On Friday, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser joined the show to discuss the future of the RFK Stadium site and a major crime bill.

Earlier this week, the U.S. House of Representatives passeda bipartisan bill allowing D.C. to redevelop the old RFK Stadium site. It's a major step in potentially bringing the Commanders back to the District.

While it still has to pass the U.S. Senate, Bowser said the move brings the District a “step closer to being able to control our own destiny.”

She said the site would be an ideal place for a mixed-use development that could include housing, retail, restaurants, parkland, and possibly a home for the District’s NFL franchise, the Washington Commanders.

“What we have right now is a broken down stadium, a sea of asphalt, and reduced access to the Anacostia River, and a blight in our community,” said Bowser. “Yes, I do think an NFL stadium could be there.”

Bowser also talked about the massive crime bill that the D.C. Council is set to vote on next week. She praised Ward 2 Councilmember Brooke Pinto for introducing the legislation and encouraged the council to vote yes on it.

However, she took issue with two amendments included in the bill prior to the first vote in early February, and asked councilmembers to reverse them

The first amendment makes the pre-trial detention provision temporary to allow time to study its impact on curbing crime. The provision would make it easier for judges to hold adults in jail pending trial for violent offenses if they have a history of committing violent crimes.

She says the expansion of pretrial detention first introduced in the emergency public safety bill enacted this past summer is one reason crime rates are down by about ten percent over the first two months of this year.

“I firmly believe part of the reason we are seeing fewer assaults with a deadly weapon - and that’s largely guns - is because we’ve taken a lot of shooters off the streets in the last six months.”

She also asked the D.C. Council to reinstate the proposed expansion of DNA collection from felony suspects.

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