Hine Jr. High Redevelopment Meeting Tonight

The ANC 6B meeting on the Hine Jr. High Redevelopment will take place tonight at 7pm at Brent School (301 North Carolina Avenue SE). From the EMMCA blog, we know that the project has been scaled back substantially. Many of the organizations that were going to be in the new building have now chosen not to, including Shakespeare Theater. Why not completely rethink the building? We are in need of non-luxury housing for the thousands of interns and Library of Congress researchers, who visit Ward 6 every year. We also could use a non-luxury hotel for visiting relatives or other visitors. Thom made some interesting comments on my earlier post:

"For many residents in the neighborhood, the decision by DC Public Schools to give up control of a site that has been a school since Abraham Lincoln was President was a tragic mistake. The Hine site is the historic site where the Wallach School was built in 1864 while the Civil War still raged, to serve all children, black and white, rich and poor alike. In 1922, students and teachers could look out the windows of the Wallach School to watch construction of one of the original Carnegie libraries, the Southeast Library that still sits across the street from this site.

In recent years, however, developers in the neighborhood convinced our local elected officials that this historic school site should be developed commercially, and not serve students any longer.

There is no need for a school to take up all or even most of the site, of course. Retail, office space and residential development of a density compatible with the neighborhood and its many strong transportation links should also be part of the development. But I hope the development will include a substantial DCPS presence when it is completed in 2015 or so. That would send the right message about the high importance residents place on meeting the needs of students on Capitol Hill."

What do you think?