Reply to Cheh's Ward 3 ANC Gerrymandering

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[quote=Anonymous]The following letter was sent to Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh concerning a proposal by the Ward 3 Redistricting Task Force that would assign the AU Main Campus and Wesley Seminary to an ANC that does not include the Spring Valley or Wesley Heights residents that are directly abutting and impacted by the two institutions.

Neighbors for a Livable Community (NLC) -- established in 1987 -- and the Spring Valley-Wesley Heights Citizens Association (SVWHCA) -- established in 1952 -- are strongly opposed to the proposed Ward 3 ANC Redistricting Task Force Map that needlessly splits neighborhoods between multiple ANCs, ignores natural geographic boundaries, and splits neighborhoods from the neighboring institutions that impact the quality of life in those neighborhoods.

Dear Councilmember Cheh:

Neighbors for a Livable Community (NLC) and the Spring Valley – Wesley Heights Citizens Association (SVWHCA) are strongly opposed to the Ward 3 Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) Redistricting Map that has been proposed by the Ward 3 Redistricting Task Force; and NLC and SVWHCA are extremely concerned by the lack of transparency in the process that has led to its creation.  What makes this draft map both surprising and disappointing is that the overall population of Ward 3 has been stable over the last ten years and did not result in any changes in the ward’s boundaries.  There is little reason for a wholesale redrawing of the ANC boundaries, especially boundaries that ignore nearly 40 years of ANC map drawing that ensured adequate representation for residents on issues that affect their neighborhoods and that come before their ANC.

The task force appears to have focused its work along commercial/institutional corridors rather than neighborhoods.  The proposed map demonstrates precisely why this commercial/institutional corridor focus is flawed.  The ANC map proposed by the Redistricting Task Force needlessly splits neighborhoods between multiple ANCs, ignores natural geographic boundaries, and splits neighborhoods from the neighboring institutions that impact the quality of life in those neighborhoods.

The proposed task force, in effects, strips the “Neighborhood” out of Ward 3 ANCs.

Neighbors for a Livable Community (NLC) is a registered District of Columbia non-profit organization established in 1987 by concerned neighbors of American University (AU) to protect the quiet, long-established residential neighborhoods surrounding the University.  Although University-related issues have been the primary concern of the NLC over the years, NLC’s neighborhood-oriented mission is broader and focuses on preserving the character of the neighborhoods impacted by AU, particularly Spring Valley, Wesley Heights, American University Park, Fort Gaines, and Westover Place.

The Spring Valley-Wesley Heights Citizens Association (SVWHCA) was established as a neighborhood association in 1952 and incorporated in the District of Columbia with the Corporations Division of the DC Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA).  The SVWHCA is the longest continuous citizens group representing the interests of the Spring Valley and Wesley Heights sister-neighborhoods. SVWHCA has been recognized as a party in many zoning cases impacting the Spring Valley and Wesley Heights neighborhoods, including all previous AU Campus Plan cases.  The Association has continued throughout the years to be involved in a wide range of land use issues as advocates for neighborhood interests, including historic designation, campus planning, and other zoning issues.

Our major concern is that the proposed map appears to play games with the Spring Valley, Wesley Heights, and AU Park neighborhoods with the boundaries zigging to and fro across Massachusetts Avenue in a way that simply makes no sense if the goal is to respect neighborhood integrity.  Specifically,

1.	The proposed map would place the American University Main Campus and the Wesley Seminary Campus into an ANC designated as Upper Wisconsin.  But, the Spring Valley, Wesley Heights, and Westover Place neighborhoods, which are most impacted, contiguous, immediately adjacent, and surround the two institutions –– will be in a different ANC labeled as MacArthur and Massachusetts.

2.	The proposed map needlessly splits the AU Park neighborhood between two ANCs – the MacArthur and Massachusetts ANC and the Upper Wisconsin ANC.  The majority of the AU Park neighborhood is located in the Upper Wisconsin ANC.   Residents of AU Park are more oriented to Wisconsin Avenue issues than issues that may arise along MacArthur Boulevard in the Palisades.

3.	The proposed map also appears to play games along New Mexico Avenue.  It would split residents of Wesley Heights from the adjacent commercial corridor along New Mexico Avenue and appears to split the commercial corridor, itself, between two ANCs – the MacArthur and Massachusetts ANC and the Lower Wisconsin ANC.  Some residents living on New Mexico Avenue immediately adjacent to the New Mexico commercial corridor – between Westover Place/Embassy Park and Cathedral Avenue – a short three-block area – would be split among two ANCs.

4.	The proposed map ignores the natural boundary from Massachusetts Avenue to Foxhall Road which encompasses the Glover Archbold Park and the Foundry Branch Valley Park.  The task force proposes to relocate the Foxhall Village neighborhood to the Lower Wisconsin ANC despite the fact the neighborhood has common issues and interests with the Palisades neighborhood which will be located in the MacArthur and Massachusetts Avenue ANC.  This is inconsistent with respecting the natural boundary of the Park that is critical in the redistricting process. It even appears that the Field School, Kreeger Museum, and the Saint Patrick fields and new location for St Patrick’s Upper School have been designated for the Lower Wisconsin ANC when the residents impacted by these institutions would be located in the MacArthur and Massachusetts Avenue ANC.

5.	We also are deeply troubled by the proposal to unnecessarily split the Cleveland Park neighborhood into two separate ANCs.  Again, this makes no sense; it is so egregious as to suggest some hidden agenda on the part of the task force that is being shielded from public discourse and debate.

The process for drawing these ANC maps has lacked the type of transparency and neighborhood engagement that has characterized previous Ward 3 ANC redistricting efforts with which our organizations have been engaged since our establishment.  The membership of the task force has been severely limited and is not representative of the broad range of neighborhood interests or neighborhood/civic associations within Ward 3.  There has been minimal outreach to neighborhood groups or residents in this process.  We learned of the proposed map by attending the March 2 meeting of ANC 3D in which neighbors were not even provided an opportunity by the ANC to comment on the proposed task force map.  Moreover, the proposed maps, themselves, lack the kind of detail that is required to understand the ward-wide implications of the task force’s product.  There is no written narrative of the specific changes that are being proposed and the maps lack the street information that is required to facilitate careful analysis.

Transparency is about more than setting up a website and saying that meetings are open to the public.  It is critical to engage neighbors in this process and that has not been done by the 11-member task force – and may have been beyond the reach of such a small task force with few ties to neighborhood/civic groups.  We know of others who sought to participate on the task force and were turned down.

Most significantly, the objective of any ANC redistricting initiative should be to respect neighborhoods.  This proposal fails to meet that most basic objective.

Thank you for providing another week for residents to learn more about the product of the task force’s work.   It is our understanding the task force will vote on its proposed map for a second time on Tuesday, March 8.  We encourage you to send the task force back to the drawing board instead; engage more thoughtfully with the ward’s citizens and civic associations (not just a select few); and ask that the Task Force adhere to the basic principles of redistricting to respect natural boundaries and to preserve the integrity of the long-established neighborhoods of Ward 3.

Neighbors for a Livable Community
The Spring Valley-Wesley Heights Citizens Association[/quote]

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