Remember the old George Washington University Hospital, the one made famous when Ronald Reagan showed up in the emergency room in 1981 with a bullet just a whisker from his heart, thanks to John Hinkley’s assassination attempt?
Picture it scraped off. Now picture a massive commercial development there on the southern curve of Washington Circle, with office buildings and condos and enough Starbucks’ shops to stoke students late into Saturday night after a binge at the Beta house.
This is the vision dancing in the financial heart of GW, a university in need of cash.
“George Washington has become a real estate developer masquerading as an educational institution,” says Elizabeth Elliott, a Foggy Bottom neighborhood activist bent on blocking the proposed development.
We are gazing through a chain link fence across the vacant lot sprouting some scrubby weeds and cigarette butts. GW has made a deal with mega-developer Boston Properties to turn property given to the university into yet another downtown development of little use to the indigenous community.
The battle between George Washington and Foggy Bottom is a town and gown fight gone nuclear. These people hate one another.
“It’s the Palestinian-Israeli conflict all over again,” says Jack Evans, whose Ward 2 encompasses Foggy Bottom. “There’s no resolving this issue.”
Elliott, a graphic designer with an education as an architect, has lived in Foggy Bottom since 1978. In her view, she’s seen the university expand across boundaries, knock down historic, two-story buildings to build huge dorms and press public officials to bend zoning rules. In my view, the university is doing what all urban colleges do — they grow and expand and encroach on the locals.
Two things elevate this fight to a level that bears watching by the entire city.
— First, as the city becomes a more attractive place to live and do business, economic development is going to continue to push into communities. Will it be done well, with consultation and planning?
— Second, will it be done in a fair and transparent manner? Or will it be greased by connections between developers and city officials?
It took a Freedom of Information Act request, but the Foggy Bottom Association has uncovered an e-mail trail between the university and the zoning administrator that smacks of collusion on the matter of an audit to count GW’s student enrollment, which is capped at 20,000.
Moreover, the ties between the city and the university are wrapped like a tight ball of twine. Dwight Cropp, a high-ranking GW official, is married to City Council Chair Linda Cropp; Ellen McCarthy, director of D.C.’s planning office, is married to Richard Bradley, who works for developers as head of the Business Investment Districts, though McCarthy has proved her independent streak, so far.
“The fix is in,” Elliott says.
Jack Evans says there’s no way to resolve this fight, but there is. Mayor Anthony Williams could step in, but he has chosen to steer clear and avoid his job of making peace in the city.
Both sides are well-armed with legal guns. This fight is headed for court.
Harry Jaffe has been covering the Washington area since 1985. E-mail him at [email protected]
