I decided to place his comment as a separate post here. (So, no -- this is not a new, second comment from George Crawford.)
I have lived in the 2300 block of First Street, NW (two blocks from the McMillan Sand Filtration Site) since 1985. I served as President of the Bloomingdale Civic Association from 1988 through 1990. In 1990 the civic association adopted a resolution supporting development of the site. The resolution supports development of the park, community facility, housing for senior citizens, a day-care facility for seniors and children, a library, police substation, and affordable housing for low-and moderate-income families.
My family and many of our neighbors have watched this community grow and change over time, and have considered many proposals for McMillan through the years. While there have been many different ideas for the site, one thing has remained constant: the fences have stood as a permanent barrier for decades.
Since 2007, this community has been working with the Vision McMillan Partners (VMP) team to create a development that will benefit the entire community – and I think we have gotten pretty close. Of course, we can’t always make everyone happy, and as we are all well aware, this has been a contentious issue over the years. But I must say that the overwhelming majority of my neighbors are excited to finally have open, usable and walkable space. We are excited for a much-needed grocery store and other local retail. We look forward to walking with our children and grandchildren in the park and appreciate the citywide housing needs that will be partially addressed with new, affordable residential buildings. And we are eager to benefit from the significant local investment that this development will bring.
My family and many of our neighbors have watched this community grow and change over time, and have considered many proposals for McMillan through the years. While there have been many different ideas for the site, one thing has remained constant: the fences have stood as a permanent barrier for decades.
Since 2007, this community has been working with the Vision McMillan Partners (VMP) team to create a development that will benefit the entire community – and I think we have gotten pretty close. Of course, we can’t always make everyone happy, and as we are all well aware, this has been a contentious issue over the years. But I must say that the overwhelming majority of my neighbors are excited to finally have open, usable and walkable space. We are excited for a much-needed grocery store and other local retail. We look forward to walking with our children and grandchildren in the park and appreciate the citywide housing needs that will be partially addressed with new, affordable residential buildings. And we are eager to benefit from the significant local investment that this development will bring.
While I understand that this project can ignite passions, it bothers me to see our neighbors verbally attacking each other in community meetings, and accusing others of being “paid off” because they support the project. This article from Jazzy Wright talks about supporters as if they didn’t exist before VMP enlisted troops to help us organize. I find it offensive that people would think that my opinion isn’t real or valid because I can’t attend every meeting or respond to every blog posting. What happened to reasonable, respectful conversation? It is a shame that because of this behavior, I have seen many neighbors feel threatened or intimidated to express their feelings at community meetings and events. There are neighbors who want to put the “Create McMillan Park” sign in their yard but are reluctant.
Neighbors for McMillan isn’t a shadow campaign created to trick the community into supporting the project. We are as genuine of a group as Friends of McMillan is, but our tactics may be a little different. Our goals are to stay positive and just ask others who support the project to make their voices heard in a way that is most comfortable to them. I hope moving forward we can keep the conversation positive on both sides. And most importantly I look forward to celebrating with everyone the day those fences come down and we’re able to enjoy the new park and amenities as a united community.
George, i think that there are people on all sides (there are more than two) that want to engage in respectful conversation around this topic. Everybody is passionate about their viewpoint and there are some people that are disrespectful on all sides. I think that we need to 1) all get a thick skin realizing that once this thing is done it won't have torn the community apart; 2) reach out to the folks that do want to engage.
ReplyDeleteFrom how i see it, there are three distinct viewpoints: FOM doesn't want the VMP proposal, but wants a park primarily with a much less intensive development. I can respect that point even if i don't think it's totally realistic) NOM likes the VMP proposal and supports it (I can respect that viewpoint). The MAG folks are in between .... seeing at once some potential in
the present plan, but really insisting that some major changes be made to make it more useful for the community and higher quality in general. All of these points can be respected.
Outside of this however is the way that VMP has dealt with the communities around the neighborhood...engaging them ostensibly but in reality sidelining them with regard to the real points of the design, the architecture. I was involved in all the meetings and have followed the entire thing from 2007 onward. I can tell you that very little of what was said at any of the community engagement meetings was included in the VMP design. In fact, VMP has behaved with arrogance saying "They have no intention of changing anything in the plan." (verbatim Corbett). This sort of thing is difficult to respect given that this land was owned by the public for decades and maintained with public taxes....and that VMP is being paid taxpayer money to come up with the designs. When you see the inner workings with the ANC5E and all that...it's sort of hard to respect them. Also, it comes out that they are financing the creation of signs and the communications campaigns around NFM. Now sometimes i think that this gets the NFM dirty. The NFM perspective is completely respectable. However, when it gets mixed up with VMP's financing and all....NFM starts to look like a shill for VMP. I can believe you that it isn't totally...but given the revelations of the past weeks it's hard for outsiders to know what is real and what is VMP smoke and mirrors. If i were NFM i'd be wary of taking Fontaine's money and take a more grassroots approach.
Hear heart, Mr. Crawford. My husband and I support mixed use development that enriches our diverse community, and the VMP plan does that. Is it perfect? Probably not. Should we push them to make it better? Sure! But opposing realistic smart development and denigrating the real community support that exists is not a good way to achieve change nor win allies. I would be more likely to listen to Friends of MacMillan if they had any sense of pragmatism and appreciation for the opinions of ALL in the neighborhood.
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