Redistricting Compromise in West 20% of Cleveland Park
UPDATED March 6: Proposed Single Member District lines for Middle Wisconsin allows me to map my proposal with more clarity. The dark blue SMD in the center labeled “LC08” was presented as one of the SMDs in the Middle Wisconsin ANC. I proposed moving it to Lower Connecticut. I also propose moving the two SMDs of American University, currently in Upper Wisconsin, to the Middle Wisconsin ANC. On the map below, these are labeled MW05 & MW06. Send comments to ward3ancredistricting@gmail.com.
Bob Ward Compromise Proposal
Moves light blue SMD to Lower Connecticut, adds AU’s 2 SMDs to Middle Wisconsin.
Here is a version of the map with streets to make it easier to see where the lines are drawn:
On March 1st I proposed, unsuccessfully, a compromise that I hope gets revisited in the weeks ahead. More fleshed out here, it is a compromise to the ANC map under consideration that will:
Create a new 6 SMD ANC for Middle Wisconsin, an area that is dense with residents, vibrant and growing. This fixes an unfortunate history where this area has received low-priority service from the four ANCs that currently divide up the area. The Middle Wisconsin ANC will represent both sides of Wisconsin Ave from Van Ness to Lowell St, and the west side of Wisconsin down to Fulton St.
Create a Lower Connecticut ANC that covers more residents of Cleveland Park than any ANC ever has. It will include most of the residents west of 34th Street in Cleveland Park.
Connect American University to its largest center of off-campus housing for AU students along Massachusetts Ave in a single ANC.
I hope the community and my fellow Task Force members can support this proposal in the spirit of compromise.
Support this plan? Email the Task Force at ward3ancredistricting@gmail.com
The proposed map of ANC’s for Ward 3 presented at the March 1st Task Force Meeting currently divides the Lower Connecticut ANC from the Middle Wisconsin ANC along 34th St. The purpose of this division, which I have supported, is to center the ANC around the population corridors, and put the border where there are the fewest people. In this area the population centers on Connecticut and Wisconsin Ave, while the low density area in the middle fills the in-between.
The geographic definitions of Cleveland Park vary depending on the source. The Cleveland Park Citizens Association uses Upton/Tilden on the north and Woodley Rd/Cathedral Ave on the South. Others insist Klingle Valley is the southern border. There is general agreement that the western border is Wisconsin Ave and the eastern border is Rock Creek Park.
If we use the CPCA borders, the area in question west of 34th St is 2,145 people, or 21% of the population of the total CPCA membership area. Under the current ANC proposal, in the area south of Rodman St about 1,700 residents of Cleveland park would be located in the new Middle Wisconsin ANC, out of over 10,000 Cleveland Park residents, or 17%.
The Task Force has heard significant support for the ANC corridor approach along Connecticut Ave, especially from residents of multi-family buildings on Connecticut Ave, where most of Cleveland Park lives. Especially important are the residents of the multi-family building on the doorstep of the Cleveland Park commercial area whose ANC representation had been put in Van Ness, and will now have a voice in what happens at their Main Street.
We have also heard significant criticism about the 34th St border, primarily from residents who live close to 34th St. They believe putting the boundary there will divide the voice of the neighborhood by excluding these 1,700 out 10,000 residents. The feelings among those opposed are strong on the issue.
The Task Force has heard support for the ANC corridor approach along Wisconsin Ave, primarily from McLean Gardens and North Cleveland Park residents. Supporters say they are looking forward to an ANC that puts a primary focuses on their needs. In fact, no negative comments about the new ANC have been received from people on the Wisconsin side who live outside of Cleveland Park.
However, conversely, no positive comments to the 34th St border have been received from Cleveland Park residents living between 34th St and Wisconsin Ave as of last week. These comments opposed to the 34th Street border stated they wanted to be aligned with the rest of Cleveland Park, oriented toward Connecticut Ave. This should not be ignored. While I may not agree, if enough people say what they want, and no one is on the other side, we should listen. If you live in this area and have feelings either way, your should weigh in.
Last week, the CPCA president proposed two map alternatives to the Task Force. One map kept much of the current ANC 3C boundary, and the other map divided ANC 3C north and south along Woodley & Klingle Roads. Neither of these proposals created a new ANC for Wisconsin Ave, since both extended the reach of the ANC west of Wisconsin Ave. My analysis into the proposal goes no further since creating a new ANC focused on the densely populated and growing center of the Ward along Wisconsin Ave is must for me and many others on the Task Force. Nor would I ever support dividing ANCs across Connecticut Ave using Klingle Valley. The residents of the Broadmoor, The Parkway and Ordway Gardens have far more in common with the residents of the Kennedy-Warren, Woodley Park Towers and 3100 Connecticut than they do McLean Garden and City Ridge.
From my standpoint, a Middle Wisconsin ANC is non-negotiable. I am committed to a new ANC along Wisconsin Ave. But given the removal of 34th as a border between population corridors in both Friendship Heights and in North Cleveland Park, it is difficult to insist 34th St remain the border in Cleveland Park, especially when we’ve heard no support from Cleveland Park residents living between 34th St and Wisconsin Ave to orient themselves westward.
I will restate more emphatically and specifically my proposal from the March 1st meeting: let’s create an SMD west of 34th St that includes all but the census blocks that front Wisconsin Ave and put it in the Lower Connecticut ANC. The area has extremely low population density, and the SMD is likely to be very large as a result, running north to South.
Removing this SMD from Middle Wisconsin leaves that ANC with 4 SMDs. I further propose moving the 2 SMDs that are wholly contained within American University and Wesley Seminary into the Middle Wisconsin ANC. Since we proposed that AU to be included in Upper Wisconsin last week, the Task Force has heard two viewpoints suggesting a Middle Wisconsin orientation would be better: 1) significant numbers of AU students live in the off-campus housing along Massachusetts Ave, and aligning these residents with their fellow students on campus makes sense; and 2) privately we have heard that ANC 3E is not enthusiastic about having AU join their ANC, which will have a full plate of activity along the Tenleytown and Friendship Heights portions of Wisconsin Ave.
Adding the 2 SMDs of AU to Middle Wisconsin, while sending the adjacent SMD to Lower Connecticut produces a new Middle Wisconsin ANC with 6 SMDs. It leaves Upper Wisconsin with 5 SMDs, which ANC 3E currently has. It leaves Lower Connecticut with 8 SMDs, one fewer than the current 9 SMDs of ANC 3C.
I hope the community and my fellow Task Force members can support this compromise. Not everyone gets what they wants, for sure. However, the focus on corridors in this map is far better than it has been in the past and more of Cleveland Park would be represented in this ANC than ever before.
Support this plan? Oppose it? Prefer the original plan of centering ANC along population corridors and the border along 34th St in the low density middle? Email the Task Force at ward3ancredistricting@gmail.com. Emails don’t have to be detailed, but they need to be specific enough that we know what you are talking about, like “I support Bob Ward’s compromise,” or “I oppose Bob Ward’s compromise,” or “I support the original plan to use 34th as a border between our population corridors.”
If we get enough support for this proposal I will fight for it when we take our vote on March 15th.