12/19: A New Day for ANC Notice & Great Weight! FORUM
Parisa Norouzi
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A New Day for ANCs
The Ivy
City Ruling and ANC Notice & "Great Weight" Since the "Kopff Case"
Wednesday, December 19th
6:30-8:30 PM
West End Library
1101 24th St NW
(Foggy Bottom Metro, 24th & L)
A D.C. Superior Court Order signed last week is being viewed by some people as the most significant environmental justice case in recent years and perhaps the most significant judicial decisional law in 35 years affirming the rights granted by the Congress to Advisory Neighborhood Commissions (ANCs) in the District of Columbia. These ANC rights include advising the Mayor and each D.C. executive agency with respect to all proposed matters of District government policy and requiring that ANCs’ issues and concerns raised shall be given “great weight” during deliberations by a D.C. government entity.
In 1974, District voters approved a referendum to the District charter to establish ANCs. The first elections of the commissioners were held in 1976. In 1977, the D.C. judicial system was presented with a test case to establish decisional law. The Harrison Institute of the Georgetown University Law Center served pro bono as counsel for a complaint filed by my husband, Gary Kopff, and me against the Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) Board that became the initial Court-affirmed decisional law. Kopff v District of Columbia Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, 381 A.2d 1372-1387. (D.C. 1977).
In a David and Goliath story, the tiny Ivy City community, a low-income African-American neighborhood settled originally just after emancipation, has filed suit against the Mayor and Union Station Redevelopment Corp. (USRC) to halt plans to divert hundreds of polluting charter buses into their community for the next 10 years while Union Station undergoes a billion dollar redevelopment. Despite not receiving the notice, ANC5B voted 8 to 0 against the planned bus depot, once they discovered the plan. Other ANCs across the District have joined the opposition by passing resolutions against the bus depot.
Next Wednesday evening, December 19, a panel that includes the key participants in the 1977 test case will discuss D.C. Superior Judge Judith Macaluso’s decision in Bennett, et al v. Union Station Redevelopment Corp, et al. The panel discussion will begin at 6:30 PM at the West End Library (1101 24th St., NW). Panelists will include:
· Johnny Barnes (Plaintiffs’ counsel in Bennett v. Union Station Redevelopment Corp and recently retired Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of the National Capital Area).
· Gottlieb Simon (Executive Director of the Office of Advisory Neighborhood Commissions).
· Jason I. Newman (Founder of Georgetown University Law Center’s Harrison Institute; Supervising Plaintiffs’ Counsel for the Kopff v ABC Board case (1977).
· Mary Cheh, Ward 3 City Councilmember (invited, not yet confirmed).
· Gary Kopff (Co-Plaintiff in Kopff v DC ABC Board (1977).
In her 21-page Order (attached), D.C. Superior Court Judge Macaluso cited Kopff v ABC Board (1977) five times and affirmed the public interest in ANCs’ views being consulted:
“The public has a strong interest in enforcement of the requirement that the District consult with ANCs before making licensing decisions that significantly affect the character of a community. When this process is ignored, decisions are by definition unfair and developed on an incomplete record.” [Order §4(e) at 15, Bennett, et al v. Union Station Redevelopment Corp, et al.
Attachment: Order issued December 10, 2012, Vaughn Bennett, et al, Plaintiffs, v. Union Station Redevelopment Corp, et al, Defendants (2012 CA 006027).
Parisa B. Norouzi
Executive Director
Empower DC
1419 V St, NW
Washington, DC 20009