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Tag: d.c. mayor muriel bowser

  • Downtown DC holiday market returns, as does separate Dupont Circle variation – WTOP News

    The beloved DowntownDC Holiday Market returns this winter with 100+ local vendors near Capital One Arena. Meanwhile, Dupont Circle is bringing back its own holiday market along New Hampshire Ave — giving shoppers even more ways to celebrate the season.

    The popular Downtown D.C. holiday market is scheduled to make its annual return in less than a month, and a separate market is planning to open in a different part of the city again this winter.

    The DowntownD.C. Holiday Market is scheduled to open daily starting Nov. 21. It’ll open in its usual location — on F Street NW, between 7th and 9th streets, near Capital One Arena.

    It will have different hours for weekdays and weekends and remain open for holiday shopping until Dec. 23.

    Speaking to a full room of city leaders and market supporters at Carmine’s Restaurant on Monday afternoon, Mayor Muriel Bowser said last year’s Downtown market averaged almost 11,000 people every day.

    “What we know is how resilient our economy has proven, even given all of the different things that have come at us,” Bowser said.

    This year, there will be 119 total vendors at the Downtown market, including 23 new ones. One booth in particular will display products that are made and manufactured in D.C., and another will celebrate businesses east of the Anacostia River.

    There will be 15 food and drink vendors, including the S’mores N’ More’s hot chocolate, which received notable attention on social media last year, according to Gerren Price, president and CEO of the DowntownD.C. Business Improvement District.

    It’s free to walk through the market, and it will feature live music Thursdays through Sundays.

    “This market is incredibly diverse,” Price said. “The vast majority of the vendors that are represented in our market are locally owned, women owned, BIPOC owned and/or LGBTQIA+ owned.”

    Police Chief Pamela Smith said D.C. police will have an even greater presence near the DowntownD.C. Holiday Market than last year. The agency will again redeploy recruit officers currently assigned at the D.C. police academy to “bolster our visibility in our city and certainly in the commercial corridor areas.”

    The DowntownD.C. Business Improvement District, which includes the stretch where the market sets up, has reported a 21% drop in violent crime, Smith said.

    The competitor up the street

    While this year will be the DowntownD.C. Holiday Market 21st anniversary, a separate market is being planned for Dupont Circle.

    Bill McLeod, executive director of the Dupont Circle Business Improvement District, said while the group hasn’t received the permit yet, it’s planning a holiday market along New Hampshire Avenue.

    Last year’s D.C. Holiday Market in Dupont Circle was run by Diverse Markets Management, which used to run the Penn Quarter market.

    Now, Makers Show runs the DowntownD.C. Holiday Market. Price said Monday that the new group “brought a new infrastructure, a brand new look and aesthetic, new social media channels and a website, and a renewed commitment to secure an even more diverse group of vendors.”

    The D.C. Holiday Market in Dupont Circle rose as a competitor to the iconic Penn Quarter market, boasting its tables of vendors and exhibits as another option for the city’s residents.

    Its website says the market is set to open from Nov. 14 to Dec. 23.

    The National Mistletoe at Anthem Row is also returning, with the goal of setting a Guinness World Record for most kisses under the mistletoe.

    The Winter Skate Spectacular is also back at the National Building Museum, with themed skate nights and opportunities for D.C. Public School kids to skate for free daily.

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    © 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

    Scott Gelman

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  • Bowser reacts to Republican lawmakers’ criticism of GW University protest response – WTOP News

    Bowser reacts to Republican lawmakers’ criticism of GW University protest response – WTOP News

    Three members of Congress have criticized D.C. leaders for their response toward pro-Palestinian protests at George Washington University’s campus as those demonstrations enter a seventh day.

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    Republican lawmakers criticize DC police’s lack of force as GW protests enter 7th day

    Some Republican members of Congress are criticizing D.C. leaders for their response toward pro-Palestinian protests at George Washington University’s campus as those demonstrations continue for a seventh day.

    In one letter addressed to D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and D.C. police Chief Pamela Smith, North Carolina Congresswoman Virginia Foxx and Kentucky Congressman James Comer wrote they were “alarmed” by the Metropolitan Police Department refusing to respond to the demonstrations at the Foggy Bottom campus. They wrote city leaders must fully enforce the law.

    “It is deeply disturbing that while GWU has attempted to take concrete measures to protect the safety of its Jewish student body from persecution and harassment, it is hindered by the MPD’s refusal to provide assistance clearing out the encampment, over fears of public criticism,” the letter said.

    Speaking at a news conference Wednesday, Bowser addressed the Republicans lawmakers’ criticism.

    “The members have universities in their own districts, especially the member from North Carolina,” Bowser said, seemingly referencing the protests in the southern state.

    Bowser added, “I was watching a lot of activity in North Carolina, it would seem that her energy would be best placed there.”

    George Washington University had reportedly requested D.C. police assistance to clear out the student protesters’ encampment, but according to reporting by The Washington Post, police officials rejected the request on Friday.

    When asked about whether D.C. officials turned down requests for help from the university Bowser said: “I haven’t ever turned down requests for help. We support all of our employers, all of our universities and our police.”

    Bowser added that she wouldn’t comment about “particulars” of private meetings.

    “We are in constant communication with GW officials and have been throughout to be supportive, to hear their concerns and for them to understand how to work directly with the District government,” Bowser said.

    The House Oversight Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing next Wednesday about the city’s response to the protests. Bowser was invited to attend that meeting.

    “I understand that a notice went out as I was standing here and I will review that and the city will definitely have a response,” Bowser said Wednesday, when asked whether she would attend the hearing.

    What’s happening on GW’s campus?

    Torn down metal barriers that protesters took down Monday at the pro-Palestinian protest on George Washington University’s campus.
    (WTOP/Grace Newton)

    WTOP/Grace Newton

    A ‘Free Palestine’ banner at the pro-Palestinian protest on George Washington University’s campus on the seventh day of the demonstration.
    (WTOP/Grace Newton)

    WTOP/Grace Newton

    A collection of food for demonstrators and a sign at the pro-Palestinian protest on George Washington University’s campus on the seventh day of the demonstration.
    (WTOP/Grace Newton)

    WTOP/Grace Newton

    Signs and flowers at the pro-Palestinian protest on George Washington University’s campus on the seventh day of the demonstration.
    (WTOP/Grace Newton)

    WTOP/Grace Newton

    About 100 tents were still up at the pro-Palestinian protest on George Washington University’s campus on the seventh day of the demonstration.
    (WTOP/Grace Newton)

    WTOP/Grace Newton

    A group of Republican lawmakers is expected to walkthrough the encampment on Wednesday afternoon following a meeting with school officials, the student newspaper, the GW Hatchet reported. Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.), Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), Byron Donalds (R-Fla), Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) are expected to tour. 

    WTOP’s Grace Newton reported early Wednesday that police are still stationed around the 100 tents left on GWU’s University Yard. D.C. police officers are still monitoring the protest and blocking off the section of H Street in front of the yard, seemingly in the same position as when demonstrations began a week ago.

    In their letter, Foxx and Comer said police departments in other cities have cleared out encampments on college campuses.

    “If the District of Columbia and MPD refuse to exercise their authority to assist GWU in securing the safety of its students and faculty, Congress will be obliged to exercise its legislative powers to do so,” Foxx and Comer wrote in their letter. “In the event you do not [answer fully for the reluctance to enforce the law], Congress will take the necessary actions to ensure this failure will not be repeated.”

    In a separate letter to Bowser, Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton wrote of his disapproval in MPD’s refusal to arrest protesters out of “fear” of the public perception of the police in the media.

    Newton reports that a student group, GW for Israel, has launched a petition urging the mayor to remove “violent and antisemitic agitators” from the campus.

    Police officers carrying zip ties and riot shields stormed a Columbia University building being occupied by pro-Palestinian protesters, arresting dozens of people just after midnight on Wednesday after weekslong protests on the campus escalated the day before. Fighting also broke out between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli demonstrators at UCLA Wednesday and police wearing helmets and face shields had to separate the two groups.

    WTOP’s Grace Newton contributed to this report from George Washington University’s campus. WTOP’s Emily Venezky and Jessica Kronzer contributed to this report.

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    © 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

    Ciara Wells

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  • DC attorney general says Capitals and Wizards can’t leave DC until 2047. Monumental says they can – WTOP News

    DC attorney general says Capitals and Wizards can’t leave DC until 2047. Monumental says they can – WTOP News

    In a letter to Monumental Sports & Entertainment, D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb cited legislation from July 2007 in which D.C. provided $50 million through municipal bonds for arena renovations with the caveat that the lease would be extended.

    There has been another development in the ongoing saga regarding the possible relocation of the Washington Capitals and Wizards teams’ arena from D.C. to Alexandria, Virginia. According to a letter from the D.C. Office of the Attorney General, the teams are contractually obligated to remain in the District until 2047.

    In the letter, dated Tuesday, to Monumental Sports & Entertainment’s general counsel Abby Blomstrom, D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb cited legislation from July 2007 in which D.C. provided $50 million through municipal bonds for arena renovations with the caveat that the lease would be extended an additional 20 years beyond its initial 2027 time frame.

    Monumental has stated previously it can legally end its lease at Capital One Arena early, citing amendments to the original agreement.

    Schwalb countered this, stating the legislation doesn’t include any amendments that would allow the company to “extinguish or revoke the lease extensions upon prepayment of the outstanding bond debt.”

    He further posited that Monumental had already broken additional contractual obligations by negotiating with Virginia.

    The attorney general said the agreement includes terms that state if the company ever intended to relocate the Capitals and Wizards, Monumental was required to: notify D.C. of its intent; negotiate exclusively with D.C. for six months; refrain from negotiating with any third parties during that six-month period; if it intended to enter a new agreement with a third party following the six-month negotiation period, it would need to provide D.C. with written notice and the terms of the agreement; and allow D.C. 90 days to make a competing offer.

    The letter does state that D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s $500 million offer to renovate Capital One Arena is still on the table.

    More Monumental News

    Bowser’s office told WTOP it has no comment on the D.C. attorney general’s letter at this time. However, in an op-ed piece in The Washington Post last month, the mayor said the city would enforce the terms of the lease if necessary.

    Schwalb’s letter echoed this sentiment.

    “The District very much prefers not to pursue any potential claims against MSE,” Schwalb wrote in the letter. “It remains committed to maintaining and growing its partnership with MSE and to keeping the Wizards and Capitals at the Arena until the end of the existing lease term in 2047, if not beyond. It is in that spirit that the District urges MSE to reengage with District officials around a mutually beneficial arrangement that advances the long term interests of both the District and MSE.”

    In response to the letter, a Monumental spokesperson told WTOP, “We fundamentally disagree with the Attorney General’s opinions, which are contradicted by the DC General Counsel as recently as 2019 when the city ratified the Ground Lease,” referring to an amendment made to the lease.

    This is just the latest snag Monumental has faced as the company’s $2 billion plan for a new arena in Alexandria has stalled in the Virginia legislature. Democratic Sen. L. Louise Lucas, chair of the Finance and Appropriations Committee, excluded funding for the arena in the state’s budget earlier this month.

    “Why are we discussing an arena at Potomac Yard with the same organization that is breaking their agreement and commitments to Washington DC?” Lucas wrote on social media. “Does anyone believe they wouldn’t do exactly the same thing to us?”

    Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Ted Leonsis, owner of the Capitals and Wizards, announced in December a handshake deal to build a new arena and move the teams to the Potomac Yard neighborhood of Alexandria.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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    © 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

    Jenna Romaine

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