April 5th Norton All-Community Ward 8 Town Hall Meeting Will Open Consultations - March 10, 2006
April 5th Norton All-Community Ward 8 Town Hall Meeting Will Open Consultations on First Far Southeast Federal Construction
March 10, 2006
Washington, DC—Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today announced that she has scheduled an All-Community Town Hall Meeting for the evening of Wednesday, April 5th (location TBA) on the upcoming development on the west campus of St. Elizabeth’s, beginning with the Coast Guard headquarters. The April 5th Town Hall Meeting will present a rare opportunity for the full set of federal and District officials who have been or will be involved to appear together before the community to offer the full range of information and answers available at this time. General Services Administration (GSA) and Coast Guard officials will attend and make presentations, and Mayor Anthony Williams, will be invited.
Norton, who is ranking member of the subcommittee of jurisdiction, has scheduled a special Town Hall Meeting because the Coast Guard construction will mark the first time the federal government has brought development to the east side of the Anacostia River, and with it, the neighborhood development potential that always has followed federal construction in Northwest. Norton said that she is particularly interested in the potential to finally get commercial development along Martin Luther King Avenue , a Ward 8 priority for decades. The St. Elizabeth’s development will involve extensive consultation with city and community officials, as usual, and Norton will use her ranking member position to work closely with GSA and D.C. officials and residents to ensure that federal development has “the same productive effects for Anacostia that characterize the community effects in Northwest.”
Although the GSA is working with a potential ballpark figure of up to 4.5 million square feet, this figure, the identification of other agencies and other details will require further consultation with the Bush Administration and her committee, before there are decisions to which the community can reliably respond. However, Norton said that community access to the campus, one of the city’s most beautiful natural sites, will be assured.
The President has included $300 million in his FY 07 budget for the Coast Guard headquarters but for no other construction. The west campus of St. E’s is owned by the federal government and the east campus is owned by the District of Columbia .