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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