D.C. Council tackles McMillan, initial comments favorable
If the vocal opposition to the 25-acre McMillan Sand Filtration Plant redevelopment counted on the D.C. Council to halt the massive project, then they were likely disappointed by the earliest moments of Wednesday's council hearing on the disposition of the site.
I'll have my eye on what is expected to be an all-day D.C. Council public hearing on the disposition of McMillan to a private development team, Vision McMillan Partners, led by Trammell Crow, EYA andJair Lynch Development Partners. But the initial comments from key council members, including the District's mayor-elect, suggest this is a deal that will be approved before the end of the year.
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I invite all concerned residents to join my lawsuit, in DC Superior Court, to appeal the improper Zoning Commission decision to super urbanize and demolish McMillan Park.
ReplyDeleteThe media is doing a concerted avoidance, "bias by omission". The Washington Post, so totally pro corporate, is busy taking a stroll down Memory Lane in the wake of Ben Bradley's death. Reliving the days of Watergate, with Woodward and Bernstein, and The Pentagon Papers, while not reporting 100's of protestors arrested in civil disobedience at The White House to Stop the Keystone Pipline, no real coverage of McMillan the "disposal" of our 25 acres by the City Council, Mayor and the development conglomerate.
On McMillan, Mike DeBonis, avoids it, but Roger K. Lewis column in the Real Estate section paints a glowing column on the development that doesn't mention anything of the downside, the opposition, hundreds of testimony, petitions, zoning issues, etc. Of course, Roger K. Lewis is on Kojo, and Kojo puts people on mute the moment they call in and mention McMillan. The miserable local developer in VMP, EYA has become a WAMU corporate sponsor and is spreading advertising money all over the place.
I love all the local TV News stations, reporting for days if Marian Barry has an outstanding parking ticket but not a single reporter has ever covered dozens of McMillan DC government hearings, meetings, protests, town halls. How much local political news can you fit in, in the 3 to 4 minutes before they go to the Redskins?
Local media, the very few mentions, have been contemptuous of the public, Washington business journal "The McMillan Soap Opera Goes On". The City Paper once upon a time muckraked the DC government regularly, but totally pro development, a rag. The only place for info is Scott Roberts Bloomingdale Blog, but it's a national issue.
National Register of Historic Places nomination (http://www.nps.gov/nr/feature/places/13000022.htm) by the DC Office of Historic Preservation's Kim Williams.