Andrew for ANC3F05
My name is Andrew Koval. I am a Marylander who kept moving closer to DC until I moved to Brightwood just over 3 years ago. I have been living in my Van Ness apartment for 2 years with my fiancé and our dog and I have been active with the Van Ness South Tenants Association with my neighbors at 3003 Van Ness since last November.
I am happy to announce that I have decided to build on my work with Van Ness South Tenants Association by running for ANC. My goals and objectives have been and will continue to be, first and foremost, about building and strengthening a positive community which I think is one of the most important things we can be doing during the times that we live in.
The ANCs were redistricted this year. I live in and am running in 3F05 . This SMD can be viewed on the map at the link below (select 2022 map). If you are a registered voter within this SMD, you can sign my petition and vote for me on November 8th. Your signature on my petition does not bind you to vote for me, it is only for ballot access.
Some of the issues:
I want to talk to you about the issues that concern you. I will make it a point to try to talk to anyone in the SMD who wants to during the campaign. I am interested in hearing what you think and while I have my own beliefs, the ANC is supposed to be a representation of the neighborhood and it is important to listen to people as well and try to build common ground on issues.
I am aware of much of the struggle and priorities of people in apartment buildings through my tenant advocacy, but I am sure that I have a lot to learn about the experiences of people in single family homes and condos as well. I intend to canvas the single family homes during the campaign as well as talk to neighbors in Ava Van Ness and other multifamily/condo buildings inside the SMD and 3F.
Housing:
I will advocate for expansion of housing supply that is inclusive across the income spectrum to help meet our city’s housing needs. I will support the Green New Deal for Housing and related legislation/projects. I will seek creative ideas to increase the housing supply such as upzoning and rezoning to increase density where possible. I will explore the possibility of building housing on the UDC property. I will talk to people and get the community’s buy-in for these types of things in our SMD (3F05), while considering perspectives of our diverse constituency. I will support measures to reduce and eliminate homelessness as a community and hopefully larger discussion about the roots of poverty and what we can do to reduce poverty in this country.
I will continue unrelenting defense of rent stabilization and the Tenants Opportunity to Purchase Act, especially on behalf of existing tenants during a building sale.
I have professional experience in many aspects of building construction and operations and I intend to use my expertise in those areas to aid and ease the growing pains that the neighborhood will face during a development process if we are to add substantial new multifamily housing.
Transit and Bike Lanes:
I hope to, as a community, establish a cohesive long term vision for transit, bike lanes etc. I hope to help assemble interested parties and agencies to determine something that will work and put an end to the Connecticut Ave bike lane debate in a realistic way, working with valid traffic data and considering immediate-term needs such as parking. A good city should have a solid network of realistically safe bike lanes and public transit that people will default to over cars. Long term transit expansion should be happening now for a (hopefully not too far off) future with less cars needed, or even desired, in the urban landscape.
Public Safety:
I will push DDOT and DPW on unsafe pedestrian conditions that may exist within the SMD and ANC.
I will advocate for a conversation concerning security for peace of mind in apartment buildings where it is currently lacking, where applicable in the SMD and ANC.
In the immediate term, I will work with MPD on community-policing based solutions and will use my platform to advocate for longer-term measures to decrease poverty, the usual root cause of most crime.
Business:
I think one of the best things about DC is the diverse and thriving small business community. I enjoy patronizing all of the businesses on Connecticut Avenue in Van Ness and want to work to help them flourish in the years to come. I will work with the business community and Van Ness Main Street to help fill vacancies along the corridor both inside and outside of my SMD.
I will continue to advocate for people and communities and do what is within my power to call out and interfere with hostile corporate extractivism where it manifests itself at the local level at the expense of people; such as the case with Equity Residential and the tenants of 3003 Van Ness St.
I will work with the community, the city and the development community on a path forward for properties like the Days Inn and advocate for multifamily with ground floor retail development, ideally with an affordable and middle-income component. If potential conflicts of interest arise with the development process due to my employment in the industry, I will recuse myself from the situation.
Education:
I am not presently a parent and I do not have a background in education, other than my own and I am of more value on issues such as housing/urbanization, real estate, development/public space issues where I have a professional background. There will be others in the ANC and the community who have first hand experiences as parents and educators who I will rely on to help me better understand the nuances.
I am a supporter of good public education. I think there is still work to be done to level the playing field of educational system quality across all wards and I will support efforts to do that as well as ensuring that our schools’ infrastructure is up to standards, such as supporting efforts to ensure that classrooms have working AC at all times they are in use, and ensure that students aren’t being exposed to harmful chemicals such as lead or asbestos while they are at school.
The Environment:
I love nature and would consider myself to be an environmentalist. Part of what I love most about living here is the urban access and community and our easy access to nature in Rock Creek Park. As ANC I will encourage community members to organize trash pickup days, trail/stream cleanup days and tree planting in coordination with DC Parks and NPS.
My support of transit and density are mostly informed by my concern for the environment. I do not care for single-use plastics and I think we should use a lot less of them as a culture. I want an energy revolution, but that is bigger than the SMD.
I hope you can help me with a signature this week and a vote on November 8th. I intend to work hard to help build community in ANC3F05 and beyond.
Stay cool the rest of the weekend!
Thank you,
Andrew Koval
