In response to Greater Greater Washington’s questionnaire, candidates for Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner (ANC) seats across the District indicated where they stand on housing, transportation, and land use, and elaborated on those topics in their own words. As of this writing, GGWash’s Endorsements Committee has reviewed all the ANC questionnaires submitted by September 5, 2022, for the 2022 election, and has made its endorsement decisions for ANC races. These are the endorsements for Ward 4.

Are you a Ward 4 resident, but unsure of what commission or single member district you live in? Search your address in our interactive tool.

Looking for more information about GGWash’s endorsements? Our 2022 Elections Hub is your one-stop shop for questionnaires, candidate forum recordings, endorsements process details, and our endorsements themselves. Access the hub anytime from the “2022 Elections” link in the upper right corner of our homepage.

A few notes on process

Our ANC endorsement process is based on the same values and guidelines as our other endorsements this year, which you can read here. But ANC races are different in a few important ways.

ANCs serve, as the name suggests, in an advisory capacity, with almost no legal power over policy. Candidates for these roles can be newer to local politics and policy matters. At the same time, once in office, motivated, good-faith commissioners will learn a great deal about how change happens, and can quickly become effective advocates for the neighborhoods in which they live.

The role is also unpaid and can be demanding. This year, as in years past, there are a very high number of uncontested races or races with no candidate at all, particularly after the redistricting process this year added more single member districts. For most candidates, if you’d like to be an ANC, getting yourself on the ballot is enough to make it happen.

In light of these patterns, our Endorsements Committee took the following approach to endorsements decision-making:

• As in our previous endorsement processes, only candidates who submitted questionnaires were eligible for endorsement.
• As housing, transportation, and land use issues can vary from neighborhood to neighborhood, we took into mind the particulars and patterns of the parts of the District each candidate would represent, and the commissions on which they would serve, to help evaluate what we would consider indicative of constructive progress there. There’s no strict GGWash-endorsement formula or litmus test.
• Even candidates who are not perfectly aligned with all of GGWash’s issue areas can still be great commissioners with whom we look forward to working in good faith. The fact that such candidates responded to our questionnaire in pursuit of our endorsement is itself, in our view, an indication of openness to partnership. As such, in uncontested races in particular, we looked for opportunities for alignment and growth.
• We prioritized endorsing in contested ANC races—reflecting our commitment to endorsing in other contested races this cycle—in order to help voters with the real choices they have to make among the candidates available to them. In some instances, unfortunately, only one candidate in a contested race responded to our questionnaire. If we did not endorse the sole candidate in a contested race who responded to our questionnaire, it was because the candidate proclaimed significantly distinct views from those of GGWash.

With that framing in mind, let’s get to the endorsements!

Ward 4 ANC Endorsements

Key:✅ = endorsement; ❌ = no endorsement

ANC 4A

✅ 4A01: Neena Murphy Martin

Questionnaire, website, donate
Contested? Yes, 🥊 (Paula Y. Edwards)

Martin states a general preference for limiting density and believes encouraging residents and visitors to drive less should not be an explicit goal of the District, both stances we cannot support. However, given her existing engagement with neighborhood goings-on, we’re endorsing her with the belief that someone who does support an increase in density specifically along Georgia Avenue would be open to learning more about why more housing and fewer trips made by car can enhance their work on infrastructure, operations, and public safety in ANC 4A. Contribute to Martin’s campaign here.

ANC 4B

✅ 4B02: Erin Palmer

Questionnaire, Twitter, website, no known contribution link
Contested? No, ⛵

Palmer, who we endorsed in 2020, consistently conducts her public service to the highest standard of local leadership, championing housing density, public transit, traffic safety, and beyond. We gladly endorsed her for council chair; we’re gladly endorsing her for a third term on ANC 4B.

✅ 4B03: Zurick T. Smith

Questionnaire, website, no known contribution link
Contested? No, ⛵

While Smith only tepidly approves of the District’s bus priority program, we hope he can realize his dreams of improved crosswalks—something that’s sorely needed in ANC 4B.

✅ 4B04: Evan Yeats

Questionnaire, Twitter, no known contribution link
Contested? No, ⛵

Yeats, who we endorsed in 2020, has a clear vision for improving traffic safety in his ANC, and we value his acknowledgement of historic multifamily buildings in his neighborhood that are now illegal to build: “We could realize significant density throughout the Commission by just using these historic forms.”

✅ 4B05: Kevin Gilligan

Questionnaire, Twitter, no known contribution link
Contested? No, ⛵

Gilligan paints a clear picture of a neighborhood that is safe and accessible, even if far-removed from Metro stations. He envisions many parents able to bike up Georgia Avenue with their toddlers—a future that we, too, hope comes to fruition.

✅ 4B06: Tiffani Nichole Johnson

Questionnaire, website, no known contribution link
Contested? No, ⛵

While Johnson’s desire for more historic districts and prioritizing the preservation of existing neighborhood character may ultimately counteract her support for more inclusionary zoning units in discretionary developments, she correctly ties increased density to the production of more housing that residents can afford, and is committed to continuing to serve her neighborhood.

✅ 4B07: M’Bahlia Colson

Questionnaire, Twitter, no known contribution link
Contested? Yes, 🥊 (Michael Cohen)

Colson ditched her car during the pandemic, and, she writes, sees “tremendous benefits to the plans to redesign Eastern Avenue NE from New Hampshire to Whittier Street, with the addition of bike lanes and wider sidewalks causing vehicle traffic to slow down.”

✅ 4B10: Stefan A. Nagey

Questionnaire, Twitter, no known contribution link
Contested? Yes, 🥊 (LaRoya A. Huff)

Nagey professes a belief in smart-growth principles, and lives them, too, primarily biking, walking, and taking transit. We agree with him that “making (and maintaining) this city as a livable, accessible, and affordable option for individuals and families at all stages of life should be our number one priority in local government.”

ANC 4C

✅ 4C04: Daniel Alexander

Questionnaire, Twitter, no known contribution link
Contested? No, ⛵

Alexander, who writes that he is “committed to making the streets and sidewalks safer for everyone,” checks all of our boxes, supporting greater density to enable more inclusionary zoning units and removing parking for bus and bike lanes.

✅ 4C05: Brittany Kademian

Questionnaire, Twitter, donate
Contested? Yes, 🥊 (Paul Johnson)

Kademian would be a steady presence in ANC 4C; it’s pretty cool that she started a group for parents in Petworth and is now running to serve as a commissioner. She’s solid on GGWash’s issues, supporting both greater density to support more inclusionary zoning units and the removal of parking for bus and bike lanes. Contribute to Kademian’s campaign here.

✅ 4C06: Karen Livingston

Questionnaire, no known contribution link
Contested? No, ⛵

Livingston acknowledges “pressure created from rapid growth and development on housing and transportation” while still supporting greater density to support more inclusionary zoning units. Even better, she supports removing parking for bus and bike lanes, noting that planned bike lane improvements, while reducing cars and improving overall quality of life, “do not go far enough.”

✅ 4C07: Matthew Bradfield

Questionnaire, Twitter, website, no known contribution link
Contested? No, ⛵

Bradfield gave several substantial responses to our questionnaire that indicate a commitment to GGWash’s priorities, such as, “Dense apartment buildings are only allowed immediately adjacent to major thoroughfares like Georgia and 14th, while the rest of 4C is mostly zoned for Residential Flat 1 (RF1), which only allows for two dwellings per lot. In a neighborhood with such good transit access, this artificial limit on housing supply isn’t justifiable.”

ANC 4D

✅ 4D02: Kate Judson

Questionnaire, Twitter, no known contribution link
Contested? No, ⛵

Judson clearly understands that more people will walk, bike, and take transit if they’re provided safer, more accessible ways to do so, and we look forward to her supporting such projects in ANC 4D.

✅ 4D03: Carson C. Lucarelli

Questionnaire, website, donate
Contested? No, ⛵

We’re excited about Lucarelli, who’s excited about the prospect of serving as a commissioner! He’s all-around sharp, and clearly knows the ins and outs of actually producing affordable housing and building bus and bike lanes. Contribute to Lucarelli’s campaign here.

✅ 4D05: Stephen Marencic, Jr.

Questionnaire, no known contribution link
Contested? Yes, 🥊 (Antonio A. Walker)

Marencic is solid on housing (“As older buildings are being sold and renovated, consideration should be made to increase affordable housing density”), bikes to work, and is preparing to bike his kid to school, too—all things we like to see in prospective ANC candidates.

✅ 4D06: Aman George

Questionnaire, no known contribution link
Contested? No, ⛵

George’s critique of the current bus priority proposal for Georgia Avenue (“I believe the single most important benefit of this project will be providing more reliable and faster bus service to those who rely on it to commute via Georgia Ave, and from what I have seen of the current plans, the project’s design does not go far enough towards achieving these benefits”) is a model of providing constructive feedback to an agency that he’ll no doubt be working with as a commissioner.

✅ 4D07: J. Clark Weigel

Questionnaire, no known contribution link
Contested? No, ⛵

Weigel may need to smooth out his feelings about housing—while we totally get the sentiment that increasing the number of affordable rental options for current residents is more important than “‘YIMBY’ developer benefitting luxury stuff,” commissioners are in positions of negotiation, not determination, of what does or doesn’t get built—but he’s excellent on transportation, correctly (and depressingly) referring to Missouri Avenue as the “Missouri MotorSpeedway.”

ANC 4E

✅ 4E03: Maria Barry

Questionnaire, website, donate
Contested? No, ⛵

We’re glad that Barry, who previously served in ANC 4C and who we endorsed in 2020, believes that “16th Street Heights, like all neighborhoods in DC, needs to increase production and density of new housing in transit-oriented areas that are zoned for commercial and mixed-use residential development,” and wants to stick around to start up the new ANC 4E. Contribute to Barry’s campaign here.

✅ 4E04: Randy Zmuda

Questionnaire, website, donate
Contested? Yes, 🥊 (Carla Ferris)

Zmuda clearly understands the benefits of “a reduced reliance on vehicles,” and has an earnest desire to engage with his constituents. Contribute to Zmuda’s campaign here.

✅ 4E05: Ulysses E. Campbell

Questionnaire, website, donate
Contested? Yes, 🥊 (Peggy Pacy)

Campbell, ANC 4C treasurer, supported the Dance Loft PUD, which, with more height and density than allowed by current zoning, will provide over 30 inclusionary zoning units. Though his preference to evaluate all new projects subjectively might run counter to what we feel is an effective way to manage change, we respect his leadership and feel that the new ANC 4E will benefit from his experience. Contribute to Campbell’s campaign here.

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