Category: District of Columbia

Public Land for Public Good

Public Land for Public Good

Posted on by Elena Sorokina

The report chronicles how the District of Columbia has used the redevelopment of public land to provide affordable housing and other benefits.

Highlighting the significant accomplishments the District has made in creating affordable housing and integrating it into larger mixed-use development, the report also details areas needing improvement. Most importantly, the assessment points to recent reduced expectations in the level of affordability in future projects. The report calls for the District to recommit to making the most of affordable housing opportunities in public land redevelopment deals, as the District seeks to build a more inclusive city as housing prices rise and more affluent residents move in.

Testimony in Support of the future redevelopment of the McMillan Sand Filtration Site

Posted on by Elena Sorokina

We wish to express our support for the proposed Master Plan for the McMillan Sand Filtration Plant. This plan is a carefully designed redevelopment and preservation plan that will highlight the unique historic resources while putting this significant parcel back to productive use. This 25-acre site, adjacent to the 68-acre McMillan Reservoir site helps reconnect the Washington Hospital Center complex and adjacent neighborhoods back to the rest of the city while also addressing the growing need for more housing, especially more affordable housing, local retail, medical offices, and celebration of the historic features of the site.

Testimony in Support for Zoning Commission nominee Robert E. Miller

Posted on by Elena Sorokina

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.

Testimony Regarding Residential On-Street Parking Management Issues Before the Committee on the Environment, Public Works, and Transportation

Posted on by Elena Sorokina

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

Posted on by Elena Sorokina

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

Pro-DC: Modernizing D.C.’s Zoning Code: What Does It Mean for Our City

Posted on by Elena Sorokina

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.

[one-half]

View Harriet’s PowerPoint

 

[/one-half]

[one-half last]

Check out the Pro-DC Fact Sheet

 

[/one-half]

[topline]

 

Affordable Housing Production on Public Land for the District of Columbia

Affordable Housing Production on Public Land for the District of Columbia

Posted on by Elena Sorokina

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

Posted on by Elena Sorokina

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

Posted on by Elena Sorokina

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?

What’s Affordable “Workforce Housing” for the District of Columbia?

Posted on by Elena Sorokina

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.