

On Saturday, November 19 from 11am-1pm Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George will be co-hosting a Thanksgiving Turkey Giveaway for Ward 4 families in need with the Lamond-Riggs Citizens Association at Lamond Rec Center (20 Tuckerman St. NE).

Her office will be giving out one turkey per family on a first come, first serve basis.

Please bring proof of Ward 4 residency.

See you there!

From Office of Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George

On Saturday, November 19 from 11am-1pm Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George will be co-hosting a Thanksgiving Turkey Giveaway for Ward 4 families in need with the Lamond-Riggs Citizens Association at Lamond Rec Center (20 Tuckerman St. NE).

Her office will be giving out one turkey per family on a first come, first serve basis.

Please bring proof of Ward 4 residency.

See you there!

On Wednesday, October 19 from 1pm-3pm Councilmember Janeese Lewis George will be hosting a Ward 4 Senior Jubilee Festival from 1pm-3pm at Fort Stevens Recreation Center (1327 Van Buren St NW) in Brightwood! Ward 4 senior citizens are welcome to join CM Lewis George and her team for an afternoon of live music, dancing, food, and a senior-focused resource fair. RSVP at https://janeeseward4.com/seniorjubilee or call her office at 202-724-8052 to reserve your spot.

Volunteers are needed for the event. To volunteer, please contact Aura Cruz Heredia at ACruzHeredia@dccouncil.gov or (202) 812-4994.

From Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George

Riggs Park/South Manor Park CARE Day

RSVP to join me in knocking doors Thursday, September 15th from 4-7pm to connect with neighbors in Riggs and South Manor Park to share resources, problem solve with DC agencies, and bring our community closer together. Meet up location will be the Riggs-LaSalle Community Center – you’ll also find our agency partners stationed here that evening to bring your neighborhood service needs and concerns to directly.

From the Mayor’s Office

MOCA & MOCR Ward 4 Meet & Greet
April 30, 2022
Raymond Recreation Center
3725 10th Street NW
10:00 am

RSVP at tinyurl.com/Ward4MeetGreet

The Mayor’s Office of Community Affairs (MOCA) and the Mayor’s Office of Community Relations and Services (MOCRS) would like to invite community members of Ward 4 for a Meet & Greet!

This event will give DC residents an opportunity to:

• To learn more about the Mayor’s Office of Community Affairs and the services its 12 constituent offices provide.

• To meet and engage with Ward representatives of the Mayor’s Office of Community Relations and Services.

• To meet community partners and organizations to assist in specialized cases.

• Ask questions and share ideas on how our offices can work with the community to achieve Mayoral initiatives.

• To engage community members and learn more about their concerns and challenges.

Entertainment and light refreshments will be provided.

Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George has hired a new constituent services representative, Jim Lewis, who will be the primary constituent services contact for the neighborhood. Mr. Lewis lives in Riggs Park. His contact information is below.

Jim Lewis
Constituent Services Coordinator
Office of Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George
Pronouns: he/him/his
Cell: 202-286-6311
Email: jlewis@dccouncil.us
Connect: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

On February 27, 2022, the Ward 4 ANC redistricting task force released four discussion maps for new ANC/SMD boundaries within the ward. It is worth taking a look at the maps on the redistricting site to see the options for how new boundaries may be drawn. A subgroup of the redistricting task force focused on the boundaries for ANC 4B presented at last night’s ANC 4B meeting. There was not any time to get to questions about the maps during the meeting, but it is clear that many of the single member districts (SMD) within ANC 4B exceed the legal limit. So most SMD boundaries will likely have to change, including the ones covering Lamond-Riggs (ANC 4B07, 4B08, and 4B09).

The task force’s presentation on the proposed maps is available on the redistricting site. The presentation includes helpful questions to think about as one looks at the proposed maps. One of the big questions for the task force is whether a new commission within Ward 4 (ANC 4E) should be created to help balance the numbers. A couple of the discussion maps propose a new ANC 4E, while a couple of the maps simply balance the numbers among the existing commissions. My understanding is that Map 3 is the closest to what the redistricting subgroup for ANC 4B devised with respect to proposed ANC 4B boundaries.

The task force will hold a public meeting on March 8, 2022, to get input on the discussion maps. Below is communication from Councilmember Janeese Lewis George’s office, dated February 28, with more information about the discussion maps and the task force process for drawing new ANC/SMD boundaries.

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From Office of Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George

Yesterday the Ward 4 Redistricting Task Force released four preliminary “discussion maps” with updated Ward 4 SMD/ANC boundaries for the decade ahead. The maps were created based on initial Task Force deliberations and community input and intended to spur additional community feedback.

Please share any feedback with the Ward 4 Redistricting Task Force by emailing Ward4Redistricting@dccouncil.us, leaving a voicemail with your input at 202-642-5714, or testifying at the public meeting on March 8 so it can be considered by the full Task Force. The Task Force is requesting feedback on both preferences between the proposed maps as a whole and on specific elements within each map.

More information can be found on the Ward 4 Redistricting website or copied below from the Councilmember’s newsletter: 

• The maps that were released this Sunday are only preliminary drafts. They’re meant to spur more community input and provide context to some of the ideas that the task force is considering as a recommendation to the Council. There will still be several opportunities for the public to weigh in, and for the Task Force to make further changes.
• The maps that were released on Sunday are not the final options that the Task Force is considering. It is possible and likely that the Task Force will ultimately propose a map with elements from each map and additional changes based on community feedback. 
• Save the date for the Ward 4 Task Force’s next community meeting on Tuesday, March 8 from 7pm-9pm. It will be a chance to share your feedback and ideas with the Task Force as they work to finalize their recommendations to the Council. RSVP by March 7 at this link to make your voice heard.
• You can weigh in with the Redistricting Task Force at any point by emailing Ward4Redistricting@dccouncil.us or leaving a voicemail with your input at 202-642-5714. The Task Force will revise its proposal based on community input and issue a recommendation to the Council at the end of March. To ensure transparency, please do not privately contact individual Task Force members with redistricting requests or feedback – Task Force members should all hear the same ideas equally and openly from the public.
• The DC Council’s Subcommittee on Redistricting will then provide more opportunities for public input. Then they’ll consider making changes to the Task Force recommendations from each ward before the proposed map is brought to the entire Council for final consideration and two votes.
• Thousands of Ward 4 residents will be included in a new SMD. Here’s why: DC law calls for Single-Member Districts (SMDs) to encompass between 1,900-2,100 residents. Ward 4’s population growth over the past decade puts most (75%+) current SMDs above that range, meaning that many new SMD boundaries (as well as 4-5 new SMDs) will need to be drawn in Ward 4. The task force invites your feedback on where and how to make required changes to boundary lines. 
• All Ward 4 Redistricting Task Force meetings are open to the public. You can sign up to attend any future meeting and find recordings and presentation slides from past meetings on the Ward 4 Redistricting web page. Also, all meetings offer ASL and Spanish interpretation.
• The ANC/SMD redistricting process does not affect school boundaries. It is however an important aspect of your political representation at the local level.