ANC Forum: Hyde-Addison, Parking, Homeless

The Hyde-Addison Elementary School student move, parking and the increase in the number of homeless were the main topics discussed Oct. 24 in an almost two-hour forum with the 10 candidates for eight seats on the Georgetown-Burleith-Hillandale Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC 2E).
The unopposed ANC candidates are: SMD 01, Ed Solomon; SMD 02, Joe Gibbons; SMD 04, Mara Goldman; SMD 06, Jim Wilcox; SMD 07, Monica Roache; SMD 08, Zachary Schroepfer. Competing for seats are: Greg Miller and Rick Murphy for SMD 03 and Lisa Palmer and incumbent Bill Starrels for SMD 05.
The forum moderators were John Lever, former advisory neighborhood commissioner and a CAG board member, and Topher Mathews, CAG board member and writer of the Georgetown Metropolitan blog.
Ward 2 Council member Jack Evans opened the forum, sponsored by the Citizens Association of Georgetown, at historic Dumbarton House. Evans was visibly upset about the sudden decision of Deputy Mayor for Schools Jennifer Niles to move some 200 children aged 3 to 10 to a school in Shaw for, probably, the next two years during the renovation of Hyde-Addison, when Hardy Middle School is available a few blocks away. “I thought Mayor Bowser agreed with me about Hardy, but then Jenny changed her mind,” Evans said. “I don’t know why. But Georgetowners must speak out strongly against it.”
“It’s a disgrace,” said Monica Roache, an unopposed ANC incumbent and school administrator in Arlington. “They’re tearing the school apart.” All the candidates agreed.
Positions differed on D.C.’s proposal for one-side-of-the-street designated resident parking. The two SMD 05 (mostly below M Street) candidates, incumbent Bill Starrels and challenger Lisa Palmer, disagreed: he favors the proposal; she does not. At its October meeting, the ANC voted 5-3 to write a letter to the District Council opposing the idea.
On the homeless issue, Palmer spoke at length about her prior experience in New York City and Los Angeles as a social justice advocate and the need to “recognize that homeless people are human beings. The problem is a neighborhood one to solve and decide what support is appropriate or not,” she said. “I actually had a homeless gentleman come to my home to address the issue.”
“It’s very difficult to know how to deal with them as individuals, especially if they don’t want to go to a shelter and prefer to live freely outside,” said incumbent Ed Solomon, a businessman.
Opposing candidates Rick Murphy and Greg Miller, both professionals with institutions involved in Georgetown issues, were questioned about their ability to put the interests of the community ahead of those of their employers. Commissioners have recused themselves in such cases, the two said.