On July 13, "The Hill Center" proposal for renovation of the Old Naval Hospital (ONH) at 9th and Pennsylvania, SE, won approval of a public/private panel charged with making a recommendation to the DC Office of Property Management (OPM).

The Hill Center is a proposal of the Old Hospital Foundation, a five-year-old 501(c)(3) organization, "a broad coalition of Capitol Hill neighbors committed to seeing [ONH] fully restored and kept in community use." The center plans to host adult and children's education, community and cultural activities, low-cost meeting and event space and community organization offices. The project will be sustained through membership, fundraising, and endowments; event space and office rentals, direct program income, rental from programming partners, and rental of the carriage house for a family-friendly café. The kitchens of the café will also provide provide meals for conferences and seminars held in the main building, and produce an income stream that is critical to the financial viability of the Hill Center.

The review panel included representatives from Mayor's office of Planning and Economic Development, OPM, the District Department of Transportation and the State Historic Preservation Office, Friends of the Old Naval Hospital, Barracks Row/Mainstreet, ANC 6B, the National Building Museum, and the DC Preservation League.

Upon receiving the recommendation, OPM announced a public meeting for July 19 and promised to make the final selection "based on the public/private panel's recommendation and all other public comment." At the July 19 Special Call Meeting of ANC 6B, the new tenant for ONH was one of eight agenda items. The ONH item consumed over two hours of a three-hour meeting but resulted in limited public comment on Hill Center proposal itself.

OPM’s RFP Omission
The ONH site, completed in 1866, now consists of a main building and a carriage house. The OPM's request for proposals for the lease of the ONH invites use of the entire site, but mentions only one of two current tenants. ANC 6B uses a small portion of the main building; the Community Action Group (CAG) of Holy Comforter-St. Cyprian Church, which provides addiction treatment, job training and other services to the homeless, unemployed, substance abusers, and individuals returning from incarceration, uses the carriage house as its administrative offices. (CAG owns several other properties on Capitol Hill and in SE Washington.) The ANC is mentioned explicitly in the RFP's "community access" section, according to Bill Rice of OPM, because the commission is a statutory organization; CAG is not mentioned in the RFP.

In line with the requirements of the RFP, the Hill Center proposal mentions only one tenant, promising "office space for community organizations, including our [ANC]." After the meeting, a Hill Center spokesperson said that office space in the Hill Center had been offered to CAG, but that Hal Gordon, Director of CAG, had refused it, saying he would not leave the carriage house. However, his lease with OPM, signed in 2002, explicitly states that CAG can be given 30 days notice at any time.

Though OPM Director Lars Etzkorn told the gathering that he'd only realized the Hill Center proposal did not address CAG when the recommended proposal was forwarded to him on July 13, OPM’s RFP, which excludes CAG, was published in February. In fact, CAG was one of the organizations to submit a proposal in response to the RFP. But the panel recommended the Hill Center instead. The Hill Center, and probably all the other proposals (excluding CAGs) did not include CAG’s tenancy because it was not asked to do so by the RFP. So, on July 19 as the meeting began, CAG staged a "lives not lunch" protest outside the ONH and packed the meeting room with supporters, in an effort to pressure the ANC and OPM to support its continued tenancy in the carriage house.

CAG dominates meeting; others are shut out
When the comment period opened , Ken Jarboe (ANC 6B05, acting chair), immediately recognized Hal Gordon. After Gordon's opening statement, which focused on two points -- "You forgot about us [homeless, addicted, disenfranchised]" and "You ignored 17 years of service to this community" -- Jarboe asked Gordon to address the question of why that particular rental space is so important to CAG. The room erupted. CAG supporter Stephen Smith muttered, "you might as well ask a parent, `Why do you need that particular child?'" and others called out equally emotional responses: "It's our home." "It's a beacon to the community, a landmark of hope." "I'll send my child to those classes you plan in the main building, but I wouldn't have a family if it hadn't been for CAG." "That place saved my life."

Similarly heated responses arose when Hill Center board member Betty Ann Kane cited the city's recent grant of $3.5 million to CAG for another facility, located on Capitol Hill at 124 15th Street, SE. Othello Poulard, a CAG committee member, asked OPM to "dissociate itself from any further gentrification."

For the next two hours -- the entire span of the ONH agenda item -- not one aspect of the Hill Center proposal was discussed that did not in some way touch on CAG's presence -- or lack thereof -- in the carriage house. The purpose of the meeting, which was to seek public opinion on the Hill Center proposal was lost as the CAG carriage house issue was allowed to dominate. No provision was made for CAG's comments to be heard in a sensible fashion or for a time limit to the carriage house/cafe topic.

"This is your process," David Garrison (ANC 6B01) told Eztkorn at one point. "Do you have anything to say about how you'll handle your tenant?"

"If this proposal is endorsed," Eztkorn replied, "the good work of CAG must continue in space that is appropriate for CAG. If not here, then space that is appropriate."

Eztkorn had introduced the ONH agenda item, saying, "what we're doing here tonight is at least as important" as the review panel's recommendation." Beyond that opening remark, however, he did nothing to focus discussion or ensure that a variety of topics -- or segments of the community -- were heard. As chair of the meeting, Jarboe tried several times to shift comment from CAG and the carriage house to other Hill Center topics, but it seemed that no oneapart from Hill Center board, CAG supporters, and media were in the room for most of the evening. Interested parties who were not with CAG were unable to speak or even to enter the standing room only meeting space; community members who arrived to find they could hear nothing from the hallway turned and left.

"The meeting did not present a real opportunity to engage with the community, because of space limitations and who got into the room," said Hill Center board member Rev. Paul Abernathy. Abernathy himself was unable to get inside, but thinks "free political exchange must allow for some voices dominating."

"It was a meeting that never should have happened," said several other participants and would-be participants, a few of whom called the experience "painful."

Alternatives Considered, Negotiation Supported
Despite the atmosphere, several suggestions surfaced as the evening wore on. "If you need a cafe to survive, give us that empty lawn there, and we'll build you a cafe," said CAG supporter Darnel Johnson. Aimee Occhetti, of the OPM, said such a proposal could be investigated but would likely impact historical preservation. Others suggested putting the cafe inside the main building where catering and demonstration kitchens are already planned. Several meeting participants told OPM that CAG "can save the city money" by fixing up the main building as they did the carriage house.

Francis Campbell (ANC 6B10) suggested ways of adjusting revenue flow so that the project could survive without the café.

But, after all was said and done, the ANC unanimously resolved to support the Hill Center proposal, "subject to 30 days for negotiation." A quorum was constituted by Jarboe, Campbell, Garrison, Mary Wright (6B02), and Carol Green (6B07). Also introduced were OPM representatives, Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells, and representatives of Hill Center.

The Continuing Process
"The public meeting served its purpose to raise issues that are of particular concern to the community as a whole, and we look forward to an amicable agreement," Bill Rice, of OPM, said after the meeting.

"CAG is an important member of our community and we need to make sure they are kept whole as we move forward with the Hill Center," Councilmember Wells said afterward. "OPM put out an RFP to lease the total Naval Hospital property including the Carriage House. The Foundation's proposal was responsive and now that they [have been recommended], they will need to work out a plan with the current tenant, CAG, that is respectful and acknowledges CAG's's contribution to our community."

Etzkorn told the July 19 gathering that a lease of this size, should the proposal be accepted, would require council approval. In the meantime, OPM is honoring the 30 day negotiation period suggested by ANC 6B and is accepting comment from members of the community through August 24.

For more information on the Hill Center, visit OldNavalHospitalFoundation.org or call 544-1845.

To comment on the Hill Center proposal for the Old Naval Hospital, contact: Aimee Occhetti, OPM, 441 4th Street, NW, Suite 1100S, Washington, DC 20001-2714, 202-724-4141, aimee.occhetti@dc.gov