D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser didn’t attend Monday’s meeting of a newly formed federal task force that aims to keep the city “safe and beautiful,” but she is providing a series of written recommendations the group can use to help accomplish its goal.
During a news conference at an unrelated event for Walter Reed retail grant awardees, Bowser said she’s offering the task force a written briefing on challenges impacting public safety and the city’s aesthetic.
They range from increased U.S. Park Police presence on highways in and around the city to making sure the garbage is removed from cans along the National Mall with consistency.
Bowser’s comments come less than two weeks after President Donald Trump signed an executive order establishing a federal task force with representatives from various agencies. The goal, the order said, is to make the city “what it should be — the pride of every American to whom it belongs,” she said.
“The memo includes some of the issues that were detailed in the executive order, specifically police recruiting, concealed carry and “confirmation that our forensics lab is accredited, which it is. We also will, in that correspondence, emphasize the things that we really need to happen immediately to keep the city safe and beautiful,” Bowser said.
One part of that, Bowser said, is the House voting on a budget measure that will allow the city to operate under its originally passed fiscal 2025 budget.
In a letter to Homeland Security Council Transitional Threat Directorate Director Orville Greene, Bowser wrote that the decision not to vote on the D.C. budget fix bill or include budget language in the federal government’s continuing resolution “undermines the District’s ability to fund critical services.”
The city has also felt the impact of the changes to the federal workforce, specifically at the National Park Service, Bowser said.
For one, the agency has reduced the number of trash pickups it does along the National Mall, she said, so “we’re asking them to restore, I think, three times daily trash pickups on the mall.”
In the letter, Bowser wrote the city is “eager” to partner with the NPS and other federal agencies to “enhance public spaces and ensure they remain safe and welcoming.”
“We saw with the cherry blossom weekend some overflowing trash cans,” Bowser said. “That’s not beautiful, so we want that fixed.”
There are also several fountains NPS is responsible for maintaining that don’t work, Bowser said.
“Getting those fixed, that’s beautiful,” she said. “We are encouraging the task force to turn their attention to that.”
The National Park Service said its priorities are “clean, safe, and welcoming public spaces across the National Mall and our other parks throughout the nation’s capital.”
“It is not unusual or unique this year for operating hours and operational priorities, such as the trash collection schedule, to change, as we experience adjustments in park staffing levels. Even with those adjustments, our crews are working hard to maintain a high level of service. And some decorative fountains continue to be offline, as they have been for years due to aging systems that require specialized parts and expensive repairs,” an NPS spokesman said.
Bowser said she also asked D.C. Police Chief Pamela Smith whether there was anything the federal task force could help the city law enforcement with.
“The request was more patrols from Park Police on the parkways that are in or approach the District — George Washington Parkway, Suitland Parkway and BW Parkway,” Bowser said.
In the letter, Bowser wrote that funding for recruitment and marketing for the police department was essential. She added that while the city government understands the Trump administration’s position regarding immigration, MPD will not hold arrested parties longer than 4 hours or ask them their immigration status.
“As law enforcement, MPD knows that when there are groups of people who hesitate to report crime to the police, they often become targets for serious crime. Allowing that to flourish makes everyone in the city less safe,” she wrote.
WTOP has contacted the White House for comment on whether the task force will assist with Bowser’s recommendations.
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