Dear Washingtonians,
Ten years ago, I told you about my approach to leading – that I’m not scared of a challenge and I’m not easily moved from a winning plan. I told you that I believe in making bold and pragmatic plans and executing them every day. I promised that as your mayor I would wake up humbled, energized, and motivated to do the little things and big things to make DC the best city in the world. That was my first promise, and along the way, I’ve made a few more.
Just a few weeks ago, we made good on one of my earliest promises when we cut the ribbon on a beautiful, state-of-the-art hospital in Ward 8. After years of not having a maternity ward East of the River, families are already welcoming our newest Washingtonians into the world at Cedar Hill Regional Medical Center GW Health.
Another one of my first promises was to close the old DC General shelter. And with support from community members across all eight wards – we did. We opened smaller, more dignified shelters across the city and transformed our systems of care, and new data released this May shows that since 2015, we’ve driven down family homelessness by 61%.
In the years between putting in motion our plan to close the DC General shelter in 2015 and opening the new hospital in 2025, we’ve advanced our DC values and made good on many other promises – big and small – along the way. We opened new free pre-K classrooms across the city. We turned an old sand filtration site into one of the most beautiful recreation centers in the city. We finally delivered housing and a new grocery store at Skyland. We built 36,000 new homes in less than five years, proving that big cities can build quickly when we have the right resources and policies in place. We opened a new Real-Time Crime Center and passed comprehensive public safety legislation, both of which were instrumental in driving down violent crime to its lowest levels in three decades. We even, after nearly a decade of advocacy, got control of the RFK campus and have a plan to bring our Commanders home and activate 180 acres of opportunity on the banks of the Anacostia.
To get it all done, we overcame some big challenges. And, with a shrinking federal presence in our city, we still have more, newer challenges to overcome. But we understand that our job over the next few years is not to sit on our hands and hope things change – it is to make change happen. And with your support, we will keep moving forward with a winning plan that delivers for all eight wards.
Sincerely,
Muriel Bowser
Mayor
