hypocrisy in a government agency?

now, i made the title of this post a little controversial on purpose, because i thought that "parking at gage-eckington site" wouldn't elicit enough eyeballs.

seriously, though, for those who weren't aware, when gage-eckington elementary was closed down last year, the city proposed moving the district department of the environment into the closed building. in addition, there would be a senior center, and the 7th street garden group (now named common good city farm) would be using the space as well.

now, i'm sure that the DDOE needs space to park a few trucks or other vehicles that are necessary to carry equipment to certain places or projects, but you would think that if there was any division of the district's government that would be using mass transit instead of individual cars, it would be the DDOE, right? less pollution and all that.

well, in a letter posted to the bloomingdale listserv this weekend (sorry i'm late on this), deputy mayor neil albert had something to say about that to a local resident. here's an exerpt (emphasis mine):

EMAIL FROM Deputy Mayor Neil Albert
From: Albert, Neil (EOM) [mailto:Neil.Albert@dc.gov]
Sent: Saturday, February 21, 2009 9:00 AM

Dear Jeff,

Thanks for your letter and email. I wanted to provide an update to you on a few matters related to the future of the Gage-Eckington School Site.

...

3. Currently, we are in a holding pattern as it pertains to the re-location of DDOE to the site. While working through the re-location logistics for the site, it was determined that we were running into some issues related to the availability of parking on-site and functionality of space for the agency. Additionally, we are studying the costs involved with re-configuring the space for agency use to determine how best to proceed. No final decision has been made, but we anticipate that we will have a better idea in approximately four weeks at which time we will share updated information with you.

...

Best,

Neil

now, i'm not knocking deputy mayor albert here, but i just wanted to point out that parking was one of the important criteria for the DDOE's relocation here. maybe that's unavoidable, i don't know. it just seems that, from 30,000 feet, this is one agency that should be using as little parking as possible.

please correct me if i'm wrong.