The Georgetown Metropolitan

Last year, Georgetown voted overwhelmingly for Adrian Fenty (84%) over Vincent Gray (14%) for mayor. And by most accounts, Jack Evans is somewhat on the outs with Gray for supporting Fenty. But you wouldn’t know either of those two things by attending last night’s ANC meeting.

In a rare occurrence, the mayor stopped by ANC2E’s meeting last night. He was introduced as some length by Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans (who does stop by ANC meetings once or twice a year). Despite the reported chilliness between the two politicians, last night it was all warmth.

And maybe it was simply out of respect for the office, but the crowd was similarly warm to Gray despite not voting for him, even giving him two standing ovations. Bygones were bygones last night.

As for the substance, GM posted the audio below if you want to listen, but in summation it was basically a typical stump-like speech touting the budget that was passed and some of his accomplishments in expanding universal pre-K and limiting special education costs, among other things.

But this being ANC2E, it wouldn’t be a community event without the issue of students being put to the forefront. But on this occasion, it was actually the students doing the pushing. Two students stood and asked a question during the mayor’s Q&A. The first asked him to weigh in on the controversial ANC redistricting. Gray punted, but then Evans stood up and basically explained the process that occurred and how it was open to everyone who wanted to participate. The message between the lines was “hey, you didn’t get enough people on the committee to draw the map as you wanted, so that’s why you’re disappointed.” Continue reading →