Sunday, February 02, 2014

Vision McMillan Partners' community outreach efforts

See this message from Bloomingdale resident Mat Bader:

I just read the correspondence between Tania Jackson [of Vision McMillan Partners] and Andrea Rosen [of Ward 4] and can provide some clarification.   Ms. Jackson states in that exchange that "we [VMP] have held almost 200 meetings at this point, and been involved in planning and design with all of the surrounding neighborhoods."
                    
During the HPRB meeting in October, Jeff Miller of DMPED made a similar statement.   I inquired of Anne Corbett the basis for this statement to which she was kind enough to provide the following memo (see below).
                             
Hopefully you can post it to the blog to clarify the position of VMP as to the extent of community outreach.  This memo is slightly outdated (June 2013), but it gets to the heart of the matter. 
 
The document also references two surveys performed by VMP.   I can provide copies of these surveys if anyone is interested as, personally, I believe them to be misleading. 
                                 
Anyone interested can contact me directly at mathew.bader@gmail.com.
                                               

3 comments:

Daniel in brookland said...

Your DC sponsors are why the site is closed by a barbed wire topped fence. BLAME THEM VMP. And Jeff Miller with the Deputy Mayor, and formerly a Trammel Crow vice president, cancelled the tours that John Sallatti ran, in the underground caverns. BECAUSE TOO MANY PEOPLE WERE WAKING UP TO HOW SPECIAL MCMILLAN IS, and the benefit of adaptive re-use, not demolition and super-urbanization My God , what kind of miserable city is this, you and your marginal VMP work should go away. Any city in the world would have restored this park in 1986!
The restoration of McMillan Park will increase real estate values in the surrounding park side area. But, the VMP plan will make your houses the next place for the real estate investors to devalue, grab up, demolish and replace your block with more multi-unit development. It is already happening around the hideous, out of scale Catholic U.and 901 Monroe development in Brookland. It is called "warehousing".
A proper balanced real historic park side community will add desirable cool, shady, breezy park side housing in a balanced process.
The city will make revenue from healthy McMillan Park activities fees, and amazing "indoor agriculture" in the 20 acres underground. See amazing indoor farming video:
http://youtu.be/ILzWmw53Wwo
This agriculture can produce 5 to 10 times the vegetables and fruit of surface farming, use a tenth water, provide fresh fish in aquaponics, use no pesticides or truck transport from across the continent, fresher riper food. We can have all the things this neighborhood needs, including a full size market, with out 10,000 more cars a day, and a joke for a park. That is a mundane lawn,,,we need world class designs in park restoration,, Adaptive re-use of the existing land, under ground caverns and compatible concessions and commercial, can all be done with out VMP, or this mega-urbanization. The public owns this place, and the community can create all it needs, without handing billions to talentless developers.
We can make this happen, we can conserve this place, just as Sen. McMillan planned for us, are you so brainwashed that EYA/VMP is the only way to "move forward in DC".
Sorry I just believe the DC govt. has made such a miserable disaster here, the flooding, the waste of tens of millions, and we need parks, we can have the entire 113 acre reservoir site opened up for us, to jog, walk, like a real city. And extend this into AFRH, and Howard U. just like a real city where people matter.
The DC govt. let this neighborhood flood for decades.
Would the flooding of human sewage in the basements in Kalorama have waited 30 years for mitigation? Why in the world would you support this miserable embarrassment, called the DC govt.. go ahead keep supporting them, the ones not in prison yet. You are so scared to do anything for yourself, you let felons, embezzlers, and inbred incumbent hacks, elected by massive fraud to guide the future of DC. With this misguided government support, we are in real trouble here!
We need parks, we have McMillan Historic District Park, it's only you and other VMP supporters who are making this hard. JOIN US,,,why in the world would you let the DC govt. continue destroying the environment, the trees, parks, and taking our taxes to spend on their privileged constituents in upper NW.
Friends, a less SICK govt. would have re-planted McMillan in 1986, not wasted $250,000 a year on pollution for mowing this lawn,and a lush grove of trees would now be 100 feet, shading our picnics, and creating cool breezes as you enjoy a stroll to see the Autumn sunset.

TheCommiss said...

Mr. Bader you are saying the survey's are misleading??? Like the one Save McMillan did! Please since at the last moment you have joined MAG you have attempted to rehash everything that has been discussed on this site for the last 30 years!!! And now you say that someone lied. Please give me a break! Is Ralph Nader telling you this too!

TheCommiss said...

Ok Daniel, please stick to the stain glass business and your own neighborhood 1.5 miles away from McMillan. And are you suggesting that DC have the most expensive farm land in the world. If you think DC is a joke image the CNN report that DC will spent millions on 25 acres of farm land! Give me a Break! Create McMillan Park!