Daniel Wolkoff: "DC government wastes McMillan Park to impose massive over-development"

From: WARD5@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, February 23, 2019 4:51 PM
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Subject: [WARD5] DC govt. wastes McMillan Park to impose massive over-development  

Daniel Goldon Wolkoff
McMillan Park Conservancy
1231 Randolph Street, NE
Washington, DC 20017
Tel: 202-232-8391

Submission to National Association of Olmsted Parks Feb. 22, 2019 

                                     FIELD NOTES

The Community Struggle to Save McMillan Park Washington DC

Daniel Goldon Wolkoff

The legacy of segregation continues to impact American cities. In Washington, D..C., sections west of 16^th St enjoy five times more parks and green-space than predominantly African-American eastern sections. In upper NW parks are in walking distance to every household, they are wooded hillsides and stream valleys, manicured historic civil war fortifications, horse and bike trails and the Olmsted landscaped “Jewel of The National Park System”, 1500 acre, Rock Creek Park, and even that had been segregated.

Washington’s only integrated park, designed by The Olmsted firm as well, McMillan Reservoir Park was called “our beach, our paradise” by the eastern section’s minority community.

                                               https://youtu.be/X0iqLezE6G0

                                                     (photo of McMillan Park Ivy)

At the turn of the 19^th Century, Senator James McMillan brought to Washington enlightened designers and engineers from the wildly successful Columbian Exposition. McMillan Park turned out to be “the omega collaboration amongst the cadre chiefly responsible for popularizing the City Beautiful Movement.”

The 113 acre hybrid clean water utility and outdoor public recreation green-space, that eliminated water –borne diseases, was landscaped by The Olmsted firm, and when the original fresh water Filtration site was decommissioned, Federal GSA sold that 25 acres  to The District of Columbia for $9.3 million, in 1987.

In what may have likely been efforts to discourage African-American families from buying homes in the area, the park remained fenced off after fear of sabotage ended after WWII. 

                                 (Photo of Ben Franklin Bloomingdale elder at fence)

The District government cut down hundreds of trees and “our paradise” was purposely erased from local memory. Even when designated historic, the Office of Historic Preservation did not enhance, maintain, improve or give access to the site, though required to by DC’s Historic Preservation Act.

Over 20 years later HPO’s architectural historian, Kim Williams, nominated the site to The National Register of Historic Places. 

(http://www.nps.gov/nr/feature /places/13000022.htm

Since the $9.3 million purchase, the site and that fortune has been totally wasted, no public access permitted and even neighborhood group’s tours have been terminated. A massive development of high rise offices, dense housing and retail are planned by development conglomerate Vision McMillan Partners (VMP), actually partnering with the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development..

                                             www.envisionmcmillan.com 

Parks and green-space desperately needed, community efforts to save McMillan Park from massive urbanization include court appeals to stop demolition of 20 acres of underground masonry arched sand filtration cells, perfect for adaptive re-use.

                                               (Photo of underground filtration cells)

Federally assigned deed covenants require all work on the site to conform to The Secretary of Interior’s Historic Preservation Standards, which VMP and DC government are trying to circumvent, destroying the park to build their massive McMillan Town Center, and transferring public ownership to the private corporation.

Our community groups 25 year efforts won an Appeal in DC courts, vacating the zoning approvals. All alternative plans have been ignored including this world class site plan by Catholic University Planning Professor, Miriam Gusevich.

                                                        https://youtu.be/EwJwGr2qFrY

Cynical attempts to suppress our efforts, VMP and the Deputy Mayor hired a Baltimore PR firm to run an “Astroturf” campaign, characterizing all opposition as a lunatic fringe with a “national agenda.” Although public opinion is heavily weighted against the development they sought to  “neutralize opposition”, “provide continuous political cover to elected officials” and “shift community dialogue and general perception to that of majority local support of VMP plans”. 

We believe a violation of our first amendment rights to petition the government for redress of grievances. We have little in the way of resources and hope to gain support from the Olmsted parks community, especially legal assistance,

please contact Daniel Goldon Wolkoff ,  202-232-8391 and dangoldon@gmail.com.                                        

The Mayor and DC City Council have literally written the law as they go along, determined to demolish the Olmsted Park and bring traffic and unworkable mass transit demand to this already dense section of D.C. Our most experienced preservationist says “you don’t build condos on an Olmsted Park”.