From: WARD5@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, February 23, 2019 4:51 PM
To: Yahoogroups
Subject: [WARD5]
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 16th 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.
(photo of McMillan Park
Ivy)
At the turn of
the 19th 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.
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..
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.
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”.
2 comments:
Has there been any recent updates that we should be aware of?
Armed Forces retirement home is putting out requests for development plans, I believe, this Spring.
That 80 acre development plan, with more office space than The Pentagon, the world's largest office building, is much larger, and much more housing etc, than VMP/DMPED/JAMIE FONTAINE 25 acre development plan for McMillan Sand Filtration Site.
So if North Capitol has 38,000 auto trips per day(DDOT 2013) and the McMillan Town Center,
"The Monstrosity on Michigan Avenue" will bring 31,000 auto trips per day( so that is 69,000 auto trips per day), and add probably an additional 31,000 auto trips a day from a much bigger development monstrosity, just a bit North at AFRH. WHAT IS THE TRAFFIC ON NORTH CAP GOING TO LOOK LIKE? 100,000 auto trips per day????
And VMP www.envisionmcmillan.com expects 24,000 mass transit users with no mass transit. McMillan Town center will be the 14th largest Metro Station with out a Station!
Then this pretty tiny decking will do little, when a real multi mile corridor decking, with Monorail to AFRH from NOMA, would eliminate the need for cars, and serve Washington Hospital Center and Vets, and Children's National Medical Center.
Bowser has put aside $40 million for the initial costs of small decking over polluted 6 lane road, while the Washington Post estimate a few years ago for restoring McMillan Park historically at less than $40 million. I believe with student and youth training in the building trades at MCMPK, it would cost less.
McMillan Park needs to be saved, RESCUED from super - urbanized mediocrity by VMP/DMPED and the Monorail would of course serve McMillan Park, again not requiring autos to visit and enjoy it.
Good urban planning brings in mass transit before massive development, but we do not have urban planners at OP. Their mission statement is "to promote development", doesn't mention urban planning, obviously.
Update on the legal issues, our potential new case, we seek close in Bloomingdale residents for Co-plaintiff on court claim demonstrating illegality of VMP/DMPED plan. please email Daniel Goldon Wolkoff at dangoldon@gmail.com for more information.
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