Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser sought $3 million in federal funds from President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 stimulus bill to help build Black Lives Matter Plaza, emails show.
Top officials in Bowser’s administration disclosed in a June 16 email thread that the mayor wanted to requisition $3 million from the American Rescue Plan stimulus package for the city’s “streetscapes & beautification” account for use toward the BLM Plaza project in the 2022 fiscal year, which runs October 2021 through September 2022. The emails were obtained by Breitbart News.
It’s not clear if Bowser’s FY2022 budget request to allocate COVID-19 stimulus funds toward BLM Plaza was approved. However, the $3 million figure is an exact match to project costs disclosed in Bowser’s press release after the plaza’s construction was completed in late October.
“In the coming months, an additional $3 million investment will create a more cohesive public space around the monument by reconstructing nearby sidewalks, installing commemorative works, and adding new benches, lighting, signage, and street trees,” Bowser said in the press release.
In June 2020, during the nationwide unrest that followed the police killing of George Floyd, Bowser closed off two blocks near the White House to vehicle traffic to paint a “Black Lives Matter” mural in dedication to the BLM movement. BLM Plaza was initially intended to be a temporary “art installation,” but the mayor announced one year later, in July 2021, that construction would make the monument a permanent fixture in the nation’s capital.
Bowser said after BLM Plaza’s construction was completed in October that one of her “proudest memories” was when former Rep. John Lewis visited the plaza just weeks before he died of pancreatic cancer in July 2020.
“He recognized Black Lives Matter Plaza as good trouble, and we know it will remain a gathering place for reflection, planning, and action, as we work toward a more perfect union,” Bowser said in reference to the civil rights icon.
Bowser administration officials involved in the June 16 email thread that disclosed the mayor’s stimulus funding request for BLM Plaza include D.C. Department of Transportation Chief Administrative Officer Saesha Carlile, D.C. Office of Contracting and Procurement Chief Operating Officer Marc Scott, and D.C. Office of Contracting and Procurement Deputy Chief Procurement Officer Nancy Hapeman.
Bowser’s office, Carlile, Scott, and Hapeman did not return requests for comment.
The revelation Bowser sought federal COVID-19 stimulus funds for BLM Plaza comes as multiple BLM leaders and other similar groups face scrutiny over what came of the financial windfall their charitable groups received during the 2020 riots.
A prominent Boston-based BLM leader with ties to prominent Democratic lawmakers, Monica Cannon-Grant, has been the subject of a federal investigation since October for allegedly pilfering funds from her social justice charity, which she claimed raked in millions in 2020.
Cannon-Grant’s husband was charged with mortgage fraud in October for claiming her charity as his personal property when applying for a mortgage in May. She said in a podcast last week that federal authorities “used him in order to investigate me.”
In addition, the BLM Global Network Foundation, the charity that serves as the face of the national BLM movement, voluntarily shut down its ability to raise funds in early February after a Washington Examiner investigation found the group had no known leader in charge of the tens of millions of dollars it raised in 2020 since May.
The national BLM group, which has for years faced accusations of financial impropriety from local BLM activists and chapters, also received legal threats from California and Washington in February over its failure to report its finances from 2020. The national BLM group was also booted from Amazon’s charity service, AmazonSmile, in February over its compliance issues with states across the country.
*story by The Washington Examiner
