The Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) is an elected body in the city that serves to advise the city council and government agencies about local issues — things like alcohol licenses, development and construction, and quality of life issues. However, it looks like some members from ANC1B, which serves southern Columbia Heights and U Street, are not going to many meetings.
Short Articles about Long Meetings, a blog that covers ANC meetings, has data from ANC1B volunteer Nick Baumann, who reports that some members failed to show up for even half the meetings — one commissioner, Deborah Thomas, who represents 1B04, came to only 33% of meetings — 7 out of 21. In fact, with that record, saying she represents the district would be a stretch. Other members didn’t fare so well either: Jeremy Leffler from 1B02 and Sedrick Muhammad from 1B03 both only made 12 out of 21 meetings, for 57%. (SALM also suggests that the data may be too generous, as E. Gail Anderson Holness was counted as present for several meetings that she was very late for, missing votes.)
So, why is this important? Aside from not being able to represent their district’s interests at the meetings, the ANC must have a quorum to have votes, and were not able to reach a quorum on July 10 and 17. SALM reports this meant they were unable to protest the Signature Lounge or New Town Kitchen’s liquor licenses — apparently New Town has not complied with noise guidelines they agreed to.
It would be interesting to see if anybody else has done this for ANC1A, which serves the rest of Columbia Heights. Below is a map of all the ANCs.
