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Taking note . . .

Observations about public affairs in the nation’s capital
by the editor of The Common Denominator

WHERE’S SHARON? That’s what many of Ward 6 Democrat Sharon Ambrose’s constituents have been asking for several months about their city council member, and the angst is escalating to anger in some quarters.

Dissatisfaction with Ambrose for being what some have called "missing in action" on critical community issues – including last year’s lead in drinking water problems and, more recently, the debate over building a new baseball stadium in her ward – led to a visible revolt Jan. 2 by a few Ward 6 advisory neighborhood commissioners. Mary C. Williams and Robert M. Siegel, both representing ANC 6D in Southwest Washington, were among commissioners who refused to stand and be sworn in by Ambrose when she administered the oath of office en bloc to her ward’s ANCs during a ceremony at the Washington Convention Center. Both were sworn in after the ceremony by new At-Large Councilman Kwame Brown, which D.C. law allows.

"It was a symbolic gesture," Williams told The Common Denominator. "She didn’t show any respect for us. …She didn’t meet with the community, she never even sat down to talk with us about the stadium deal." The new stadium, which the council approved on a 7-6 vote that included Ambrose’s support, is planned to be built near the Navy Yard in Ward 6 on land that is currently privately owned. ANC Commissioner Siegel is among the dissenting property owners.

Williams said that she and others are preparing to launch a recall campaign against Ambrose, who is being called "unresponsive" to her constituents. "When we complain, her staff says that she’s sick [Ambrose was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis several years ago], but she wasn’t too sick to go to China," Williams said, referring to Ambrose having accompanied the mayor and other city officials on a two-week junket to the Far East last October as the stadium debate was raging. "We have some real issues in Ward 6."

Callers to Ambrose’s council office on Friday, Jan. 7, during business hours, were greeted by an out-of-date recorded message that described her as chairman of the council’s Committee on Consumer and Regulatory Affairs. Ambrose gave up that chairmanship to head the Committee on Economic Development when the council’s new legislative period began Jan. 3.

A MISSED ‘KODAK MOMENT’: Effi Barry, the District’s elegant former first lady, was prominent among the audience at the Washington Convention Center Jan. 2 when ex-husband and former longtime mayor Marion Barry took his oath of office to become Ward 8’s new councilman. Those who couldn't attend the ceremony in the packed ballroom could catch a glimpse of the former mayor's ex-wife during the live City Cable 13 broadcast of the event. But missed by the slew of news cameras following the former mayor on his first day back in a position of political power was the classy entrance made by the former first lady at his Ward 8 gala later that night. Before taking her seat at a front-row reserved table in the Ballou Senior High School gymnasium, Effi and the current Mrs. Barry -- Cora, who is separated from the council member -- stood and hugged beside Cora's seat, front and center.

Copyright 2005 The Common Denominator