ANC 6E SMD Boundary Recommendations from Rickey Williams

This proposed ANC 6E SMD boundary recommendation was received from Mr. Rickey Williams, resident in the new ANC 6E.  In addition, this will also be added to the ANC 6E post listed in a below post.  That way, all the ANC 6E options can be viewed together.

Dear CM Wells & ANC 2C Commissioners:

I would like to take this time to express my views on the ANC/SMD redistricting process.  I need to say at the outset, I really had hoped to avoid actively participating in this process, but due to some of the chatter on the Shaw listserve, I feel compelled to speak up. 

The one and only real suggestion I have for incorporating ANC 2C into the new Ward 6 is that the apartment complexes located in the area: Washington Apartments, McCollough Apartments, Gibson Plaza, 1331 and the Crawford apartments be dispersed among any new SMDs created.  I ask this because there was some talk about confining all these apartments into one SMD to give voice to the lower/moderate income persons that live there.  However, I see this as having exactly the opposite effect.  By confining all the apartments into one SMD, it will cause the voices of significant portion of the Shaw/Mt. Vernon population to actually not be heard.  By only have one commissioner concerned with their problems, it allows other commissioners to follow a completely different set of interests and actually consistently out vote the one commissioner.  Thus, as stated, a significant portion of our community will never have any real input and/or influence on policy decisions out their neighborhood.  This will lead to further agitating the already frayed nerves between races, classes, income levels and property ownership lines in our neighborhood as many feel completely left out of the process.

By dispersing these communities throughout the new SMDs it forces each commissioner to vie for their votes thus taking their views into consideration when making decisions.  Each commissioner will be obligated to ask for their votes as well as make sure their attentions are directed toward this bloc.  While these communities may not constitute a majority, it will still do a lot to have them press of their issue among the different commissioners.  As one may realize there may be issues that come before the commission that would benefit renters over owners, middle class over poor.  In each instance, by dispersing these communities it make things more competitive instead of appealing to narrow constituent bases.

Again, please make sure the apartments are generally split among all the new SMDs to make sure each voters voice is heard by all our commissioners.  

Rickey Williams, Jr