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Tenley-Friendship development plan criticized
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The Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development is pursuing a private-sector partner to lease or buy the 3.6-acre site of Janney Elementary School and the former Tenley-Friendship Library. According to the draft Request for Proposals, the developer would construct a new 20,000-square-foot library and a larger, modernized elementary school in return for the right to develop the site.
But the area’s advisory neighborhood commission voted recently to oppose the request. Until the District has conclusively determined the Janney site is not needed for public purposes, it should not move to turn over the property to a developer, said Anne Sullivan, an area ANC commissioner.
“It’s been a cart-before-the-horse process,” she said.
The existing Tenley-Friendship Library was shuttered in 2004 and razed earlier this month.
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10:32 AM MST on Thu., Oct. 25, 2007 re: "Tenley-Friendship development plan criticized"
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4:23 AM MST on Wed., Oct. 24, 2007
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7:06 PM MST on Mon., Oct. 22, 2007
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10:22 AM MST on Mon., Oct. 22, 2007
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Examiner Reader said:
What a joke. This library has been closed for more than 4 years and nothing has been done. Everything takes so long to do in DC. I hope they build a good quality library after all this wait and don't put together a shoddy structure quickly.
56 agree | 46 disagree
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yet another Examiner Reader said:
It's even worse than Examiner Reader suggested. The private developer will be using city funds to rebuild the library. So we'll get a substantial delay without any cost savings. But, hey, look on the bright side -- at least there will be condos on the soccer field! Can't get any more vibrant than that...
67 agree | 76 disagree
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Different Examiner Reader said:
Nice that "Community Leaders" oppose the project when most of the people in the community support it. So much for the ANC representing the interests of the electorate.
61 agree | 51 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
You missed a crucial fact here. DCPL is in the process of rebuilding the Tenley-Friendship library. The project is fully funded and underway. Architects have been selected and are already at work, two (well-run and productive) community meetings have been held re programmatic priorities and design issues. This is why demolition is underway -- they're finally getting ready to build. The library is currently on track to reopen in Spring of 2010. The RFP threatens to derail the work already underway and to delay the library's re-opening by at least another two years. So it's not a situation where a developer offers to build a 20,000 SF library vs. the community has no library. It's a case where the city has already committed the $$ to build the new library and now wants to see if it can offload that responsibility onto a private developer. The RFP won't give us back our library -- it will postpone our library's reopening.
68 agree | 62 disagree
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