This week the Ward 2 and Ward 3 Task Forces for ANC redistricting were all getting down to the wire in establishing new boundaries for Single Member Districts of 2,000 plus or minus 100. Their job is made more complicated by the fact that some census blocks hold large numbers of people, such as high-rises or campus sites. Given that Census Bureau is determined to protect the privacy of individuals, details are not available below the block level. This leaves Task Forces able only to split blocks along obvious lines, such as where campus dorm buildings are well separated.

Issues of neighborhood identity loom large in boundary determinations, as well as which SMD will have a commercial corridor included. Task forces make considerable effort to abide by the regulation’s guidance of compactness and neighborhood cohesiveness. Forces driving decisions include competing desires to surround large institutions with sufficient SMD votes vs. retention of traditional neighborhood borders.

For long-established neighborhoods, their names and borders appear on city survey maps, but for many newer subdivisions their identity was established by their developer, and no hard-and-fast agreed borders appear on city-wide documents. DC Office of Planning has made an attempt with Neighborhood Action to capture how areas describe themselves, but no borders are drawn between these neighborhood names.

Still not resolved is should there still be such a large variation in the numbers of SMDs per ANC, and also should the total number of ANCS be changed. There are arguments for larger ANCs (cost-effectiveness) and for smaller ANCs (interests aligned) so the status quo might just prevail.