Big GDS news

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The opponents of GDS's new campus are like the woman on Capitol Hill who spends 20 hours a week harassing her neighbor because their tree house extends 20 inches into the public airspace above the alley. They simply won't go away. Some are normally very nice people, some are NIMBYs, some are anti-private schools, some are just batty. They clearly have nothing better to do and feel especially motivated to bash away at GDS. Luckily, public officials are used to the very small number of folks who find meaning in their lives through extreme arguments against private development and how other people use their own money and property. If they ever amounted to more than a handful, we'd have had a Trotsky-ite paradise long ago. So let them rant...Don't engage them any more...let this thread die.

I am sure that there are some folks who still may have some issues with GDS's new campus plan, but not that many especially as the school works through issues like traffic, parking, etc. However, there are a great many people who have serious concerns with the scope and scale of the commercial development that GDS is fronting for. The projects and the issues are very separate and it is disingenuous to conflate them.

[Anonymous]

As a local resident, I am excited for the changes to the school and I am more excited about getting some new retail, some new neighbors and some new activity in an area that has been relatively dead for decades. Replacing a brick wall and a car dealership is a major plus.

[Anonymous]

GDS is not doing itself any favors by allowing the site to look as ratty as it does now. Does not bode well.

[Anonymous]

Anybody who thinks GDS bought the Maartens lot with the goal of using it to slow tuition increases is naive. They bought the Maartens lot before Safeway would consider selling, and paid too much for it. Then Safeway's new owners decided they would sell for the right price (too much) and GDS bought the Safeway lot. GDS could not sell the Maartens lot without losing money. The development plant is backfilling for a bad investment.

[Anonymous]

I keep thinking of those poor little kids trying to play games on top of a three story building, in one of the windiest spots in Upper NW. They'll need to provide ankle weights to keep them from blowing off the roof.

[Anonymous]

So what does that mean for the poor little kids on the upper east side and upper west side playing on the 7th or 9th floor rooftop play areas?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So what does that mean for the poor little kids on the upper east side and upper west side playing on the 7th or 9th floor rooftop play areas?

The notion that Tenleytown should be developed like Manhattan is somewhat ridiculous, except perhaps in the wet dream of the Greater Greater Washington crowd.

[Anonymous]

And the notion that kids in New York can play on a windswept roof and kids in DC can't is ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what does that mean for the poor little kids on the upper east side and upper west side playing on the 7th or 9th floor rooftop play areas?

The notion that Tenleytown should be developed like Manhattan is somewhat ridiculous, except perhaps in the wet dream of the Greater Greater Washington crowd.

That is not the point. It is just a response to an absurd comment. It proves it wrong. No other pretensions here. Period.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what does that mean for the poor little kids on the upper east side and upper west side playing on the 7th or 9th floor rooftop play areas?

The notion that Tenleytown should be developed like Manhattan is somewhat ridiculous, except perhaps in the wet dream of the Greater Greater Washington crowd.

I love how this always reverts to the Greater Greater Washington crowd as if there aren't others who aren't part of the Greater Greater Washington Crowd who share the same opinions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what does that mean for the poor little kids on the upper east side and upper west side playing on the 7th or 9th floor rooftop play areas?

The notion that Tenleytown should be developed like Manhattan is somewhat ridiculous, except perhaps in the wet dream of the Greater Greater Washington crowd.

I love how this always reverts to the Greater Greater Washington crowd as if there aren't others who aren't part of the Greater Greater Washington Crowd who share the same opinions.

Honestly, if someone living in AU Park or Tenleytown wants to see the neighborhood become more like Manhattan, they are likely to be severely disappointed and would be happier somewhere else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:GDS is not doing itself any favors by allowing the site to look as ratty as it does now. Does not bode well.

Actually, that's pretty standard. And the effect is typically increased support for the PUD project -- "get rid of this eyesore" "anything would be better than what's there now" -- rather than penalties for the landowner/applicant. Thus far, I don't think GDS has done anything wrong wrt the Volvo site. Hopefully they'll shovel the sidewalk in front of it and the two neighboring townhomes they bought in November (4748 and 4750 Wisconsin). And throw in the WMATA Chiller plant (also part of the PUD) for good measure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:GDS is not doing itself any favors by allowing the site to look as ratty as it does now. Does not bode well.

Actually, that's pretty standard. And the effect is typically increased support for the PUD project -- "get rid of this eyesore" "anything would be better than what's there now" -- rather than penalties for the landowner/applicant.. Thus far, I don't think GDS has done anything wrong wrt the Volvo site. Hopefully they'll shovel the sidewalk in front of it and the two neighboring townhomes they bought in November (4748 and 4750 Wisconsin). And throw in the WMATA Chiller plant (also part of the PUD) for good measure.

+1. A manager at the Wisconsin Ave Giant said several years ago that they had stopped maintaining it so that more people would demand approval of the controversial Cathedral Commons PUD project.

[Anonymous]

That's how Wisconsin Ave got an even uglier version of DC USA.

[Anonymous]

Has this thread gone quiet because the project has been approved?