A four-day community planning session will launch a District government effort to revitalize a deteriorating Northeast neighborhood, D.C. officials said this week.
The planning session, which started Thursday and runs through Monday at Kelly Miller Middle School, is the first step in a plan to redevelop Lincoln Heights in Ward 7 as a mixed-income community with better access to public facilities, jobs and education.
Part of Mayor Anthony Williams’ “New Communities” initiative, which targets high-crime, high- poverty communities, the plan keys on reducing “economic segregation” by boosting a neighborhood’s housing inventory while maintaining the same number of affordable units.
“The workshop is indeed a chance for residents in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood to contribute ideas to the rebuild plan,” Williams said during his weekly news briefing. “It gives them a voice, and more importantly, it gives them a stake in the process.”
Sursum Corda, now known as Northwest One, was the first New Communities program.
Lincoln Heights currently has 1,122 residents living in roughly 400 units.
The hope is to triple the housing figure, but replace the affordable units one-for-one, guaranteeing a mix of affordable and market-rate housing. The government would also come in with targeted crime reduction plans and human services efforts.
Ward 7 Council Member Vincent Gray, a candidate for council chair, said one of his platform issues when he ran for office in 2004 “was being able to focus some real energy on the north end of Ward 7, which I believe was one of the most neglected areas of the city.”
The program is financed with D.C. tax dollars, as well as federal and private sources. Officials hope to have the final Lincoln Heights plan before the council in
October.
Planning session schedule
All meetings at Kelly Miller Middle School, 301 49th St. NE
» Friday, Saturday and Monday: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
» Monday for final presentation: 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
