1345 South Capitol Street demolition special real estate development project in conflict with western South Capitol Mall on hold
Photos by Jacqueline Dupree
Project's cancellation would free up a portion of the west side of the South Capitol Mall.
A Blog dedicated to save the concept of Washington, D.C.'s South Capitol/Frederick Douglass Mall (Promenade), or the SOUTH CAPITOL MALL. It appears in the planning of the National Capital Planning Commission through the 1990s and up until September 2001, before being quietly dropped, ostensibly to avoid eminent domain, which is nonetheless embraced for Nationals Stadium related development.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/28/AR2008052803101.html
The Earth Conservation Corps, the Anacostia and Potomac Riverkeepers, the Sierra Club, D.C. ACORN and the Friends of the Earth have teamed with an arm of [Jesuit Order run] Georgetown University's law school to take the first step in a federal lawsuit against the National Park Service, the Navy, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Architect of the Capitol and the D.C. government to halt any move toward developing 40 acres of national parkland along the Anacostia River into the $2.5 billion retail, office and sports complex that the D.C. government envisions for the site."We're looking to use any method possible to preserve that land for people," says Glen O'Gilvie, president of the Earth Conservation Corps, a District-based group that advocates for the river and trains Washington youths to do environmental work.
With Polar Point part of a swath of hundreds of acres of parkland, one has to ask why none of these "environmentalist" groups would even mention the placement of Washington Nationals Stadium's blocking of the South Capitol Mall. As DC Rad of the Anacostia Now blog notes:
http://anacostianow.blogspot.com/2008/06/development-at-poplar-point-please.htmlThe area has 110 acres, of which 40 would be developed with 70 being parkland. However, this Georgetown set clique wants 0 development- just as they seem to want close to 0 parkland on the northern side of the river with their non concern over the South Capitol Mall (and apparently even its greatly scaled back remnants of the South Capitol Commons, and the South Capitol Square).
The Washington Business Journal has a front page article this morning on how a variety of groups from the other side of the Anacostia River (not our side) are teaming up to try to "save" Poplar Point from being developed.
Pretty ridiculous, as the one thing that both Washington generally and Anacostia specifically has in complete abundance is waterfront parkland. The thing we do not have enough of is waterfront development. Also, Anacostia desperately needs to be reconnected to the water, not remain disconnected as it is now thanks to Interstate 295.
I guess we can consider this the start of a new campaign:
Yes! to Development at Poplar Point!