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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"The clubhouse is budgeted to get an upgrade of $7 million in the FY2020 budget. I do not think this funding is sufficient to bring the facility to where it needs to be and what the residents want. I have met with the Mayor and she has agreed to build a brand-new clubhouse. I will work with her to identify the funding in next year’s budget."

Wow, that's news! That a big quid for the quo.

the kids still need outdoor space! the 100 aftercare kids need to be able to play outdoors after being in school all day. Sports teams of nearby public schools need places to practice. Evans is a disgrace.

Go to the Duke Ellington school field. This is not a DCPS property. If DCPS wants to use the property, they need to step up with money. I am sure they will give DCPS the same deal.

I assume you're talking about Jelleff, which is a DPR field? First, under DC law DPR is supposed to give priority to public and charter schools over all private users. Second, it's not like DPR and DCPS are different countries, they are agencies of the same city government, reporting to the same deputy mayor. It shouldn't be hard for them to work together on common goals.

Third, DCPS is not asking for exclusive use of the field for one school every day afternoon during fall and spring sports seasons.

Perhaps Maret needs to have a closed door meeting about DE?

So how do you justify a law like that? The British School and Maret use the Jelleff and have a large proportion of students who live in DC. Their parents pay DC taxes that are used for DPR facilities and for DCPS. Why should DCPS have priority use of a public park? Seems like that law should be challenged in court.

It is interesting that are you advocating the merger DPR and DCPS. I wonder how many people would be in favor of that?

How do you justify a law like that? The city has an obligation to provide free public education to its youth. Doing so requires facilities. Those facilities are often used only part of the time. If another city agency already owns appropriate facilities, and isn't using them at that particular time, allowing DCPS or public charter schools to use them saves taxpayers money.

This is the public school forum, I don't think you'll find much sympathy for the notion that private schools should be subsidized by the public. That idea was fashionable in much of the South in the years immediately following Brown v. Board of Education but has largely fallen out of favor.

So by your logic the city libraries can be used as classroom space for DCPS or charter schools?
The large point is DPR has a different mission vs DCPS.

Mission
The mission of the Department of Parks and Recreation is to enhance the quality of life and wellness of DC residents and visitors by providing equal access to affordable and quality recreational services, by organizing programs, activities and events, and by building and maintaining safe and beautiful open spaces and recreational amenities.

Budget $47 million. https://cfo.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/ocfo/publication/attachments/FY%202018%20Current%20Services%20Funding%20Level%20Budget.pdf

The mission of DC Public Schools is to ensure that every DCPS school provides a world-class education that prepares ALL of our students, regardless of background or circumstance, for success in college, career, and life.

Budget DCPS 771 million
DCPS charters 738 million
https://cfo.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/ocfo/publication/attachments/FY%202018%20Current%20Services%20Funding%20Level%20Budget.pdf

You can not exclude tax paying citizen from a public park because you see a park and wanted for your kids school use. The schools have enough money to buy or enter into an agreement for more facilities. They do not see it as a priority.

Many elderly, single people, people with children who are of different age vs your kids and or people with children in private school will want to use the park they paid taxes to have. Just like Maret should not have exclusive use of DPR facilities, DCPS should not be allowed to do the same. DCPS could have bought the property when it was for sale and did not to buy it. You are no different from Maret ....well at least they will pay and improve the park unlike you who just wants to steal it.

You are arguing against a straw man. No one has said DCPS should have exclusive access to DPR facilities like Maret has.

+1 It's time to ignore these attempts to muddy the issue with these silly side arguments. The time for "nothing to see here" attempts is over. This crooked Jelleff deal needs to be investigated and Maret needs to get smart and not align itself with Jack Evans and Bowser.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"The clubhouse is budgeted to get an upgrade of $7 million in the FY2020 budget. I do not think this funding is sufficient to bring the facility to where it needs to be and what the residents want. I have met with the Mayor and she has agreed to build a brand-new clubhouse. I will work with her to identify the funding in next year’s budget."

Wow, that's news! That a big quid for the quo.

the kids still need outdoor space! the 100 aftercare kids need to be able to play outdoors after being in school all day. Sports teams of nearby public schools need places to practice. Evans is a disgrace.

Go to the Duke Ellington school field. This is not a DCPS property. If DCPS wants to use the property, they need to step up with money. I am sure they will give DCPS the same deal.

I assume you're talking about Jelleff, which is a DPR field? First, under DC law DPR is supposed to give priority to public and charter schools over all private users. Second, it's not like DPR and DCPS are different countries, they are agencies of the same city government, reporting to the same deputy mayor. It shouldn't be hard for them to work together on common goals.

Third, DCPS is not asking for exclusive use of the field for one school every day afternoon during fall and spring sports seasons.

Perhaps Maret needs to have a closed door meeting about DE?

So how do you justify a law like that? The British School and Maret use the Jelleff and have a large proportion of students who live in DC. Their parents pay DC taxes that are used for DPR facilities and for DCPS. Why should DCPS have priority use of a public park? Seems like that law should be challenged in court.

It is interesting that are you advocating the merger DPR and DCPS. I wonder how many people would be in favor of that?

How do you justify a law like that? The city has an obligation to provide free public education to its youth. Doing so requires facilities. Those facilities are often used only part of the time. If another city agency already owns appropriate facilities, and isn't using them at that particular time, allowing DCPS or public charter schools to use them saves taxpayers money.

This is the public school forum, I don't think you'll find much sympathy for the notion that private schools should be subsidized by the public. That idea was fashionable in much of the South in the years immediately following Brown v. Board of Education but has largely fallen out of favor.

So by your logic the city libraries can be used as classroom space for DCPS or charter schools?
The large point is DPR has a different mission vs DCPS.

Mission
The mission of the Department of Parks and Recreation is to enhance the quality of life and wellness of DC residents and visitors by providing equal access to affordable and quality recreational services, by organizing programs, activities and events, and by building and maintaining safe and beautiful open spaces and recreational amenities.

Budget $47 million. https://cfo.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/ocfo/publication/attachments/FY%202018%20Current%20Services%20Funding%20Level%20Budget.pdf

The mission of DC Public Schools is to ensure that every DCPS school provides a world-class education that prepares ALL of our students, regardless of background or circumstance, for success in college, career, and life.

Budget DCPS 771 million
DCPS charters 738 million
https://cfo.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/ocfo/publication/attachments/FY%202018%20Current%20Services%20Funding%20Level%20Budget.pdf

You can not exclude tax paying citizen from a public park because you see a park and wanted for your kids school use. The schools have enough money to buy or enter into an agreement for more facilities. They do not see it as a priority.

Many elderly, single people, people with children who are of different age vs your kids and or people with children in private school will want to use the park they paid taxes to have. Just like Maret should not have exclusive use of DPR facilities, DCPS should not be allowed to do the same. DCPS could have bought the property when it was for sale and did not to buy it. You are no different from Maret ....well at least they will pay and improve the park unlike you who just wants to steal it.

Oh FFS. What a massive straw-man argument. My guess is that Maret hired a crisis PR firm to troll the message boards, and here you are.

There is NOTHING wrong with a city prioritizing facilities to go to it's PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS. By your argument, private schools should also be allowed go buy out the actual public school buildings during daytime hours, just because they can pay more, and our public school kids should have to be schooled in warehouses somewhere. A city has every right to reserve PUBLIC lands for specific PUBLIC uses, including prioritizing the use of parks for public school sports and after-care. The only way that legal rights come into it is that the city cannot engage in viewpoint discrimination when selecting between private users, when the facility is open to private use.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"The clubhouse is budgeted to get an upgrade of $7 million in the FY2020 budget. I do not think this funding is sufficient to bring the facility to where it needs to be and what the residents want. I have met with the Mayor and she has agreed to build a brand-new clubhouse. I will work with her to identify the funding in next year’s budget."

Wow, that's news! That a big quid for the quo.

the kids still need outdoor space! the 100 aftercare kids need to be able to play outdoors after being in school all day. Sports teams of nearby public schools need places to practice. Evans is a disgrace.

Go to the Duke Ellington school field. This is not a DCPS property. If DCPS wants to use the property, they need to step up with money. I am sure they will give DCPS the same deal.

I assume you're talking about Jelleff, which is a DPR field? First, under DC law DPR is supposed to give priority to public and charter schools over all private users. Second, it's not like DPR and DCPS are different countries, they are agencies of the same city government, reporting to the same deputy mayor. It shouldn't be hard for them to work together on common goals.

Third, DCPS is not asking for exclusive use of the field for one school every day afternoon during fall and spring sports seasons.

Perhaps Maret needs to have a closed door meeting about DE?

So how do you justify a law like that? The British School and Maret use the Jelleff and have a large proportion of students who live in DC. Their parents pay DC taxes that are used for DPR facilities and for DCPS. Why should DCPS have priority use of a public park? Seems like that law should be challenged in court.

It is interesting that are you advocating the merger DPR and DCPS. I wonder how many people would be in favor of that?

How do you justify a law like that? The city has an obligation to provide free public education to its youth. Doing so requires facilities. Those facilities are often used only part of the time. If another city agency already owns appropriate facilities, and isn't using them at that particular time, allowing DCPS or public charter schools to use them saves taxpayers money.

This is the public school forum, I don't think you'll find much sympathy for the notion that private schools should be subsidized by the public. That idea was fashionable in much of the South in the years immediately following Brown v. Board of Education but has largely fallen out of favor.

So by your logic the city libraries can be used as classroom space for DCPS or charter schools?
The large point is DPR has a different mission vs DCPS.

Mission
The mission of the Department of Parks and Recreation is to enhance the quality of life and wellness of DC residents and visitors by providing equal access to affordable and quality recreational services, by organizing programs, activities and events, and by building and maintaining safe and beautiful open spaces and recreational amenities.

Budget $47 million. https://cfo.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/ocfo/publication/attachments/FY%202018%20Current%20Services%20Funding%20Level%20Budget.pdf

The mission of DC Public Schools is to ensure that every DCPS school provides a world-class education that prepares ALL of our students, regardless of background or circumstance, for success in college, career, and life.

Budget DCPS 771 million
DCPS charters 738 million
https://cfo.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/ocfo/publication/attachments/FY%202018%20Current%20Services%20Funding%20Level%20Budget.pdf

You can not exclude tax paying citizen from a public park because you see a park and wanted for your kids school use. The schools have enough money to buy or enter into an agreement for more facilities. They do not see it as a priority.

Many elderly, single people, people with children who are of different age vs your kids and or people with children in private school will want to use the park they paid taxes to have. Just like Maret should not have exclusive use of DPR facilities, DCPS should not be allowed to do the same. DCPS could have bought the property when it was for sale and did not to buy it. You are no different from Maret ....well at least they will pay and improve the park unlike you who just wants to steal it.

Oh FFS. What a massive straw-man argument. My guess is that Maret hired a crisis PR firm to troll the message boards, and here you are.

There is NOTHING wrong with a city prioritizing facilities to go to it's PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS. By your argument, private schools should also be allowed go buy out the actual public school buildings during daytime hours, just because they can pay more, and our public school kids should have to be schooled in warehouses somewhere. A city has every right to reserve PUBLIC lands for specific PUBLIC uses, including prioritizing the use of parks for public school sports and after-care. The only way that legal rights come into it is that the city cannot engage in viewpoint discrimination when selecting between private users, when the facility is open to private use.

Absolutely not. Do you see the budget difference between DPR vs DCPS? It’s a public park not part of the public school system. You just want take the public park for DCPS use because at this time your kid goes to the school. The argument has gone from not letting Maret get priority use of the park to having DCPS getting priority use of the park with no financial responsibilities to maintain the park. I live within two blocks of Jelleff and will work to stop you jerks. You are just a bunch of free riders who want to deny the public access to a public park. There are a lot of groups who have every right to use that public park and club house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"The clubhouse is budgeted to get an upgrade of $7 million in the FY2020 budget. I do not think this funding is sufficient to bring the facility to where it needs to be and what the residents want. I have met with the Mayor and she has agreed to build a brand-new clubhouse. I will work with her to identify the funding in next year’s budget."

Wow, that's news! That a big quid for the quo.

the kids still need outdoor space! the 100 aftercare kids need to be able to play outdoors after being in school all day. Sports teams of nearby public schools need places to practice. Evans is a disgrace.

Go to the Duke Ellington school field. This is not a DCPS property. If DCPS wants to use the property, they need to step up with money. I am sure they will give DCPS the same deal.

I assume you're talking about Jelleff, which is a DPR field? First, under DC law DPR is supposed to give priority to public and charter schools over all private users. Second, it's not like DPR and DCPS are different countries, they are agencies of the same city government, reporting to the same deputy mayor. It shouldn't be hard for them to work together on common goals.

Third, DCPS is not asking for exclusive use of the field for one school every day afternoon during fall and spring sports seasons.

Perhaps Maret needs to have a closed door meeting about DE?

So how do you justify a law like that? The British School and Maret use the Jelleff and have a large proportion of students who live in DC. Their parents pay DC taxes that are used for DPR facilities and for DCPS. Why should DCPS have priority use of a public park? Seems like that law should be challenged in court.

It is interesting that are you advocating the merger DPR and DCPS. I wonder how many people would be in favor of that?

How do you justify a law like that? The city has an obligation to provide free public education to its youth. Doing so requires facilities. Those facilities are often used only part of the time. If another city agency already owns appropriate facilities, and isn't using them at that particular time, allowing DCPS or public charter schools to use them saves taxpayers money.

This is the public school forum, I don't think you'll find much sympathy for the notion that private schools should be subsidized by the public. That idea was fashionable in much of the South in the years immediately following Brown v. Board of Education but has largely fallen out of favor.

So by your logic the city libraries can be used as classroom space for DCPS or charter schools?
The large point is DPR has a different mission vs DCPS.

Mission
The mission of the Department of Parks and Recreation is to enhance the quality of life and wellness of DC residents and visitors by providing equal access to affordable and quality recreational services, by organizing programs, activities and events, and by building and maintaining safe and beautiful open spaces and recreational amenities.

Budget $47 million. https://cfo.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/ocfo/publication/attachments/FY%202018%20Current%20Services%20Funding%20Level%20Budget.pdf

The mission of DC Public Schools is to ensure that every DCPS school provides a world-class education that prepares ALL of our students, regardless of background or circumstance, for success in college, career, and life.

Budget DCPS 771 million
DCPS charters 738 million
https://cfo.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/ocfo/publication/attachments/FY%202018%20Current%20Services%20Funding%20Level%20Budget.pdf

You can not exclude tax paying citizen from a public park because you see a park and wanted for your kids school use. The schools have enough money to buy or enter into an agreement for more facilities. They do not see it as a priority.

Many elderly, single people, people with children who are of different age vs your kids and or people with children in private school will want to use the park they paid taxes to have. Just like Maret should not have exclusive use of DPR facilities, DCPS should not be allowed to do the same. DCPS could have bought the property when it was for sale and did not to buy it. You are no different from Maret ....well at least they will pay and improve the park unlike you who just wants to steal it.

Oh FFS. What a massive straw-man argument. My guess is that Maret hired a crisis PR firm to troll the message boards, and here you are.

There is NOTHING wrong with a city prioritizing facilities to go to it's PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS. By your argument, private schools should also be allowed go buy out the actual public school buildings during daytime hours, just because they can pay more, and our public school kids should have to be schooled in warehouses somewhere. A city has every right to reserve PUBLIC lands for specific PUBLIC uses, including prioritizing the use of parks for public school sports and after-care. The only way that legal rights come into it is that the city cannot engage in viewpoint discrimination when selecting between private users, when the facility is open to private use.

Absolutely not. Do you see the budget difference between DPR vs DCPS? It’s a public park not part of the public school system. You just want take the public park for DCPS use because at this time your kid goes to the school. The argument has gone from not letting Maret get priority use of the park to having DCPS getting priority use of the park with no financial responsibilities to maintain the park. I live within two blocks of Jelleff and will work to stop you jerks. You are just a bunch of free riders who want to deny the public access to a public park. There are a lot of groups who have every right to use that public park and club house.

Er, isn’t DC presently transferring Duke Ellington field from DCPS to DPR? Doesn’t seem that hard.

And why do you — if you not a parent with affected kids — care which school team or teams uses the sports field on weekday afternoons? It’s going to be some school group or the Boys and Girls Club. What other groups are being denied rights they desperately need to weekday afternoon field access? North Georgetown Croquet League?

Furthermore, you do realize — don’t you? — there is a permitting system that allows different groups to gain access to DPR field use, but that only Maret has a special 10 year exclusive deal?
M
Finally, you, lucky citizen that you are, are able to use many DCPS playgrounds and fields and open spaces outside of school hours and when not rented? Isn’t it nice that DCPS adds to the publicly available park space even though they are not DPR?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"The clubhouse is budgeted to get an upgrade of $7 million in the FY2020 budget. I do not think this funding is sufficient to bring the facility to where it needs to be and what the residents want. I have met with the Mayor and she has agreed to build a brand-new clubhouse. I will work with her to identify the funding in next year’s budget."

Wow, that's news! That a big quid for the quo.

the kids still need outdoor space! the 100 aftercare kids need to be able to play outdoors after being in school all day. Sports teams of nearby public schools need places to practice. Evans is a disgrace.

Go to the Duke Ellington school field. This is not a DCPS property. If DCPS wants to use the property, they need to step up with money. I am sure they will give DCPS the same deal.

I assume you're talking about Jelleff, which is a DPR field? First, under DC law DPR is supposed to give priority to public and charter schools over all private users. Second, it's not like DPR and DCPS are different countries, they are agencies of the same city government, reporting to the same deputy mayor. It shouldn't be hard for them to work together on common goals.

Third, DCPS is not asking for exclusive use of the field for one school every day afternoon during fall and spring sports seasons.

Perhaps Maret needs to have a closed door meeting about DE?

So how do you justify a law like that? The British School and Maret use the Jelleff and have a large proportion of students who live in DC. Their parents pay DC taxes that are used for DPR facilities and for DCPS. Why should DCPS have priority use of a public park? Seems like that law should be challenged in court.

It is interesting that are you advocating the merger DPR and DCPS. I wonder how many people would be in favor of that?

How do you justify a law like that? The city has an obligation to provide free public education to its youth. Doing so requires facilities. Those facilities are often used only part of the time. If another city agency already owns appropriate facilities, and isn't using them at that particular time, allowing DCPS or public charter schools to use them saves taxpayers money.

This is the public school forum, I don't think you'll find much sympathy for the notion that private schools should be subsidized by the public. That idea was fashionable in much of the South in the years immediately following Brown v. Board of Education but has largely fallen out of favor.

So by your logic the city libraries can be used as classroom space for DCPS or charter schools?
The large point is DPR has a different mission vs DCPS.

Mission
The mission of the Department of Parks and Recreation is to enhance the quality of life and wellness of DC residents and visitors by providing equal access to affordable and quality recreational services, by organizing programs, activities and events, and by building and maintaining safe and beautiful open spaces and recreational amenities.

Budget $47 million. https://cfo.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/ocfo/publication/attachments/FY%202018%20Current%20Services%20Funding%20Level%20Budget.pdf

The mission of DC Public Schools is to ensure that every DCPS school provides a world-class education that prepares ALL of our students, regardless of background or circumstance, for success in college, career, and life.

Budget DCPS 771 million
DCPS charters 738 million
https://cfo.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/ocfo/publication/attachments/FY%202018%20Current%20Services%20Funding%20Level%20Budget.pdf

You can not exclude tax paying citizen from a public park because you see a park and wanted for your kids school use. The schools have enough money to buy or enter into an agreement for more facilities. They do not see it as a priority.

Many elderly, single people, people with children who are of different age vs your kids and or people with children in private school will want to use the park they paid taxes to have. Just like Maret should not have exclusive use of DPR facilities, DCPS should not be allowed to do the same. DCPS could have bought the property when it was for sale and did not to buy it. You are no different from Maret ....well at least they will pay and improve the park unlike you who just wants to steal it.

If you can't see that there is a difference between public schools and private schools there's really no arguing with you.

[Anonymous]

This message came to my inbox today. I know this family and they are good people. It's a campaign email for someone running against Jack Evans but the content focuses on the Jelleff situation.


Hi, neighbors - we’re the Wetzels. We are a nurse and an Air Force pilot. We live in Ward 2 with our teenager Mason and we’re supporting Kishan Putta to be our councilmember.

When Kishan knocked on our door while campaigning for his current ANC Commissioner role, he promised to fight for families like ours, and that’s what he’s doing:

He is fighting for our son Mason (see his action photo below!) and his classmates to be able to play afterschool at the public Jelleff field right across the street from his school which has no real sports field. They actually have to miss classtime and ride buses for an hour to play "home games" instead of walking 1 minute away!

Even though many Ward 2 parents and children have been asking to use Jelleff, Councilmember Jack Evans supports giving just one school all of the most popular hours for 20 years! That blocks Mason and hundreds of kids like him from playing there afterschool. We think that’s wrong. We think that's unfair. Kishan understands this and is fighting for fairness.

We’re proud that Kishan is fighting for us:
First, he helped write an online petition that’s been signed by over 2,400 DC residents. And this week, he met with Mayor Bowser and other leaders to tell her how we feel and to ask for more fairness and sharing of our public resources - something we teach Mason at home.

If you want to learn more, Kishan was recently interviewed by The Washington Post and WAMU (npr) which wrote:


“It’s a basic issue of fairness,” says Kishan Putta, a Ward 2 ANC commissioner who is also challenging Council member Jack Evans in the Ward 2 race. “...All we’re asking is to share the [public] facility. There is real injustice in this.”

“The [kids at the Boys and Girls Club] are not wealthy kids,” says Putta, the ANC commissioner. “These are kids from all over the District who need after-school care.”

We have never contributed to a DC campaign before. But we just contributed to Kishan. And because Kishan pushed for campaign finance reform, he is not taking corporate money and only accepting small donations under public financing. So, our $25 donations got matched 5-to-1 and became $300 to help Kishan knock on more doors and win this election! We hope you will give as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This message came to my inbox today. I know this family and they are good people. It's a campaign email for someone running against Jack Evans but the content focuses on the Jelleff situation.


Hi, neighbors - we’re the Wetzels. We are a nurse and an Air Force pilot. We live in Ward 2 with our teenager Mason and we’re supporting Kishan Putta to be our councilmember.

When Kishan knocked on our door while campaigning for his current ANC Commissioner role, he promised to fight for families like ours, and that’s what he’s doing:

He is fighting for our son Mason (see his action photo below!) and his classmates to be able to play afterschool at the public Jelleff field right across the street from his school which has no real sports field. They actually have to miss classtime and ride buses for an hour to play "home games" instead of walking 1 minute away!

Even though many Ward 2 parents and children have been asking to use Jelleff, Councilmember Jack Evans supports giving just one school all of the most popular hours for 20 years! That blocks Mason and hundreds of kids like him from playing there afterschool. We think that’s wrong. We think that's unfair. Kishan understands this and is fighting for fairness.

We’re proud that Kishan is fighting for us:
First, he helped write an online petition that’s been signed by over 2,400 DC residents. And this week, he met with Mayor Bowser and other leaders to tell her how we feel and to ask for more fairness and sharing of our public resources - something we teach Mason at home.

If you want to learn more, Kishan was recently interviewed by The Washington Post and WAMU (npr) which wrote:


“It’s a basic issue of fairness,” says Kishan Putta, a Ward 2 ANC commissioner who is also challenging Council member Jack Evans in the Ward 2 race. “...All we’re asking is to share the [public] facility. There is real injustice in this.”

“The [kids at the Boys and Girls Club] are not wealthy kids,” says Putta, the ANC commissioner. “These are kids from all over the District who need after-school care.”

We have never contributed to a DC campaign before. But we just contributed to Kishan. And because Kishan pushed for campaign finance reform, he is not taking corporate money and only accepting small donations under public financing. So, our $25 donations got matched 5-to-1 and became $300 to help Kishan knock on more doors and win this election! We hope you will give as well.

I'm not sold on Kishan. But Elissa Silverman has been fantastic - it's nice that there's at least one person on the DC Council with some backbone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The DCline article - and the beautiful analysis of the very ugly field situation on page 56 - underscores that this issue is much bigger than Jelleff and probably bigger than DPR. You have GU at Mason, Maret at Hardy, Howard at Banneker, far too many baseball fields, and also the mayor trying to use “emergency” powers to give away vital DCPS buildings to a wealthy and connected private school. All of these issues have not each themselves pissed enough people off for the mayor and others to care about, but if we roll them together, the equation starts to become more encouraging.

The long-term view: in 1968, the height of the baby boom, the city had 148,000 DCPS students. Enrollment dropped every single year for 40 years and hit bottom in 2008 at less than half of that. The city had way too many school buildings and rec centers for the youth population, for decades. It didn't know what to do with those properties, it literally had trouble giving them away. For years they were happy to turn them over to anyone who could find a use for them. It's only in the past ten years that the youth population has started rebounding, and all of those deals are proving incredibly hard to unwind.

The short-term view: DPR permitting is a mess. They have over 100 fields and rec centers to allocate. They don't have the resources or the vision to do any sort of thoughtful allocation. The most they can do is just day "everyone gets what they got last year" and even that is a struggle. From DPR's perspective, if Maret goes then they have to figure out who gets Jelleff, which means weighing competing claims from Jelleff B&GC, Hardy, Walls, and perhaps others. Status quo is less work for them.

Your analysis deserves credit, but I don't understand why these deals are proving so hard to unwind. Very few of the current council were around in the late 1990s (when the Old Hardy deal was done, for instance) and wouldn't owe anyone anything were it not for the need to pay back campaign contributors. They seem to think they can get away with extending these deals because the public at large won't notice. Hopefully, we're proving them wrong.

[Anonymous]

Has anyone linked to the Greater Greater Washington piece that came out yesterday? SOrry if it's a repeat:

https://ggwash.org/view/73814/a-field-in-georgetown-forces-a-community-to-wrestle-with-the-impact-of-public-spaces-and-private-money

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This message came to my inbox today. I know this family and they are good people. It's a campaign email for someone running against Jack Evans but the content focuses on the Jelleff situation.


Hi, neighbors - we’re the Wetzels. We are a nurse and an Air Force pilot. We live in Ward 2 with our teenager Mason and we’re supporting Kishan Putta to be our councilmember.

When Kishan knocked on our door while campaigning for his current ANC Commissioner role, he promised to fight for families like ours, and that’s what he’s doing:

He is fighting for our son Mason (see his action photo below!) and his classmates to be able to play afterschool at the public Jelleff field right across the street from his school which has no real sports field. They actually have to miss classtime and ride buses for an hour to play "home games" instead of walking 1 minute away!

Even though many Ward 2 parents and children have been asking to use Jelleff, Councilmember Jack Evans supports giving just one school all of the most popular hours for 20 years! That blocks Mason and hundreds of kids like him from playing there afterschool. We think that’s wrong. We think that's unfair. Kishan understands this and is fighting for fairness.

We’re proud that Kishan is fighting for us:
First, he helped write an online petition that’s been signed by over 2,400 DC residents. And this week, he met with Mayor Bowser and other leaders to tell her how we feel and to ask for more fairness and sharing of our public resources - something we teach Mason at home.

If you want to learn more, Kishan was recently interviewed by The Washington Post and WAMU (npr) which wrote:


“It’s a basic issue of fairness,” says Kishan Putta, a Ward 2 ANC commissioner who is also challenging Council member Jack Evans in the Ward 2 race. “...All we’re asking is to share the [public] facility. There is real injustice in this.”

“The [kids at the Boys and Girls Club] are not wealthy kids,” says Putta, the ANC commissioner. “These are kids from all over the District who need after-school care.”

We have never contributed to a DC campaign before. But we just contributed to Kishan. And because Kishan pushed for campaign finance reform, he is not taking corporate money and only accepting small donations under public financing. So, our $25 donations got matched 5-to-1 and became $300 to help Kishan knock on more doors and win this election! We hope you will give as well.

I'm not sold on Kishan. But Elissa Silverman has been fantastic - it's nice that there's at least one person on the DC Council with some backbone.

We lived in that area for years, and never heard from Kishan. Interesting that he is using this issue to make a splash, since he's not otherwise active in the community. If the city maintained its parks and fields, the deal would never have been struck. Unfortunately, DCPS's inability to provide adequate facilities due to mismanagement is rearing its ugly head once again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone linked to the Greater Greater Washington piece that came out yesterday? SOrry if it's a repeat:

https://ggwash.org/view/73814/a-field-in-georgetown-forces-a-community-to-wrestle-with-the-impact-of-public-spaces-and-private-money

Not previously linked. Thanks for posting it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We lived in that area for years, and never heard from Kishan. Interesting that he is using this issue to make a splash, since he's not otherwise active in the community. If the city maintained its parks and fields, the deal would never have been struck. Unfortunately, DCPS's inability to provide adequate facilities due to mismanagement is rearing its ugly head once again.

Kishan is on the right side of this issue and we all can be grateful for his leadership on it. However, there is much that has been missing from the campaign. Compare it to even a basic one on a similar issue - such as “Keep Old Hardy Public” - and the difference is clear. Beating Jack - which will involve winning the support of the other candidate who otherwise will divide the anti-Jack vote - will require serious skills of political communication and organization. These are not coming through in this campaign yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We lived in that area for years, and never heard from Kishan. Interesting that he is using this issue to make a splash, since he's not otherwise active in the community. If the city maintained its parks and fields, the deal would never have been struck. Unfortunately, DCPS's inability to provide adequate facilities due to mismanagement is rearing its ugly head once again.

Kishan is on the right side of this issue and we all can be grateful for his leadership on it. However, there is much that has been missing from the campaign. Compare it to even a basic one on a similar issue - such as “Keep Old Hardy Public” - and the difference is clear. Beating Jack - which will involve winning the support of the other candidate who otherwise will divide the anti-Jack vote - will require serious skills of political communication and organization. These are not coming through in this campaign yet.

Prospective Kishan supporters may also be interested in this: https://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/news/loose-lips/article/21075826/evans-challenger-kishan-putta-grapples-with-his-conservative-past

[Anonymous]

Any stories from Jellef kids as Maret plays on the field?

[Anonymous]

So what happened at the Bowser meeting? Nothing?