Posts Tagged ‘harry thomas jr

04
Jan
12

My Thoughts: What Now?

By rhodeislandinsider 3 Comments
Categories: Life on RIA and Redevelopment
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

by Greg Roberts

As many of you already know by now, according to sources, Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr has agreed to resign in a plea agreement that will most likely also see him in federal jail for 2-3 years. We can all continue the debate of what kind of man he is and what kind of Councilmember he is/was, but I will say that his movement lately to bring a focus back on to RIA has helped energize a lot of people to get involved. The Insider has received numerous questions about what happens to RIA now? Now that HTJ is going away, how are we going to continue this movement?

How about this for a response: Revitalizing RIA NE is bigger than one man. Yes, HTJ was motivated to bring attention to RIA in the last couple of months but that motivation was brought on by the residents demanding it. There are a lot of people and groups out there that are focused on continuing the successes that RIA already has and is getting. The PCDC held its visioning session last year. Friends of Rhode Island Ave (FoRIA) has continued to garner new members and has an ambitious agenda for 2012 (if you haven’t already, join them!).

This is not the time to think that our efforts can be thwarted or slowed by one member of our community’s departure (forced or not). Personally, my involvement has helped me make some good friends thanks to our shared interest in seeing RIA revitalized and I look forward to making new ones as we continue our journey. This has helped me enjoy my community even more. I won’t let a bump in the road change my enthusiasm. Granted, our Councilmember for Ward 5 is an important ally to have on our side and we need a councilmember to help champion our cause. I am not going to waste time right now speculating on who the right person is to replace HTJ but I am sure that whomever it is will take up the torch that HTJ left on efforts to bring funds and efforts to our cause.

Also, remember, we have four Councilmembers who are At-Large. I know, I forget sometimes as well. I guess we forget because do we ever see them in our community? Exception to Mr. Orange who used to be the Ward 5 Councilmember and is from this area. They should be in our Ward and meeting with our community just as much.

Make sure to let them know that you want them to ensure that RIA NE’s revitalization efforts continue and that they also become our champions on Council:

David Catania, (202) 724-7772, dcatania@dccouncil.us

Phil Mendelson, (202) 724-8064, pmendelson@dccouncil.us

Michael A. Brown, (202) 724-8105, mbrown@dccouncil.us

Vincent Orange, (202) 724-8174, vorange@dccouncil.us

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16
Nov
11

Vision is more than a list

By rhodeislandinsider 6 Comments
Categories: Redevelopment
Tags: , , , , , , ,

Recently, Harry Thomas Jr. posted, in response to this blog about vision for redevelopment, all of the things that he has brought to the Ward in the form of development. What that proved was that he failed to see the point of what vision really is.

Bringing something to the Ward is not what people want, well, not the only thing. The residents want to know that their leaders have the foresight to set the stage before something actually comes. A good example is the proposed Wal-Mart on NY Ave. I have stated over and over again that a Wal-Mart is fine for that location but the design and ability to control traffic mitigation was abysmal. Nearly every Council member I spoke with said they “wished they had some leverage over Wal-Mart” to make them pay for improvements on traffic and the impacts to noise, light pollution, local businesses, wages, etc it would cause. In fact, I even sent legislation from a couple of other jurisdictions from around the country that did just that from cities in exactly the same predicament. None of them acted on it. Instead, they threw up their hands and kept saying “there’s nothing we can do”. So now, the Wal-Mart on NY Ave will absolutely destroy the traffic flow of that area and the City (correction, all of us) will have to pay to improve the roads so they can exist.

That is a failure in leadership and vision.

At the recent PCDC meeting, Vincent Orange and Thomas kept pointing to the great achievement of bringing the Home Depot and Giant to the Brentwood Shopping Center. The need for this retail was there, true. But the Council failed the public in thinking about the long term vision of the community. Having these two anchor stores face each other with a sea of parking lot between them is absolutely poor planning, especially next to the Metro (and I won’t even get started on the entry and exit roads from this shopping center).

Again, failure of vision.

What our leaders don’t seem to understand is that leadership and vision is not providing us a list of what is coming to the Ward under his or their watch. That just shows that you know how to put a list together of what private developers are taking advantage of in a market economy (i.e. Rhode Island Row was the result of a very knowledgeable and talented Steve Golden, WMATA director of Real Estate who saw this potential and with whom I have worked with on a similar NJ transit oriented development). True leadership is preparing the area through legislation and proper zoning to ensure that the right kind of development comes that is cohesive for the short and long term plans of the area.

Recently, Harry Thomas has posted on various list serves about a Rhode Island Ave Task Force meeting that occurred this past Tuesday evening. He claimed that he made the announcement at the last PCDC meeting, which I and several other attendees who were there and stayed longer than Thomas did, don’t recall him ever announcing the meeting date or time. In fact, even the Friends of RIA, who represent one of the largest resident groups in the area, was not invited to the Task Force meeting, even after being assured by the Thomas that they would be. Councilmember Thomas refuses to respond to my emails asking about the details of the meeting, I guess, because he assumes he is above responding to his constituents directly.

People in Ward 5 need to stop nodding their heads and passively letting Thomas and other elected officials get away with touting that they helped bring this or that to the Ward and instead start shaking their head in acknowledgement that it is their failure of vision and leadership that is bringing us strip clubs, nearly every pot cultivation and dispensary, badly planned developments, and traffic nightmares, just to name a few.

I hope that Harry Thomas Jr. finally gains the impression of what having true vision and leadership for redevelopment means. I really do. There are great things happening with residents finally recognizing that they need to organize and be their own voice. I have worked across this country on development and redevelopment projects, from California to New England to Florida to Canada, and I have consulted with residents on taking control of their community because of their elected leadership’s failure to be legislatively brave and plan for the kind of community their constituents want.

I am encouraged by the organization of residents and their ideas. Old and new residents are coming together across this Ward to make things better. I look forward to Harry Thomas Jr. joining them in this journey. So far, he is failing.

By the way, in regards to questions on a local list serve about the RIA Task Force meeting that Harry Thomas Jr organized and failed to let any real residents groups know about, Stephanie Rones, Executive Director of PCDC, had a simple answer (which I can hardly argue wasn’t the real intent):

If they wanted you to be there, you would hae been invited.

Yep. That’s what we thought.

06
Nov
11

It’s Alive!

By rhodeislandinsider 6 Comments
Categories: Redevelopment
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

On Saturday, the Premier Community Development Corporation (PCDC) resurfaced and held a community meeting to discuss the redevelopment of Rhode Island Ave NE corridor. The meeting appeared to be about 30 members of the community, including elected officials (Thomas, Orange and ANC members) and PCDC members. PCDC attempted to have a panel with Councilmembers Thomas and Orange, and a planning department staff member, discuss the vision of RIA. The panel ended up mainly being an opportunity for Thomas and Orange to speak to their redevelopment efforts and accomplishments since being in office.

The goals of PCDC, as stated on its website:

-Develop and implement new program initiatives that will help shape the nature of commercial development in the PCDC target area and assist low and moderate income residents to remain in the area.
-Ensure that PCDC’s current community empowerment initiatives remain relevant and effective for community residents.
-Expand, increase, and diversify the sources of financial support for the current and future operations, programs, projects, and initiatives of PCDC.
-Increase public awareness of past accomplishments, current programs and services, and future initiatives of PCDC.

So who is PCDC and what have they been up to?

According to an Urban Land Institute (ULI) report, PCDC formed in 1999 as a community membership organization to improve housing, economic development and the quality of life in Ward 5. PCDC eventually became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation in 2001, with a full-time, paid Executive Director.

In 2008 the ULI awarded technical assistance panel reports to a number of organizations, including PCDC. The report, which can be downloaded HERE, was essentially an instruction manual developed by ULI on how to redevelop Woodridge. PCDC was supposed to use that report to actually redevelop Woodridge. At the time the ULI report was published (2008), PCDC was seeking grants to support its operating costs, and pursuing funding from the DC Main Streets program. The Main Street program gives an organization funding to revitalize a neighborhood business district. The ULI report states that Harry Thomas Jr. earmarked funding for the RIA’s revitalization to implement the goals of the Main Street program. However, PCDC ultimately failed to obtain the green light to be the operator of a Rhode Island Ave Main Street under the DC Main Streets program. All that Main Street money went away, and Woodridge is no better off in 2011 than it was in 2008. Now Rhode Island Ave does not have a Main Street Program and probably can’t get one because that program isn’t taking new applicants. It appears that in the three years since receiving technical assistance from the ULI, PCDC has not implemented any of the recommendations from the ULI Report.

Although I am happy to see this group resurrect itself (more community activists are always a good thing)…I am wondering what spurred such a quick meeting on RIA redevelopment, especially from a group that has been rather dormant lately (it’s most recent attempt to set up a farmer’s market in Edgewood was not approved by ANC5C).

I had a conversation with a member of PCDC during this’s past Saturday’s PCDC visioning meeting. The woman, who claimed to have lived in the area since the 70′s, was agitated that a new group of residents was organizing and she viewed them as a young, new resident group that didn’t have a diverse group of ideas from new and old residents of the community. I quickly corrected her, pointing out the outreach the group has been doing through its website and on all of the widely used Ward5 listserves (the same mechanism used by all the ANCs, Civic Associations, Ward 5 Dems, and CM Thomas to announce meetings and events). Friends of RIA has an open survey on its website seeking ideas and membership from residents of all stripes. The group also recently elected a long time Woodridge resident and former MPD officer as its Chairman. The Friends group is also in the works of planning a project to go door-to-door to reach residents who are not using the web.

This conversation was discouraging to me for many reasons but most of all because it indicates that a small group of older residents feel threatened by not being in control and perhaps also disinterested in collaboration. This woman felt threatened that newer residents had ideas about bringing positive change to the area that may not coincide with her own ideas. She stated that bad things have already been said about FORIA, alluding that newer residents were trying to circumvent older generations in the area. This notion couldn’t have been further from the truth, and she would have known this if she had bothered to talk to anyone from FORIA (after speaking with me, she seemed to calm down a bit and understand a little more).

Reports from my contacts about the recent Happy Hour at Lace this past week hosted by Friends of Rhode Island Avenue & Brookland, was that it was impressive; that the group brought together 65+ neighbors and the diversity of the crowd was reflective of the community. It is equally, if not more, impressive that the group already has well over 120 “Friends” and they are growing everyday by encouraging open and free membership to everyone. They have only been announced for a month!

As Harry Thomas pointed out at the PCDC meeting on Saturday, we all have the same goals of positive redevelopment for Rhode Island Ave NE. We need to work together, to not be afraid of change, and to welcome collaboration. Friends of Rhode Island Ave should be welcomed with open arms by a veteran group like PCDC that needs invigoration and new ideas to move the common good of our community forward. I am looking for VERY positive things to come for our area. I am not looking forward to small-town politics and in-fighting that will keep us all down. We need to unite as a community, develop common goals, and pursue them together.

Harry Thomas mentioned at the meeting that he is immediately forming a Rhode Island Avenue Task Force. This is the perfect opportunity for all interested parties to work together in the service of a common interest.

Again, I highly encourage everyone to join “Friends of Rhode Island Avenue” and ask your neighbors to join also! Strength in numbers….we can make a difference. Go to www.friendsofria.org

20
Sep
11

Who’s Next?

By rhodeislandinsider 8 Comments
Categories: Redevelopment
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

We are unique in Ward 5. We have one of the few proposed Wal-Marts. We have a street that is called the “Diamond in the District”. We have Catholic University.

…And, it seems, we have the most corruption.

According to the Washington Times, Robert V. Brannum, head of the Metropolitan Police Dept. 5th District Citizens Advisory Council (5DCAC), a political appointee of Mayor Gray, and an ally of Harry Thomas, Jr., has been accused of misusing the 5DCAC’s business checking account. The matter has been referred by the DC Auditor to the Inspector General’s office for investigation. It seems that a debit card was obtained (which is in violation of the group’s bylaws) and being unable to account for missing funds. Mr. Brannum is also the president of the DC Federation of Civic Associations and is Vice Chair of the Ward 5 Democrats, which he is currently running for Chair.

Another complaint filed, this time against ANC5B current Chair, Regina James, alleges that Ms. James used DC Government time and resources for and during her election and official duties for the ANC. The documents state that Ms. James used her DC government office phone number as her campaign phone number and has also used her DC government email to conduct official ANC business. The complaint was filed by a fellow ANC5B commissioner, Vaughn Bennett. Interestingly enough, Ms. James is attempting to remove Mr. Bennett from his position as Recording Secretary without announcing why although she claims she wants to bring transparency back to ANC5B.

Why transparency? Probably because the former Chair, William Shelton, has been accused of stealing nearly $30,000 from the ANC5B funds over the last 6-8 months. He has since resigned from the ANC. The other ANC members have a lot of public anger aimed at them for their failure to do their jobs and allowed Mr. Shelton to steal the money under their noses including the treasurer, who is still the treasurer of the ANC5B, who self-described her unknowing of the theft due to her not doing her job. Yet, Ms. James has yet to demand her resignation.

And the topper, as we all know, is the ongoing investigation into Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr. I won’t dig up particulars as we are all aware of this one (just remember Hooters, an Audi, and missing money from a youth program). Mr. Thomas has claimed his innocence but has offered to pay back the nearly $300,000 that was missing because that is what innocent, public figures do. Offer to pay money back that they didn’t misuse.

So, who’s next, Ward 5? Tired of being the punching bag and laughing stock of the District? Ready to demand more from our elected officials? The blame for all of this is on ALL OF US! If we do nothing, it keeps happening and we, as residents, keep getting screwed. Wake up, Ward 5!

20
Aug
11

Corruption with the ANC5B…anyone surprised? (Part 1)

By rhodeislandinsider 1 Comment
Categories: Redevelopment
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Some news is many times swept under the rug but ANC Commissioner Vaughn Bennett is trying to pull that rug up. As many already know, ANC5B has been under investigation for some alleged wrong doing in regards to its finances. Back in June, News Channel 9 broke a story about the misappropriation of nearly $30,000 of the city funds from the ANC. This story came a week after Councilmember Thomas’ own issues with campaign funds (ANC5B is in Ward 5). The allegations say that the money was taken from the ANC bank accounts through an ATM card in Chairman William Shelton’s name over a 8 month period. This coincides with Shelton’s loss of employment 6 months prior. The money was spent on a car note (Lexus, which Shelton drives), Bloomingdales, and other retail locations. Click the picture or here to see the news segment.

After this story broke, William Shelton and deputy chair of the ANC resigned leaving a power vacuum at the ANC. It appears that the DC Government has ordered the ANC to get its affairs in order, including what to do with the ANC5B staff person, who alleges that the ANC owes her more than $5,000 for her services. It is unclear at this point as to her involvement in the misappropriations of funds. Regina James, a Commissioner on the ANC, held an ad-hoc meeting on Sept 1 that another commissioner, Vaughn Bennett, cried foul over saying that the public was not properly notified. Another source has claimed that the commission is trying to let this issue settle in hopes of it going away, saying that the ANC commission has operated as a “good ‘ole boys and girls club” by a small group of people.

Vaughn Bennett is holding an “Emergency ANC5B04″ meeting on Monday, August 22 from 7-9pm at the Woodridge Public Library (1901 Hamlin Street NE). He recently put fliers on the doors in his Single Member District with the intended agenda:

A critical discussion and update on the status of ANC 5B.

  • Did you know that that (sic) over $30,000 was stolen from ANC 5B, and that we have $7.00 in the bank?
  • What are the responsibilities of an ANC? “Each Advisory Neighborhood Commission (“Commission”) may advise the Council of the District of Columbia, the Mayor and each executive agency, and all independent agencies, boards and commissions of the government of the District of Columbia with respect to all proposed matters of District government policy…”
  • What are the responsibilities of a SMD (5B04) Commissioner? To be the eyes ears and mouth of the people. We are on the same team!
  • Did you know that ANC Commissioners do not get paid?
  • Did you know that ANC 5B has an office that only one Commissioner (out of 12) has access to?

I think there are a lot of unanswered questions going on with our ANC. How can we expect anything to move forward in our community when our own ANC is misappropriating monies, cannot work together, and does not keep the public THEY SERVE involved?

In my opinion, it is time that the entire ANC step down and allow new leaders help bring dignity back (or for the first time) to our community.

11
Aug
11

Proper Redevelopment Takes You to Demand It

By rhodeislandinsider 21 Comments
Categories: Redevelopment
Tags: , , , , , ,

The Neighborhood Commercial (NC) Overlay District is established to preserve and enhance neighborhood shopping areas, by providing the scale of development and range of uses that are appropriate for neighborhood shopping and services.

Since May of this year, the Council as a Whole enacted the small area plan for Rhode Island Ave NE, setting forth a process of encouraging redevelopment. I am sure we all understand that this process will take time but in the meantime, what is the type of development that should go to the RIA corridor, especially the “Main Street” area between 18th and 24th Streets? This is largely unknown at this point.

One major issue, right now, is that there are more than two dozen store-front churches occupying commercial spaces in a very small segment of RIA. This doesn’t benefit a cash-strapped City since it is losing an opportunity to get taxes from these commercial spaces (in fact, many of the churches are not even registered with the City). The community doesn’t get a benefit because the store front churches are rented, generally, by Maryland residents and its participants are from Maryland. To add on to this problem, another property along RIA has recently been purchased for yet another church. It is about time that residents start taking action to move RIA in the direction of redevelopment that we want.

So why not a Neighborhood Commerical Overlay District for RIA? 

According to Municipal regulations, the purposes of the NC Overlay District are to:

 (a)  Encourage a scale of development, a mixture of building uses, and other attributes, such as safe and efficient conditions for pedestrian and vehicular movement, all of which will be as generally required by the Comprehensive Plan;

 (b)  Encourage retention and establishment of a variety of retail, entertainment, and personal service establishments, predominantly in a continuous pattern at ground level, so as to meet the needs of the surrounding area’s residents, workers, and visitors; and

 (c)  Limit the maximum permitted height of new buildings so as to encourage a general compatibility in scale between new and older buildings.

Many areas around the City that has seen positive redevelopment have a Neighborhood Commercial Overlay District. These areas include Woodley Park, Cleveland Park, H Street, Takoma, and Eight Street. 

Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr was not opposed to an overlay district that will allow residents and planners to have input on the zoning and uses. In fact, he responded during an interview with this blog earlier this year that he is “happy to work with residents and Office of Planning staff to investigate whether a commercial overlay district would be beneficial for Rhode Island Avenue between 18th and 24th Streets. If such a district would help advance redevelopment of the corridor, I will of course support it.”

Perhaps it is time we hold him to his word? Perhaps our local ANC could step up and lead this charge?

WHAT CAN WE DO? One suggestion would be for residents to create and organize behind a single community group focused on the redevelopment of RIA. In fact, the City was looking for such an organization to serve on its committee when reviewing the small area plan. Perhaps Vaughn Bennett or another member of the ANC could work on an overlay plan? Perhaps he could plan a meeting with a planning official?

To read more on Neighborhood Commercial Overlay districts, click HERE.

To read more on the Rhode Island Ave Small Area Plan, click HERE.

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