Beltway Area Indymedia

On July 5th, a date picked to minimize public involvement, the City Council held a public round table on selling off three parcels of city-owned land. One is a parcel on Ga Ave where a former owner wants to build condos, one a plot where an owner of boarded up homes wants to put in a garden-and one a property where Temple of Praise proposes to build "town homes with 2 car garages for the homeless!"

It turns out Temple of Praise's definition of "affordable" is based on the median income for the entire DC area, including Montgomery and Fairfax counties. This figure is about $90,000 a year, so all but six of those homes will only be available to the rich.

The other two proposals smell just as fishy-and the whole hearing had the feel of sitting on on a meeting of the World Bank to discuss privatizing somebody's utility service. In fact, Councilmember Kwame Brown left the room as the public testimony began, and returned as soon as activists were finished speaking and another developer was next to speak.

Audio: 3 min 54 seconds