Residents of Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 6A will have a chance to air their concerns about an ANC letter ing full funding for the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). The letter was ed by the commission at their June 11 meeting, held prior to budget hearings by DC Council.
The meeting include a ‘community listening session’ to discuss resident concerns in an extended fashion at the Community Outreach Committee (COC) meeting, to be held online at 7 p.m. Monday, August 24. The commission decided to do this instead of adding an additional Special Meeting to our calendar for August.
Residents said they were ‘outraged’ that the commission voted to approve what they call a “factually inaccurate and racist letter” written in of full funding of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).
They are calling for ANC 6A commissioners to retract the letter and “correct the record”.
In an email shared with the Hill Rag, Commissioner Sondra Phillips-Gilbert (6A07) wrote to other commissioners that she had no idea that the public was not even a chance to comment on the letter, adding that she had received a great deal of comment on the letter and the lack of notice.
Phillips-Gilbert wrote that the commission should hold a Special Meeting to hear the concerns. “It is not the COC Chairs responsibility to hear and address our constituents concern, nor is it fair to her and her Committee to be placed in the line of firer to answer questions from the community,” she wrote.
COC meetings are opportunities for extended discussions with community , which we are not able to accommodate during our full Commission meetings owing to the number of time-sensitive business items that we are obligated to vote on. Committees review items in depth and make recommendations for the full ANC, which then will vote on any action at their regular meeting.
The COC provides guidance as to how community listening sessions are conducted at the Committee’s regular meetings:
The public is welcome at the COC meetings.
COC asks that everyone to be respectful, even when ions are high.
All of the public are muted during a WebEx Event until recognized to speak by the Chair.
The guidelines provided by the COC are as follows:
- When you the WebEx call, audience should type into the Q&A section indicating that you would like to speak during the meeting.
- When recognized by the Chair, please introduce yourself and identify which SMD (or block) you live in. Each speaker will have 3 minutes for comments.
- If someone else has made the point you wished to make, please only say you agree with the point and add any other comments.
The ANC 6A COC Committee Virtual Meeting takes place via WebEx at 7 p.m. Aug. 24th. Call-in Number: 202-860-2110 – Meeting number (access code): 160 950 6384
Those attending via WebEx should use this link: https://dcnet.webex.com/dcnet/onstage/g.php?MTID=e8ef982b15b462a158b33a10fa34a8a34
Learn more about ANC 6A, see past agendas, reports and video of past meetings as well as dates and access for future meetings by visiting https://anc6a.org/agendas/
