Several times over the past two months, DHCD Director Othello Mahone's phone has not been answered, even after as many as 20 rings, nor have calls been re-routed to voice mail. With this as a backdrop, Councilmember Graham has been working long and hard to try and find common ground between those who support the decision and those who support the plans of the unsuccessful developer, Forest City Enterprises. He has carried on an extensive email dialogue with a group of residents that support the Forest City proposal, some of whom express no desire to compromise. He sees this as a relatively quick process, perhaps 30 days. Clearly we should try.
Additional questions remain to be answered.
There is a eve group of about 10 people who frequently communicate via e-mail through a Columbia Heights group forum. In recent weeks some messages have been increasingly harsh in their comments and ever more skeptical of the whole process. Some sound unwilling to even have members of their own group represent them in discussions, instead saving that everyone should be able to participate in all meetings. They do seem to agree that residents, not District officials, should be selecting who will represent them. One thing that does seem clear is that the divisions do not run strictly along racial lines as some people have suggested.