Issa wants to loosen the Congressonal yoke. Photo by Ludie Cochrane on Flickr.

Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA) is ready to give DC more local control over the sizes of its own buildings, a small step forward for self-

government. He expressed shock this week that many DC leaders, including DC Council chairman Phil Mendelson, are rejecting the opportunity.

“I heard separately to my astonishment, for the first time ever, a rejection of Home Rule,” he said. “I expected you all to say, ‘Gosh, this will take years and years.’ … I did not expect, for the first time ever, to have people say, ‘Please don’t give me authority. I can’t be trusted.’”

Issa needs to hear from people who do support the idea of Congress loosening its grip over DC. Please send him and other relevant Congressional leaders a letter asking them to let DC residents make their own choices about their built environment (at least where it doesn’t directly affect the federal government).

Mendelson argued that “citizens of the District do not support any change” to the height limit, or even the right to make changes in the future, largely because most of the people who could take four or six whole hours, often in the middle of a workday, just to attend a hearing and speak for three minutes opposed change. (Note to Mendelson: Some of us have other stuff to do, like jobs and kids.)

Even if DC doesn’t change its building height rules now, sooner or later we’re going to need to do something about the housing shortage that’s pushing up housing prices so fast. As Harriet Tregoning noted in the hearing, if DC eventually decides that height, even just in a targeted area, is the solution, it might be too late if the House oversight chairman at the time doesn’t believe as strongly in local self-government as Issa does.

When Congress granted DC Home Rule in 1973, they were willing to let a locally-elected council and mayor pass most laws, but didn’t entirely trust DC to decide everything for itself. They kept power over the courts, didn’t let the council change any criminal laws for 2 years, gave the federal government seats on the boards that decide zoning, and forbade the local government from making any changes to the height limit. Each of these is basically a reminder that they only trusted DC citizens so far.

Now, a powerful committee chairman wants to trust us just a little more. Despite some bad apples, the District has balanced its budget for many years now, has reduced crime, and provides municipal services about as well as any city. Any height changes would have to still go through the federal NCPC and hybrid federal-local zoning commission, and Congress could still veto a change. But we’re grown up enough to have a say in building heights, whether we end up deciding to change building height rules, or not, or wait until later.

David Alpert created Greater Greater Washington in 2008 and was its executive director until 2020. He formerly worked in tech and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco Bay, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He lives with his wife and two children in Dupont Circle.