Reply to New Ward 3 Homeless Families Shelter Site

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Even most advocates for the shelter would say it was rushed.  There was one "unofficial" stage managed meeting by Mary Cheh about the Idaho Ave site and one DC council hearing at which all of the sites were voted up or down as a package.  That was not at all a usual public process with meetings and hearings in which impacts and alternatives are considered.  [/quote]
Not true - this was discussed at multiple ANC meetings where city officials were present.  There were also multiple Council Hearings.
Also please find me an advocate who thinks the process was rushed?
Being unhappy with the outcome does not mean the process was flawed.  It just means you are unhappy with the outcome.[/quote]

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I thought it was odd and rushed how the ward 3 site kept changing. If they thought the first one was fine, and then changed their mind, why not the 2nd? Apparently they are capable of choosing poorly. The site should be thoroughly vetted. It's better to take time examine everything and have a detailed plan than ram it through, or it'll be as much a failure as the apparent hell hole DC general that was city managed. What will be different?????? Details please. Compare /contrast. [/quote]
Are you late to the process or were you just not paying attention?
The site changed because there was process not because of a lack of process.
I believe at this point it will be more than 3 years from the original proposal to the opening of the Ward 3 shelter so that is hardly rushed.
And you have no idea if they chose poorly and didn't offer any reasons why you think they did.
Personally I think locating the shelter on city owned land adjacent to a major bus corridor and grocery store in a busy area makes a lot of sense.[/quote]

I'm a DP responding to the PP who falsely claims this process wasn't rushed.  It absolutely was rushed and bullied through.  All Bowser would tell people was that she was working on a plan to close DC General, and then in March 2016 she sprung a fully-formed plan for "a shelter in every ward" with sites already selected.  There was no opportunity for public comment on either the plan itself or the location of the sites, and Bowser actively tried to block any opportunity to challenge her master plan.  Ultimately, [b]enough people from a few wards raised enough stink about Bowser's pre-selected sites that some of them got moved[/b] despite her pressure not to allow any changes, but those changes were only shifts in location, and not challenges to the essential structure of Bowser's plan.

Here are articles from when Bowser first unveiled the plan, which point out that she wasn't allowing any changes.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/homeless-shelters-to-be-spread-across-capital-under-plan-by-mayor-bowser/2016/02/09/318bc360-cf31-11e5-88cd-753e80cd29ad_story.html?utm_term=.acd2223e77b1
https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/DC-Mayor-Bowser-Announces-New-Homeless-Family-Shelter-Locations-368117741.html
https://wamu.org/story/16/02/09/dc_general_homeless_shelter_could_close_by_2018_says_bowser/

I can understand why Bowser wouldn't want to allow any changes, because it's much easier to be an authoritarian and force your plan on people rather than negotiate with them.  Reasonable people can debate whether or not this was a dire situation that called for a strong move by the Mayor to push past all the individual issues and force a master plan on everyone.  But make no mistake, this plan was absolutely railroaded into place with no opportunity for community voice.[/quote]

Guess Ward 3 didn't realize raising a stink on social media wasn't gonna cut it.[/quote]

Cheh took care of her constituents in Mass. Ave. Heights and killed that proposed shelter location.  Then she decided that 2-D was the place and declared it done.[/quote]

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