{"id":2963,"date":"2022-03-18T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-03-18T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/?p=2963"},"modified":"2022-03-18T19:01:27","modified_gmt":"2022-03-18T19:01:27","slug":"fwd-park-morton-dcha-director-donald-asked-to-stop-disinformation-campaign-and-to-return-to-negotiations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/dc\/2963","title":{"rendered":"Fwd: Park Morton: DCHA Director Donald Asked to Stop Disinformation Campaign and to Return to Negotiations"},"content":{"rendered":"
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: PM ET<\/b> <parkmortonequityteam@gmail.com<\/a><\/a>><\/p>\n

Subject: Park Morton: DCHA Director Donald Asked to Stop Disinformation Campaign and to Return to Negotiations<\/p>\n

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Press Alert: Park Morton Equity Team, Scott Brow<\/span>n, 215-499-1078, <\/span>parkmortonequityteam@gmail.com<\/a><\/a><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

Park Morton: DCHA Director Donald Asked to Stop Disinformation Campaign and to Return to Negotiations; <\/span>Equity Delayed is Racial Equity and Justice Denied<\/span><\/p>\n

Ward One, Washington, DC<\/span> \u2013 Park Morton is a public housing landmark on Georgia Avenue NW that has served hundreds of DC families for generations with low cost affordable housing.\u00a0 Now, Park Morton is slated to be torn down, privatized and redeveloped into mostly new expensive condos.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

More than 100 Park Morton families have already been displaced from their home,<\/span> with almost all families compelled to move away from their longtime Ward One community (some out of DC entirely) and all during this terrible pandemic.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For more than two years, Park Morton residents have asked DC Housing Authority officials that they be compensated for the major disruption in their lives that this DCHA project represents. Park Morton residents want opportunities in the new project far beyond a mere right to return. They have outlined real objectives to serve their long term outcomes and needs in the Park Morton Equity Plan (a document written by Park Morton residents seeking home equity and ownership and small business opportunities in the new project).\u00a0 <\/span>https:\/\/www.parkmortondc.com\/park-morton-equity-plan<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

DC Housing Authority (DCHA) Director Brenda Donald has rejected good faith negotiations designed to achieve resident equity and self-sufficiency and instead turned to bullying and confusion to minimize resident rights. In short, Director Donald has been quietly sowing disinformation with residents (those still onsite and those that have been relocated) and blaming the delays and mismanagement of the NCI program on the fight for resident equity (ownership) and self-sufficiency.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDCHA is coming for me and the rest of us,\u201d <\/span>said Shonta High, President of the Park Morton Residents Council. <\/span>\u201cThey have had two years to implement our Park Morton Equity Plan and adopt the plan objectives into their land disposition agreements and resolutions, but instead just keep delaying and displacing us hoping we will just give up.\u201d<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

Of particular concern, Director Donald is taking advantage of a period when public housing residents lack stable representation on the DCHA board due to her mishandling of board elections, allowing her team to operate without full accountability.\u00a0 This pattern was on full display when the controversial Greenleaf project, which was pushed through without the full support of affected resident council presidents and without resident representation on the DCHA Board.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>\u201cAlthough Director Donald and her team never responded to many offers to resolve issues around resident equity and fair treatment, I never expected calls from residents this week warning me to watch my back, the Director is after you and your presidency. Rumor is she\u2019s seeking to remove me from office by misleading my residents.\u201d<\/span> -President Shonta\u2019 High.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Park Morton residents have a pending request before the DCHA Board of Commissioners and Councilmember Brianne Nadeau to intervene and mediate this situation. This request remains open. Ms. High and the Park Morton Equity Team are seeking:<\/span><\/p>\n