Georgetown ANC Chair Elizabeth Miller Resigns Commission
By • June 22, 2023 0 1660
This article has been updated.
“It is with sadness that I write to tell you I will not be your ANC Commissioner after June 30,” Georgetown-Burleith-Hillandale Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner and Chair (ANC 2E 07) began her email to her constituents on June 22.
As Vice Chair, Commissioner Gwendolyn Lohse (ANC 2E 06) will now chair ANC 2E.
A resident of 31st Street, Daniel Chao, who served as an advisory neighborhood commissioner on Capitol Hill, has volunteered to step in as commissioner for Miller’s single-member district.
“The decisions came suddenly,” she told The Georgetowner in a phone conversation. With their two children in college, she and her husband decided to downsize. Then, their house on Q Street sold almost immediately, before they had seen anything they wanted to buy. They decided to rent a house two blocks away – on the corner of 30 and O Streets NW. But that places Miller’s residency out of her representative area. So, she has had to resign from ANC 2E, effective June 30.
Miller revealed she found the decision to move and resign wrenching. “When I first ran, I never realized how much I would truly love getting so involved in our village,” she wrote. “I have learned so much about local government, made many new friends and served with so many wonderful commissioners. It has been an absolute joy. I’ve laughed — I’ve cried — I’ve cringed — I’ve lost sleep — I’ve been a hero (and a villain) and I would do it all over again every day of the week.”
Some of the successful projects Miller of which she is most proud, she wrote include: “Helping make the case to D.C. government to grow the Jelleff Recreation Center renovation budget from $7 million to $28.8 million. This will be a game changer for our community; Helping preserve the Mt Zion/FUBS Cemetery through a gigantic storm water management project, which will protect the cemetery from flooding and allow future enhancements; and Helping secure $400k for improvements to Triangle Park/Friends of Book Hill. These pockets of green space help our community shine. It’s critical we make them inviting.”
Miller credits “amazing collaborations with neighbors, D.C. government officials, our elected officials and community organizations” for enabling these initiatives to come to fruition. “It’s the way government should work for communities,” she wrote and she hopes to stay involved.
She told The Georgetowner she is looking for meaningful work in the near future. That may include being involved in a leadership capacity with the re-election campaign of Ward 2 Council member Brooke Pinto.
Suggested and supported by Miller, Chao could be seated as commissioner by Sept. 5, if there is no objection. However, if there are others who want to run for the seat, the elections department will set up candidate sign-up procedures leading to a special election.
“I intend to stay very involved in Georgetown and do everything I can to keep this such a special tight knit community” Miller wrote. “Please send great ideas my way on instagram @missgeorgetown.”
