Good morning, D.C. In today’s newsletter: An inside look at Waymo, Tom Sietsema’s favorite banh mi and new Commander Stefon Diggs.
THE LATEST
Self-driving cars aren’t yet legal in D.C., but that’s not stopping Waymo.
The Google-owned autonomous car company is building out three new maintenance and charging facilities in D.C., and using them to lay the political and practical groundwork for what it hopes will be approval in the fall of a D.C. Council bill to legalize passenger service.
Trending
“When you look at other ride-hailing companies, you don’t see this,” Matt Walsh, the company’s head of policy for the East Coast, said Wednesday during a tour of a 30,000-square-foot maintenance center being built out just off Bladensburg Road Northeast. He said Waymo is investing tens of millions of dollars in its local infrastructure, and hiring D.C. residents as car testers and technicians.
Waymo currently offers passenger service in 11 cities and has aggressive expansion plans. The company has been testing its self-driving white Jaguars in D.C. for upwards of two years, logging more than 300,000 miles of fully autonomous driving (with a human in the car as backup) and mapping every road in the city.
Still, elected officials in D.C. have been slow to embrace full legalization, though a bill introduced by Ward 6 council member Charles Allen did have its first public hearing in July. The fight is still on, with some labor unions raising concerns about Uber and Lyft drivers losing jobs, and some disabled residents demanding requirements for wheelchair-accessible vehicles.
Waymo has its own concerns with Allen’s bill, notably an initial cap on the number of cars that would be allowed to offer passenger service in D.C. Walsh said any cap could affect the type of service Waymo can offer, as well as the investments the company is making in the city. Allen tells NOTUS his bill’s initial 200-car cap is meant to phase in the service, in what he calls a “stepped and tiered” approach.
Allen was also given a tour of the maintenance facility this week, where he was joined by D.C. Department of Transportation Director Sharon Kershbaum.
“I’m going to read it as the company trying to show us they’re serious about making investments in D.C.,” Allen said. “It’s something both the council and mayor would want to see, that all the talk of investment and job creation gets backed up. I see it as a show of good faith.”
DEEP DIVE
At-Large council member Robert White, likely D.C.’s next congressional delegate, told NOTUS the city’s housing committee will hold an “oversight roundtable” on the District’s housing authority next month.
The committee, which White chairs, will convene Sept. 29 to discuss DCHA’s recent struggles, which include a scathing audit, a cyberattack and poor unit conditions. The announcement comes on the heels of a NOTUS report showing that the authority, which has one of the largest housing portfolios in the District, owes over $2.2 million in fines tied to more than 2,500 code violations.
“Since it’s an independent authority of the District government, code enforcement is challenging, but residents deserve better,” White told NOTUS in a statement. “My priorities are making sure units are brought up to code, tenants and landlords are treated fairly, lease ups are efficient and DCHA’s finances are in order so we can deliver safe, stable housing.”
FROM THE DISTRICT
What’s on the menu will be on the ballot. Voters in D.C. will get to decide in November whether the city should ban the production and sale of foie gras, the fatty liver of ducks that the French consider a delicacy and many animal rights activists say is a disgrace. The D.C. Board of Elections ruled this week that proponents of what’s known as Initiative 86 collected enough signatures to put the measure on the general election ballot.
FROM VIRGINIA
The 9-year-old from Northern Virginia who died while riding an e-scooter last month was not an anomaly, The Washington Post reports. According to a March report, there were at least 2,117 pediatric e-scooter injuries between 2020 and 2024.
FROM MARYLAND
Democrats are one step closer to picking up the only Republican seat in the state’s nine-member congressional delegation ahead of 2028, after lawmakers passed a constitutional amendment on redistricting Tuesday, NOTUS’ Manuela Silva reports.
TALK TO TOM
Tom Sietsema is back answering your questions about the D.C. dining scene. Submit your questions here.
What’s your favorite banh mi in the DMV?
If forced to eat one sandwich for the rest of my life — and with apologies to France’s jambon-buerre, the Middle East’s shawarma and New Orleans’ muffuletta — I’d cast my fate with the Vietnamese wonder built with a crisp baguette and a combination of meat, tangy vegetables and a spread of butter or mayonnaise. And I’d eat them all at Bánh Mì Oi in Falls Church. (“Oi” is a call to attention in Vietnamese, similar to “hey.”)
The signature banh mi packs ham, pâté, pork bologna and pork belly along with traditional enhancers of cucumber, cilantro, pickled carrots, daikon and aioli between slices of a roll that’s at once airy, crisp and fluffy. The monster bread, baked on site, is so good, people ask to buy just the base; requests are limited to five rolls per order, says owner Yeanie Bach, citing the business’s small kitchen. Other fillings include a delectable warm tofu seasoned with star anise, and Nashville (truly) hot chicken.
In the full Q&A: how to support restaurants outside of dining, some tried-and-true spots in Montgomery County and the puzzling ubiquity of tuna crudo.
SPORTS
The Commanders signed Pro Bowl wide receiver Stefon Diggs on Wednesday afternoon in hopes of shoring up their shaky pass-catching corps. The 32-year-old Diggs, a DMV native, agreed to a one-year deal worth up to $12 million. NOTUS’ Martenzie Johnson writes that the move transforms Washington’s pass-catching unit from merely average to dangerously deep.
Training camp update: Martenzie reports that Wednesday’s session was messy in more ways than one: A rainy morning created plenty of mud, and there were multiple dust-ups between the offense and defense. Afterward, new safety Nick Cross said he likes the aggression — to an extent.
“At the end of the day, all the chirping and stuff is cool,” he said. “But when it starts costing the team, costing the penalties, guys being kicked out of games and stuff like that, that’s where it becomes an issue.”
What to Watch Today
MLB: Nationals at Phillies, 6:05 p.m. (MLB.TV)
Thank you for reading! If you liked this newsletter, please forward it to a friend. If someone shared it with you, please sign up — it’s free! Got a tip or comments to share? Email us at metro@notus.com.
The newsletter was produced by Jaden Amos, Michael Errigo and Nikie Johnson.
Authors
