Mayor Muriel Bowser: First 60 Days in Office


In the District of Columbia, as elsewhere, time has flown in 2015, driven by snow, wind and frigid air.

It’s been a busy time for new Mayor Muriel Bowser, who seems to have made a whirlwind of her own in the two months since her inauguration.

On March 31, at the Lincoln Theatre, she is scheduled to give her first State of the District address, which “will lay out where we stand on creating a fresh start, highlight our commitment of engagement and integrity and establish how we will create a pathway to the middle class,” according to her newsletter.

Not coincidentally, March 31 marks the end of the month designated as Women’s History Month. Under Bowser, the District can celebrate with particular elan and glee, since we sport a leadership team glistening with women at the helm.

You can start with the mayor, only the second female mayor the District of Columbia has ever had, and continue on to long-serving House Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier, D.C. Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson and several members of the District Council.

If you follow the mayor on her newsletter, you get a picture these days of a leader, a mover and a doer, a hands-on type who is tackling problems and making her presence felt, always buoyed by an energetic personality. She is nothing if not out there in the community much of the time.

The State of the District address might tell us how the various strands of action and vision she’s been pulling on will come together.

She seems already to have a knack –out of constant necessity – for handling what has been a series of weather-related mini-crises involving school closings, deployment of snow-clearing equipment and a steady stream of inconveniences for District residents. After a halting start, her responses have improved storm by storm, dip by dip.

She’ll likely face a bit of an infrastructure problem given the massive numbers of potholes resulting from the extended winter.
Early on, Bowser seemed hesitant responding to the fire and fatality at the L’Enfant Metro Station, but other incidents, and the general public response, indicated that perhaps a major look at how Metro operates was in order – a policy she’s pursuing.
She responded to a looming budget deficit of nearly $250 million by holding a series of public town meetings eliciting citizen responses to possible cuts and priorities.

She appeared strong – even willing to go to jail – concerning the District’s marijuana law after Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) put D.C. residents on edge by appearing to threaten to incarcerate elected officials for implementing the law.

She chose to appoint Gregory Dean, the former chief of the Seattle Fire Department, as the next head of the District’s Fire and Emergency Medical Service Department, choosing not to pick interim chief Eugene Jones.

She also decided, in conjunction with Chancellor Kaya Henderson, to launch “Empowering Males of Color,” an initiative to “advance achievement and opportunity and reduce racial disparities for boys and men of color across Washington, D.C.”
She just went on the annual Wall Street visit last week with D.C.’s Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey DeWitt, District Council Chairman Phil Mendelson and Council member Jack Evans, presenting the District’s strong financial picture to the money guys.

She’s been busy.

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