Question about the new Glover Park ANC

A question on Twitter asks:

Trying to figure out the Glover-Archbold logic other than it’s what’s left over and would make the adjacent ANCs too large. @gloverpark seems more like “middle Wisconsin” than connected to @AmericanU and @WesleyHeightsDC

Here is the proposed map of ANCs for that area. It’s worth noting that these will change as the Task Force deliberates more and the population-bound Single Member Districts are drawn. The red line outlines the current border of ANC 3B.

The observation that “Middle Wisconsin” (should we start calling it ANC 3A?) seems more like Glover Park is a logical one. However, one thing to realize is that this area is population density center of the Ward. The number of very large multi-family buildings here would make an ANC that spanned from south of Tenleytown down to and including Glover Park would be very large - over 10 SMDs. And the north and south parts of that corridor are distinct. These are the main reasons these areas were not recommended to be combined into a single ANC.

The other observation of the seeming discontinuity of Glover Park with the New Mexico Ave corridor is fair. What do these areas have in common? After all, they are separated by the natural boundary of Glover Archbold park.

The first commonality is dense urban living. The area between New Mexico and Massachusetts Avenues has significant population density due to the many residential buildings in the area, a trait shared with the current 3B. The areas are also connected by the New Mexico/Tunlaw corridor.

Keep in mind that when combining or separating areas, it has to happen in increments of ~2,000 people. Any SMD must have a population within 1,900-2,100.

AU is two SMDs, and should be kept whole so that students represent students, and nearby neighbors are not “free riding” on a continually changing residential population. Those seats should be AU student seats, or they should be vacant, which they likely will be for continually intermittent stretches. Thus the proposed 9 member ANC (orange area), at any given time could be 7-9 SMDs. There is also much informal off-campus housing for AU down the Mass and New Mexico Avenues.

The portion of Wesley Heights in the orange area completes another two SMD’s worth of population, when added to the area of multi-family east of New Mexico.

And yes, Task Force members and public comment have noted that the current ANC 3D, at 10 SMDs, is too large. Areas removed from 3D have to go somewhere, and this proposal makes sense. What remains of ANC 3D would be 7 SMDs.

The Task Force members are not all on Twitter, so if you want to send comments, there are ways to register your opinions:

1)      You can send an email to ward3ancredistricting@gmail.com

2)      You can post a comment for the public record using this form

3)      You can show up at our Tuesday meetings and make comments live (just show up and raise your hand).  Information on our meetings can be found here.