Opinion | D.C. is at a turning point. Its 2024 budget should prioritize three things.

Council Chairman Phil Mendelson this month asked council members to list their top three priorities. A basic consensus emerged: Address crime, housing and downtown while ensuring schools are adequately funded. We agree. If the city doesn’t get the essentials right, it will backslide. It’s telling that council members Trayon White Sr. (D-Ward 8) and Anita Bonds (D-At Large) each described city streets as “anarchy.”

As the final dollars are allocated, something also has to go. The obvious choice is to abandon free busing. There’s no revenue for it. The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority board has asked the city not to do it now. Raiding the capital budget to fund this would be a short-term gimmick that robs the city of critical dollars for much needed infrastructure improvements.

The more urgent need for low-income residents is affordable housing. That people are living in tents because they can’t afford anything else is a problem all over the nation, including in D.C. City rents initially fell during the pandemic, but then they shot up and remain high. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) proposed drastic cuts to the Emergency Rental Assistance Program and legal aid to help people facing eviction. The council is right to bump up those funds again. That task got easier thanks to the federal government awarding D.C. an additional influx of $33 million for rental assistance.

On crime, there have been alarming jumps in motor vehicle theft and sexual abuse. The city needs an “all of the above” strategy with more officers, more cameras, more enforcement, and more mental health treatment. Given the surge in young people committing crimes, it also makes sense to keep resource officers in schools.

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Meanwhile, it’s encouraging to see many council members recognize the need to make game-changing investment in downtown. Mr. Mendelson said recently, “Revitalizing downtown is something that has to happen in the next year or two.” He’s half right. Downtown needs both short- and long-term revival strategies. That means money for festivals and events, but it also means incentives for transforming office buildings into apartments, schools and other uses. This would not be a giveaway to developers but an acknowledgment that converting outdated offices is expensive and seed money is needed, especially for early risk takers. The sooner builders get moving, the better for all. Tax revenue from downtown is critical to the D.C. budget.

The K Street Transitway, a long-planned facelift of one of Washington’s iconic avenues, should also be part of the downtown turnaround. (See our editorial here.) It needs an overhaul to make it safer and easier for public transit and increased residential use. Substantial funding should be in the next fiscal year’s budget to get it going.

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If there is a theme for D.C. in fiscal year 2024, it’s should be, “a city rebounding.” The budget needs to reflect that.