Anacostia Waterfront Corporation Proceeds to the Next Level
By Mary Wells
WI Staff Writer
Thursday, July 7, 2005

The Anacostia Waterfront Corporation (AWC) held its second board meeting on Tuesday, June 20, at the Van Ness Elementary School in Southeast Washington, D. C., to inform the Anacostia community of its latest plans and accomplishments. The AWC, which is chaired by Stephen Goldsmith, the former mayor of Indianapolis who now advises President George Bush on faith-based initiatives, is charged with the cleaning up the Anacostia River and revitalizing the neighborhoods along the seven-mile expansion of available riverbanks.

Facing what is bound to be a daunting task of bringing the community together in what may take 20 years before its completion, the must be, in Goldsmith’s words, “mindful of community concerns in the AWC’s deliberations and actions.”

Andy Altman, president/CEO of the AWC’s Board of Directors, said that the corporation “seeks to forge a partnership with the community. We want to bring life to the vision and ideas that residents have for this great waterway. Together we can revitalize and promote the Anacostia River and the neighborhoods that border the river.”

Toward this end, approximately 20 grants totaling more than $200,000 were awarded to community-based arts and culture organizations that will launch programs to help revitalize the river’s long neglected banks and its bordering neighborhoods. The grants, which range from $2,000 to $25,000, are designed to raise awareness to help restore the river to a clean and active waterway, connect the neighborhoods to the river and facilitate programs that enhance recreational uses in the area. The grants also will help bring people together to learn about the river, its background, culture and historical significance and promote activities that will bring individuals to the river to foster a sense of community.

Although the grants were accepted wholeheartedly by the AWC Board and most of the audience, Vanessa Ruffin voiced her disapproval citing that not enough of the community will benefit from the grants.

“The grants are fine, but the point is about the waterfront initiative. I came to talk about ecology, but I don’t want to get away with riding behind the children,” she said. “Until we can link with rich corporations and get more money, I’m appealing that corporations be put at the top of the list of helping to clean the Anacostia River.”

Members of the AWC board present included Carl Cole, Gregory Farmer, Stephen Goldsmith, Marie Johns, Eric Price, Mitchell Schear and Loretta Tate, who sat through almost two hours of comments from some of the audience who had signed up to speak. Many speakers complimented the board and its accomplishments but had to raise their voices to be heard over the raucous horn blowing and loud chants of the dissatisfied residents outside the meeting.

“We need a training center here in S. E. Washington. We need a school for vocational training for these young people that want to work,” said neighborhood activist Cardell Shelton.

Shelton later told The Washington Informer that the D.C. Public Schools system does not have any vocational training schools or programs for high school students to train for jobs. And the new plans for the Anacostia community don’t call for hiring young black entrepreneurs and construction workers from Capitol Area Minority Contractors and Business Association.