To: "friends-of-mcmillan-park@googlegroups.com"
Sent: Tuesday, September 24, 2013 12:12 AM
Subject: PRESS RELEASE -- Councilmember Bowser Urged to Push for Competition on McMillan Development
PRESS RELEASE
Friends of McMillan Park
For Release: September 24, 2013
Councilmember Bowser Urged to Push for Competition on McMillan Development
Friends of McMillan Park is urging Councilmember Muriel Bowser, chair of the Council’s economic development committee, to formally ask Mayor Gray to hold an international design competition to select the best proposal for adaptive reuse of the historic landmark McMillan Park Sand Filtration Site. Members of FOM are testifying at the hearing the Councilmember is holding on Tuesday, September 24th and will make this request in person.
"Our hope is that open competition will produce a plan that both preserves this national landmark Olmsted park and encourages a sophisticated development taking advantage of the site's many unique qualities, such as the breathtaking vaulted arcades in the underground filtration chambers,” said Anna Simon, a Bloomingdale resident and member of the Friends. “We are asking for Councilmember Bowser to help stop the suburban-like, cookie-cutter development plans proposed by the Gray Administration and open up McMillan’s future to the best, most creative thinking possible.”
The Mayor, via his Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, is pushing the destruction of McMillan Park via a multi-million-dollar, sole-source, no-bid development consulting contract awarded to Vision McMillan Partners (VMP) (a consortium consisting of Trammell Crow, EYA, and Jair Lynch). This contract violates best practices regarding open bidding on public development projects. The Mayor’s plan also includes hundreds of millions of dollars of cash subsidies to the private developers in addition to the proposed sweetheart giveaway of invaluable public parkland. To make matters worse, in an effort to maximize profits, VMP has gutted the Mayor’s plan of senior and affordable housing.
FOM has collected over 4,500 handwritten signatures (about half from Ward 5) on a petition to save McMillan, one of DC’s first de facto integrated parks. The Mayor’s plan for McMillan Park includes 12-story buildings and minimal park space, which would lead to traffic gridlock and increased neighborhood flooding.
###
Here we go again! there was a competition...That's over now! Now all you NIMBY"S want it your way or the highway, I suggest you take the highway. That ship has sailed. Why all the misinformation and lies! FOM does nothing but tell half truths and blatant lies in order to push their personal agenda. These folks put their personal interests ahead of the interests of all DC residents and taxpayers. time to call it the way it really is instead of LIES!
ReplyDeleteFOM at it again at least they are consistent in their lies.
ReplyDeleteNope. There was never any open competition for this version of McMillan. There was a previous public RFP beforehand in the 1980s....but that didn't result in any firms selected. VMG was selected from 5 groups that were SHORTLISTED by the DC gov't. This was in no way an open and fair call for proposals and there was no public participation in the decision of either the winning group or the concept. In fact, we don't really know on what basis VMG was shortlisted or selected. But again, this isn't really in any contention...it's easily resolved by simply doing a little research on the Washington Business Journal... just look here in black and white:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2007/07/30/story14.html
http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/print-edition/2011/12/02/dc-hands-over-initial-mcmillan.html?page=all
This is a long way from a free open fair and public procurement process. In the thick of it are all sorts of now infamous personalities (Thomas, Brown...etc).
if you think that there was a fair and open bid...please show me the other bids, concepts and budgets? You can't. There aren't any. Let's end this sort of stupidity... and get history straight. This was a shortlist situation and it was done by the NCRC and the deputy mayor and mayor. In fact, just do your research and you find that McMillan has long been an asset that is the subject of various vague and shifty deals, land swamps..etc. If you accept and argue that this is all water under the bridge and they can do what they want with public land and assets. ...well that's one thing...but let's not remake history falsely.
Further, in that first citation....you'll see that VMG during this initial shortlist process doesn't include Trammell Crow. Typical gov't procurement procedures dictate that the teams can't change signficantly without needing a rebid (take it from me, i write proposals for gov't money all the time) .....but where did Trammell Crow come from and why? Seems like someone is picking and choosing according to some unknown criteria. Again. Not TRANSPARENT.
ReplyDeleteLet say there was no competition and every thing you say is true. FOM would still be complaining and protesting so the competition thing is pointless. FOM wants it to be some sort of giant community garden with solar panels and that is all they will ever be happy with so bringing up the point about it not being bid out properly really isn't what it is all about
ReplyDeleteI've been told that this Press Release is factually inaccurate and that in fact no member of FOM urged CM Bowser to push for competition on McMillan by calling for an International design competition.
ReplyDeleteIf this is the case I would expect that the FOM and this site would issue a retraction and an apology, as well as an explanation.
"This site" just posted a message from the Friends of McMillan. I have no idea if the press release is valid or totally fabricated. "This site" will not be issuing a retraction or an apology.
DeleteOk, now take a deep breath, hold it. You will turn blue before FOM owns up to saying something factually wrong or an apology
ReplyDeleteWell the point here is, regardless of FOM's agenda, the processes being employed by the DC gov't to handle this project are highly unusual. Some might even say that, given the personalities involved, highly suspect. In any event, take that away the sketchy factor and you still have a rather convincing argument that this land--which is public land and a maintained by public taxes-- and which is worth probably in the how many tens of millions of dollars--should be treated using standard, nay even best, transparent procurement practices. That would be a free, fair and open RFP with attending bids which can be reviewed publicly. Then the gov't can make it's choice given criteria openly defined and agreed upon with the city council and the public. An open design competition, based on the design of the new development would be even better and more in keeping with how these things are being handled in other cities like NYC and Chicago. But whatever. The design is one thing, but the ability for civil society to have significant oversight and a say in the selection is i think something that is fundamental to a real democracy.
ReplyDelete