Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It’s blatant gerrymandering to cut out the voices- voters and ANC reps - who are interested in more reasonable growth in Cleveland Park. Members of the Task Force have not been shy about sharing their pro-development agendas and undermining historic preservation in Cleveland Park for years. People whose views differ volunteered for the Task Force and were rejected. The folks behind the gerrymandering don’t like the opinions held by many of the voters who live in homes between Wisconsin and Connecticut so their solution is to cut half of them out of having any say about what happens in Cleveland Park below Reno Toad/34th St. It doesn’t seem to bother the Task Force members that citizens being cut out send their kids to the public school on 34th St and will no longer have an ANC rep who has a vote over what happens at the school, or the traffic surrounding the school. (The Task Force member who lives in Cleveland Park sends his kids to private school). The Cleveland Park citizens being cut out rely on the fire station and Metro on Connecticut Ave and frequent the stores and restaurants in Connecticut Ave. The Task Force is severing a long established and cohesive neighborhood for their own selfish political agenda. Sheer stupidity.
From what I’ve seen the “voices who are interested in more reasonable growth in Cleveland Park” will make it so that there aren’t any more stores and restaurants on Connecticut Avenue to frequent, if they haven’t already.
I sympathize to some extent with the argument that the division doesn't make sense. As a CP resident just west of Reno/34th, I do not relish the thought of having to pay attention to/attend two sets of ANC meetings to know what's going on in the neighborhood. I do care about what's happening two blocks away from me on the other side of 34th, and I care about the commercial corridor on Connecticut that I walk to frequently. That said, if Cleveland Park hadn't been such a PIA about every little detail of the Cathedral Commons development, maybe there wouldn't be so much ill will and backlash. Those buildings sat vacant for years! while the neighborhood fought and fought. And guess what, Cathedral Commons in pretty nice, with more than adequate parking. I'll bet those same folks are now eating at all those nice restaurants regularly and find themselves in that spacious Giant garage a couple of times a week.