Wednesday, November 7, 2007

ANC2C meeting

i just went to the ANC2C meeting on chinablock tonight. i wanted to drop off a copy of the petition showing support for the o street marketplace reconstruction that roadside development wishes to get moving forward on.

there was a quick motion to have the ANC send a letter to the zoning commission (i think, i forget which of zoning commission, planning commission, BZA, or whatever other organization is in charge of all of this) in continued support of the project. it was approved unanimously. here's hoping that it all goes through, because the redevelopment of those two blocks is KEY to making that area better.

after that, there were a couple more presentations, which i'm sure will be covered more extensively on other blogs, but the gist is that the church at 9th and G which was going to be replaced with a residential building is now going to be replaced by an office building, because PN Hoffman, the developer, has decided that the housing market is too soft downtown.

also, the proposed day spa at the northeast corner of 7th and P was not given support by the ANC. commissioner chapple, whose SMD the property is in, rescinded earlier support he had given for the development, stating that further interest may exist for the parcel, so he'd rather see what other proposals might come forward. sounds like mayor fenty and the development at poplar point in southeast.

the whole ecca computer issue was brought up as well, and that led to the gaveling of the meeting. the chair states that there is still an ongoing investigation, and that the ANC shouldn't interfere in that investigation (sounds like she took her talking points from george bush in the scooter libby affair!).

anyway, the biggest thing that i took away from my first ANC2C meeting was that the meeting isn't run very well. i don't think the chair is very familiar with parliamentary procedure (i should know, i was a parliamentarian in college). in fact, the woman giving the presentation for the 7th and P day spa (a former commissioner here in 5C) had to direct the chair how to run the meeting at one point!

2 comments:

si said...

i posted this in offseventh but want to repost here too:

Ok this needs to be clarified. that land at 7th & p is PUBLICLY owned. I applaud Debbie Smith for her ambitious plans and interest but she does not have claim to this land. since it is a public parcel it must follow the process of competitive bidding. It has not been put up for bid yet (which is a problem in itself - why does this take so long, NCRC @##!%#$# jack evans @#$!$@#???!!) but when it does, the community associations and the ANC should view all bids then make a decision on which plan to support. Perhaps there was a bit of miscommunication but as I understand it, Commissioner Chapple supports Debbie Smith BIDDING on the parcel, as should we all. If he supported her SELECTION as the developer, before its put up for bid, with no others having any opportunity to present, that would be a bad decision. Debbie Smith deserves a chance to follow the process. Lets get it going already.

IMGoph said...

amen, si, and that's why it was so terrible that the ANC wouldn't move to request the city to issue a RFP ASAP. if the local ANC doesn't see it as a priority, the city at large will of course not see it as a priority either.