Mayor Adrian Fenty said Thursday he welcomed the D.C. Council’s decision to put the city’s school modernization chief in charge of major parks and recreation capital projects — as the mayor first proposed to do 13 months ago.
“Like the council, the administration believes Allen Lew’s agency is uniquely qualified to do this work,” Fenty said during a news conference outside the Bald Eagle Recreation Center in Southwest.
Council members this week unanimously rejected the city’s $5.7 million construction management contract with Banneker Ventures LLC, a firm whose owner, Omar Karim, is closely tied to Fenty. The deal was funneled through the quasi-independent D.C. Housing Authority and never forwarded to the council for review, as the law requires.
With Banneker out, the council directed Lew’s Office of Public Education Facilities Modernization to manage 10 projects for the Department of Parks and Recreation. Fenty suggested the same thing in November 2008. But the council, led by Ward 5 Councilman Harry Thomas Jr., adopted legislation ordering Lew to stick to school-related work.
“They went back to our original strategy,” Fenty said. “Whatever strategy the council will let us use, we just want to do the projects.”
Parks and rec projects on Lew’s plate
» 10th Street
» Bald Eagle
» Barry Farms
» Chevy Chase
» Fort Stanton
» Guy Mason
» Kenilworth-Parkside
» 39th and Newark
» Raymond
» Rosedale
DPR and OPEFM already have a signed memoranda of understanding to get the work under way, Fenty announced, and details on exact project timelines will be available in the next two weeks. The year-long delay, Lew said, will not affect his ability to finish work within three years. Most of the architects and builders hired by Banneker will be retained, he said.
“We’ve never disappointed the city,” Lew said. “Don’t even ask me about timelines.”
Bringing in Lew in was a last-minute solution to a “mess” created by the administration, said Thomas, who has oversight of DPR. Thomas has said he wants to build DPR’s capacity — the agency has 11 people on staff for capital projects — to do its own work.
The council’s decision, however, might land the city in court if Banneker files suit.
“We are still looking at all of our legal options,” said A. Scott Bolden, Banneker’s attorney. “We’re in discussions with the attorney general’s office. Our focus is not on litigation but rather on resolution and making Banneker, [partner Regan Associates] and their subcontractors whole.”
