Print and Web Articles

List of articles concerning the West End Library and surrounding community.

• Deputy Mayor's Objectivity Challenged

  September 27, 2007, Washington Post -- According to city property records, Deputy Mayor Neil Albert bought a $741,940 condominium nearby the controversial West End library development project in January.

• Two on Council Want Land Deal Voided

  September 20, 2007, Washington Post -- Jack Evans and Kwame Brown who praised a plan to sell city-owned land in the West End to a private developer about two months ago are now seeking to have the plan revoked after neighborhood leaders said they were not adequately notified.

• DC Council: Empower DC Protest

  September 19, 2007, Washington Post -- Empower DC organizes a protest at the City Council -- "Public property is not for sale!"

• Washington land-swap deal fails

  September 18, 2007, International Herald Tribune -- Fenty's creative financing to rebuild a library and fire station is not passing muster with all the residents and businesses in the historic Foggy Bottom neighborhood of the U.S. capital.

• Opposition crescendos to West End resolution

  September 12, 2007, Washington Examiner -- A growing chorus of community organizations are calling on the D.C. Council to revoke the West End emergency resolution.

• A Rush to Action

  July 27, 2007, Washington Post Editorial Board -- Mr. Fenty's choice of a police chief antagonized some who felt misled by the process. He thumbed his nose at a requirement to seek public comment in choosing a schools chancellor. The secrecy of that search and the imperious way he set salaries alienated allies on the D.C. Council. But the latest example of Mr. Fenty's corner-cutting is also the most egregious -- the ramming-through of a proposal to sell valuable public property to a private developer.

• Handling of Deal to Sell Library, Firehouse Irks Residents

  July 26, 2007, Washington Post -- It was only then, July 10, that residents got wind of an emergency bill passed by the D.C. Council to negotiate the sale of the neighborhood library and surrounding city-owned land to a private developer.

• Sold Out in the West End

  July 19, 2007, Washington Post -- The sale of the West End Neighborhood Library and the adjacent fire station, which are on our block, by "emergency" legislation on July 10 was engineered to circumvent public comment and to reward a favored developer.

• A Lawsuit, a Protest, and Some Progress at the DC Public Library

  July 19, 2007, Library Journal -- The District of Columbia Public Library (DCPL) may have gained the confidence of some members of the public as it installs interim libraries, yet still, distrust in some neighborhoods has grown.

• Nader Leads Rally Against Plan To Replace West End Library

  July 15, 2007, Washington Post -- About 75 people led by Ralph Nader's D.C. Library Renaissance Project rallied outside the West End Public Library in Northwest Washington yesterday, upset by a recent D.C. Council decision about the future of the popular branch that they said caught them by surprise.

• The Examiner Letters: July 11, 2007

  July 11, 2007, Washington Examiner -- More public property is now up for grabs in the West End at 23rd and L/M streets NW, including a big firehouse, a public library and a police station on perhaps the choicest land in downtown D.C.

• What does Anthony Lanier think it will take to revitalize Georgetown as a shopping district?

  July 5, 1999, Washington Post -- Lanier, 47, a gregarious man with a wide smile and an Austrian accent, describes himself as "just a bean counter."

• A Complex Rich in Amenities Rises on the West End

  April 12, 1999, Washington Post -- Flowery article describing EastBanc development projects in the West End neighborhood.

• Millennium Partners to Build Ritz-Carlton Hotel as Anchor of Washington, D.C. Luxury Residential Development

  June 4, 1998, Business Wire -- Millennium Partners today announced plans to build The Ritz-Carlton Hotel & Residences in Washington, D.C., a mixed-use development that will bring together luxury condominiums, a five-star hotel, prime retail space and a world-class fitness and spa facility in one development.

• Video: Council Hearing on Best Practices for Public-Private Partnerships

  December 31, 1969, -- On November 1, 2007, DC Councilmember Kwame Brown chaired a hearing on the "Best Practices of Public-Private Partnerships". The Library Renaissance Project testified and heard a commitment against sole-source contracts.

• Video: Council Hearing on Surplussing Public Property

  December 31, 1969, -- On November 7, 2007, Councilmember Carol Schwartz says she wants a "longer and stronger" public process to first repurposing public land than surplussing it.

• D.C. ends FY 2007 with another $80M

  February 2, 2008, Washington Examiner -- The D.C. government ended fiscal year 2007 with a $248 million surplus, which includes $80 million in cash it could spend or opt to save for an expected economic crunch, figures obtained by The Examiner show.

• Overhaul Urged For D.C. Libraries,

  January 18, 2006, Washington Post -- More than $450 million is needed to properly fix the District's public library system, the Mayor's Blue Ribbon Taskforce on Libraries reported, because the buildings suffer from years of neglect and should be almost entirely rebuilt.

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