Friday, June 29, 2012

Ward 5 redistricting: Bloomingdale to be part of new ANC 5E

This article on Ward 5 redistricting appears in the just-released Summer 2012 issue of the Ward 5 Heartbeat by Brookland resident Abigail Padou.  Note that Bloomingdale will be moving from ANC 5C to ANC 5E.  The election for the ANC 5E commissioners will be part of the November 2012 general election -- with the newly elected commissioners taking office in January 2013.
    
Number of ANCs in Ward 5 to increase from three to five



Click here for Ward 5 redistricting map: http://www.ward5heartbeat.org/2012sum_map.html


The District`s once-in-a-decade redistricting process has produced new boundaries for Advisory Neighborhood Commissions (ANCs) throughout Ward 5.

As a result of redistricting, the number of ANCs in Ward 5 will increase from three to five. The new commissions are ANC 5A through 5E. The number of ANC Commissioners has stayed almost the same, increasing from 36 to 37. New boundaries for Single Member Districts (SMDs) have also been drawn.

Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners are unpaid, nonpartisan officials who serve two-year terms. Each commissioner represents approximately 2,000 residents in an area called a ``single member district`` (SMD). ANCs hold public meetings once a month.

All Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners are up for election on November 6, 2012. Residents will vote according to the new boundaries at that time. The new boundaries will go into effect on January 1, 2013.

Candidates running for ANC Commissioner need the signatures of at least 25 registered voters in their Single Member District to get on the ballot. Petitions are available for pickup at the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics starting July 9. Petitions are due back on August 8.

ANCs receive quarterly ``allotments`` of funds from the District of Columbia to pay for office expenses and grant-giving. According to Gottlieb Simon, Executive Director of the Office of Advisory Neighborhood Commissions, the existing bank balances of Ward 5`s three ANCs will be ``collected`` before the end of 2012 and redistributed to the five new ANCs on the basis of their population.

Citywide, ``the ANCs will receive the same allotment next year as this year,`` said Mr. Simon. Since the funds must be divided among five ANCs instead of three in Ward 5, each ANC can expect to receive a smaller amount.

The quarterly allotments in 2012 were approximately $8,000 per ANC in Ward 5.

According to the D.C. Code, the role of the ANC is to ``advise the Council of the District of Columbia, the Mayor and each executive agency, and all independent agencies, boards and commissions of the government of the District of Columbia with respect to all proposed matters of District government policy.``

The District is expected to give local ANCs 30 days` notice of ``government actions or proposed actions.`` If an ANC makes a recommendation in writing regarding the government action, the government is required to give the recommendation ``great weight`` in its deliberations.

ANCs are given ``great weight`` in matters that affect their commission area, such as zoning variances, liquor licenses, permits and planning.

2 comments:

Bloomingdale Resident said...

It took a lot of meetings, and I know John spent a lot of time at the Wilson building, fighting to keep Bloomingdale together in the same ANC, so it is a great relief to see the map.

However, it seems odd that the ANCs vary in size so much. (At least they got the individual SMDs to fall within the population requirements.) Our new ANC5E has ten SMDs, and I think I see one ANC only has 5 SMDs. So, when the article talks about allotments, I assume they will be based on the size of the ANC?

Scott Roberts of Bloomingdale said...

Also note that an unresolved question is: what happens to the bank accounts of the three current ANC 5 commissions -- ANC 5A, 5B and 5C -- when the new * five * ANC commissions take effect? Do the bank accounts of ANC 5A, 5B and 5C get divided up evenly among the new ANC 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D and 5E? Or perhaps some other formula?