Springing for Better Planning Update [DC4RD]

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DC4RD early Spring 2015 UPDATE

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  1. DC Agency Performance Hearings: Laborious & Telling
  2. DC’s Budget Hearing Schedule (April 2nd Budget Drop)
  3. ACTION: Sign the Stop the Pop Petition
  4. DC’s Affordable Housing Crisis — Articles & Solutions
  5. McMillan, McFraud, McDrought, McDuffie – We Ain’t Loving It
  6. Barry Farm & 400 Families Facing Displacement


1) DC Agency Performance Hearings: Laborious & Telling

There were many headache-making, deliriously long multi-agency hearings held over the past month by City Council Committees. There was one hearing about DC’s “planning” agencies that lasted about 11 hours! Advocates came out to call out displacement-inducing agencies like the DC Housing Authority and Director, Adrian Todman, and the DC Office of “Planning” staffers Jennifer Steingasser and Joel Lawson.

People around the City have wondered out loud, how much agency oversight can be had when five or more agencies appear before the Council to testify on the same day, never mind the under-staffed Council Committees who are facing a barrage of firm developer asks, as well as numerous pleas from various advocate corners.

This process is seriously broken. But don’t take our word for it… see the videos:


2) DC’s Budget Hearing Schedule (April 2nd Budget Drop)

On April 2, the rumor has it that Mayor Bowser will release her budget for public review. Then we react, as does the Council who will begin horse-trading behind closed doors. There are hearings scheduled for each agency, sign up to testify today >> http://tinyurl.com/2015-council-budget-hearings-1


3) ACTION: Sign the Stop the Pop Petition

Colonization of your neighborhood is poppin off, and up, and out. In the pursuit of greed, the un-real estate speculators have invaded and are pouring money into poorly designed, aesthetically f**d up, and grossly malformed expansions to the homes located in DC’s unique rowhouse neighborhoods. It’s in these family-districts where investors are straight trippin’ on flippin’ properties at your expense and destabilizing the underlying land values, not to mention making the block look real fugly.

SIGN THE PETITION TO STOP-THE-POP TODAY >>
http://tinyurl.com/stopthepopdc


4) Affordable Housing — Articles & Solutions

It’s official, DC is out of market-rate affordable housing!

There are no more unsubsidized housing units available in the District of Columbia renting for less than $800 a month. That is, one would pay at least $9,600 a year in rent, which means you have to make at least $28,800 to live affordably in our City without any subsidies,

ADVOCACY FAIL. IZ IS BROKEN.

The inclusionary zoning laws have helped destroy affordable housing in DC.  As the math goes, so does the price, for if an IZ unit can rent for $1500 a month, and that is defined as affordable in the District, then all other market rate units can expect to rent for higher than $1500.

The result is a government-imposed false market inflation that pushes all the market unit rates to rise to meet DC’s “affordable” bar. Hence, no more affordable housing, massive displacement, a surge in homelessness, and an overzealous lining of developer pockets at the expense of longtime District residents.

Affordable Housing Solutions:


5) McMillan, McFraud, McDrought, McDuffie – We Ain’t Loving It

McMillan Park is 25 acres of public land that sits above an historic water works of amazing beauty >> www.friendsofmcmillan.org

Bigtime developers in the District, starting with Trammel-Crow and including Jair Lynch, have worked with DC’s “planning” officials to line up the theft of McMillan Park, privatizing the land and tearing out the historic site so that these boneheads can build a gigantic brutalist medical office building and an array of hundreds of luxury condos. See these links:

The smell of fraud is emanating out of this DMPED-brokered McMillan deal, a deal that represents a two-billion dollar windfall for these politically-connected construction firms, a windfall they want to protect using City tax dollars.

For example, the use of DC monies directly and indirectly to pay a Baltimore PR-services company to “neutralize” the community opposition, and “provide cover” for City politicians >> http://intowner.com/2015/03/

Won’t DC feel ridiculously parched when the MegaDrought decides to ride east to DC, threatening our water and food security >> http://www.newsweek.com/nasa-california-has-one-year-water-left-313647

Imagine if instead of condos and office buildings siphoning more water and utility resources from the City, we envision a public site where we can store and clean tens of millions of gallons of water by adaptively re-using McMillan’s historic cavern water chambers, not to mention saving the clean green space above for urban farming >> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILzWmw53Wwo

Kenyan McDuffie thinks since most of the McMillan Park is in Ward 5, he determines the fate of this nationally-recognized historic site and wonderfully intact water artifact. He’s wrong, its all of ours. But he thinks that progress means 10,000 new vehicle trips per day on North Capitol Street and affordable housing means units renting at $1,500 a month.

To his credit, at a recent Council oversight hearings, Kenyan said he was “concerned” about the use of public tax dollars going to pay the Baltimore-based Fontaine PR firm, hired to push the McMillan deal forward no matter what >> http://dccouncil.us/council/kenyan-mcduffie

McDuffie’s friend and supporter, Jair Lynch wants his piece in the theft of McMillan Park, looking to build some of the larger “invisible” buildings on the site. Jair wants to continue laughing all the way to the bank, as he has done with longtime DC elders at the Dunbar Apartments >> http://www.wjla.com/articles/2015/02/subsidizing-a-slum-rats-hot-water-shortages-in-d-c-apartments-111874.html


6) Barry Farm & 400 Families Facing Displacement

Ms. Adrian Todman was a no show at a meeting yesterday hosted by Council Chair Phil Mendelson.

Todman promised to discuss the future of the 20 acres of public land and public housing in this historic Ward 8 neighborhood with members of the Barry Farm Tenants and Allies and Barry Farm Study Group. Residents arrived on time at Mendelson’s office, and were told that Todman had canceled that morning stranding Barry Families who took time from work and childcare issues to be there.

Todman had agreed to openly discuss anti-displacement strategies and to cooperate on pre-project planning with Barry Farm residents. Phil Mendelson set the meeting up to facilitate this discussion.

The fact that the director of the DC Housing Authority, as well as DMPED didn’t show for this meeting is a signal that these “planners” care not for the families of Barry Farm and will attempt to move to demolish the existing housing, displacing 400+ families living there now.

Schyla Pondexter-Moore of Empower DC said of her experience, “Adrian Todman at DCHA, is like Marcie Cohen at the Zoning Commission, is like Jennifer Steingasser at the Office of Planning. These so-called city planners are pursuing short-sighted profit-driven principles resulting in purposeful displacement of working families and longtime District residents of color. Poor civic planning like this is a disservice to the people, is disrespectful, and is discriminatory. It should not be tolerated by anyone, which is why we are demanding this poor planning be stopped now!”

Contact Schyla for more information:
Schyla@EmpowerDC.org
202-234-9119


For more information about DC for Reasonable Development, call 202-810-2768 or email us at dc4reality@gmail.com

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