The Honorable Jack Evans
Council of the District of Columbia
1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20004
July 10, 2007
Dear Councilmember Evans:
I urge you to vote against the “Square 37 Excess Property Disposition Emergency Approval Resolution of 2007.” Here’s why:
1. The legislation does not qualify as an emergency. The issue of the sale of lots 37 and 50 has not been subjected to the processes of public notification and input legally required.
2. The legislation states that the real estate is “no longer required for public purposes” yet specifies the retention of air rights over the library (and fire house) A library and a firehouse are public uses. In our opinion, a library should be prominently positioned and that would seem to require a presence on the ground level. It is also difficult to understand how a firehouse would make sense if it were built above ground level.
3. A better process for determining the disposition of public buildings in DC is needed, but even the existing processes required to make the determination that a piece of real estate is no longer required for public purposes were not carried out. Thus, the following inadequate and essentially closed processes occurred:
“One day of notice of a public roundtable; “surplussing” combined with instant approval of the no-bid winner; committee markup meeting held quickly thereafter (in 2 days) which doesn't appear in the Legislative Calendar; with no video record of either the public roundtable or the committee markup vote; vote on it in Council three days later (today).”
4. There should be an open bidding process. Why is City Council contemplating emergency legislation to sell the West End library to one particular developer -- Eastbanc – instead of holding a bidding process that would allow any interested developer to participate? Library Board Trustee Richard Levy said at a public board meeting last year, “Developers are salivating over the West End.” It is in citizens’ best interests to hold government to a process that maximizes the value of our limited resources.
5. Eastbanc was a partner in the Ritz Carlton development in the West End where promised amenities still have not been provided five years later, including a public green space and street level retail. The Washington Post quoted Eastbanc at the time as promising they would go so far as to pay retailers to occupy space if necessary.
6. The legislation further calls for “the construction and maintenance of a new library to replace the existing West End Library in accordance with plans and specifications approved by the Board of Library Trustees.” There are no plans in existence, let alone ones approved by the Trustees.
7. The legislation further states the price will be “reduced” or “adjusted” to “ensure a positive Purchase Price,” meaning that the public benefits (affordable housing) to be provided by Eastbanc “through development of Affordable and Work Force Housing Units shall be reduced or the required AMI income levels for such units shall be adjusted” (to higher income) to ensure a profit for the developer, while reducing the affordable housing requirement.
This is not a deal for the citizens of the District of Columbia. It is a deal for Eastbanc.
I urge you to vote against it.
Respectfully yours,
Robin Diener
Director, Library Renaissance Project
1530 P Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
202 387-8030
rdiener@savedclibraries.org
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