question as a Bloomingdale resident in support of the wishes of the residents of Shaw/Bates/Truxton Circle neighborhood (and community as a whole)

See this comment from a Bloomingdale resident:

Would the answer to the problem in a community of too many liquor stores be to take an abandoned building in the area, build a shiny new liquor store, provide on-site security and dedicate a ``space`` for an arts use somewhere in the liquor store?

It`s a rhetorical question and ridiculous on its face as a solution. But that`s precisely what I believe in spirit LAYC is proposing, including the so-called compromises they have offered. They don`t seem to get the point. The community is opposed to the social service component of the project – read: Section 8 housing for troubled youth or whomever – not the charter school.

In fact, the neighborhood went on record in support of another charter school proposal (KIPP, I believe) which included arts uses as a significant part of its design and redevelopment not some corner room use and, most importantly, did not have a social service component to its proposal. Just making use of an abandoned building – which continues to be the recurring theme in LAYC`s argument – in and of itself, is not something the community ought to accept as a good thing.

If you still don`t get it, just ask the resident homeowners who now live (or used to live) on O Street NW what a great use S.O.M.E. has made of those once-abandoned/vacant buildings, and then ask any resident within a 10 block radius what they see every day as an outcome .