Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser will be traveling on a taxpayer-funded excursion to Las Vegas with her team in a few hours.
It comes just weeks after the Democrat faced backlash for attending the lavish $5,000-a-person Masters golf tournament, Bowser personally revealed.
The mayor will travel with a team of 14 on an “economic mission” to the International Council of Shopping Centers at the Wynn Las Vegas on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, according to her public calendar.
“Mayor Bowser will assist the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) to attract retail to the District of Columbia,” the description states.
“This economic mission is coordinated by the Washington, DC Economic Association, which has organized the District’s presence at the ICSC since 2001,” his office added in the explanation of the event.
Mayor Muriel Bowser will travel with her team on a taxpayer-funded excursion to Las Vegas next week.
The Democrat will attend the trip to the Wynn Las Vegas with a team of fourteen people
In a separate press release, the mayor’s office said: ‘We know Washingtonians throughout DC want access to great services.
‘From the Lidl in the 7th district to the Wegmans in the 3rd district, these are conversations that began at the ICSC.
The mayor’s team added: “Through programs like the Food Access Fund and the Neighborhood Prosperity Fund, we have made good progress in filling service gaps, but there is still more to do to ensure greater accessibility and equity, and filling those gaps and supporting the continued transformation of the city center will be the focus of this journey.’
The traveling delegation’s goals for the trip are to “expand the Washington, DC brand,” “generate business leads for important development projects,” “foster business relationships,” and “engage with new prospects, including retailers and brokers.”
Mayor Bowser faced intense scrutiny for using taxpayer money to fund a trip to one of the world’s most exclusive sporting events, the US Masters in Augusta, Georgia, last week.
The mayor’s official agenda said that on Saturday, April 13, she would travel to the Durazno state ‘as part of a sports and economic development visit.’
Bowser’s office communications director Susan Castillo said DC News Now This week the mayor was invited by two people who are ‘leading’ a plan to rejuvenate two areas of the city.
Bowser was invited by the Gallery Place/Chinatown Neighborhood Shaping the Future Task Force, Jodie McLean and Deborah Ratner Salzberg, Castillo told the website.
Bowser (pictured center) recently attended a lavish $5,000-per-person golf tournament.
Bowser was there to see Scottie Scheffler win the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club.
Castillo went on to say that Bowser was willing to travel to any city or country in the world to promote her administration’s interests.
WUSA reports that joining Bowser were senior advisor Beverly Perry and two other assistants.
The station reports that the purpose of the trip was also to take advantage of sports opportunities for the city that is already home to five professional sports teams.
Earlier this month, Bowser came under fire after boasting that crime is down in D.C. compared to last year, even though a recent spate of violence has sent residents fleeing to suburban Virginia and Maryland.
Despite an overall drop of 13 percent this year from January 1 to April 2 compared to the same period last year, the District of Columbia is still experiencing an increase in crime compared to the norm in previous years to 2023.
It comes after 2023 was recorded as the deadliest year in more than two decades. DC also had the largest increase in violent crime of any major US city.
Mayor Muriel Bowser faced backlash earlier this month for praising the decline in crime from the second quarter of 2023 to 2024, but residents say they feel safer and many are fleeing to the suburbs of Virginia and Maryland to escape violence and threats.
Violent crime overall has decreased, but MPD notes that statistics for 2024 are “preliminary” and subject to change throughout the year as more information becomes available.
While some statistics are lower than 2023, there is still a general upward trend compared to previous years. One of the biggest crime statistics in DC is the result of car thefts, which reached an all-time high in 2023 but are down 31% so far this year.
From January 1 to April 2 of last year to this year, there was a 13% decrease in overall crime, following a record crime year in 2023 in Washington, DC.
Tiffany Henyard, 40, of Dolton, Illinois, has repeatedly been dubbed the worst mayor in America.
While the data reveals a decrease between the specific period last year and this year, residents share a general feeling that crime is increasing and they feel increasingly less safe in DC neighborhoods.
Clearly, a person was robbed at gunpoint a few blocks from the Hart Senate Office Building in April by two individuals, at least one of whom was armed with a gun.
While frustrations may run high with D.C.’s mayor, it’s Dalton, Illinois, that claims to have “the worst mayor in America.”
Mayor Tiffany Henyard is under federal investigation and recently received federal subpoenas seeking records about trips taken by city officials and possible financial mismanagement.
A trip to Las Vegas in 2023 was allegedly one of several taxpayer-funded trips Henyard took that totaled more than $102,000.
Since his election in 2021, Henyard has faced accusations of corruption, fraud and financial mismanagement, including a lawsuit filed a month ago alleging he worked to cover up a sexual assault on a trip to Las Vegas.
The 40-year-old municipal leader has earned a reputation for her confrontational antics, failure to do her job, alleged corruption and apparent disregard for her constituents, whom she has publicly and once reprimanded with the help of a DJ.