The People`s Plan for McMillan Park

From ANC 5C03 Commissioner Hugh Youngblood:

Dear Neighbors,

 

Tonight`s ANC 5C Special Meeting will include an eye-opening presentation of The People`s Plan for McMillan Park by the McMillan Park Committee and Collage City Studio. This creative alternative master plan for the McMillan Park site delivers an equitable solution to the McMillan problem by balancing the City`s objectives for economic development and increased tax base with 87% of the community`s call for the site to include at least 50% contiguous public park space. To learn more, please attend tonight`s ANC meeting starting at 8pm at St. Martin`s Catholic Church located at North Capitol & T Street NW. The meeting will take place in the Pioneer Room accessible through the below-grade entrance on T Street NW.

 

On a related note, last week`s McMillan Advisory Group (MAG) meeting yielded an interesting takeaway. The revelation began when the skilled salespeople/lobbyists from the Vision McMillan Partners (VMP) in attendance artfully convinced almost all the MAG members that the community`s interest would be best served by minimizing the amount of green space and the size of the swimming pool to be included at McMillan Park. VMP`s logic was that, for example, an Olympic-sized swimming pool would attract swimmers and swim teams from all over the District of Columbia to travel to McMillan Park, much like the Wilson pool now serves as a destination for swimmers seeking DC`s best-in-class facilities. This mingling of ``other people`` with locals at a monumental pool in Bloomingdale, they alluded, would somehow erode the sense of community in Stronghold, Bloomingdale, and our adjacent neighborhoods. One could apply the same logic when evaluating the need for contiguous public park space, as more open green space on which kids could play ball, for example, would certainly attract more sports teams eager to play on the best public playing fields that their tax dollars could offer.

 

This example discussion from the MAG meeting illuminates a fundamental unanswered issue about the McMillan project -- do we intend for McMillan Park to be a neighborhood-only club, a world-class destination, or something in between? I would personally love for McMillan Park to serve as a world-class destination for education, recreation, and cultural heritage. What are your thoughts?

 

Please join us for tonight`s meeting at St. Martin`s to share your thoughts directly with Advisory Neighborhood Commission 5C, Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie, and Councilmember Michael Brown.

 

Thank you,

 

Hugh

 

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Hugh Youngblood

ANC, SMD 5C03

202 . 630 . 2262

@ANC5C03