Students not represented at local meetings

ANC 3D MEETING
ANDREW TOMLINSON
3/5/09
The Advisory Neighborhood Committee meeting for Ward 3D focused on neighborhood safety and community growth Wednesday night, but failed to involve American University students in the discussion.

The monthly meeting began with a police report, which mostly focused on the safety of valuables. However when it came time for public and committee questions, the tone of the briefing changed. Committee member Stuart Ross stated that he had complaints of students being drunk walking down the street on Friday nights.

“I have gotten a lot of calls the last couple of weeks that on Friday nights there have been a number of students, excuse me, younger people walking really drunk,” Ross stated. “It is an annoyance and there is also concern about the kids getting hurt.”
The officer then instructed the Ross to tell neighborhood residents to call 911. He stated that it was a crime and that they could have officers take care of the problem. It is a fair assessment but there is also no one from the University student body to address the claims.

With the University being a large portion of the Ward they should have a seat allotted to them because it makes up one district. When asked about whether or not there is AU representation at the committee hearings the committee responded saying there is a liaison from the University in the audience. The committee then went on to say that there is an extra seat on the committee that hasn’t been filled and should be reserved for a student.

“AU has its own district of 2,000 residents,” Ross said. “We have tried to get a student elected but there is a problem with the board of elections preventing that from happening.”

The members of the ANC would not state what the problem was. Upon further investigation though there seems to be no major problems that would prevent a student from being elected. The District of Columbia web site had only three rules for who can run for the committee as a write in candidate.

The first qualification was for the candidate to live in the Single Member District for at least 60 days prior to the election. To be eligible for the 2008 election a candidate must have moved to the Ward by September 5. Fall classes started August 25 in 2008.

The second requirement is for the candidate to be a registered voter in the District of Columbia. Any person above the age of 18 is able to change where they are registered to vote and college students are allowed to register in the area where there college resides.

The final qualification is that the form for the write in candidacy must be turned in. Even though a student meets all of these requirements there was no announcement about the election. The ANC members and the District of Columbia government could not be reached for comment on why a student could not be elected.

Along with the discussion of American University the meeting also talked about the neighborhood community. The Community Council for the Homeless talked about how to help get the homeless off of the streets. Along with that the People’s Property Campaign asked the ANC to support their movement to save public property in the District of Columbia.

The Marine Corps. Marathon was the final topic discussed. Part of the route goes through a three mile stretch of Ward 3D. As a result the marathon had to come get approval from the Committee to disrupt traffic for two hours.

ANC’s are set up by the local government to consider and address policies and issues that affect their neighborhoods. The issues include traffic, parking, recreation, street improvements, liquor licenses, economic development, police protection, sanitation and trash collection. They meet once a month to discuss these issues with input from residents.

The Committee’s purpose is to allow citizens directly affected by government action to express their opinion. The ANC’s present their findings and recommendations to various District government agencies, the Executive Branch and the City Council. Mandated by law they may also present their positions to Federal agencies.

ANC 3D meets on the first Wednesday of every month. Meetings are held in the Ernst Auditorium at Sibley hospital. They start at 7 pm and run for one to two hours. The head of the Committee is Elizabeth Sandza and Tom Smith runs the meetings. They are open to the public and anyone is allowed to voice their opinion on any issue.