Mayor Bowser VETOES Metro fare decriminalization bill
Update Jan 22: DC Council overrides Mayor's veto, fare evasion will be decriminalized unless Congress intervenes. Mayor "more cops more jails" Bowser defeated again.
On the 16th of January, DC Mayor Bowser VETOED the Metro fare decriminalization bill. The bill passed the DC Council by a 10-2 margin, enough to override the Mayor's veto if nobody changes their vote. Metro police have been aggressively targeting Black youth for enforcement and arrest on fare evasion charges. This could perhaps be called "Make Metro White Again.
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Needless to say, the next step towards decriminalization is a campaign to ensure the DC City Council schedules a veto override vote, and to ensure that no more than one councilmember changes their vote to support a gentrifying Mayor. Mayor Bowser is always pushing to put more African-American youth in prison, in jail, and in those nasty GPS ankle bracelets just waiting to be cut off. A few years ago she tried and failed to get a bill through the City Council to impose warrantless searches as a condition of parole for many "offenders."