Intelsat Building Proposal by CM Matt Frumin (Connecticut Ave/Van Ness)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was shocked to see this from Frumin yesterday. I am a supporter of his but this is a terrible idea. One of his opponents in the election, Goulet who is now on the school board, basically ran on this idea and was defeated and criticized for it as presenting, among other things, a bad real estate deal. Now Frumin is promoting it? And suggesting we scuttle MacArthur school barely a month after its seemingly successful and good-start opening? Way to abandon MacArthur at a time it need support. This location is much too close to J-R to be viable as another HS without undermining J-R itself. And a complete distraction from pressing priorities. I hope he can find a way to detract this.

We’d rather see Matt Frumin spend his time to get school bus service from Ward 3 neighborhoods rezoned to MacArthur. It’s impractical to get to and from school by Metro bus now.

WMATA has proposed to add a new bus that would connect many of the in-boundary neighborhoods and two Metro stations to MacArthur HS. Guess who wrote a letter to WMATA asking them not to create the new line? Matt Frumin.

Do you have a link? What was the rationale? Does he have a financial interest in moving the HS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As others have said, the Council acts like crazy activists throwing money at pet projects while watching the city fall apart.

The city can’t even properly fund Ward 3 schools or get the ward the universal pre-K the rest of the city has (something Eric Goulet has been continuously pushing, but I haven’t heard Frumin mention at all). There was another discussion where people said that Eastern could get a lot of their in-boundary high performing students to attend if they could guarantee that rigorous classes would be provided no matter what. The response was no, the city doesn’t have enough money to promise a handful of rigorous classes.

But sure, let’s buy a huge property and then start daydreaming about what to do with it. Let’s spend hundreds of millions of dollars giving 8,000 people free apartments for life in upper Northwest:

https://www.robertwhiteatlarge.com/dcha-reforms-fy24-housing-budget/

Let’s give everyone a free e-bike! Almost all of the Councilmembers have signed off on McDuffies bill for D.C. to start giving out reparations:

https://dcist.com/story/23/02/27/mcduffie-reintroduces-reparations-bill/

I get that people in this city are _extremely_ turned off from local politics. 99% of the people talking about “taxation without representation” probably couldn’t name the 13 elected representatives that run this city. But it’s hard for me to understand how this level of incompetency just gets completely ignored.

+1

Frumin should be voted out merely for proposing this. We are ruled by children, and not particularly bright ones either.

[Anonymous]

Disagree.

It is an out of the box solution that addresses several issues in the ward. The money needed has for the most part, already been allocated.

Clearly the private sector actors in this are already on board.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Interesting idea, but the Intelsat site contains virtually no outdoor space for organized sports. The site is generally hilly. Students would have to use the fields at nearby UDC and we know the UDC doesn't like to share.

Neither does Maret.

If you love Maret’s arrangement then be on notice that DC is actively considering a similar arrangement with a for-profit sports group for a longterm preferential lockup on the Hearst Park field. Although DC recently spent millions to redo the park, including its large natural turf soccer field, the private group wants to tear out the grass and install artificial turf. In exchange for their “generosity” they will get a longterm lease that effectively shuts out the community during prime hours. It makes the Maret deal seem reasonable by comparison.

Maret’s deal was great. Hardy was there 20 years before the Maret deal and never once used that field or used Duke Ellington. This shows there is no demand from Hardy during or after school. Now Jellleff because of the Maret deal is one of the most used field in the city while Duke Ellington is a dog park. Also Maret’s school fields and gyms are heavily used by rec and travel leagues. Should that stop?

Hearst field is another undeveloped field but the offer by PPA is a joke. The DCPR needs to turf it, put lights in and monetize it. You should see what Sidwell gets for renting its fields out. The demand for field space far out strips the supply in DC. A lot of the privates and public school properties are not allowed to have activities on the fields because the neighbors have put restrictions on the fields.

Sidwell doesn’t have lights. No way community allows Hearst to have lights.

A few years ago Hearst was a beautiful green park, an oasis. Then DPR cut down most of the trees, damaging the park’s natural character. Is DC hellbent on turning Heast Park into an urban “recreation center”?!

the only trees DPR cut down were the weed trees that shouldn't have had 30 years of deferred maintenance. Of the lined Oaks, only the diseased ones were taken down - that was a public safety issue.

The park is used a lot more today than it was 5 years ago. For you, that is probably the problem, since you liked having it to yourself.

Hearst has been heavily used for years by Stoddert and other groups. So why is it that this green, shady park has been largely stripped of that tree canopy? DC needs to plant more trees in and around Hearst. Or was the whole idea to get rid of any shade around the new pool?

The only tree canopy that was stripped were weeds that grew on the hills for two generations. They never should have been allowed to grow that unweildy over decades.

DC needs to reforest with native trees. The steep hillsides are showing erosion. Make Hearst Green Again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was shocked to see this from Frumin yesterday. I am a supporter of his but this is a terrible idea. One of his opponents in the election, Goulet who is now on the school board, basically ran on this idea and was defeated and criticized for it as presenting, among other things, a bad real estate deal. Now Frumin is promoting it? And suggesting we scuttle MacArthur school barely a month after its seemingly successful and good-start opening? Way to abandon MacArthur at a time it need support. This location is much too close to J-R to be viable as another HS without undermining J-R itself. And a complete distraction from pressing priorities. I hope he can find a way to detract this.

We’d rather see Matt Frumin spend his time to get school bus service from Ward 3 neighborhoods rezoned to MacArthur. It’s impractical to get to and from school by Metro bus now.

WMATA has proposed to add a new bus that would connect many of the in-boundary neighborhoods and two Metro stations to MacArthur HS. Guess who wrote a letter to WMATA asking them not to create the new line? Matt Frumin.

Do you have a link? What was the rationale? Does he have a financial interest in moving the HS?

There's no conspiracy theory here.

The facts are that WMATA proposed removing the current D2 line that connects Glover Park to Dupont and replacing it with a line that would serve the new high school. Rather than crossing to Dupont via uncontested P street, the new line would eventually wend its way downtown via gridlocked M street. The bus line would add ~20 minutes to any trip downtown from Glover Park. Whether this is a good idea is a judgement.

Understandably, people in Glover Park were not happy about this plan. Frumin's letter reiterated these concerns and asked WMATA to add a bus route rather than taking one (and a bunch of other stuff).
https://mattfruminward3.com/draftvisionarynetwork/

[Anonymous]

I love how the Frumin detractors are quick to dismiss ideas or find conspiracy in letters only to have to be explained the nuance.

Why would Frumin dismiss a new bus route to serve a school in a vacuum? He didn't, of course. The nuance is important. Not everything is a straight black and white.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love how the Frumin detractors are quick to dismiss ideas or find conspiracy in letters only to have to be explained the nuance.

Why would Frumin dismiss a new bus route to serve a school in a vacuum? He didn't, of course. The nuance is important. Not everything is a straight black and white.

I would never think Frumin even capable of a conspiracy theory. He'd fck up watering down the product at a children's lemonade stand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Disagree.

It is an out of the box solution that addresses several issues in the ward. The money needed has for the most part, already been allocated.

Clearly the private sector actors in this are already on board.

Are you talking about the crappy historic preservation covered building that can't be fixed?

[Anonymous]

The Van Ness commercial district is in desperate need of private sector investment and the dollars they bring with them. The Intelsat building should be filled with potential employers of UDC students . Why can’t our elected leaders develop a package of incentives to make this happen? They always come up with the worst ideas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Van Ness commercial district is in desperate need of private sector investment and the dollars they bring with them. The Intelsat building should be filled with potential employers of UDC students . Why can’t our elected leaders develop a package of incentives to make this happen? They always come up with the worst ideas.

Another great idea. Let's give businesses a tax break when DC needs tax revenue.

You will need a hefty incentive to get a private company interested in redeveloping property covered by historic preservation. It's simply not worth the headache.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Van Ness commercial district is in desperate need of private sector investment and the dollars they bring with them. The Intelsat building should be filled with potential employers of UDC students . Why can’t our elected leaders develop a package of incentives to make this happen? They always come up with the worst ideas.

Another great idea. Let's give businesses a tax break when DC needs tax revenue.

You will need a hefty incentive to get a private company interested in redeveloping property covered by historic preservation. It's simply not worth the headache.

So instead of attracting an employer who will pay some tax and create jobs to hire UDC grads who will also pay income taxes your solution is to permanently take the property off the tax rolls by turning it into a DCPS school? This is progressive logic at its finest. Sadly, our Council which is made up of “community activists” will probably love your idea. The Ward could have elected someone with actual commercial real estate experience in the last election. But, now we re stuck with someone who nobody is quite sure what his professional background is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was shocked to see this from Frumin yesterday. I am a supporter of his but this is a terrible idea. One of his opponents in the election, Goulet who is now on the school board, basically ran on this idea and was defeated and criticized for it as presenting, among other things, a bad real estate deal. Now Frumin is promoting it? And suggesting we scuttle MacArthur school barely a month after its seemingly successful and good-start opening? Way to abandon MacArthur at a time it need support. This location is much too close to J-R to be viable as another HS without undermining J-R itself. And a complete distraction from pressing priorities. I hope he can find a way to detract this.

We’d rather see Matt Frumin spend his time to get school bus service from Ward 3 neighborhoods rezoned to MacArthur. It’s impractical to get to and from school by Metro bus now.

WMATA has proposed to add a new bus that would connect many of the in-boundary neighborhoods and two Metro stations to MacArthur HS. Guess who wrote a letter to WMATA asking them not to create the new line? Matt Frumin.

Do you have a link? What was the rationale? Does he have a financial interest in moving the HS?

There's no conspiracy theory here.

The facts are that WMATA proposed removing the current D2 line that connects Glover Park to Dupont and replacing it with a line that would serve the new high school. Rather than crossing to Dupont via uncontested P street, the new line would eventually wend its way downtown via gridlocked M street. The bus line would add ~20 minutes to any trip downtown from Glover Park. Whether this is a good idea is a judgement.

Understandably, people in Glover Park were not happy about this plan. Frumin's letter reiterated these concerns and asked WMATA to add a bus route rather than taking one (and a bunch of other stuff).
https://mattfruminward3.com/draftvisionarynetwork/

Indeed. There was no conspiracy, but plenty of misinformation and the ol' fashioned beggar-thy-neighbor that no neighborhood in DC does better than Glover Park.

The D2 route for the most part duplicates the D6 and is an inefficient use of WMATA resources. Glover Parkers could still get to Dupont by connecting on Reservoir Rd. The new D6 would run more frequently so connection times might actually increase. But Glover Parkers are above transfers and demand their own special shuttle.

M St is indeed a sh*tshow, but calling P Street "uncontested" is absurd. Traffic crawls along there at rush hour. The new bus, in addition to connecting many in-boundary neighborhoods to the high school, would restore the connection to Foggy Bottom and Georgetown that has been missing since the D5 was cut.

Frumin new what he was doing with the letter. WMATA does not have enough money to add bus lines to Ward 3 without cutting another and explicitly refuses to run school buses. Pushing back against their proposals was as good as asking them to can it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Van Ness commercial district is in desperate need of private sector investment and the dollars they bring with them. The Intelsat building should be filled with potential employers of UDC students . Why can’t our elected leaders develop a package of incentives to make this happen? They always come up with the worst ideas.

How many UDC students got hired when Intelsat employed 1500 employees across the street from UDC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Van Ness commercial district is in desperate need of private sector investment and the dollars they bring with them. The Intelsat building should be filled with potential employers of UDC students . Why can’t our elected leaders develop a package of incentives to make this happen? They always come up with the worst ideas.

How many UDC students got hired when Intelsat employed 1500 employees across the street from UDC?

You’re right. Let’s not even try.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Van Ness commercial district is in desperate need of private sector investment and the dollars they bring with them. The Intelsat building should be filled with potential employers of UDC students . Why can’t our elected leaders develop a package of incentives to make this happen? They always come up with the worst ideas.

Oh my gosh yes! We need less of anything dc government owned and operated, although a new dmv at that site would be nice. We need better and more retail. City center killed friendship heights. Let’s redevelop UDc area to serve the many families in the area, more restaurants, better shopping, make it a destination, maybe even an ice skating rink. Medical offices, sone small fed agencies, fitness center, hair salon. So much potential. Especially with metro and underground parking access.