DC Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr. and his colleagues have replaced the controversial and potentially illegal proposals for ANC redistricting in Ward 5 with a map almost identical to the one we proposed last month.

Left: Map to be voted on by the Council. Right: The map we posted.

Thomas’ office released this map, prepared by the Office of Planning, yesterday in an email. The council will vote on ANC and SMD redistricting December 20.

There are only minor changes from the map we proposed. The ANC and SMD designations come from the Office of Planning map.

  • Catholic University has moved from ANC 5B to ANC 5A.
  • A census block with a population of 19 has been shifted from 5C04 (which includes the Arboretum) to 5D03 (the northwestern part of Carver Langston).
  • Two SMDs in Bloomingdale have a population shift of 53. The houses on the eastern edge of Crispus Attucks Park, which is north of the unit block of U Street NW had been included with the census block south of the unit block of U Street NW. Those houses have now been added to the rest of the block bounded by U, V, First, and North Capitol Streets NW.
  • The Washington Gateway project, at the corner of Florida and New York Avenues, has been moved from Eckington’s 5E03 to 5D01, which includes the Florida Avenue Market, Gallaudet University, and Ivy City.

Thanks are due to Councilmembers Harry Thomas, Jr., Michael A. Brown, Jack Evans, Phil Mendelson, and their staffs for working diligently on the redistricting process in our ward and others around the city.

The Office of Planning’s Associate Director and Chief Information Officer, Charlie Richman, and his staff deserve credit for producing easy-to-read maps that allow DC residents to make sense out of the legalese that the Council will be voting on.

If you support these changes, I’d encourage you to send a note to the councilmembers letting them know you approve of this map. Their emails are available on the DC Council website.