Let’s Take A Walk…
On an eerie Halloween afternoon, the DC Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) voted unanimously to approve the Gray Administration’s proposed master plan and design guidelines for McMillan Park, and to send the proposal to the Mayor`s Agent to seek a demolition permit. This brings us one frightening step closer to replacing our vast open green space with a suburban office park reminiscent of Tyson’s Corner containing 13-story office buildings, lackluster townhouses, and chain stores. Here’s a roadmap outlining the next steps in the administrative and political processes.
Many of you testified at the HPRB hearing, and many more sent eloquent letters to the Board stating your opposition to the proposed plan. Thanks to your tremendous efforts, the Board received over 60 letters condemning the development proposal.
Meanwhile, the Mayor’s development consultant, Vision McMillan Partners (VMP), has doubled down on its publicity campaign, releasing new, colorful images distorting the scale of the park portion of its design, starting a new Twitter account, and announcing that they intend to break ground in mid-2014. They’ve even started using our language, tweeting that supporting VMP will “help MAKE this industrial site a public park.”
Although it’s easy to get discouraged by the turn of events at the HPRB, we are continuing and expanding our fight to save our historic landmark Olmsted park.
Join us Saturday, November 16th at 9am for a demonstration walk around the Park.
Starting at Big Bear Café, we’ll walk north through Bloomingdale, circle McMillan Park, and end at St. George’s Episcopal Church, where VMP will be holding a community Open House from 10am until 1pm. At the Open House, we’ll respectfully make it clear to VMP that we disagree with its plan to demolish and overdevelop our Central Park. We’ll also have a table showcasing community development alternatives—ways to adaptively re-use the Park without destroying the architectural features that make McMillan special and define its historic character.
Bring your friends, family, strollers, and pooches for this peaceful walk, and purchase a “Save McMillan Park” t-shirt to wear during the demonstration. All proceeds go to the Save McMillan Park legal fund.
We hope to see you on Saturday the 16th
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