Big GDS news

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can call the plans ambitious, but face reality, the school is wedging many more kids on to a campus, that as compared to any of its peers, will be sub-standard. Add to that the financing mechanism that is wholly dependent on its Board member-developers and the whole thing is fishy.

As to the local neighbors, they rightfully pushed back against the 50's style grocery/parking lot and were on a track with Safeway that everyone seemed to be happy with, until Safeway sold the lot.

The GDS proposal is worse for the neighbors because they are getting all of the negatives without any benefits.

Not to mention that this neighborhood already has the largest public high school(1600+), middle school (1300+) and two of the largest elementary schools (almost 700 each) in the city just blocks away -- with all of these students arriving and leaving at the same time. And Murch is about to go from a 400 student building to a 700 student building just across Ft. Reno Park from GDS.

No one in the city government ever seems to look at the big picture.

Very true. I attended a public meeting on a major project where it was pointed out that there are something like 12 private and public schools in the Cleveland Park area, with something like 5000+ students and staff arriving daily, mostly by car. An official from DDOT just shrugged his shoulders. He had no clue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can call the plans ambitious, but face reality, the school is wedging many more kids on to a campus, that as compared to any of its peers, will be sub-standard. Add to that the financing mechanism that is wholly dependent on its Board member-developers and the whole thing is fishy.

As to the local neighbors, they rightfully pushed back against the 50's style grocery/parking lot and were on a track with Safeway that everyone seemed to be happy with, until Safeway sold the lot.

The GDS proposal is worse for the neighbors because they are getting all of the negatives without any benefits.

Not to mention that this neighborhood already has the largest public high school(1600+), middle school (1300+) and two of the largest elementary schools (almost 700 each) in the city just blocks away -- with all of these students arriving and leaving at the same time. And Murch is about to go from a 400 student building to a 700 student building just across Ft. Reno Park from GDS.

No one in the city government ever seems to look at the big picture.

Not to mention the new AU law school at Tenley Circle and that Tenley is the transit hub for the rest of the university.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can call the plans ambitious, but face reality, the school is wedging many more kids on to a campus, that as compared to any of its peers, will be sub-standard. Add to that the financing mechanism that is wholly dependent on its Board member-developers and the whole thing is fishy.

As to the local neighbors, they rightfully pushed back against the 50's style grocery/parking lot and were on a track with Safeway that everyone seemed to be happy with, until Safeway sold the lot.

The GDS proposal is worse for the neighbors because they are getting all of the negatives without any benefits.

Not to mention that this neighborhood already has the largest public high school(1600+), middle school (1300+) and two of the largest elementary schools (almost 700 each) in the city just blocks away -- with all of these students arriving and leaving at the same time. And Murch is about to go from a 400 student building to a 700 student building just across Ft. Reno Park from GDS.

No one in the city government ever seems to look at the big picture.

Not to mention the new AU law school at Tenley Circle and that Tenley is the transit hub for the rest of the university.

I think one thing getting lost here is that the new GDS plan, which adds multiple entrances to the school (from River, 42nd street, possibly Fessenden) and larger driveways and drop off spaces will greatly limit the impact from the additional students. for several lower school families I know, metro WITH A PARENT will now be an option. For other families with kids already in high school, there will be no additional impact on traffic. And carpools will reach new efficiency as high schoolers will be able to drive middle schooler siblings with them, meaning fewer cars on the road. At the end of the day, there are a few neighbors who live right by GDS who will absolutely be affected by this development, but those neighbors live next to a big, commercial property that was falling apart and one way or another was going to get redeveloped. The GDS lower/middle school students stay pretty contained on campus while they are at school, have relatively few night time events, etc. and I think this is actually a much less invasive use of the space than pretty much any other proposal would be.

[Anonymous]

I think it's great that there are multiple entrances and may mitigate traffic concerns. One queston, won't an entrance off of River create congestion as people turn into the school? That's a pretty major artery for commuters.

[Anonymous]

So Maryland commuters will be able to turn into GDS directly but regular DC residents cannot turn from River Road on to Fessenden or any of the other streets? Heck, I am going to use this as a new cut through!

[Anonymous]

There's a letter to the editor in this week's Northwest Current, lauding GDS for its plan to beautify and revitalize a derelict area.

[Anonymous]

Speaking of fishy, it seems premature to praise a project for beautifying the neighborhood at a stage when only site plans (squares on lots) and massing illustrations (piles of blocks) are available.

Unless the argument is any redevelopment of the site is good. But since Martens and Safeway were leaving anyway, redevelopment per se isn't some gift GDS is giving the community.

[Anonymous]

GDS is giving the gift of GDS. We should all be really happy about it.

[Anonymous]

So much to love!

[Anonymous]

The expanded school will bring hundreds more cars to the neighborhood every day, rushing through at drop-off and idling at pick up. It brings no benefit to the neighborhood. Trying to spin it as a positive is nothing more than spin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's a letter to the editor in this week's Northwest Current, lauding GDS for its plan to beautify and revitalize a derelict area.

I think that was last week's Current. Today's has a letter that is more critical.

[Anonymous]

Re L/MS kids riding Metro with parents. Maybe a few MS kids but remember that it has to be kids that the parents trust to make it from the Metro to school lugging all their stuff up or down several blocks of Wisconsin Ave. Wouldn't make sense for parent to get off Metro, walk kid(s) to school, get back on Metro and then continue to work. That doubles the fare and probably adds at least 1/2 an hour to the parent's commute.

[Anonymous]

I started taking the metro bus to school when I was in 5th grade. Nobody walked me to the bus stop and nobody waited for to get home. There kids on my bus who went to visitation, GDS, OLV, duke Ellington, hardy. This was at a time when the city was more dangerous and race relations were much more tense. Kids can take public transportation. It's just that parents have become a bunch of over protective freaks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:GDS is giving the gift of GDS. We should all be really happy about it.

A true junior Harvard in Tenleytown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I started taking the metro bus to school when I was in 5th grade. Nobody walked me to the bus stop and nobody waited for to get home. There kids on my bus who went to visitation, GDS, OLV, duke Ellington, hardy. This was at a time when the city was more dangerous and race relations were much more tense. Kids can take public transportation. It's just that parents have become a bunch of over protective freaks.

heh heh