Anonymous wrote:This had to be done, but it's kind of a big FU to current families and recent grads.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Only the GGW-Ward 3 Vision-developer lobby crowd is pushing for massively more retail and housing in Tenleytown. The same folks who thought it would be a great idea to give away part of the Janney schoolyard for a condo tower. There are plenty of opportunities to improve the streetscape in TT and have some more retail, starting with the Dominos lot by Whole Foods and the convenience/liquor stores on the south end that attract street crime. As far as a "viable" street grid, be careful of what you wish for. A true grid would only make it earlier for through traffic to bypass Wisconsin Avenue to seek shortcuts in the residential neighborhoods.

That's right - nobody needs or is buying additional housing right now - that demand is magically divined by the evil smart growth crowd.

The NIMBY's stayed away from the Safeway fight because the neighbors were by and large a reasonable and open minded group - it will be interesting to see what the NIMBY's do when that same group of neighbors realizes what a bad proposal this is for them.

The NIMBY's haven't been around to own the mess that Friendship Heights continues to be because of their stewardship so I'm sure they will step back here as well.

And WRT to TT - LOL - we should only improve one part of the streetscape huh? Of course if you are a NIMBY and just drive to Tenleytown that is the only piece you would be concerned with anyhow.

Thank God for the NIMBY's - if developers had their way, Wisconsin Ave would look like Rockville Pike

Anonymous wrote:My dd is in k class of gds. the new building is a 5-7 year plan. Will this new building construction hurt the education quality or increase tuition a lot in the construction years?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Perhaps property values will go up, but the loss of the grocery store (Fresh Fields is too expensive for regular shopping) and the increased traffic (including those who will now have to drive to go to the store) makes this a loss for daily quality of life in the neighborhood.

Omg. Are you really calling Whole Foods Fresh Fields....in 2014. Hilarious.

Personally I could not care less about GDS or Tenley Town which is a hellish area I avoid at all costs anyway. But still, this post is soooo funny.

Well, second thought, maybe this will make Tenley Town nicer. It is such a shit hole now. Sure cant get worse from them building a school campus. Still, what an unattractive area for a private school.

Anonymous wrote:Will this set off an arms race among the independent schools? Will we someday see Sidwell Friends re-acquire the Fannie Mae site and consolidate its campuses on Wisconsin Avenue. Fannie has made noises for years about moving. I say "re-acquire" because I heard that SF S sold the property in the 1940s 0r 50s to an insurance company which later sold the property to Fannie. Later SFS had to acquire the Bethesda property for a lower school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Only the GGW-Ward 3 Vision-developer lobby crowd is pushing for massively more retail and housing in Tenleytown. The same folks who thought it would be a great idea to give away part of the Janney schoolyard for a condo tower. There are plenty of opportunities to improve the streetscape in TT and have some more retail, starting with the Dominos lot by Whole Foods and the convenience/liquor stores on the south end that attract street crime. As far as a "viable" street grid, be careful of what you wish for. A true grid would only make it earlier for through traffic to bypass Wisconsin Avenue to seek shortcuts in the residential neighborhoods.

That's right - nobody needs or is buying additional housing right now - that demand is magically divined by the evil smart growth crowd.

The NIMBY's stayed away from the Safeway fight because the neighbors were by and large a reasonable and open minded group - it will be interesting to see what the NIMBY's do when that same group of neighbors realizes what a bad proposal this is for them.

The NIMBY's haven't been around to own the mess that Friendship Heights continues to be because of their stewardship so I'm sure they will step back here as well.

And WRT to TT - LOL - we should only improve one part of the streetscape huh? Of course if you are a NIMBY and just drive to Tenleytown that is the only piece you would be concerned with anyhow.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's great that GDS may finally have a real private school campus.

Welcome to the 21st Century Grasshopper

Yup - a real private school campus for mostly suburban MD students who almost exclusively drive to the current school on a major commercial corridor that will forever kill any chance of revitalization of the Wisconsin Avenue corridor while costing DC tens of millions in annual property tax revenue. Oh and the campus will require closing a DC street to get its private feel.

Anonymous wrote:Only the GGW-Ward 3 Vision-developer lobby crowd is pushing for massively more retail and housing in Tenleytown. The same folks who thought it would be a great idea to give away part of the Janney schoolyard for a condo tower. There are plenty of opportunities to improve the streetscape in TT and have some more retail, starting with the Dominos lot by Whole Foods and the convenience/liquor stores on the south end that attract street crime. As far as a "viable" street grid, be careful of what you wish for. A true grid would only make it earlier for through traffic to bypass Wisconsin Avenue to seek shortcuts in the residential neighborhoods.

Anonymous wrote:Well, good news. Now that the Safeway is closing, it will force AU Park and Tenleytown residents to use Cathedral Commons and its Giant. I guess the traffic gurus were prophetic!

I am guessing it is a done deal that GDS will be able to close 42nd Street between Wisconsin and Davenport Street. That means all GDS traffic will need to come south on Wisconsin, west on Chesapeake and then to 42nd Street. Or, they will have to come up River and left on to 42nd Street. Either way, an area that is already a mess from a vehicular traffic standpoint will become much worse - for the residents of the area and for GDS families.

Who oversees DDOT and Ward 3? Mary Cheh. Where did her daughters go to school? Oh ya, GDS. Done. Deal. Folks. This really stinks for the residents of the area who will be permanently inconvenienced and to what community benefit? With Ft. Reno across the street, the neighborhood doesn't need more "green space." It needs more residential, more retail and a viable street grid.

Or more likely the aforementioned Councilmember will actually flex some muscles with DDOT and miraculously the left turn restrictions off River will be removed and all the folks commuting from MD will access the site via Ellicott Street - I don't imagine the GDS crowd is going to appreciate going the long way around the block to get to the school and besides doing so might take away some of the usable land GDS needs to make all of this work.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's great that GDS may finally have a real private school campus.

Welcome to the 21st Century Grasshopper

Yup - a real private school campus for mostly suburban MD students who almost exclusively drive to the current school on a major commercial corridor that will forever kill any chance of revitalization of the Wisconsin Avenue corridor while costing DC tens of millions in annual property tax revenue. Oh and the campus will require closing a DC street to get its private feel.

DC always lusts for more tax revenue, but frankly the District government needs more tax revenue the way a crack addict needs more crack. DC should address its "substance abuse" problem first -- the array of sweetheart business deals with Jeffrey Thompson are just the tip of the pay to play iceberg -- and get its fiscal and contracting house in order, before rubber-stamping ever more development in search of the almighty tax dollar.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's great that GDS may finally have a real private school campus.

Welcome to the 21st Century Grasshopper

Yup - a real private school campus for mostly suburban MD students who almost exclusively drive to the current school on a major commercial corridor that will forever kill any chance of revitalization of the Wisconsin Avenue corridor while costing DC tens of millions in annual property tax revenue. Oh and the campus will require closing a DC street to get its private feel.