ANC2C02 Forum

I usually have no desire to attend the East Central Civic Association meetings conducted by Mr Leroy Thorpe. The last time I attended one of these meetings in January, Mr Thorpe instructed a Third District MPD officer to eject me from the meeting. However, on Monday, February 4, I planned to attend the meeting at the request of my constituents who reside on Wiltberger Street who had received a notice, from Mr Thorpe regarding the Historic zoning designation which they are seeking for their block. The Historical Preservation Office was seeking to make a presentation before Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2C, but Mr Thorpe -- who drafts the agenda for Commission Chair Doris Brooks, in his status as her executive assistant -- insisted that HPO first make a presentation before the ECCA before he would allow them to make a presentation before the ANC. Wiltberger Street is in the northwest corner of my single member district, but it is outside of the service area of the ECCA.

My constituents informed me in advance of the meeting that they were concerned that Mr Thorpe would attempt to thwart their efforts to obtain a historic designation for their street and asked me to attend the meeting to support them.

When I arrived at Third Baptist Church, where the ECCA meetings are always held, several of my constituents and representatives of the Historic Preservation Office had already arrived. Councilmember Jack Evans and his staff had also already arrived; in fact, Mr Evans was addressing the meeting attendees when I entered the church and took a seat in the back of the room.

The moment I sat down, Mr Thorpe left his seat near Mr Evans in the front of the room and walked passed me to speak to church officials in the church lobby. Next, a gentleman, who introduced himself as Deacon Smith, asked me to step into the lobby. Outside of the meeting, Mr Smith informed me that the church would be filing a barring notice against me.

I asked Deacon Smith why I was being barred from this church. I informed him that, according to the law, if the church filed a bar notice against someone -- as opposed to simply asking that person to leave -- then that person would never be able to enter the church again without the threat of being arrested which such a bar would carry with it. I added that this would be the case even if the person who they barred wanted to attend their church on Sunday morning or for any other weekly service or activity or function.

Mr Smith replied, "We allow this group [ECCA] to use our church for their meetings and they have a right to bar trouble makers and those who cause dis-order."

I asked Deacon Smith what I had done to deserve being barred. He told me that I was identified by Leroy Thorpe as a "trouble maker." I informed him that the only trouble I had caused Mr Thorpe occured when I defeated Thorpe him in the 2006 ANC election. Deacon Smith claimed that the church doesn't get involved in politics and that "this church is in the business of saving souls."

I asked, "How can this church be in the business of saving souls when you are barring people from entering the church?" I told the pastor that by doing the bidding of Mr Thorpe he was involving the church in politics. I asked the pastor if he would file a bar notice against every person who lived on this block if Thorpe directed him to do so. The pastor indicated that my question was "silly" because Mr Thorpe would never do such a thing (obviously he doesn’t know Thorpe that well).

I am disappointed with Third Baptist Church for taking the very serious and extreme steps to bar my constituents from a meeting solely on the word of Mr Thorpe and without any verification on the veracity of his complaint. As an ANC Commissioner, my job is to represent the interests of my constituents and those in my single member district. Representing the interests of the church as an organization in my single member district is also one of my duties. In this instance, Mr Thorpe has done a disservice to the church by putting them in a position in which they as a religious organization, are clearly uncomfortable. Indeed, in ejecting me from a meeting which I attended only to serve and support the requests of my constituents during a forum with other District government representatives, the church's actions are inappropriate.

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