Zartman-Kopa Race Crucial For GU-Neighbor Relations

Students voting in today’s local election face a major decision in their vote for the Advisory Neighborhood Council 2E04 seat. Incumbent Barbara Zartman defends her seat against Justin Kopa (COL ’03), who has been endorsed by The Hoya, The Georgetowner and Campaign Georgetown as a mediating presence to smooth relations between residents and the university. Both candidates run on platforms founded on improving the neighborhood, but their methods of doing so are diametrically opposed.

Zartman filled current-Board of Education member Westy Byrd’s vacant seat two years ago, and during her term she has opposed several of the university’s and students’ initiatives. Voting against Block Party and compiling numerous papers and letters in opposition to Georgetown’s 10-Year Campus Plan, Zartman has favored strict policies for students. In a neighborhood position paper submitted to the Board of Zoning Adjustment Oct. 6, Zartman advocates the release of off-campus students’ addresses and automobile license plate information. She has also encouraged the BZA to make the university ask students to surrender their right to privacy by allowing their parents to be contacted in cases of Code of Conduct violations.

Discouraging students from running for ANC seats, Zartman ran on a platform in the last election calling for creative ways to link the university and community. Relations between the university and neighborhoods have become inflamed during Zartman’s term. Area residents Tom Schneidermann and Julia Falconer have filed a $100,000 lawsuit against the university citing excessive noise and general student misconduct as damages. The student conduct issue has plagued the 10-Year Plan, requiring the university to enhance off-campus programs already in place.

Zartman declined to comment last night, saying, “I don’t think I’m going to answer your questions tonight.”

On the other hand, Kopa brings a much less jaded perspective to the ANC table. As a student, Kopa is in a unique position to mediate between the university and residents. According to a Campaign Georgetown press release, Kopa supports meetings between community members and students to facilitate communication and allay concerns from both parties. Kopa does not support the D.C. Office of Planning’s recent proposal to the 10-Year Plan recommending an amendment to the D.C. Human Rights Law allowing the university to legally cap the number of students living off-campus in the immediate area. “My biggest concern is that students have equal rights in the community as citizens of D.C.,” Kopa said, responding to Zartman’s questioning of students’ rights as a protected class by law. In a September Hoya Viewpoint, Kopa pledged to fairly represent all Georgetown residents.

Kopa and Justin Wagner (COL ’03) represent the 2000 incarnation of a tradition of students running for ANC seats. As a result of a lengthy court battle ending in 1996, students were granted the right to choose where they register to vote. Commissioners James Fogarty (COL ’98) and Rebecca Sinderbrand (COL ’90) fought uphill battles against entrenched incumbents for their seats in 1996. Matt Payne (COL ’01) won the 2E05 seat unopposed in 1998. During his term, Payne worked on a task force to combat underage drinking while supporting Block Party and the 10-Year Plan.

Payne was unanimously elected treasurer of the ANC in 1999 at the urging of former treasurer 2E02 commissioner Fran Goldstein. Vice chair Art Schultz, the representative of District 2E07, said of Payne in a Sept. 10, 1999 Hoya article, “He is probably one of our best commissioners, one of the hardest working.”

Sinderbrand, Fogarty and Payne have proved through their ANC decisions that students can effectively and thoughtfully work with town-gown issues without becoming tools of the student body or administration. Because of their diligence and their efforts to bring the unique student perspective closer to the ANC, these students have proved Zartman’s objections to student participation unfounded and counterproductive.

“I can mitigate the gaps between students and neighbors,” Kopa said. “I can relate to students’ concerns, and also uniquely understand how the community feels. I’m the middle-of-the-road choice.”