The D.C. Council is poised to vote this week on the city’s fiscal 2012 budget. But while elected officials have whined about the lack of money, for nearly a decade they have sat on prime real estate, capable of generating hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes. Reservation 13–a 67-acre property — located at 19th and Independence Ave. SE. near Robert F. Kennedy Stadium and two Metro stations — is a stunning example of government inefficiency. It also testifies to the city’s disregard of vulnerable populations and indifference toward residents to whom commitments were made.
“I’m a little irritated by all of this,” said Francis Campbell, a Ward 6 advisory neighborhood commissioner who represents the community that includes the site. “It’s one of the largest tracts of land. It could have a profound impact on the tax base.”
“No one goes over there to look at what’s going on,” said Jack Colhoun, a 33-year resident of Capitol Hill East.
What’s happening at the sprawling campus is absolutely appalling.
District officials have created a virtual homeless warehouse, installing hundreds of women and children into the old D.C. General Hospital and other buildings, ignoring their welfare and that of the surrounding community. They have overloaded the site with drug treatment programs; and relocated there a mish-mash of unrelated agencies and equipments.
Last year nearly 25,000 homeless individuals, drug users, persons with sexual transmitted diseases and others participated in programs housed in buildings in acute states of decay. The streets are marked by crater-size potholes. City trucks reportedly used for snow removal dominate an entire area; residents have complained debris collected during plowing has been discarded in the river.
Reservation 13 has become a certifiable dumping ground.
“It’s a way to keep agency and people from prying eyes and to hide the dysfunction,” said Colhoun, adding concerns aren’t just for surrounding neighborhoods. “People seeking services have a right not to be treated like victims.”
When then-Mayor Anthony A. Williams closed D.C. General Hospital, the city promised residents a vibrant, mixed-use development: with health clinics, office buildings, town homes and enhanced recreational areas that exploited proximity to the Anacostia River.
“They have jerked the neighborhood around on this. [Development] should have been done four years ago,” said Campbell. Residents attended dozens of meetings to create the site plan. Developers, through a competitive process, also had been identified.
But Councilman Harry Thomas Jr, head of the Committee on Economic Development, told me Reservation 13 isn’t at the top of his list: McMillan Reservoir in his Ward 5 and Walter Reed Medical Center in upper Northwest are the focus.
Residents said they haven’t received much encouragement from Mayor Vincent. C. Gray. “[He] made it clear it’s not a priority for him,” said Colhoun.
Ward 6 Councilman Tommy Wells said there’s nothing preventing the city from awarding development rights today. “All the work has been done. It would be a good faith gesture to the community.”
But who cares about that?
Jonetta Rose Barras’s column appears on Monday and Wednesday. She can be reached at [email protected].
