There is still time to pick up petitions to run for a seat on the Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) in ANC 4B and ANC 5A in the November general election. Petitions are due at 5:00 pm on August 10, 2022. Information about how to run for the ANC is available on the Board of Election website at https://dcboe.org/Candidates/ANC-Commissioners.

Each ANC commissioner represents approximately 2,000 residents who make up a single member district (SMD). Redistricting following the 2020 Census adjusted the boundaries of ANC single member districts. These new boundaries will become effective in January 2023. ANC redistricting opens the door for new ANC commissioners in ANC 4B and ANC 5A, the two commissions that cover Riggs Park. You can double check your SMD to make sure you are running in the correct SMD with the Office of Planning 2023 ANC/SMD locator.

For the SMDs covering parts of Riggs Park, individuals have picked up petitions for ANC 4B10 (Stefan Nagey), ANC 5A01 (Duvalier Malone), ANC 5A02 (Karlus Cozart) and ANC 5A09 (Zachary Ammerman). That leaves ANC 4B09 as one Riggs Park SMD without a candidate to date.

[Edited to add: The boundaries of Riggs Park generally are New Hampshire Avenue NE to the north, Eastern Avenue/MD-DC border to the east, Galloway Street NE to the south, & the Metro red line tracks to the west. So The Modern at Art Place and Aventine at Fort Totten are in Riggs Park. I don’t make the rules. Lamond is north of New Hampshire Avenue NE to Underwood Place NE/NW. Together, they make up Lamond-Riggs.]

ANC 4B09

ANC 4B09 includes Fort Totten Square, Riggs-LaSalle Recreation Center, LaSalle-Backus Education Campus, the few businesses across from Fort Totten Square, EYA’s Riggs Park Place, and lots of residents east of South Dakota Avenue NE and north of Kennedy Street NE. The second phase of Riggs Park Place is anticipated to break ground sometime in 2023, so it would be great to have someone paying attention to that project. If you live in that area and you have been thinking about running for ANC, there is still time to pick up petitions and get signatures in by 5:00 pm on August 10.

ANC 5A

Outside of Riggs Park, there are a few seats in ANC 5A that still do not have a candidate – ANC single member districts 5A05, 5A06, and 5A07.

Working from north to south.

ANC 5A07

With redistricting, current ANC Commissioner Sandi Washington (5A07) will no longer be in ANC 5A07 in January 2023, so that means someone in the northwestern part of ANC 5A will need to run for ANC 5A07. ANC 5A07 is just west of the Fort Totten Metro red line tracks. This area contains a few apartment buildings (some converted to condos), Mary’s Center Fort Totten location, Mamie D. Lee community garden, and DC Bilingual Public Charter School. DC Bilingual is currently undergoing a big expansion. ANC 5A07 will also include Metro property along 1st Place NE. Metro has revived plans to develop the long-term parking lot at Fort Totten Metro station. Depending on how quickly Metro moves on that effort, it would be useful to have a commissioner in place to help shape that project. The last time Metro sought to develop the long-term parking lot, Metro officials presented the bids they received privately to just the ANC 5A commissioners. That former plan ended up getting shelved but Metro plans to try again soon. In general though, it would be great to have a commissioner who can proactively work with Metro and the National Park Service about perennial issues with those agencies, both of which have properties with large footprints in ANC 5A that they do not do a great job of maintaining.

ANC 5A06

ANC 5A06 has a mix of single family homes and apartment buildings. A few of the apartment buildings have redevelopment plans. Current ANC Commissioners Derrick Holloway (5A06) and Sandi Washington (5A07) will both reside in 5A06 effective January 2023. I am pretty sure neither plans to run for election to represent 5A06, so if a resident was waiting for one of them to announce plans to run, now is the time to pick up petitions to make sure that area has representation.

ANC 5A05

Beginning in January 2023, the residents who live in Park Place and The Cloisters, including current ANC 5A Chair Ronnie Edwards (5A05), will be in ANC 5E. ANC 5A05 will largely consist of the Armed Forces Retirement Home (which has large development plans in store), properties for MedStar Washington Hospital Center and VA Medical Center, and a couple of schools. There is a tiny pocket of residents in the northern portion of the SMD west of Hawaii Avenue NE in between Taylor Street and Varnum Street NE in the few single family homes and apartment buildings (including Brookland Ridge) who could conceivably run to represent ANC 5A05. So on the off chance that there is a reader who lives in that tiny pocket who may be interested in running for ANC 5A05, go ahead and pick up petitions to run. Lots of people will thank you.