WEAR YOUR
PROPERTY
CAMPAIGN T-SHIRT, OR GET ONE AT THE RALLY!
Please Forward Widely....RSVP
to parisa@empowerdc.org or
(202)
234-9119
WE DEMAND CHANGE!
$$ No More Business as Usual
$$
Adrian
Fenty, Neil Albert: DC’s Real Estate
Barons
THE
COUNCIL MUST STOP VOTING FOR GIVE-AWAYS!
THEY
MUST REFORM DC LAW & STOP BACKROOM DEVELOPER
DEALS!
Tell Them:
PUBLIC
PROPERTY FOR
PUBLIC USE
–
Not Private Profit!
PASS
BILL 17-0527
KEEP
SAVE
DC Public Schools, Libraries, Parks, Public Housing &
More
Rally
& Fill the Council Chambers (5th
floor)
Tues,
Sept 16th
Bring id
to enter building!
More Info/RSVP
to Empower DC (202) 234-9119
Can’t Make
it?
CALL OR EMAIL the Council
and Tell
Them You Support Passage of Bill 17-0527, and Keeping Franklin
Open!
*thank Councilman Thomas for
Introducing 17-0527, and CM Mendelson and Brown for signing
on!
|
NAME |
PHONE |
EMAIL |
|
Vince Gray,
Chair |
(202)
724-8032 |
|
|
Phil Mendelson, At
Large |
(202)
724-8064 |
|
|
Carol Schwartz, At
Large |
(202)
724-8105 |
|
|
Kwame Brown, At
Large |
(202)
724-8174 |
|
|
David Catania, At Large
|
(202)
724-7772 |
|
|
Jim Graham, Ward
1 |
(202)
724-8181 |
jgraham@dccouncil.us<
/font> |
|
Jack Evans, Ward
2 |
(202)
724-8058 |
|
|
Mary Cheh, Ward
3 |
(202)
724-8062 |
|
|
Muriel Bowser, Ward
4 |
(202)
724-8052 |
mbowser@dccouncil.us<
/font> |
|
Harry Thomas, Ward
5 |
(202)
724-8028 |
hthomas@dccouncil.us<
/font> |
|
Tommy Wells, Ward
6 |
(202)
724-8072 |
|
|
Yvette Alexander, Ward
7 |
(202)
724-8068 |
|
|
Marion Barry, Ward
8 |
(202)
724-8045 |
PEOPLE’S
PROPERTY
CAMPAIGN PLATFORM
As long as community needs exist in DC, there is no such thing
as
“surplus” public property.
Public Property is the common trust of the residents of the
DC’s current law
provides only
a process for disposing of public property. We need legislative
change to
create a transparent, community driven input process to determine new
public uses
for available public properties.
PUBLIC USES FOR PUBLIC
PROPERTIES
The People’s Property
Campaign
supports the Thomas Bill which creates a process to look at public
properties
for these uses:
1)
to expand government services (new libraries, fire
stations,
homeless services etc)
2)
to replace the 3 million square feet of space currently
rented by
DC government at a cost of $110 million with space that we own
3)
to serve community needs and promote community development
(small
business incubators, community marketplaces, affordable housing, space
for
nonprofit organizations serving the community, etc)
Bill 17-0527 recognizes that public property should be
employed to uplift DC residents, by being dedicated to community needs,
including (but not limited to):
Homeless services (including
youth,
domestic violence shelter); Child Care, Before & After School Care
(desperate need for services for children with special needs);
transitional
housing and permanent affordable housing; health care services; Literacy
programs; workforce readiness and job training; senior services;
recreation,
gardening, green space, etc
THE URGENCY OF PASSING BILL
17-0527
In 2007, DC Government spent
nearly
$110 million in RENT for government facilities and offices, despite the
availability of public property. According to the Washington Examiner, rent is 37%
of
DC’s fixed costs.
—
For
instance: DC government signed a 20 year lease on a warehouse in SE at
the cost
of $6.5 million per year. Another $1 million was spent on
architectural
plans. The city later determined the site was not suitable for the
planned use, and now taxpayers are spending over half a million dollars
per
month on a vacant warehouse.
Wasteful decisions like this underscore the need for a Master Facilities
Plan.
The Fenty administration
recently
closed 23 public schools. Many of them are being actively pursued
by
developers. Without legislative change to mandate public use and
community input, the City could easily follow current practice and make
behind-closed-doors deals with developers for our valuable school
properties.
17-0527 PROVIDES SOLUTIONS,
INCLUDING:
Mandating that the city
follow DC Law
and create a Master Facilities Planning and Program Coordinating
Committee. This committee must include community residents, ANC
commissioners and representatives of community organizations. The
DC
Office of Planning and Office of Property Management must be directed to
work
alongside this body to match available public spaces with community
needs.
Mandating that the city
follow DC Law
and complete a public property inventory, and conduct regular audits of
property that DC is leasing to and from private entities.
Mandating that public
property be
leased, not sold, with minor exceptions that involve community
input.
Mandating that public
property
planning should utilize Community Economic Development Principles.
DC
government should invest in developing community development
expertise.
—
Community
Economic Development is a discipline whose purpose is to ensure that
services,
resources and opportunities are going to those communities who lack
these
things. A fundamental component of Community Economic Development
is that
communities benefit directly from and participate directly in the
development
of their communities.
The DC Council must
recognize the
public is the true owner of public property and that, with the
innumerable
community needs that exist in DC to address an ever increasing poverty
rate and
economic divide, all public property decisions must be made with these
owners
in mind.
WE HAVE LOST TOO MUCH
ALREADY!!
Examples of Previously Disposed
Public
Property
Property:
Former
Use:
Is Now/Will Be:
Wormley
School School Condos Starting at $1.3 million/unit
Adams Morgan
School Condos
Arthur
Capper Public
Housing
Parking Lot for New Baseball Stadium
Examples
of
Currently Threatened Property
Property: Current Public
Use:
Proposed Private Use:
Poplar
Point Park
Retail, Stadium, Condos, Offices
Barry
Farms &n
bsp;
Public
Housing
Mixed Income Housing
Benning
Library
Demolished
Library
&
nbsp;
Unknown Development
McMillan Reservoir Green
Space
Retail, Condos
USE PUBLIC PROPERTY TO
UPLIFT DC
RESIDENTS!
·
One in five DC residents is poor, a higher rate than in
any year
since 1997-98. Since the late 1990s, some 27,000 more DC residents
have
fallen into poverty. Thirty-two percent of the
·
There are over 52,000 families on the waiting list for
affordable
housing
·
There are at least 6,000 homeless in DC every
night
·
The AIDs infection rate (1 in 20), infant mortality rate
(16:1,000) and illiteracy rates far exceed national
averages
·
Forty-one percent of children arrested in the city tested
positive for drugs.
·
There were 2,340 children in foster care in 2006. The
average
length of stay in foster care was 45 months.
·
One out of two children in DC is at risk of
hunger.
·
Only 22 percent of children had received a dental
screening.
·
In 2000, the system served 51 percent of the families who
applied
for shelter; by 2005 the service plummeted to 19 percent.
Parisa Norouzi
Co-Director, Empower DC
(202) 234-9119