Neighborhood Notes - Foxhall: 18 April 2001

On Tuesday April 17, a hearing was conducted by the Official Residence Commission, chaired by former Mayor Walter Washington. The subject was the proposal by the Casey Foundation to build DC’s Official Residence on the former Brady Estate.

FCCA was one neighboring association asked to testify, and our former ANC2E Commissioner Judith Dollenmayer prepared an eloquent defense of this location. To quote just a portion: “The Casey Mansion gift is a suitable emblem that the District is our beloved hometown - but also a premier international city. Just as New York is the world financial center, so Washington is the political center of a more unipolar world. What if Israelis and Palestinians could have negotiated at a private meeting in the District, not at a rural retreat in Maryland? Think of the advantages of attracting economic development by being able to host prospective international investors as well as community meetings. After WW II, Dumbarton Oaks became the symbol of a new world banking system because a key agreement was negotiated there; who knows, a Casey Mansion agreement might forever associate DC with the solution of another great world problem.

The Mayor will be as close to his constituents here as anywhere else in our city. Don’t forget, he and his staff mostly work downtown. The Mayoral residence, if located at 1801 Foxhall Rd, will be as close to the John Wilson Building as is RFK stadium. “Access” and the so-called symbolism of our neighborhood are phony issues. It’s not about where present and future mayors sleep, eat and see their families. Nor about a conference center. Access is about where a mayor’s constituents, voters, and citizens who need services can find him or her - at work in an office, soon in the renovated John Wilson Building.”

© Bob Andrew, Foxhall