‘They’re wrong’: Mayor Bowser blasts DC Council decisions

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser criticized the D.C. Council over several pieces of legislation approved Tuesday.

Bowser says the police chief needs the authority to implement temporary youth curfew zones to curb large gatherings of young people, sometimes resulting in fights or gunfire. The chief’s current authority expires April 15, but the Council voted to delay any action to extend it through the summer.

“That is, in essence, killing the youth curfew,” Bowser said.

She could extend the curfew without Council approval by declaring a public safety emergency, but she called that a limited option.

“That’s not a solution,” she said. “The mayor has the authority to declare a public safety emergency in certain circumstances, and it’s limited to 15 days.”

But Bowser said she “will put all options on the table.”

The Council also drew Bowser’s ire by voting to override her veto of legislation that requires D.C. police to record names and agencies of federal officers present when the Metropolitan Police Department makes any arrests.

“They’ve overridden my vetoes aplenty,” the mayor said. “That doesn’t make me wrong and them right. That just makes them sticking together as an institution and ignoring common sense.”

“So, they’ve overridden me before,” she said. “They were wrong then and they’re wrong now.”

Bowser indicated the police department will comply with the new law.

“What they did was they passed two emergencies that expire in 90 days that are gonna require me and the chief of police to come up with the regulations to make sure that officers know what they’re doing,” she said.

Bowser also criticized legislation passed Tuesday that would prevent Pepco from shutting off power to customers for not paying their bills totaling less than $1,000.

“If you tell people they don’t have to pay, many people won’t pay, and you’re conditioning people to think that the government is going to bail them out and there really isn’t a bailout,” the mayor said. “I think the larger discussion has to be why are utility rates going up.”