Thursday, 4 May 2017

Re: [WardFive] Re: [WARD5] Intowner condemns DC Govt actions on McMillan development

Hey LeRoy,

Let's be clear, there is nothing wrong with "Gentrification"! People of all cultures have the right to move where ever they want to. We (Black People -- especially African American Black People) have had these properties for a long time and many of us refused to make the best of them. Past Mayor, Mr. Berry tried to get the Black Churches involved in buying but .... and many of us moved out to places which had some land...and appeared to be best long term purchases. 

So... you are a beneficiary of this "gentrification" ... I do not see you refusing the increase of the value of your house!!

So... in Planning for a City, you have to be open to being inclusive... yes. So, if there was money for Street Cars from the Federal Govt, we need to utilize it if it helps us revitalize our community....I wanted Electric Buses but ... the problem was that they didn't properly organize the underground utility infrastructure and they lacked vision placing the Trolley Barn on Spingarm campus .... But remember, this is mostly to attract the birds to nest...part of which adds to the value of homes throughout the City! 

The problem is that they are never WRONG and they the show they put on regarding the "community's input" is JUST A SHOW... for the most part, they are influenced by the developers and the campaign financing ... and that's a problem. It would be nice from TIME TO TIME if they would be inclusive of the community's needs .... not just the new ones ... but which all would benefit. There is really no MEDIUM... and for the most part, they have lots of YES people around them....

Like Destroying McMillan now is kinda like Destroying a Pryamid years ago or the University at Timbuktu...Can you imagine 30/50/70 years or more from now giving tours of McMillan and education the next generation about water filtration which once served the city ... and them actually walking through the underground caverns which are being utilized for various purposes!! That would be amazing ...  

Anyways, watch this video... I am sure you have experienced much of what is being discussed. 

Some of us should pay close attention to 47:47 minutes/seconds into the video to the end and see the example of being bought  ... and the point that the teacher was attempting to make ... a MOREHOUSE MAN ... heck any Black Leader SHOULD KNOW that inclusiveness was part of the ******CIVIL RIGHTS DEMANDS*****... but as my Dad used to say ... Mouth-ar (Lip Service) and Guitar are two different things ...  you can talk about having community involvement and being GREEN or you can show it!! Our city leaderahip, while doing a lot of great things are still missing a lot of opportunities to be consistent with their approach to being "Green" as it relates to our communities and they are definitely not inclusive.

Perfect examples is Their McMillan approach and our new Chancellor doing like the rest ... putting us at a round table with a guide horse leading the conversations towards their agenda.. like we don't have a brain of our own. ...Thanks but no thanks....same sh*t being shovelled by different leadership...


In closing Sir Leroy...when is the last time that you have said anything positive about what our leadership have done...they must have done some good or great things!! Lets appreciate those things and be vocal about getting them to achieve more!!

I love what my Frat Brother signs his books and autographs with... Bro. John Lewis .... "keep getting in the way"!!

Rob Ramson..


On Tue, May 2, 2017 at 12:04 PM, LeRoy hall <lema@rcn.com> wrote:
No member of the City Council or the Mayor have responded to my charge of their Exploitation of Gentrification to advance their agendas.   They are unable to answer a single point.   If you believe I am judging the Council guilty until proven innocent, you're right.  Anyone who runs for a comfortable and very lucrative part time position must prove they are more than just smooth talking opportunists.  
 
How many political campaigns do we have to suffer through before our social needs are met?   How long do homeless, poor, low wage earners, senior homeowners and children have to wait behind dumb ideas like streetcars and stadiums to receive justice?
 
Demonstrations are greatly increasing against Trump, but unless we get out on the streets in great numbers against the Mayor
and Council they will continue to waste our taxes on their own agendas.   It's all about money.
 
The love of money is the root of all evil -----1 Timothy 6:10 
 
LeROY HALL
 
From: LeRoy hall
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2017 8:34 PM
Subject: Re: [WardFive] Re: [WARD5] Intowner condemns DC Govt actions on McMillan development
 
Very good l-o-n-g response, Rob. 
 
Bottom Line:  What the Gentrification Plan is all about.   There are many players taking advantage of it.  I'm just repeating what I have been saying for years.  Basically ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
- Our elected officials want to keep their comfortable jobs. - - - - -
 
They enjoy part time $130,000 positions with a paid staff who do the real work while the Council member displays out front.   They are double-dipping ambitious opportunists.   They exhibit very short attention spans while waiting for the end of your three minute testimony at hearings.   Their "oversight" of agencies should be called "overlooked" after all the damage has been done to our quality of life, character of our communities and our environment.    Ask Jack Evans why the Council overturned our citizen term limit initiative we passed years ago?
 
- Developers want as much profit as they can get. - - - - - Greed Trumps Need. - - - - - -
 
Big emphasis on stadiums, streetcars, condos, bike lanes, charter schools, taller buildings, higher density, less green space.   They buy our politicians and sell us our "amenities". 
 
- Republicans want more voters. - - - - - - Understandable - - - - - - 
 
  But they are waiting for a greater change in demographics before they actively recruit new members in DC.  Inclusiveness is not their strong point.   
 
- Racists want majority white residents. - - - - - -
 
The main reason DC has no voting representation in Congress.    Racists have never been able to stomach the fact that the city has had a majority black population in charge in "their" capital city.  
 
LeROY 
 
From: Rob
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2017 12:23 AM
Subject: Re: [WardFive] Re: [WARD5] Intowner condemns DC Govt actions on McMillan development
 
Good Morning All,
 
As I was reading the email sent by Eric Jones, I could only shake my head. Below I have dissected his statement (red) and my response in Blue

I hate to say this, but 10 years from now there will be complaining from all at the cost of this project when it is finally back on track and the folks who worked hard to help kill it (many who don't live in areas directly impacted) will have nothing to say

You really should reflectively examine why you use "hate to say this" .... this is who you still are, embrace it ...what you are saying is absolutely condescending. What makes you think that the folks (directly or indirectly impacted), who are exercising their right by law to object to what the Govt. is pushing down our throats at McMillan, will have nothing to say? Can you at least get of of your pedestal to understand that WE LIVE HERE AS WELL AND HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO VOICE OUR CONCERNS, WANTS, DESIRES, APPRECIATION for and about that space .... which is unlike anywhere else in our city...and we have a legal as well as a community right to want to preserve it's historical design? When will you start to appreciate our right and understand that we (communities) shouldn't be treated like we are just because the City Officials feel that they have the right to do what they want to do!

Furthermore, spiderman's uncle was a good man and didn't get killed in his own neighborhood ... so directly impacted or not, we are all impacted.

Because some of us don't look out of our window or live within a few blocks, should we not be able to appreciate that space?

Please tell me one development other than schools and renovations of existing Rec Centers that the City has developed which would be an inclusive space for residents of all ages to enjoy, relax, exercise (especially during the 5 cool and cold months), entertain, be entertained?

Where has the City planned GREEN to be inclusive of that as well as agriculture? Do we not deserve a place like that and isn't the McMillan site the most perfect space for that?

No one argues about developers building huge buildings downtown ... because that's probably the best space for those types of buildings. Why is it that our City Officials feel that they need to force this square peg in a round hole? As I have pointed out, there are so many other options for this "medical space" to be placed.

Can we, the residents of Ward 5 be right for once or are we all just too damn stupid to understand what our needs are?

The fact that you feel that in 10 years, we will have nothing to say either means we will be dead or finally come to some ERIC JONES realization that we were wrong all along!! Just so you know, even if we moved, while we are still living here, we should actively attempt to secure our historic sites as much as possible as well as exercise our RESIDENTIAL right to assist with best use and planning of our city properties!!    
 

Further, the ANCs for the area around this sitr haven't changed much in the last three or four elections so it shouldn't be hard to identify said Commissioner. With that being said if this anonymous commissioner is false in their claims it could be costly. Knowing that several of the past and current commissioners are members of the DC Bar it will be interesting to watch this play out.

WHAT IF THE STATEMENT IS TRUTHFUL AND SOME OF THE OTHERS JUST AREN'T SPEAKING UP? Why the focus (IF.....IS FALSE IN THEIR CLAIMS) on this being false, why not choose language "if claims are true"...but that shows your mindset! Why don't you add the approach ...if this is TRUE, it could be costly!!!

And then why is interesting to watch this play out ... your focus is a very sad approach ... why do we even need to go there. You should be equally concerned (vocally) about all the end runs/tricks/slick stuff which has been utilized by our govt officials and agencies to circumvent what so many in the community would like to see!!  But you can't have that opinion because it is not good for your pockets...Where is your voice of support to all the improper maneuvering

 Unfortunately, many of the long term residents who so desperately want to see such a plan move forward will more than likely never see it surface in any form. But such is life im old and new NIMBY communities

What if we could build something there which could transform the site into a amazing historic space, utilized for a more of what MANY OF THE LONG TERM RESIDENTS DO WANT .... there is a difference between having the site developed so it is transformed from an eyesore and developing it into what the City is pushing down our throats ....

To utilize your "legal language" ... who are these "SAID" long term residents who you have identified as "desperately wanting to see SUCH a plan move forward"?? I would like to know... I bet you can't name 40....maybe not even 25! We can name a lot more. I honestly have watched your scribble for years and you have always been challenged in your approach. It is sad...

To use your language again ... I HATE TO SAY THIS...but 10 years from now, I will be complaining that you are still talking just to hear yourself talk...your ancestors worked hard over their lifetime to fight for things which people in charge at the time tried to utilize their position and influence to override the rights of communities .... so that the negative short and long term impact was minimized and here you go...just talking to be talking....

So, such is not life... Life could be much less stressful ...what if we had options for that space other than what the Developers and the City is trying to force? Why don't we have options or is that how you feel that it should be? It is sad that a "Black Man" as yourself or any other Black Person would support or utilize similar tricks and approaches which were utilized throughout history to minimize rights ...

The irony of this and so much of how our city operates is that our own Black leaders don't even see themselves using a slight "Jim Crow" approach to suppression of community input/involvement/rights. Some of you have missed so much of actual Black History .... as much as you say that you don't, you are still disillusioned by still believing that Christopher Columbus discovered America and Jesus is a European man...so much so that folks like you don't mind turning your head while we (black, white, yellow, pink, green, etc., ) who are fighting for a better option for all of the community, get fire-hosed by those in power!

I will tell you like I told 901 Monroe folks .... walk away and I guarantee that there will be a long line of developers who will develop what the entire community would enjoy ... especially with all the financial assistance which the City is willing to give ... and still provide a similar return to the City over 30 years!!

Wake up Brother...stop sniffing, it is not a good look ... you might be labeled a permanent "brown-noser"!

Rob Ramson
 
 
 
 
 
On Sun, Apr 23, 2017 at 2:33 AM, Eric J. Jones <ejjones.threed@gmail.com> wrote:
I hate to say this, but 10 years from now there will be complaining from all at the cost of this project when it is finally back on track and the folks who worked hard to help kill it (many who don't live in areas directly impacted) will have nothing to say.
 
Further, the ANCs for the area around this sitr havent changed much in the last three or four elections so it shouldn't be hard to identify said Commissioner. With that being said if this anonymous commissioner is false in their claims it could be costly. Knowing that several of the past and current commissioners are members of the DC Bar it will be interesting to watch this play out.
 
Unfortunately, many of the long term residents who so desperately want to see such a plan move forward will more than likely never see it surface in any form. But such is life im old and new NIMBY communities.
 
On Apr 23, 2017 1:34 AM, "Rob" <indianrob@gmail.com> wrote:
Hello Sir LeRoy,
 
I think an assumption that those who are not heard from are clueless and apathetic is a terrible assumption. While we may have a lot who are not informed or do not care enough to be informed or choose not to be involved even when they are informed, there are a lot of people just realize that is almost futile to fight our City Officials and their funders.
 
So many of the city officials and city workers want to make a difference but often times the difference stack is prioritized based on those who fund their campaigns, what the planners of the City would like done and what would get them re-elected...and our City workers just want to keep their jobs.
 
Think about the amount of time we humans lose in order to stop people from building on Brookland Green, Brookland Middle not owning Turkey Thicket, etc... Remember the overflow tank being installed for Bloomingdale...easiest solution but for years they avoided it because the residents were expendable and the city had their own long term plans...which did not involve keeping feces out of basements in Bloomingdale. Now it is being installed because "gentrification" is here. BTW -- I was blamed for wanting Golf in Schools because I was interested in Golf for my daughter who was 3 at the time .... like I need them to teach her anything -- couldn't be that I was simply interested in what was a best case approach for our kids ..applying a model that an entire industry is built on ...The National FIRST TEE Golf Program! 
 
Imagine, we had Spingarm School Cluster with Browne, Young and Phelps adjacent to a entire sports facility, land to build more spaces like a Olympic Swim Pool and enough public housing around to influence change for an entire community ..and a GOLF COURSE (FIRST BLACK GOLF COURSE..how historic) to teach our kids "life skills" (something First Tee focuses on) but our Officials couldn't see the Value in that Cluster location to create as one of the 1st School Clusters for our KIDS ... it was too much like right!
 
SO I am not sure who is better off...those who fight for things but lose life's most precious commodity ... TIME!! I only wish I could get my time back because I feel so helpless in the fights we have partaken in ... whether we won or lost, WE LOST... and I can't get my time back. AND that's the saddest part of all of this ...
 
The irony is that our City Officials talk about things like Statehood, Trump -- his Tax Returns and the litany of his issues, Racism, etc and yet they constantly do exactly the same to us. We are in an endless cycle of madness. Imagine ... we have a new Chancellor who reported that we somehow we are on target with a 75% graduation rate yet we have so many who are at a 20, 30, 40, 50 percent proficiency in Math and Reading! I don't know what math he is looking at but ....I tried to talk to him and he turned what I was saying to him not believing in a US and Them ... well "our kids" are the ones having the issues and Their Kids are not ...at least not in this city ... so it is about US (our kids) and Them (their kids) ....Not Us and Them as Human Beings!!! 
 
Now, every time I start thinking of being involved, I slap myself on my head. Isn't it amazing ...WE LIVE IN A CITY WHERE THE CITY OFFICIALS STILL ARE PART-TIME EMPLOYEES BUT YET RECEIVE $130,000 PLUS....AND OF COURSE, full time jobs elsewhere and/or benefits ....maybe a guaranteed job at a later date!! WE CAN'T even expect A SIMPLE DECISION TO MAKE THE COUNCIL MEMBER POSITION A FULL TIME POSITION...Isn't that SAD!!
 
I keep saying that President Trump is not doing anything that our own local leaders aren't doing to us in some way or fashion --- he is just on a larger scale! I think that I am going to get a cup of coffee and take a ride on the Trolley sometime over the next week, get off at the end by Langston Golf Course ... But what do we know...I wish some of us mere humans had a brain!
 
-- Remember the Spiderman Story...Spiderman could have stopped the robber who killed his Uncle but stepped aside and let him go .. the ONLY reason I keep trying is that I hope and pray that a few could be helped so that less bullets find targets!! It could be me or my daughter or someone else or their child!! But what do I know...all I can say to those who try ... keep being a superhero...fight to prevent "Dark Money" from taking over as much as you are able to!!
 
Rob Ramson
 
 
 
 
 
On Sat, Apr 22, 2017 at 9:29 PM, LeRoy hall <lema@rcn.com> wrote:
Here's the problem.  We who are the few informed, involved, fearless, outspoken, concerned green residents, voters and tax payers have to carry on our backs the clueless apathetic majority.    They are basically worthless to any grass roots efforts to maintain a good quality of life
against the Gentrification of our neighborhoods just to satisfy developer's profits and elected official's payoffs.   The mayor and council are not our friends.  If they were, they would give us the respect we deserve as voters in a democracy.  Instead, they exhibit an arrogant attitude as though we are their subjects rather than their bosses.   They have taken advantage of Gentrification to maneuver older homeowners out to invite newer more affluent home buyers in.
 
Examples:  McMillan Park – All the facts are against their push for VMP development. Over 7,000 signatures and overwhelming testimonies
against.     Streetcars -  This incompetent City Government has wasted over $200 million so far.  They have denigrated public school property for a car barn.      Soccer - They are about to give away millions more for a soccer stadium.     Seniors -  They passed legislation a few years ago to give a property tax exemption and reneged and changed it to a deferral.   Housing -  Lower income citizens are stagnating on a long waiting list while upscale apartments and condos proliferate.     Jobs -   Their only answer is a bunch of Walmarts.     
 
Trump is NOT our biggest problem.   
 
LeROY
          
 
From: Rob
Sent: Saturday, April 22, 2017 1:51 PM
Subject: Re: [WARD5] Intowner condemns DC Govt actions on McMillan development
 
Just a very dfficult pill to swallow that so many "exceptions" and circumventions have been pulled out of the approval bag without any encouragement by the developers or the "friends" of... Is it so difficult to believe that one ANC felt coerced, pushed, rushed,  feel uncomfortable?? Do you want us mere humans (non ANC) to believe that all was done on the up and up with ANC 5E, yet so obviously slick with everything else??
 
Come on now Debbie ... it was like the lady who testified in support of McMillan but was forced admit that thousands of dollars was funder by the development team to her organization...even though most of her organization's argument contradicts the developers proposed development.
 
Anyone who receives money from developers and is looking for future funding cannot be seen as credible supporters of a project ... unless that person also identifies the known overall flaws, corruption, tricks, deception, underhandness, irregularities etc of that has been deployed ...
 
Any ANC, former ANC, person involved in this development also has the obligation to disclose any such impropriety...if known or suspected....or that should also be punishible...not necessarily by the "Law", but at least by public opinion.
 
Is there anything which you would like to share that may have occurred or was this process completely without impropriety or attempt at impropriety??
 
Please share what you do know or experienced ... we need all the help to support our focus on maintining the historical integrity of the underground cells/architecture of McMillan and finally having our City fund a true fully Usable Green Space ... remember, all which is being proposed can be fulfilled by other planned and soon to be planned developments in the immediated 1 mile radius!!
 
Thanks,
 
Your friend (exercising my right to disagree with you),
 
Rob (smile)
 
 
 
 
On Apr 22, 2017 11:32 AM, "Debbie Steiner" <dlsmith112@msn.com> wrote:
Further, have you seen the letter? If not, you have no creditability regarding my comments.  If you were, at anytime involved or seen this type of malfeasance then say so.  
 
From: WARD5@yahoogroups.com <WARD5@yahoogroups.com> on behalf of Debbie Steiner DLSmith112@msn.com [WARD5] <WARD5@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, April 22, 2017 11:26:09 AM
To: Rob
Cc: LeRoy Hall; Guy Durant; Edward (12st Architect) Johnson; Ward 5 Google Groups; friends-of-mcmillan-park@googlegroups.com; ward5@yahoogroups.com; Blair; jy; Kirby Vining, Friends of McMillan Park

Subject: Re: [WARD5] Intowner condemns DC Govt actions on McMillan development
 
 
Let's be clear Mr. Ransom... you are not were you ever an ANC for 5E.  Further, I am putting the 'truth' out there.  So again... if the letter is suppose to be from a Commissioner from. ANC 5E, they are in serious trouble... PERIOD
 
From: Rob <indianrob@gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, April 22, 2017 9:46:24 AM
To: Debbie Smith
Cc: LeRoy Hall; ward5@yahoogroups.com; Edward (12st Architect) Johnson; jy; Blair; Guy Durant; Ward 5 Google Groups; friends-of-mcmillan-park@googlegroups.com; Kirby Vining, Friends of McMillan Park
Subject: Re: [WARD5] Intowner condemns DC Govt actions on McMillan development
 
Good Morning,
 
All that I can say is WOW!!! Did you just attempt to convince the entire community that there was no pressure placed upon the ANC to take a vote .... and no relationship encouragement or other enticement utilized by the developers, city representatives, friends of, etc....
 
Unreal!!
 
While I was sleeping last night, did 5E just shift into a Utopian Society during that time that ANC 5E was involved with the McMillan development/developers? Seriously...
 
And now this "Trump" style approach of threatening a Lawsuit .... National Level approach to politics and "contracts" is not much different from our local approach level but yet we are so vocally upset with President Trump's approach!!
 
Hilarious....
 
Just so you are aware ... Zoning had to ask Office of Planning 3 to 4 times to further justify 901 Monroe ... and OP still couldn't do it...neither could Zoning. I will never be able to erase from my brain the Vice Chair admonishing OP for their inability to provide the Zoning commissioners proper validation to make the intent to approve an easier one. I actually felt bad for Steve .. representative from OP... who turned red in the face.
 
Anyways, as a supporter of smarter development and inclusive green/healthy approach to community development, it is sad to see that the awesome "green approach" report from our Mayor's Office yesterday still does not include a green approach to agriculture, recreation and lifestyle approach like McMillan could provide. There is absolutely no real parks, large enclosed recreational spaces, no real city agricultural space but yet our City touts "Green" from the rooftop of the Wilson Building!!
 
We don't all want to live in NOMA....it would be so nice for the City to be wrong in their current development approach just ONCE ... McMillan is just that place for our City to acquiesce!!
 
Rob Ramson
 
 
 
 
On Apr 22, 2017 7:50 AM, "Debbie Steiner" <dlsmith112@msn.com> wrote:
Referring to an ANC comments:  If the Commissioner who wrote this was from 5E, this is false.  And whoever decided to write the comments and take this route to defame the ANC 5E process is a lie and will be sued to the fullest extent of the law. 
 
 
From: WARD5@yahoogroups.com <WARD5@yahoogroups.com> on behalf of Daniel Wolkoff amglassart@yahoo.com [WARD5] <WARD5@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, April 21, 2017 11:19:56 PM
To: Ward 5
Cc: Jackie Young; Guy Durant; LeRoy Hall; Phil and Marypat; Edward M.; Rob Ramson
Subject: [WARD5] Intowner condemns DC Govt actions on McMillan development
 
 
 Jason Klien, Attorney for McMillan Coalition for Sustainable Agriculture speaks at UDC Law School Forum on McMillan followed by questions and answers can be viewed starting at 55:13.]


It seems to me that the  Atty Genertal should now be prodded into action against VMP and EYA as the letter presents allegations of attempted bribery of a government official (ANC's)  This would appear to be a credible cause of action I believe, e.g.  Offers of emoluments with clear monetary value ..The AG could issue subpoena's, do discovery and bring down the entire house of cards ... Now, let's see just how INDEPENDENT our new AG really is !
jerome Peloquin
 
 
This message is also posted at the Bloomingdale Neighborhood blog: http://bloomingdaleneighborhood.blogspot.com/2017/04/intowner-mcmillan-park-redevelopment.html
 
McMillan Park Redevelopment Sinks Further into the Muck
Published: April 18th, 2017
By William G. Schulz*
http://intowner.com/2017/04/18/mcmillan-park-redevelopment-sinks-further-into-the-muck/
Accompanying images can be viewed in the April 2017 issue pdf
A series of early April filings with the DC Zoning Commission  raises the smell of corruption and levels of bureaucratic muck now surrounding — perhaps engulfing — the city's highly controversial plans to redevelop McMillan Park Reservoir, an historic site which spans the Bloomingdale and LeDroit Park neighborhoods just to the west of North Capitol Street and the seven-square block Stronghold neighborhood across North capitol in Northeast.
Through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, Friends of McMillan Park (FOMP) — the neighborhood organization long opposed to redevelopment of the site as planned by developers Vision McMillan Partners (VMP) — has produced more documentary evidence of credible allegations of malfeasance and bribery that the city has long kept buried.
The filings with the Zoning Commission are part of so-called "remand hearings" now being held in response to a DC Court of Appeals decision issued Dec. 28, 2016, that brought VMP's project to a screeching halt. As reported by The InTowner, in a unanimous decision by a three-judge pa nel the court vacated the commission's remapping and Planned Unit Development (PUD) decisions that were a greenlight for subdividing and redeveloping the 25-acre McMillan site. In fact, Mayor Muriel Bowser held a groundbreaking ceremony at the site just one day before release of the court's decision which effectively shut the project down once again.
One of the newly released documents, a June, 2011 letter to former Mayor Vincent Gray, from an anonymous ANC 5C commissioner, stated that the commissioners were "being bombarded and even bullied to take a vote on the McMillan development plan by MVP, particularly EYA [one of the developer partners that also includes Trammel Crow and Jared Lynch]. We have been offered gifts of money, meals and ball game tickets, etc. They have approached us with offers to help us in 'anything. . . . This is corruption and it comes at a time when the city is already under scrutiny. . . ."
The letter writer further stated, "I understand that McMillan has been a long time in the making, but it is not fair that we are being pushed to the point of being bullied to hurry up and vote of [sic] this."
Another letter uncovered through the FOIA process and filed by FOMP with the Zoning Commission strongly rebuts VMP and the city's conclusion that VMP's high-density development of the site is the only plan that can work:
"The demolition of 90% of the underground vaults, paired with new construction of buildings reaching up to 115 feet high, is not necessary," Paul Millstein, a vice president of local developer, Douglas Development Corporation, wrote to city officials in October 2014. "Proceeding with such a design would be destructive to the fabric of the land without just cause. The cost-reward implications to the community and to the District does not justify such a high-density development."
The DC Mayor's office and City Council have been repeatedly criticized for choosing VMP through a questionable, no-bid contract, and for also refusing to hear credible alternatives to VMP's radical redevelopment plan.
Kirby Vining of FOMP and the McMillan Park Advisory Group says he has information that the Mayor's office may be conducting an investigation of the criminal allegations made by the anonymous ANC commissioner to former Mayor Gray.
The McMillan project remains on an indefinite hold as the Zoning Commission tries to make its way through the list of remands from the Court of Appeals. Jason Klein, one of the attorneys who argued the case for FOMP and affiliated opposition parties, suggests that is a tall order.
"What the [court] said was not that what the Zoning Commission did was not allowed, but the way they went about it is illegal," Klein told a University of the District of Columbia Law School-hosted forum in late March. The Zoning Commission picked the policies that supported their plan and ignored the rest, Klein said. "The court said to the Commission, 'you can't just do whatever you want and give some willy-nilly justification after the fact.'"
Klein is skeptical that VMP's project will restart anytime soon. On its remand, the court made clear that a repeat of arguments in favor of the project won't cut it. Justifications for remapping and rezoning the McMillan site must be based on additional and sufficient evidence to sway the court. What's more, Klein said, any appeal of the DCCA ruling would have to go to the U.S. Supreme Court where it is unlikely to make it on to the high court's docket.
[Editor's note: Klein's forum talk,
followed by questions and answers can be viewed starting at 55:13.]
FOMP's Vining says he thinks the city, at this point, is holding public hearings to save face while city officials figu re out what to do next. The scheduled hearings are now stretching into late April and early May.
Klein didn't elaborate at the UDC Law School forum, but another critical portion of the court's ruling held that a designation by the so-called Mayor's Agent giving the McMillan site "special merit" status to allow higher density and height development as well as destruction of otherwise protected historic structures on the site, was not valid. Such special merit designations, the court ruled, must be justified with extensive documentation that the city ignored almost entirely. The VMP plan, for example, would mostly destroy the remnants of a 19th century engineering marvel — the old sand filtration units and underground caverns once used to purify the city's drinking water that in part gives the site its historic landmark status.
As a key to unlock all of the VMP project, the lack of a special merit designation forces VMP and the city into a complete do-over.
And now the documents made public by FOMP's efforts would seem to further undermine the city and the developer's increasingly shaky arguments, justifications, and legal contortions to allow them to subdivide the site, erect high-density office buildings, new housing and retail space while leaving the city with but a shadow of the original parkland for public use.
Still, it has begun to seem that nothing VMP and city officials do in relation to McMillan Park is too outrageous or scandalous to discredit the project or quell their determination to move forward. While city officials and VMP long ago stopped speaking to the media about the project, they have announced no plans to give up on or significantly recalibrate the project.
Years of reporting on the McMillan Park Reservoir redevelopment by The InTowner reveals the widespread and strenuous objections of city residents about the lengths officials are willing to go to see VMP's plan happen:
Using taxpayer dollars to hire a PR firm to discredit VMP's opponents; flouting open-hearing and competitive bidding laws to keep VMP — with little or no justification — as the development team; ignoring land use covenants that conveyed when the parkland was purchased by the city from the federal government some 30 years ago; and, perhaps worst of all, for all of those 30 years keeping the beauty and sweeping vistas of the McMillan Park Reservoir site off-limits to the public, and behind a strong, chain-link fence.
* Associate Editor William G. Schulz, a resident of Dupont Circle since the 1980s, has been a journalist specializing in science and investigative reporting for over 30 years.
 
 


Daniel Goldon Wolkoff
Adams Morgan Stained Glass
1231 Randolph Street, NE
Washington, DC 20017
Tel: 202-232-8391
www.adamsmorganstainedglass.com
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R. Ramson
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R. Ramson
1440 Newton Street, N.E.,
Washington D.C., 20017
202-438-5988

"We must become the change we want to see" - Mohandas Gandhi-
(Together, for a Brighter Tomorrow)
 
CONFIDENTIALITY STATEMENT:  THIS MESSAGE IS INTENDED ONLY FOR THE USE OF THE INDIVIDUAL OR ENTITY TO WHICH IT IS ADDRESSED AND MAY CONTAIN INFORMATION THAT IS PRIVILEGED, CONFIDENTIAL AND EXEMPT FROM DISCLOSURE UNDER APPLICABLE LAW.  IF THE READER OF THIS MESSAGE IS NOT THE INTENDED RECIPIENT, OR THE EMPLOYEE OR AGENT RESPONSIBLE FOR DELIVERING THE MESSAGE TO THE INTENDED RECIPIENT, YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT ANY DISSEMINATION, DISTRIBUTION OR COPYING OF THIS COMMUNICATION IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED.  IF YOU HAVE RECEIVED THIS COMMUNICATION IN ERROR, PLEASE NOTIFY US IMMEDIATELY BY TELEPHONE, AND RETURN THE ORIGINAL MESSAGE TO US AT THE ABOVE ADDRESS VIA THE U.S. POSTAL SERVICE.  THANK YOU.




 




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R. Ramson
1440 Newton Street, N.E.,
Washington D.C., 20017
202-438-5988

"We must become the change we want to see" - Mohandas Gandhi-
(Together, for a Brighter Tomorrow)

CONFIDENTIALITY STATEMENT:  THIS MESSAGE IS INTENDED ONLY FOR THE USE OF THE INDIVIDUAL OR ENTITY TO WHICH IT IS ADDRESSED AND MAY CONTAIN INFORMATION THAT IS PRIVILEGED, CONFIDENTIAL AND EXEMPT FROM DISCLOSURE UNDER APPLICABLE LAW.  IF THE READER OF THIS MESSAGE IS NOT THE INTENDED RECIPIENT, OR THE EMPLOYEE OR AGENT RESPONSIBLE FOR DELIVERING THE MESSAGE TO THE INTENDED RECIPIENT, YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT ANY DISSEMINATION, DISTRIBUTION OR COPYING OF THIS COMMUNICATION IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED.  IF YOU HAVE RECEIVED THIS COMMUNICATION IN ERROR, PLEASE NOTIFY US IMMEDIATELY BY TELEPHONE, AND RETURN THE ORIGINAL MESSAGE TO US AT THE ABOVE ADDRESS VIA THE U.S. POSTAL SERVICE.  THANK YOU.




 

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