We wish to express our support for Robert Miller to be confirmed as a Zoning Commission member. I have personally worked with Rob through several Council chairs and have always found him to be respectful of input from D.C. residents, thoughtful and diligent in his analysis, and deeply committed to making D.C. a better place for all of its residents to live and work.
Category: District of Columbia
Testimony Regarding Residential On-Street Parking Management Issues Before the Committee on the Environment, Public Works, and Transportation
With more effective management of the District’s on-street vehicle parking space we can foster quality neighborhoods, reduce congestion and air pollution, and enhance housing affordability. As a participant in the 2003 Mayor Williams’ Parking Task Force, I continue to support many of the reforms that were proposed in Task Force Report, including the recommendation “that parking is market priced for all users.” We still need to move forward in this direction – price parking so that supply equals demand. Where supply is ample, prices will be low. Where demand is high, price should reflect that scarcity.
Testimony before the D.C. Zoning Commission in support of the Hine Junior High School project
We wish to express our support for the proposed project for the Hine Junior High School site. We concur with the results of the HPRB approvals and believe that the proposed scale and overall design conforms to the Capitol Hill Historic District and enhances key historic assets such as the open space of the L’Enfant square on Pennsylvania Avenue and the market house. Given the large amount of open space adjacent to the site, we agree that a larger scale building is needed to give definition to the expansive square around Pennsylvania Avenue. The project also restores the historic street grid with the reconstruction of C Street. The project offers important benefits to the community in the form of a flexible low-speed C Street that can accommodate an adapted flea market, new retail space to complement Eastern Market and Pennsylvania Avenue retail, office space to support surrounding businesses, and affordable and accessible housing.
Pro-DC: Modernizing D.C.’s Zoning Code: What Does It Mean for Our City
Some of the best discussions on the meaning and importance of D.C.’s zoning code update are in the presentations by Harriet Tregoning, Director of the DC Office of Planning; and David Alpert, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Greater Greater Washington. They spoke to Pro-DC in June 2012 about what the zoning code update would mean for District residents at an event so popular we were forced to find a bigger venue and cap our admission RSVPs.
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Affordable Housing Production on Public Land for the District of Columbia
Public land development has traditionally been viewed as a catalyst for revitalization and private investment in distressed neighborhoods. However, given D.C.‟s strengthening real estate market, public land can play an important role in providing the diversity of housing the city needs, especially in areas with high and rising values. Public land redevelopment can also meet other community needs for services and amenities for a thriving city. Effective public-private development can provide updated public facilities such as libraries and schools, affordable housing, and enhanced community amenities, along with cost savings and other efficiencies.
Testimony in Support for McMillan Sand Filtration Plant Master Plan
We wish to express our support for the proposed Master Plan for the McMillan Sand Filtration Plant. This plan is a careful, extensively vetted redevelopment and preservation plan that will highlight the unique historic resources of the site. The plan proposes to provide interpretation and public access to key elements of the distinctive historic resources. This would not be possible without the redevelopment program that helps pay for the cost of the restoration. For decades, access to this large area was prohibited, thus creating a wide gap between surrounding activities and neighborhoods. When you walk across this area, bicycle along Michigan Avenue, or wait for a bus by the hospital as I have done, you feel disconnected, as if you are traversing through no-man’s land. This master plan will reengage the site with its surroundings and turn this gap into an inviting destination with a distinctive heritage.
Testimony Regarding Leveraging the Value of D.C.’s Public Land Dispositions to Build Housing Affordable to D.C.’s Low- and Moderate-Income residents
The Gray administration’s focus on getting D.C. residents back to work is rightly the number one priority for the District – and it’s critical to helping communities and families across the District succeed. Going hand in hand with the success of increasing employment is ensuring that the workers D.C. invests in can also find a place to call home here in the District. Without affordable housing opportunities, newly trained workers may leave the city for cheaper housing, but longer commutes, taking away opportunity to grow D.C.’s tax base and strengthen our communities.
What’s Affordable “Workforce Housing” for the District of Columbia?
One of Mayor Vincent Gray’s stated priorities is to increase the supply of workforce housing, a component along the continuum of affordable housing needs. This is a laudable goal — seeking to make Washington, D.C. a place where residents can afford to live close to where they work. However, if D.C. officials use regional incomes to define “workforce housing,” it could result in policies that would fail to reach most of D.C.’s low- and moderate-income working households who have a difficult time finding an affordable place to live in D.C.’s expensive housing market.
Testimony: Support for D.C.’s West End Library and Fire Station project
We wish to express our support for this project. The proposed project will leverage the value of public land to build a new West End Library, a new fire station on Square 50, along with complementary retail and residential units. The combined project of the new library on Square 37 and the new fire station offer a tremendous public benefit for the residents of the District of Columbia that is not otherwise possible. We are only able to create these new state-of-the-art public facilities due to a joint public-private partnership where the full subsidy for the public benefits is derived from the air rights above the public facilities. This project renews important outdated public facilities, and does it at no cost to the District.
DC: Support for Howard University Central Campus Master Plan
We wish to express our support for the Howard University Campus Plan. We especially want to commend the university for committing to the reconnection of several important streets – Bryant Street between Georgia Avenue and Sherman Avenue; W Street between Georgia and 9th St, NW; and, College Street between Georgia Ave. and 6th Street, NW. This commitment to reconnect these streets will have a major positive effect on the surrounding community and help mitigate traffic impact from campus growth. This was a key request by surrounding residents and civic groups. We applaud the university for its commitment to make these street connections.