Feb 9 2024
Everyone is Saying the DC Office of Planning Has Abandoned Racial Equity, Except Ward One Councilmember Brianne Nadeau and Greater Greater Washington
Wards 1 & 2, Washington, DC — On Monday, February 12, 2024, a fourth in a series of hearings was held by the DC Zoning Commission with regards to the high-density rezoning of 1617 U Street — a 2-acre public site that is the current home of the 3D MPD station and Engine 9 fire department.
- The Chair of the Zoning Commission as well as other Commissioners have said it,
- former Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans has said it,
- lawyers with the DC Attorney General have said it,
- and the DC Office of Planning themselves have admitted it under questioning.
The Office of Planning has not done the public engagement necessitated by a very dramatic change in land use (allowing dense downtown-sized buildings standing 100+ feet tall) that will permanently change the west end of the U Street corridor and threaten to continue the displacement of housing-vulnerable residents nearby.
The 2020 Census shows Ward 1 with the greatest displacement of Black residents in the past decade, 25% of the population has been made gone.
And at the last zoning hearing, Alex Baca, lead staffer at the pro-growth advocacy group Greater Greater Washington downplayed and defended the lack of outreach to the Black neighbors around the site:
“… I have been somewhat distressed to hear … that [OP’s] lack of a certain volume and type of outreach beyond the zoning code’s notice of intent requirements for map amendments is a cause for concern and further that targeted outreach [to Black residents] is tantamount to a map amendment application being racially equitable.” Baca went on to proclaim that she could find no such racial equity outreach mandate requiring the DC Office of Planning to “conduct more outreach [to the affected Black community] than it has.”
Clip –> https://www.youtube.com/live/rmB-8bjfVQ4?si=kFRPRG7QCPv8h7b6&t=9175
“The way I understood Ms. Baca’s question was what was the source of any heightened community outreach obligations [to the impacted Black neighbors] in this situation… and my understanding [is] the Zoning Commission’s Racial Equity tool does include a community outreach component. It’s part two of the Racial Equity tool [which] can be accessed on the Office of Zoning website.”
Clip >> https://www.youtube.com/live/rmB-8bjfVQ4?si=NwgdpUjNQDSMHm5-&t=9384
I want to thank Councilman McDuffie, the Mayor, and the [public] for instituting [the Racial Equity tool] because … we needed some teeth … to try to level … the playing field. … [E]ngagement is a big piece [of racial equity] because as I’ve always said, Ms. Baca, the people who are going to endure whatever is done in this city are the residents who live here … because the developers [are] going to come and do it and then they are gone so I don’t know if that answers your question.
Clip >> https://www.youtube.com/live/rmB-8bjfVQ4?si=RnZfyn_gBflL5eCY&t=9452
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