In an on-stage conversation with Washington Post editor Matt Murray last week, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser once again advocated “prudent fiscal management.” The piece of advice for her successor might have sounded familiar to anyone who has followed Bowser’s 12-year run.

But then, according to reporter Jenny Gathright, herroner added an only-in-2026 chaser: “There's been a lot of polling done on people who are new to the city, less than 10 years," she said. "They're Washingtonians, but they have no recollection" of the time when dire city finances led Congress to create a control board and usurp home rule. "It can happen," she warned.

Sure enough, a City Cast poll last month found that new Washingtonians are much more sour on Bowser than D.C. natives — and much more likely to support Janeese Lewis George, who wants a sharp break with Bowser’s business-friendly policies.

There’s an irony here: By definition, those newcomers moved here during Bowser’s own administration — one in a string of centrist governments that made D.C. a magnet for college-educated professionals. But as the population surged, it wasn’t just D.C.’s demographic makeup that changed. The more than 100,000 new Washingtonians also don’t have the same memories of the bad old days.

That’s not all negative. A lot of us who remember D.C.’s dysfunctional-government era will put up with mediocrity because it seems like such a step up. But visceral memories of a time when the District had to throw itself on the mercy of Newt Gingrich are also useful. They focus the mind on avoiding a repeat.

In an election when both leading mayoral hopefuls have bragged about their born-in-D.C. cred, here’s hoping the useful part of that history will stay with the candidates. And that, maybe, a bit of the dissatisfaction from some of Lewis George’s newcomer base will rub off, too.

No New Taxes. D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson rolled out his own budget proposal, which restores $400 million in cuts proposed by Mayor Muriel Bowser — but also does not embrace the “wealth tax” proposed by progressive Councilmember Brianne Nadeau. He plans to pay for it in part by taking a chunk of money out of the city’s reserves, something District Chief Financial Officer Glen Lee has warned about. Lee last month said the city was approaching a “fiscal cliff” in the next few years.

Candidate Q&As. NOTUS, the news site that has not yet been renamed The Star, rolled out its D.C. reporting by running candidate interviews. Reporters asked Lewis George to answer for being a socialist and Kenyan McDuffie to answer for being part of the establishment. Lewis George embraced her label, but added: “I am a believer in sewer socialism, and that is making basic government services work.” McDuffie shunned his label: “I grew up in a small neighborhood called Stronghold, was arrested as a teenager, carried mail and dropped out of college a couple times before I got it right.”

More McMillan Movement. The conversion of the McMillan Sand Filtration Site on North Capitol Street into a gleaming residential-and-commercial destination has been one of D.C.’s most consistently controversial storylines over the past two decades. And even though much of the project, now called the Reservoir District, is now open, it’s still full of drama. The developer of the last chunk of the project, slated to be a huge medical office building, is now mulling a change, the Washington Business Journal reports — possibly a sign that the site’s proximity to Washington Hospital Center didn’t make it a slam-dunk after all.

Trump v. Smithsonian. An Office of Management and Budget directive has ordered the Smithsonian to change its spending to reflect Trump priorities — or risk not getting some of the money that Congress already approved, NOTUS reports. Known as an “apportionment,” the directive sets up what could be D.C.’s next culture-war fight, with the president taking on the purportedly independent institution for being too woke.

UFC Fight Circumvents City Rules. Officially, boxing and mixed martial arts bouts in D.C. are supposed to be sanctioned by the city’s Combat Sports Commission, which is in charge of ensuring fight safety. But Sunday’s White House UFC fight won’t be. Because the match takes place on federal land, organizers opted not to get city sign-off. WTOP reports that local fight officials worry it’ll set a precedent for, say, boxing promoters to put on non-sanctioned fights in Malcolm X Park.

Settling Stars. A settlement conference has been scheduled for July 13 in the trademark lawsuit between The Washington Star and The Star/NOTUS, City Cast’s Emma Uber tells me. Last week, a judge temporarily blocked NOTUS from relaunching as The Star in a dispute over trademark rights.

Finally: Ex-gangsters On the Loose! Today marks the official debut of Capitalweather.com, the new site from the forecasters formerly known as the Washington Post’s Capital Weather Gang. The organization, which began as an independent outfit before linking arms with the Post in 2008, went independent again at the end of May. For Post readers, it’s another sign of the organization’s move away from DMV paper-of-record coverage. The team behind Capital Weather, meanwhile, say they’ll offer continuously updated detailed forecasts, a standalone smartphone app, and “a community-centered approach built around reader engagement.”

But why did they drop the word “gang” from their name? “We're going back to Capital Weather to signal a return to our roots,” Chief Meteorologist Jason Samenow told me. Samenow also said they’d be maintaining the daily weather ratings (occasionally in rhyming verse) that were a staple of their gang years, too.

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