Josh Jacobson

@districtjosh.bsky.social

414 Followers 72 Following

He/him. Personal account. 1E06 Commissioner. Chair, ANC 1E. YIMBY who walks and bikes.🌱🌇🏘️🏢. @ward1democrats.org treasurer. See districtjosh.com for my civic tech projects.

Email from Josh to OUC regarding 311 issues. I'm writing to raise an ongoing concern about the reliability of 311 and to ask for greater communication and transparency from OUC about how these issues are being addressed. 311 has been unreliable for the past several weeks. When I submit requests through the iPhone app, I frequently receive errors at the very end of the submission process. The website is slightly more dependable, but I still frequently hit errors that force me to re-enter the entire request. And when I've called 311 to report an issue, the system has repeatedly routed me to the police non-emergency line instead. This is not my experience alone. A number of constituents (and fellow commissioners - some cc'd) have told me that 311 has been broken for them as well. I also note the banner currently at the top of the 311 site stating that "DC 311 is aware of and addressing issues with the DC 311 Mobile App," dated May 1st. That these problems have persisted for weeks now is, frankly, unacceptable. As someone who works in tech, my customers would not find it acceptable to leave an important system like this unusable for weeks on end. To better understand how OUC is managing the reliability of this critical system, I'd appreciate answers to the following: What is the expected timeline for fully resolving these issues, and what specifically remains outstanding? Does OUC track failed app/web submissions? If so, what is the number of submissions that have failed since May 1st? What testing processes does OUC perform before releasing updates to the 311 app? Does OUC have a root-cause analysis (RCA) or post-mortem process for technology issues like this? If so, are those findings communicated publicly? What tools does OUC use to monitor the status of the 311 app so that issues can be identified and addressed proactively? I'd welcome a written response, and I'm happy to share specific examples or service request details if that would be helpful.
A webpage titled "Budget Legislation" from the DC FY27 Budget site. Introductory text explains that the Mayor's FY2027 budget proposal arrives at the DC Council as four companion bills. Four cards are displayed in a 2×2 grid: (1) Budget Support Act (BSA) — FY27 bill, 273 pages, 87 subtitles, covering statutory amendments for policy changes, fee updates, and fund transfers. (2) Local Budget Act (LBA) — FY27 bill, 44 pages, $21.2B total, 129 agencies, the main appropriations bill. (3) Federal Portion Budget Request Act (FPBRA) — FY27 bill, 10 pages, $993.4M total request, 13 payments, covering DC Courts and federal-dollar entities. (4) FY26 Revised Local Budget (Supplemental) — FY26 bill, 16 pages, net adjustment of -$119.2M, covering mid-year revisions. Each card includes "View details" and "View PDF" links.
A "Council Committee Budgets" section with the subtitle "FY27 budget allocations by DC Council committee. Click to expand agency details." Three expandable accordion rows are shown, each displaying the committee name, number of agencies, percentage of the DC budget, a proportional dark blue progress bar, and the total dollar amount: Committee of the Whole — 10 agencies, 18.5% of DC budget — $3.9B Executive Administration and Labor - 13 agencies, 1.5% of DC budget - $323.6M Facilities - 4 agencies, 3.8% of DC budget - $800.4M Each row has a chevron icon indicating it can be expanded for agency-level detail.
A collapsible "Performance measures" section header (expanded, showing 38 measures across 13 objectives/activities) above a "Performance Accountability" panel sourced from the OCA FY2025 PAR. Introductory text explains the data comes from the Office of the City Administrator's annual Performance Accountability Reports, with the most recent being FY2025 (published January 2025). Below, under an "OBJECTIVES" label, four numbered accordion items are listed, each expandable via a chevron icon: 4.1 Ensure an equitable and inclusive school system 4.2 Provide a well-rounded education 4.3 Ensure a safe, supportive and culturally affirming learning environment 4.4 Ensure students are prepared to graduate on time and participate in a postsecondary pathway
A data table comparing DC agency budgets between FY26 and FY27, with columns for Agency, FY26, FY27 (currently sorted descending), and Change. Three agencies are listed: Department of Health Care Finance (HT0, Human Support Services) — FY26: $5.5B, FY27: $5.3B, Change: ▼−3.1% District of Columbia Public Schools (GA0, Public Education System) — FY26: $1.5B, FY27: $1.5B, Change: ▼−1.4% District of Columbia Public Charter Schools (GC0, Public Education System) - FY26: $1.4B, FY27: $1.4B, Change: ▲+3.8% Each row includes "View" and "Details" buttons, a star icon for favoriting, and a small sparkline chart showing budget trend over time.
A dark navy blue header banner for a DC FY2027 Budget website. The title "DC FY2027 Budget" appears in large, bold yellow-green text. Below it, a subheading reads "Proposed Budget and Financial Plan" in white bold text, followed by a description: "An interactive explorer of Washington DC's proposed $12.7 billion general funds budget for Fiscal Year 2027. Data sourced from the DC CFO and Mayor's budget submission." At the bottom, smaller gray text notes it is an "Independent explorer built by Josh Jacobson" with hyperlinks to Bluesky and Twitter, and a disclaimer that it is "Not affiliated with the DC government."
Screenshots of actions to take on the website - emailing DMPED, taking OP's survey, and emailing councilmembers.
Screenshot of zoning remapper tool
Image of a trash can that says "MAYOR MURIEL BOWSER PRESENTS" in the usual font.
Image of Schmidt from New Girl asking, "Are you the criminals? From the statistics?"
The Commanders have a new message for the D.C. Council: Get the RFK Stadium redevelopment approved or risk the Pandora's box of President Trump getting involved, Axios has learned.
Email excerpt that says the following: "LOCAL CONVENTION RESCHEDULED TO JUNE 7 Fellow Ward 1 Democrats, At the request of the Executive Office of the Mayor and the DC Democratic Party, we have decided to reschedule the Ward 1 Democrats Local Convention to Saturday, June 7th, 2025, from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM at the Thurgood Marshall Center for Services (1816 12th St. NW). Today’s meeting will simply be a DC Democratic Party meeting where we are honored and humbled to host Mayor Muriel Bowser to speak and take questions from Ward 1 residents. We recognize this is late notice, and we apologize for the inconvenience this will inevitably cause many of you."
Photo of Josh and Isabella riding the 9th Street Protected Bike Lane