After the mysterious and dubious cancelled ANC 8C meeting The Advocate is hearing rumors (by rumors meaning from a current commissioner) that the ANC 8C meeting that should have been held on Feb 4th is now going to be held tentatively on Feb 11th.

The Advocate has also learned from said commissioner that if you don't get a flier you shouldn't expect a meeting. The Advocate finds this theory flawed (for many reasons) as The Advocate has ever only received 1 meeting notice flier ( and that was hard to get) and there have been meetings. Getting a meeting agenda DURING a meeting nearly got me assaulted. Therefore no flier doesn't always equal no meetings. It's the equivalent of saying "If a donkey doesn't fly out of my rear end then it's not going to rain".

It would seem more logical (and less likely to leave folks out in the cold) that meetings are by default scheduled for once a month on the first Wednesday and IF said meeting has to be cancelled it would be cancelled after properly notifying ALL commissioners of an executive board meeting, having said executive board meeting, voting on cancelling scheduled meeting and then ISSUING TIMELY NOTIFICATION THAT SAID MEETING WAS CANCELLED. Even if it was last minute how hard is it to write a note and stick it to the UPO meeting door? In this age of email there really is no need not to get the word out unless either there is 1) incompetence 2) intentional collusion 3) both (my vote).

Some folks may wonder "Why is this cancelled meeting so serious?". The reason this is so important is because it is indicative of a bigger issue and is an illustration of the poor workings of this particular ANC. An effective AND efficient ANC would already have a p lan in place to handle situations like this. There would be open communication not only from the ANC Board to the residents they have been sworn to serve but between the commissioners themselves. If the philosophy of this ANC commission on a whole has been more PROACTIVE than REACTIVE our community would look totally different. The Advocate was at almost if not every ANC 8C meeting for 2008 and never once did I see one proactive action initiated let alone completed by the ANC board. With a proactive and functional board we could finally start using some of the ANC funds for ANC business and not for frivilous stuff we don't need - like unused office space. According to the 2007 ANC Annual Report the only funds spent by ANC 8C for the entire fiscal year was $10,800 for rent at the barbershop. By far the largest (and most times the only) expenses reported by ANC 8C to the DC Auditor are for rent, $8,400 (2006), $11,800 (2005) and $13,000 (2004).

Can you imagine what other things could have been done with that money? Contrary to the general belief ANC 8C is NOT broke (at least not according to the auditor). As long as the quarterly report is filed (and filed on time) with the DC Auditor a quarterly allotment is released to the ANC. That money could be spent to clean up MLK Jr. Ave, maybe plant some grass and tree boxes, install some light post banners, install litter and recycling cans, new park equipment in Shepherd Park, etc. If the ANC was more proactive perhaps they could work with the East of the River Development Council to get local businesses to enroll in their program to upgrade their business facades FOR FREE. That's right - FOR FREE. Can you imagine what MLK would look like if all the businesses had some uniformity? If they had new paint and new signage? Clean GLASS storefronts?

That mental picture is looking good isn't it? :) Guess what? There is nothing holding us back from making that dream a reality but ourselves. West of the River is not holding us back from that, Mayor Fenty is not holding us back from that, "Them" is not holding us back from that. We have the resources - why isn't it happening? Why aren't we making sure it happens? It's called "acountability" and we need to apply some to ourselves and those sworn to serve our community.

Back to the rescheduled ANC 8C meeting on Feb 11th. The Advocate says "tentatively" because much like the cancellation this rescheduling was done without an executive meeting of the ANC Commissioners (which again asks the question how was the scheduled meeting cancelled in the first place) and without notification to at least one if not two ANC 8C commissioners of this new meeting date.

Sometimes The Advocate debates about visiting other Advisory Neighborhood Commissions both in and out of Ward 8 just to see what a functional and professional ANC meeting would look like. Where the Commissioners are professional and polite, where the meeting agenda is decided well in advance and is not only informative but proactive, where residents are invited to participate and EVERYONE treats each other with respect and courtesy even if they don't agree on the details. Ahhhh.... heaven! I equate it to kind of like seeing a unicorn. You hear about it but you never actually see it with your own eyes.

The Advocate plans on attending what is now being informally called "ANC 8C Meeting - Take Two", hopefully the Advocate and other ANC 8C residents will not be once again left out in the cold but if history has taught us nothing The Advocate plans on bringing gloves and wearing wool socks.