The D.C. Council held its swearing-in ceremony for the Mayor, Chairman, members of the Council and the attorney general on the first Monday morning of the new year.
The ceremony, which was open to the public, took place at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center at 801 Mt. Vernon Place NW around 9:30 a.m.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser took the oath for the third time. In her speech, she pledged to bring tens of thousands of residents to downtown Washington, converting unused office space to residential units.
"Right now, 25,000 people call downtown home. Here's our goal: we will add 15,000 residents over the next five years, and 87,000 before it's all said and done," Bowser said. "That's right, a new 100,000 resident goal."
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To create enough housing for 100,000 people downtown, Bowser called on President Biden to bring back federal workers, or give up their office space.
"We need decisive action by the White House to either get most federal workers back to the office most of the time, or to realign their vast property holdings for use by local government, by nonprofits, by businesses, or by any user willing to revitalize it," Bowser said.
She will have two new councilmembers to work with -- Matt Frumin from Ward 3, and Zachary Parker from Ward 5.
Both councilmembers acknowledged the significance of Parker's election as the first openly gay African American man on the council.
Former Ward 5 councilmember Kenyan McDuffie was sworn into one of the At-Large seats.
The ceremonies for state Board of Education Members, Statehood Delegation and Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners (ANCs) took place between 2 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.
