Loco Politics

An irregular feature chronicling the lowest levels of District government. This installment: Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2C (Shaw) meeting, April 5

VOTE OF THE MONTH

Issue: Installing speed bumps on the 400 block of M Street NW. A representative of the Mount Vernon Square Neighborhood Association spoke in favor of them.

Principled Stand Taken By: Commission Vice Chair/Treasurer Doris L. Brooks, against speed bumps

Rationale for Opposition: “We”—people who live near the 600 block of M Street—“should get speed bumps, too.”

Entreaty Made By: Chairman Mahdi Leroy Joseph Thorpe Jr., who told Brooks, “You know you’re my right hand on this commission…but you’ve got to think about your constituents here.”

The Tally: 3-1, in favor of speed bumps. After some confusion as to whether she was merely abstaining, Brooks clarified that she was in fact dissenting.

Parting Shot: Said Brooks, “We were here before there was a Mount Vernon Square.”

OMINOUS EXCHANGE OF THE MONTH

Thorpe [standing, gesticulating] to commissioner Alex Padro, who was quoted last week in the Washington Blade suggesting Thorpe has a “bias” against gays: “I’m not going to be petty with you. I’m going to wait until the Day of Judgment, and whatever you said about me, you’re going to have to defend yourself before God. I’m not coming after you. So keep talking about me, because I’m going to get your blessings on the Day of Judgment. I’m gonna get ’em.”

Padro [seated, nodding and smiling]: “OK.”

Thorpe: “What goes around comes around, man.…By nature, God—something’s gonna happen.”