No, it is not stupidity to question the motivation behind a deal that makes no sense for DC residents. Jack Evans has already engaged in some questionable behavior. Why not an investigation?

Anonymous wrote:When and where is the protest? This city’s economic and political elite are hand-in-glove in stealing public resources from the 99%. This egregious corruption shouldn’t be normalized. We need media attention to get the FBI’s attention.

Snicker. Well, I see the hysteria over this has reached peak stupidity.

Anonymous wrote:Talbott's line about "necessity not luxury" really gets my goat. So poor kids don't need facilities?

Yeah. After-school field space is a necessity for Maret but a luxury for public school teams.

Anonymous wrote:I oppose hardy taking over a public park. The park is not there for hardy.

Go away, troll.

Talbott's line about "necessity not luxury" really gets my goat. So poor kids don't need facilities?

Anonymous wrote:I oppose hardy taking over a public park. The park is not there for hardy.

Hardy can have it from 5:30-7:30 and the aftercare kids can have it from 3:30-5:30.

Anonymous wrote:I oppose hardy taking over a public park. The park is not there for hardy.

There is a huge difference between taking over a park (i.e., getting exclusive use through a sweetheart deal) and being allowed to apply to use the field through the normal course of the application process. The latter is what everyone is saying both Hardy and Maret and the Boys and Girls Club should be doing. Instead, Maret was allowed do the former, and no one else, whether they were rich enough to afford it or not (and most others are not), was given that option.

You do see the difference, right?

I oppose hardy taking over a public park. The park is not there for hardy.

I hate how DC officials get to decide how to use city resources without having to consider the needs/wants of residents. Nobody thinks this was a good deal, except DPR and Maret. And why DPR agreed to this is beyond comprehension. Jack Evans is clearly capable of unethical dealings, so maybe he is behind this crazy mess. Can he also be investigated for putting this deal together 10 years ago to get his kid in Maret and to rule out that he had anything do with its renewal. Can't wait until he gets voted out of office!

Anonymous wrote:Thanks Ms. Silverman! Sorry, no sympathy for a private school that cheats the city so they can have access to a regulation field. They need to share. Talbot's comments also make me think they try and do this again in another 10 years because their needs won't have changed. Can't believe DPR officials thought that having taxpayers subsidize a deal to support a private school with 650,some of whom aren't from DC, is more important than the needs of many more dc kids and families.

exactly. maret needs to find a different solution because this contract is going to be over one way or another. they can try for permits at other fields like everyone else does or buy land somewhere. I'm positive there's a large lot somewhere in SE, NE or PG County they can buy.

The Mayor responds to numbers and noise. Hardy parents staging a sit-in en masse on the Jelleff field will get her attention. Particularly if there are a lot of news cameras. A big story in the Post would also help.

The Council should have to approve contracts when the city trades something of substantial value, even if it’s not cash. The value of the land that they are putting into this deal is large enough that it deserves oversight.

Thanks Ms. Silverman! Sorry, no sympathy for a private school that cheats the city so they can have access to a regulation field. They need to share. Talbot's comments also make me think they try and do this again in another 10 years because their needs won't have changed. Can't believe DPR officials thought that having taxpayers subsidize a deal to support a private school with 650,some of whom aren't from DC, is more important than the needs of many more dc kids and families.

Has anyone emailed Muriel Bowser about this and gotten an actual response?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The way I read the contract is it was $2.4 million for the first ten years, at the time all parties agreed that in ten years if things worked out they'd renew under similar terms; i.e. DPR would come up with new needs at the time of the renewal. The way they've done it essentially the second ten years are free.

Not quite free- "maintain the field and redo the turf which needs to be replaced as well as improve the fencing and other enhancements to the Jelleff Recreation Center"- but yeah, there is no way that costs more than $500k, so a drop in the bucket to Maret, and amortized over 9 years, an absolute steal.

Yup. It’s a sweetheart deal for Maret but there’s a lot of noise around it. In the article below it says that Elissa Silverman has come out against the deal, so that’s at least one Council Member that isn’t asleep at the wheel or grifting. Could Maret be any more obnoxious? They’ll consider sharing the field on Wednesdays?
https://dcist.com/story/19/08/30/public-field-private-use-an-elite-school-has-had-special-access-to-a-d-c-field-for-almost-a-decade/

Talbott says that Maret is interested in being neighborly—they know everyone wants to use the field during the times Maret has access, and the school will try to work out agreements to share the field on Wednesdays with nearby Hardy Middle School, as they did last year.

She says that use of the field during these times is “not a luxury” for Maret, but “a necessity for our programs.” Maret is a school of 650 students on a seven-acre campus. They have one athletic field already, but it’s not regulation-size, and the school’s soccer, lacrosse, and baseball teams cannot use it for games.

But community members have pointed out that Maret School and its students are already relatively wealthy and privileged in comparison with, say, the students attending the Boys and Girls Club’s after-school program. And 38 percent are not even D.C. residents.

“The [kids at the Boys and Girls Club] are not wealthy kids,” says Putta, the ANC commissioner. “These are kids from all over the District who need after-school care.”

It remains to be seen how far neighbors’ campaign will get them. In emails shared with DCist, Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans, who represents Georgetown, said that he “support[s] DPR in whatever decision they make.”

But they appear to be gaining some traction with at least with one member of the D.C. Council: on Friday morning, At-large Councilmember Elissa Silverman tweeted her disapproval of the deal and said she would be “asking our agencies to reverse this.”