Kirsten Oldenburg · 2022 Honoree

Kirsten Oldenburg sees Advisory Neighborhood Council representatives as the “bottom rung of democracy.” What they do is unpaid, unglamorous, often unrecognized, sometimes tedious, often tendentious. Yet it is work that she has done, quietly and persistently, for fifteen years, attending monthly meetings focusing on the large and small quality of life issues that take up much of the time of Washington, DC’s 296 Commissioners of Single Member Districts. It’s not the stuff of the nightly news but it is a significant part of local self-government.

As the daughter of a petroleum engineer, Kirsten grew up in many places – Houston, Caracas, Yonkers, Berkeley. Graduating from high school in the late 50s, at her father’s urging she opted for secretarial school rather than college. Because she had traveled so much, she did a stint as a travel agent. But she soon needed more and enrolled at the University of California at Berkeley in the engineering department, one of very few women there, specializing in the study of metals, in particular steel and aluminum. That led to advanced study at Washington State and then at George Washington University. There she learned that Congress’s recently formed Office of Technology Assessment was looking for someone with expertise in strategically important metals. She was in the right place at the right time and was employed at OTA until the office was shut down in the mid 1990s, a victim of budget tightening. She later worked at the Department of Transportation, editing annual statistical reports and learning more about how government works.

Kirsten was newly retired in April 2007 when a fire severely damaged the much-loved Eastern Market building and she joined community efforts to raise funds for the displaced merchants. Though she had lived on the Hill for 25 years, it was the first time she’d become involved in local affairs and one thing quickly led to another. When the seat representing ANC 6B-04 became vacant she decided to run for it. At the next election she was the only candidate for that spot and she won. 

Skills she had developed in previous jobs came together as Kirsten settled into her role – as a travel agent she had learned to listen to people to discern their concerns, in her government work she had understood and navigated complex rules and regulations. Serving for 10 years as chair of the Transportation Committee she has spent much time on issues around the reconfiguration of the 11th Street Bridge and land around it, helping people focus their concerns about traffic, bike lanes, noise, drug markets. The new and flourishing Virginia Avenue Park, between 9th and 11th Streets, has been a particular project of Kirsten’s.

Kirsten lives on 12th Street SE and, as one who has not owned a car since moving to DC, she especially appreciates the Hill’s walkability and historic charm.