Speaking of grassroots oversight of government activities...

I have a habit of reviewing the way that people come into the blog. It's one way I find out who is linking and what generates high numbers of visits. If I am so inclined I can study people's search queries (note: most people aren't great at constructing such queries, but some are really interesting).

Anyway, a new blog, Life in Mount Vernon Square has surfaced. The Mount Vernon Triangle straddles Ward 2 and Ward 6. The blog seems more oriented to the Ward 2 part, which is fine, especially because it covers the Ward 2 ANC that "weighs" in on development matters there.

Judging by what I read about the Ward 2 ANC, it appears, just like with ANC6C, that too often, grassroots "government" oversight is "dieting," if not anorexic. At least for the life of me, I don't see much quality deliberation when it comes to the "great weight" afforded to ANCs in terms of commenting on and influencing planning, zoning, and other matters within the boundaries of the ANCs.

A number of ANCs include chunks of the downtown area. To my knowledge, they have never really tried to meet and work through common issues, design, planning, and development issues, the weakness of the community amenities negotiating process, etc.

It's so aggravating. And so deliberate (to have for the most part, weak and under-informed ANCs). Note that ANC6A is a welcome exception. Too bad that their "area of interest ends at 7th Street NE.

(Another problem I have with ANC Commissioners is an often myopic focus that I term "the tyranny of neighborhood parochialism." DC is a city, and focusing on a block or two of it, and being pretty narrowminded about your couple blocks serves no one.)

But it's good that the blog movement has arisen, and that with neighborhood micro-focused blogs like Life in Mount Vernon Square or Frozen Tropics or Petworth News or InShaw or Bloomingdale or Stop, Blog, and Roll (Woodridge-Brookland-Ward 5) there is a new and regular level of attention being paid to communities within the city.
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Note that I just swiped two links from Stop, Blog, and Roll:

the DC Calendar* (although Jaime links more specifically to the Ward 5 Event Calendar) and The Common Denominator Public Affairs Calendar. They are now listed in the right sidebar, above my Upcoming calendar feed.

Partial screenshot, DC Government Calendar.

(*note that I've suggested in the past that DC OCTO make this calendar available to bloggers and other websites as a real-time feed comparable to how the Upcoming calendar is used by this and many other websites. DC has a pretty serious E-Gov initiative, but I haven't directed this particular comment directly to the person coordinating that initiative. I first wrote about this in "An idea to make the DC.gov Calendar more widely available.")

Among other features, Stop, Blog, and Roll does a nice job of listing Ward 5 Community and Civic Organizations, when they meet, and e-list links.

And I like the redesign.
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This is different from e-lists in a fundamental way. E-lists are dependent on people contributing. Obviously, so is a blog, but the blog author makes a commitment to providing a base level of editorial-content, usually on a daily basis, that moves things along. The writer tends to attend meetings and such, and/or is a voluminous photographer of the neighborhoods (a la Inked78) which further adds content.

Speaking of all the disappointment that exists all too often with ANC Commissioners, remember that now is the time to be thinking about getting quality people to run for this fall.
According to the Candidate Qualification and Ballot Access Guide, petitions can be picked up starting Friday July 7th, and the deadline to file is Wednesday August 30th.
Joe Fengler, chair of ANC6A, is one of my favorite ANC Commissioners. While by no means the only excellent commissioner around, he certainly sets a high bar and has made a tremendous contribution to the Greater H Street Neighborhood in the almost four years he has served. I hope with all my heart that he runs again (it's unlikely).

Kathy Henderson is another ANC Commissioner who works very diligently to make a difference. She serves on the Historic Preservation Review Board as well. She is running for Ward 5 Councilmember, and just last week, someone firebombed her car, see "ANC Commissioner's Car Torched," from last Saturday's Examiner.
Mayor Williams, Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, Ward 5 ANC Commissioner Kathy Henderson and others toured the 18th Street, NE area July 19, 2004 to celebrate the reclamation and empowerment of a community once plagued by drugs and violence. DC Government photo.

Regina James, also in Ward 5, also running for Ward 5 Councilmember, was one of the people who stepped up and challenged the referendum in the 2004 election calling for a gambling casino at the corner of New York Avenue and Bladensburg Road, Nancy MacWood in Ward 3, Renee Bowser in Ward 4, Alex Padro in Ward 2, Cody Rice and Nick Alberti who serve with Joe Fengler on ANC6A, Karen Wirt on ANC6C (among others) make great contributions to their neighborhoods and to the city. I'm sure they don't get thanked enough for what they do.

I bring this up because the quality of oversight really matters. And individuals, not just on ANCs, do make a difference. For example, if people don't clamor about the quality of the Metropolitan Branch Trail, you can guarantee that when developers suggest providing little in the way of trail-based amenities, that such becomes much more likely.

Index Keywords: civic-engagement