Developers are a special breed
Last night I testified at the Montgomery County Council hearing on the Woodmont Triangle Amendment. As you might recall from my previous entry, there is a very real possibility that my apartment building will be demolished within a year in order to put up high-rise apartments.
I'm not horribly activist by nature, but I think that after watching last night's proceedings I might end up that way. There were five sets of witnesses, and I was in the last set. The developers and their assorted minions/attorneys were in the first two sets. After hearing how wonderful it will be to redevelop the Woodmont Triangle area, it was time for the people directly affected to give their views. Go figure, but most of the developers and their hangers-on all left the hearing once it was our turn to speak. Bastards.
My neighbors and I all spoke our pieces. The Council was very gracious, and let many of the speakers go past their allotted 3 minutes. I was finished speaking with another 45 seconds or so left on the clock. (Hopefully I will be appreciated because of my brevity, but I doubt it.) I was not impressed with my own performance, quite honestly. I found that I started rushing through my remarks and stumbling over my words periodically. Not exactly award-winning. However, I was direct and expressed my concerns. Whether it did any good remains to be seen. My neighbors did a much better job expressing themselves, really. A reporter from the Washington Post was there, and he asked three of my neighbors for copies of their remarks. Perhaps a little bit of sunshine on the situation will be beneficial to our cause.
Objectively, it was fascinating to watch the process. Emotionally, though, it was quite daunting to see all of the suits testifying before we did, throwing around lots of jargon and bantering with the council members. Because we're only renters, I suppose we don't count for a hell of a lot in the big picture. In my testimony, I did make mention of that fact that despite being renters we're still stakeholders. Time will tell if we did any good last night, but we have only begun to fight.
I'm not horribly activist by nature, but I think that after watching last night's proceedings I might end up that way. There were five sets of witnesses, and I was in the last set. The developers and their assorted minions/attorneys were in the first two sets. After hearing how wonderful it will be to redevelop the Woodmont Triangle area, it was time for the people directly affected to give their views. Go figure, but most of the developers and their hangers-on all left the hearing once it was our turn to speak. Bastards.
My neighbors and I all spoke our pieces. The Council was very gracious, and let many of the speakers go past their allotted 3 minutes. I was finished speaking with another 45 seconds or so left on the clock. (Hopefully I will be appreciated because of my brevity, but I doubt it.) I was not impressed with my own performance, quite honestly. I found that I started rushing through my remarks and stumbling over my words periodically. Not exactly award-winning. However, I was direct and expressed my concerns. Whether it did any good remains to be seen. My neighbors did a much better job expressing themselves, really. A reporter from the Washington Post was there, and he asked three of my neighbors for copies of their remarks. Perhaps a little bit of sunshine on the situation will be beneficial to our cause.
Objectively, it was fascinating to watch the process. Emotionally, though, it was quite daunting to see all of the suits testifying before we did, throwing around lots of jargon and bantering with the council members. Because we're only renters, I suppose we don't count for a hell of a lot in the big picture. In my testimony, I did make mention of that fact that despite being renters we're still stakeholders. Time will tell if we did any good last night, but we have only begun to fight.
posted by Sasquatch at
11:56 AM
1 Comments:
I think they should have made the developers go last, after hearing how their plans (already "paid for" in contributions to Council members) would affect the REAL PEOPLE already living there.
I'm livid on your behalf.
And, hey - I'm sure you did a great job. We're all too self-critical about performance, frankly.
By
Merujo, at 7/13/2005 5:08 PM
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