procedural protest of the Engine Company 12 ABRA application

See this 07/29/2011 message from ANC 5C03 Commissioner Hugh Youngblood:

Procedural Protest of the Engine Company 12 ABRA Application

Dear Members of the Community,

The Engine Company 12 team has indicated their preference to negotiate a Voluntary Agreement with the surrounding community regarding their ABRA application under the leadership of the ABRA mediator. As such, I`ll be working with Commissioners Pinkney and Thomas and any interested members of the community to develop and submit a protest petition to ABRA in order to formally initiate the structured mediation process.

If you`d like to join the working group on the subject, please contact either me, your SMD Commissioner (if you live outside the borders of SMD 5C03), or your local Civic Association leaders.

If you`d like to show your support for the Engine Company 12 ABRA application as filed, please let me know and contact Mr. Steven May to determine how the team could best use your help.

For more information, please visit the Engine Company 12 website (http://enginecompany12.com/).

Hugh Youngblood
ANC, SMD 5C03
anc5c03@gmail.com

? LAYC/YB proposal for the JF Cook School now kaputt ... ?

I attended tonight's Eckington Civic Association meeting at the Harry Thomas Recreation Center.

ANC 5C02 Commissioner Sylvia Pinkney reported that the legislation to allow the Latin American Youth Council/Youth Build Public Charter School for the vacant J.F. Cook School on the unit block of P Street NW expired today.

She said that the proposal is now dead.

Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr., who also attended the Eckington Civic Association meeting, indicated that the major obstacle from the community to the proposal was the Section 8 housing component -- and that the LAYC/YB was not able to negotiate away the housing component of the project, since that's where the bulk of the project funding was coming from.

It would be helpful to obtain confirmation and clarification, since I probably just botched the fact set here.

I would imagine that someone from the LAYC/YB team will provide a statement of some sort.

Tuesday morning update: No update posted at the Bates Area Civic Association blog.

chirp, chirp ?

"CM Thomas, please allow the DC Council resolution that authorizes the city to lease the JF Cook School to YouthBuild/LAYC to expire"

See this letter to Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr. from ANC 5C01 Commissioner Bradley Thomas and ANC 5C02 Commissioner Sylvia Pinkney:



Councilmember, Harry Thomas, Jr.
1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Suite 107
Washington, DC 20013

Dear Councilman Thomas,

In accordance with the December 10, 2010, roundtable hearing outcome, Commissioner Bradley Thomas and I, on December 22, 2011, assembled the Truxton Circle witnesses to discuss the community`s stance regarding the use of the John F. Cook Elementary School. We exchanged possible alternatives to the ``no residential component`` stipulated by the community, developed and voted on three proposals.

First,the community would retain the J.F. Cook Elementary School. The community would work with identified developers to refurbish the school as a collaborative arts center partnering the visual and performing arts, community arts programming, artist studio space,and a design workshop under one roof. This would create a synergetic hub for the arts that meets the needs of area artists, designers, performers, and residents by creating a multi-purpose flexible venue which is used to provide a unique, exciting and culturally rich haven for the area residents and their families. An arts center would serve as a catalyst pivotal to the economic development and growth on North Capital Street, between New York Avenue and Florida Avenue, NW.

Second, the Youth Build Public Charter School (YBPCS) would be given a lease to occupy the first floor and the community would determine use of the second and third floors of the Cook School building.

Third, YBPCS would operate its school on the first floor, while the residential component, operated by the Latin American Youth Center (LAYC) would be limited to twenty-five percent of the current proposal, or 5 residential units on the second floor, while the community would work with LAYC to determine the types of programs to be housed in the remainder of the space.

January, 13, 2011, Commissioner Bradley Thomas and I convened an informal follow-up meeting with LAYC representatives to explore feasible shared common ground regarding the John F. Cook Elementary School development project. The LAYC proposed affordable housing for 35 instead of 47 young adults. The young adults would be housed in eighteen units and LAYC staff in the remaining two. They also offered to reduce the number of adult residents by increasing the number of young families and to enter into a mutual agreement with the community stipulating the number of persons housed in the facility but made it very clear that any significant reduction of the number of housing units below the 18 designated for their constituent population would be fatal to their planned funding structure. They did offer various amenities for the community in exchange for our support of the project as is.

The LAYC/YBPCS representatives requested that we discuss their offer with our community group and provide feed-back. Wednesday, January 19, 2011, a meeting was called and a decision made to not accept the offer. The unanimous decision was based on the fact that because of its financial constraints and the inflexibility of the link between the size of the housing component of the Cook School project and its funding structure, the LAYC offer has effectively not changed.

Consequently, the community and LAYC have reached an impasse. Whereas the community has consistently been receptive to the Youth Build Public Charter School, we remain unified in our opposition to the residential portion of the project.

Respectfully, the Truxton Circle civic leaders and community requests that you stand with the majority of the residents in the Cook School neighborhood, the Hanover Area Civic Association, the Bates Area Civic Association and Advisory Neighborhood Commission 5C and vote and advocate in favor of allowing the council resolution that authorizes the city to lease the John F. Cook Elementary School to the YBPCS and the LAYC to expire.

Sincerely,
_____________________

Sylvia M. Pinkney
Commissioner ANC 5C02
____________________

Bradley Thomas
Commissioner ANC 5C01

Examiner: "Residents: Area used as dumping ground for DC social services"

See this 1/26/2011 Washington Examiner article on the controversial topic of the plans by the Latin American Youth Center (LAYC)/YouthBuild Public Charter School (YBPCS) for the J.F. Cook School on the unit block of P Streeet NW.

Note that the article title in the print version of this article is different than the online version. The print version article heading is ``Neighbors protest subsidized housing at youth center.``

And note that ANC 5C02 Commissioner Sylvia Pinkney, Lori Kaplan of LAYC and Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr. are quoted.

Neighborhood, youth center at odds over subsidized housing
Residents: Area used as dumping ground for DC social services
http://washingtonexaminer.com/local/dc/2011/01/neighborhood-youth-center-odds-over-subsidized-housing

Residents of the Truxton Circle neighborhood east of Howard University are banding together to protest subsidized housing at a proposed school and job training center, a move that could stymie the two-year-old project as it heads to the D.C. Council.

Locals say they are not against the charter school by the Latin American Youth Center that would help rehabilitate youths ~ but their neighborhood is becoming a dumping ground for social services without regard to community amenities.

Sylvia Pinkney, a commissioner on the area`s Advisory Neighborhood Commission, said Truxton Circle already has 13 social services such as Rachel`s Women`s Center or Isaiah House.

``We are not getting what we want ~ we want retail,`` she said. ``We would like some kind of business in Cook School that would draw people from outside of the community to our community.``

The Latin American Youth Center, based in Adams Morgan, wants to convert and expand the upper floors of the now-closed John F. Cook School building near North Capital and P streets into 20 apartments, 18 of which would house up to 47 young adults who are or are about to be homeless. The ground floor would hold the school and training center.

But residents are opposing what is essentially a non-negotiable aspect of the project ~ the youth center`s $13 million in funding from Lower Income Housing Tax Credits, private foundation money and a smaller portion from the Department of Mental Health, goes away if the project doesn`t include Section 8 housing.

``It`s not simply that we`re ignoring their concerns,`` said Lori Kaplan, the center`s executive director. ``It`s to change the housing tanks the entire project.``

Kaplan said the funding only allowed them to offer the neighborhood a reduced number of residents in the subsidized housing after both sides were told by D.C. Council to work out a compromise. Pinkney said this week that residents wanted five apartments or less; the number of people wasn`t the point.

``We are at an impasse,`` she said.

The council resolution that authorizes the city to lease the building to the youth center`s Youthbuild Public Charter School was reintroduced this month and expires in mid-February. Ward 5 Councilman Harry Thomas Jr. said the council would like to act but the inflexibility of the project`s funding complicates the issue.

``It puts me in a very awkward position because I`m very much a supporter of the school and the program, but at some point we have to listen to the public`s input,`` Thomas said.