The new bill made its way to Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office after the D.C. Council approved it on Oct. 18. Bowser has until Nov. 21 to act on the measure.

If the major signs it, the bill then goes to Congress for review.

Ward 1 Councilmember Brianne Nadeau sponsored the measure.��

“The District of Columbia has long been a place that has welcomed immigrants into our community, and it’s time to allow for their full participation in our institutions,” Nadeau said in a .��

On this chilly morning, some voters at Columbia Heights Educational Center were completely opposed.�� One of those voters was Winston Brown.

 “They shouldn’t vote,” Brown said. “They are not citizens. You got to be a citizen of the United States in order to vote in the United States. You come here, you work, and you got to live, but you shouldn’t vote here.” 

Voter Natalie Boyd agreed “They should wait until they are citizens. They would get the benefits before being a citizen,” Boyd said.

However, others were more precautious.��

“I incline to be okay,” said Columbia Heights resident John Salsby.��

And some encourage this opening to noncitizens. Lance Swinton, a teacher at Columbia Heights Educational Campus, said he supports the bill. “I feel like if they occupy the space, they should be able to have a say in who makes changes,” Swinton said.��

Lizzy B. agreed, saying, “If you are here legally, if you are not American but you live in this area, then local elections certainly you should have an influence.” She declined to offer her last name.

Most of those who spoke to 91���� said they were not aware that the bill made its way to Bowser’s desk.

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These owners know that one themed month is not enough to compensate for the losses caused by COVID-19. But, the month is just one of many ways they hope to bring in new business.

Hispanic Heritage Month started on Sept. 15 and will last until Oct. 15. This is a month to celebrate and recognize Hispanic culture and history. And it comes at a great time, as Hispanic-owned businesses are still trying to recover from the impact of COVID-19.

“COVID-19 slowed everything down. We didn’t close, but we changed our hours. We used to open the whole day, now we just open in the evening,” said operations manager William Martinez of Tequila and Mezcal, a Mexican and Salvadoran family-owned bar and restaurant in Columbia Heights, in D.C.’s Ward 1.

It’s hard to say if it will go back to normal, but Hispanic Heritage Month is an opportunity to bring in new customers after the COVID-19 loss, Martinez said. “There is a new wave of customers to show support during the Hispanic Heritage Month.”

The U.S. government started the Paycheck Protection Program in April 2020 to help small businesses pay their employees, said Walda Yon, a chief executive at the Latino Economic Development Center. LEDC also started loan programs to help Latino businesses pay their rent, she said. However, only 3% of Latino business owners had access to total funding through PPP, compared to 7% for white owners, according to a study by Marlene Orozco and Inara Suman Taraque.

“Clients were not here. They simply went back home,” said Yon.

And Columbia Heights was not spared. The neighborhood is the heart of the Spanish-speaking Latin American population in D.C., with 22% of residents identifying as Hispanics, which is the highest number in the city, according to US Census Bureau figures. District Bridges, a nonprofit organization that aims to help businesses in a large portion of Northwest D.C. to thrive, said that Columbia Heights had the largest number of Hispanic restaurants in Ward 1, with 13 different options.

“I wish I could do more,” said Amanda Monaco, Main Street manager of Columbia Heights and Mount Pleasant for District Bridges, about Hispanic Heritage Month.

She helps Latino business owners to develop their businesses.

This ranges from helping fill out government documents to advising them on how to promote their businesses. This summer, the group launched workshops on how to create promotional websites. In the next few months, District Bridges will keep on reaching out to Latino business owners to ask them what they need, she said.

So far, Hispanic Heritage Month hasn’t changed the number of customers visiting Mi Casita Bakery and Deli, explained Brigitte Galicia, the restaurant’s cashier. Customers have passionate conversations in Spanish on the restaurant’s terrace at the corner of a street.

“We welcome everyone, Black, white, Hispanics,” said Deisi Aleman, a Honduran employee of La Cabaña Restaurante at Columbia Heights.

The Mexican-Salvadoran restaurant skipped over Hispanic Heritage Month, as it already painted its windows with Halloween themes. Aleman said there will be “a big happy hour” during the weekend of Halloween. Tex-Mex fajitas, pollo con tajadas and margaritas are very popular and are expected to be widely served during Halloween, she said.

After Halloween, the neighborhood will have another event to attract visitors. Small business owners are encouraged to decorate their stores as Columbia Heights’ Main Street will be part of D.C. Holiday Lights from Nov. 18 to Jan. 8. District Bridges’ Monaco hopes that it will promote the businesses of Columbia Heights outside Ward 1.

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Jones is President of the Columbia Heights Tenants Association and has lived in the neighborhood since 1985. He’s seen the neighborhood grow and change in many ways, but even in the midst of this year’s series of shootings, he says that a violent crime wave is nothing new.

The crack epidemic, the completion of the metro and the tensions of gentrification contributed to crime back in the ‘80s and ‘90s, Jones said. Today, crime is different in Columbia Heights, but it’s still a part of everyday life for many.

A new grassroots initiative hopes to change that. The Public Safety Coalition for Ward 1, launched by Bob Schlehuber and Calvin Jackson, aims to build connections between organizations that would not otherwise interact and give residents greater access to the full scope of resources in their community. Through monthly meetings, canvassing days and community events, the Coalition will serve as a platform for these Ward 1 organizations to collaborate towards solving community problems.

Schlehuber said that a resident interacts with their community in many ways: they may ride the train to school; stop by their doctor after class; go to work afterwards and then pick up something from a store on the way home. The Coalition would connect these health, educational, business and other resources for the wellbeing of the community.

“Students, young people and adults throughout their day go to all of these different organizations in a community,” Schlehuber said. “But those organizations themselves aren’t communicating and necessarily talking together about how they are collectively creating a safe and equitable community.”

The Coalition got its start after Schlehuber and a group of local organizers took inspiration from the principles and the public health approach to violent crime behind the .

The recent shootings, many of which have involved young people, are one example of how the community could step in to be proactive against violence, Schlehuber said.

“As a community, we clearly have more than enough resources,” he said. “How do we better start targeting those resources to those who are most vulnerable and those who are most close to violent crime happening?”

In the future, the Coalition also hopes to help empower community members by building a tool or database with phone numbers for different services that would otherwise be 911 calls. The numbers would range from youth homeless hotlines to crisis hotlines and would serve as alternatives to calling the police.

Today, though crime is different in Columbia Heights than it was 30-40 years ago, Jones is hopeful that the Public Safety Coalition for Ward 1 will help.

“I think it’s great that we have open dialogue on whatever the subject matter might be, and sometimes that’s a great start to find out where we are,” Jones said.

Jared Hart, who moved to Columbia Heights about a year ago, is just looking for simple fixes to his public safety concerns. Well-lit streets, he said, are one of the things that make him feel safe here in Columbia Heights.

“It’s just disconcerting sometimes, walking alone at night,” Hart said.

The Public Safety Coalition for Ward 1 will hold its first event, a luncheon, on Dec. 1, in Columbia Heights Village.

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