I am very angry about the plan to convert the JF Cook School into a residential home for Latin American Youth.
This project has been rammed down the thraots of a neighborhood overwhelmed with social service agencies doing their good work. The area around Bates Street has enough crime to contend with –muggings, robberies, etc that we don’t need to have yet another group of young people fresh from jail and/or the court system living in our neighborhhod, no matter how well intended they and the people trying to help them get their lives together may be.
More than anything, and perhaps it’s why the current Mayor will soon be the former Mayor, is the way this was handled. I own property on Bates St close to the Cook School and I was never consulted by the District about my thoughts on this matter. If I lived in say Kalorama or Dupont Circle, you can believe there would have been many meetings prior to the decision for yet another social service project. I know, since I used to live in those areas.
Add to that the arrogance of the PAYC assistant princiapl, Rebecca Paavola who commented at one of the few meetings held (on a playground, no less) that community support would be “nice but not necessary”. If that’s the way the LAYC administrators regard our community now, think of what will happen when real problems occur.
What I is outrageous about this is the fact that no other sites were considered for a $15 million project . Commissioner Ransom of ANC 5C12 WANTS the project in her area at Jose Arz PCS, which has been vacant for some time. Why has the District not considered that site?
What had been contemplated and should be seriously reconsidered is the cultural and arts center at Cook School, something sorely needed in this wonderful part of Washington, DC. I would be much more favor in that being part of our area and so would many of my neighbors on Bates Street.
Sincerely,
Carol Ann Kell
Bates Area Civic Association 
whether you are in favor of, or opposed to, a project, can we all agree to stop using the phrase “rammed down the throat”?
i mean, there are so many connotations that that brings up. can we just stick with something like “the neighborhood is unhappy with this plan and we don’t feel like our opinions have been taken into account.”?
the flowery language isn’t helpful.
Pardon me but I’m confused! The two vacant school buildings have sat on the corner for years doing absolutely nothing,yet when something positive comes to occupy the building,then it creates an uproar? Is it O.K. to just let the buildings sit vacant, which invites loitering for the drinkers and other unmentionalbe activities?
Ms. Kell, I understand that you are opposed the use of the Cook School as YouthBuild and LAYC imagine it. I do want to make sure, though, that we remain clear about the facts we have shared. You were at the meeting, but perhaps you missed the portion where Lori Kaplan, Executive Director of LAYC, clarified that LAYC currently does not and does not plan to contract with the District to house youth who are being detained for any reason. The housing will not serve as a detention center, “halfway house,” or anything of the sort. The housing is for young people who do not currently have a stable place to live. They all work and/or go to school.
Everyone who opposes the housing portion of the proposed project will have their respective reasons, to which they are entitled; it is a bit unfair, though, to continue to paint the prospective residents with the broad brush stroke of “criminal” when we’ve repeatedly asserted that this is not accurate. I hope you got a chance to talk to some of the young people who were out at the meeting last week, and are part of the programming on the original site. They were sincere, and honest about what their challenges have been, what they are doing to counter those challenges, and the role these two organizations play in their success. YBPCS/LAYC experiences on the existing sites have been that they are able to contribute to increased safety and stabilization in those areas, quite the opposite of what you are imagining.
YBPCS/LAYC also clarified during the meeting that it has always been their understanding that the neighborhood wish-list for the site was incorporated into the District’s Request for Proposals, to which YouthBuild and LAYC successfully applied. But it sounds like you think this is a bigger issue than just the Cook School process. I would urge us to move on to a conversation about how to incorporate some of the things the neighborhood wants, but are currently missing from the plan. We should be working together to determine what types of arts and culture activities we can add.
Finally, during the meeting the audience pressed Ms. Kaplan for clear, succinct answers about whether YBPCS/LAYC had a lease already, and whether we need neighborhood approval to get a lease. Technically, the answer is no (to both questions). As Ms. Kaplan stated, however, the plan is for us all to stay engaged in this process.
(Note: The presenters at the community meeting were Arthur L. Dade, Executive Director of YouthBuild, and Lori M. Kaplan, Executive Director of LAYC. Rebecca Paavola, YouthBuild Principal, was present, but was not one of the speakers. For those who have missed previous postings on this site about Cook School, I am a consultant to YBPCS and LAYC on this project; I also live right up the street in Bloomingdale.)
“. I would urge us to move on to a conversation about how to incorporate some of the things the neighborhood wants, but are currently missing from the plan. ”
Angie, again, we’ve waited for over a year for LAYC/YBPCS to offer changes, additions, or something different. You haven’t. Please don’t pretend otherwise.
When directly asked at the meeting, Lori made it clear that there would be no changes to the housing proposal.
Why didn’t YBPCS/LAYC read the community wish-list on it’s own, prior to submission, or after the massive outcry?
I certainly understand the concerns of the community as I share them as well. The pragmatist in me believes it is time to work with LAYC/YBPCS to maximize the benefit to the neighborhood which they will be a part of and benefit from in the near future. I may be missing something but I don’t think there is the political will to make any drastic changes that would change the current direction. I certainly would prefer to live near the LAYC in a collaborative way as opposed to feeling scorn…
I’m a homeowner in the unit block of P Street NW, and I am not thrilled with a school on the block becoming a school/residence, no matter who is living in the 10-20 units, mostly because I worry the school part of this proposal could die and the entire building end up residential.
Oddly, although I’m on the same block, nobody has notifed me about anything, and I don’t like that one bit.