Members of a local governing body failed to appoint community members to an advisory team for the non-congregate shelter being built at a former GW residence hall.
The Foggy Bottom and West End Advisory Neighborhood Commission voted 4-2 to adjourn Wednesday’s meeting without appointing community members to the Community Advisory Team, a group ANC 2A requested to allow community engagement and an avenue for problem-solving relating to the shelter. The meeting came to a standstill after commissioners repeatedly criticized one another over meeting procedures, and members of the community berated some commissioners’ votes denying local hotel owner Nayan Patel a seat on the team, punctuated by a racist comment relating to 2A03 Commissioner Trupti Patel.
Commissioners voted 2-4, with Omictin, Malec, Trupti Patel and Bandy opposing, to deny a spot on the advisory team to Nayan Patel, the owner of the West End Hotel, which sits adjacent to the shelter. The commissioners did not specify why they voted against him, but Omictin asked Nayan Patel whether he lived in ANC 2A, to which he responded he lived in McLean, Virginia.
Bandy, who attended the meeting virtually, did not initially vote on Nayan Patel’s confirmation and was counted as absent. As commissioners voted against the hotel owner, members of the audience began interjecting, calling the vote “outrageous.”
Members of the audience requested an additional explanation of the vote, but the meeting adjourned shortly after a community member made a racist comment referencing the shared surname between Nayan Patel and Trupti Patel.
ANC2A Chair Jim Malec said comments of this nature are “wholly inappropriate.”
Malec said in the email there are currently no plans to call another meeting to appoint community members to the advisory team, and there is no deadline to appoint them.
“I am not inclined to hold another vote on this matter until I have a high level of confidence that my colleagues will conduct themselves professionally and respectfully,” Malec said.
Officials from the Department of Human Services and Department of Health and Human Services presented a plan to the ANC in a June meeting outlining how they would go about converting the Aston into a non-congregate shelter that would serve medically vulnerable unhoused people. The plan received mixed reactions from the public during comment periods, but the D.C. Council approved the Department of General Services’ $27.5 million contract, officially purchasing the Aston on July 6.
David Ross, the chief of staff for DHS, said the shelter plans to accept 25 to 50 residents initially. He said as part of an agreement with Ward 2 Council member Brooke Pinto, the shelter will then take in another 50 residents, then will reevaluate whether to take in more clients.
Ross said the sale will become final in about two weeks, giving DHS a couple of months to organize and renovate The Aston before welcoming residents.
A Department of General Services building condition assessment of the Aston released on July 6 revealed several structural defects and deteriorating materials, including cracks on beams in the Aston parking garage and patching on the roof. According to the assessment, the roof requires “immediate replacement.”
