"RETIREMENT HOME SITE TEMPTS DEVELOPERS"

Greetings and Salutations to All my Kith and Kin and All the Ships in Outer Space:

A fellow resident here at the Old Soldiers' Home just sent me this report from the "WASHINGTON POST" newspaper:

*******************

"RETIREMENT HOME SITE TEMPTS DEVELOPERS"


By: DANA HEDGPETH
Washington Post Staff Writer

Monday 20 November 2006

It's a two hundred seventy-two acre property on high ground in the middle of the District.

The owners want to develop part of it and developers, real estate brokers, architects, and contractors are just about salivating to get their hands on it.

It's the Armed Forces Retirement Home, a United States government facility once known as the Old Soldiers Home, and the government is looking for a developer to turn seventy-seven acres of its grassy campus along Irving and North Capitol streets Northwest into a mixed-use development.

Last week, about a hundred real estate professionals came to hear an official from the home describe what they were looking for.

"We want a place that has a locally owned coffee shop, a drugstore, or a boutique grocery store like a Whole Foods or a Trader Joe's," Timothy C. Cox, chief operating officer of the home, told the crowd.

"Maybe a ladies' boutique or a shoe shop on the ground floor with residential and office space on the second floor.

We don't want a big box like a K-Mart or Target."

This summer the government narrowed its list from twelve development teams that applied to redevelop the seventy-seven acres to three:

Crescent Resources LLC of Charlotte, JBG Cos. of Chevy Chase, and Clark Realty Capital LLC of Bethesda.

Their competing plans have not been made public.

Retirement home officials expect to choose one by early next year.

The winner will have to go through planning and zoning approvals, and construction would probably start in Two Thousand Eight.

The property is home to one thousand three hundred veterans.

Officials at the home said there's an opportunity for them to increase its revenue if they lease part of the grounds to a developer.

"You're three miles from the United States Capitol, with easy road access and spectacular views," Cox said.

"We've been closed off with a fence around us, but we don't want that.

Our land is our greatest asset so we want to create an independent revenue stream by leasing it, so we benefit from continued ownership."

The home, funded by fees and a trust fund, wants to use the rental income to pay for such improvements as a new roof, renovations, and an expanded area for veterans with Alzheimer's disease.

It currently leases buildings on the property to a charter school, offices of the Smithsonian Institution, and the Army Corps of Engineers.

Cox said the Special Olympics and Ronald McDonald House have expressed interest in leasing space in the new development.

David W. Jacobs of JBG said the property presents an opportunity to develop what some call a hole in the middle of the city.

"Where else do you see seventy-seven acres so close in?" Jacobs said.

"It's an amazing, special place and developing part of it is a unique opportunity.

It's got views, great location, and a serene pastoral feel."

Donna Fitzgerald Shuler, co-president of Answer Title of the District, said she wants to see small- and disadvantaged-business owners involved in the project's development.

"We want to be a part of this," she said.

"The city is changing and finding new land is unique.

The District of Columbia doesn't have a lot of undeveloped spots.

It's very important to utilize it correctly."

*******************

As you can see, our situation here at the Old Soldiers' Home is getting worse and worse.

The news report is rife with deliberately false and misleading "feel good" propaganda.

As usual, nobody bothered to ask the old soldiers how WE feel about it!

Considering how dangerous it is to live in Washington, D.C., I certainly do want this Soldiers' Home to remain "closed off with a fence around us."

I also want all outside agencies, except the United States Army, off these grounds.

I want our security officers armed, trained, and certified.

I want the management here to obey their own rules, and start doing complete criminal background investigations on everybody, including all new admissions, and all employees.

I want somebody to come inspect our water, plumbing, ventilation, and the air we're breathing inside these buildings.

I want somebody asking WHY physically incapacitated people continue to be housed in buildings not designed to accommodate them, which also endangers the rest of us?

It's also time to start doing the unthinkable and unmentionable - - - , i.e., start acknowledging the vast racial differences that exist between black and white, and put a screeching halt to the racial double standards constantly forced on us, with all the "political correctness" perpetuated by die-hard Marxists.

It's the reason Washington, D.C. is such a dangerous city to live in, work in, or visit.

The very fact that this overly-sensitive subject is not permitted to be openly addressed or honestly discussed is an indication of the deterioration of traditional American values in our society.

We are being betrayed by the people in charge, and I think they should be fired, criminally prosecuted, and sued.

The management of the Soldiers' Home continues to ignore all protestations from the residents.

It's as if we didn't even exist.

Thank you.

John Robert "SAIGON" Mallernee, KB3KWS
Official Bard of Clan Henderson
Armed Forces Retirement Home
Washington, D.C. 20011-8400

NOTE: "My unpopular and controversial personal opinions are independent of my Scottish clan."