- No Right on Red protects vulnerable pedestrians
Among the dozens of bills introduced in 2025 by Republican Members of Congress that would erode or dismantle elements of DC Home Rule, I am particularly incensed by Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA-10)’s Stop DC CAMERA Act (H.R. 5525). This bill targets the District’s automated traffic enforcement framework and would force DC to legalize right turns on red at all intersections, overriding local traffic safety laws. Not only is this bill astonishingly petty, and hypocritical (Harrisburg and York Pennsylvania, in the PA-10 District, has traffic cameras and no-right-on-red), but it dangerous in downtown DC where diagonal streets and traffic circles create sharp-angle intersections and blind pedestrian crosswalks. SMD 2C02 has several of these, most notably on my own building’s corner at Thomas Circle. 150 senior and disabled residents, the most vulnerable pedestrians, should be protected by our No Turn on RED Arrow signs. Unfortunately, many drivers ignore the sign, and there should be consequences for dangerous driving behavior, so as a Commissioner I want to have it camera-enforced, but H.R. 5525 would give us neither the sign nor the enforcement.
September 8, 2025, I joined a FreeDC Lobby Day on Capitol Hill, developed my own “Leave-Behind” flyer[NG1] :
[NG1]I tried to put this in a Word ‘table’ box. Please fix with a border?
- National Guard responding to nightclub noise complaint
On a Saturday night in July, 2026, a hotel-based nightclub in 2C02 hosted an event that generated amplified music and siren sound effects, generating complaints by neighbors. Hardly an unusual neighborhood event, and the sort of issue often addressed by an ANC Commissioner at the hyper-local level among the neighbors, and ANC Commissions at the ‘great weight’ level for potential Community Settlement Agreements affecting a venue’s Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Administration (ABCA) liquor license. Investigators from the ABCA responded onsite to take decibel readings and file a report, and DC Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) responded onsite twice that evening. Again, hardly unusual. New to our current level of federal interference, on one of the MPD responses by two MPD officers, several National Guard troops ‘accompanied’ MPD into the hotel lobby. There is no reason to believe their presence was requested by MPD for such a routine call, and certainly there are no National Guard troops billeted in that hotel. There were absolutely no reports of any violence in the nightclub or the hotel.
National Guard troops are trained and missioned for riots and civil disturbances requiring a militarized response—not a neighborhood issue being addressed and solved by neighbors with neighbors.
- Pedestrian fatality as a result of MPD chase, police officers will never be charged by the current US Attorney for DC
In January, 2026, 26-year-old Aaron Marckell Williams was struck and killed in the 2C02 intersection of 16th and L Streets, NW, by a driver fleeing a traffic stop by MPD officers who, by many witness accounts, conducted a high-speed pursuit in downtown DC traffic. Under D.C. Code § 5-365.02 and local regulations, MPD officers are strictly restricted from engaging in vehicular pursuits unless specific circumstances are exigent, and not for traffic stops. This DC law is also under attack by Republican Members of Congress. I have been advised that even if MPD’s own investigation found the officers culpable, they could only be prosecuted by the US Attorney for DC—under the Home Rule Act, DC’s adult criminal courts are under federal jurisdiction, not local control. Given the hyper-partisan and DC-hostile posturing of our current US Attorney, there will be no accountability, or justice for Aaron Marckell Williams.