Neighbors fundraise against Campus Plan

Although the final draft of the University’s 2010 Campus Plan will not be presented until April 26, local neighborhood organizations have already initiated fund raising campaigns to organize their opposition to certain proposals.

The Citizens Association of Georgetown has progressed the furthest in its fundraising efforts. According to CAG President Jennifer Altemus (COL ’88), CAG has already raised “a few thousand dollars, at least” for its Save Our Neighborhood Fund.

The CAG announced its Save Our Neighborhood Fund in an open letter, with the objective of “restor[ing] the peaceful, civilized nature of our wonderful historic neighborhoods.”

The webpage for Save Our Neighborhood donations encourage residents to donate an amount of their choice, or make a donation at one of five levels. The first level donation is $300. The fifth level donation is $5,000.

Altemus said these funds will go toward hiring experts to support CAG’s case at the Zoning Commission, but she said she does not yet know exactly what types of experts they plan to hire.

CAG is particularly concerned about the initiative to increase graduate student enrollment by 3,200 without making substantial increases in on-campus housing. CAG believes that the increase in graduate students will cause undergraduates to move deeper into the Georgetown neighborhood.

Altemus said she sees increased problems from drunken students “if they’re walking an extra six or seven blocks from 27th Street [NW].”

The Burleith Citizens Association announced a fundraising campaign this month which is  still in its beginning stages. BCA President Lenore Rubino would not disclose how much has been raised so far.

The University must make campus plan proposals to the Zoning Commission every ten years. The 2000 Campus Plan was particularly contentious, and the citizens associations of Georgetown, Burleith, the Cloisters, Hillandale, and Foxhall collaborated to oppose the University’s 2000 Campus Plan chiefly on the grounds that it would increase undergraduate enrollment.

Rubino said this year the communities are working together again. However, though Rubino was aware of CAG’s efforts to fund raise, the funds remain separate.

Citizens associations farther from campus have yet to engage with either the University or with their counterparts in Burleith and Georgetown.

William Spencer, president of the Palisades Citizens Association, said he hasn’t heard anything about the plan other than one e-mail from the BCA. Given that Palisades does not have a significant Georgetown student population, Spencer said he was not concerned about the slow development of neighborhood coalitions.

“I’m sure we’ll hear from them,” he said. “That’s just how these things go.”