The Advisory Neighborhood Council held a public meeting Tuesday to discuss a variety of issues, including a new piece of City Council legislation that might allow Department of Public Safety officers to patrol beyond Georgetown’s immediate campus, the expansion of Metropolitan Police Department foot patrols in Georgetown and the university’s lease of the track at the Duke Ellington School for the Arts.

The Public Safety Agency Reform Act, which goes before a council hearing Sept. 19, could alter the fundamental relationship between DPS and MPD. “It loosens the constraints on cooperative agreements [between the two agencies],” ANC Co-Chairman Justin Wagner (COL ’03) said. Currently, DPS cannot patrol any area outside one block of the Georgetown campus. The proposed legislation could broaden DPS’s jurisdiction by allowing DPS and MPD to enter into new cooperation agreements. It could also allow greater information sharing, integrated training programs and a sharing of radio frequencies.

The measure passed by a unanimous vote with one abstention, although Wagner said some ANC members remained concerned that the bill was “too vague” and contained “some omissions.”We support the general intent of the bill, but felt it was not specific enough,” he added.

Wagner will express these concerns when he testifies Sept. 19 at a Judiciary Committee hearing to consider the bill. If the committee passes the bill, the university and the MPD will be free to renegotiate the DPS jurisdiction agreement.

The act, which Wagner contends is co-sponsored by every member of the City Council, is the result of a concerted effort by local residents and students. “For a long time, we’ve been pushing for increased patrols around campus,” Wagner said, including neighborhoods such as Burleith, which is not on campus but “where students live and walk through all the time.”

A second development in the issue of public safety is the ANC’s announcement of increased MPD foot patrols on campus. Every Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings, two to three more MPD officers will be patrolling Georgetown on foot. The increased security force is partly in response to “disturbing burglaries” that have occurred over the past year, Wagner said. “There’s a lot of foot traffic in these neighborhoods, a lot of easy targets,” he said. And although the presence of extra officers may put a crimp in the weekend party scene, Wagner said he hopes the officers “will keep the neighborhood a little quieter.”

Both students and local residents largely supported the measure, he said. “Public safety is an issue where students and residents can work together.”

Tuesday’s meeting also resolved where the track team would practice since the old track on Yates’ roof is under renovation. The ANC passed a university proposal to lease the track at Duke Ellington for five years, with one dissenting vote. Under the agreement, Georgetown would put $250,000 toward renovating the dirt track by applying a rubber surface. Georgetown would have the option to renew the lease after five years as it constructs a new, permanent track for its track and field team.

“This is an exciting and a big breakthrough,” Wagner said. “It’s win-win for the university and the community . a good example of a private-public partnership.”