open letter regarding McMillan to VMP, Friends of Millan, and the greater Bloomingdale community

See this open letter from Jeff Morrow:

To the Vision McMillan Partners, Friends of McMillan, and the greater Bloomingdale community,

I write because I feel like a voice has been absent from the increasingly destructive discussion surrounding plans for McMillan.

Though I’m wary of claiming to represent any group of people, I sense that there are many residents like myself who are increasingly repelled by the tenor of the discussion, who do not see the debate as humanity’s last stand against tyranny, and who would like to see a reasoned and respectful dialogue on how to best utilize the McMillan site.

Many of us would love to turn McMillan into a world-class park destination, verdant and with high-end public facilities; the Collage City plan is undeniably beautiful. We are, however, skeptical that such a goal is feasible, and we worry that rejecting other solutions while trying to will such a thing into being would end up perpetuating the status quo: an aesthetically interesting, but inaccessible no-man’s-land that partitions our neighborhoods.

We are nonetheless open to persuasion and discussion, with no axe to grind. We have concerns about the VMP plans, as well as a healthy skepticism of our city government and its relationship to corporate developers.

I have, since first being approached to sign the McMillan petition, sought to educate myself on the issue. I have watched video of the HPRB meetings, read the websites and releases of VMP and FoM, read coverage from local blogs, read the DC Regs at 10-A2016, etc.

With that in mind, I pose a list of open questions that none of the existing material resolves. The answers to these questions would genuinely help us to know where we stand on the issue, in a way that propaganda and creative hashtags cannot.


Questions for VMP

(1) To what extent are your most recent plans---specifically the parts involving greenspace and mixed-income housing---guarantees, and to what extent are they subject to change? Under what conditions, if any, would they be subject to change after final approval by the city? What would be developed first, the office buildings or the green space?  Put simply, what defenses do the community and the District have against a bait-and-switch?

(2) Do you plan to make any further changes pursuant to the suggestions of the HPRB in their April hearing? At what point do you consider your design final?

Questions for FoM

(1) How much would an alternative plan like Collage City (or similar) cost? And who would fund it? Are there any potential public/private partnerships? Are there projections for revenue it could generate?

(2) Is there any indication from the city that they’d ever be amenable to such a project? Are there any (non-ANC) elected officials who have expressed support for the Collage City plan or any alternative? Is there any precedent in DC for a project like the Collage City plan?

(3) Is there any indication that the VA would be open to turning over the land north of Michigan, as indicated in the Collage City plan?

(4) Affordable housing is a serious concern as the housing stock in Bloomingdale steadily changes hands from lower income to higher, often with a developer in between. Is there any plan for genuinely mixed-income housing to be added under any FoM-supported alternative scenario?

(5) Fact sheets and press releases claim the VMP development would produce "gridlock traffic"; is that based on a numerical estimate, or is it speculative?

(6) Is the city under any contractual obligation to VMP? If so, is the expectation that they’ll renege on the contract and face liability, or that they’ll pay VMP to exit?

These are earnest questions that would be useful to citizens like myself who are looking to make informed choices. We may not see the issue as one of apocalyptic significance, but we care deeply about our community and hope to remain productively engaged.

And if you're still reading, thank you.

Jeff Morrow