Let me preface this by saying i dont have a dog in this fight. Literally. I dont have a dog, i dont even like them. But what i like even less, are big fugly parking lots. Its bad urban form. Parking lots create these big blank spaces with no ambiance and thats terrible for crime. Shaw has a bad enough problem with the random gunfire, the numerous surface lots dont help.
This issue has been picked apart to death on the listserves & elsewhere so I'll try to be relatively brief. I cant believe the argument is parking lot vs. park, it seems insane. Here goes...The Bundy School is a building on the 400 block of O which is to house the organization Safe Shores. The community supports this and the building does have some parking. To the east of Bundy school are the Bundy athletic fields which are used by adults & kids. Dogs are not allowed on the field. To the north of Bundy school is a funky cracked up lot fronting on the 400 block of P Street NW, this is the lot in question and its very large.
Some Shaw residents got together and formed a group Friends of Bundy Park to try and turn this wasteland lot into a dog (& people – dogs dont travel alone!) park. Initial feedback was positive, they started the petition process. MVSNA & CCCA voted to support it. 6C Commissioners signed the petition. But shortly after that, the DC Office of property management decreed that this land was not available for use by the community, it was to be a 100 car parking lot for Safe Shores – end of discusssion. Cue activism...
Neighbors started voicing their desire for reconsideration of this decision and displeasure at the lack of community input directly to the powers that be. We blogged it. This sparked a really long winded and sometimes hostile back & forth between many neighbors & ANC 2C04 Commissioner Theresa Sule on multiple listserves. C. Sule supports a parking lot and opposes a dog park. This lot is not in her SMD. I have to interject a little bit here, i dont agree with C. Sule's decision to quit one listserve and eject a community leader off of her own listserve. IMHO I think disagreement got confused with disrespect but neither are worthy of cutting off the conversation. This is a free country and I'm a proponent of free speech, even if I dont like it. That said, we (mvsna) do lightly restrict for anything profane or spam like. Moving on.
After this hoopla, OPM decided to hold a public meeting to update the community regarding the progress on the Bundy School. At last! An opportunity for some public input! That meeting is scheduled for Thursday July 9th at Scott Montgomery Elementary 7pm, 421 P Street NW.
And then..ANC 2C meets with no advance agenda & they have some perplexing votes resulting in deadlock. But tonight, the head of Office of Property Management herself, Robin-Eve Jasper made a rare meeting appearance at East Central Civic Association to spread some parking lot love with 2C03 Commissioner Doris Brooks! I purposefully omit the word “public” because ECCA does not publicize meetings or agendas, the “president”pretty much took over the organization in 2006 in a coup, & he has a penchant for having the police kick out “troublemakers.” This is bizarre to say the least. Will Robin-Eve Jasper grace the community with her presence at the actual public meeting on Thursday?
So far the only pro parking lot voice I have heard is Commissioner Sule. To her credit her arguments are somewhat better that the “no poop park!” refrain of meetings past. Personally I would prefer the dogs go to one specific place, its better for the people who like dogs to have a central place & also better for those that dont so they actually have less contact with canines if they choose. Plus the huge benefit of the eyes on the street is sorely needed in our area. But the point is that this should be discussed in public, not predetermined by secret meetings, Fenty minion edicts, & representatives who dont directly represent the actual area. I'm not saying Commissioner Sule should not have a voice, she absolutely should, but i would hope she takes into account the views of the people she was elected to represent.
So here we are. Our forum is on Thursday July 9th at Scott Montgomery Elementary 7pm, 421 P Street NW. I strongly encourage neighbors to come to this meeting and pack the room. Whether you live in Shaw, Truxton, 2C, 5C, even 6C...dog or no dog, this affects you! Do you want a parking lot? Or do you want a park? You have to fight for it and that means showing up.
this is a land grab without due process. OPM has ALWAYS been a corrupt unit of DC Gov.
enough of the dilly dally about dog poop.
Posted By richard r / At 7/7/09 1:38 AM
Tonight, Robin-Eve Jasper [ robin.jasper@dc.gov ], the Director of the DC Office of Property Management, personally appeared at the East Central Civic Association meeting to rally support for the biggest parking lot in Shaw in the vacant lot behind Bundy School. The community only learned of the plans to transfer the land to the new tenants of the Bundy School building to use as a parking lot on June 22, after the submission of a petition from Friends of Bundy Park to establish a dog park on the site forced the OPM to lift the lid on their secrecy.
The CCCA supports the Friends of Bundy Park's initiative to create a dog park on this site. Kevin Chapple, the ANC commissioner for the area which includes the site, supports the establishment of a dog park. Over 300 residents of the community have signed a petition in favor of a dog park. Having a parking lot there, with little pedestrian traffic, will ensure that the 400 block of P Street NW will continue to be a dark, menacing, and dangerous place after dark. Having a space for people from the neighborhood and their pets would, we believe, bring life to that now desolate block.
The CCCA and the Friends of Bundy spent weeks reaching out to the OPM, only to be referred to a low level official in the OPM. Yet, the Director herself went to the ECCA meeting to whip up support for the largest parking lot in Shaw.
What can you do if you don't want this huge parking lot, and you would rather have space for people and pets from the neighborhood?
1.Go to the meeting that the OPM is holding on July 9, 2009, at 7:00PM in the auditorium of Scott Montgomery Elementary School, at 421 P Street NW. Speak up. Bring signs and banners. Tell them you will not stand for the creation of a huge parking lot.
2.Write to Mayor Adrian Fenty [ adrian.fenty@dc.gov ]. Tell him that you will remember this attempt to foist this parking lot on us. Demand the resignation of OPM Director Robin-Eve Jasper for her dishonest dealings with the Shaw community.
3.Tell Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton that the Shaw community has not been consulted on the plans to turn this parcel, which is currently federal land, into a parking lot and that you oppose it.
4.Write to Councilmember Jack Evans [ jackevans@dccouncil.us ]. Tell him that you want him to stick up for space for people and pets, not unnececessary asphalt, in our part of Ward 2.
5.If you have not signed the petition for the dog park, sign it.
6.If you have not signed the petition against the parking lot, sign it.
Posted By Charles Walker / At 7/7/09 4:00 AM
Posted By Si Kailian / At 7/7/09 8:14 AM
Posted By martin / At 7/7/09 12:33 PM
Posted By Libby / At 7/7/09 1:51 PM
2. For nearly 3 years, the community has been briefed on the Bundy School project and contact information was provided since that time. These briefings include at least 2 ANC meetings. It is fair to assert that Thursday's meeting was an isolated opportunity for public input. Has the public been denied opportunities to email, call and write about their concerns? Are public meetings a necessary forum for each time one wants to provide input?
3. One "compromise" of the pro-dog park petitioners was a rendering that had a dog park, plus tennis court, plus playground and 8-10 parking spaces for the Bundy School based on assumed needs for staff, volunteer, and client family vehicles. See: http://tinyurl.com/tenniscourt which is taken from http://lifein.mvsna.org/index.cfm/2009/6/26/What-Goes-for-Progress-In-Shaw
4. The initial "compromise" and proposal of the pro-dog park petitioners was a rendering in which the parking in question was to be used almost entirely for a dog park. Again, this "compromise" assume that a project known to be under construction needed just about no parking. See main image on http://friendsofbundy.wordpress.com/
5. Finally, the pro-dog park petitioners have neglected to respond to repeated inquiries as to why the park at New Jersey and O Street (directly north of the Bundy School) is not being considered as a dog park? This park would provide more space for a dog park.
Posted By Natasha / At 7/9/09 8:27 PM
