Thursday, May 23, 2013

Email from Brookland resident Daniel Wolkoff to a staffer of DC Council Chair Mendelson

More from Brookland resident Daniel Wolkoff regarding Bloomingdale's 25-acre McMillan Sand Filtration site:


To: Jessica Jacobs Council Chairman Mendelson legislative Assistant
       Jjacobs@dccouoncil.us 202-724-8038
From: Daniel goldon Wolkoff
Amglassart@yahoo.com  202-232-8391

Ms. Jacobs, thanks so much for our talk today on McMillan. You were very patient with me, and I appreciate that very much. Totally aside from the historic signifigance, McMillan is our only "great place" to have a Glen Echo arts, performance and educational campus to help our families and young people build community and a major tourist destination off the Mall. 

We must recognize realistic limitations, a great city park is already there. This is not the remaining green space between 50 buildings. With that logic of cramming in everything and  of excessive crowding, we would get a section of Rock Creek Park ceded to the District from the federal government and put a Walmart in there!

When you think back on the last 30 years of McMillan, it is hard to believe a government could act this way. My points to WAMU reporters Julie Patel and Patrick Madden, investigating DC Govt. and Developers "symbiotic relationship", is that it is not based on democracy, the consent to be governed. Or legitimacy. This is like a mad scramble to fillup, use up, and make big profits from public land, license, irresponsible zoning, and at what cost? We don't have sound planning, or a greener city, over-urbanization is not a healthy thing.

How could Senator McMillan, come from Michigan, over 100 years ago, with the great open undeveloped expanses that existed, no environmental movement, and still be so truly visionary along with Olmsted and the City Beautiful Movement. It is specifically their elegant, gracious plans for DC that our present day group of "so-called leaders" are erasing, paving under and ending that higher quality of life potential forever.
      
We do need the Emerald Necklace, as you know our side of the city is hotter, congested, losing mature trees, and plagued by extremely destructive flooding. Had the parks and trails of the Emerald necklace been realized, the flooding may never have happened and McMillan would be the "destination" and "great place" enjoyed, benefitted by everyone.
     
The imbalance, prejudice, and preferential treatment lavished on upper NW is unacceptable andit is specifically Chairman Mendelson, and the council's job to correct it. The lack of healthy, green, wooded areas is wrong, your council has failed miserably and shown how little people in the eastern side of the city are valued. It has unfortunately been their quiessence that has permitted this injustice. Ironically it was finally thjis long deserved rejection of Fenty's favoritism that got Mayor Gray elected, along with campaign fraud. "ONE CITY" really,really, really, as long as we go along and he gets along to deliver our precious wealth to Vision McMillan Partners, and the upper income clients they sell our resources to.
   
I would make all my efforts, and many who are like wise concerned,  with staffers of the city council committees, chiefs of staff and our city departments, to join in a park renewal taskforce. To work with First Lady Michelle Obama, on access to recreation, urban gardens, and realize the sensible open space at McMillan we need and makes sense for the city.

Parks are development, including comercial adaptive- reuse of existing structures that is  appropriate, and limited. This  is what all good urban planners accomplish everywhere in the country. Parks are development, and they increase property values, not speculative real estate investors warehousing adjacent neighborhoods as the mayors type of development proceeds. It is the lopsided monopoly forced on the city by these council members and mayor that is the problem and it is abuse!
    
My testimony to the now derailed and bypassed Historic Preservation Review Board is below, a sensible do-able plan for the true multi-use of McMillan.
  
Please share this "inspirational vision for the park" as council member Cheh described it, with colleagues on the council and others with the common sense to understand.
   
Thank you so much, 
Daniel Goldon Wolkoff

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