MYTH
The development of Bruce Monroe Community Park is necessary to prevent displacement of Park Morton Residents.
FACT
A phased development plan is already in progress at Park Morton, and the majority of Park Morton residents have already been displaced by the DC government. There were 147 families living at Park Morton, there are now less than 60 families living onsite. Nearly all of those families have been pressured to move out with vouchers, and have moved to other parts of DC, or outside of the city.
MYTH
There is adequate demand for the market rate units that will offset the 30% subsidized replacement units and 30% affordable units at the Bruce Monroe build site.
FACT
The District of Columbia Economic and Revenue Trends: January 2020 report shows that migration into DC peaked in 2012. This, coupled with the number of vacant rental units throughout DC, strikes at the heart of the feasibility of the Planned Unit Development (PUD) on Bruce Monroe Community Park.
MYTH
The park created after the demolition of Bruce Monroe School was only meant to be “temporary” in nature.
FACT
Initially, Bruce Monroe School was to be rebuilt, per a May 2008 memo from Michele Rhee, DC Public Schools Chancellor, with the consolidated student body from Park View School and Bruce Monroe school moving back to the Bruce Monroe School. The Bruce Monroe Community Park was later created in response to a direct call by the 2008 DC Comprehensive Plan to create more park space specifically in the Park View neighborhood. Major improvements and additional funding for the park was provided in 2013. This has been highlighted in city reports, showing it as asset to the community when it serves in city leadership’s best interest.
MYTH
The main reason behind the development of Bruce Monroe Community Park is to help Park Morton residents.
FACT
The Park Morton Resident Council President, Shonta’ High, testified against reauthorization of the surplus of Bruce Monroe Community Park last year, and was present in support of the petitioners at the Court of Appeals. Park Morton residents have developed their own resident-led plan for a Park Morton Equity Plan (PMEP) which establishes the already built Wren apartment building on Florida Ave NW as the build-first site for Park Morton while redevelopment occurs, and provides a roadmap to prevent displacement and establish human capital programs for residents. At the end of the day, the “redevelopment plan” is clearly not in the best interests of the residents of Park Morton or anyone in the community. It only serves to benefit the Mayor’s developer friends at a very high cost to the community, which is a key issue that continues to go unacknowledged.
MYTH
The Advisory Neighborhood Commissions (ANCs) support the redevelopment at Bruce Monroe Community Park.
FACT
The vote on redevelopment was initially split. The vote would have gone against the redevelopment project, but two Commissioners with conflicting connections to the developer recused themselves instead of voting in a way which supported their constituents. The most notable Commissioner is currently serving ANC 1A10, and continues to support the redevelopment project contrary to the very constituents she is elected to represent. Only after heavy lobbying from the Mayor’s office to all of the ANC Commissioners did the motion pass at a separate meeting, in which the public was not allowed to give comment.
MYTH
The New Communities Initiative website states that the Build First principle “calls for development of new housing to begin prior to the demolition of existing distressed housing to minimize displacement.” The Bruce Monroe Park site has been labeled as the only site available to develop that will meet this metric as it relates to the redevelopment of Park Morton.
FACT
The Zoning Commission for the District of Columbia required the developer to build affordable units, per numerous citations in the Zoning Commission Order No. 16-11. Of the 174 units at Park Morton, only 90 affordable units were slated for the Bruce Monroe redevelopment. The Wren created 126 affordable units. Councilmember Brianne Nadeau indicates in her remarks on Court of Appeals decision regarding Park Morton Public Housing replacement that there is no avenue to claim or reserve portions of The Wren for use as a fully-fledged build-first site, per the request included in The Council at Park Morton’s Park Morton Equity Plan.
MYTH
The development at Bruce Monroe Community Park creates new public housing.
FACT
The planned development is only replacing some units at Park Morton that will then be torn down for development of privately owned subsidized apartments. The stated goal of the New Communities Initiatives was to deconcetrate poverty when in fact the city is concentrating poverty in a high rise building, that was previously spread out over several acres of low density buildings. It is these type of low density buildings that Park Morton residents overwhelmingly want to remain in.
