With Congress in Recess, Norton to Host Community Roundtables on Halfway Houses in D.C., Using New Federal Funds for D.C. Biking and Pedestrian Projects, and D.C.’s NPS-Owned Urban Parks
WASHINGTON, D.C.—With Congress out of town for an October recess, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today announced she will host a series of public roundtables on congressional issues of special interest to District of Columbia residents during the District Work Period.
First, Norton will hold a “Halfway House Roundtable” to discuss residential reentry centers in the District on Wednesday, October 19, 2016, at 6:00 p.m., at 1100 4th St. SW, Room E200. Norton will sit on a panel with officials from the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency and hear testimony from D.C. local officials and residents.
Second, Norton will host roundtable entitled, “How New Federal Funds Can Help Residents Bike and Walk with Less Risk and More Pleasure,” on Thursday, October 27, 2016, at 6:00 p.m., in 2167 Rayburn House Office Building. The roundtable will hear from local bike and pedestrian leaders and D.C. residents on the best ways to use new federal funding for bike and pedestrian projects that she got included in the new surface transportation bill. Norton was one of the “Big Four” House Transportation leaders who wrote the FAST Act. As Ranking Member of the House Highways and Transit Subcommittee, Norton developed a strategy to overcome Republican resistance to bike and pedestrian funding in the FAST Act that they wanted devoted solely to roads. Norton has invited officials from the District Department of Transportation Office and the National Park Service (NPS) to sit on a panel with her to hear testimony from the D.C. bicycle and pedestrian community.
Finally, Norton will host a roundtable entitled, “Focusing on our Neighborhood Crown Jewels: The National Park Service’s Urban Parks in D.C.,” on Tuesday, November 1, 2016, at 6:30 p.m., at the African America Civil War Museum (1925 Vermont Ave. NW). Norton will be joined by NPS National Capital Regional Director Bob Vogel and the regional NPS superintendents to hear from D.C. residents on how NPS can work with the community to maintain our neighborhood parks and what our parks need from Congress. Residents are particularly encouraged to provide feedback on the new NPS website focused on D.C. parks, which Norton successfully got NPS to create after residents reached out to her office saying they had struggled to connect directly with NPS staff on maintenance requests or to find contact information for their park’s superintendent.