ANC1B Fails to Achieve Quorum for Fourth Time This Year

At its regular monthly meeting scheduled for last night (November 6) Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 1B/U Street failed to achieve a quorum. No official votes could take place. Commissioners present promised a special meeting later this month to consider the matters that could not be voted on at this meeting.

Once again, not enough for a quorum

This is the fourth time this year, and the fifth time in less than 12 months, that ANC1B has failed to achieve a quorum. The previous failures this year were on March 6, July 10, and July 17. ANC1B also failed to have a quorum at its last meeting of 2013.

There are currently 11 sitting Commissioners in ANC1B -- plus one vacant seat. In order to have a quorum, six Commissioners had to attend. Only five attended.

The Commissioner who attended were: Marc Morgan (district 01), Ricardo Reinoso (05), Mark Ranslem (08), ANC1B Chair James Turner (district 09), and E. Gail Anderson Holness (11).

Non-attendees

The absent Commissioners were: Sedrick Muhammed (03), Deborah Thomas (04), Dyana Forester (06), Juan Lopez (07), Allyson Carpenter (10), and Zahra Jilani (12).

ANC Chair James Turner told those attending that several of the missing commissioners had informed him beforehand. However, Commissioner Sedrick Muhammed had said, twice, that he was going to attend the meeting, giving Turner the hope that a quorum was possible.

According to preliminary election results, Muhammed was re-elected to his ANC seat Tuesday, in spite of running in a contested race and missing nearly 50% of ANC meetings up until election day. This latest absence brings Muhammed's record to exactly 50% -- 12 attendances in 24 meetings.

Another absent commissioner, Allyson Carpenter, was re-elected on Tuesday. She ran unopposed. Rest of the absent commissioners either did not run for re-election or were defeated by wide margins -- with one exception.

The preliminary vote count has Dyana Forester losing to David Gilliland by a mere three votes. Late-arriving absentee or special ballots could change the outcome of the race.

"I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen, meeting adjorned"

Among the items on the agenda for the aborted meeting was a request for zoning relief for a troubled Columbia Heights apartment building and recommendations by an ANC committee for DC's Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) about the future use of the former Grimke school.

Turner said the recommendations of the ANC Grimke committee would be transmitted to DMPED with a covering letter explaining that they could not be voted on due to lack of a quorum.

At the end of the meeting, Turner said to community members: "What we have experienced should not have to be experienced on a regular basis."

The repeated lack of quorums was, Turner said, "not respectful" and "not appropriate".

He concluded: "I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen, meeting adjorned."

Newly-elected Commissioners will not be sworn in until the beginning of 2015.

Cheater's Guide to Dream City -- Part 24 (Afterword)

This is the twenty-fourth installment of a series (see the first installment here) summarizing the 1994 book Dream City: Race, Power, and the Decline of Washington, D.C.by Harry Jaffe and Tom Sherwood. This book has recently been republished as an ebook and a paper book. HBO has plans to use material from the book to make a movie about the life of Marion Barry.

Afterword (two of four)

Anthony Williams served two terms as mayor, from 1999 to 2007.

"Mayor Tony Williams governed quietly and without fanfare. He was the anti-Barry, boring but competent” (Kindle location 6031).

“[H]e made the District balance its book. He lured competent bureaucrats to run city agencies” (l. 6036)

“When Williams became mayor, five of the city's social-services agencies were in receivership or under court ordered management. One by one, he gradually brought them back under District control” (l. 6040).

“If Williams had a weakness, it was his disdain for the rituals of politics. Where Barry had nurtured his network in the neighborhoods and sensed every shift in sentiment, Williams was removed and remained tone deaf” (l. 6059).

“... Williams proposed cutting the city work force and farming out government functions to private companies. City Union leaders howled. Williams seemed surprised” (l. 6069).

“I didn't get elected to adjust the air-conditioning,” Williams said.

“Williams and his top assistants assembled lower-level line employees in the convention center. They held seminars to teach them how to answer phones and perform routine public-service tasks. Williams did what Marion Barrt had failed to do: he trained the work force. For city government, it was nothing less than revolutionary” (l. 6078).

“... After four consecutive balanced budgets, in September 2001, the federal financial control board suspended its activities and put the city's government and budget back in the hands of the mayor and the council” (l. 6092).

“... [W]hen [Williams] ran for reelection in 2002, his campaign failed to collect the required number of valid signatures to place him in the ballot. He needed only 2,000. TV reporters with NBC4 found that half of the signatures the Williams campaign turned in were fake. The Board of Elections ruled Williams ineligible for the ballot and fined his campaign $250,000” (l. 6093).

“Williams had to run as a write in candidate. Still, he won. His success at reforming the government overcame his political ineptitude” (l. 6096).

Williams success at improving city finances drew the approval and attention of investors in many fields, including Major League Baseball.

“Williams wanted a team, but Jack Evans craved one. The Ward Two council member had been coveting a franchise since 1996... As chair of the [DC City-]

council finance and revenue committee, Evans played a crucial role in lobbying MLB owners and persuading the council to pay for a new stadium with public funds" (l. 6139).

"It took three more contentious months to convince the DC council to agree to finance the new stadium.... Critics argued that the estimated $500-million in bonds would be better devoted to more pressing needs" (l. 6140).

" 'Why can't the team owners pay their fair share?' asked Adrian Fenty, the upstart young Ward Four council member. "No, voting against the stadium doesn't mean money will automatically go to schools and other needs. But it does mean that a government that does not get those things right should not be exploring putting hundreds of millions of dollars into the pockets of multi-millionaires" (l. 6141).

"Politically, landing the team was a win for Williams and Evans. But Adrian Fenty, the lawmaker who said 'no' to public financing, got his first dose of notoriety. It would not be his last" (l. 6143).

"[A]fter eight years with Williams at the helm, the city was better off in measurable ways. He valued competence in the bureaucracies, trained workers, and expected accountability. Trash got picked up. The motor-vehicle department actually issued licenses without making residents reserve a day to wait in line. City workers were less surly and more willing to serve the public. In short, Williams reformed the city government. He organized its finances. And he balanced the budget every year" (l. 6199).

"By 2006, local Washington had the feel of a metropolitan center poised to hit is stride as an international capital" (l. 6200).

Cheater's Guide to Dream City continues

Further installments will appear on successive Fridays. All posts are cross-posted on the ad-hoc "Cheater's Guide to Dream City" blog.

Full disclosure: I have a commercial relationship with Amazon. I will receive a very small portion of the money people spend after clicking on an Amazon link on this site.

This is a great book and well worth reading in its entirety.

ANC2F Blocks Public Space Permit of "The Pig"

At its regular monthly meeting last night (November 5), Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 2F/Logan Circle voted to protest the public space permit of The Pig restaurant (1320 14th Street NW).

(Luis Gomez Photos. Used by permission)

Matt Raymond, ANC2F Chair, said there was no specific objection to the public space permit -- the objection was strictly procedural. Specifically, a representative of The Pig was supposed to appear at the last meeting of ANC2F's Community Development Committee (CDC) on October 29, but no one did. Since all public space applications are supposed to be considered by the committee first, the full ANC moved to oppose the application until the CDC could hear the details of the application.

DC restauranteur David Winer, partner in the EatWellDC restaurant group (which includes The Pig), appeared at the ANC meeting in support of the application. He asked the full ANC to hear the application, but found the ANC unwilling to hear it.

If all the parties involved show up, the public space application of The Pig will probably be considered at the next scheduled meeting of the Community Development Committee, scheduled for Wednesday, November 19, at 7pm, at the Washington Plaza Hotel (10 Thomas Circle). If the case turns out to be routine, it will most likely be on the agenda of ANC2F's next regular monthly meeting, scheduled for Wednesday, December 3, at 7pm, also at the Washington Plaza Hotel.

Nedrow Sullivan Apparent Victor in ANC1B District 02 as Board of Election Changes Numbers

Ellen Nedrow Sullivan seems to have won the race for district 02 of Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 1B/U Street. The vote is now 354 votes for Nedrow Sullivan, and 171 votes for Jennie Nevin, who withdrew from the race a few days before the election.

Latest vote count ANC1B district 02

Original vote count ANC1B district 02

Previously, Nevin seemed to have gotten more votes. Yesterday at 6am, the website of DC's Board of Elections and Ethics (DCBOEE) reported Nedrow Sullivan had received 334 votes, and Nevin 391. The change was apparently made sometime yesterday. Nedrow
Sullivan brought the change to my attention last night in an email.

Latest vote count ANC1B district 12

One of the other races reported in yesterday's post on the election has a change in vote count, although the victor remains the same.

Original vote count ANC1B district 12

In ANC1B district 12, John Green now has 337 votes, opponent Matt Abbruzzese 223. Yesterday, I reported Green 164, Abbruzzese 106.

It may be two weeks until results are declared final, according to a reader who emailed me yesterday.

See the results for all races in Tuesday's election at the DCBOEE website here.

Tonight, November 6, ANC1B will have its regular monthly meeting at 7pm at the Reeves Center (14th and U Streets).

Election Results for Contested ANC Races in Dupont, U Street, Columbia Heights, Foggy Bottom

A reader writes: "... absentee and special ballot votes have not yet been counted.  That process is likely to unfold over the next two weeks, and I was told [by the DC election authorities] that the numbers will likely change."

This is absolutely true. More votes can arrive, and existing ballots are subject to review. The numbers below therefore are not final. I did not mean to imply that they were -- perhaps I should have written "preliminary results".

As of 6am today, Wednesday, November 5, with all precincts reporting, here are the results of contested ANC races that have recently appeared on this blog. The candidates' names are followed by the number of votes they received. Winners in bold, incumbents underlined.

ANC1A - Columbia Heights

District 01: Lester Cuffie 56, Marvin Johnson 153
District 12: Colleen Costello 101, Margaret Hundley 162

ANC1B - U Street

District 02: Jennie Nevin (withdrew from race) 391, Ellen Nedrow Sullivan 334
District 03: Sedrick Muhammed 189, Patrick Nelson 161
District 06: Dyana Forester 183, David Gilliland 186
District 07: Juan Lopez 92, Jessica Laura Smith 131
District 10: Allyson Carpenter 64, Paul Glicksman (withdrew from race) 28
District 12: Matt Abbruzzese 106, John Green 164

ANC2A - Foggy Bottom

District 04: Thomas B Martin 172, William K Smith 222

ANC2B - Dupont

District 02: Jonathan Padget 110, Daniel Warwick 151
District 06: Jonathan Jagoda 198, Abigail Nichols 209
District 08: Nicole Mann 251, Robert Sinners 173
District 09: Ed Hanlon 183, Noah Smith 347

ANC2F - Logan Circle

District 06: Charlie Bengel 284, Danielle Pierce 178

A final thanks to all candidates who responded to my requests for interviews.

Tonight, November 5, ANC2F will have its regular monthly meeting at 7pm at  the Washington Plaza Hotel (10 Thomas Circle NW). Tomorrow, November 6, ANC1B will have its regular monthly meeting at 7pm at the Reeves Center (14th and U Streets).

90-91 Blagden Alley: No Parking At All Gets a Go-Ahead

"[T]he neighborhood parking situation will quickly go from bad to much
worse."

Proposed view from M Street (from BZA files)

That's a neighbor's comment recently added to a public file of DC's Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA) concerning the development of 90-91 Blagden Alley NW. The neighbor was expressing an opinion on the probable result of a request of developers SB Urban for a zoning special exception that would allow construction of a 132-microunit residence there with no parking spaces at all.

However, a committee of Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 2F/Logan Circle decided on October 29 that it could live with no parking. ANC2F's Community Development Committee (CDC) voted 5-2 to recommend that the full ANC endorse the request for zoning relief for parking.

This is at least the second time this project has been before the CDC. At a September meeting, the CDC approved all parts of the zoning relief except for the parking special exception -- see SALM blog post of September 26. The developers then appeared before the full ANC to brief on their progress, including the commitment to invest $75,000 in a bikeshare station -- see SALM blog post of October 7. No vote was taken by the full ANC at its October meeting.

Attorney Cary Kadlecek of Goulston & Storrs once again led the team representing the developers. The package that the team presented was largely unchanged from previous visits. The group agree to put up "No Parking" signs targeted especially at delivery trucks in the alley. There will be a package delivery room on the part of the building that faces 9th Street, near a loading zone. There will be a trash room, with a trash compactor, on the part of the building facing M Street. There were promises that barrels of garbage would never sit out on M Street waiting for pickup.

The developers were "committed to keeping trash inside until the trash truck arrives", one of the presenters said.

Kadlecek also address committee concerns about moving trucks blocking local streets.

"We don't expect tenants to be using moving trucks," Kadlecek said. "It's just not realistic."

The apartments will come fully furnished and stocked with kitchenware, utensils, and other necessities, he said. The minimum lease would be 90 days, and the average duration of residency was expected to be 7-8 months. It was anticipated residents would arrive only with suitcases.

Still, some members of the committee were unconvinced, and one member of the public said: "Zero parking is a bad idea".

It seems possible ANC2F's decision may arrive too late to make any difference. This issue is on the agenda for the November meeting of the full ANC, scheduled for tomorrow, Wednesday, November 5, at 7pm, at the Washington Plaza Hotel (10 Thomas Circle). On the morning of the same day (i.e., tomorrow morning, 10 hours before the ANC meeting), the BZA is scheduled to have a hearing on the project, according to an October 28 posting on the BZA's website. As reported previously, Goulston & Storrs requested a postponement of the November 5 hearing after the ANC voiced concerns. But the item still appears on the BZA calendar.

A copy of the letter asking for postponement, as well as the recently-added letter containing the comment that started this story, plus other documents related to the request for various types of zoning relief, can be seen by going to the BZA's Interactive Zoning Information System and entering case number 18852 in the search bar.

Historic Preservation Moves to Fix Website Reboot

DC government offices has fixed some of the broken links and other problem created by the migration of the Office of Planning (OP) to a new web platorm -- see SALM blog post of October 20. However, hundreds of links to official documents from this blog and other web sites are still broken, and are likely to remain that way for an indefinite period.

(logo from OP website)

The Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) and its staff at the Historic Preservation Office (HPO) are part of the Office of Planning. OP and HPRB officials say that fixes have been made and continue to be made, and a back catalog of official documents will be reposted. But it is not certain if all of the documents which were posted on the HPRB website in its previous incarnation will eventually return.

The following problems have been remedied:

• Google searches for "HPRB" or "Historical Preservation Review Board" now lead to the agency's home page, instead of a broken link.
• On the OP's default "404 - page not found" page, the non-working "link" to the non-existent page (named, "www.op.dc.gov") has been replaced with a working link to "planning.dc.gov".
• The abbreviated URL (tinyurl.com/887zoy8) that HPRB posts on its mandatory public placarding now leads to HPRB's home page, instead of a "404" page.

Other problems remain to be addressed.

The old HPRB site contained meeting agendas and HPRB actions documents going back to 2010. As of this writing, the current site only has these documents for the last two months, that is, October and September 2014. In an email, Tanya Stern, OP's Chief of Staff, said: "We will post Agenda and HPRB Actions documents for each HPRB before September 2014 back to October 2010 starting with the most recent meetings first."

Prior to the website migration, HPRB also had many staff reports about historic buildings online. These reports were from the same period -- 2010 to 2014. Concerning re-posting these documents, Stern said: "...we are determining the timeframe for how far back the new site will host older reports.... [T]he new site is a new platform; we are still learning its capabilities for hosting the large volume of OP content."

Stern added that reports not found online could be requested individually.

There are -- ballpark guess -- 1,400-1,500 HPRB staff reports from this period which could be reposted. Stern said: "OP has a small number of staff who are trained on how to post web content on this platform..."

She continued: "I don't have a timeframe for when we will make a decision about how far back older content will be available online..." However, Stern estimated the decision would be made in the next few months.

About the possibility of creating automatic redirect pages, so that this blog (and a dozen more like it, as well as ANC pages, local historic preservation interest sites, and others) will not have to comb through its back catalog and re-assign old links, Stern said: "Given the huge volume of OP content online -- we are told ours is one of the largest District agency sites in terms of volume of content -- I doubt it will be possible to create automatic redirect pages for each page."

Thank you to Bruce Yarnall and Tanya Stern of OP for answering my emails.

See 2013 snapshot of HPRB's previous site from the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine here.