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Evans mulls eminent domain against Boys and Girls Club branch
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The Jelleff branch of the Boys and Girls Club.
WASHINGTON (Map, News) - D.C. Council Member Jack Evans Thursday threatened to pursue a city takeover of a Georgetown Boys and Girls Club by eminent domain if its parent organization chooses to cash in its valuable real estate.
Evans’ comments came about two weeks after the Boys and Girls Club of Metropolitan Washington announced that it would close its Eastern Branch in Southeast in August. The regional organization also said it is exploring options for its 50-year-old Georgetown club, known as the Jelleff Branch, because the neighborhood does not need its services, Chief Operating Officer Kevin Dowdell said. It is located on S Street in Northwest, near Dumbarton Oaks.
“Our fiduciary responsibility as an organization is to use our limited resources in a way to serve those children who need it most,” Dowdell said Thursday.
Dowdell said the organization will seek proposals for the club, which Evans estimated is worth about $20 million according to city records. Nothing has been finalized and there is not a timeframe for putting the requests out, Dowdell said.
The club has more than 6,000 members, Evans said. City Collegiate Public Charter School also operates out of the space, with a lease set to expire after the next school year.
“It’s only worth a lot of money if you demolish everything that’s there and build houses on it,” Evans said.
Evans, D-Ward 2, said he would seek to condemn the club and have the city take it under eminent domain if it chooses to sell to developers and fails to include some sort of comparable community organization.
Jelleff features roller skating, an outdoor pool, basketball courts and soccer fields.
“At the end of the day, we want to keep it as a recreational facility,” Evans said. “If that’s the direction we have to take, we can take it.”
More than 900 people had signed an online petition seeking to save the club by Thursday afternoon, hours before community members were scheduled to meet on its future.
Jelleff Board of Director President Denis James disputed Dowdell’s claim that the club serviced a community that is not in need.
“We serve kids from all over the city,” James said. “It’s been like that for many, many years.”
cmabeus@dcexaminer.com
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AMERICA CALLING said:
what he forgot to add is that baltimore or crime city that bleeds is a big factor
1 agree | 0 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
I spent 22 years in SoCal, left in 2002 for VA. It was a great state, you could do almost anything there as long as you didnt bother anyone (including being gay etc). Crime was low, taxes etc were managable. Then came the liberal agenda and now its a one party state to include Arnold!. Then came the gun control, taxes on taxes and rules on rules. Gas is more than 4 dollars a gallon and you rent a million dollar shoe box to live in. Watch out Virginia, we are next...
66 agree | 59 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
True Story. I knew a man who owned a plumbing supply business in Burlingame. His next door neighbor, the SM County Mosquito Abatement District said they "needed" part of his land for its function. He said "no way." They seized it by E.D. claiming a public health "need." He was paid market price, of course, but lost half his land. Ever since, the mosquito abatement people used that extra land for,,,, washing personal vehicles, storing personal tow trailers and personal boats, and other personal no essential stuff. Once when I was visiting him, he told me to go next door and see what they were doing. I walked over and chatted with an employee. He was cleaning a small fish pond with goldfish in it. Moral of the story? THEY DIDN'T NEED THE LAND AS THEY SAID THEY DID. IT TURNED OUT TO BE EXCESS LAND FOR THEM.
75 agree | 59 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
The county could put an easement on the property . That will make the owner unable to sell the property . Piece of cake. However, if the county wants to take the possession of the property, the county has to have at least 4 independent estimate, then average out to be fair to the owners.
160 agree | 180 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Absolutely positively the government has NO RIGHT to take our private property...under NO circumstances. We are begining the slide down the slippery slope of which we can never return. I am afraid this is only the beginning! Not surprising for Maryland.
175 agree | 154 disagree
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Jamie said:
Under what circumstances should the county condemn properties? In this case it's drugs and violence. But did the properties at Yorkway commit these crimes? Hardly. The county is leveling these apartments to make room for higher end homes/condos and pushing the crime somewhere else. So what is it again that we are trying to accomplish? The shifting of crime onto someone else. But where? Who cares. That's not our problem. What we want are better neighbors and a better value for our homes. But is the county making life better for us or our landlords? When will we begin to tackle the root cause of Yorkway? Maybe the new developers will have a great new way to deal with crime and drugs in our neighborhood. Something tells me, though, that this is not their problem. Which leads me back to my question.
166 agree | 159 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Only in America
170 agree | 157 disagree
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Cynical Citizen said:
What development is proposed for the Koo's property and in what condition is the property in? Seems notably absent from the article...
172 agree | 187 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
There is something seriously wrong with this statement. Has this man never heard of the United States Constitution? Evans "said he would seek to condemn the club and have the city take it under eminent domain if it chooses to sell to developers and fails to include some sort of comparable community organization. "
190 agree | 211 disagree
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