Miguel Trindade Deramo

DC should restore and strengthen TOPA (the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act) to give tenants the right to purchase their building before it's sold to an outside buyer.

Will reverse the RENTAL Act amendment exempting 2–4 unit properties from TOPA (which he says 'denies thousands of renters the opportunity to potentially become homeowners') and will work to shorten the 15-year TOPA exemption for new buildings. In a DC Beat interview he called TOPA 'a landmark law' that 'when it works, it delivers' and has kept Ward 1 residents from being displaced — saying the priority is to 'make it work very well.'

Sources: [Priorities — Miguel for Ward 1], [The DC Beat — Ward 1 candidate Miguel Trindade Deramo interview]

DC should expand rent stabilization to cover more housing, including buildings constructed after 1975.

Supports exploring expansion of rent stabilization to more existing multifamily properties, but with care to ensure rent caps don't hurt the financial feasibility of operating those properties amid rising costs. Raises the possibility of a rolling (rather than fixed) timeframe for applicability.

Sources: [Priorities — Miguel for Ward 1]

DC should significantly increase the Housing Production Trust Fund.

Will fight for more resources for the HPTF focused on households earning up to 50% AMI, paired with rigorous oversight. Also proposes a new Housing Preservation Fund alongside the HPTF to protect existing affordable housing from being converted to market rate.

Sources: [Priorities — Miguel for Ward 1]

DC should adopt a social housing model — publicly owned, mixed-income housing.

Will support DC taking a more active role in financing and developing permanently affordable, mixed-income, publicly and/or nonprofit-owned social housing, with Montgomery County's approach as a potential model. Would create a fund to test such investments with a growth plan toward a dedicated office or independent agency.

Sources: [Priorities — Miguel for Ward 1]

DC should use the District Opportunity to Purchase Act (DOPA) to buy apartment buildings and preserve them as affordable housing.

Will make more frequent use of DOPA by creating a financing tool for DOPA acquisitions, conducting oversight to ensure DHCD has the capacity to take on more properties, and exploring partnerships with values-aligned affordable housing organizations to acquire and manage DOPA properties.

Sources: [Priorities — Miguel for Ward 1]

DC should build more protected bike lanes and dedicated bus lanes.

Will champion bus priority lanes on U Street, Florida, Georgia, 14th, and Columbia Heights Crosstown corridors; a seamless protected bike lane on 14th St from Columbia Heights to downtown; 25 new or expanded Capital Bikeshare stations; and bus frequencies of every 10 minutes or better on Ward 1's major corridors. Already secured two bikeshare station expansions as ANC chair. At the Bike, Walk & Bus PAC transportation forum he highlighted landing an expanded bike-share station plus a brand-new Malcolm X Park station in a year when DOT's new-station budget was $0 (assembled from spare parts), and his push to redesign and harden pedestrian crossings on 14th Street, stitch together the 11th and 14th Street bike lanes, and expand sidewalks in nightlife areas like U Street and around schools.

Sources: [Priorities — Miguel for Ward 1], [Ward 1 Council Candidate Forum on Transportation (Bike, Walk & Bus PAC)]

MPD should not assist ICE or other federal agencies in immigration enforcement operations within DC.

Will introduce legislation to amend the Sanctuary Values Amendment Act to expand information-sharing prohibitions to people detained (not just in custody), add quarterly MPD reporting requirements, create protections at sensitive locations (schools, hospitals, clinics), and ban face coverings by law enforcement. Led 36 ANCs to pass resolutions demanding ICE remove masks and stop wearing 'POLICE' uniforms; ran weekly KYR outreach with Free DC; testified at Council's human rights hearing asking 'what is the value of the Sanctuary Values Act if not enforced?' In a DC Beat interview he backed the FAAR Act and faulted the Council for not requiring MPD months earlier to track its interactions with federal agents: 'if the feds are going to be here on the streets we want MPD to have its eyes open and giving us good reports regularly on what's going on.'

Sources: [Priorities — Miguel for Ward 1], [The DC Beat — Ward 1 candidate Miguel Trindade Deramo interview]

Every DC public school should have a dedicated behavioral health clinician on staff.

Will champion fully funding and expanding the School-Based Behavioral Health program, which integrates licensed clinicians into schools; ensure schools are sufficiently staffed with nurses, counselors, and social workers; and ensure any transition from CBOs to DBH is meticulously planned so services are not disrupted. Notes that Ward 1's trusted local providers like Mary's Center would be discontinued under the current transition proposal.

Sources: [Priorities — Miguel for Ward 1]

DC should treat violence as a public health problem, investing heavily in violence interruption programs and community-based solutions.

Sponsored two ANC resolutions to maintain or increase DC's violence interruption investment; will bolster VI programs at all levels including CBT-based peacebuilding in schools, linking school programs to neighborhood-based VI programs; and supports Pathways 2 Peace for youth most at risk of gun violence. Emphasizes that investments must be based on rigorous research and data.

Sources: [Priorities — Miguel for Ward 1]

DC should enforce a curfew for minors as a tool to reduce youth crime.

States: 'Fundamentally, Miguel is not in favor of youth curfews; he does not support a permanent curfew or repeatedly extending the curfew as the only solutions.' Wants to prevent unnecessary interactions between youth and policing or the criminal justice system. As ANC Chair of U Street (where large youth gatherings have occurred), he prefers rec centers, night markets, and programming over enforcement. In a DC Beat interview he called the curfew a 'band-aid' with nothing healing the wound underneath — 'the investment in youth, to me it looks non-existent… I don't think we're doing anything differently now than we were before the curfew was instituted' — and faulted the Council for 'kicking the can down the road' instead of addressing the underlying issues.

Sources: [Priorities — Miguel for Ward 1], [The DC Beat — Ward 1 candidate Miguel Trindade Deramo interview]

Any youth curfew must be paired with substantial investment in alternative programming — jobs, recreation centers, mental health services — for young people.

Will pressure the Mayor to reactivate the defunct Youth Advisory Council; support expanding Out-of-School Time seat capacity; champion the Mayor Barry Summer Youth Employment Program and High School Internship Program; and broaden city partnerships to create all-ages events, safe spaces at rec centers, and youth-led programming. Explicitly frames programming as the alternative to curfews. In a DC Beat interview he criticized the dormant Mayor's Youth Advisory Council ('I don't believe it's been meeting') and called for 'speaking with youth instead of at youth,' plus real investment in rec centers and late-night programming he says hasn't materialized since the curfew began.

Sources: [Priorities — Miguel for Ward 1], [The DC Beat — Ward 1 candidate Miguel Trindade Deramo interview]

DC should increase funding for the Department of Parks and Recreation, including extended rec center hours and expanded youth and senior programming.

Frames recreation centers as essential youth safety infrastructure (safe spaces for youth gatherings as an alternative to curfews) and supports expanding Out-of-School Time seat capacity. Organized monthly Malcolm X Park cleanups, brought Shakespeare in the Park to Malcolm X, and built partnerships with Washington Parks & People and the National Park Service to attract resources for the park.

Sources: [Priorities — Miguel for Ward 1]

DC should expand subsidized childcare into a universal program — available to all DC residents regardless of income — building on the Pre-K Enhancement and Expansion Program (PKEEP).

Will fill the funding gap in the Birth-to-Three for ALL DC Act (currently severely underfunded) so families pay no more than 10% of income on childcare for ages 0–3, which would benefit 12,000+ infants and toddlers. Will protect the Pay Equity Fund and the childcare subsidy program; also interested in zoning reforms to allow childcare on upper floors of commercial buildings.

Sources: [Priorities — Miguel for Ward 1]

DC should guarantee free, high-quality child care from birth through age three — with no waitlists — for District families.

Will work to extend the city's early-childhood support to 'fill the gap by providing childcare for ages 0 to 3,' fully funding the underfunded Birth-to-Three for ALL DC Act so families pay no more than 10% of income — which he says would benefit 12,000+ infants and toddlers.

Sources: [Priorities — Miguel for Ward 1]

DC should legalize apartments and 'missing-middle' housing (duplexes, triplexes, and small multifamily buildings) citywide by removing single-family-only zoning restrictions.

Will champion zoning reform to allow more housing, citing Minneapolis and Austin: ease parking and setback requirements, raise restrictive height caps, build over existing low-rise retail on commercial corridors, and amend the Comprehensive Plan to facilitate 'missing middle' / 'gentle density' housing. Expects Zoning Commission nominees to prioritize changes that spur housing construction. In a DC Beat interview he called himself 'the most pro housing candidate in my race,' arguing DC's own zoning — not the federal Height Act — constrains growth ('our zoning is often lower than the Height Act would allow') and pressing to 'open the gates for taller buildings' on transit-rich corridors like 14th and U Streets rather than 'building low-slung buildings' there. At the Bike, Walk & Bus PAC forum he called transit-oriented development essential, noting that for already-dense Ward 1 building more housing 'kind of means everywhere,' while insisting other wards 'pull their fair share' and raise density near transit.

Sources: [Priorities — Miguel for Ward 1], [The DC Beat — Ward 1 candidate Miguel Trindade Deramo interview], [Ward 1 Council Candidate Forum on Transportation (Bike, Walk & Bus PAC)]

DC buses should be fare-free for all riders.

Supports moving to fare-free buses in the District, which he proposes funding through a land value tax — part of a transit platform that also includes bus priority corridors, a seamless 14th St protected bike lane, and expanded Capital Bikeshare. At the Bike, Walk & Bus PAC forum he reaffirmed strong support but cautioned it must be done 'the right way' — locking in a reliable, multi-year dedicated funding stream first so the city doesn't fund free buses for a few years and then break the promise, and without sacrificing the frequency and reliability that surveys show riders value most. He opposed the earlier trade-off of scrapping the K Street Transitway to pay for free buses.

Sources: [Priorities — Miguel for Ward 1], [Ward 1 Council Candidate Forum on Transportation (Bike, Walk & Bus PAC)]

DC should cut taxes and fees on small and local businesses — and offer relief such as the small retailer property tax credit — to help them open, survive, and grow.

Takes a broad view of affordability and wants to 'align incentives to preserve and grow the missing middle' — locally owned restaurants, corner stores, and services most at risk of being priced out — and to protect DC's Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit. Emphasizes preserving small/local businesses and reviving programs like streateries and the commercial trash compactor grant more than across-the-board business tax cuts.

Sources: [Priorities — Miguel for Ward 1]

DC should implement a comprehensive citywide rodent control program — including replacing standard trash containers with rodent-proof bins — to address the District's chronic rat infestation.

Has a four-plank rat platform: (1) replace open-air trash cans with rodent-proof closed bins; (2) expand composting from pilot to permanent program including apartments; (3) stronger enforcement against illegal trash dumping in alleys by restaurants and landlords; (4) innovate with rodent birth control trials. Got Ward 1's first composting bin installed at 14th & U. Supports the RAT Amendment Act and RATSS Act. Explicitly avoids rodenticides due to harm to wildlife.

Sources: [Priorities — Miguel for Ward 1]

DC should respond to Trump administration interference in city governance with an assertive, public stance — filing lawsuits, passing protective legislation, and refusing to comply with unlawful federal directives — rather than quiet diplomacy or pragmatic deal-making.

Founded the ANC Home Rule Caucus (75+ commissioners), led 36 commissions to pass concurrent resolutions condemning the federal takeover, personally lobbied Capitol Hill with Free DC to restore $1 billion cut from DC's budget, ran weekly Know Your Rights outreach in English and Spanish, and rallied ANCs to demand ICE stop wearing deceptive 'POLICE' uniforms — a record of aggressive, public-facing resistance to federal interference. In a DC Beat interview he backed the FAAR Act as pushing 'an envelope that's important to push,' urged the Mayor and Council to 'lean in a little more' in defending DC's autonomy, and faulted the city's 'softly softly' response to the federal immigration crackdown that hit Ward One hardest — saying he 'didn't see the mayor come out to Ward One and stand on the street corner with people.'

Sources: [Record — Miguel for Ward 1], [The DC Beat — Ward 1 candidate Miguel Trindade Deramo interview]

DC should act aggressively to lower residents' electricity bills — for example by contesting or rolling back Pepco rate increases through the Public Service Commission.

Trindade Deramo backs legislation to abolish junk fees on utilities in shared residential spaces and an Attorney General investigation into the practice — a regulatory and enforcement stance on utility billing and costs. Supportive of lowering residents' utility costs, though more narrowly targeted than a broad campaign against monopoly rate increases.

Sources: [Miguel for Ward 1 — Campaign Website]

DC should strengthen worker protections — expanding paid family and medical leave and raising the minimum wage — even if it raises costs for employers.

Trindade Deramo supports better worker protections and a higher minimum wage (and has used his ANC role for worker-safety oversight), but favors a gradual, tiered, Seattle-style implementation negotiated with labor and business to avoid job losses. Supports stronger protections with a cautious approach to wage mandates.

Sources: [Provide Better Worker Protections — Miguel for Ward 1]

DC should expand permanent supportive housing and 'Housing First' services to address homelessness, rather than relying on clearing encampments.

Trindade Deramo frames homelessness as 'a housing issue,' explicitly backing a Housing First approach with no preconditions, more permanent supportive housing, and a shift away from congregate shelters — and condemning 'the thoughtless clearing of encampments.' Strongly supports.

Sources: [Homelessness Is a Housing Issue — Miguel for Ward 1]