Why is the Foxhall Community Citizens Association scared of public school children?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some neighborhood clown has put up a hand-written sign in front of the park fence with the inscription: “DCPS Hands Off Hardy Park”. As if they owned the park and not the DC government!

The level of “Save Hardy Park” hysteria in the neighborhood is really out of control. Unfavorable comparisons could be drawn to the anti-busing protests. Except now those who don’t want middle-class public school children in their neighborhood hide behind euphemisms like “parking”, “traffic”, and “park space”.

If you know the recent history of LAB, Old Hardy, and the community’s support for the lease extension, it’s pretty clear what this about.

The FCCA has been very vocal with the position that only people who can see the park from their homes have a voice in how it's used. They don't really believe it's a public park.

[Anonymous]

A hundred or so people who think living in silly-looking gingerbread houses gives them ownership over city land.

[Anonymous]

Childless Foxhall-ites are bombarding the DCPS survey. See the comments here: bit.ly/FoxhallMacArthurSurvey

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is so stupid to put another public school in a remote part of DC with minimal/no transit access. They should cancel this purchase.

“Remote part of DC”. That’s an interesting turn of phrase, like MacArthur Blvd constitutes some strange wilderness.

It is not some "strange wilderness," but if you take public transit, it is not easy to reach unless you are coming directly from downtown DC. And the buses do not run frequently.

[Anonymous]

The GDS site does not seem large enough for a HS, but could see a MS on that campus. Would this replace Hardy Middle School or supplement it? If it were a HS, the enrollment would be between a quarter and a third of Wilson's population.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is so stupid to put another public school in a remote part of DC with minimal/no transit access. They should cancel this purchase.

“Remote part of DC”. That’s an interesting turn of phrase, like MacArthur Blvd constitutes some strange wilderness.

It is not some "strange wilderness," but if you take public transit, it is not easy to reach unless you are coming directly from downtown DC. And the buses do not run frequently.

There are a few options to fix that. These run the gamut from putting the D5 (which runs down M and then MacArthur) on a full day schedule to converting the right-of-way of the former Palisades Trolley Trail into a dedicated bus-way and maybe even eventually a new streetcar line. If the mayor really wants to densify the Palisades, the latter idea might not be so crazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The GDS site does not seem large enough for a HS, but could see a MS on that campus. Would this replace Hardy Middle School or supplement it? If it were a HS, the enrollment would be between a quarter and a third of Wilson's population.

Curiously, the survey is running over 50% for a new high school on the site. I don't get the thinking behind this. Most sensible option is to make GDS the new Hardy MS and then put a new HS on Wisconsin. Or maybe put a new MS on GDS, keep Hardy on Wisconsin with new boundaries to relieve Deal, and then use this Lord & Taylor site the NIMBYs love so much for a new HS. Lord knows that both a new HS AND MS are needed WOTP to relieve overcrowding at Wilson and Deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The GDS site does not seem large enough for a HS, but could see a MS on that campus. Would this replace Hardy Middle School or supplement it? If it were a HS, the enrollment would be between a quarter and a third of Wilson's population.

Curiously, the survey is running over 50% for a new high school on the site. I don't get the thinking behind this. Most sensible option is to make GDS the new Hardy MS and then put a new HS on Wisconsin. Or maybe put a new MS on GDS, keep Hardy on Wisconsin with new boundaries to relieve Deal, and then use this Lord & Taylor site the NIMBYs love so much for a new HS. Lord knows that both a new HS AND MS are needed WOTP to relieve overcrowding at Wilson and Deal.

Right now Hardy is 46% in-boundary. It could also hold a few hundred more kids if needed. If Deal crowding could be solved by sending kids to Hardy, it would have been solved already. Adding more middle school capacity in the southern half of the ward does nothing for Deal, but it creates a whole lot more middle school seats that have the right to attend Wilson. The only way to solve for Deal is going to be a new middle school somewhere within the current Deal boundaries, probably in the northern part of Ward 3.

A new high school that Hardy feeds helps crowding at Wilson, although it doesn't completely solve the problem. The only question I see is whether you put the new high school at MacArthur, or move Hardy to MacArthur and put the new HS at the current Hardy location on Wisconsin. I prefer the second just because MacArthur "feels" more like a middle school location and Wisconsin "feels" more like a HS location to me. But that's my subjective opinion.

[Anonymous]

Check out their online petition here:
http://chng.it/tDZBb9L9Ly

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Check out their online petition here:
http://chng.it/tDZBb9L9Ly

Maybe the city should instead be considering building a mental health facility on Hardy Park to serve the apparently large numbers of people in the neighborhood who seem detached from reality, exhibit characteristics consistent with narcissistic personality disorder, and/or tend towards unhealthy levels of hysteria.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone posting here actually live in the neighborhood?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone posting here actually live in the neighborhood?

Yes. Ask me anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Check out their online petition here:
http://chng.it/tDZBb9L9Ly

Maybe the city should instead be considering building a mental health facility on Hardy Park to serve the apparently large numbers of people in the neighborhood who seem detached from reality, exhibit characteristics consistent with narcissistic personality disorder, and/or tend towards unhealthy levels of hysteria.

Current thinking is that can be treated on an outpatient basis with appropriate medication and therapy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone posting here actually live in the neighborhood?

Well, there's at least two of us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone posting here actually live in the neighborhood?

Well, there's at least two of us.

I live in the neighborhood, and I categorically reject the position -- which undergirds most of their arguments -- that people who live nearby should have a special voice. Sure, you might have a special interest -- as does anyone with school-age children -- but the way that the democratic process works is that your vote counts the same as everyone else's.