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COMMITTED TO OUR NEIGHBORHOOD 

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A PROACTIVE AND RESPONSIVE LEADER

MEET GWEN

Stead fast Commissioner ready to serve the community in uncertain times

It has been an honor to serve our neighborhood. In my first term I have demonstrated my strong work ethic by getting tangible results.  Progress has been made.   With the knowledge and solid working relationships I have built from my first term -  plus lessons learned - I am seeking to represent you a second term. The impact of COVID has accelerated our challenges and opportunities, and I am ready to find solutions.  

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I believe in getting involved and collaborating with others to make a vision a reality.  I live on O Street with my husband and our six year old daughter. For nearly a decade we have loved being part of the Georgetown community. We value Georgetown's unique historic character, its people and its numerous local treasures. I come to the ANC role armed with deep professional experience that includes successful strategic planning, facilitating conversations and reaching consensus among diverse stakeholders.  My vision for Georgetown is a safe, green, walkable and forward-thinking historic neighborhood that has thriving businesses, enough quality schools, excellent culinary options and engaged residents.

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Please email if you want to join a group ZOOM or would like to meet in-person (masked of course!) 

About

The Georgetowner asked the candidates to respond briefly to two questions: 

 

What are the biggest challenges for Georgetown in 2021?

And why are they running? 

WHAT'S IMPORTANT?

Key Priorities / Community Input

 

  • Safety and Crime Prevention: Work to ensure residents, visitors and merchants feel safe; safety is key to a strong and healthy quality of life.   

 

  • Commercial District Revitalization/Strategic Planning:  Promote innovative approaches in the commercial district that allow for the economic success of our  businesses. There is no doubt that the way our commercial area operates will change as a result of the necessary emergency actions we have taken during the pandemic.   COVID has reminded us that we can and must think differently! We must pilot new ideas and embrace those ideas that work for Georgetown. 

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  • Preservation:  Historic preservation has made and will continue to make Georgetown a national showpiece. We need clear requirements, an understandable review process and active enforcement.  Our preservation goals and future-focused goals like sustainable building should not be mutually exclusive. We should endeavor to find new approaches that encourage us to advance preservation and innovation.  

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  • Parks and the Environment: Properly funding the maintenance and protection of our outside assets must occur – they improve our quality of life and require our attention.  We must promote activities that allow us to make use of and encourage full appreciation for these local treasures.  Moreover, we must identify other ways to protect and enhance our environmental assets like our tree canopy and promote policies that are environmentally friendly.       

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  • Transportation: Georgetown needs a forward-thinking transportation plan that accounts for all the modes of transportation existing in our neighborhood.  There needs to be regular feedback from residents and businesses to the city/city contractors on the status of integrating alternative modes of transportation into our cityscape.   On the ground voices are not heard enough.  Solutions that consider the needs of pedestrians, bikers, automobiles and people/package delivery is overdue.  Safety and reducing traffic congestion are paramount as we integrate new and existing transportation modes. 

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  • City Services:  ANCs are liaisons between residents and city agencies.  I have spent considerable time connecting my constituents with city services. An ongoing priority for me is to ensure my constituents are well served by their city services including trash, recycling, sidewalk/road repairs, building permits and, when needed, enforcement or changing our regulations like those related to dumpsters.       

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Accessibility and open communications are key to meeting the above priorities.  As your representative, I want to hear your concerns, and socialize opportunities and solutions.  During my first term, I have applied a range of in-person and on-line tools to conduct outreach with residents, businesses, local religious organizations, and DC city employees/agencies. Based on lessons learned during COVID, including doing all our meetings virtual, I intend to expand outreach, including use of virtual forums to make our dialog more agile.  Ideas are welcome!   

Priorities
Accomplishments

FIRST TERM

Accomplishments/Positions 

Safety and Crime Prevention

  • Served as ANC 2E’s liaison with the Ward 2 MPD leadership.

  • Spearheaded ANC communications with the Ward 2 Metropolitan Police Department about the need for more police patrols during COVID.

  • Engaged the Hate Crime Division with our community when hate crimes rose during COVID.  

  • Scheduled resident-MPD safety meetings pre-COVID /during COVID; officers have attended multiple in-person and virtual events due to my coordination efforts.

  • Organized and presented our community’s Victim Impact Statement to the DC Superior Court on behalf of residents who were crime victims.

  • Collaborated with Citizens Association (CAG) Public Safety Committee.

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Commercial District Revitalization/Strategic Planning

  • Authored ANC 2E’s formal resolution to support streatries and parklets.  

  • Authored ANC 2E’s formal resolution requesting that the city designate Georgetown as a neighborhood in need of strategic planning analysis.  

  • Met with innovative merchants and landlords on ideas to activate vacant sites; met with potential buyers.   

  • Leader on the design of a collaborative resident-Business Improvement District (BID)/ANC/CAG-working meeting on commercial revitalization pre-COVID. (200+ attendees). 

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Preservation

  • Reviewed over 100 Old Georgetown Board applications – and delivered community concerns to the OGB in multiple cases.

  • Requested the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA) to stop work on multiple illegal building activities.

  • Called for city to use proper materials with our historic brick sidewalks.          

  • Helped to initiate a Trees for Georgetown (TFG) Ginkos tree clean-up pilot.

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Parks and Environment

  • Led request for the renovation occurring on the Rose Park athletic field; interior of the  recreation hut renovated as well (houses a playgroup).

  • Supported and gained National Park Service (NPS) approval of a bike docking station.

  • Collaborated with Friends of Rose Park to expand our relationship with the Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR).

  • Jump-started the beautification efforts that occurred at the Old Stone House (Visit it!).

  • Drove on-time launch a COVID-compliant Friends of Rose Park Farmers Market including the hiring of a dedicated Market Manager.

  • Supported that DPR hold public meetings to receive resident input on the renovation of Jelleff Recretation Center.

  • Called for city to require community consultation regarding future 5G installations.   

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Transportation

  • Led ANC 2E’s requests to District Department of Transportation (DDOT) that there is regular, interactive communications between local communities and the private transportation vendors (Lyft, Revel, Lime, etc) offering alternative modes of transportation on our streets.  

  • Requested and achieved repairs on several very dangerous historic sidewalks.

  • Called for transparency in DDOT’s prioritization of sidewalk and street repairs.    

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City Services

  • Authored and presented testimony to the DC Public Service Commission (PSC) regarding the need for improved city oversight of Washington Gas (many of the recommendations were formally adopted by the PSC). 

  • Held meetings and calls with constituents to outline city services needing improvement; drafted follow-up requests to the city. 

  • Pushed for city follow-up on multiple 311 requests.

  • Collaborated with fellow ANC 2E Commissioners to place city focus on the overcrowding in Ward 2 schools.  

  • Actively worked with liaisons from Ward 2 and Mayor Office to resolve constituent/neighborhood-specific issues (water, trees, wires, etc).

  • Pushed for Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s (WMATA) to not reduce bus service into/out of Georgetown.

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Endorsements

COMMUNITY SUPPORT

Endorsements

I have earned the endorsement of a wide and diverse body of Georgetown leaders, including

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  • The entire current set of fellow  ANC 2E Commissioners

o   Matias Burdman, ANC 2E08

o   Joe Gibbons, ANC 2E02 Commissioner
o   Anna Landre, ANC 2E04 Commissioner
o   Elizabeth Miller, ANC 2E07 Commissioner
o   Rick Murphy,  Chair, ANC 2E, Commissioner ANC 2E03   
o   Lisa Palmer, Vice Chair, ANC 2E, Commissioner ANC 2E05   
o   Kishan Putta, Commissioner ANC 2E01

  • A representative group of former ANC Commissioners 

    • Tom Birch, former ANC2E Commissioner and ANC 2E06 resident

    • Pamla Moore, Former ANC Commissioner, Former Chair of the Citizens Association of Georgetown (CAG) and ANC 2E06 resident

  • Current and former citizen leaders  (i.e. Citizens Association of Georgetown/CAG, Rose Park leaders, etc.)

    • Katie Battle, Board member, Friends of Rose Park and ANC 2E06 resident

    • Allister Chang, Rose Park Farmers Market Manger, ANC 2E06 resident, Ward 2 Board of Education candidate 

    • Gail Daubert, President, Friends of Rose Park and ANC 2E06 resident

    • David Dunning, Past President, Friends of Rose Park and ANC 2E06 resident  

    • Richard Hines, CAG General Council and ANC 2E06 resident 

    • Monica Roche,  At Large Committeewoman DC Democratic State Committee

    • John Rentzepis, Co-Chair of CAG Public Safety Committee and ANC 2E06 resident

    • Jennifer Romm, CAG Board Member, Chair of Georgetown Heritage, and ANC 2E06 resident  

    • Tara Sakraida, CAG President ​

  • The Georgetowner newspaper - see HERE​

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Constituents on many streets and blocks have offered to speak with residents who may not know me, so please reach out if you would like to be connected with someone. Alternatively, join me on a ZOOM Meet and Greet, have me come by your front step or ask to have one of my recent updates emailed to you to learn about upcoming meetings.       

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