Columns
By Jack Murphy
Feb 8, 2021 12:04 AM
The District is dotted with 328 single-member districts. Every two years, the voters in each district elect a representative to the 40 Advisory Neighborhood Commissions that make up each of D.C.’s eight wards. These commissions, consisting of eight commissioners from each tiny district, lobby the city government on behalf of their constituents, work with business leaders to develop neighborhood-friendly operating plans and aim to preserve the city’s history amid rapid development. They are both small and unheard of, but they are critically important.
But the single-member district governing much of campus – ANC 2A08 – is vacant right now, leaving GW students and residents without a voice. And, because of an obscure rule, the seat cannot legally be filled during the current public health crisis. As members of the D.C. and the GW communities, our role is twofold: We must educate ourselves and each other about the function and role of ANCs in our city, and we must advocate for the the District to allow for a representative to be voted in during the pandemic.