Monday, August 25, 2014

Poor Attendance Records of Some ANC1B Commissioners Documented

Sedrick Muhammed (district 03) of Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 1B/U Street is running for re-election this year. He attended 57% of Commission meetings during the last two year term.

Dyana Forester (district 06) is also running for re-election. She attended 67% of ANC1B's meetings in the last two years.

from nickbaumann.com (Used by permission)
This is some of the data posted by Nick Baumann, chair of ANC1B's liquor-licensing affairs committee, on his blog August 19 -- see image at right. In the image, the red blocks represent occasions when the commissioner missed the meeting. Green blocks are when the commissioner attended. White blocks are when the seat was vacant.

Habitual absences have recently gotten ANC1B some unwelcome publicity after unsuccessful attempts to achieve a quorum on July 10 and July 17. As a result of the lack of quorum, ANC1B was unable to protest the renewal of the liquor license of Signature Lounge (1920 9th Street NW). The Washington City Paper also reported the ANC's inaction might result in a failure to protest the liquor license of New Town Kitchen & Bar (1336 U Street), an establishment which "has not complied with previously agreed-upon noise-mitigation actions." However, in this case DC's liquor-licensing authorities agreed to "grandfather in" an ANC1B protest from last year.

Two other commissioners who are serving a full term on the present board are running for re-election. One is Juan Lopez (district 07). He has attended 76% of the ANC's meetings. The other is ANC Chair James Turner (district 09). He has -- according to the chart -- attended 20 meetings out of 21, or 95%. However, as noted below, I believe Turner missed one meeting he is credited with attending.

Two commissioners who won places on the ANC in uncontested special elections this year are running for re-election. They are: Mark Ranslem (3 meetings attended from 5, 60%) and Allyson Carpenter (2 out of 3, or 67%).

Of the other commissioners, the worst attendance record is Commissioner Deborah Thomas (district 04). Thomas attended only 33% of meetings, according to Baumann's chart, and missed 12 monthly meetings in a row.

There are two small pieces of information in the table above which, I believe, are incorrect:
  • The table indicates that Commissioner Ricardo Reinoso (district 05) is running for re-election. Reinoso has announced at an ANC1B meeting that he is not seeking re-election -- see SALM blog post of July 23. Reinoso has the best attendance record of ANC1B.
  • The table indicates that Commissioner James Turner (district 09) was present for the December 2013 meeting, at which the ANC failed to achieve a quorum. According to my records, Turner was not present for this meeting -- see SALM blog post of December 9, 2013.

Baumann's chart also does not show the occasions when commissioners were significantly late. For example, Commissioner E. Gail Anderson Holness (district 11) showed up 90 minutes late for both the December 2013 and February 2014 ANC meetings, missing several votes. She appears on the chart above as "present". Holness is running for election as Ward One candidate on the DC State Board of Education.

Baumann was selected to be chair of ANC1B's liquor licensing affairs committee at its February 7 meeting -- see SALM blog post of February 14.

See Baumann's tweet about this post here.

ANC1B, in addition to U Street, includes all or part of the following neighborhoods: Columbia Heights, LeDroit Park, Pleasant Plains, Shaw, University Heights, and lower Georgia Avenue.

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