{"id":40,"date":"2015-03-10T22:40:24","date_gmt":"2015-03-10T22:40:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/?p=40"},"modified":"2015-03-20T22:54:55","modified_gmt":"2015-03-20T22:54:55","slug":"councilmembers-criticize-efforts-to-neutralize-mcmillan-opponents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/dc\/citywide\/40","title":{"rendered":"Councilmembers Criticize Efforts to Neutralize McMillan Opponents"},"content":{"rendered":"

For Release: March 10, 2015
\nContact: Erin Fairbanks, erinwhite@yahoo.com, 240-506-6777, @czarinamaude<\/p>\n

Councilmembers Criticize Efforts
\nto Neutralize McMillan Opponents<\/strong><\/big><\/p>\n

Chairman Phil Mendelson, joined by Councilmember Elissa Silverman, reacted strongly to testimony at a hearing on Friday, March 6, about District money being paid to a public relations firm to discredit District residents who oppose the McMillan development plan.<\/p>\n

The actions by Baltimore-based Fontaine & Company<\/a>, retained by Vision McMillan Partners (VMP), the District\u2019s pick to develop the 25-acre McMillan Park and Sand Filtration Plant, include the goal of \u201cdiscredit[ing] and neutralize[ing] the impact of [the] opposition,\u201d as laid out expressly in scope-of-work documents that came to light through citizen FOIA requests.<\/p>\n

This is \u201ca bit of PR disaster\u2026 [there are some documents] that talk about embarrassing the community,\u201d Chairman Mendelson said during the seven-hour oversight hearing on the performance of the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development.<\/p>\n

At-large Councilmember Elissa Silverman said, \u201cthere are some very questionable things in these materials.\u201d<\/p>\n

Who paid Fontaine was a recurring question at the hearing. A December 23, 2013, invoice for expenditures to Fontaine was signed by Aakash Thakkar for the developer, and approved by DMPED on 1\/22\/14<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"City<\/a>

City planners paid a Baltimore-based PR firm to “Neutralize” community opposition to the tearing out of McMillan Park.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

However at the Friday hearing, Mr. Thakkar stated that \u201cno public funds were used to suppress community opposition \u2026 [the Fontaine contract] was, however, to give folks a safe and comfortable place on our dime, not on the government\u2019s dime, to support the project.\u201d<\/p>\n

Referring to later documents suggesting the District was credited back for the Fontaine payment, Chairman Mendelson said: \u201cIt would be best to have all the information out, and if DMPED is in any way implicated, say so now [so] we don\u2019t have to deal with why it was covered up.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her testimony, McMillan activist Debbie Hanrahan alluded to the potential criminality of the deal. Chair Mendelson said he was \u201copen to\u201d holding a special hearing on McMillan if necessary. <\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cVMP exists solely to manage the McMillan project, and is paid by DMPED\u201d, says Andrea Rosen, a resident of Ward 2 and member of The Friends of McMillan Park. \u201cHowever the money was shuffled around, the fact remains taxpayer money was used to discredit the legitimacy of District residents to comment on the disposition and development of their own public property.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

Library Renaissance Project Director Robin Diener observed that, \u201cone grace-note could be Brian Kenner\u2019s assurance to Chair Mendelson, during an earlier hearing on his nomination to be the new head of DMPED, that things will be done differently on his watch, per instructions from Mayor Muriel Bowser.\u201d Neighbors have repeatedly asked for an international design competition to adaptively reuse the landmarked 25 acres. \u201cThis would be a hugely exciting project to essentially create a central park for DC.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

###<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"City<\/a>

City planners paid a Baltimore-based PR firm to “Neutralize” community opposition to the tearing out of McMillan Park.<\/p><\/div>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For Release: March 10, 2015 Contact: Erin Fairbanks, erinwhite@yahoo.com, 240-506-6777, @czarinamaude Councilmembers Criticize Efforts to Neutralize McMillan Opponents Chairman Phil Mendelson, joined by Councilmember Elissa Silverman, reacted strongly to testimony at a hearing on Friday, March 6, about District money being paid to a public relations firm to discredit District residents who oppose the McMillan […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,14,13,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-citywide","category-historic-sites","category-mcmillan-park","category-w5"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40","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=40"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47,"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40\/revisions\/47"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}