By Southwester Staff
In late May, the DC Council took two votes on the district’s budget for Fiscal Year 2024, which begins October 1. The Council made revisions to the proposed budget submitted by Mayor Muriel Bowser, and Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen highlighted key investments for Southwest and surrounding community.
After working on 20 annual budgets as a public health advocate, Council staff member and Councilmember, Allen wrote in a newsletter to constituents this May, “Never have I been more excited for the start of a fiscal year and all that it will bring for our community.”
Key investments Allen identified as Ward 6 budget wins include:
School Budgets: Increases from the DC Public Schools proposals for Brent, Amidon-Bowen, Ludlow-Taylor, Maury, Jefferson, Peabody, School-Within-School, Stuart-Hobson, Tyler, Walker-Jones, and Watkins.
School Modernizations: Modernizations for JO Wilson ($91 million, FY24-26), Brent ($94 million, FY24-27), Amidon-Bowen ($84 million, FY26-29), Tyler ($90 million, FY25-28), and a renovation at Ludlow-Taylor ($9 million, FY24) are all on track.
Randall Recreation Center: The budget includes $17 million to renovate Randall Recreation Center’s campus, which serves both Southwest and Navy Yard residents, including improvements to the pool, fields, and the indoor spaces. Community engagement is scheduled to start in the fall.
Buzzard Point Trail: Restored $2.8 million in funding that had been cut to extend the waterfront trail past Nats Park and connect it with Buzzard Point and the entire neighborhood.
RFK Indoor Sports Complex: $60 million for a new indoor sports complex on the grounds at RFK campus, just on the other side of Ward 6’s border. It will include an indoor track, an Olympic-sized swimming pool, gymnastics, indoor basketball courts, events space, indoor rock climbing, a learning center, an indoor football/multi-purpose field, boxing, e-sports, and more. Planning begins in FY26 and construction in FY27-FY28.