An influx of young people account for almost all of D.C.’s population growth in the last decade, according to 2010 census figures. Now, as the Washington Post reports, people in their 20′s and 30′s account for a full third of the district’s population.

According to the Post, “the increase was steepest in the wards that encompass Capitol Hill, the Northeast, downtown, Shaw and Logan Circle.” Although the census figures cannot be broken down by age and race, the urban transplants are likely the primary cause of gentrification in the district, especially in wards 1 and 6.

While the black population in the district fell by 39,000, the white population increased by a whopping 50,000 over the decade, filling the newly constructed high-rise apartment buildings popping up in Columbia Heights and Navy Yard. As of 2010, blacks only retained a bare majority of 50 percent in the district, a figure which reached to 70 percent in the 1970′s.

These urban transplants are highly educated and were attracted to D.C. by the prospect of employment. With this inundation of young people, neighborhoods like Adams Morgan, Penn Quarter, Columbia Heights, and Logan Circle have seen the development of posh bars, chic cafes, and expensive restaurants—all of which cater to young people. D.C. was previously known as very much a working city. Now, it’s known as a modern, fun city.

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Just like last year, Vox is helping you get on top of “news you can use” with an excessively comprehensive review of last year’s important news stories. Today, we cover the off-campus issues that made headlines; noise, cronyism, and cannabis come after the jump.

We’ve got the campus plan blues

Every ten years, Georgetown must submit a campus plan to the D.C. Zoning Commission detailing proposed construction and land-use on its property.

Before the Zoning Commission approves the plan, it must hold hearings where civic associations in nearby Burleith, West Georgetown, and Foxhall Village can air their many grievances.

Neighborhood associations are irate [PDF] because some Georgetown students are loud and drunken. If the Zoning Commission doesn’t force us on-campus, they say, the neighborhood will become a “student ghetto.” To support this cause, which has gained the endorsement of several D.C. councilmembers, they are putting up yard signs, forming coalitions, and speaking out in public forums.

These activists also have recourse to a unique form of hyper-local government called the advisory neighborhood commission. There are 38 ANC’s throughout the city that provide official community input on everything from liquor licenses to traffic and land-use planning. In keeping with its history, Georgetown and Burleith’s ANC 2E opposes the 2010 Campus Plan. Because of clever gerrymandering of the dorms, there is only one student commissioner, Jake Sticka (COL ’13), on that commission.

The University, for its part, has tried reaching out to neighbors and stumping for support across the city. Georgetown has also ceded to several neighborhood demands, from scrapping graduate housing just off-campus to turning the Leavey Center Hotel into a dorm, in hopes of winning the endorsement of city agencies.

The D.C. Office of Planning didn’t return the love; they recommended a hard cap on undergraduate admissions and 100-percent on-campus residency. The Zoning Commission is due to issue its ruling in November. Depending on the verdict, neighborhood groups or the University will petition the D.C. Court of Appeals to reverse the directive.

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On Monday, newly-elected Councilman Vincent Orange (D-At-Large) wrote the Zoning Commission to ask them to reject Georgetown University’s 2010 Campus Plan.

The councilman also added his support to the ANC 2E and Office of Planning demand that the University house 100 percent of its undergraduates on campus.

“I urge the Zoning Commission to assure that any plan adopted by Georgetown University for 2010-2020 protects the nearby communities fully,” Orange wrote. “I support the position taken by ANC 2E in this case including the key request, recommended by the Office of Planning as well, that the University provide sufficient beds so that all of the University’s undergrads can be housed on campus.”

Throughout his campaign for the D.C. Council seat, Orange maintained strong ties with the ANC and other Georgetown community organizations. Hope Solomon, daughter of ANC 2E Vice-Chairman Ed Solomon, held a fundraiser for Orange last month.

“I know what happens when students move into the community,” Orange said in a February candidate forum. “It’s parties every single day.”

The full letter is after the jump.

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Vox recently sat down with Dave Stroup (COL’ 06), a recent Voice alum that led the campaign to draft candidate Bryan Weaver into the latest at-large D.C. Council race. Stroup, who works in field support and operations at the Sierra Club, offered his perspectives on this campaign and on student involvement in city politics at-large.

VP: Why did you ask Weaver to run?

DS: I thought it was a great opportunity for someone to shake things up. Basically, the thing that really stuck me was his concerns for the neighborhood he lived in and, by extension, the city.

VP: How did you first get involved in D.C. politics?

DS: When I came to Georgetown, I learned everything about D.C. politics from Mike DeBonis, who was actually my editor at the Voice. I wrote the City on Hill [D.C. affairs] column for two years.

Since I stayed in D.C. and am naturally a progressive Democrat. I just felt like this was a fascinating town for politics. There’s a lot of history, which is often difficult to overcome. But there are also a lot of younger people that are trying to do a lot.

VP: What is your opinion of efforts like DC Students Speak?

DS: I was amazed by what I’ve seen just in this race and over the last few months with student involvement because it’s hugely different from when I was at Georgetown.

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Photos by Sam Brothers

Vincent Orange, a former D.C. councilmember and Pepco lobbyist, won  the vacant at-large seat on the D.C. Council. Orange is also a strong opponent of the 2010 Campus Plan.

“I know what happens when students move into the community,” he said in a February candidate forum. “It’s parties every single day.”

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Several students were turned away at the polls today in D.C.’s at-large council election because their names didn’t appear on the voter rolls and they lacked sufficient papers (i.e. a photo ID + a government, school, bank, etc. document or other bill attesting a DC address) to prove residency.

Students should have been offered special or provisional ballots that will be counted about a week after the election. As of 4:30 p.m. this afternoon, election officials were simply telling people that they could not vote. Vox called the DC Board of Elections and Ethics, and officials promised to contact the polling places and clarify their policy.

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Update: For anyone trying to fill out a same-day registration, your best bet is a driver’s license, bank statement, or tuition, phone, utility, or other bill in your name with a DC address on it. However, an official at the DC Board of Elections and Ethics has indicated that it would probably be sufficient to get a letter from University Housing saying that you live on campus. Housing provides these letters within twenty-four hours of a request. You can call them 9am to 5pm at (202) 687-4560 for details. Otherwise, you’ll have to cast a provisional ballot and provide this information at a later date.

Tomorrow, voters will elect a candidate to fill a vacancy in the DC Council’s at-large seat. Given that the current Council has passed measures such as the contentious noise law, their decision will shape student life for the next year until the 2012 General Election.

“At this moment, we’re seeing so much anti-student rhetoric and so many anti-student actions going on in this city,” student ANC Commissioner Jake Sticka (COL ’13) told the Voice in March as DC Students Speak’s first voter registration drive was winding down. The organization is trying to get students to vote in tomorrow’s election in order to curb what they see as a disturbing trend.

After an exhausting, months-long process of candidate forums and questionnaires, where even the the DC Food Truck Association saw fit to publish a candidate questionnaire, the race has narrowed down to four main contenders.

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Today, DC Students Speak, YouthPAC, and the DC Federation of College Democrats will host a forum for the candidates running for At-Large DC Council Seat. The date of the election is April 26th.

[Editor's Note: An earlier version of this post incorrectly reported that DC Student Speak's voter registration drive ends today. In fact, only the dorm registration efforts end today. We apologize for the error.]

Today marks the final day of efforts by grassroots advocacy group DC Students Speak to register voters in University residence halls, as the group works towards its broader goal of registering at least 1,000 students to vote in the District by November 2012.

The group was founded in November 2009 to give students a greater role in D.C.’s political process and encourage cooperation amongst university students across the district.

According to Scott Stirrett (SFS ’13), a principal organizer of the drive, the lack of students registered in D.C. hinders the student voice in city government.

“There are 100,000 students in DC, but 98 percent of students aren’t registered to vote in D.C.,” he said.

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