West End To Be Represented on Advisory Neighborhood Commission
But a Write-In Candidate Is Needed for Second West End Seat in SMD 2A06
Posted: October 2, 2024.
Several West End residents have been relieved to learn that the 2A02 single-member-district that includes Francis Field and the residential building at 2501 M Street will have someone who wants to represent it on the most local level of the District's government, the Advisory Neighborhood Commission.
May Yang, a young attorney, has taken out papers and returned nomination petitions. She will be on the November 5 ballot, unopposed. Ballots will be mailed to registered voters.
Yang is a resident of Emerson House, at 2301 N Street, a graduate of the University of Southern California, and Georgetown Law. Born in China, she came to the United States at the age of eight. She is currently an associate in the law firm of Ropes & Gray in its cyber security group, and reportedly, a volleyball wiz.
The West End is located in ANC-2A, one of 46 in the District of Columbia.
As shown in the map below and on right, ANC-2A covers a large area of Ward 2 of the District of Columbia. Its geographical area includes the White House, the Kennedy Center, the campus of George Washington University, the Lincoln Memorial, the Tidal Basin, the West End and Foggy Bottom neighborhoods, and part of the Potomac River.
The concerns in each of its nine single-member districts (or "SMDs"), however, are quite local. The elected office is non-partisan, and non-paid. Commissioners serve two-year terms. Each represents about 2,000 residents according to the 2020 census.
For the upcoming election on November 5, only in five of those nine SMDs will a candidate's name be printed on the District of Columbia ballot. Write-in candidates may appear, but there will be no contested elections on the ballot.
None of the five candidates pictured here will have on opponent on the ballot.
Jim Malec, who was elected in SMD 2A02 in 2022, became chair of the commission in April 2023, when the previous chair, Joel Causey, (who was elected in 2A06 in 2022) resigned the chair—a post of honor—after it was revealed that Causey had a criminal conviction as a younger man. But Causey did not resign the seat to which he was legally elected.
Causey has not filed papers to run for re-election to the 2A06 seat, which is the eastern half of the West End.
Residents of that district, which includes the three luxury condominium buildings—the Ritz Carlton residences, 22 West, and the Westlight—had been trying to find a candidate to replace Causey in the coming election, but they did not find one before the August 7 deadline to turn in the required 25 signatures for ballot status.
The search now in SMD 2A06, is for someone to run as a write-in candidate.
In another startling development this year, Malec, who restored some civility and order to the commission, was required to resign his seat for an entirely different reason on April 30, 2024, when he lost his apartment lease, and could no longer legally represent 2A02.
He has now moved a few blocks away, but into SMD 2A08, where he filed to run and gathered signatures. He will be the ballot in that SMD.
Taking over as chair since May 1, 2024, has been Trupti Patel, who was first elected to SMD 2A03 in the Foggy Bottom historic district, in 2018. She is running for re-election and will also be on the ballot in her SMD.
Also this year, ANC-2A lost its long-time executive director, Peter Sacco, a former commissioner, who among other duties, posted changes to the commission's website. A new executive director was hired in September, but its website has not been updated to reflect that there are currently two vacancies on the nine-member commission.
On the positive side, two other incumbent members, who have provided some needed stability, filed for re-election, turned in signatures, and will be on the ballot in their SMDs.
Ed Comer, who lives on Virginia Avenue was elected by a wide margin to SMD 2A04, sometimes known as the Watergate district, in a contested election in 2022. He is the commission's current secretary.
A retired attorney who also teaches law, Comer is a member of several environmentally oriented groups, and is presently attempting to get the long-delayed park planned at 26th and I Streets completed.
The newest member of the current commission, Luke Chadwick, who represents SMD 2A05 near Columbia Plaza, filled another a vacancy left by Kim Courtney, who filled that vacant seat in March 2023, and resigned in July, after attending four regular monthly meetings.
Chadwick, a Columbia Plaza resident and Georgetown University graduate student, joined the Commission in January 2024. He also filed papers and signatures to run for reelection, and will be on the ballot in his SMD.
Residents who wish to run a write-in campaign may do so, but must file an "Affirmation of Write-in Candidacy" with the Board of Elections within seven days of the election to succeed to the office. That form may also be filed before the election. Write-in candidates must also be registered to vote in their SMD and must have previously resided in it for 60 days.
The Commission traditionally meets monthly, although sometimes not in August or December.
ANC-2A has had unusual difficulties with its own management and direction in its 2023-2024 term, but the five candidates who will be on the November ballot show promise of setting it back on the fine course it steered for many years previously.
Those elected will take office in January 2025.