Many Georgetown students have been working on political campaigns for the upcoming midterm election cycle, but Jake Sticka (COL ’13) has launched his own. This fall, Sticka hopes to be elected to the Advisory Neighborhood Commission, a local government body where he would represent Georgetown students alongside commissioners from nearby neighborhoods like Burleith and West Georgetown.
Jake Sticka, your candidate for ANC
Part of the District of Columbia’s hyperlocal government structure, the ANC is a group of elected officials who primarily pass resolutions about neighborhood issues like liquor licenses and zoning. There are dozens of ANCs spread across the city’s eight wards. Although their duties may sound mundane, ANCs can be powerful; according to D.C. law, District agencies must give ANC recommendations “great weight” when making decisions.
While the Georgetown ANC tackles many issues of little importance to students, it also makes decisions that seriously impact students’ lives. Last year, the ANC staunchly advocated for the closure of a popular late-night pizza restaurant, Philly Pizza & Grill, which was shut down by the D.C. Superior Court in March. In 2006, it passed a resolution opposing a proposed on-campus keg ban and last year the ANC rejected plans from architects for the Wisconsin Avenue Apple Store four times before finally approving designs for the first Apple store in the District.
The most relevant issue Sticka would face, though, is the widespread neighborhood opposition to the University’s 2010 Campus Plan. Should the ANC urge the D.C. Zoning Commission reject the plan, the Commission will take the ANC’s recommendations into consideration when evaluating Georgetown’s construction plans for the next decade.
Sticka said he hopes to represent the student perspective on these issues. He became animated as he expressed frustration over what he considered to be “misleading” attacks on the plan, such as the assertion that the increase in graduate enrollment would flood Georgetown neighborhoods with students.
“I think all of [the 2010 Campus Plan] should be passed,” Sticka said. “A lot of it has been compromised already.”
To get on the ballot, Sticka needs 25 signatures from residents in his single member district who are registered to vote in the District. The D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics provided Sticka with a list of residents who qualify, but Sticka said the list is “not particularly useful.” At 20 pages, it includes the names of over 650 people, some of whom registered to vote in 1968. Many are now deceased.
Sticka, who is currently running unopposed, has until September 4 to file his paperwork. He currently has 12 signatures.
Last Saturday afternoon, Sticka knocked at a door on the 1200 block of 37th Street to ask a resident for her support. The resident—the self proclaimed “Mother Superior on the block”—said she’d be happy to sign as long as Sticka promised that she could call him about problems in the neighborhood.
Sticka said that he has mostly been asking Jesuits, chaplains-in-residence, faculty and other neighborhood residents for their support. He said so far no one has refused to sign.
Senior Vice President for Strategic Development Daniel Porterfield, one of the residents who signed Sticka’s petition, said the job of student ANC commissioner is “tremendously important” because student ANC commissioners must remain committed and interested in occasionally mundane neighborhood issues.
“Jake will show the members of the ANC that Georgetown students can be counted on to be engaged citizens on all matters and not only on questions directly relevant to the student experience,” Porterfield said.
Georgetown Scholarship Program Director Melissa Foy (COL ’03) recalled that when she was an undergraduate, students were running for commission seats for the first time. She signed his petition because she said it is critical that the Georgetown ANC include student commissioners and the different perspective they bring. Foy said she hopes Jake can “smooth the way for a better relationship” with neighbors.
“I think Jake’s a great guy,” she said. “Bright, talented, astute.”
Sticka said that his predecessor, Aaron Golds (COL ’11), has been giving him advice about whom to contact for signatures. While Golds has not been directly involved with Sticka’s candidacy so far, Golds said he plans to meet with Sticka more once his would-be replacement actually gets on the ballot.
If elected, Sticka hopes to get more Georgetown students involved with the ANC. Golds said he has “high hopes” for Sticka’s candidacy and that he would encourage Sticka to make the position his own.
“What I would tell anybody is …what has worked for me won’t necessarily work for you,” Golds said. “Go in with an open mind and make it a risk.”
The election will be held November 2. If elected, Sticka would begin his two-year term in January 2011.
