Even more about eminent domain and the DC election

Washington Post photo by Rich Lipski.

I have too much to do today to do anymore blogging, and because of Adams-Morgan Day yesterday and other commitments, I haven't even read the Sunday Post. But there is this article in it, "A Tough Sell," subtitled "SE's Shabby Skyland Shopping Center Faces An Upscale Battle Against Development," which is quite important.

I've written a number of times about this project. It's a tough issue, because it is a shopping center typical of poorer inner city areas, and one that becomes increasingly incongruent as the greater area improves. But do you stop serving that demographic in favor of another?

The city, through the National Capital Revitalization Corporation, has initiated eminent domain proceedings to seize the land, currently held by multiple owners, and give it to the Rappaport Companies, a reasonably well connected development firm (the owner recently served as the chair of the major industry trade group, the International Council of Shopping Centers), for about 20% of the cost of acquiring the land.

The owners of the properties have put together a counter-proposal, which has been mostly ignored. Should the opportunities of one set of owners be seized and given to another developer? Anti-urban design at Brentwood shopping center is another example of short-sighted DC aided development.

Eminent domain laws do not provide opportunity for current owners to financially benefit from the new opportunities.

The activists want a shopping center with stores like Target, and they don't want mixed use, even though the area will need more housing to support such retail, and they aren't too clued in on including public uses, say a library in the complex.

I suggested such and their response was "you should just give us what we want because we haven't had quality retail for so long."

My response was "as a citizen of the District of Columbia, I have a right and a duty to ensure that such a project achieves the best possible outcome, especially since you're asking for a gift of at least $40 million of city monies to make this happen."

This is one of the projects that Gary Imhoff was referring to in his below-cited commentary about DC's election.

Part of my problem with such projects is that I think it's reasonable to argue that most of these kinds of projects in Washington, DC, ever since the early 1970s, have had little positive revitalization impact, and have little to do with the current successful real estate market that the city enjoys today. Most neighborhoods experiencing revitalization are not doing so because of the impact of DC Department of Housing and Community Development sponsored projects

(An exception is in Ward 7 and Ward 8, where this agency and others has aggressively redeveloped previously troubled low income housing projects. However, this has come at great cost and displacement, and there hasn't been a one-for-one replacement of housing for those of the least means.)

As far as how this relates to the election, here's my take:

I think the predominant mistake that people are making when thinking about "reform" or government transformation in the city is that the Williams Administration and its efforts represented the end goal and ultimate expression of municipal improvement.

The fact is that it is a midpoint in a hopefully much longer and deeper process.

So the issue with the mayoral race is are you happy with the way things have been going, especially over the past 2-3 years, or do you believe that there need to be quantum jumps in expectations and in striving for improvements.

Because I think that the municipal transformation process has a long way to go, merely being satisfied with continuing the legacy of the Williams Administration is unsatisfactory.

I have been torn between Cropp and Fenty because of the issue of youth over experience. And I have been pleasantly surprised by Marie Johns, in fact, I wish she would have run for Council Chair or Delegate.

But in the end I have to look at this election through the lens of business, as usual, or continued transformation. It's the rare person that has been a part of the "machine" for 20-30 years who steps out and becomes the proponent of radical transformation.
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I am worried about two things I've heard from very different people, one in Alexandria, one in DC, over the weekend. Many people are running around telling others that Councilmember Fenty has said that they'll be on this commission or that director of an agency, if he is elected. Given who some of these people are, that's very scary... I just hope that they are full of the typical hubris and egotism associated with electoral politics.
What Target often is. AP photo.

How people often perceive Target. Fashion Wire Daily photo.

Index Keywords: urban-revitalization; Growth-Machine