9:45 COURT HEARING;
~11AM PRESS CONFERENCE
Invited: 2026 Mayoral Candidates; Hear from Citywide Residents
Appeals Case Could Halt the Mayor's 2021 DC Comprehensive Planning Changes for Lack of Study of Displacement & No Real Environmental Impact Evaluation
Development of 200 Million Square Feet of DC Land at Question
DC COURT APPEALS, 430 E STREET, NW
Hearing arguments by Ms. Renee Bowser, Esq., for 13 citywide petitioners:
- Victor M. Booth, Ward 7
- Linda Brown, Ward 6
- Minnie Elliott, Ward 5
- William Jordan, Ward 1
- Mary Alice Levine, Ward 3
- Richard B. Nash, Ward 3
- Chris Otten, Ward 1
- Marc Poe, War d1
- Graylin W. Presbury, Ward 8
- Laura Richards, Ward 7
- Mary Rowse, Ward 3
- Shirley Shannon, Ward 5
- Chris Williams, Ward 6
BACKGROUND:
(see filing for oral argument here)
A legal case now before the court reveals a deeply troubling position from the Mayor's DC Office of Planning: that the laws guiding the city’s Comprehensive Plan don’t actually require meaningful consideration before rolling the dice—no real obligation for thorough analysis, environmental review, or careful planning about our neighborhoods, infrastructure, public services, or to protect families vulnerable to gentrification & displacement.
If OP's argument succeeds, it would lay the path for unfettered corporate-driven speculative development without fully accounting for the consequences.
And we already know what those consequences look like. Across DC, long-time residents—especially low-income families and historically Black communities—are being pushed out as development accelerates without a plan to protect them. Weakening the rules that are supposed to guide growth will only make this worse.
This case is about whether there are any reasonable checks and balances to the profit-driven real estate “wild-west” in DC that has already been driving devastating displacement.
This is a turning point. If the city can sidestep its own planning laws, it clears the way for continued displacement at a much larger scale.
RENEE BOWSER, ESQUIRE WILL ARGUE ON BEHALF OF CITYWIDE PETITIONERS AGAINST BAD PLANNING IN DC & FOR PROPER ANALYSIS AND MITIGATION OF DISPLACEMENT HARMS TO PROTECT THE PEOPLE
HEARING MONDAY APRIL 27 at 9:45AM sharp (see Court notice here)
Where: D.C. Court of Appeals — the highest court in DC — 2nd Floor
430 E Street NW (Judiciary Square or Metro Center stops)
Please RSVP: stopdisplacement@blackneighborsdc.org
PRESS BRIEFING IN FRONT OF COURTHOUSE AFTER HEARING
We invite you to court to witness DC residents that are paying attention—and who are refusing to accept a future where growth means pushing people out.
Contact: Victor Booth, (301) 801-7947, stopdisplacement@blackneighborsdc.org