Stop being selfish. It's time to step down.

After being  stood up last Wednesday with about half a dozen community members  for what we thought was going to be the July ANC 8C meeting The Advoc8te does not have high hopes that there will be a meeting tonight at all.  I haven't seen a poster, a flier, an email, a blog post, a carrier pigeon,  nada.  Unfortunately that is par for the course with our ANC so for all I know tonight could be Taco Night at ANC 8C.

Like many ANC 8C Commissioners I may go, I may not go to tonight's ANC meeting (assuming we are having one).

In case you are feeling unlucky you too can stroll down to the UPO Petey Green Center at 1227 MLK Ave SE at 6:30pm tonight to see what may or may not happen.  Just to be safe if I go I am going to bring my ipod and a magazine (and maybe a cookie).

On the good news front Councilmember Yvette Alexander responded to the emails requesting her attendance at a future ANC 8C meeting.  She confirmed that she will indeed be attending an ANC 8C meeting and is working on scheduling a date now (that noise you are hearing is an ANC 8C Commissioner choking).  At that meeting she will be hearing directly from the community about all the ANC 8C shenanigans.



The Advoc8te is really, really, really looking forward to that meeting. I am not however looking forward to what I am sure will be a lot of commissioner excuses, omissions of the truth and denials of doing a truly sub-par job.

Again, I am left to wonder if each of the Commissioners really thinks they have accomplished something - anything - in the past two years. If you know you haven't accomplished anything significant (and the magic eight ball is pointing to "hell no") then resign and don't run again! If you haven't attended meetings as you should (regardless of the reason), if you haven't held Single Member District Meetings, if you haven't even submitted a response to the DC Auditor on the September audit where they are going to withhold $24,000 from our next allotment THEN SIT THE HELL DOWN! (that's right I said it)

Stop being selfish and stop being delusional! Let someone else run who has the time, the qualifications and most importantly the sanity to do a good job.  You can help them - lord knows we all need some help - but be willing to take a back seat for the success of OUR community - our ENTIRE community instead of holding on for the sake of holding on. If you don't want to do the work of an ANC Commissioner then don't run to be an ANC Commissioner and if you have been holding this seat for multiple terms then really sit the hell down, you have had more than enough time to get it together.  If you have been on the ANC board for 25 years and you don't know that the quarterly reports are due QUARTERLY then you really are not qualified. If you don't know the basics of the administrative and financial duties of an ANC then you are never going to know them (or you  know them but choose to ignore them).

You not only look foolish you look selfish and people ARE saying both.  Don't shoot the blogger messenger, I am only writing what people are thinking and saying.

Stop getting mad because people are saying "you suck" get mad about sucking.

It takes a big person to resign to let someone more qualified to take over. It takes a small person out of touch with reality to hold on out of pride or spite.  There are plenty of talented, vital, available and QUALIFIED people in our community who want to and should be a part of the process.

Let's give them a chance. Let's nurture and encourage out next crop of community leaders. It's not an age thing, its not a race thing, its not even a gentrification thing its a COMMUNITY thing!

Either work with the leaders of tomorrow today or find yourself a thing of the past. We are not going to suffer because you can't (or won't) let go.

To submit an article or to inquire about advertising options send an email to Advoc8te@congressheightsontherise.com