The District’s nonprofit community Tuesday urged Mayor Adrian Fenty to ensure that new development along the Anacostia River brings more affordable housing and jobs for D.C. residents, even if the city dissolves the agency responsible for overseeing the revitalization.
Three dozen nonprofit leaders from the environmental, housing and work force arenas called on Fenty to maintain provisions in the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation Act of 2004, even if Fenty and the D.C. Council eliminate the corporation. A bill now before the council would repeal the law and dissolve the quasi-public agency, bringing its responsibilities under the office of the deputy mayor for economic development.
“Whatever the D.C. Council ultimately decides to do with respect to the structure of the AWC, we believe its environmental and community development objectives must remain intact to ensure that its mission is carried out,” the nonprofits, led by D.C. Appleseed, wrote in a letter delivered Tuesday.
The letter expresses support for the mission of the AWC, “to coordinate the environmental restoration of the Anacostia River and revitalize the lands and communities along it, which includes increasing the affordable housing stock and creating job opportunities for D.C. residents.”
The Anacostia Waterfront act requires that 30 percent of housing built on land controlled by the AWC must be affordable. It mandates that employers contracted for AWC projects give priority to Ward 8 residents for 20 percent of new jobs they create. And it sets out the corporation as the one government entity with a specific mission to restore the Anacostia River. Fenty spokeswoman Mafara Hobson couldn’t confirm that the letter had been received. The waterfront, she said, will be transformed into a “centerpiece” of development, retail and dining, and the city will aggressively move to restore the Anacostia and the communities along the river.
The letter was signed by such groups as the Anacostia Community Land Trust, Anacostia Watershed Society, Clean Water Action, Friends of the Earth, the Legal Aid Society of D.C. and the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless.
