Over 17% of the city's residents live in poverty. Without funds or staff, the government body tasked with helping them is unlikely to make a difference.
The reflecting pool is empty, President Trump’s name might be back on the Kennedy Center, and downtown streets are shutting down to become an IndyCar racetrack — because of course they are.
It’s little surprise Trump is finding so many ways to make his mark on the city. About 75% of his brain space is apparently consumed by creating monuments to himself and “beautifying” D.C., New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman told Axios.
While he treats our town like his personal Sim City, he's also getting much, much richer. He pocketed $2.2 billion in 2025 after returning to the White House — a 254% jump from the previous year. According to a new AFL-CIO report on executive pay, the average American worker would have to labor 43,154 years to earn that amount. His wealth accumulation, and that of his cabinet (the richest in American history), is also transforming our city, turning it into what the Wall Street Journal recently called a "billionaire boom town."
This is happening while over 17% of D.C. residents live in poverty, and in a city where white households already had 81 times more money than Black households. It’s a problem the D.C. Commission on Poverty might help tackle, but we have a story this week about how the commission is floundering after being defunded for the second year in a row. It’s left with just one part-time staff member to tackle the city's gaping inequality.
Over 17% of the city's residents live in poverty. Without funds or staff, the government body tasked with helping them is unlikely to make a difference.
It's Alex Koma's first week as a reporter for The 51st! He's spent his career covering local government, politics, the criminal legal system, and more at a variety of D.C.-area publications.
But he's still looking for tips on stories that readers won't be able to find anywhere else. So what questions do you have about the state of politics in D.C.? What local government stories do you wish a journalist would report on?
Here are some stories you may have missed this week:
Rainey Cheeks died last week at age 74. He founded queer-friendly church Inner Light Ministries in 1993, as well as a nonprofit serving HIV-positive D.C. residents. He was also a nationally ranked Tae Kwon Do champion and a founder of The Clubhouse, a Petworth hub for Black gay D.C. residents in the 1970s and ‘80s. [The Blade/ DC History Center]
Liberia, Iceland, Costa Rica, and Colombia are just a handful of the countries that are now a straight shot from Dulles. Time to start planning your winter getaway… [Axios]
They don’t stand a chance, but some Republicans are still shooting their shot in D.C.’s local races. They’re focused on issues like crime, lower taxes, making it easier for men to be the sole breadwinner, and also crime. [Washingtonian]
Neither whales nor D.C. residents get a vote, shadow senator Paul Strauss told actress and animal rights activist Hayden Panettiere in 2008. The conversation launched her work as a D.C. statehood activist, which led Mayor Vincent Gray to give her a citywide day. Panettiere died this week at 36. [City Cast]
D.C. paid almost half a million to six cops for work they didn’t do, according to Attorney General Brian Schwalb who announced their arrest for faking overtime claims. [City Paper]
Shortly after the Kennedy Center’s board voted to inscribe President Trump’s name on the building, Justice Department lawyers argued the scaffolding covering its official name should stay. The National Orchestra won’t be performing there this year, for the first time since 1971. [NOTUS]
The Freedom 250 Grand Prix isn’t formally a part of Trump’s America 250 celebrations but the owner of IndyCar, Roger Penske, donated $1 million to his campaign. After an executive order cleared the way for the race, Penske was tasked with solving the “unfathomable number of logistical challenges” that come with building a racetrack in the busiest part of the city. [The Athletic]
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