This was originally posted to the Adams Morgan Listserv on March 8, 2018, as message #47696, groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/AdamsMorgan/conversations/messages/47696
Opportunity Zones: Vote For Lower Georgia Avenue & Columbia Heights
Your vote and advocacy is needed to help bring healthy investment to Lower Georgia Avenue and 14th St retail corridors by voting them as Opportunity Zones. Votes due by 3/12/18
Use this link to Vote “Option 2” <forms.beta.dc.gov/s3/DCOZ>
In comments ask the Mayor to add “Census Tracts: 2802, 3000, 3100, 3200”
Census Tracts 3100 & 3200 would make the Park Morton NCI/Bruce Monroe project eligible for investment and complete the Lower Georgia Avenue Corridor. This could allow for a more improved NCI project, with real affordable housing, employment and business development opportunities.
Census Tracts 2802 & 3000 would help re-energize local business opportunities at the limping DCUSA Project and the neglected Columbia Heights Civic Plaza & Public Realm Retail Area. Hopefully as well convert the DCUSA Garage into local retail/maker space ie Alexandria’s Torpedo Factory <torpedofactory.org/>.
Let the Mayor Know.
Thanks
William
Tell us where DC’s Opportunity Zone should be!
Your Voice Matters in Selecting DC’s Opportunity Zones
The Opportunity Zones Program <r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001mjU_J9Q97SaNUQ-dQ9vwODADDmi8Tbov-EmD1YITJ-2syOQ7pl9OsLBjambCxlg_IXXQKdyz86_NakMvLW0ymKfkKX9sO8U4Famq2wO07_BVgESmt6GIw1A3eHAb670UBO4PpemftmZlA2kSuRC4cKF14gyIgkH3L3mmZpqdVvINF…> was enacted as part of the 2017 tax reform package (Tax Cuts and Jobs Act) to address uneven economic recovery and persistent lack of growth that have left many communities across the country behind. The Federal Opportunity Zone program provides a tax incentive for investors to reinvest unrealized capital gains into communities experiencing distress, including low income and high poverty rates. Opportunity zones could serve several purposes in DC:
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Promote economic vitality in underserved areas –
Fund the development of the workforce and affordable housing –
Fund new infrastructure –
Invest in businesses with high growth potential –
Upgrade existing underutilized assets through capital improvement
We need your input to select Opportunity Zones for DC.
Every state, including the District of Columbia, can choose up to 25% of eligible census tracts as Opportunity Zones. In DC, 97 census tracts meet the eligibility requirements, so we can choose up to 25 census tracts for the program.
Please visit this interactive map <r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001mjU_J9Q97SaNUQ-dQ9vwODADDmi8Tbov-EmD1YITJ-2syOQ7pl9OsLBjambCxlg_z1Arqo09alGkZVH8ogXA101Nb2ZtILLuXzTC1KbLkxl87x0ocVPpYme1KqN0JhUAOP0KRIYo0aF2zjtziXGazijNGJe2i-J-XYsht3j7Rp23A…> to learn more about the qualifying Census Tracts and our recommendations that follow.
The Mayor must name tracts by March 21, 2018. Your input is a critical part of the decision process, so we are seeking input via this survey through March 12, 2018. Click below to take the survey.