Reply to New DCPS school on former Georgetown Day site will be a high school

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Ward 3 candidates are starting to come out with positions on this. What are people's takes?[/quote]

Here's Frumin on Foxhall and MacArthur:

https://fruminforward3.com/food-for-thought-new-schools/

He thinks we should pause planning for the Foxhall ES to see if that money might be better spent elsewhere in Ward 3 DCPS and says the idea of a 50/50 boundary/lottery HS for 1,000 kids on MacArthur is idealistically sound but logistically unsound because a.) the school is not in a central location, making it difficult to reach for many; and b.) building a new half-lottery school in Ward 3 will only draw kids away from already-underutilized high schools elsewhere in the city. He envisions a high school on the MacArthur site for 700, but doesn't say where those 700 should come from (Hardy plus kids moved from Wilson? Redrawn W3 boundaries? Hardy plus fewer lottery seats?)

He also says "the way to increase access to Ward 3 schools is to build more affordable housing in the area, a project to which I am deeply committed."

Well, good luck with that. Ward 3 is definitely getting more housing, but almost none of it will be affordable because developers can't make money off such housing.

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I'd vote for a candidate who planned to put city money into affordable housing in Ward 3 (to get around the developer profit obstacle). But I also think it should be possible to open more access to excellent schools in D.C. without requiring people to move in-bounds for them. Frumin is right about the logistical problems with the citywide lottery plan for this MacArthur site, though; hard to think of a worse location for a citywide school from a public transit standpoint than the Palisades.[/quote]

+1 - unless there is massive investment to get more Metro buses to Palisades, I don't see how this high school is going to be viable for kids from across the city.[/quote]

The thing about buses is they don't require massive investment. Rerouting a bus costs essentially zero. [/quote]

Well that's not true - it costs several hundred thousand a year to operate a bus route but granted in the grand scheme of things it isn't much money.

But the problem is increasing the frequency of buses doesn't change the fact that this location is incredibly difficult to get to - it is in a corner of the city with few roads in and out all of which are already terribly congested.

So sure WMATA can create a new route or the frequency of the D6 can be increased but neither of those things will change the fact that this location is a difficult and time consuming place to get to.[/quote]

As luck would have it, the right of way for the former Palisades Trolley Trail - disused but entirely intact bar two or three bridges - runs right beside the school. Fix it up so that it can be used by bikes, scooters etc. (for which DDOT has done a detailed concept that just needs to be green-lighted) - or go really crazy and pave it for bus rapid transit - and it becomes pretty fast to get to.

But the notion that the schools are in some isolated pocket isn’t borne out by reality. Canal Rd, MacArthur Blvd. and Foxhall Rd. are major arteries that serve massive amounts of commuting traffic from MD and VA. Students coming from points east are going against the commuting traffic and so won’t be as hindered by the congestion.

There are a few logjams that need to be sorted out - Reservoir Rd. in front of MGUH and the Whitehurst / Canal / M St. intersection - but these can be done provided DDOT starts prioritizing the mobility of city residents over the convenience of suburban commuters.

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