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Articles
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| ANC 6B looking for help from constituents |
VOICE writes, "ANC 6B looking for help from constituents
BY PATTI SHEA
The Southeast Capitol Hill advisory neighborhood commission (ANC 6B) is desperate for your help. Literally.
According to chairwoman Julie Olson, the commission is attempting a marketing campaign to let folks know they are there, as they have been since 1976.
“People need to be aware of what we’re doing,” Olson said. “The problem is getting people who don’t know what an ANC is to be more active.”"
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The commission’s boundaries run from the south side of East Capitol Street to the Southeast
Freeway and from South Capitol Street to the Anacostia River. There are 11 seats on the commission, but one remains vacant because it’s assigned to the D.C. Jail.
Olson said residents continually approach her in regard to projects going on in the neighborhood and ask her, “Why weren’t we notified about it?”
The conundrum, she added, is that there is no city vehicle that allows them to disseminate information to the masses.
The group has a Web site (www.anc6b.org), as do the other three Ward 6 advisory neighborhood commissions, and a mass e-mail list that sends its members are sent the monthly meeting agendas.
But Olson said educating newer residents about the commission and its duties is a rough sell. “Most people interested in the neighborhood want to know what’s going on on their block or on the next block,” she said. “It’s getting the newer ones informed that is the trick.”
Olson also said the commission has varying demographics — on the west end there are transplant Hill staffers who aren’t registered to vote in the District and on the east end there are residents whose families have been here for generations — which play significantly into the myriad of issues that come before the panel.
“We need a campaign of awareness,” she said.
Asked what exactly residents should know about her commission, Olson said they should get on the e-mail list so they can read the agendas. Both Capitol Hill publications — The Voice and Hill Rag — print summaries of the ward’s four advisory neighborhood commission meetings. The commission has three committees that the public can serve on: Alcohol Beverage Licensing, Planning and Zoning and Eastern Market.
Olson acknowledged the significant role Listservs have played — there are the Barney Circle and HillEast Yahoo! Groups to name a few — in information dissemination, but added that a good chunk of the community is still clueless about the commission.
Suggesting that some residents are too busy to keep up with the community issues, Olson said, “If there’s something that impacts the neighborhood detrimentally or significantly, you should make the time.”
One positive that surfaced after the April 30 Eastern Market fire, Olson added, is that residents became more aware of local groups and elected bodies that have day-to-day input about the market and its operations.
Meanwhile, Olson said the commission is looking for a new home as it will have to leave the Old Naval Hospital, where the group has an office and holds meetings, because of scheduled renovations.
For more information, contact the commission office at (202) 543-3344 or visit www.anc6b.org.
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Posted on Sep 12, 2007 21:08pm.
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