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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I hesitate to reopen/relitigate this point, but:

The vast majority of negative Murch response to the originally proposed Hearst rezoning was about the silliness of people a few blocks from Murch being sent to a school almost a mile away. (Related: It disproportionately affected families in apartment buildings on Conn. Ave. who presumably were less likely to have cars and thus more dependent on walkable proximity to the school.)

In fact, a few blocks of Murch's southern boundary still did get rezoned to Hearst, and there was no outcry about that decision--because the southern boundary of Murch is, in fact, nearly equidistant to Hearst and Murch. There was no ground to protest, and no one has.

(This is also why the Murch-to-Lafayette rezone makes sense--the area they moved is actually equidistant between the schools.)

I can't speak for Janney resistance to their proposed changes. [/quote]

Actually there have been serious concerns raised by families and residents in the area regarding the latest versions of the proposal. Including a troubling land swap to move a portion of Murch to Hearst and a portion of Hearst to Murch. There are some speculations of political influence peddling, particularly regarding a potential area of land that is ripe for development. DME has never provided a justification for the switch. It makes no logical sense that the DME would do as Jeff described earlier as a "land swap" -- zone an area closer to the school out to make room for another part of the community that is farther away and the same size. DME/DCPS has been mum about why this new area would be zoned into the Murch district.[/quote]

Don't underestimate the ability of development interests to push special favors.  Lord knows, they contribute handsomely to mayoral and council candidates through multiple shadow LLCs.  Their reach can even extend to the public  schools.  Look how far the so-called "public-private partnership" at Janney schoool got, before the public firestorm forced its pullback.   Janney came very close to losing a big chunk of its property to a politically-connected developer who was to get the property at a very below market price.  Another example is how so many empty DCPS buildings have somehow wound up on the sale block for condos, etc., rather than first being made available to charters as the law requires.[/quote]

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