{"id":393,"date":"2020-10-15T18:36:21","date_gmt":"2020-10-15T18:36:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/?p=393"},"modified":"2020-12-24T20:42:02","modified_gmt":"2020-12-24T20:42:02","slug":"fwd-press-release-dc-mayors-office-alters-official-record-in-an-attempt-to-justify-illegally-issued-demolition-permit-to-destroy-mcmillan-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/dc\/393","title":{"rendered":"PRESS RELEASE: DC Mayor\u2019s Office Alters Official Record In An Attempt to Justify Illegally-issued Demolition Permit to Destroy McMillan Park"},"content":{"rendered":"
Fwd: PRESS RELEASE<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n
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\n<\/span><\/b>October 13, 2020<\/span><\/div>\n
Contact: Linwood Norman, Save McMillan Action Coalition
\n<\/a>smac.dc@gmail.com<\/a>, 202-656-3012<\/span><\/div>\n
DC Mayor\u2019s Office Alters Official Record In An Attempt to Justify Illegally-issued Demolition Permit to Destroy McMillan Park<\/span><\/b><\/font><\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/span><\/b>McMillan Supporters Want False Information Explained or Stricken from Court Records<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n
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Officials in the DC Mayor\u2019s Office submitted false testimony under oath and presented substantially altered, unapproved design plans to justify their illegal issuance of demolition permits to destroy McMillan Park, park supporters assert in a <\/span>new filing<\/span><\/a> (attached) with the DC Office of Administrative Hearings.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Park supporters compared DC officials\u2019 latest misrepresentations as \u201can unnecessary go-fish expedition\u201d for establishing accuracy in the public record. <\/span><\/div>\n
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The Deputy Mayor\u2019s Office for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) \u201cis looking to backfill the record, and post facto insert administrative reviews [into the record] after already issuing permits unlawfully,\u201d park supporters state in a new court filing. <\/span><\/div>\n
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The filing asks for the inaccurate information either to be explained by DC officials or stricken from court records.<\/span><\/div>\n
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\u201cThese DC officials now seek to \u2018cover their tracks\u2019 by adding new information to the public record in order to justify the premature and unlawful issuance of permits to demolish and begin construction activities at McMillan Park,\u201d said Peter Stebbins, a Save McMillan Park advocate. “These blatant and outright misrepresentations by the Mayor\u2019s staff should be alarming to every citizen.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Inaccurate information inserted by DC officials into the public record includes:<\/span><\/div>\n
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\u00b7         <\/span><\/span>Mr. Hugh Green, a DC government attorney, testified under oath that no demolition or construction activity had begun at McMillan Park until November 2019. However, overwhelming public evidence shows that demolition activity began in August 2019, soon after the permits were illegally issued. (Earlier this year, in a separate legal action, the DC Court of Appeals halted all construction activities at McMillan Park until further notice.)<\/span><\/div>\n
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\u00b7         <\/span><\/span>Design plans keep changing \u2013 without public notice or following standard protocol — for the McMillan redevelopment. DC officials recently submitted substantially altered design plans to the Commission for Fine Arts for approval, although those changes have not been reviewed and approved by the DC Zoning Commission. <\/span><\/div>\n
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\u00b7         <\/span><\/span>The DC Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA) issued the demolition and construction permits without following its own \u201cPermit Approvals Checklist,\u201d which requires obtaining approvals in advance from agencies such the Commission for Fine Arts.<\/span><\/div>\n
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DC officials and developers of the McMillan project are proceeding as if all legally required administrative approvals have been obtained, when there are many more reviews remaining, as well as legal cases before the DC Court of Appeals.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\nDespite a court directive to do so, McMillan project developers have yet to independently document their ability to finance and complete the entirety of the redevelopment plan. As proposed, the plan includes 2+ million square feet of trophy offices, condos, retail, and a recreation center. No tenants have been secured for the office buildings.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
McMillan Park, a 25-acre park located at North Capitol Street NW, and Michigan Avenue NW, is a locally protected and nationally recognized historic landmark on the DC Inventory of Historic Sites and the National Register of Historic Places. <\/span>The District of Columbia acquired the open park<\/span><\/a> from the Army Corps of Engineers in 1986 after the underground water purification facility was decommissioned.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\nLocal citizens have long opposed the privatization and demolition of McMillan Park. More than 8,000 citizens signed a <\/span>petition<\/span><\/span><\/a> for the DC Council to preserve the park for public use. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Park supporters also said DC government officials have failed to ensure that existing McMillan deed historic preservation covenants are included in any new McMillan property agreements.<\/p>\n

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The controversial project also has been questioned due to irregularities made by the D.C. Council in selecting the developers. <\/span><\/div>\n
Citing the need for open competition, the D.C. Auditor urged the D.C. Council in October 2015 to competitively rebid the entire McMillan project in this <\/span>scathing letter to the D.C. Council Chairman<\/span><\/a>. See the <\/span>Washington Post article<\/span><\/a> about the City Auditor\u2019s concerns about the project.<\/span><\/div>\n
There was essentially no competition for the project, the auditor\u2019s letter pointed out to the DC Council Chairman, warning that the entire project should be rebid. However, in April 2016, the DC Council Chairman authored an \u201cemergency\u201d bill that retroactively waived the requirement for bidding out the project.<\/span><\/div>\n
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–       <\/span><\/span>30   –<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n



\n—<\/p>\n

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DC for Reasonable Development
\n(202) 656-5874
\nwww.dc4reason.org<\/a><\/div>\n
fb.me\/dc4reality<\/a><\/div>\n
twitter.com\/dc4reality<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\"pdf 2020_10_08_mcm_final_MOTION_TO_STRIKE.pdf<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fwd: PRESS RELEASE October 13, 2020 Contact: Linwood Norman, Save McMillan Action Coalition smac.dc@gmail.com, 202-656-3012 DC Mayor\u2019s Office Alters Official Record In An Attempt to Justify Illegally-issued Demolition Permit to Destroy McMillan Park  McMillan Supporters Want False Information Explained or Stricken from Court Records   Officials in the DC Mayor\u2019s Office submitted false testimony under […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,14,13,49,3,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dc","category-historic-sites","category-mcmillan-park","category-public-property","category-w1","category-w5"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":426,"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393\/revisions\/426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}