Redistricting Information

Wonderful Wednesday Everyone,

 

Below I have posted information about redistricting from the Rosedale Community. Rosedale may face the same issues as we are already experiencing in Kingman Park.  They are fighting to stay in Ward 6.              Our Kingman Park Community is fighting to go back to Ward 6!

I am doing my best to express the will of the people.

 

89% of the people in Kingman Park want to go back to Ward 6 based on a survey conducted by Greater Greater Washington.

For more information visit: http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-redistricting-of-ward-6-neighborhoods-to-ward-7-in-washington-dc

Best,

Lisa White

ANC Commission SMD 7D01

dc500blkof25th@yahoo.com

(202) 706-4713

 

This DC Redistricting Hands Off Ward 6! petition is sponsored by the Rosedale Citizens’ Alliance (RCA) and is aimed at stopping nascent efforts to redistrict parts of Ward 6 in Washington DC to Ward 7 in 2011.

If you are one of the 3,800 people living in the Rosedale neighborhood of ANC 6A or other neighborhoods in Ward 6 in Washington DC, there is a good chance you could be redistricted into Ward 7 if Council Member Yvette Alexander (Ward 7) delivers on a statement she made at a recent community meeting.  If she succeeds, residents of Rosedale and other Capitol Hill neighborhoods could be redistricted into Ward 7, which will break historic, geographic, community and political alliances as well as entail the loss of  unrestricted vehicle parking rights in Capitol Hill where many Rosedale and Hill East residents shop, eat and work at Eastern Market, Barracks Row and the H St Corridor.

This campaign was launched in response to statements Alexander made at a public meeting of ANC 7D on April 12, 2011 that was attended by several RCA members. While there are slight differences in terms of their recollections regarding boundaries, they all confirm that Alexander indicated she expects Ward 7 to extend into parts of Ward 6, including parts of Rosedale.  One member noted that Alexander said she expects Ward 7 to extend further into Reservation 13 or west over to 17th Street and that she would really like to get Pennsylvania Avenue into Ward 7 because her ward needs more population. Such a change would affect several Ward 6 neighborhoods including Rosedale, parts of which sit between Kingman Park and 17th St NE.  Hence, should Alexander’s expectations come true, parts of Rosedale may become part of Ward 7 while other parts may remain in Ward 6.

The officers and members of the Rosedale Citizen Alliance (RCA) are deeply alarmed by the proposal. “Over the last several years,” RCA members and officers, said, “Rosedale has worked hard to come together as a community to tackle our problems and we have successfully obtained resources and attention from the city as a result of relationships we’ve developed with Ward 6.  The proposed redistricting of our community would be shattering to the residents and the collective efforts we have made.  RCA is calling for all concerned residents of Rosedale and neighboring communities to call on Council Member Tommy Wells as well as the members of the Subcommittee on Redistricting, council members Michael Brown, Jack Evans and Phil Mendelson, to not allow the redistricting process to further tear asunder ANC 6A once again as they did back in 2001. RCA urges the Council to not break the heart and soul of another ANC 6A community as they redraw the city wards.”

This is not the first time an ANC 6A neighborhood has been redrawn into Ward 7 despite opposition from the affected community. Kingman Park, which is adjacent to Rosedale and which sits on the western shores of the Anacostia,  was redistricted into Ward 7 during the last redistricting process in 2001. This was done despite widespread opposition from Kingman Park residents, who pursued two unsuccessful lawsuits over violation of voting rights laws during the 2001 redistricting process (click here for additional information). Many Kingman Park residents, as well as their community leaders are actively campaigning to get Kingman Park redistricted back to Ward 6 because they feel their voices and concerns are largely lost and ignored by Ward 7.  Furthermore, they feel their historical and geographic roots are in Ward 6 and not with the rest of the geographically distant Ward 7 which sits across the river from Kingman Park.