East of the River ANC Candidates highlighted in today's Washington Post article!

This is so amazing! I started CHotR two years ago for this exact purpose, to provide information to residents about thier ANC and hopefull encourage them to run for office.  It is almost unreal seeing all this interest from residents (old and new) in running for un-paid and oftentimes thankless positions. Such community committment, hopefully it will translate into some really effective commissions in the next term.

The ANC Commissioner's highlighted in this article are all from EotR including our very Lashaun Smith who is running for SMD 8C02.  After the unfortunate vandalism to her fliers it is so nice to see her mentioned in the Washington Post article.  Can't stop progress! :)

Go HERE to read the full Washington Post article, In D.C., many angling for public office on Advisory Neighborhood Commissions



Excerpt:

Campaigns for ANC seats in Wards 7 and 8 were sleepy affairs during much of the past decade, with only a handful of contested races for 70 ANC seats. But the number of challenged races has risen to 20 this year, excluding write-ins, after the 2008 election cycle saw 18, up from 10 in 2004 and 7 in 2000. In addition, the total number of candidates in Wards 7 and 8 now rivals the number found in other ANC races across the city.


"I think what you may have in many of our communities is new young professionals coming in and wanting to make a difference in places they now live and have come to settle," said Council member Yvette M. Alexander (D-Ward 7). "They want to be active members of where they live."

Many candidates are younger than 40 and newcomers to politics. They have bought homes and condominiums in neighborhoods east of the river after getting advanced degrees and working in public- and private-sector jobs. Others are government workers and local advocates who want to extend their public service to neighborhood politics.

"I certainly have been socialized to want to have certain amenities in the neighborhood that I'm living in, and that's part of what I'd like to work on" as a commissioner, said LaShaun Smith, 27, a project analyst for the federal government who was raised in Prince George's County and lives in Congress Heights. "There's no reason why we can't have nice places to eat and shop in our own neighborhoods."

But it's not just new residents and homeowners trying to make an impact in these areas. Nearly half of the competitors in Tuesday's elections are natives of neighborhoods where they are running and who expressed frustration with "the same old crowd" of local leaders who need to be replaced after years in office.

In addition, several candidates said they were largely motivated by the real estate activity and want to help shape the change. St. Elizabeths Hospital site is undergoing a major renovation with new mixed-income communities being built largely with city dollars. Crimes including break-ins and loitering are lingering concerns.

"I'm tired of Ward 8 being considered the worst ward with all the problems that people think we can't solve on our own," said Janasha Thomas, 30, who had worked as an administrative assistant for the Fenty administration until recently. In the mayor's office, she fielded residents' complaints. A District native, she's running for a seat near Skyland Mall, where she's lived for 12 years. "You don't have to move neighborhoods to make a change in your surroundings."

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