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FOGGY BOTTOM ASSOCIATION August 10, 2007 The Hon. Jack Evans Dear Councilmember Evans: On behalf of the Foggy Bottom Association, I am writing to formally request that you fulfill your July 18th pledge to the Foggy Bottom/West End community to spearhead the rescinding of both the Emergency Declaration and Disposition Approval Resolutions passed by the Council on July 10th. The importance of thorough public discussion and input was driven home during our own very recent “emergency” board meeting, which included members of the community and EastBanc officials, to deal with the repercussions of the Council’s actions. The EastBanc group included president, Anthony Lanier, and vice president, Joe Sternlieb whose status as the husband of Mayor Fenty’s Attorney General, Linda Singer, has muddied the waters even further in this situation. Though Washington faces an affordable housing crisis, Lanier and Sternlieb said that their plan was to first construct a new library, then a new fire station and then, only if they were available, would funds be devoted to affordable units in EastBanc’s residential project. The legislation itself appears to be consistent with this interpretation. Given the dire need for affordable homes in our city, amongst a plethora of other issues, it is simply irresponsible for the Council to have passed this legislation without genuine public involvement. We have a right to participate in shaping our public facilities to best serve our community and our city. As both you and Mayor Fenty have now admitted, authorizing the Executive to “negotiate” a no-bid, sole-source “disposal” (i.e. giveaway) of three properties--all functioning public facilities--to a private developer with no public input is a bad idea. It is incumbent upon the Council to make that admission official by rescinding its action and closing the door on this kind of shameful and embarrassing giveaway process once and for all. Sincerely, cc: Mayor Adrian Fenty |
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