Press Report: McMillan Park Demolition Stopped Today; Protestors Chain to Excavators

Press Alert
Save McMillan Action Coalition
smac.dc@gmail.com
202-656-3012
 

Three McMillan Demonstrators Chain to Bulldozers Inside Park; Demand An End to DC Corruption and Giveaways of Public Land

On Monday afternoon, three McMillan Park supporters, Kerry Kemp, Jim Schulman, and Teri Memolo, entered the McMillan Park and Sand Filtration Plant (shuttered to public tours after 2014) and chained themselves to demolition equipment.

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“We want the corruption to end, enough is enough,” said Jim Schulman who shackled himself to the biggest bulldozer. “How dare Phil Mendelson and Kenyan McDuffie exempt the McMillan project from any and all laws, allowing this unsafe demolition to begin when the redevelopment is the subject of live court cases.”

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Demolition over the past several weeks has already transformed large swaths of the nationally and locally recognized historic landmark into piles of concrete rubble and massive pyramids of red dirt.
About 25 other protestors caused a stir outside the park in support. Police arrived and blocked First Street to traffic.
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Outside the fenced-off site, demonstrators held signs that said, “Phil Mendelson, this was you 30 years ago,” referring to the Council Chair’s oft-recounted story of how, as an ANC commissioner in the late 1980s, he faced off front-loaders in protest of a development project in Ward 3 (see below).

“Chairman Mendelson, in years past, you chided McMillan Park advocates for failing to follow your example and blocking bulldozers. Well now we are. Your move. How about removing your fingers and toes from the scales of justice?” asked Andrea Rosen, longtime McMillan Park supporter.

Demolition was halted by the frontline protestors, and while temporarily detained by the police, all three were released on their own will.

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The DC Court of Appeals hears arguments on Tuesday, October 26, about historic preservation and safety claims, and whether those claims still apply, given the Council’s end-of-the-summer emergency legislation exempting the Mayor’s McMillan Park project from any and all District of Columbia laws.
DC COURT OF APPEALS MCMILLAN PARK HEARING TUES. OCT 26. APPROX 10AM, WATCH ONLINE HERE >> https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0vcI3ebjJE1g5hNT3UmltA
WOODED AREA RAZED FOR DISPUTED NW ACCESS ROAD, June 23, 1987

“…Three members of the community group — Peter Espenshied, Pete McDonald and Phil Mendelson — were arrested yesterday morning and charged with unlawful entry after they attempted to block front-end loaders with their bodies. The charges were later dismissed.”

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