Ellington Field

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DPR has announced a public meeting for Wednesday.

Here's the notice I got:
Neighbors,
For anyone who enjoys using Duke Ellington Track & Field with their DCPS students or with their families, young children or dogs, you should not miss the DPR Community Meeting on Wednesday, January 15th from 6:30pm-8:00pm at the Georgetown Library at 3260 R Street.
This may be your only opportunity to speak to DPR to hear their plans which include potentially limiting access to neighbors, local DCPS Schools, like Duke Ellington. The field is currently managed by DCPS and Duke Ellington High School for the Performing Arts.

The public comment period has been extended until Feb. 12, 2020. However, this is your one opportunity to meet with DPR and have a say in the future of Duke Ellington Track and Field. Please attend this important meeting on Wed Jan 15th from 6:30pm-8pm at Georgetown Public Library. Share the Park!

So what happened at the meeting? Is it a dog park now?

The dog people were out in force. The irony is that DCPS prohibits dogs anywhere on any of its properties, while DPR allows dogs except on the field itself at athletic fields. So all the dog-walking that has been going on is illegal.

I really got the feeling that DPR just isn't good at this. There was a lot of suspicion going into the meeting, and the DPR presentation and Q&A did nothing to ease that suspicion and their evasiveness made it worse. There were dog people and running clubs who use the field now, and parents from Hardy and Walls wanting access for their schools, and parents from Ellington who don't want to lose their current access.

Pointedly, DPR did not commit to not doing another Jelleff-style deal.

I think Stoddert soccer would do a deal with them and Georgetown has a current deal with them for the track. A lot of the DPR properties in NW have these deals. I wonder how much the budget of DPR would have to increase if all these deals stopped?

I know the neighborhood is concerned about parking but most of the parking problems are cause by georgetown hospital. The city can restrict parking in some the areas to just residential zone parking. The really problem is the dog people. I see them out there every day and the poop on the athletic field is something else.

The private deals aren’t contributing much to DPR. Maret is only paying $95k for a field that DC paid $15 million to buy and will pay $7 million to renovate. dPR isn’t very good at negotiatinf deals that capture value for DC taxpayers. Some middleman is taking a cut.

DPR has a $58 million budget spread over the whole city. They are cutting staff and summer programs. If you take $95 k out of their budget there will be more cuts and less maintenance of facilities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DPR has announced a public meeting for Wednesday.

Here's the notice I got:
Neighbors,
For anyone who enjoys using Duke Ellington Track & Field with their DCPS students or with their families, young children or dogs, you should not miss the DPR Community Meeting on Wednesday, January 15th from 6:30pm-8:00pm at the Georgetown Library at 3260 R Street.
This may be your only opportunity to speak to DPR to hear their plans which include potentially limiting access to neighbors, local DCPS Schools, like Duke Ellington. The field is currently managed by DCPS and Duke Ellington High School for the Performing Arts.

The public comment period has been extended until Feb. 12, 2020. However, this is your one opportunity to meet with DPR and have a say in the future of Duke Ellington Track and Field. Please attend this important meeting on Wed Jan 15th from 6:30pm-8pm at Georgetown Public Library. Share the Park!

So what happened at the meeting? Is it a dog park now?

The dog people were out in force. The irony is that DCPS prohibits dogs anywhere on any of its properties, while DPR allows dogs except on the field itself at athletic fields. So all the dog-walking that has been going on is illegal.

I really got the feeling that DPR just isn't good at this. There was a lot of suspicion going into the meeting, and the DPR presentation and Q&A did nothing to ease that suspicion and their evasiveness made it worse. There were dog people and running clubs who use the field now, and parents from Hardy and Walls wanting access for their schools, and parents from Ellington who don't want to lose their current access.

Pointedly, DPR did not commit to not doing another Jelleff-style deal.

I think Stoddert soccer would do a deal with them and Georgetown has a current deal with them for the track. A lot of the DPR properties in NW have these deals. I wonder how much the budget of DPR would have to increase if all these deals stopped?

I know the neighborhood is concerned about parking but most of the parking problems are cause by georgetown hospital. The city can restrict parking in some the areas to just residential zone parking. The really problem is the dog people. I see them out there every day and the poop on the athletic field is something else.

The private deals aren’t contributing much to DPR. Maret is only paying $95k for a field that DC paid $15 million to buy and will pay $7 million to renovate. dPR isn’t very good at negotiatinf deals that capture value for DC taxpayers. Some middleman is taking a cut.

DPR has a $58 million budget spread over the whole city. They are cutting staff and summer programs. If you take $95 k out of their budget there will be more cuts and less maintenance of facilities.

And yet they want to take on Ellington.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DPR has announced a public meeting for Wednesday.

Here's the notice I got:
Neighbors,
For anyone who enjoys using Duke Ellington Track & Field with their DCPS students or with their families, young children or dogs, you should not miss the DPR Community Meeting on Wednesday, January 15th from 6:30pm-8:00pm at the Georgetown Library at 3260 R Street.
This may be your only opportunity to speak to DPR to hear their plans which include potentially limiting access to neighbors, local DCPS Schools, like Duke Ellington. The field is currently managed by DCPS and Duke Ellington High School for the Performing Arts.

The public comment period has been extended until Feb. 12, 2020. However, this is your one opportunity to meet with DPR and have a say in the future of Duke Ellington Track and Field. Please attend this important meeting on Wed Jan 15th from 6:30pm-8pm at Georgetown Public Library. Share the Park!

So what happened at the meeting? Is it a dog park now?

The dog people were out in force. The irony is that DCPS prohibits dogs anywhere on any of its properties, while DPR allows dogs except on the field itself at athletic fields. So all the dog-walking that has been going on is illegal.

I really got the feeling that DPR just isn't good at this. There was a lot of suspicion going into the meeting, and the DPR presentation and Q&A did nothing to ease that suspicion and their evasiveness made it worse. There were dog people and running clubs who use the field now, and parents from Hardy and Walls wanting access for their schools, and parents from Ellington who don't want to lose their current access.

Pointedly, DPR did not commit to not doing another Jelleff-style deal.

I think Stoddert soccer would do a deal with them and Georgetown has a current deal with them for the track. A lot of the DPR properties in NW have these deals. I wonder how much the budget of DPR would have to increase if all these deals stopped?

I know the neighborhood is concerned about parking but most of the parking problems are cause by georgetown hospital. The city can restrict parking in some the areas to just residential zone parking. The really problem is the dog people. I see them out there every day and the poop on the athletic field is something else.

The private deals aren’t contributing much to DPR. Maret is only paying $95k for a field that DC paid $15 million to buy and will pay $7 million to renovate. dPR isn’t very good at negotiatinf deals that capture value for DC taxpayers. Some middleman is taking a cut.

DPR has a $58 million budget spread over the whole city. They are cutting staff and summer programs. If you take $95 k out of their budget there will be more cuts and less maintenance of facilities.

This gets to the heart of the problem. DPR literally controls billions of dollars worth of real estate, hundreds of facilities. Yet they lack the operating budget to put on programming or maintain the facilities, so they cut these deals that dramatically undervalue the facilities. Penny-wise and pound foolish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DPR has announced a public meeting for Wednesday.

Here's the notice I got:
Neighbors,
For anyone who enjoys using Duke Ellington Track & Field with their DCPS students or with their families, young children or dogs, you should not miss the DPR Community Meeting on Wednesday, January 15th from 6:30pm-8:00pm at the Georgetown Library at 3260 R Street.
This may be your only opportunity to speak to DPR to hear their plans which include potentially limiting access to neighbors, local DCPS Schools, like Duke Ellington. The field is currently managed by DCPS and Duke Ellington High School for the Performing Arts.

The public comment period has been extended until Feb. 12, 2020. However, this is your one opportunity to meet with DPR and have a say in the future of Duke Ellington Track and Field. Please attend this important meeting on Wed Jan 15th from 6:30pm-8pm at Georgetown Public Library. Share the Park!

So what happened at the meeting? Is it a dog park now?

The dog people were out in force. The irony is that DCPS prohibits dogs anywhere on any of its properties, while DPR allows dogs except on the field itself at athletic fields. So all the dog-walking that has been going on is illegal.

I really got the feeling that DPR just isn't good at this. There was a lot of suspicion going into the meeting, and the DPR presentation and Q&A did nothing to ease that suspicion and their evasiveness made it worse. There were dog people and running clubs who use the field now, and parents from Hardy and Walls wanting access for their schools, and parents from Ellington who don't want to lose their current access.

Pointedly, DPR did not commit to not doing another Jelleff-style deal.

I think Stoddert soccer would do a deal with them and Georgetown has a current deal with them for the track. A lot of the DPR properties in NW have these deals. I wonder how much the budget of DPR would have to increase if all these deals stopped?

I know the neighborhood is concerned about parking but most of the parking problems are cause by georgetown hospital. The city can restrict parking in some the areas to just residential zone parking. The really problem is the dog people. I see them out there every day and the poop on the athletic field is something else.

The private deals aren’t contributing much to DPR. Maret is only paying $95k for a field that DC paid $15 million to buy and will pay $7 million to renovate. dPR isn’t very good at negotiatinf deals that capture value for DC taxpayers. Some middleman is taking a cut.

DPR has a $58 million budget spread over the whole city. They are cutting staff and summer programs. If you take $95 k out of their budget there will be more cuts and less maintenance of facilities.

This gets to the heart of the problem. DPR literally controls billions of dollars worth of real estate, hundreds of facilities. Yet they lack the operating budget to put on programming or maintain the facilities, so they cut these deals that dramatically undervalue the facilities. Penny-wise and pound foolish.

You don’t understand DC Government very well if you think that’s the problem. You think DC can’t find 95,000/ year to maintain a field worth $25 million? No, the problem is that certain elite groups, in this case the private school Maret, gave capture a public resource. As long as you have crooked pols like Jack Evans around to broker a deal as long as his son gets into their school, these things will continue to happen.