Aaron Golds (COL `11) has always thought about running for public office. On November 4 his name will appear on the ballot—as a candidate for Georgetown’s Advisory Neighborhood Commission.
“I thought [the ANC] would be a good place to start,” Golds said.
The ANC oversees neighborhood issues, zoning, traffic, liquor licenses and economic development. If elected, Golds will represent the district that includes the University and a few adjacent blocks. Although Georgetown’s district is one of the most populous, it has very few voters, since most students are registered to vote in their home states and very few faculty members live in the immediate vicinity.
Golds learned about the ANC from the current commissioner, Jenna Lowenstein (COL ’09). Lowenstein said she did a lot of outreach last year to drum up interest in the ANC in hopes of finding a successor.
As of now, Golds doesn’t appear to have any challengers. He is the only candidate that has turned in the requisite registration forms, which are due September 5. He stayed in Washington over the summer because candidates are required to establish residency by living in D.C. for 60 days before the election. He will need to collect 25 signatures in support of his nomination in order to get on the ballot.
“The students have to understand there’s a level of respect they have to show for the people who live here,” Golds said. “But the people who live here have to realize that the University’s been here for 200 years and students are going to party … It’s just a matter of striking a balance.”
Lowenstein, who spent much of her two-year term dealing with issues like the keg ban and the new alcohol policy, believes that there should be a greater focus on mutual respect rather than continuing battles over alcohol issues.
“At the heart of the town-gown issues it’s not alcohol, it’s students trying to understand why the neighbors get so upset and neighbors trying to understand why the student feel so entitled to act the way we do,” she said
Both Lowenstein and Golds said the low level of student awareness about the ANC was a major issue. They understood why most students might not be interested in some of the ANC’s more mundane tasks, but wished that students were more conscious of the impact that the ANC’s decisions can have on them.
For example, the recent rerouting of the Dupont GUTS bus was an ANC decision Lowenstein tried to rally against the measure, but it ultimately passed by a vote of 4 to 3.
“I think it’s tough because the other commissioners tend to get one side of the story from their constituents,” Lowenstein said. “Many fewer students show up for meetings. It’s tough to prove a point when there’s one very vocal side and the other side is much less vocal.”
