THE WASHINGTON INFORMER CELEBRATING 59 YEARS…
Center Section
October 2023. Volume 9. Issue 10.
Long Live Go-Go
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Celebrating 59 Years - Vol 59 No 2 - October 26 – November 1, 2023
Ward 8 Cyclists Critical of How D.C. Officials Have Tackled Transportation Issues Councilmember White to Introduce Bill for DDOT Engagement By Sam P.K. Collins and Kayla Benjamin WI Staff Writer and WI Climate & Environment Reporter
5Aloa Smith, 11, Delia House-Smith, and Nigel Smith, 10 at the Fresh Wind Community Development Corporation Ward 8 Bike Ride on Saturday, Oct. 21. (Robert R. Roberts/The Washington Informer).
The failure of the Bowser administration’s Vision Zero program has shed light on D.C.’s inequitable transportation infrastructure that, in part, has spurred traffic fatalities east of the Anacostia River over the last few years. That’s why an increasingly growing group of cyclists from Ward 8 has coalesced around a call for traffic safety measures. They will soon make
Parental Revival Attempts to Boost Family Involvement
In recent weeks, the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) and the D.C. Council revealed its intentions to better support
low-performing public and public charter schools with coaching and targeted support. However, some community members, including one who spoke to the Informer, said improving students’ academic performance requires boosting student attendance and better holding accountable parents who let their young ones miss several days of instruction. Over the last several weeks, teachers and staff at John Philip Sousa Middle
TRUANCY Page 53
WARD 8 Page 16
Mayor Bowser’s New Legislation Zeroes in on Loitering
Truancy Still an Issue in D.C., Community Members and Experts Say By Sam P.K. Collins WI Staff Writer
their appeal to D.C. Councilmember Trayon White and the Ward 8 D.C. Council candidates. Jeremiah Lowery, a Black bicycling advocate who hails from Ward 8, said that the lack of crosswalks, speed bumps, bus lanes, protected bike lanes, stop signs and other traffic safety measures has made it difficult for bicyclists, race and ethnicity notwithstanding, to navigate communities located east of the Anacostia River. Lowery, advocacy director at the Washington Area Bicyclist Association
Other Elements of Legislation Dial Back on Policing Reforms By Sam P.K. Collins WI Staff Writer
5 D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced the Addressing Crime Trends (ACT) Now Act at the Metropolitan Police Department’s Fourth District Station on Oct. 23 along with Acting Chief of Police Pamela A. Smith (front, far left) and Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice Lindsey Appiah (front center). (Ja’Mon Jackson/The Washington Informer)
For many District residents, most violent crime leads back to the crowds of people who loiter in front of methadone clinics, liquor stores and businesses along major corridors in the city’s most blighted communities. Such a sight has compelled some people, like Anthony Muhammad, to
LOITERING Page 56
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