From the Publisher’s Desk… Sleazy Dealings Between the City and Developers Exposed – The InTowner

dcogcadmin | March 19, 2015

The revelations that surfaced during an all-day oversight hearing conducted by DC City Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, joined by at-large Councilmember Elissa Silverman, on the performance of the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development may have surprised the council members but surely were of no surprise to the Friends of McMillan Park, their allied community activists, and the hundreds of residents of the Bloomingdale neighborhood where this historic site listed on the National Register of Historic Places is located just off North Capitol Street from Channing Street north to Michigan Avenue.

Nor were the revelations a surprise to us since we have published several in-depth articles and commentaries over the past two plus years reporting on how the city and its development team have run roughshod over the legitimate “stakeholders” who have consistently raised serious, yet constructive criticisms about this massive development plan. (For background on this controversy and information about nature and history of this historic site, see “Historic McMillan Park Site in Bloomingdale Set for Big Development; Neighbors Object to Plan, Seek to Retain and Restore Open Space,” InTowner, October 2013 issue pdf, page 1; http://tinyurl.com/nh3oa65.

So, what was revealed? Simply stated, public funds were paid to a public relations firm to discredit DC citizens who were opposing the planned development. [Read More]