Mazza Gallery was a lot of things. But a windowless rectangle of limestone is hardly beautiful and no one, even architectural critics at the time it opened, ever referred to it as such. |
Because the current library and community center are woefully out of date and in disrepair, the surface parking lot is an eyesore and rat hole and the "green space" is meager and underutilized. Rethinking the entire block for 21st century living, with some new residents will make the whole greater than the sum of the parts. I am perfectly fine with adding whatever units of affordable housing for people who work in the community - our firefighters, our policemen, our teachers, the clerk at Broad Branch Market, Safeway etc. This isn't section 8 or voucher housing, this is working people who should have an opportunity to live in the community where they work and "serve" But to listen to my neighbors waxing poetic about two buildings that are falling apart and never had any architectural charm to begin with, along with a surface parking lot and some scraggley trees as something special borders on offensive. I would also add, as someone who came into this debate agnostic, and reading posts on the neighborhood email group, it became offensive to listen to 1) the repeated false claims of the opponents. Repeating things that are easily disproven and that had been disproven many times simply undermined their credibility 2) the tacit racism expressed by many, without any recognition, even when gently pointed out, was appalling, and also appalling was many of my neighbors treatment of the volunteer ANC commissioners who have spent probably hundreds of unpaid hours dealing with the issue. There is so much entitlement and latching on to a mythical past that doesn't exist without any sort of vision or embracing of a better future is just myopic. Does that help? |
Because if you look at the results of the ANC survey, they overwhelming respondents who were oversampled in the results, were aging white boomers who are opposed to the redevelopment. But I am a different posted than who you are responding to. That would be my guess. |
So why not take two buildings constructed at the peak of wasteful energy time and replace it with a net zero, net carbon facility that will help correct the issue? |
No one wants this apart from ... the people who want this. |
I was curious about this! So, here's Benjamin Forgey, the architecture and art critic in the Washington Post, in 2000, and yeah, no mention of any "beautiful modernist building." https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2000/04/29/mazza-gallerie-strives-for-a-new-look/3761e37b-d79e-450b-b2da-e9665a2d0ba4/ |
No accounting for good taste. He probably likes the current FBI building as well. |
I am none of these things. I am also a Chevy Chase DC home owner and resident. And I want the apartments above the library/rec center. I think the density will help support the local businesses that I hope continue to stay and thrive in our neighborhood. And I think we are snack in the middle of a housing crisis that needs our support. To look at my home and think “at least I have housing do screw the rest of you” is a-hole behavior. |
The article says the original 1970s building was interesting, but says the building as of 2000 (when the article was written) after multiple renovations/additions is basically crap. So…it basically supports that what was there was nothing special. |
the parking lot is not an eyesore and it is very useful |
Thousands of our neighbors? Or thousands of random people who claimed to be neighbors but actually lives miles away? As someone in the area, I do not know any of my neighbors actually in the area that support this corrupt gift to private developers. Everyone I have talked to in real life have been solidly against this boondoggle, ranging from mildly annoyed about the loss of public land to private interests, to having already put their house on the market due to the project, and everywhere in between. Sure, some might not be loudly up in arms about it, and for a small portion it might only be seen as a mild inconvenience, but despite claims on here to the contrary, I have yet to meet someone from the neighborhood in real life who is even mildly supportive of the project. Hell, even the older lady who was knocking on doors in support of the project on our street was from some church in SW DC, not local. I’m not sure how they thought that was okay, but just goes to show how little DC cares about local residents’ opinion. |
Um. |
1. Using pejorative terms does not help your case. It is development, and there is no reason to conclude it is "corrupt." 2. DC's job is to care about ALL residents and do the thing that brings the biggest benefit to all of them. So yes, the people in SW DC are constitutents who matter too. |
I’m sure there is some small number of local supporters, but if the hundreds of local residents I know, I really can’t say I know any supportive of this project. I just see a lot of people on here claiming to be local and are supportive of the project, and wanted to make sure it is clear that is a minority of local residents. |
It’s really hard to fathom why anyone would be cheerleading so hard (on Christmas no less) for fancy housing on this civic site when there are other buildings and developments going up around upper Northwest. One assumes that the cheerleader either is a developer who hopes to scoop up an opportunity on favorable terms or someone being paid by a developer, an investor group, or maybe the DC planning office. In any event, the attempt to sow division based on race and age is offensive. It’s a real estate project. |