A frequently at-oddsD.C. Council in 2006 passed a number of initiatives that promise to put the District at the forefront of progressive issues in the new year while continuing to solidify the professionalism of the city’s ruling body.
Though the council often found itself wrangling over issues related to the new baseball stadium being constructed in Southeast, it also passed important quality-of-life measures — including a living wage increase and reforming rent control — that have a direct effect on many residents. The District also became one of the first major cities to pass environmentally-friendly, or “green,” building legislation for developers and agreed to a $3 billion schools modernization act to help rehabilitate the District’s crumbling schools.
“We got probably more done in the last two years than we did in the last five years or maybe 10 years,” Councilman Kwame Brown, D-at large, said Wednesday, describing a much more detail-oriented council than in legislative sessions past.
Part of the professionalism of the council might be attributed to outgoing District Council Chairwoman Linda Cropp, who took over in 1997 but relinquished her seat to run for mayor. On her watch, the District emerged from financial ruin and experienced a boom in development. Cropp lost her bid to Mayor-elect Adrian Fenty, who has represented Ward 4 on the council. Cropp paid particular attention to make sure the council’s actions were fiscally responsible and legislatively correct, she said.
Under Cropp’s tenure every piece of legislation gets a public hearing, a plan she implemented to increase community involvement and transparency. The council’s “level of professionalism” had to be “heightened,” she said.
“That was one of my goals as chairman,” Cropp said.
Reforming rent control “had as much people impact than anything else we did,” Council Member Jim Graham, D-Ward 1, said.
