Media Release
September 21, 2021
Contact: Nick DelleDonne
703-929-6656
‘Nothing’s Changed’
Norouzi Challenges OP Director Trueblood
on New ‘Racial Equity Lens’
At the Grassroot Planning Coalition meeting, Saturday, Andrew Trueblood, director of the Mayor's Office of Planning, was asked how the new “racial equity lens,” established in the new DC Comprehensive Plan, is being applied. Trueblood answered that it would apply twice in some cases, once in planning, “but once certainly through zoning.”
His assurance was immediately challenged by Parisa Norouzi, Executive Director of the Coalition that convened the meeting. “Nothing's changed,” she said. In fact, when the Zoning Commission was asked to fulfill the city’s 'right-of-return' commitment for those displaced from Barry Farm, the Commission said that's 'outside our authority.'
This “shallow language comes from the Mayor,” Norouzi told Coalition participants. “We have to push back from every angle… OP can demand more, but will they?”
The amended Comprehensive Plan calls for a “racial equity lens” to be applied by many agencies, especially in the city's planning and zoning functions. However, so far “nothing's changed.”
The session also mapped a strategy to develop a core of community defenders – a team of volunteers to track OP and zoning development projects as they arise, using the zoning calendar and DC Register, so timely demands can be made from the neighborhoods throughout the city.
As transportation is an element in the Comp Plan, Nick DelleDonne, president of Dupont East Civic Action Association and a member of the steering committee, announced the formation of a city-wide Coalition on DDOT Bike Plans to help neighborhoods push back. While providing a measure of safety for cyclists, protected bike lanes encourage speeding and present a hazard to seniors, toddlers, the disabled, and the rest of us, particularly when DDOT is pushing them through congested commercial and social streets. The Coalition will hold a rally in Ivy City, 1900 West Virginia Ave., NE, Friday, Sept. 25, 11 am-1 pm
The DC Grassroots Planning Coalition (DCGPC) is a citywide network committed to racial, economic and environmental justice by challenging rampant development which contributes to gentrification and displacement of residents.