Mary Cheh's new suggested locations for the homeless shelter

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Move to the burbs, please.

That's funny. I thought I was moving to the burbs of DC when I bought. But apparently, Bowser's plan is to start moving DC shelters to the burbs, so she can claim in political ads that we're all sharing the burden. Maybe the mistake I made was not moving to Bowser's burb, because I can be confident she'll keep Ward 4's shelter far away from her key campaign supporters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are a couple of websites out there, including dchomelessplan.com and homewarddc.org. background pages of latter has a lot of info.

Please show me where in those pages it makes clear these proposed shelters are all for women and children. I see nothing even close to that claim.

There isn't anything. As proposed anybody could stay there and DC could use it as a rehab clinic if it wanted to.

I used to work in social services in DC and saw a tremendous amount of money transfer, much going to service providers. Given a large taxpayer output to saturate the city with mini shelters I think it more than fair to ask who will be housed and what requirements placed on them in this exchange. Will able bodied adults be in school, counseling, job or job training during the day? If not, why? Will children be put in the school closest or picked up by a bus so parents can do something gainful? Will services be brought to people or people to services? If so, is metro critical? How long can you stay in a shelter etc. How do incomers (MD, VA) qualify? Tenleytown is already starting to look like SF as it seems to have many nooks and services the itinerant homeless seem to seek. I'd like to know the whole plan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sure, express concerns about the shelter. Get the facts - the REAL facts about what type of shelter it will be.

If you know the "real" facts about the proposed shelters, please provide a link. Everything I can find says that except for the Ward 2 shelter, they're NOT women's shelters, and although the Bowser team likes to emphasize how they will help families, nothing indicates the shelters will be limited to families. Also, I've seen some mention from Bowser about how there will be "good neighbor" agreements, but nothing with any specificity to show how the government will ensure these shelters and their residents will remain good neighbors. From what I've read, many of the existing DC shelter residents do not seem like good neighbors. Happy to be proven wrong, but you need to bring more facts to the table, and less accusations.

But many of you act as if Ward 3 should not have to help deal with any of these problems.

Ward 3 residents pay far more to deal with these problems than most other wards, so that's an unfair criticism.

Are you a "limousine liberal"? I think you might be!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sure, express concerns about the shelter. Get the facts - the REAL facts about what type of shelter it will be.

If you know the "real" facts about the proposed shelters, please provide a link. Everything I can find says that except for the Ward 2 shelter, they're NOT women's shelters, and although the Bowser team likes to emphasize how they will help families, nothing indicates the shelters will be limited to families. Also, I've seen some mention from Bowser about how there will be "good neighbor" agreements, but nothing with any specificity to show how the government will ensure these shelters and their residents will remain good neighbors. From what I've read, many of the existing DC shelter residents do not seem like good neighbors. Happy to be proven wrong, but you need to bring more facts to the table, and less accusations.

Homewarddc.com

But many of you act as if Ward 3 should not have to help deal with any of these problems.

Ward 3 residents pay far more to deal with these problems than most other wards, so that's an unfair criticism.

Move to the burbs, please.

NP: but it is getting tiresome on these threads (especially in the DCPS threads) every time a citizen questions the actions of local government or uses the civic system to have their voice heard in government they are told to move out of the jurisdiction if they don't like it. Why would you want to live in a place where no one questions the government, and where everyone who is unhappy with a public employee's decision moves instead of exercising their civic duty to speak up? You "move to the 'burbs" posters are downright unAmerican.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sure, express concerns about the shelter. Get the facts - the REAL facts about what type of shelter it will be.

If you know the "real" facts about the proposed shelters, please provide a link. Everything I can find says that except for the Ward 2 shelter, they're NOT women's shelters, and although the Bowser team likes to emphasize how they will help families, nothing indicates the shelters will be limited to families. Also, I've seen some mention from Bowser about how there will be "good neighbor" agreements, but nothing with any specificity to show how the government will ensure these shelters and their residents will remain good neighbors. From what I've read, many of the existing DC shelter residents do not seem like good neighbors. Happy to be proven wrong, but you need to bring more facts to the table, and less accusations.

But many of you act as if Ward 3 should not have to help deal with any of these problems.

Ward 3 residents pay far more to deal with these problems than most other wards, so that's an unfair criticism.

Are you a "limousine liberal"? I think you might be!

+1. It is as if the PP is saying that we pay more, so we should not have to deal with the problems inherent in living in a city. Because I live in Ward 1 and we would be happy for PP to "pay less" and deal with the same burden on this issue that we do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you a "limousine liberal"? I think you might be!

More like a "10 year old minivan liberal" who is worried about my kids, but hey, whatever crap you want to make up to fit your storyline!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:+1. It is as if the PP is saying that we pay more, so we should not have to deal with the problems inherent in living in a city. Because I live in Ward 1 and we would be happy for PP to "pay less" and deal with the same burden on this issue that we do.

I've posted it before, and I'll post it again. I'm happy to help DC deal with its problems, but I just don't want them irresponsibly dumped a couple blocks from my house, based on some backroom deal that Bowser and her cabinet cooked up. It's not a question of rich vs poor either, because I know many of those Capitol Hill rowhouses are far more expensive than my modest 3BR. I deal with my share of city problems. I saved up for 15 years to move from my old neighborhood to my new one, just to gain a little better lifestyle for my kids. But now, I'm seeing a likelihood that some of the problems I left are about to be dropped on me again. And it's not just about me, because if they don't end up near me house, it sounds like they'll just be pushed a mile away to someone else. That's not leadership; it's just shuffling the problems around the city.

Also, as I posted before, I'm not even necessarily opposed to a shelter in my neighborhood, but I want Bowser to make the neighborhood part of that discussion, and to have a clear plan in place for how she's going to make sure the shelter residents will be good neighbors. If some developer wanted to plop a new apartment building or commercial strip down in my neighborhood, there would be loads of zoning hearings where the developer would have to justify why its project wouldn't hurt the neighborhood and explain how its tenants would be good neighbors. So why is there no similar process for Bowser's shelters?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sure, express concerns about the shelter. Get the facts - the REAL facts about what type of shelter it will be.

If you know the "real" facts about the proposed shelters, please provide a link. Everything I can find says that except for the Ward 2 shelter, they're NOT women's shelters, and although the Bowser team likes to emphasize how they will help families, nothing indicates the shelters will be limited to families. Also, I've seen some mention from Bowser about how there will be "good neighbor" agreements, but nothing with any specificity to show how the government will ensure these shelters and their residents will remain good neighbors. From what I've read, many of the existing DC shelter residents do not seem like good neighbors. Happy to be proven wrong, but you need to bring more facts to the table, and less accusations.

Homewarddc.com

But many of you act as if Ward 3 should not have to help deal with any of these problems.

Ward 3 residents pay far more to deal with these problems than most other wards, so that's an unfair criticism.

Move to the burbs, please.

NP: but it is getting tiresome on these threads (especially in the DCPS threads) every time a citizen questions the actions of local government or uses the civic system to have their voice heard in government they are told to move out of the jurisdiction if they don't like it. Why would you want to live in a place where no one questions the government, and where everyone who is unhappy with a public employee's decision moves instead of exercising their civic duty to speak up? You "move to the 'burbs" posters are downright unAmerican.

Agreed. Anyone who doesn't understand the very basic tenet "No taxation without representation"...can perhaps consider moving to another country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you a "limousine liberal"? I think you might be!

More like a "10 year old minivan liberal" who is worried about my kids, but hey, whatever crap you want to make up to fit your storyline!

If you were truely worried about your kids you'd move to Bethesda. And I'm sure you will as soon as "those people" move in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you a "limousine liberal"? I think you might be!

More like a "10 year old minivan liberal" who is worried about my kids, but hey, whatever crap you want to make up to fit your storyline!

If you were truely worried about your kids you'd move to Bethesda. And I'm sure you will as soon as "those people" move in.

And ...there we go again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you a "limousine liberal"? I think you might be!

More like a "10 year old minivan liberal" who is worried about my kids, but hey, whatever crap you want to make up to fit your storyline!

If you were truely worried about your kids you'd move to Bethesda. And I'm sure you will as soon as "those people" move in.

And ...there we go again.

Join me on my island, PP, where the pieces of crap who judge you for actually wanting to retain your property value and keep your kids safe don't exist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you a "limousine liberal"? I think you might be!

More like a "10 year old minivan liberal" who is worried about my kids, but hey, whatever crap you want to make up to fit your storyline!

If you were truely worried about your kids you'd move to Bethesda. And I'm sure you will as soon as "those people" move in.

And ...there we go again.

Ugh. NP here - white family living in a DC neighborhood that's 70% AA and loving it, I personally can't stand Bethesda, too many self-absorbed assholes up there. Sadly we have to suffer weekends up there for an extracurricular activity... The kids in Bethesda are at least fine but the adults not so much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you a "limousine liberal"? I think you might be!

More like a "10 year old minivan liberal" who is worried about my kids, but hey, whatever crap you want to make up to fit your storyline!

If you were truely worried about your kids you'd move to Bethesda. And I'm sure you will as soon as "those people" move in.

And ...there we go again.

Ugh. NP here - white family living in a DC neighborhood that's 70% AA and loving it, I personally can't stand Bethesda, too many self-absorbed assholes up there. Sadly we have to suffer weekends up there for an extracurricular activity... The kids in Bethesda are at least fine but the adults not so much.

Good for you!

Now, why would you assume anyone cares?

[Anonymous]

Greater Greater Washington had a post yesterday on the former Hebrew Home at 11th & Spring that was interesting. Is this site one of the ones under consideration? Not Ward 3, obviously.
http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/30508/the-first-two-efforts-to-turn-petworths-hebrew-home-into-housing-failed-will-the-third-time-be-/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Greater Greater Washington had a post yesterday on the former Hebrew Home at 11th & Spring that was interesting. Is this site one of the ones under consideration? Not Ward 3, obviously.
http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/30508/the-first-two-efforts-to-turn-petworths-hebrew-home-into-housing-failed-will-the-third-time-be-/

Thanks for posting this, PP. Why on earth would Bowser not be open to this? It seems near perfect for her homeless shelter needs. Indeed, one of the linked articles says neighbors were clamoring at an ANC meeting in 2014 for the District to renovate the building as a shelter ("YIMBY"!). But it failed in part because Bowser is opposed. What's really going on here? Are we really trying to provide shelter for the homeless, or is there some other secret goal of this project?

In the fall of 2010, the DC Department of Human Services proposed using the site to shelter families instead of sending them to DC General. That plan would have cost an estimated $800,000 to renovate the building for 74 families. However, the site was removed from consideration due to then-Councilmember Muriel Bowser's concern that the immediate area had an "inordinate amount of group homes" and two homeless shelters within a two-block radius of the site.

More recently, efforts in 2014 to redevelop the historic structure and the Robeson School (which sits immediately adjacent, to the east) resulted in a plan to create approximately 200-units of housing with 90% designated as affordable .... Development stalled again, however, .... Moreover, Bowser expressed reservations about the plan being weighted so heavily toward affordable housing.