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The first time was in 2005, when four
libraries including Tenley had already been closed in preparation for
rebuilding. Library advocates at that time criticized the lack of
public meeting space in the designs. Thus, in Tenley, there was support
when, after nine months of inaction, Library Trustees finally threw out
the plans calling them “inadequate.” However, this time around, Tenley
residents have been fulsome in their praise of the new library plans.
The Mayor may find he gets no quarter in Tenley. At the advice of
Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic development Neil Albert, Mayor
Fenty has shelved the stand-alone library, in favor of a Public Private
Partnership (PPP) that would somehow shoehorn a 120-170 unit apartment
building onto a sliver of Janney school land and in the air space over
an undelineated replacement library. Parking for the library, school
and apartment building would be built under the library and under
Janney’s soccer field, an arrangement that the Mayor noted might even
yield a “net increase” in green space. Net increase, of course, is code
for “tiny amount” and a far cry from the land needed for an already
overcrowded Janney, slated to have its enrollment double as part of its
eventual modernization. The new library is already funded and was
about to get underway. Janney is theoretically funded, too, but is at
the end of the modernization queue. Supposedly, the money from the PPP
would enable Janney to be modernized sooner. However, it is unclear how
the money from a sale of library land could be used for the school. In
2006, City Council unanimously approved the LEAD Act, to fund the
transformation of DC’s public libraries by leveraging its properties.
It specified that any revenues from the sale of library land or air
rights go directly to a Library Trust Fund. It is also unclear how
things could be sped up since the PPP would require time-consuming
applications and approvals such as for a Planned Unit Development
(PUD). The Mayor vowed to use all speed “humanly possible” but experts
think it would require at least two years before construction could
even begin, and who knows how long such a multi faceted construction
project would take, with at least three city agencies involved as
clients of the developer.
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What is the Tenley-Janney PPP?
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Local ANC's and neighborhood
groups oppose the PPP
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Recent news about the PPP
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DC Public Library Policy Docs
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Images of the new public library as offered
by DCPL to Tenley and now tabled by the PPP
Click here for more images
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