23 Oct 2018

Election 2018:

ANC Candidate Statement: Joel Kelty, ANC 6C05

Photo courtesy of Joel Kelty

The Hill is Home is sharing the statements of ANC candidates in our general region. Although the main focus of our blog is Capitol Hill –served by ANCs 6A through 6C– we feel that a community is made stronger by the neighbors with whom we share a close geographical area. We are honored to share candidate statements from neighbors from Ivy City to Navy Yard, with minor style edits. To all of you who are running: Thank you. –Maria Helena Carey and Kate McFadden

My name is Joel Kelty and I’m running to represent the residents of Single Member District 6C05 on Area Neighborhood Commission 6C.

I’m a licensed architect and real estate professional, with a focus on the creation of affordable housing and senior housing.

I’ve lived in the 600 block of 6th Street NE since May 2000. For the past seven years, I have served as a member of the ANC 6C Planning Zoning and Environment Committee, your local committee that reviews historic preservation projects and requests for relief from the zoning regulations. I also serve on the Board of CHGM, a local non-profit that provides supportive services to homeless families and individuals not only on Capitol Hill, but throughout DC. I have two children that attend public school.

The role of the ANC Commissioner is to represent his or her 2,000 or so constituents at the most local level of government. This means being available and receptive to community input on all matters of interest to the neighborhood. If elected Commissioner, I look forward to soliciting and receiving your input on local issues of importance to you. My own areas of interest include:

  1. Illegal construction. Our own District government routinely fails to enforce existing laws governing zoning and construction. Lax enforcement creates a disregard for the rule of law and incentivizes house flippers to undertake shoddy renovations that future home purchasers have to spend additional time and money to fix. We need to hold DCRA accountable for doing its job in enforcing existing laws regarding construction.
  2. Transportation. We need a commonsense balance between residential parking, transient parking and alternative modes of transportation. Where the District installs bike lanes, they should also appropriate funds for proper signage and long term maintenance. We need to encourage alternatives to cars, while recognizing that cars are not going to go away and remain an essential mode of transit, particularly for families and seniors.
  3. Public Space. One of the things that makes Capitol Hill such a wonderful place to live is our ample public space, including not only our public parks, streets and sidewalks, but also the public space that is typically situated between our row houses and the street. The agency responsible for protection of much of this public space, DDOT, often fails to enforce existing public space regulations and should be required to do so.
  4. Education. The District has made great strides in improving educational options during the last ten years. We need to expand on those successes and support work towards similar improvement in the upper grades.
  5. Government accountability. The District wastes a tremendous amount of our taxpayer money and is often far from transparent in how decisions are made and implemented. I hope to work with other commissioners to highlight areas where government accountability and transparency is lacking, particularly where it relates to work in our neighborhood.

I hope you’ll consider electing me to be your ANC Commissioner Nov 6th.

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