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Missing-you DC, Summer Update

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Missing-you DC, Summer Update [edited June 15, 2015]

It’s been two months since our last update.    We don’t like bombarding you, but we’ve been a little too quiet.  It’s got to be a loud summer if the people of DC want to preserve and protect the culture, people, history, and public interest of our City.

————
Menu:

1) CITY BUDGETING – LAST VOTE JUNE 30
2) SPOTLIGHT ON OUR MCMILLAN PARK
3) DCRA & CONSTRUCTION IMPACTS
4) ZONING REGULATIONS REWRITE DROPS
5) IMPORTANT ARTICLES
6) UPCOMING EVENTS

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1) CITY BUDGETING – LAST VOTE JUNE 30th

The main thing that has occurred since DC4RD’s last update has been the City’s budget discussions.

Mayor Bowser submitted her budget to the Council in early May.   The Council has since approved the spending numbers, largely unchanged.

A good analysis of the budget came by way of Justice First, located here in the District >> http://justicefirst.nationbuilder.com/analyzing_mayor_bowser_s_fy16_budget

The voting on our budget isn’t over. 

On June 30th, the DC Council will vote on a bill that informs the Mayor on how to specifically spend or funnel some of the City’s budget allocations.  It’s called the FY2016 Budget Support Act.  DC’s Chief Financial Office summarizes the key components of the BSA here >> http://tinyurl.com/cfo-fy2016-bsa

DC for Reasonable Development working with the Citywide Friends of McMillan Park invite you to join us in asking the Council to include language that defunds the demolition of the park until a full inquiry can happen as to the ethical and planning breakdowns that surround this humongous public land giveaway.

There are two ways to use this last budget vote to protect McMillan now:

  • Put on your calendar to attend the last Council session on the FY 2016 Budget Support Act next Tuesday, June 30th, and demonstrate why McMillan is so important to save from destruction and the clutches of privateers.   We will meet at the Wilson Building, outside of Room 500 at 11am, Tuesday, June 30th.  RSVP, Chris O., 202-810-2768, dc4reality@gmail.com
  • Please send a letter to the Council today regarding McMillan, particularly to CM Elissa Silverman who campaigned on a platform declining corporate contributions so she can objectively review the City’s land deals, like McMillan >> http://www.dcfeedback.com/mcmillan/letter

 

2) SPOTLIGHT ON OUR MCMILLAN PARK

The Save McMillan Action Coalition has found and announced some truly disturbing features of the McMillan Park scandal, for instance:

* The City has paid for a private PR firm to “neutralize” public opposition to the McMillan giveaway, and to give “cover” to elected-officials about this bad deal;

* $500,000 District dollars has been spent on legal services from Holland and Knight, a premier private zoning law firm to push the McMillan land deal forward;  And,

* Most recently, it has come to light that the City will be paying more than $75 million to destroy McMillan and prepare it for private development, but only get $27 million dollars to sell the land to the private developers.  The DC Tax Office has evaluated our 25-acres of public space about 1 mile from the Capitol at about $100 million dollars.  We believe the land after it is privatized and developed will be worth beyond $2 billion.

* And, the City will be paying for the so-called amenities at the site, like the recreation center, and public right-of-ways.  These are amenities that are supposed to be paid for by the developers in return for sweetheart deals.

There are many activities around McMillan Park to help you engage on this critical public land deal and to expose the ethical lapses verging on fraud in our City politic.  See this page >>  https://www.facebook.com/dc4reality

3) DCRA & CONSTRUCTION IMPACTS

The Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA) is the City agency charged with reviewing building permit applications and ultimately ensuring that construction is safely done in the District >> http://dcra.dc.gov/

It would seem DCRA has fallen down on their job, bigtime.

DCRA officials have ignored pleas from residents to protect their neighborhoods (https://www.facebook.com/stopthepopdc), and continues to issue permits with lackadaisical oversight (http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/DC-Orders-Brand-New-Condo-Building-Torn-Down-Citing-Dangers-to-Water-System-302480421.html), and blows off residents who are hurt by impatient and unsafe construction practices (http://www.wjla.com/articles/2015/05/southeast-neighborhood-blames-breathing-problems-on-nearby-demolition-fights-d-c-housing-authority–.html).

Interim DCRA director, Melinda Bolling, awaits confirmation from the DC City Council and there is a public roundtable scheduled to hear your comments this week on Thursday, June 18, 2015 at 2:00 p.m. in Room 500 of the Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW. 

BE THERE — Individuals and representatives of organizations who wish to testify at the public roundtable are asked to contact Ms. Faye Caldwell, Special Assistant to the Committee on Business, Consumer, and Regulatory Affairs, at (202) 727-6683, or via e-mail at fcaldwell@dccouncil.us

DCRA has been told to keep issuing the permits to overdevelop at all costs, and simultaneously continues to ignore the lurking issue of DC’s very real infrastructure collapse >> http://www.dc4reality.org/updates/category/updates#up3

4) ZONING REGULATIONS REWRITE DROPS

The highly controversial Zoning Regulations Rewrite has been dropped into the DC Register, and conveniently the Office of Zoning and Planning has ensured the public only has the summer while we are vacationing with our families to review the 1000 pages of changes >> http://www.dcoz.dc.gov/ZRR/ZRR.shtm

ANC’s are being asked to resubmit their prior ANC resolutions about the ZRR.

The bottom-line is that these zoning regulations have been found to be arbitrary and capricious by many people, including lawyers and its one-size-fits-all philosophy is not based on any meaningful studies or jurisdictional reports.  It’s all a gamble with the future of our City.  For more details of its impacts and lack of due process see this blog >>  http://dczoning.blogspot.com/

Check out the archive of the terrible process of review and how the Office of Planning has rankled people across the City >>
http://dcfeedback.com/zoningchanges/venus/press.php

Listen for more information and ask your ANC’s to weigh in soon!

5) IMPORTANT ARTICLES



6) UPCOMING EVENTS

 

  • Our RFP — Parcel 42, Saturday June 13, 10:00am
    The Mayor wants to try out her new RFP process regarding public land deals, starting with Parcel 42.  If this RFP process is anything like Hine School or the West End deals, then the taxpayer will be paying for the costs of amenities and privatizing the land. So be there this Saturday to witness more semantic word play and call it out!  FMI: http://dmped.dc.gov/OURRFP_Parcel42
 
  • Support EmpowerDC, June 15th
    Donate to an amazing grassroots organization fighting to protect the residents of the historic Barry Farm community in Ward 8.  They need your help to keep 400 families from being displaced by DCHA into homelessness.Link >> http://www.empowerdc.org/index.php?page=donate
 
  • DC Ferguson, June 16th, 7:00pm
    WHAT: DCFerguson Movement protest against racist, militarized policing in Washington, D.C. and across the nation.
    WHEN: June 16, 7:00PM
    WHERE: Mt. Vernon Sq.
    FMI: https://www.facebook.com/events/865978560116129/
 
  • The Marriot Marquis Coverup, June 19th, 10am
    http://www.onedconline.org/juneteenth?utm_campaign=juneteenth
    Location: United Black Fund, 2500 MLK Jr Ave SE.
    The City spent hundreds of millions of dollars to build a hotel, and got a paltry number of jobs for locals in return.  Be there at OneDC’s press conference which will expose this TIF sham.
  • Hipster Fascism Art Opening, June 20th
    The Fridge opening Reception Saturday,  June 20, 6 – 11pm, free and open to the public >> http://www.thefridgedc.com/

There’s Snow Update Like This Update [DC4RD]

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Good citizens seeking good planning in the District , here’s the latest update from the DC for Reasonable Development team.

 Menu:

 1) Upcoming City Council Hearings

 2) DC’s Infrastructure Collapse

 3) McMillan Park :: Climate Folly

1) UPCOMING COUNCIL HEARINGS

http://dccouncil.us/news/entry/performance-oversight-and-budget-hearing-schedules-slightly-updated

==================================
TOMORROW, FRIDAY, MARCH 6 — 12PM
Oversight hearing on DC’s Planning Agencies
http://dccouncil.us/events/committee-of-the-whole-boh3
==================================

There may be a hearing tomorrow about DC’s planning agencies, the Deputy Mayor’s Office on Planning and Economic Development (DMPED), the DC Office of Planning (OP), and the DC Office of Zoning (OZ). The hearing starts at Noon in Room 500 of the Wilson Building located at 1350 Pennyslvania Avenue NW.

In the case you are not able to come to the Wilson Building to testify tomorrow, or if the Wilson Building is closed tomorrow, you can send in your testimony about the bad planning in the district to the Committee Clerk, Cynthia LeFevre, clefevre@dccouncil.us or call her directly at 202-724-8092.

In shaping your testimony, DC4RD suggest the following points and topics. If you want to send us your testimony draft, we’d be glad to support you with case studies, data, links, and any edits to help.


DC4RD offers these suggested points of contention with DMPED:

* DMPED is brokering deals, terms of which are not made available to the public either before or after the deal is signed. DMPED will not put details of the deals on their website as required by law.

* DMPED’s deals tend to giveaway public assets, like DC land and public buildings. Once DC’s limited public property is given away, its rarely ever comes back.

* DMPED defines affordable housing as studio/one-bedroom units at $1,500 a month.

* DMPED is hiring private firms to discredit the communities that are opposed to their deals.

* DMPED mischaracterizes public amenities which they say the developer pays for, but which ultimately the public pays for.

* DMPED purposely undervalues the price of public land, so when the deal is struck developers are paying for our land at significant discount, sometimes getting our assets for a $1.

DC4RD offers these suggested points of concern with the Office of Planning:

* OP does not conduct robust studies of projects, particularly large luxury projects so to identify and attempt to mitigate displacement pressures and to evaluate infrastructure needs.

* OP is pushing forward 1000+ pages of zoning changes using a one-size-fits-all model without meaningful review of possible impacts their changes will have on DC’s future.

* OP disregards community outreach and input from many Wards where low income families predominantly live, like in Wards 5, 7 and 8.

* OP does not use the work and efforts of planning initiatives of other jurisdictions to model their work from.

* OP has done nothing to mitigate the affordable housing crisis in the District, despite being a central planning organ which is supposed to raise up the principles of “Building an Inclusive City” as found through the DC Comprehensive Plan.

* Planning should be removed from under DMPED. DMPED is focused on “economic” development and the best deal they can give developers, whereas municipal planning encompasses many points of evaluation to improve the built urban-landscape such as parks, infrastructure, and mitigating displacement. OP should not have to report to DMPED on major planning projects.


DC4RD offers these suggested points on the Office of Zoning:

* The Office of Zoning ought to have a People’s advocate or commission so to help everyday laypeople get a sense of their rights in administrative cases before the Zoning Commission. Right now the structure at OZ is set up to serve developers rights, but there is little in the assistance in guiding DC residents to the rules, to their rights, and to better outcomes for the interests of the people.

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TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2015 — 10AM

Oversight hearing on DC Public Schools and the DC PUBLIC LIBRARY.

http://dccouncil.us/events/committee-on-education-poh4

=========================================

Please testify about your public schools and libraries on Tuesday. In particular, we want less charter schools and more charter-school accountability and we want to make sure the programmatic planning of what’s happening inside MLK library is done by all Eight Wards and by people of all backgrounds, including teens and children.


2) DC’s INFRASTRUCTURE COLLAPSE

DC’s municipal infrastructure is failing and the under belly is collapsing under its own isht. Literally >> http://www.dc4reality.org/updates/148#up4

Here’s John Oliver’s great satirical take on how important municipal infrastructure is, and why we need the City to prioritize upgrading and improvements to our utilities structures instead of funding private soccer stadiums >> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wpzvaqypav8

Let’s make infrastructure sexy.



3) MCMILLAN PARK

Wow, with the recent news of the Mega-Drought, its making DMPED’s decision to tear out McMillan’s underground and historic water storage and filtration facility seem like foolish folly that will bite us in the not to distant future. Where will Congress get their water when the drought comes east.

Here’s some solutions and ideas:

  1. Save McMillan Park >> http://friendsofmcmillan.org/

  2. Get this going locally now >> http://www.theverge.com/2015/2/26/8112889/vertical-farm-wyoming-hydroponics-grow-food

  3. The City can install these awesomely cool pipes >> http://magazine.good.is/articles/portland-pipeline-water-turbine-power


PLEASE SEE ALL OF DC4RD’S UPDATES HERE >>

http://www.dc4reality.org/updates/category/updates


Please see DC4RD online Resources here >>
http://www.dc4reason.org/resources

Civic Inquiry Update: Gathering, Reportbacks, & Upcoming Hearings

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===========
DC4RD 2015
===========

DC for Reasonable Development hosts a gathering this Thursday Night (2/12/15, 6:30PM, Shaw Library)

On this night, we will explore critical civic inquiries:

  • What is “affordable” housing and to whom?
  • What of Barry Farm; Congress Heights; Park Morton; the homeless count is soaring — why?
  • Pop-up’s and pop-out’s — just the tip of the iceburg when it comes to the over development represented wholly within the DC Office of Planning’s (OP) 1,000+ pages of proposed zoning changes called the Zoning Regulations Rewrite (ZRR)! Come find out why.
  • What City agencies are involved and are they doing good by the people?

Meet with people from around the City concerned about answers to these critical civic issues and set some action moving forward.

THIS THURSDAY — Feb. 12, 6:30 to 8:00pm
@ Watha T. Daniel / Shaw Public Library
FMI: Chris O. 202-810-2768; dc4reality@gmail.com

===============
–REPORTBACKS–
===============

Here are some recent reports from groups seeking civic feedback from DC residents:

  • The Talking Transition team, with the help of DC Vote, recently published a summary report from their forum held at the Washington Convention Center in mid-January. The highest concern among attendees, “Rent is too high and a lack of affordable options.”
    See the full Talking Transition summary here >> http://tinyurl.com/talking-transition-2015-report
  • This past weekend, the Housing for All team held a rally for diversity and affordability in our City. A great many guests witnessed the Mayor, Muriel Bowser push for at least $100 million dollars in annual public funding of the Housing Production Trust Fund (HPTF).  According to the DC regulations, the HPTF, “shall be to provide financial assistance to non-profit and for-profit developers for the planning and production of low, very low and extremely low income housing and related facilities.” For more info about the HPTF, visit >> http://tinyurl.com/dcmr-hptf-regs

=================
–ANNOUNCEMENTS–
=================

Menu:

1) DC4RD at C-100 Luncheon, Feb. 18
2) DC for Democracy :: EXELON UPDATE
3) Barry Farm Citywide Forum, Feb. 22
4) UDC BLSA at the National Championships
5) DC Education: “State”wide Planning
6) DC City Council Agency Oversight Calendar


1) DC4RD at C-100 on Feb. 18

DC4RD will be on the February 18th Committee of 100 discussion panel regarding development trends in the District.

A key question we have to ask ourselves: What guidance does the DC Comprehensive Plan offer in times when housing prices are increasingly unaffordable for most?

The DC Comprehensive Plan is one the City’s most progressive documents >> http://www.tinyurl.com/dc-comp-plan

Learn more about the C-100 here >>
http://www.committeeof100.net/who-we-are/

top of menu


2) EXELON UPDATE:

Keith Ivey of DC for Democracy recently shared a report showing, “Only 6 percent approv[ing] of it.” That is to say, only a handful of people want EXELON to takeover Pepco and control DC’s municipal electric supply.

Continue to fight it. Send a letter. Here’s an online form to help >> http://www.powerdc.org/take-action.html

DC for Democracy meets tomorrow,Wednesday, February 11, 2015 at 7pm at Ben’s Chili Bowl (1213 U St, NW).

top of menu


3) BARRY FARM CITYWIDE FORUM
* 400 DC families threatened by displacement!!
SUNDAY FEBRUARY 22, 2015, 2:00 to 5:00pm
Anacostia Public Library, 1800 Good Hope Road SE
(green line metro; 90 buses)
* dinner and childcare provided *
http://www.onedconline.org/barryfarmforum

Contact: Schyla@empowerdc.org // 202-234-9119

MORE BF NEWS: Residents Block Racist Developer Bus Tour through Barry Farms >> http://tinyurl.com/bus-stop-barry-farm-1-30-2015

top of menu


4) UDC-BLSA at the Mock Trial Nationals

The University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law Black Law Students Association Mock Trial Team has qualified for the National Championship.

For more info, visit >> http://www.law.udc.edu/news/215403/UDC-BLSA-Mock-Trial-Team-qualifies-for-Nationals.htm

top of menu


5) DC SCHOOLS & EDUCATION

Mary Lord, DC State Board of Education, At-Large member, recently shared upcoming hearings to discuss DC’s “State”wide Accountability Planning >> http://osse.dc.gov/service/elementary-secondary-education-act-esea

top of menu


6) DC City Council Agency Oversight Calendar

Make sure to let the Council know how each agency is doing and ways they can be improved >> http://tinyurl.com/dc-council-2015-perfo-hrgs

top of menu

==============
–LAST ITEMS–
==============

  • REMINDER :: This Thursday Night, 6:30pm, Shaw Library :: Bundle up to tear down the mirage of DC’s bad planning Thursday evening!DC for Reasonable Development Gathering
    @ Watha T. Daniel / Shaw Public Library
    This THURSDAY, February 12, 6:30 to 8:00pm
    FMI: https://www.facebook.com/dc4reality
  • For AMAZING ONLINE RESOURCES, visit >>
    http://www.dc4reason.org/resources

 

 

DC4RD Premier Gathering 2015

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Please put DC4RD’s 1st Public Meeting of 2015 on your calendars:

DEVELOPMENT ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION
Thursday, February 12, 2015
6:30pm to 8:00pm
LOCATION: Watha T. Daniel/Shaw Neighborhood Library :: Main Public Meeting Room

  • Discussion on definition of “affordable” housing
  • Update on major civic projects: Barry Farm; McMillan Park; MLK Library; ZRR; and more…
  • Explore National / International planning & development protocols & trends
  • Action Brainstorm / Implementation
  • Calendar of Events & Direction Review

[ feel free to bring your literature ]

PLEASE RSVP:
Chris O. 202-810-2768,
dc4reality@gmail.com
www.dc4reason.org

SUPER Big UPDATE :: DC’s Development News

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Before the big game, check out the games being played with future of DC’s development. We need a people’s SAFETY!

——-
MENU:

* DC4RD Gathering, Thurs, Feb 12
* The Empire is Collapsing || DC’s Infrastructure
* Q & A with Zoning Chairman
* Barry Farm Bus Tour Stopped
* McMillan Park at HPRB Again
* MLK Library Update
* Changes in Planning: DMPED || OP
* Zoning Regulations Rewrite (ZRR) is Wrong

 

===CALENDAR===

Please put DC4RD’s 1st Public Meeting of 2015 on your calendars:

DEVELOPMENT ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION
Thursday, February 12, 2015
6:30pm to 8:00pm
LOCATION: Watha T. Daniel/Shaw Neighborhood Library :: Main Public Meeting Room

* Discussion on definition of “affordable” housing
* Update on major civic projects: Barry Farm; McMillan Park; MLK Library; ZRR; and more…
* Explore National / International planning & development protocols & trends
* Action Brainstorm / Implementation
* Calendar of Events & Direction Review

[ feel free to bring your literature ]

PLEASE RSVP:
Chris O. 202-810-2768,
dc4reality@gmail.com
www.dc4reason.org

====

THE EMPIRE IS CRUMBLING

On January 27, 2015, Ms. Anne Renshaw, President of the DC Federation of Citizens Association, hosted Mr. Anthony Hood, Chair of the DC Zoning Commission (past 17 years), and Ms. Sara Bardin, Director of the DC Office of Zoning for a public panel.

DC FEDERATION OF CITIZENS ASSOCIATIONS :: video series :: ZONING CHAIRMAN, ANTHONY HOOD, Public Q & A >> http://tinyurl.com/fca-hood-bardin-panel-jan-2015

NPR’S TAKE ON GENTRIFICATION :: MetroConnection series on Displacement >> http://wamu.org/programs/metro_connection

BARRY FARM :: Activists fighting to protect this historic Land Trust of the Freedman’s Bureau :: Adrian Todman still aiming to demolish and displace 400+ families living at the Farms >> http://tinyurl.com/wapo-bf-nov-2014
SPECULATORS GET STOPPED :: A busload of “investors” came to observe development “spaces” in Ward 7 & 8, including Barry Farm, so they got on a fancy bus with the publisher of the WBJ. These depressant colonizers got stopped and shamed by our Peeps on the ground >> https://twitter.com/WBJonline/status/561179681421279232?s=04
BF CONTACT :: Schyla Pondexter-Moore >> schyla@empowerdc.org, 234-9119 :: http://empowerdc.org/

—-[Must see::MCMILLAN PARK]—-
“In their own words…” column by Andrea Rosen >>
http://www.dc4reality.org/updates/24
SEE MCMILLAN PARK >>
http://friendsofmcmillan.org/gallery/

DC’S CENTRAL PUBLIC LIBRARY UPDATE >>
http://dclibrary.org/print/46975
—->Consider Becoming a FRIEND OF THE MARTIN LUTHER KING JR MEMORIAL LIBRARY
* Contact: Robin Diener, 202-431-9254, info@mlklibraryfriends.org
http://www.mlklibraryfriends.org/

62 of the World’s Most Beautiful Libraries >> http://mentalfloss.com/article/51788/62-worlds-most-beautiful-libraries

DMPED REUNITED and it doesn’t feel so good — Kenner is back >> http://mayor.dc.gov/release/mayor-bowser-names-brian-kenner-deputy-mayor-planning-and-economic-development
* Unfortunately, privatization of public assets for the lowest price is Kenner’s forte, see >> http://www.thewestendheist.org

MORE BUREAUCRATIC NEWS: Ellen McCarthy has been jettisoned; There’s a new Office of Planning Director >> http://tinyurl.com/wcp-shaw-new-op-dir-jan-2015

->Check out Ellen McCarthy’s performance at NCPC about MCMILLAN PARK >> http://www.tinyurl.com/mcmillan-playlist

SCHOOLING AROUND
The great charter school rip-off: Finally, the truth catches up to education “reform” phonies >> http://tinyurl.com/salon-charter-schools-oct-2014

MUNICIPAL INFRASTRUCTURE UPDATE: Fail
Yes, it is true, the underside of DC is collapsing under its own isht. Literally >> http://www.dc4reality.org/updates/4#overdevelopment

SEA RISE FOR REAL?
http://mashable.com/2014/12/20/washington-dc-sea-level-rise/

ZONING REGULATIONS REWRITE >> DC Office of Planning’s everlasting underlings Jennifer Steingasser and Joel Lawson are plowing forward with utter disregard for basic planning protocols >> http://tinyurl.com/zrr-op-text-dec-18-2014

Q: What kind of local government reorganization could happen regarding local planning if the District of Columbia were to become a State?
http://dc.gov/page/statehood

===CALENDAR===

Please put DC4RD’s 1st Public Meeting of 2015 on your calendars

Thursday, February 12, 2015
6:30pm to 8:00pm
LOCATION: Watha T. Daniel/Shaw Neighborhood Library :: Main Public Meeting Room

* Discussion on definition of “affordable” housing
* Update on major civic projects: Barry Farm; McMillan Park; MLK Library; ZRR; and more…
* Explore National / International planning & development protocols & trends
* Action Brainstorm / Implementation
* Calendar of Events & Direction Review

[ feel free to bring your literature ]

PLEASE RSVP:
Chris O. 202-810-2768,
dc4reality@gmail.com
www.dc4reason.org

ITOW: McMillan Park & the Historic Preservation Review Board

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“In their own words…”

Guest columnist: Andrea Rosen

Topic: McMillan Park & the Historic Preservation Review Board

On January 29, the Historic Preservation Review Board held hearings on two matters concerning historic landmark McMillan Park: one, regarding its subdivision (HPA 15-133); and the other pertaining to a new, larger design for a residential mixed-use building (HPA 15-090).

I submitted testimony regarding the subdivision, which I am posting here in revision.

As someone untrained in law and the doublespeak that is part and parcel of that profession, I continue to believe that the proposals put forth by the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development and Vision McMillan Partners for the McMillan Park Reservoir historic district are illegal. It boggles the mind that HPRB continues to consider and rule on the intensive redevelopment of McMillan Park, given its own finding in 2013 that the proposed demolition required by the redevelopment master plan is “inconsistent with the purposes of the Preservation Act, as it will result in the demolition of important character-defining features of the McMillan Park Reservoir landmark.” To build a case that the demolition and development should go forward on the shifting sand of such a finding inexorably brings to mind the phrase “house of cards.”

Historic Preservation Office staffer Steve Callcott at least partially recognizes this inherent contradiction in his report on DMPED and VMP’s application to subdivide the McMillan Sand Filtration Site, which he describes as

“a single unified site that still maintains its original boundaries and site organization.” Like the proposed demolition of the underground cells, the subdivision of Lot 801 “into multiple parcels for the purpose of redevelopment is not . . . compatible with the goal of retaining and enhancing the landmark.”

Looking for precedents in rulings by the Mayor’s Agent on subdividing historic sites that were “single unified site[s] that still maintain [their] original boundaries and site organization,” Mr. Callcott comes up with only one, Tregaron, the 20-acre early 20th-century estate in Cleveland Park that, like McMillan, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. But there any similarity between plans for the two properties ends.

The Mayor’s Agent approved the development of Tregaron, according to Mr. Callcott, because “the conceptual proposal was exemplary in terms of its architecture and land use planning.”

At Tregaron, the 20-acre landmark was divided into two large lots: One lot, of six acres, is home to the several buildings of the Washington International School. On the remaining 14 acres are three single-family residences built on established streets (two on Macomb Street; one on Klingle Road), clustered on a single acre hugging the property’s edge; and 13 acres never to be developed, where the historic parkland is being restored.

Thus 65 percent of the original 20 acres is preserved as contiguous green space; the remainder is subject to low-density development. Now that’s a project of special merit consistent with the Preservation Act and the Comprehensive Plan!

At McMillan, about 6 contiguous acres out of 25 acres of open space (less than 24 percent) are retained, at the southern end of the site. One does not need training in historic preservation or architecture to see at a glance by comparing VMP’s renderings with photographs of McMillan as it stands, largely unchanged except for the absence of trees (shorn by our city government), that the intensive development of the remainder of the McMillan Sand Filtration site obliterates the site’s defining characteristics above ground, and—as has already been established–below ground.

“[T]he subdivision of the McMillan Sand Filtration Site is incompatible with the character of the landmark ,” to again quote Mr. Callcott’s report, and furthermore, it is inconsistent with the purposes of the Historic Landmark and Historic District Protection Act, which are “to retain and enhance historic landmarks in the District of Columbia.” To first demolish more than 80 percent of the subterranean structures that won the protections of the Preservation Act, and then to build on almost 80 percent of the open space that is a defining characteristic of the 25-acre greensward, cannot be “consistent”—or in Zoning Commission-ese, cannot be “not inconsistent”–with the Preservation Act. To describe it as such would be Orwellian. The Board should take a field trip to McMillan and kick a ball across an acre or so. The great open spaces are pure exhilaration, and not to be replicated or even sensed at VMP’s 1960s-era planned community.

So I must take issue with Mr. Callcott’s recommendation that despite the incompatibility with its character of subdividing the landmark, the HPRB ought to reconfirm to the Mayor’s Agent that design choices mitigate this incompatibility.

Such a position strikes me as akin to admiring the clothes of the naked emperor. It seems that only in the tripartite division of the site, consisting of, from south to north: (1) lawn; (2) low-, medium-, and now, high-rise buildings; and (3) high-rise “medical” office buildings, can real-estate development boosters use jargon to paper over the fact that nothing will be left of the historic McMillan site. (As someone trained in Art History, I know how verbiage can be convincing even when it’s empty.) Our HPRB apparently considers the continued use of such terminology a real triumph in historic preservation. But those who know the iconic place now will not recognize it after VMP is done with it. People who have not had a chance to visit will have no clue what preceded VMP’s suburban outcropping.

The HPRB should not act as an arm of DMPED, despite its misbegotten position in the hierarchy of that office. I urge the Historic Preservation Review Board to remember its regulatory function as steward of the District of Columbia’s tangible history and to deny the subdivision of McMillan Sand Filtration Site.

“In their own words…”

Guest columnist: Andrea Rosen

2014 Wake Up Call; 2015 Action & Solutions [DC4RD]

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DC for Reasonable Development (DC4RD)

This is the first update of 2015 from the DC for Reasonable Development all-volunteer team.

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1) MCMILLAN PARK AND BARRY FARM

2) PROPOSED ACTION ON THE ZONING REWRITE

3) OVER-DEVELOPMENT AND INFRASTRUCTURE COLLAPSE

4) UPGRADING DC’S INFRASTRUCTURE: WHERE’S THE MONEY?

5) 2015 — ACTIONS AND SOLUTIONS
* Talking Transition this Saturday
* MLK Parade & Events this Weekend
* Black Lives Matter Petition & Activities
* Impact Hub Happenings

6) JOIN THE RESISTANCE

 

First, a look at 2014 — The last quarter of 2014 was frightening.

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1) MCMILLAN PARK AND BARRY FARM
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As predicted the DC Office of Planning and DC Zoning Commission performed well for the developers this past fall, approving City deals giving away major public parcels: 20 acres at Barry Farm in Ward 8, and 25 acres at McMillan Park in Wards 1 & 5, among approval of many other development projects >> http://www.dcfeedback.com/fit2print/

Instead of stepping up for the people this winter, the Council looked away, let things slide, no questions asked. Instead, Councilmembers bent over backwards to fund a private soccer stadium with more than $150 million in public funding of site preparation costs and tax abatements to the wealthy soccer team owners. Check out this link by DC for Democracy >> http://www.dcfordemocracy.org/2014/11/14/dc-for-democracy-opposes-the-soccer-stadium-deal/

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2) PROPOSED ACTION ON THE CONTROVERSIAL DC ZONING REWRITE
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Meanwhile back at the Zoning Commission, these planning hacks razed the roof on capricious behavior and voted to take proposed action on the controversial DC Zoning Rewrite (ZRR) >> http://www.dcoz.dc.gov/news/2014/news111814.shtm

This means the Office of Planning working with attorneys for the Zoning Commission are preparing to publish their edited version of the new zoning text for the DC Register fairly soon. How did they get to this point?

In several hearings in October, Zoning Commissioners boiled down hundreds of pages of public testimony into one statement, for or against the proposed changes or alternative text. Zoning Commissioners did not demand the Office of Planning provide reports, studies, or review other jurisdictional zoning changes to determine how the proposed changes could adversely affect the City.

It’s amazing how ineffective DC’s Office of Planning staff has been with regard to the ZRR compared to how other cities have updated their zoning code >> http://dczoning.blogspot.com/2014/04/learning-from-philadelphia.html

DC for Reasonable Development made the case for how arbitrary the ZRR is at a forum with DC’s first Attorney General candidates back in October >> http://www.dc4reason.org/agshowcase/

And, in September, there was a Citywide letter calling out the bad planning being borne of the Zoning Commission and DC Office of Planning >> http://www.dc4reason.org/openletter.php

So far calls by neighbors throughout the City for better planning, as such based on a logical evidentiary process and that serves the needs of the people, have gone unheeded by City officials.

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3) OVER-DEVELOPMENT AND INFRASTRUCTURE COLLAPSE
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The end of 2014 and beginning of 2015 is sadly proving our predictions about how the unreasonable over-development happening in the City right now challenges all long-term DC residents who love this City — threatening our property interests, and our lives.

Pipes are cracking, sink holes are opening up, massive methane leaks are bubbling away, drinking water is being threatened, and our transportation modalities are stressed beyond capacity leading to accidents and death.

It is clear that the bad planning resulting in massive over-development is pushing DC’s underlying archaic and largely unmaintained infrastructure to collapse.

~Look at how real this problem is despite how much priority the soccer and public land giveaways apparently take up in the minds of City officials. See these links below.

* Maxed Out Metro Capacity and Efficacy

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/crews-work-to-fix-12-inch-water-main-break-in-downtown-dc-that-snarled-commute/2014/12/16/181a3934-853b-11e4-a702-fa31ff4ae98e_story.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/1-dead-dozens-hurt-on-metro-car-filled-with-smoke/2015/01/12/e832c0f0-9aa8-11e4-a7ee-526210d665b4_story.html

* Old Cracking Pipes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTOm0e3P1yg

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/crews-work-to-fix-12-inch-water-main-break-in-downtown-dc-that-snarled-commute/2014/12/16/181a3934-853b-11e4-a702-fa31ff4ae98e_story.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dr-gridlock/wp/2014/12/17/water-main-break-closes-part-of-15th-street-nw-in-dc/

http://www.wjla.com/tag/water-main-break/

* Water quality issues

http://www.wusa9.com/story/news/local/2014/12/17/do-not-drink-advisory-northwest-dc/20549207/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_contamination_in_Washington,_D.C._drinking_water

* Sinkholes Gaping Open

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/washington-dc-sinkhole/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dr-gridlock/wp/2014/01/30/sinkhole-opens-up-in-southeast-d-c/

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Sinkhole-to-Close-Southbound-GW-Parkway-for-Rush-Hour-284418891.html

* Methane Leaks

http://www.livescience.com/42632-washington-natural-gas-leaks.html

http://www.npr.org/2014/01/16/262911327/aging-pipes-in-d-c-create-about-6-000-natural-gas-leaks

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4)UPGRADING DC’S INFRASTRUCTURE: WHERE’S THE MONEY?
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Last Monday, Council Chair Phil Mendelson was on the Kojo show admitting that DC’s infrastructure is “falling behind” but gave the impression City officials are scratching their heads as to where they will find funding for upgrades >> http://thekojonnamdishow.org/shows/2015-01-05/breaking_down_local_infrastructure_breakdowns

Mendelson failed to acknowledge at all how the Office of Planning (OP) and Deputy Mayor’s Office for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) together have done little to nothing in forging a long-term plan to upgrade and maintain the critical municipal systems that serve the new luxury hotels, restaurants, condos, and large office buildings which politicians consistently tout as positive growth.

In fact, OP and DMPED have dismissed entire Chapters of the DC Comprehensive Plan which is supposed to guide the City’s growth over twenty year periods >> http://www.tinyurl.com/dc-comp-plan

Particularly ignored have been those elements of the Comp Plan which demand that corporate developers be compelled to contribute to upgrading municipal infrastructure around their large-scale and newly minted corporate developments >> http://districtdynamos.org/dc_laws/2012/comp_plan/comp_plan_ch13_infrastructure.pdf

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5) 2015 — ACTIONS AND SOLUTIONS
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So here we are, on the precipice of seeing our City become a corporate mall, rotten at the core and crumbling underneath, transforming with its pale façade of new urban singles with money to burn who largely care not of the culture and history of the long-term DC residents and families who have been here for generations.

This twisted nightmare is being played out on the stages of planning and zoning, economic duress, and police brutality on the streets.

It’s time to wake up, revive our dissent which may have taken a nap over the holidaze, and move to Defend the District and our right to a positive future made by good planning that seeks open and transparent collaborative decision-making with the people who have lived here and want to make a long-term home here.

~ Here’s some upcoming events and links to stay engaged!

===* Talking Transition this Saturday *===
Please join several hundred other DC residents from all eight wards on Saturday, January 17 at the Convention Center for a facilitated and dynamic discussion to prioritize important issues and choices facing our city. Lunch will be provided. The event is sponsored by the Urban Institute, DC Vote, the National Institute for Civil Discourse and DC Working Families and Space is limited, so register for Talking Transition DC in order to guarantee your place at the table here >> http://tinyurl.com/tickets-talking-transition
or goto >> www.talkingtransitiondc.org

===* MLK Parade this Weekend *===
http://washingtonpeacecenter.org/node/13796

===* Black Lives Matter Petition :: Stop DC Jump Out Squads *===
http://tinyurl.com/petition-dc-jump-out-squads
& a Teach-in >> http://washingtonpeacecenter.org/node/13792

===* Take a look at the Impact Hub happenings *===
http://hubdconline.org/hub-dc/

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6) JOIN THE RESISTANCE
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The McMillan Park and Barry Farm Deals, and the terrible Zoning Regulations Rewrite (ZRR) are not final, far from it. We will continue to build resistance to these terrible, fraudulent deals that steal our property for private developer gain.

Watch the videos on McMillan Park >>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhcm6AhPEzg
http://www.tinyurl.com/mcmillan-playlist

Check out our partners to organize in our collective struggles —
Empower DC >> http://empowerdc.org/
& One DC >> http://www.onedconline.org/

And, if by chance you are a progressive lawyer, architect, engineer, or other professional, we are especially looking for you to stand with us and the grassroots activists to demand reasonable development in the District.

Join the Resistance —
Please contact 202-810-2768, dc4reality@gmail.com
http://www.dc4reason.org

Thanks,
Chris Otten
ANC Commissioner 2008-2010;
2006 Mayoral Candidate (http://www.otten06.com);
Homeless services advocate;
Statehood activist;
Public property watchdog
202-810-2768

Bad Planning: Open Letter to the City Council and Mayor

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On September 15, 2014, the Coalition for Better Planning along with participants from DC for Reasonable Development and ONE DC gathered on the steps of the John A. Wilson building.

We rallied for better planning in the District, calling for a halt to the purposeful poor panning that is ripping our city apart and based on arbitrary and capricious decision by planning officials at the Office of Planning and Zoning Commission.

See DC4RD website for full update.