The Georgetown Metropolitan

Next week is the general election, and Georgetown will go to the polls and decide who will serve on the ANC. The thing is, of course, that Georgetown doesn’t really have a choice in the matter. None of the seven seats are contested (although each has a candidate, which is more than can be said for some seats across town).

But notwithstanding the lack of a genuine competition, GM thinks an election is a good time to become more acquainted with your elected officials. So today he’s going to give his “endorsements” despite the meaninglessness thereof.

First up: SMD 2- Ron Lewis

Ron has been representing SMD 2 since 2006. He served as chair of the commission this past term. He also serves on the transportation subcommittee.

Ron’s a great asset to the ANC. He runs the meetings efficiently and fairly, without allowing too many distractions slow down the meetings. He is a consensus builder. Best of all, from GM’s perspective, Ron is a forward thinker on transportation issues. While Ron is not ready to accept all of GM’s uber-urbanist suggestions, for a Georgetown ANC rep he is very enlightened.

On the downside, Ron’s wife is on the Old Georgetown Board, so he has to recuse himself from most of the OGB discussions. This takes away one opinion from the discussion, although in the interest of shorter meetings that’s arguably a pro. Also, while Ron is a progressive thinker on a lot of transportation issues, GM thinks he’s a little to gun-shy about shutting down streets for events. Also, he rightly took some heat from GU students for pushing a re-route of the GUTS bus which increases the length of the ride significantly. That was the wrong decision in GM’s opinion.

All in all, while he’s not GM’s rep, GM would be happy to vote for Ron if he could. Continue reading →