Dear Neighbors and Supporters,
Our campaign, Save DC Public Land: Working for a Safe, Truly Affordable, and Racially Equitable U Street, has been closely following the proposed redevelopment of 1617 U Street for some time.
Like you, we are volunteers working to serve our community, and we’ve spent the two years learning about the site, educating neighbors, and listening carefully to a wide range of perspectives. We’re excited that this stage of the process (now that zoning is over) — shaping an actual project for 1617 U Street — is fully underway.
We appreciate those of you who have taken the time to attend community meetings, listen to neighbors, and gather feedback. Your presence has been noticed and valued.
To support our efforts, we want to share three preliminary ideas that we hope can lifted up in the future of this important public site.
These are rooted in:
- The 1,000+ residents (many who are neighbors) who signed onto SDCPL’s petition,
- The core principles of the SDCPL campaign,
- Insights from real estate experts and community discussions, and site visits — including our recent tour to the Laureate — and
- What we’ve consistently heard from neighbors engaged in this process, including at community meetings.
We’ve heard no objections to the ideas below from core volunteers driving our efforts, and we offer them in a spirit of collaboration, knowing others will propose important additions as well.
Save DC Public Land Recommends:
- A Call for the Use of the OurRFP Process for the 1617 U Street Redevelopment – Draft here
- Seek a 2-Step Phased Approach to the 1617 U Street Redevelopment Project – Draft Here
- Request to Retain Public Land and Air Rights and to Pilot Municipally-Owned Social Housing at 1617 U – Draft Here
We have put these points within a an introductory google document here as well.
Looking forward to going over any questions you may have before the meeting to suss out these ideas and add any more.
Contact any of us with any questions or further ideas:
- Debby Hanrahan debby@savedcpublicland.org
- Rondell Jordan rmj@savedcpublicland.org
- Gregory Adams gregory@savedcpublicland.org
- Arlene Feskanich arlene@savedcpublicland.org
- Amanda Liaw amanda@savedcpublicland.org
- James Salt salt@savedcpublicland.org
- Chris Otten crotten2@gmail.com
- Robin Diener robinsdiener@gmail.com
- Marcy Logan marcy@savedcpublicland.org
- Kerry Kemp kerry@savedcpublicland.org
- Carole Lewis Anderson carole@savedcpublicland.org
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