INTERVIEW – DC COUNCILMEMBER PHIL MENDELSON – Chairman of the DC COUNCIL

• D.C. Council to vote Oct. 2 on whether to ban renting out second homes on Airbnb. The District would bar property owners from using Airbnb or similar companies to rent out second homes under a revised bill to go before the D.C. Council on Tuesday, D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson said Thursday. The long-awaited new version of the legislation also would limit rentals of a primary residence when the owner is away to 90 days in a calendar year. There would be no limit on renting out space in one’s home, such as an extra bedroom or basement, when the host is present. If approved, as Mendelson said he expects, the bill would represent a victory for critics of short-term rentals including the hotel industry, hotel workers union and neighborhood associations. They have said that the rapid growth of short-term rentals was reducing the availability of affordable housing and disrupting neighborhoods.
• Voters approved Initiative 77 to raise the minimum wage for tipped workers to $15/hour. Tuesday that vote could be repealed.  Showdown looming at D.C. Council to overturn Initiative 77, the tipped wage hike. D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) said Friday that he has secured enough votes and is moving ahead to overturn a voter-approved minimum wage increase for servers, bartenders and other tipped workers in the nation’s capital. The council is scheduled Tuesday to vote on Mendelson’s emergency legislation to repeal Initiative 77 before it takes effect on Oct. 9. Emergency legislation requires the support of nine of 13 members. Lawmakers on Tuesday will also cast the first of two votes to permanently overturn the ballot measure, which requires a simple majority. But another group of lawmakers is trying to hash out a compromise that could preserve a watered-down version of the law.