Should Churches or Private Businesses Receive ANC Grant Money?

Martin Moulton, a Shaw community activist, is shopping an idea to Advisory Neighborhood Commissions (ANCs). The idea is that ANC grant funds should be used to help local organizations -- especially churches and businesses -- install outward-facing security cameras on their buildings. The security camera footage could be of use to police when crimes take place in the vicinity.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

So far, Moulton has attempted to interest ANC 2F/Logan Circle and 6E/Shaw in the idea. He has prepared a model grant form. But he cannot get the ANCs to commit to even considering the applications, because the grant application process is designed to benefit non-profit community groups and secular organizations only.

ANC2F Commissioner Peter Lallas (distrcit 01) brought up Moulton's proposal at the ANC's last regular monthly meeting on August 7. (Lallas is chair of ANC2F's Crime and Public Safety Committee.)

ANC grants are supposed to be for projects that produce a public benefit. It was agreed at the meeting there could be sufficient public benefit to security cameras that monitored public spaces, no matter where they were located.

However, ANC2F must first change its bylaws, because as presently written a church or a private business might not quality. The by-laws say that ANC2F "may approve grants only to citizens groups that are public in nature".

It was argued at the meeting that churches are public in nature, because anyone can walk into a church.

Gottlieb Simon of DC's Office of Advisory Neighborhood Commissions was present at the August 7 meeting. He confirmed the obvious fact that grant money could not be used to further religious activity. Outward-facing security cameras, however, were not a religious activity, so could be funded with ANC money, Simon said.

However, it was clear that private businesses could not, under any circumstances, qualify for a grant under the by-laws as they are currently written. Changing ANC2F's bylaws was discussed, but no proposal was put forward at the meeting.

Moulton told ANC2F he had not shopped the proposal to any area businesses yet, but would like to be in the position where he could.

ANC6E has also discussed this matter at a previous meeting but has not moved forward with a grant.

The discussion above is mentioned briefly in the summary of the meeting on ANC2F's web site here.

Logan Circle ANC sued over FOIA Request

A resident of the 1400 block of Rhode Island Avenue has sued the DC government, alleging that Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 2F/Logan Circle has failed to adequately provide documents in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

Detail from the complaint document

Documents (23-page .pdf) filed on June 2 at the Superior Court of The District of Columbia by James Kane allege ANC2F failed to search their records pertaining to the liquor license of the Ghana Cafe (1336 14th Street NW). It asks the court to declare DC in violation of FOIA, to force ANC2F to release the documents (mostly emails), and to order reimbursement of legal costs.

In response, ANC2F Chair Matt Raymond has issued a press release calling the lawsuit "frivolous" and "rife with demonstrable falsehoods".

Backstory

The FOIA request stems from a pair of votes (see "Old Business", near the end of this web page) by ANC2F in March 2014 in support of Ghana Cafe's request to terminate a 2009 settlement agreement. The 2009 agreement is a multi-sided one, between Ghana Cafe, ANC2F, and neighbors. At the March 2014 meeting, ANC2F voted to enter into a new agreement with the Ghana Cafe, independent of other parties. The new agreement is both more lenient than the existing agreement and similar to agreements signed by their newer neighboring competitors. However, it will not come into effect until 2016, when the older, stricter agreement will sunset. 

In April 2014, Kane filed a FOIA request, asking for all documents, physical or electronic, that contained the address of the restaurant, the name of the ANC2F liquor-licensing affairs committee, the name of the DC liquor-licensing authority, or the terms "Ghana Cafe", "Settlement Agreement", "resolution", among others, between April 1, 2013, and April 22, 2014.

In his press statement, Raymond says he found "literally thousands" of documents satisfying the criteria. Raymond suggested a narrowing of the criteria due to the many hours it would take to process the documents.

"Neither Kane nor his attorney responded to Raymond’s good-faith offer to comply, instead taking the matter directly to court," Raymond's press statement says.

Kane's court filing quotes a May 14, 2014, letter from Raymond, asking for an extension:

Your request happened to arrive at the same time the expectations and obligations of my day job have been more extreme than at any other time during my tenure here. Multiple projects and events converging within the past couple of weeks necessitated days often lasting 14 to 16 hours.

(ANC Commissioner is a voluntary, unpaid position. Commissioners usually have paying daytime jobs. Raymond's Linked-in profile says he is Senior Director of Communications at International Food Information Council Foundation.)

In a May 29, 2014, letter (also quoted in the court filing), Raymond said "ANC2F is unable to respond to the totality of your request", due to the scope of the request and lack of paid staff. Raymond urges Kane "to resubmit your request with a far greater degree of sufficient particularity".

Lawyer for the plantiff responds

Kane referred a request for comment to his lawyer, Don Padou.

In a phone interview, Padou said the decision to begin legal action now stems from ANC2F's decision to reject the FOIA request in its entirety.

"He could have produced some documents to show that they were operating in good faith," Padou said. "Instead, he just denied the entire FOIA request without producing anything."

Padou was unsympathetic to the claim the FOIA request was excessive.

"If they don't have the resources to comply with the FOIA request, that's not my client's fault," Padou said. "DC government has an ANC office. If the ANCs can't comply with FOIA requests, they should staff their office to make compliance possible."

ANC2F had a regular monthly meeting last night (June 4). ANC Chair Raymond was not present. The lawsuit was not mentioned during the first 90 minutes of the meeting, after which I left.

ANC2F's dealings with Ghana Cafe and its neighbors were the subject of previous SALM blog posts on February 14, 2014, and December 20 and October 10, 2013.

James Turner New Chair of ANC1B

Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 1B/U Street elected new officers at its meeting of last night, January 4. Commissioner James Turner (district 09) was elected ANC1B Chair, defeating incumbent Tony Norman (10) in a narrow 5 - 4 vote. Marc Morgan (01) was elected Vice-Chair, also by 5 - 4, over Jeremy Leffler (02). Ricardo Reinoso (05) and Dyana Forester (06) were elected without opposition as Secretary and Treasurer, respectively.

Gottlieb Simon and ANC1B elect new officers

The election was conducted in public view by Gottlieb Simon, Executive Director of D.C.'s Office of Advisory Neighborhood Commissions. Simon arrived at the meeting when it started at 7pm in a bicycle helmet and a soaking-wet yellow rain slicker, indicating that he had braved last night's slushy winter storm on two wheels to make the election happen.

Simon explained the election could not be by secret ballot, since all ANC activity is supposed to be public. After making that clear, Simon and the ANC agreed candidates for contested positions would have a minute to speak to the other commissioners.

Speaking first, Turner said the ANC had experienced a difficult year. The ANC had not leveraged the strengths and weaknesses of its members, Turner said, and the ANC had been criticized for not filing documents on time.

"My focus will be making us strong operationally," Turner said.

In reply, Norman said there had been a lot of improvements in the last year, including bringing a staff person on board. Norman said the ANC wants to move toward having its meetings broadcast live online.

The vote tally for ANC1B Chair:

For Turner: Leffler, Reinoso, Forester, Juan Lopez (07), and Turner.
For Norman: Morgan, Sedrick Muhammed (03), Norman, and Zahra Jilani (12).

The vote tally for ANC1B Vice-chair:

For Morgan: Morgan, Reinoso, Forester, Turner, and Norman.
For Leffler: Leffler, Muhammed, Lopez, and Jilani.

Commissioners Deborah Thomas (04), Emily Washington (08), and E. Gail Anderson Holness (11) were not present at the meeting.

Once Turner was elected Chair, he immediately took up his position, and the balance of the meeting took place under his leadership.