Meeting the ANC Challengers

I finally got to meet Kevin Chapple, who is running for the ANC2C02 seat currently held by Leroy Thorpe, at John Tinpe’s reception on Friday. He also dropped by the house during his rounds knocking on neighborhood doors on Saturday afternoon.

Kevin is a very sharp and very nice guy, and I like the fact that he’s starting out by asking what residents are concerned about in the ANC rather than pushing an agenda from the outset. Any plans for a meet-and-greet soon, Kevin?

I told him that one thing I would like to see is an end to all the fighting and invective and more focus on cooperating to reach common goals. Too often it seems that ideas that are of clear benefit to the community become casualties of ego-driven pettiness. Right now, the atmosphere in the ANC meetings is so toxic that a lot of residents don’t want to subject themselves to it. Obviously, crime is a big issue, but it’s not the only thing.

John Tinpe had a nice gathering on Friday to talk about his run for the seat currently held by Doris Brooks. He’s trying to mobilize residents of Penn Quarter and Gallery Place, who apparently feel neglected and unrepresented in the ANC. (There’s a post on this in the Gallery Place Living blog.) As noted previously, he’s an owner of the Burma Restaurant on 6th Street (between G and H) and served food from the restaurant at his reception. (Yum!)