Send ANC 3D grant money to other parts of city?

Open up a lane of MacArthur Boulevard for pedestrians?

Get the mayor to explain why masks aren’t required outside at all times?

The city’s response to Covid-19 dominated ANC 3D’s meeting tonight, as commissioners eyed ways for the community to do its part to rein in the pandemic. As of May 5, a total of 5,461 cases of Covid-19 have been recorded in D.C., including 71 in Kent/Palisades, according to city data. A total of 277 people have died citywide, 79 percent of them black.

Total number of people tested, in green, and total number of positive cases, as of May 5, 2020. About 706,000 people live in D.C. Source: D.C. Covid-19 data

Commissioners, ordinarily limited to spending city-allocated funds on projects targeting those within the ANC boundaries, backed an option to send the money wherever they deemed a greater need. The action Wednesday came in the wake of a City Council move Tuesday to loosen ANC spending rules, along with other emergency measures to combat the pandemic.

Exactly how such a transfer by an ANC would occur was not entirely clear. But Commissioner J.P. Szymkowicz pushed for any remote grant requests to come through other ANCs, as a way to relieve ANC 3D from administrative burdens. The idea of broadening the grant range drew general support, but also concern.

Commissioner Christine Warnke said city budget cuts are coming and ANC 3D might have its own needs to meet. In April, ANC 3D gave a grant to Palisades Village so that it could buy computer equipment to support its programs for the elderly. Commissioner Jeremy Del Moral, opposing the action, worried that passing a grant through another ANC might not absolve ANC 3D of responsibility and that it might breed a “federal agency” urge to spend budgeted money to justify allocations.

Szymkowicz said grant requests from within ANC 3D are few. “It gives us another avenue to distribute our money,“ he said. “We don’t have to give money to anybody. It’s just another option.”

Proposed grant spending by the ANC 3D for 2019 totaled $6,000.

In other action, commissioners decided to ask the city transportation department to come up with a way to commit part of MacArthur Boulevard to pedestrians. They said people have complained that they are being forced into the street because sidewalks are too narrow for people to pass and keep a prescribed 6-foot separation. The pandemic has lightened traffic. A proposal called for the lane used for parking to be cordoned for pedestrians.

Commissioners stopped short of submitting a formal request to Mayor Bowser to explain why the wearing of masks is required for entering stores but not for general circulation outside. Jessica Green, the mayor’s community liaison, said use of masks outside is recommended and encouraged commissioners to pursue the issue through a daily community briefing with health officials. A resident attending the meeting said stronger measures might be required because, by their estimate, half the people on the street aren’t wearing masks.

The number of Covid-19 cases has been rising in the city, according to city data. Commissioner Warnke noted a disproportionate impact on black people. Of the total number of positive cases, blacks account for about 47 percent, roughly on par with the percentage of blacks in the total city population of about 706,000 people. But blacks account for 220, or 79 percent, of the total number of deaths.

Source: D.C. Covid-19 data

Positive Covid-19 cases, by community. Source: D.C. Covid-19 data

Robert White, an at-large city councilmember who is on the Democratic ballot for the June 2 primary election, appeared before commissioners, answering questions about the city’s Covid-19 response. White said the pandemic has posed many challenges, including getting access to supplies to carry out testing and finding housing for people being released from prison. He said his brother had been incarcerated and come to live with him. “It’s a difficult problem to solve,” he said. “We have to make sure there is someplace safe for them to go.”

ANC 3D Commission Chair Chuck Elkins noted that tonight’s meeting, held online and by conference call, proceeded with few of the technical difficulties, confusion and mischievous intrusions that marked the April meeting.