WASHINGTON, D.C. — D.C. Councilmember Brianne K. Nadeau is introducing two bills today to support neighborhoods.
Trick-or-Streets Amendment Act of 2023
This bill improves safety for residents on the most dangerous day of the year for pedestrians, especially children: Halloween. The bill makes it much easier for residents to get approval for a block party to shut down their block to vehicular traffic on Oct. 31 each year.
If at least 25 percent of neighbors on a block or the local Advisory Neighborhood Commission request it and the block is designated a local street, then the D.C. Department of Transportation will approve the permit in most cases. Under the existing block party rules, getting approval can be more difficult and time-consuming, and block parties are sometimes required to end at sundown – when streets are most dangerous for children.
“Many of the longest-running Halloween block parties are in Ward 1 and have become neighborhood institutions spanning decades,” Nadeau said. “Those events should be allowed to continue without the uncertainty of whether they will be allowed year over year, and other parts of the District should be able to do the same without requiring herculean organizing efforts.”
Hybrid Meeting Accessibility Act of 2023
This legislation will make it easier for Advisory Neighborhood Commissions to hold hybrid meetings, with residents and commissioners participating in person and online. This is meant to reflect and adapt to the way meetings are happening post-pandemic and ensure equitable access for ANCs to hold hybrid meetings and residents to participate in them.
“As our most local level of government, it is in our best interest for ANCs — and civic associations and other neighborhood organizations — to have the advantages and accessibility that both in-person and virtual meetings allow,” Nadeau said.
The bill would require the Office of the Chief Technology Officer to develop a plan to install the needed infrastructure, such as microphones, screens, and video cameras in a public facility in each of the District’s 46 ANC’s.
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