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Adams Morgan Advisory Neighborhood Commission
Josh Gibson (incumbent), manager of Flexcar. vs Eleanor Johnson (challenger), self-employed artist and educator.
Key Issues
•Those noisy Hash House Harriers (drinking runners) creating havoc in Walter Pierce Park
•Late-night bar patrons leapfrogging each other for taxis
The Record
Johnson is rising from the ashes of a 2002 ANC-campaign flare-up in which the D.C. inspector general looked into Johnson’s solicitation of funds from Adams Morgan restaurateurs. She says she was trying to prevent a former commissioner and local artist, who ran nude drawing classes, from closing up shop after 9/11. After Gibson beat her handily, the D.C. government dropped its investigation of the matter.
The Debate
Gibson wants affordable housing included in the spate of high-rises going up around Adams Morgan. Johnson doesn’t want the Harris Teeter supermarket coming along with those high-rises.
The Mudslinging
Gibson questions Johnson’s zeal for political office—specifically, her simultaneous candidacy for both advisory neighborhood commissioner and the D.C. Board of Education. “This raises some questions about focus,” Gibson asserts. Johnson’s sister, speaking on behalf of the vacationing neighborhood activist, says Johnson wouldn’t be running if Gibson had addressed some of the issues of “inclusiveness” in a gentrified area.
The Punditry
For her fervent support of the humanities in Washington, Johnson has a good chance with struggling artists, whereas Gibson is a sure thing with shoppers tired of the Spanish Safeway.
—Adrian Brune