On March 4, Mayor Anthony A. Williams, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, Council Chairman Linda Cropp, Chief Technology Officer Suzanne Peck and other city officials participated in a ceremonial groundbreaking for the Unified Communications Center (UCC), a state of the art communications facility for public safety and service call-taking and dispatch. The UCC will be located on the East Campus of St. Elizabeths Hospital.

When complete in the summer of 2005, the UCC will be the District's communication, emergency management and technology hub and one of the nation's premiere integrated call centers and public safety/emergency response facilities. The UCC will bring economic development into the District's Ward 8, east of the Anacostia River. The center is part of the Mayor's Government Centers Initiative, which locates government facilities in neighborhoods to bring services closer to citizens and to support community revitalization.