[Mintwood-place] HOTEL: PZT, Graham, Emails, Misinformation

Tue Oct 4 15:50:13 EDT 2011

Hi Kaliseal?

Your blanket statements hold no merit whatsoever.  When I was on the ANC (2009-2010), I believe the Commissioners made sure to get out all announcements according to DC Code.  

I understand that Commissioner Reynolds ran into a technical glitch.  This proposed hotel project is important enough that this glitch should be remedied by the ANC calling for a big public forum, co-hosted by Jim Graham, and much better outreach done to get people there!

The important point here is that this proposed development project, a giant hotel, which will have utmost impact on our neighborhood, needs much more awareness and discussion -- SENDING OUT AN EMAIL ON A COUPLE OF LISTSERVES JUST ISN'T ENOUGH.

* Where's our Councilmember?

Less impetus should be on the ANC.  I want to see our Councilmember, Jim Graham, who seems to have quietly backed this project, to hold his own forums to discuss with the community concerns and support.  Why is he hiding out?
* Lingering questions

I mean there are outstanding questions about how 24-hour bars, open air balconies, 24-hour roof deck all found in the proposed hotel plans will help reduce the insanity that happens in Adams Morgan on the 
weekends.  Wouldn't the drunkards want to visit the new alcohol Shangri-la right around the corner and come there to continue their partying and bring their obnoxious behaviour 
further into residential parts of our neighborhood?

There's questions about the revenue generated by this project.  When the tax abatement was passed by the Council under the guise of an emergency, the hotel was a luxury hotel on par with the 4seasons in GT, and thus charging occupants high room rates as such.  Now, the developer is claiming it won't be a luxury hotel and room rates will be nearly half of what was analyzed by the Office of Planning.  Doesn't that mean revenue for the City is cut in half at least?  How does that affect the value of this project?

Why are the proposed hotel plans still showing that the Cortland apartment building next door stands at a height that would be the same as this proposed massive hotel?  We all know the hotel will be the biggest widest building in the neighborhood -- more than two stories taller than the Cortland apartments.  Why the confusion about how wide Champlain street is -- where the plans show it many feet wider than it actually is so to make it seem like traffic would be no problem at Euclid and Champlain.  This misinformation hurts any real discussion and analysis.

* None of the plans I've re-reviewed on any of the websites show CORRECTIONS and apologies. How is the Office of Planning to really judge this project with all this misinformation being thrown around?

Is putting up a giant hotel that breaks with various zoning regulations and will hang over our neighborhood forever something that deserves only an email announcement on a couple of neighborhood listserves? 

* Is this how we want development to be done in our neighborhood, let alone our neighborhood???

There must be much broader outreach done about a project this important.  There are too many concerns being raised, too many questions from last December unanswered, too much misinformation.

Chris O. 
202-536-4065

	* Kooks 4 Nukes! {multinational crime}
	* Oils Spoils! [ crazy ] 

________________________________
From: "kaliseal at aol.com" <kaliseal at aol.com>
To: AdamsMorgan at yahoogroups.com; mintwood-place at lists.mutualaid.org
Sent: Tuesday, October 4, 2011 10:06 AM
Subject: Re: [Mintwood-place] no public notice of October 4 ANC 1C PZT Committee mtg

Interesting. 
   Chris when you were on the  Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC), your Committee did not post notices 7 days in advance and neither did the ANC as a whole always do so, and yet neither you nor Denis said anything about the "DC Code" whenever the technicality of notices was not met. (For large, one-time special meetings a higher standard has always been followed.)
   There have been more total ANC, residential, and developer meetings about this hotel project than any other development project in the history of Adams Morgan. (may rank pretty high city-wide). Your crack about "disservice to the community" is absurd given the total number of meetings, and given the standard you followed you when an ANC commissioner.

   Denis, under the previous ANC chair, the agenda of committees was almost never published in advance, and you did not  complain, write about it on the list servs... nor did anyone of us, because a few days notice is fine. Also, everyone knows you have been unerring about publishing, usually more than once, your Kalorama Citizens Association (KCA) meetings on the list servs, and that your meeting for the hotel Vote on "concerns for planning"  is the first time you did not do so. 

   Your sanctimony does not sit well with many and now causes me me to be less supportive of you than I have been in the past. Since Wes Combs decided to speak up, some others of us feel we should also.
Regards, Lamar Cousins

-----Original Message-----
From: Chris Version II.O <chrisotten2 at yahoo.com>
To: kaliseal <kaliseal at aol.com>; adamsmorgan <adamsmorgan at yahoogroups.com>; wreynoldsanc <wreynoldsanc at aol.com>; denisjames <denisjames at verizon.net>  Cc: mintwood-place <mintwood-place at lists.mutualaid.org>;
Sent: Fri, Sep 30, 2011 11:21 pm  Subject: Re: [Mintwood-place] no public notice of October 4 ANC 1C PZT Committee mtg

Actually, to clarify as a former Commissioner, ANC's by DC Code are to give at least 7 days notice of publicly held meetings.  In fact for the 2010 December special ANC meeting about the proposed hotel project, because the initial call was not put out within 7 days of the meeting, it had to be rescheduled.
This hotel project is of critical importance to the future of our neighborhood.  By not noticing this meeting, it certainly does a disservice to our community -- at least the community that is online.  For those who are not, it seems they are left in the dark almost all the time.
Chris O.  202-536-4065

From: "kaliseal at aol.com" <kaliseal at aol.com>
To: adamsmorgan at yahoogroups.com; wreynoldsanc at aol.com; denisjames at verizon.net
Cc: mintwood-place at lists.mutualaid.org; wcombs at witeckcombs.com
Sent: Friday, September 30, 2011 12:22 PM
Subject: Re: [Mintwood-place] no public notice of October 4 ANC 1C PZT Committee mtg       
        Denis, am generally supportive of you, but you look silly and mean spirited for writing this to the listservs.  "What's Up with that" is that ANC committees as a rule usually post their meetings 48-72 hours in advance because no one pays much attention before that.  "What's Up with that" is you are the Pot calling the Kettle black because you held the last KCA meeting with a Vote on the hotel issue and for the first time ever you failed to post notice of the meeting on any ListServ anywhere at any time -- which you always do without fail,  and you did not put any flyers on the street as you usually do. Wesley Combs rightly called you out on this during your own KCA Sept meeting.  "What's Up with that" is you have been in the room when this Oct 4 PZT
 meeting and date was announced at both the ANC1C Sept 7. monthly meeting and at PZT meeting on Sept 19.  

Regards, Lamar Cousins

-----Original Message-----

From: Denis James <denisjames at verizon.net>
To: kaliseal <kaliseal at aol.com>; adamsmorgan
<adamsmorgan at yahoogroups.com>; wreynoldsanc <wreynoldsanc at aol.com>
Cc: mintwood-place <mintwood-place at lists.mutualaid.org>; wcombs
<wcombs at witeckcombs.com>
Sent: Sat, Oct 1, 2011 2:23 am
Subject: RE: no public notice of October 4 ANC 1C PZT Committee mtg

As Chris Otten has
pointed out, ANC’s by law, must give 7 days public notice of their meetings. If
I had not written today, what notice would have been given by the ANC for the
Tuesday, October 4,7 pm PZT meeting at the Festival Center, 1640
Columbia Road, where the Church Hotel and the Comprehensive Plan will be
discussed?
So, I would hope that
more folks than just me would be concerned about notice for ANC meetings. These
are publicly elected officials, whose “great weight” affects us in many ways.
In fact, the nature and
subject matter of these PZT meetings is a topic that KCA and Reed-Cooke
Neighborhood Association leadership has repeatedly written to PZT and ANC Chair
Wilson Reynolds about, seeking clarity on the topics to be covered and when,
and the frequency of such meetings. 
 But we have had no
meaningful response. It is critical that a well-planned public process take
place for a project of such size and scope. Additionally, Mr. Reynolds has not
named the topics of future meetings on this issue at the earlier meetings you
reference, just that a meeting will take place, something that is regularly
scheduled as shown on the ANC website.
As to your criticism of
me and KCA actions, all KCA dues-paying members receive our printed newsletter,
mailed 1st class US mail, which announced the meeting and agenda
items, and every member who has shared their e-mail address with us also gets
timely notice. In addition, it is well known, and published on our website,
that KCA meets on the 3rd Thursday of each month, September through
June.
 I doubt that this
is the first time, nor will it be the last, that I don’t go the extra mile and
put up street signs and make list-serve announcements for our meeting.
KCA, under my leadership
is determined to focus its voice to the various government agencies that allow
public participation to us as a 501c3 civic association. That is why we passed
a resolution on September 15 listing our concerns about Mr. Friedman’s Hotel
PUD application, and that resolution has been forwarded to the Office of
Planning as our community comment for inclusion in the report they will prepare
for the Zoning Commission.
 I note that Mr.
Reynolds did make a public apology, explanation and further notice of the
meeting in question after my initial posting.
-----Original Message-----
From: Denis James <denisjames at verizon.net>  To: One List <adamsmorgan at yahoogroups.com>; wreynoldsanc at aol.com> Cc: mintwood-place <mintwood-place at lists.mutualaid.org>  Sent: Fri, Sep 30, 2011 1:06 pm
Subject: [Mintwood-place] no public notice of October 4 ANC 1C PZT Committee mtg
Wilson,I visited the ANC 1C website today and found a notice for
an ANC 1C PZT committee for October 4th at 7 pm at the Festival Center, 1640 Columbia Road, the topic being the Church Hotel proposal and the DC
Comprehensive Plan.But no notice here, or on the Mintwood list.What’s up with that?  Denis

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