I am in favor of development at Takoma Junction. Feel free to skip the following critique of Jarrett Smith if you would rather see only my rationale in support of the project, which appears at the end of this post.
On Thursday, Takoma Park Ward 5 City Councilman Jarrett Smith sent the following email to ward resident Esther Siegel:
Subject: Re: Takoma Junction
Date: Thu, 3 May 2018 23:01:20 -0400
From: Jarrett Smith [email protected]
To: Esther Siegel [email protected]
Esther,
Please share my email below:
Neighbors,
It has taken five years for us to get to this point on the Takoma Junction development project. Over the years, the city’s development partner has shared with the community various iterations of the project. They have shown us ideas for urban farming on the new structures roof, a CoOp in a newly built store, and an improved failing intersection.
Council is tentatively scheduled on May 23rd to vote on the current NDC site plan, and it is my intention to vote against it.
I feel the current proposal doesn’t build on Takoma Park’s tradition of green space, the assurance that the CoOp’s long term home is in Takoma Park, and there is still uncertainty surrounding improving traffic conditions around the Junction location. This is unacceptable. I’ve worked for and supported small business for years, therefore, I think this is the time to once again support the backbone of American business, which is neighborhood businesses.
My colleagues and I have a tough decision before us. But, you will know my position regardless.
In your service,
Jarrett
Jarrett K. Smith
Takoma Park City Council. Ward 5
Yesterday, Siegel forwarded Smith’s email to two community listservs in Ward 5.
What’s wrong with this picture?
Smith has always either been in favor of Junction development (all his previous council votes on the project have been “yea”) or tried to avoid taking a position. Only this week did his position change and neither his constituents nor the rest of Takoma Park knows why.
As I documented last fall, Smith does not believe in public communication. He stopped sharing his own views with constituents after his first term ended in 2014. During the ensuing years, Smith has developed a well-earned reputation for ignoring contacts from anyone who has criticized him or whom he doesn’t like. Among those out of favor with Smith are top city officials and numerous residents and constituents around the city. You call or write to Jarrett Smith and – unless he favors you – you hear crickets.
Just the same, Smith continued reposting the city e-newsletter to the Between the Creeks (BTC) and Erie-Maple (E-M) listservs until the November 2017 election. After November, Smith ceased posting to BTC entirely. Even though he is not a resident of the Erie-Maple neighborhood, which keeps its listserv closed to outsiders, he still posted news there. (I was the one who persuaded E-M to allow the city councilman to be on its listserv in 2012.)
I can’t prove it, but can fathom only one explanation why Smith stopped posting to BTC: I manage it and am no longer his fan. (Erie-Maple is managed by someone who has never criticized Smith publicly.) Smith may be as offended by me as he chooses. But his refusal to communicate with the 68 other members of the BTC listserv constitutes shear petulance and dereliction of duty.
When I became aware that Smith was discriminating against Between the Creeks, I contacted him privately and politely twice to encourage him to resume posting there. Needless to say, I got no response. Only when I threatened to make his discrimination public did he act. Do you think he might have resumed posting to BTC? Wrong! Smith decided instead to stop posting to E-M!
So, there has been zero pubic communication from Councilman Smith to his constituents in many months. That also means he has never publicly requested input regarding Takoma Junction development (or anything else).
When Smith finally decided to show his face on Thursday, he did so to a single constituent (Esther Siegel) and asked her to carry his water by publicizing his change of heart (without acknowledging that it is a change of heart).
Siegel has a long record of community activism. While I think she is wrong about the Junction, she had every right to work Smith until the latter changed his mind.
I hereby challenge Jarrett Smith to reveal which other constituents he has discussed the Junction with since last November. If he has only sought input from one or a small number of constituents, he has failed the rest of us. I challenge him further to elaborate on the 71-word explanation (the third paragraph of his email) for his new position.*
Smith will ignore these challenges, because I am persona non-grata. The only way he will fulfill his fundamental responsibility to serve all his constituents is if enough of us stand up and tell him to. I urge everyone who reads this post to write to or call Councilman Smith and remind him that public service is about us, not him:
Jarrett Smith: (301) 960-7462 / [email protected]
+++++
As for the substance of Takoma Junction development, the arguments in favor are compelling (for example, see this and this). I’m a bit biased about this source, but I’ll reprint here Marty Ittner’s response to Smith and Siegel yesterday (Ittner is my wife):
1. Why is Jarrett communicating to us through a 3rd party and not directly?
2. To me, the worst outcome would be for history to repeat itself: nothing was done in the 80’s, because neighbors couldn’t agree. So we were left with a city-owned impervious parking lot, which is no longer free.
3. A vacant paved lot at a major intersection is suitable for development, which will increase foot traffic and help the small neighborhood businesses along Carroll avenue survive and thrive, and draw more foot traffic from Old Town. The wooded lot behind will be left green. How is killing the Junction project supportive of neighborhood businesses?
4. Uncertainty and divisiveness are germane to any large and complex project. This requires strong leadership to remain steadfast to address the concerns Mr. Smith himself points out in his list. Wouldn’t it be better to commit to keeping a watchful eye on these valid points, rather than throwing in the towel after 5 years?
5. I have been extremely impressed with the Council’s exhaustive and inclusive process getting to this point. [Mayor] Kate Stewart has explicitly stated Council’s commitment to keep the Co-op in place. (look at the plans!) The new building and streetscape are harmonious with Takoma’s aesthetic. I am excited to have a new, walkable destination to shop and eat. Yes, there is uncertainty, but let’s look to our leaders to continue to do the hard work of making this happen.
The arguments against development all have a fatal flaw: they make the perfect the enemy of the good:
- Rather than seeing a positive plan that can be tweaked further, they push for an unachievable utopia and catastrophize any deviation from it;
- They claim starting over will be easy, forgetting the 30-year history of this conversation and the hard work and enormous progress made over the past five years;
- They facilitate the CoOp’s ceaseless temper tantrum. From the start of the current effort, the CoOp’s position has been (more or less): change one iota of our circumstances and we will die.** They have threatened their own death over and over again, refusing to engage at all constructively in a rigorous, inclusive process. There is zero evidence that the CoOp will be harmed by the development plans at Takoma Junction. Yes, their life will change. So be it.
Smith’s couple of arguments to Siegel are utterly specious. His (and others’) carping about “green space” ignores reality entirely: an impervious parking lot and useless ugliness at the heart of our community. And the councilman’s implication that Junction development is a threat to “neighborhood businesses” is even more ridiculous: here, at last, is an opportunity for small, locally owned businesses and restaurants to make a positive difference, for their owners, the rest of us, and the existing businesses that are struggling in a wasteland.
I urge support for Takoma Junction development as the alternative to another 30 years of blight. Please write not only to Councilmember Smith, but to the entire Takoma Park City Council. (Insiders report to me that two other councilmembers are wavering on their previous support: Peter Kovar – Ward 1 and Cindy Dyballa – Ward 2, so a direct email to them is a good idea.)
* Smith’s rationale is likely 100% political. He has probably calculated that Siegel speaks for others in Erie-Maple, which is where the most consistent Ward 5 voters live. (Your blogger lives on the edge of that neighborhood). As demonstrated by the councilman’s recent decision to run for county council at-large (believe it or not!), his eyes are on greater glory than little Takoma Park. (Blogger’s prediction: Erie-Maple’s ~50 activists will find more attractive candidates among the 33 running in the June primary and Smith will finish in the bottom 10 in the race. I’d rank his chances lower than that, except that several other unknown and undeserving candidates are running.)
**The CoOp’s declaration of impending death reminds me of the tactic used by uber-developer Folger-Pratt, when they stood to profit from a huge expansion of Washington Adventist Hospital in the early aughts. F-P argued repeatedly that changing so much as a comma in their plan would render it unworkable (by which they meant that their guaranteed 11% profit might suffer marginally.) You can’t reason or do business with an entity making touch-it-and-we-die claims.
©2018 Keith Berner
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