But since Mayor Marion Barry appointed the 36-member task force in August 1996, the group remains at a standstill and some think the proposal is just another report the mayor had thrown together to stop citizens’ complaints about the area.

"It’s probably still on Mayor Barry’s desk and you know he’s on his way out," said George Boyd, ANC5B commissioner and a task force member.

"My complaint is you get all these consultants and people giving their time to produce a study that never gets touched again until folks start complaining again," said Boyd.

Boyd said he has put this complaint in ANC5B’s annual report.

The first part of the project, as envisioned by the task force, calls for completing the I-395 interchange at New York Avenue and rerouting up to 40,000 cars a day from New York Avenue into a 1.2-mile tunnel from 4th Street to 9th Street NW.

The tunnel would include a ramp from I-395 that would allow trucks to reach a loading dock under the new convention center at Mount Vernon Square.

Ken Laden, transportation administrator for the D.C. Department of Public Works, said Congress already approved a $750,000 federal grant in spring 1997 to build the ramp as part of another study. But he said yet another study, envisioned to begin this fall, must be completed before construction work could get underway.

The New York Avenue Development Task Force, along with 12 consultants and urban planners, produced a 200-page report that was submitted to the mayor in November 1996, according to Ron Linton, who chairs the task force. Linton said the proposal would be vying for federal money along with 33 other states, all seeking to borrow from the Federal Highway Trust Fund. The report foresees repaying the loan with income generated by proposed developments in the New York Avenue corridor.

Rick Sitek, technical coordinator for the task force, said all the consultants and planners involved in producing the report worked on a pro bono basis. Aides to the mayor said they could not determine whether the task force ever received any city funding.

"Mayor Barry was supposed to approve it and take it from there," Boyd said. Several urban planners and Linton declined to say where the proposed development now stands, but Linton said he hopes something happens as soon as possible.

Despite not knowing how soon the project will begin and when monies will be approved, Linton said he continues to make presentations about the project to ANCs and other community groups. Linton said he is not being paid for his task force work.

"Mr. Linton has reached out to the community, unlike the convention center," said ANC5B Commissioner John Frye.

Linton said he’s received a lot of positive feedback from Ward 5. In his presentations Linton emphasizes that proposed developments would create up to 55,000 jobs.

Councilman Harry Thomas, D-Ward 5, said developments proposed by the task force are in line with the ward’s plans for rebuilding homes in the New York Avenue corridor. Along K Street, developers would provide medium- to high-rise housing for residents of all incomes, according to the report. There also would be redevelopment of housing located north of New York Avenue between 7th Street and Florida Avenue, and in communities east of Florida Avenue.

Copyright 1998, The Common Denominator