Not even obvious dishonesty can slow down D.C.’s luxury growth machine, as the Mayor through DMPED is now coming around to fully implement the forced Chevy Chase Small Area Plan and the privatization of the Chevy Chase Commons with the recent issuance of a Request for Proposals (RFP).
Here’s the link to the RFP
The Mayor’s RFP (*bell ringing*come & get it*) calls out to the city’s class of real estate speculators to submit proposals that will maximize housing on this small footprint of the land known as the Chevy Chase Commons or as DMPED has unilaterally renamed it, the civic core.
As the RFP says, DMPED will accept proposals having a super-majority of the housing set as luxury market-rate units and less than 30% of the units have to be “affordable.”
Moreover, the land and/or air rights will be privatized, the existing public land uses may be combined into one space (library & community center) and the existing recreation green space is described more as an afterthought than at center of any future plan.
So DMPED and the Mayor have been dishonest with everyone, as they:
- Spit in the eye of Chevy Chase residents surveyed who demonstrated they did not want housing and privatization of their public site at all;
- Mock the WIN and pro-growth supporters who wanted at least 50% if not all of the units set as affordable;
- Shrug off completely ANC3/4G who advised “maximizing” affordability at the site (DMPED never actually acknowledges the effort by the ANC at all, lest ever responded with great weight to ANC resolution before issuing the RFP).
DMPED and the Mayor thus does everyone wrong here and lied to Chevy Chase to get to this point, suggesting that Ward 3 must take on its fair share of “affordable” housing yet issues an RFP that minimizes this intent.
DMPED will act as the giddy king maker by choosing which of the Mayor’s favorite developers will get the Chevy Chase Commons — some of the most valuable public land in the city — to build more luxury housing while disrupting the existing public buildings, community services and open recreation space (not to mention cut down heritage trees, quite eco-friendly).
DMPED’s sordid track record of disposing our public land may yet continue unless we organize!
But it may still possible to defend your public library, community center, and recreation space from becoming another statistic in DMPED’s long line of luxury giveaways if you are just mad enough to truly organize against this obvious dishonesty by the city . . .
ORGANIZE! Please contact:
chchcommons@savedcpublicland.org