If you plan to attend, please rsvp to me at don@dcmatters.com.

Something needs to be done to preserve more green space for residents. Tania sounds like the same mouth pieces that sold us lies about the Home Depot development on RI Ave.

For the record, I do not beliwve Mr. Kirk is the one doing the lying. My money is on EWA and Jair Lynch.

Dr. Williams (3.5 years on the block) and Mrs. Rippey (an over 40 year resident of Channing Street) have been vocal, great proponents for houses of equal size and no set back on the street. In their tenure on the MAG, they have been very clear about the perspective of people on the block. Dr. Williams has been walking the renderings up and down the block, which has 26 houses. Last count saw about 15 signatures, with the majority showing opposition to any setback or berm; and asserting that the houses need to be alike in size. This was shown to OP... we are actively listening to the residents of the block on the issue, and to state that we refuse to change the plans is to share inaccurate information in the blogosphere.

Where did you see timed lights on First Street? That isn't part of the current DRAFT plan.

You omitted the design and input (retail, open space and housing) part from your description of Meeting #1, and it sounds like you didn't make Meeting #2, where there was an open mike from almost the beginning.

At the very least I wish you would ask questions before making assertions. Your insistence on not having a direct conversation with me is just going to perpetuate this bizarre back and forth. If you're scared to talk to me directly, at least talk to a member of the MAG-- like the Channing Street reps, Dr. Williams and Ms. Rippey. Or contact Aakash, since you seem more comfortable talking to him (I guess so you can continue to assert that all of the development team is based in Bethesda and only builds in Bethesda and doesn't know any thing about the city -- despite their projects in DC. . . negating the fact that Jair and I are DC natives and have been developing in the city for 10 years and also live with in walking distance of the site).

My point about the reservoir, the "lake so blue" (I find it really funny that you posted the Alma Mater, so we'd "know" about it... I quoted it at both meetings-- that's where my grandparents courted when my grandfather was in med school there), was that it's something that comes up over and over again, and despite the fact that we don't have any development rights to it, or ownership of it, it's something we're committed to trying to work on. We can't promise to change something we don't have ownership or rights to, but we can promise to try-- I don't really understand what more you'd like for us to say on the matter.

I also don't understand the shoot first, NEVER ask questions approach. Again, I would appreciate a direct reply.

BTW, "pithy" doesn't just mean brief-- it's "brief" combined with "forceful" and "terse"... I was objecting to your interest in trying to be so brief and forceful, at the expense of the full truth of the matter. But I guess the joke is on me?

Tania Jackson
tbj@jairlynch.com

Tania Jackson
tbj@jairlynch.com

My guess is that most pro-development comments are written by the developers themselves, or by folks who do not live next to the property as I do. So, for those who live down on S Street, or Bethesda (and 'Brent' in Hyattsville), you don't already see the current traffic problems like we do. Do people understand that the plan is to install timed lights up and down First Street? Is there ANYONE in Bloomingdale that wants to see timed traffic lights going up and down our First Street?

And, Tania, I apologize if my 'pithy' remark seemed rude to you. This medium is the worst for attempts at humor. If you look up "pithy", it means concise. So, I was trying to be funny suggesting that you may want to reconsider calling me concise!

Have a nice day!

Bloomingdale is in a very delicate "transitional" state. The only reason it's a fairly nice, quiet place to live is that it's a little out of the way, so we avoid some of the problems of Georgia Avenue and RI Avenue. Putting a big glob of low-income housing and crap retail on Michigan Ave will wreck the desirable qualities of the neighborhood.