Restore Funding for Duke Ellington Modernization

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's weird that in a city that's no longer a Chocolate City, the majority of current residents can't

1. elect a representative mayor for either the majority or who represents the whole city, take your pick

and

2. one woman, Ms. Cafritz, continues to have so much power.

I guess it's too soon in the evolution of the District to expect this kind of cronyism to fade. I have to have faith that, with a changing electorate, there will be less of this kind of $tuff

The city is not majority chocolate city but the school population is... Which means that the flavor of the present is not having babies. That also let's you know that the ones that are moving here are not giving up their voting rights in their hometowns. They move here a novelty and not as becoming a Washingtonian. It is not cronyism when you're a native and not a nuisance. Duke Ellington was established on the back bone of black woman married to a white Jewish man, I would tread lightly with your rhetoric.

I will be more clear then, and avoid "rhetoric."

I believe that when the electorate becomes about 70% non-native-AA voters, the city will elect a mayor who would not greenlight this kind of pet project that only benefits a minuscule % of the population -- a population that is overwhelmingly AA.* Because however much we all like dancing and singing, this project is not good government.

I further believe that when the electorate is about 70% non-native-AA voters, a single individual of the likes of Ms. Cooper Cafritz will not wield as much power with the entire city government.

And to the PP who claims that all cities have cronyism that rise to levels seen presently and historically in the District ... no, not all cities do. Especially in the center of the country.


* demographics of Ellington
http://profiles.dcps.dc.gov/Duke+Ellington+School+of+the+Arts


http://profiles.dcps.dc.gov/Duke+Ellington+School+of+the+Arts

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Duke Ellington is the only performing arts school in this city...you are comparing it to the needs of an elementary. Be real and be honest with yourself, who gives a fudge if we lose a elementary school.

So why are DC taxpayers subsidizing kids to come to Ellington from MD and VA, when other DC schools are getting shafted with budget cuts or being deferred indefinitely for renovation??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a Duke Ellington supporter and think that our city needs/deserves a great arts high school. The old building was completely unsuitable for its mission. The dancers trained in the hallways, the auditorium was awful, there was inadequate studio space, etc. It was run down and decrepit. The students accomplished a lot despite that setting, but they and the city deserved much better.

That said, this project is crazy. At the start, it was an $82 million renovation. See http://www.ellingtonschool.org/news/agreement-clears-way-for-ellington-school-project/, where it was already referred to as a "massive project."

We are now at an incredible $178 million for this project (see http://www.currentnewspapers.com/admin/uploadfiles/GT%2010-14-15.pdf), more than the new cultural building at Yale (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/12/arts/design/stephen-a-schwarzmangives-150-million-for-yale-cultural-hub.html) and more than the expected cost of the brand new AU Law School building (http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2014/08/20/why-did-american-universitys-law-school-plunge-in-the-rankings/), although I'm sure the costs for the latter ballooned.

Even if it's finished on time, the students will have been out of the building for THREE YEARS. Check out the video on the Duke Ellington site (http://www.ellingtonschool.org/news/ellington-modernization-design/) to see how out of synch this building is with other school renovations in the city. Again, I'm NOT saying Ellington didn't deserve renovation. It most certainly did, and it does have special needs for studio and performance space that will make it more expensive than most normal school renovations. But the costs for this project are absolutely insane, and someone should be held to account.

Does anyone know if the Duke Ellington School is the client and contracting party on the renovation contract, or is it the DC general services office? If it's the former, it would be upsetting but not surprising, given how much the DE board has overspent on other things. So why then is DC giving the school a blank check to spend like a drunken sailor?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a Duke Ellington supporter and think that our city needs/deserves a great arts high school. The old building was completely unsuitable for its mission. The dancers trained in the hallways, the auditorium was awful, there was inadequate studio space, etc. It was run down and decrepit. The students accomplished a lot despite that setting, but they and the city deserved much better.

That said, this project is crazy. At the start, it was an $82 million renovation. See http://www.ellingtonschool.org/news/agreement-clears-way-for-ellington-school-project/, where it was already referred to as a "massive project."

We are now at an incredible $178 million for this project (see http://www.currentnewspapers.com/admin/uploadfiles/GT%2010-14-15.pdf), more than the new cultural building at Yale (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/12/arts/design/stephen-a-schwarzmangives-150-million-for-yale-cultural-hub.html) and more than the expected cost of the brand new AU Law School building (http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2014/08/20/why-did-american-universitys-law-school-plunge-in-the-rankings/), although I'm sure the costs for the latter ballooned.

Even if it's finished on time, the students will have been out of the building for THREE YEARS. Check out the video on the Duke Ellington site (http://www.ellingtonschool.org/news/ellington-modernization-design/) to see how out of synch this building is with other school renovations in the city. Again, I'm NOT saying Ellington didn't deserve renovation. It most certainly did, and it does have special needs for studio and performance space that will make it more expensive than most normal school renovations. But the costs for this project are absolutely insane, and someone should be held to account.

DGS

Does anyone know if the Duke Ellington School is the client and contracting party on the renovation contract, or is it the DC general services office? If it's the former, it would be upsetting but not surprising, given how much the DE board has overspent on other things. So why then is DC giving the school a blank check to spend like a drunken sailor?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a Duke Ellington supporter and think that our city needs/deserves a great arts high school. The old building was completely unsuitable for its mission. The dancers trained in the hallways, the auditorium was awful, there was inadequate studio space, etc. It was run down and decrepit. The students accomplished a lot despite that setting, but they and the city deserved much better.

That said, this project is crazy. At the start, it was an $82 million renovation. See http://www.ellingtonschool.org/news/agreement-clears-way-for-ellington-school-project/, where it was already referred to as a "massive project."

We are now at an incredible $178 million for this project (see http://www.currentnewspapers.com/admin/uploadfiles/GT%2010-14-15.pdf), more than the new cultural building at Yale (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/12/arts/design/stephen-a-schwarzmangives-150-million-for-yale-cultural-hub.html) and more than the expected cost of the brand new AU Law School building (http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2014/08/20/why-did-american-universitys-law-school-plunge-in-the-rankings/), although I'm sure the costs for the latter ballooned.

Even if it's finished on time, the students will have been out of the building for THREE YEARS. Check out the video on the Duke Ellington site (http://www.ellingtonschool.org/news/ellington-modernization-design/) to see how out of synch this building is with other school renovations in the city. Again, I'm NOT saying Ellington didn't deserve renovation. It most certainly did, and it does have special needs for studio and performance space that will make it more expensive than most normal school renovations. But the costs for this project are absolutely insane, and someone should be held to account.

DGS

Does anyone know if the Duke Ellington School is the client and contracting party on the renovation contract, or is it the DC general services office? If it's the former, it would be upsetting but not surprising, given how much the DE board has overspent on other things. So why then is DC giving the school a blank check to spend like a drunken sailor?

It is DGS. Not the DE board.

[Anonymous]

See http://dgs.dc.gov/page/dgs-duke-ellington-school-for-the-arts-modernization-project

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's weird that in a city that's no longer a Chocolate City, the majority of current residents can't

1. elect a representative mayor for either the majority or who represents the whole city, take your pick

and

2. one woman, Ms. Cafritz, continues to have so much power.

I guess it's too soon in the evolution of the District to expect this kind of cronyism to fade. I have to have faith that, with a changing electorate, there will be less of this kind of $tuff

The city is not majority chocolate city but the school population is... Which means that the flavor of the present is not having babies. That also let's you know that the ones that are moving here are not giving up their voting rights in their hometowns. They move here a novelty and not as becoming a Washingtonian. It is not cronyism when you're a native and not a nuisance. Duke Ellington was established on the back bone of black woman married to a white Jewish man, I would tread lightly with your rhetoric.

You seem to be conflating DC residency with using DCPS schools at the high school level. The "flavor of the present" is having babies, is living and buying in DC, and is voting here. What they are not doing, yet, is using DCPS high schools with the exception of Wilson. That will change. But the idea that White reintegration of DC is some passing fad is just not consistent with reality.

They are coming back and staying a bit longer than in the past (i.e. to 4th or 5th grade instead of fleeing immediately after Kindergarten). But none of them are sticking here for Middle School and up.
They are still leaving in droves for VA, MD, or taking jobs outside the region (usually "back home" in PA, NJ, the Midwest, or NC).

Also to be clear, DC is still strongly a plurality African-American. It's still 49% Af-Am. It would still take another 20-30 years of current growth rates for whites to outnumber blacks.

Not true - take a look at Deal and Wilson and tell me they are leaving.

Nope. It's going to take about 10 years at the current pace of in-migration that has occurred since 2010. The pace of demographic change is occurring much more rapidly than you state. Take a look at the 2014 numbers. And, with every new residential project already in the pipeline being a luxury-ish condo or rental building with efficiency/1-bedroom units ... I think it's quite clear who is moving in. They can be any race, yes, but they will not be new families and they will be highly educated/high income. <-- that demographic tends not to vote for crony, pandering Machine-type mayors, independent of race


White alone, percent, 2014 (a) 43.6%
Black or African American alone, percent definition and source info Black or African American alone, percent, 2014 (a) 49.0%
American Indian and Alaska Native alone, percent definition and source info American Indian and Alaska Native alone, percent, 2014 (a) 0.6% 1
Asian alone, percent definition and source info Asian alone, percent, 2014 (a) 4.0%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone, percent definition and source info Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone, percent, 2014 (a) 0.2%
Two or More Races, percent definition and source info Two or More Races, percent, 2014 2.6%
Hispanic or Latino, percent definition and source info Hispanic or Latino, percent, 2014 (b) 10.4% 17.4%

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It really makes my blood boil that so much money is given for so few students at Duke Ellington when our neighborhood school hasn't been renovated at all at won't be until who the $#% knows when.

It's not an "investment", it's robbery.

+100. A very sophisticated con.

[Anonymous]

Why has this discussion digressed into one of race? Race has nothing to do with the Duke Ellington runaway train. Schools across the city, including if not especially in predominantly AA neighborhoods, are being shortchanged because of the ballooning DE costs. And all DC taxpayers, regardless of hue, should wonder why DE is costing more than the most laving university arts centers, when the school seems accountable to no one for its actions and expenditures.

[Anonymous]

"lavish" not "laving"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's weird that in a city that's no longer a Chocolate City, the majority of current residents can't

1. elect a representative mayor for either the majority or who represents the whole city, take your pick

and

2. one woman, Ms. Cafritz, continues to have so much power.

I guess it's too soon in the evolution of the District to expect this kind of cronyism to fade. I have to have faith that, with a changing electorate, there will be less of this kind of $tuff

The city is not majority chocolate city but the school population is... Which means that the flavor of the present is not having babies. That also let's you know that the ones that are moving here are not giving up their voting rights in their hometowns. They move here a novelty and not as becoming a Washingtonian. It is not cronyism when you're a native and not a nuisance. Duke Ellington was established on the back bone of black woman married to a white Jewish man, I would tread lightly with your rhetoric.

I will be more clear then, and avoid "rhetoric."

I believe that when the electorate becomes about 70% non-native-AA voters, the city will elect a mayor who would not greenlight this kind of pet project that only benefits a minuscule % of the population -- a population that is overwhelmingly AA.* Because however much we all like dancing and singing, this project is not good government.

I further believe that when the electorate is about 70% non-native-AA voters, a single individual of the likes of Ms. Cooper Cafritz will not wield as much power with the entire city government.

And to the PP who claims that all cities have cronyism that rise to levels seen presently and historically in the District ... no, not all cities do. Especially in the center of the country.


* demographics of Ellington
http://profiles.dcps.dc.gov/Duke+Ellington+School+of+the+Arts


http://profiles.dcps.dc.gov/Duke+Ellington+School+of+the+Arts

In fact, the school directly benefits an even smaller segment. There are DC kids who get turned down for Ellington, while the school takes a number from the suburbs. These students are supposed to pay tuition that doesn't even come close to covering costs (so they receive a subsidy from DC taxpayers). There are questions, however, about DC efforts to collect the tuitions that are due. And that involves only the kids who declare that they reside in the 'burbs. It's a reasonable assumption, given Ellington's draw, that there are kids who live outside of DC but whose families claim a DC address to fraudulently avoid the payment of tuition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a Duke Ellington supporter and think that our city needs/deserves a great arts high school. The old building was completely unsuitable for its mission. The dancers trained in the hallways, the auditorium was awful, there was inadequate studio space, etc. It was run down and decrepit. The students accomplished a lot despite that setting, but they and the city deserved much better.

That said, this project is crazy. At the start, it was an $82 million renovation. See http://www.ellingtonschool.org/news/agreement-clears-way-for-ellington-school-project/, where it was already referred to as a "massive project."

We are now at an incredible $178 million for this project (see http://www.currentnewspapers.com/admin/uploadfiles/GT%2010-14-15.pdf), more than the new cultural building at Yale (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/12/arts/design/stephen-a-schwarzmangives-150-million-for-yale-cultural-hub.html) and more than the expected cost of the brand new AU Law School building (http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2014/08/20/why-did-american-universitys-law-school-plunge-in-the-rankings/), although I'm sure the costs for the latter ballooned.

Even if it's finished on time, the students will have been out of the building for THREE YEARS. Check out the video on the Duke Ellington site (http://www.ellingtonschool.org/news/ellington-modernization-design/) to see how out of synch this building is with other school renovations in the city. Again, I'm NOT saying Ellington didn't deserve renovation. It most certainly did, and it does have special needs for studio and performance space that will make it more expensive than most normal school renovations. But the costs for this project are absolutely insane, and someone should be held to account.

This is nuts. The Debartolo Performing Arts Center at Notre Dame, built from scratch to be one the top technologically perfect performance spaces in the country including a three story $1 million dollar organ and specially created foundations to prevent sound vibrations from traveling between performance space, et., etc., only cost $63 million.

Is there an investigation? Someone needs to serve time. No way in hell this is a legitimate cost.

Building from scratch is always cheaper than renovating....in Georgetown!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a Duke Ellington supporter and think that our city needs/deserves a great arts high school. The old building was completely unsuitable for its mission. The dancers trained in the hallways, the auditorium was awful, there was inadequate studio space, etc. It was run down and decrepit. The students accomplished a lot despite that setting, but they and the city deserved much better.

That said, this project is crazy. At the start, it was an $82 million renovation. See http://www.ellingtonschool.org/news/agreement-clears-way-for-ellington-school-project/, where it was already referred to as a "massive project."

We are now at an incredible $178 million for this project (see http://www.currentnewspapers.com/admin/uploadfiles/GT%2010-14-15.pdf), more than the new cultural building at Yale (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/12/arts/design/stephen-a-schwarzmangives-150-million-for-yale-cultural-hub.html) and more than the expected cost of the brand new AU Law School building (http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2014/08/20/why-did-american-universitys-law-school-plunge-in-the-rankings/), although I'm sure the costs for the latter ballooned.

Even if it's finished on time, the students will have been out of the building for THREE YEARS. Check out the video on the Duke Ellington site (http://www.ellingtonschool.org/news/ellington-modernization-design/) to see how out of synch this building is with other school renovations in the city. Again, I'm NOT saying Ellington didn't deserve renovation. It most certainly did, and it does have special needs for studio and performance space that will make it more expensive than most normal school renovations. But the costs for this project are absolutely insane, and someone should be held to account.

This is nuts. The Debartolo Performing Arts Center at Notre Dame, built from scratch to be one the top technologically perfect performance spaces in the country including a three story $1 million dollar organ and specially created foundations to prevent sound vibrations from traveling between performance space, et., etc., only cost $63 million.

Is there an investigation? Someone needs to serve time. No way in hell this is a legitimate cost.

Building from scratch is always cheaper than renovating....in Georgetown!

That doesn't explain it. And all DE seems to be saving of the old structure are the front walls. I suspect it is mismanagement, and hopefully not corruption. Either way, the cost overruns are really unconscionable.

[Anonymous]

I wish that they had renovated the old Western HS building as a new Western HS, to take some of the pressure off of Woodrow Wilson. If, as a PP suggested, building from scratch would have been cheaper, then that is another reason why DE should have built a brand new, purpose-designed school is a more central, Metro-accessible part of the city.

[Anonymous]

Has the post or other paper looked into this in depth? How is this not a top metro story?