If you are one of the 3,800 people living in the Rosedale neighborhood of ANC 6A in Ward 6 or live in other Ward 6 neighborhoods 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 you want to remain in Ward 6, please take the actions outlined below. Action is needed NOW since hearings on redistricting will be held on Wednesday, April 27, 2011 @ 10:00am in Council Chamber, Room 500 and council members are in the process of redistricting negotiations. Additional information and resources is provided below.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
1. READ the Rosedale Citizens' Alliance "Hands Off Redistricting Ward 6" Press Release.
2. SIGN PETITION: Click here to sign an online petition that you can personalize and that will automatically be sent to Council Members Tommy Wells (Ward 6), Michael Brown (At-Large), Phil Mendelson (At-Large) and Jack Evans (Ward 2) urging them to keep ANC 6A in Ward 6. The petition will also be sent to the ANC 6A Commissioners.
3. TESTIFY AND/OR ATTEND THE PUBLIC HEARING: Call or send an email to Carol Sadler (csadler@dccouncil.us or 202.724.8189) requesting that you be allowed to testify during the public hearings on redistricting that will be held on Monday, April 25th at 6 PM and Wednesday, April 27th at 10 AM. Click here for additional details regarding the hearings. Council Member Tommy Wells will also hold a public meeting on redistricting for Ward 6 residents on Thursday, May 5th, 7:00 @ 8:30 pm, at the Friendship Public Charter School / Chamberlain Elementary - gymnasium, 1345 Potomac Ave, SE (across from Harris Teeter).
4. SUBMIT YOUR VIEWS TO OFFICIAL RECORD OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON REDISTRICTING: The deadline for submitting your comments regarding redistricting to the official record of the Subcommittee on Redistricting is May 6th. Click here for the latest instructions on submitting comments via an online form. Meanwhile, email your comments to Carol Sadler at csadler@dccouncil.us.
5. CALL AND MEET WITH COUNCIL MEMBERS Tommy Wells, Michael Brown, Jack Evans and Phil Mendelson and share your views regarding redistricting. For Ward 6 residents it is especially important to contact Brown, Evans and Mendelson as they are on the redistricting subcommittee. Request a meeting at their offices or go to one of their many community meetings. Politely remind Mendelson and Brown that they should be responsive to your concerns as they are At-Large members. Wells publicly supports keeping ANC 6A in Ward 6 and welcomes hearing from his constituents but urges them to contact the subcommittee members. Use our online petition as talking points for the meetings and/or develop your own talking points.
6. TALK WITH YOUR NEIGHBORS AND URGE THEM TO TAKE ACTION. Print up a copy of this email and the online petition and distribute it to your neighbors, community members, community association and members of your community of faith. You can reach out to key residents who lack online access to information and resources.
7. SEND EMAILS AND POST COMMENTS ON YOUR LOCAL BLOG, FACEBOOK PAGE OR WEBSITE.
8. WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR OF YOUR LOCAL PRESS.
9. PLAY THE REDISTRICTING "GAME." Click here to access an interactive website that allows you to redraw DC wards using the latest census information and the website will share your recommendations with the DC council.
5 comments:
It's great to that RCA is on top of this. If there was ever a time for Rosedale residents to unite, this is it-- being redistricted to Ward 7 would be a big setback for our neighborhood, which has many historical, cultural and social connections to the Hill.
Tommy Wells is an amazing councilmember and it would be quite a blow to lose his representation.
Can we get this posted on Frozen Tropics and other blogs with wider reach?
Rosedale and Hill East truly are in the sights of Council members Brown, Mendelson and Evans as being prime targets for being redistricted into Ward 7.
I just testified at the subcommittee hearing asking that Rosedale remain in Ward 6 and was repeatedly asked -- especially by Mendelson -- to justify our request beyond the reasons I gave -- political and geographic cohesion, history, community ties and parking. Humbly I must admit I don't think my answers were very convincing as they've heard similar arguments from other areas that don't want to be redistricted.
Please take the actions outlined in our call to action, including playing the Redistricting Game on the Greater Greater Washington Website. Spread the word.
Thanks for taking action on this. I'd been watching the developments on this for a bit. I've also been following the GGW redistricting game. I don't see how, or why Rosedale would be ceded to Ward 7 before a lot of other areas except that it would give W7 a toehold on the H St. corridor. Certainly W8 would loose out on that deal. Everything I saw on GGW seemed to point to the border cutting off east of Rosedale somewhere or W7 absorbing W5 areas to the north.
I did receive a reply to the letter drafted from Councilmembers Wells, Mendelson and Evans so they are reading the emails.
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