Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Robin McKinney officially launched her re-election bid in August, taking pride in the economic activity in Downtown Anacostia that she said she and the other Black women commissioners of ANC 8A encouraged— and even facilitated– in collaboration with the Anacostia Business Improvement District.
McKinney told The Informer that, if re-elected, she wants to maintain that spirit of collaboration, particularly at a time when the racial and socioeconomic composition of Anacostia, and much of Ward 8, is changing.
For her, Ward 8’s future depends on each commissioner’s ability to unite residents and include their voices in discussions about quality-of-life issues.
“We need to make sure things are inclusive and remember that every voice counts,” said McKinney, a two-term advisory neighborhood commissioner representing Single-Member District 8A06, which includes portions of Downtown Anacostia.
In early 2021, McKinney, took an oath of office for the advisory neighborhood commission after defeating multimedia activist-mogul Aiyi’nah D. Ford, white supremacist organizer Isaac Smith, and real estate agent Kristina Leszczak in the 2020 election.
In 2022, McKinney won re-election unopposed and with more than 90% of the vote. This time around, she’s going toe-to-toe with Scott Thach, an energy equity proponent and Ward 8 resident of eight years.
As the general election on Nov. 5 approaches, McKinney continues to promote not only her campaign, but that of ANC 8A Chair Jamila White, and first-time ANC candidates Renée Moore, Fria Moore and Markita Bryant.
All of them, McKinney said, are running on an all-women slate, affirming their presence as longtime District residents who are best suited to represent communities east of the Anacostia River. If re-elected, McKinney wants to continue organizing residents around the issues of public safety, fresh produce access, maintenance of green space, property taxes, equitable development, infrastructure, home ownership and accountability for negligent landlords.
“There’s a history of ANCs that have been in our community, building relationships between our constituents and government and policy makers. I just want to be a good voice for the community, making it good for everyone, and not just some,” said McKinney, who counts Sandra Seegars, Anthony Muhammad and the late Mary Cuthburt among her greatest influences.
“Sometimes we forget those who are already there when everyone else is coming in,” McKinney continued. “Residents who’ve been in Anacostia for 20 and 40 years should be able to enjoy it. They should be keeping that culture. We have to keep in mind to stay woke and work with all.”
Jamila White Supports Fellow Slate Members as She Faces a Re-election Challenge
On Nov. 5, the future of Ward 8 hangs in the balance in more ways than one.
First, a beleaguered D.C. Councilmember Trayon White (D-Ward 8) appears on the general election ballot alongside the increasingly perennial Republican candidate Nate Derenge. White also has a slew of write-in challengers aiming to replace him in the aftermath of his arrest and federal bribery charge that have triggered a D.C. Council ad-hoc investigation.
Meanwhile, McKinney and Renée Moore are campaigning in their single-member districts, respectively, against Thach and Tom Donohue, Jr., two white male Ward 8 residents.
In recent years, Donohue has garnered a reputation for surveilling Black youth and posting their photos on the Ward 8 Facebook page. That’s why, even as she faces a challenger in her re-election bid, ANC Chair White continues to canvas neighborhoods with McKinney and Moore to ensure that they stave off opposition she deems as detrimental to Ward 8 residents.
Perhaps more important to White, who notes that she’s not a Ward 8 native, is maintaining a healthy presence of commissioners who were born and raised in Ward 8, if not the District. She said that the comradery of McKinney and other native Washingtonians has made her work as a commissioner more impactful.
“We have to unite our community to progress in the ways we want to progress. That means not just thinking about ourselves, but how we can work together with the resources we have,” White told The Informer as she mentioned Bryant, who’s also facing white conservative opposition in her ANC race. “We’re looking at the future and how we can unite across classes and across the Anacostia River [to] make sure we have people representing our community who really do practice the values that Ward 8 residents have. That’s something I’m looking forward to.”
In 2021, White entered her role as commissioner of Single-Member District 8A05 after defeating public health and justice advocate Michael Grier in the 2020 general election. In 2022, she ran unopposed and garnered more than 90% of the vote.
Throughout much of her second term, White and McKinney, her vice chair, have conducted regular meetings with their counterparts representing the other Ward 8 ANCs. White and other ANC 8A commissioners have also utilized the Ward 8 Mutual Aid Network to supply tenants on Morris Road with food, clothing and shelter after a fire displaced them and District government bureaucracy proved too slow to assist all of them.
In her campaign for a third term, White is facing LaTasha N. Gunnels, a nurse. If re-elected, White has her sights set on the development of a small area, community-led plan that fully transforms the Anacostia Business Improvement District into an arts, culture and innovation hub.
Such a project, she told The Informer, requires an infusion of at least $100 million from the District with the potential to boost development along the entirety of Marion Barry Avenue and along the Anacostia River, near the 11th Street Bridge.
Those goals, if realized, will build upon what White describes as the numerous highlights of her two terms in elected office. Those highlights, she said, include securing D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s commitment to a public health plan for Marion Barry Avenue and Minnesota Avenue corridors. White also counts dialogue with D.C. Department of Transportation around an Anacostia Plan and visits by all at-large D.C. council members to ANC 8A as crowning achievements.
Further success, White said, will happen in collaboration with residents willing to let their creativity flow in their expectations for Ward 8.
“I want constituents to imagine the community we deserve, and not the one we’re living in,” White said. “I want them to take that imagination and be extremely bold with it. A lot of people talk about what’s wrong but I try not to do that anymore. I just look at what’s right and focus on that through imagination. There’s nothing wrong with us. It’s systems and institutions that were all developed and maintained by people.”
Markita Bryant: A Bridge Builder in Navy Yard
Less than two miles away from ANC 8A, Markita Bryant is on a journey to become the first Black woman advisory neighborhood commissioner in her single-member district — which just so happens to be a part of Ward 8.
Bryant, a lifelong Ward 8 resident, moved into the Capitol Riverfront neighborhood in 2021, around the time that the District kicked off a once-a-decade redistricting process that would eventually redefine that community and several others in the eastern part of the city.
When Ward 8’s new boundaries extended west of the Frederick Douglass Bridge, Bryant and her neighbors were no longer part of the more affluent, economically diverse Ward 6. Though her advisory neighborhood commission, 6/8F represents two wards, Bryant’s single member district is one of two in that commission that are located in Ward 8.
Since the boundary changes, Bryant has endeavored to unite residents of the old and new Ward 8, all of whom she said have similar interests in the realms of affordable housing, public safety and maintaining a family-friendly atmosphere.
If elected to represent Single-Member District 6/8F02, Bryant plans to work in the all-male commission to tackle those issues while creating more opportunities for Ward 8 families from both sides of the Anacostia River to enjoy Capitol Riverfront.
“There’s a connection when people come together but people are nervous to talk with each other. They don’t know how people will react,” said Bryant, a federal government employee with 13 years of public service experience. “But once we continue to have these events for everyone, I’m sure we’ll get there and keep that [unity] going. We are one Ward 8.”
Bryant, a longtime community advocate and former homeless youth, purchased her condominium through the District’s Home Purchase Assistance Program. She’s running against Elissa De Souza, a probation officer at the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency, and Antonio Rossi, a WMATA project manager.
Over the last three years, Bryant has made her presence known at 6/8F commission meetings and public safety walks. So much so that Rick Murphee, the current occupant of the 6/8F02 seat, counts among her supporters.
Bryant’s platform focuses on engaging residents, local boaters and other stakeholders to address the sustainable use of waterways in the single-member district. She also spoke favorably about increasing traffic calming measures, such as speed bumps and enhanced crosswalks. Bryant also touted mental health resources and mentorship programs as effective crime deterrents.
The restoration of family values also counts among Bryant’s goals as a commissioner.
As Bryant told The Informer, she noticed a proliferation of families and family-friendly activities in Navy Yard since she and her son moved there. She said the trend not only encouraged her to connect more with these families, but to examine past visits to family members’ apartments in the now demolished Arthur Capper/Carrollsburg public housing community.
Such memories, in part, inspired a platform that focuses on the inclusion of three-bedroom apartments and construction of playgrounds. Bryant also said that she wants to create opportunities for residents to discuss public safety issues face to face and with mutual respect.
At meetings conducted by Police Service Area 106, Bryant weighs in on public safety matters, espousing the need for proper lighting of streets in Single-Member District 6/F02. Such feedback, she said, has produced results for her community.
As the only native Washingtonian running for the ANC 6/8F02 seat, Bryant said she’s more than qualified to help strike a balance that maintains the family-friendly atmosphere on Capitol Riverfront, but includes all Ward 8 families, seniors and youth in the vision for Navy Yard.
“When I purchased my home, I knew the history and I fought to be here. There are families who still value that space on the Southwest/Capper side,” Bryant said. “I know what those grounds meant and what it could be.
She emphasized the diversity in her district and the need for a commissioner who understands how to embrace it.
“The Capitol Riverfront Business Improvement District isn’t just for people coming down for a drink, but for people whose kids are having fun. We have to honor that. Retired seniors and veterans are moving down there for some type of peace,” she said.
Renée Moore: A Proponent of Civic Engagement in ANC 8A01
With Tonya Crawford not running for re-election, Single-Member District 8A01, which includes the Fairlawn community, is wide open.
Though Donohue, an 11-year resident, threw his hat in the ring in August, he has an opponent in Renée Moore, a native Washingtonian and write-in candidate with deep roots in the community.
Moore, a chemist and University of District of Columbia alumna, said she lives by the mantra that tiny changes can make a massive reaction. If elected, she aspires to revitalize the sense of community she felt when her mother purchased their family home in Fairlawn 40 years ago. Her plan to do so, she said, centers on public safety, trash collection, fresh food access and traffic safety.
“I often hear the complaints about other wards getting things, and it’s because we don’t know how to advocate,” said Moore, a special assistant in the Vision Zero D.C. office under the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Operations and Infrastructure. “We have a lot of challenges but I do have a lot of connections to resources that I can help people get. I want to make sure our voices are heard. This can be great for our community.”
After a brief stint as a D.C. public school teacher, Moore moved to Texas where she taught chemistry, worked as a chemist and consultant, and pursued entrepreneurship. In 2004, she moved back to D.C., eventually making her way back to her stomping grounds in 2018 to take care of her mother.
As Moore explained, she has since immersed herself in community affairs, primarily as outreach director of the Washington Area Bicyclists Association. She also peruses the NextDoor online application to explore methods of helping residents. Moore also engaged the D.C. Mayor’s Office of Community Relations (MOCRS) about trash collection and illegal dumping in her single-member District, which she said led to the agency contacting D.C. Department of Public Works, who then removed the trash.
If elected, Moore’s plans include agitating for a greater police presence to deter crime. She also has community clean-up events and advocating for more green space among her action items.
When it comes to food insecurity, Moore expressed a desire to support local farmers and community gardens and collaborate with food banks. She also told The Informer that she would continue to support the elimination of food waste, like what she’s been able to do through a partnership with Food Rescue US-DC.
As it relates to community engagement, Moore said that she plans to ensure that residents have a voice. However, in order to make that vision come to fruition, Moore said she had one wish of her constituents, especially those who lack faith in local government.
“A lot of what we’re doing doesn’t mean nothing without getting residents registered to vote,” Moore said. “The people who you vote for affect your everyday life. They make decisions about whether streets are clean, whether a certain court judge goes in. These are people who make decisions for your city. I want people to get out and exercise their vote to get what they want.”
Fria Moore Parlays Past Experience for ANC Aspirations
In August, Fria Moore threw her hat in the ring as ANC 8A04’s sole candidate. This election represents the first time in four years that she’s participated in an election as the person facing the public.
In 2020, after a short stint as a Democratic contender for Ward 8 Councilmember White’s seat, Moore managed independent Ward 8 D.C. Council candidate Fred Hill’s campaign. Other past campaign management roles include Red Grant’s get-out-the-vote coordinator in 2022 and White’s treasurer during his 2022 mayoral run.
Currently, Moore is serving as a member of the Ward 8 council member’s re-election bid. As she contributes in that manner, she continues to glean wisdom from the other Black women on her slate, each of whom she said she looks to as an example of credible leadership.
“We’re at a crucial time where reinventing the wheel is not the most advantageous. We need to stay on our post and fine-tune [our strategy] as we include new people like myself,” Moore said. “The advisory neighborhood commission is where we can narrow in on the voices and actions that need to be taken to bring about a better picture.”
If elected, Moore’s priorities include targeting neighborhood investments, preparing residents for employment and diversifying employment opportunities, creating new public spaces, and improving the quality of education. She told The Informer that her years of experience connecting residents with government resources equips her with the knowledge to execute her vision.
“It’s about change management,” she said. “Sharing the idea, getting buy-in and getting others to share your idea. That’s my facilitation style.”
However, as has been the case with her slate members, Moore said she faces a challenge in electrifying Ward 8 residents who have lost faith in the political process. She spoke calmly about how she plans to change the tide.
“I have to respond with action. It’s going to be the key to succeed in the ward to reinvigorate hope,” Moore told The Informer. “There’s a lot of blight, uncertainty and unhappiness. The concerns have been there for years with nothing done about it. And now people are distracted by their own issues. That’s unfortunate because there are a lot of [good] things going on in the community that they don’t know about.”
Good luck ladies. To my niece, Robin, thanks for the shout out.
Mr. Collins made a representation about me saying, “ In recent years, Donohue has garnered a reputation for surveilling Black youth and posting their photos on the Ward 8 Facebook page.”
Four years ago I posted (at the family’s request) the murder of Mr. David Farewell by Eric a Beasley just weeks ago Mr. Beasley plead guilty for the killing of Mr. Farewell and the video my security cameras captured played a vital role in putting Mr. Farewells murderer off the street and out of harm to our community.
I am asking for a retraction of this statement it’s simply not true. No one even contacted me for comment or to inquire about this.