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D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, joined by Council member Kenyan McDuffie (I-At Large) and leaders of the local Business Improvement Districts in Northwest, launched the Downtown Action Plan on Wednesday.
The Action Plan builds upon the city’s Comeback Plan and sets specific strategies, and initiatives to reimagine and revitalize downtown, while also identifying specific roles for the District’s economic partners.
“Our downtown is beautiful and walkable,” Bowser said at a news conference off Pennsylvania Avenue in Northwest. “It has dozens of monuments and museums. It has restaurants and hotels. It also has offices, a lot of them; in fact, almost 90% of the space downtown is office space. So, we know what need more of: more housing, more people, and more events and spaces that bring people downtown.”
Bowser noted that the Comeback Plan, released in January, provides a broad roadmap for building a post-pandemic downtown. She said, however, the Downtown Action Plan,\ is designed to deliver concrete action for the neighborhood’s reimagining.
“We want everyone to be a part of D.C.’s comeback,” the mayor said.
Details of the Comeback Plan include 15,000 new residents moving downtown and 35,000 added jobs in the next five years. Bowser said, under questioning, targeted residents will not be race-specific and there will be efforts to have Black businesses downtown as well as recipients of the city’s Black Homeownership program live there.
Additionally, the mayor said the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development will award a $200,000 grant to the DowntownDC Business Improvement District, which will work in concert with the Golden Triangle Business District and the Federal City Council, to develop a comprehensive, cross-sector action plan for downtown’s recovery.
“We are excited to work together with our local community and national visionaries to determine what downtown D.C. looks like in the years ahead and chart a path to make this future a reality,” said Gerren Price, president and CEO of the DowntownDC BID.
Information about upcoming engagement opportunities, including webinars and focus groups, is available at reimaginedowntowndc.com.