DCPS students shafted again - sign petition to keep Jelleff field public

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No dog in this fight, but I’ve coached baseball in many different schools in DC. Jelleff was owned by the boys and girls club, the city bought the building and field in '08 or '09. There city didn't begin maintaining the building until then. The field was built, turfed, and maintained by Maret during the fall/spring according to the lease since then. The reason it's a 10-year lease is that 10 years is the lifecycle of the turf on the field. Maret uses the field until 6pm (unless there is a game being played, and Maret has earlier game start times than other teams in the league) Monday-Friday, 3 or 4 Saturdays a season. The British School uses the field during the weekdays until 330 pm on weekdays when the field is generally unused. The reason for this setup is to accommodate as many groups as possible including Stoddard, and Break-Out Lacrosse.

Furthermore, as someone who has extensive history with DPR's inability to maintain outdoor athletic facilities I know the city won't actually maintain the field space. I've spent countless hours prepping and maintaining public baseball fields like Banneker/Maury Wills, Ft. Reno, Friendship, Guy Mason, Hamilton (before it was turf) and Taft field. Every time the city loses one of it's public/private partnerships the facilities, and the children that year them, suffer. A recent and local example is the conditions that have deteriorated at Guy Mason since Georgetown Softball left.

You've identified a big issue - what the city has done historically with maintaining field space. The city had these properties like Jellef for years that it did nothing with -- even though residents (public school children) could have used them back ten plus years ago. Private interest groups came in renovated properties to be usable in exchange for a use period plus an additional fee. The private interest group created the value on city property and now wants an extension. It's a tough issue.

Except that doesn't sound like what's happening here, at all. It sounds like DC bought the field and then immediately leased it to Maret for 10 years at an incredibly cheap rate, on the "condition" that Maret do renovations that benefit only Maret. Basically DC bought a field for Maret.

This deserves investigation.

It’s all Jack Evans, duh. And now he’s trying to get this through before he gets booted from office.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If maret adds lights and gets off the field by 7pm weeknights and 4pm weekends, I would say we have a deal.

That was the deal ten years ago. Arguably it was a fair deal. Now Maret is arguing they should get another ten years because they overpaid ten years ago.

All this hearsay is part of the problem. Where is the documentation, where is the transparency? Please link to Maret's "argument." Please provide the "notice" that must have been issued making the availability of Jelleff field to the highest bidder known. What? there wasn't one? all this was just done behind closed doors with pleading, handshakes and payoffs?

This. If the DC government wants to give away public property to private entities, it should at least have a transparent bidding process and not play favorites to private schools where council member’s kids are in attendance. Heck I could afford 25k/year for a land that cost $15 million. It’s cheaper than a 1 bR apartment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If maret adds lights and gets off the field by 7pm weeknights and 4pm weekends, I would say we have a deal.

That was the deal ten years ago. Arguably it was a fair deal. Now Maret is arguing they should get another ten years because they overpaid ten years ago.

All this hearsay is part of the problem. Where is the documentation, where is the transparency? Please link to Maret's "argument." Please provide the "notice" that must have been issued making the availability of Jelleff field to the highest bidder known. What? there wasn't one? all this was just done behind closed doors with pleading, handshakes and payoffs?

This. If the DC government wants to give away public property to private entities, it should at least have a transparent bidding process and not play favorites to private schools where council member’s kids are in attendance. Heck I could afford 25k/year for a land that cost $15 million. It’s cheaper than a 1 bR apartment.

The cost of the field could be in the high 6 or 7 figures. You keep leaving that out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If maret adds lights and gets off the field by 7pm weeknights and 4pm weekends, I would say we have a deal.

That was the deal ten years ago. Arguably it was a fair deal. Now Maret is arguing they should get another ten years because they overpaid ten years ago.

All this hearsay is part of the problem. Where is the documentation, where is the transparency? Please link to Maret's "argument." Please provide the "notice" that must have been issued making the availability of Jelleff field to the highest bidder known. What? there wasn't one? all this was just done behind closed doors with pleading, handshakes and payoffs?

This. If the DC government wants to give away public property to private entities, it should at least have a transparent bidding process and not play favorites to private schools where council member’s kids are in attendance. Heck I could afford 25k/year for a land that cost $15 million. It’s cheaper than a 1 bR apartment.

The cost of the field could be in the high 6 or 7 figures. You keep leaving that out.

Or it could be 50k. My kid’s McPS public school fundraised for their AstroTurf field through their PTA. It wasn’t that expensive. Maret got a back room sweetheart deal. If DPR is so sure it got the best deal for the Dc taxpayer from Maret why didn’t they open up rights to the field for competitive building.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If maret adds lights and gets off the field by 7pm weeknights and 4pm weekends, I would say we have a deal.

That was the deal ten years ago. Arguably it was a fair deal. Now Maret is arguing they should get another ten years because they overpaid ten years ago.

All this hearsay is part of the problem. Where is the documentation, where is the transparency? Please link to Maret's "argument." Please provide the "notice" that must have been issued making the availability of Jelleff field to the highest bidder known. What? there wasn't one? all this was just done behind closed doors with pleading, handshakes and payoffs?

This. If the DC government wants to give away public property to private entities, it should at least have a transparent bidding process and not play favorites to private schools where council member’s kids are in attendance. Heck I could afford 25k/year for a land that cost $15 million. It’s cheaper than a 1 bR apartment.

The cost of the field could be in the high 6 or 7 figures. You keep leaving that out.

the cost of the field only Maret can use?

[Anonymous]

The local media seems to be ignoring this issue, but it seems odd that there aren't any socially conscious Maret students or parents who recognize the absurdity of this untransparent deal. But I guess they don't care, because there was a more limited outcry from neighborhood residents 10 years ago when the deal 10 years ago was also called a sweetheart deal, and Maret pushed the deal through anyway.

https://georgetownmetropolitan.com/2010/01/21/city-turns-over-jelleff-fields-to-maret/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If maret adds lights and gets off the field by 7pm weeknights and 4pm weekends, I would say we have a deal.

That was the deal ten years ago. Arguably it was a fair deal. Now Maret is arguing they should get another ten years because they overpaid ten years ago.

All this hearsay is part of the problem. Where is the documentation, where is the transparency? Please link to Maret's "argument." Please provide the "notice" that must have been issued making the availability of Jelleff field to the highest bidder known. What? there wasn't one? all this was just done behind closed doors with pleading, handshakes and payoffs?

This. If the DC government wants to give away public property to private entities, it should at least have a transparent bidding process and not play favorites to private schools where council member’s kids are in attendance. Heck I could afford 25k/year for a land that cost $15 million. It’s cheaper than a 1 bR apartment.

The cost of the field could be in the high 6 or 7 figures. You keep leaving that out.

the cost of the field only Maret can use?

More than Maret uses the field.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The local media seems to be ignoring this issue, but it seems odd that there aren't any socially conscious Maret students or parents who recognize the absurdity of this untransparent deal. But I guess they don't care, because there was a more limited outcry from neighborhood residents 10 years ago when the deal 10 years ago was also called a sweetheart deal, and Maret pushed the deal through anyway.

https://georgetownmetropolitan.com/2010/01/21/city-turns-over-jelleff-fields-to-maret/

So ten years ago, Maret spent $2.5m + the cost of lights + the pool. Now they're spending an undisclosed amount to improve and maintain the field for ten more years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If maret adds lights and gets off the field by 7pm weeknights and 4pm weekends, I would say we have a deal.

That was the deal ten years ago. Arguably it was a fair deal. Now Maret is arguing they should get another ten years because they overpaid ten years ago.

All this hearsay is part of the problem. Where is the documentation, where is the transparency? Please link to Maret's "argument." Please provide the "notice" that must have been issued making the availability of Jelleff field to the highest bidder known. What? there wasn't one? all this was just done behind closed doors with pleading, handshakes and payoffs?

This. If the DC government wants to give away public property to private entities, it should at least have a transparent bidding process and not play favorites to private schools where council member’s kids are in attendance. Heck I could afford 25k/year for a land that cost $15 million. It’s cheaper than a 1 bR apartment.

The cost of the field could be in the high 6 or 7 figures. You keep leaving that out.

the cost of the field only Maret can use?

More than Maret uses the field.

Are you from Maret's PR department?
1) Maret has exclusive rights to the field. They CAN let others use the field, but by all accounts this doesn't happen very often and kids from neighborhood schools have to travel 1 hr sometimes to get to other fields, and even the aftercare program at Jelleff can't use the field.
2) No one knows how much Maret spent on upgrading the field, because the deal is untransparent. What is known is that they are charged just $25k/year for a piece of land that cost $15 million dollars which most people see as a sweetheart deal. If it's not a sweetheart deal, DPR can open up the field for competitive bidding, as good governance would require. Let Maret win fairly, and not because Jack Evans sent his kids there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No dog in this fight, but I’ve coached baseball in many different schools in DC. Jelleff was owned by the boys and girls club, the city bought the building and field in '08 or '09. There city didn't begin maintaining the building until then. The field was built, turfed, and maintained by Maret during the fall/spring according to the lease since then. The reason it's a 10-year lease is that 10 years is the lifecycle of the turf on the field. Maret uses the field until 6pm (unless there is a game being played, and Maret has earlier game start times than other teams in the league) Monday-Friday, 3 or 4 Saturdays a season. The British School uses the field during the weekdays until 330 pm on weekdays when the field is generally unused. The reason for this setup is to accommodate as many groups as possible including Stoddard, and Break-Out Lacrosse.

Furthermore, as someone who has extensive history with DPR's inability to maintain outdoor athletic facilities I know the city won't actually maintain the field space. I've spent countless hours prepping and maintaining public baseball fields like Banneker/Maury Wills, Ft. Reno, Friendship, Guy Mason, Hamilton (before it was turf) and Taft field. Every time the city loses one of it's public/private partnerships the facilities, and the children that year them, suffer. A recent and local example is the conditions that have deteriorated at Guy Mason since Georgetown Softball left.

DPR used to do a lot of public-private partnerships, and they were great -- for the private part. The problem was they consistently undervalued their assets, nobody was looking out for the public interest. The Maret deal is a relic of that era, DPR has almost entirely stopped doing those kinds of deals but I guess Maret is an exception.

The only partnerships that DPR does now are programmatic partnerships, where they work with outside groups to provide programming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The local media seems to be ignoring this issue, but it seems odd that there aren't any socially conscious Maret students or parents who recognize the absurdity of this untransparent deal. But I guess they don't care, because there was a more limited outcry from neighborhood residents 10 years ago when the deal 10 years ago was also called a sweetheart deal, and Maret pushed the deal through anyway.

https://georgetownmetropolitan.com/2010/01/21/city-turns-over-jelleff-fields-to-maret/

So ten years ago, Maret spent $2.5m + the cost of lights + the pool. Now they're spending an undisclosed amount to improve and maintain the field for ten more years.

The $2.5 million included the lights and pool.

I asked DPR staff about the deal at a public meeting. What they say is they feel that since Maret put in so much ten years ago they should get another ten years. No recognition that Maret agreed to the deal ten years ago, no sense of holding them to their deal, no looking out for the public interest, completely unbusinesslike.

[Anonymous]

This city has had large budget surpluses for basically the past decade.

Why the f#ck are we relying on outside private groups to maintain our parks? Why can’t DPR and DGS just do their goddamn jobs? Hell, hire a contractor to maintain the properties. But it’s utter BS that this city spent close to $10m to acquire Jelleff just to turn around and give it to a private school for a 10 year lease.

I can’t wait until Jack Evans gets booted. What a slime ball.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The local media seems to be ignoring this issue, but it seems odd that there aren't any socially conscious Maret students or parents who recognize the absurdity of this untransparent deal. But I guess they don't care, because there was a more limited outcry from neighborhood residents 10 years ago when the deal 10 years ago was also called a sweetheart deal, and Maret pushed the deal through anyway.

https://georgetownmetropolitan.com/2010/01/21/city-turns-over-jelleff-fields-to-maret/

So ten years ago, Maret spent $2.5m + the cost of lights + the pool. Now they're spending an undisclosed amount to improve and maintain the field for ten more years.

The $2.5 million included the lights and pool.

I asked DPR staff about the deal at a public meeting. What they say is they feel that since Maret put in so much ten years ago they should get another ten years. No recognition that Maret agreed to the deal ten years ago, no sense of holding them to their deal, no looking out for the public interest, completely unbusinesslike.

Wow, this is infuriating. Did you point out how corrupt this all looks?

I guarantee multiple people are getting their pockets lined. Is there a DC government IG that can investigate?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The local media seems to be ignoring this issue, but it seems odd that there aren't any socially conscious Maret students or parents who recognize the absurdity of this untransparent deal. But I guess they don't care, because there was a more limited outcry from neighborhood residents 10 years ago when the deal 10 years ago was also called a sweetheart deal, and Maret pushed the deal through anyway.

https://georgetownmetropolitan.com/2010/01/21/city-turns-over-jelleff-fields-to-maret/

So ten years ago, Maret spent $2.5m + the cost of lights + the pool. Now they're spending an undisclosed amount to improve and maintain the field for ten more years.

The $2.5 million included the lights and pool.

I asked DPR staff about the deal at a public meeting. What they say is they feel that since Maret put in so much ten years ago they should get another ten years. No recognition that Maret agreed to the deal ten years ago, no sense of holding them to their deal, no looking out for the public interest, completely unbusinesslike.

Wow, this is infuriating. Did you point out how corrupt this all looks?

I guarantee multiple people are getting their pockets lined. Is there a DC government IG that can investigate?

+1 DC does these deals over and over again to benefit private schools at below market prices (ex: the Lab School at Old Hardy) when there's a ton of need for these facilities, and it always can be traced back to the kid of some high up DC public official attending that school (in this case Jack Evans.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This city has had large budget surpluses for basically the past decade.

Why the f#ck are we relying on outside private groups to maintain our parks? Why can’t DPR and DGS just do their goddamn jobs? Hell, hire a contractor to maintain the properties. But it’s utter BS that this city spent close to $10m to acquire Jelleff just to turn around and give it to a private school for a 10 year lease.

I can’t wait until Jack Evans gets booted. What a slime ball.

Acquisition cost of Jelleff was $15 million. In 2008 dollars.