Adams Morgan Plaza
The Adams Morgan Plaza is an urban open space located at 1800 Columbia Rd NW, the Southwest Corner of 18th Street and Columbia Rd NW at the center of the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, D.C.[1] It was designed in a Modern Functional style with a 1500 square foot raised porch as a stage for public performances[2] separated by a red brick wall from a lower 2500 square foot ground level open space with vendor tables for farmers market wares[3] by noted local architect Seymour Auerbach.[4] The site hosts the weekly Adams Morgan Farmers Market[5] and annual Adams Morgan Day Festival and other impromptu and recurring community gatherings year-round.[6]
History
The creation of Adams Morgan Plaza was a result of negotiations of global historical and economic importance between the Adams Morgan community and Perpetual Federal Savings and Loan in 1976-77.
These community groups demanded economic justice through corporate social responsibility, especially the campaign to end racist banking policies, such as the racially divisive mortgage lending known as redlining, and the practice of requiring cultural assimilation and monolingualism to access banking services. The provision of public space for community activities such as the farmers market and annual neighborhood festival was an integral part of the community's demands.
Dr. Frank Smith played a central role in the community's objections to the bank branch, which led to his testifying against it being granted an operating charter by the Federal Home Loan Bank Board. After long negotiations, which included the historic agreement which was the first time a community successfully demanded reparative banking practices such as 90-to Loan-to-Value mortgages, issued without regard to previous redlining restrictions which were practiced, bilingual bank officials, and the creation of the plaza in front of it where the community could procure low-cost produce, the community withdrew objections to the chartering and construction of the bank.
Historian James Lloyd has documented extensively the shift in American financial practices toward people of color between 1970 and 1995, which has played a key role in American financial institutions capacity for globalization of operations and lending since then.
Some economists estimate the economic impact of this shift in banking practices toward low-income and non-white borrowers to be trillions of dollars of global GDP.
Community groups argue that the Adams Morgan Plaza, being an essential part of the historic Good Neighbor Agreement which was reached, reflects and memorializes the neighborhood campaign's impact on global economic history.
Controversy Over Legal Status
In 2016, controversy over the fate of the plaza emerged when the bank on whose property the public plaza sits proposed to demolish it in favor of a luxury condo building.[7].
Since 2017, the legal status of the 4000 square foot plaza has been the subject of litigation between community groups Kalorama Citizens Association and Adams Morgan for Reasonable Development and SunTrust Bank, which is now Truist Financial corporation. The community groups have argued Adams Morgan Plaza is subject to a Good Neighbor Agreement reached in 1977 between the Adams Morgan Advisory Neighborhood Commission and the original builder, SunTrust's predecessor Perpetual Federal Savings and Loan, which created the common law easement that has allowed the community to continuously use the space since it was constructed.[8]
In August 2017, DC Superior Court Judge Todd Edelman agreed with the community injunctions and issued an injunction against the issuance of the raze permit required to build the proposed condo building in August 2017.[9]
Following issuance of the injunction against construction, SunTrust filed to remove the case to US Federal Court where it continued to argue that no such agreement was reached, and that the community groups did not have standing to litigate the matter, which caused a Federal Judge Howell to remand the case back to DC Superior Court in September 2020.[10]
On January 12, 2021, DC Superior Court Judge Hiram Puig-Lugo issued a surprise summary judgment in the bank's favor.[11]
On February 13, 2021, the community groups announced during a Valentine's event aimed at families and children that they had filed an appeal of the most recent ruling.[12].
This article "Adams Morgan Plaza" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Adams Morgan Plaza. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
- ↑ Levey, Robert F. (April 26, 1979). "Adams-Morgan Residents to Monitor Perpetual Federal's New Branch". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 14, 2021 – via ProQuest. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Chiruvolu, Vikram. "Upper Porch of Adams Morgan Plaza".
- ↑ Chiruvolu, Vikram. "Lower Level of Adams Morgan Plaza".
- ↑ Fremgen, James (Mar 27, 1982). "Lenders Breaking New Ground: Banks, Thrifts Look to Architecture for New Image". The Washington Post. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
- ↑ AMPBIDBrian. "Adams Morgan Farmers Market". Adams Morgan Partnership BID. Retrieved 2021-02-15.
- ↑ Adams Morgan for Reasonable Development is holding an event calling for the preservation of the plaza. More at wjla.com, retrieved 2021-02-15
- ↑ Schwartzman, Paul (September 9, 2016). "How an ugly expanse of concrete morphed into hallowed ground". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 14, 2021. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Community Groups Sue To Stop Construction Of Condo Building On Adams Morgan Plaza". WAMU. Retrieved 2021-02-15.
- ↑ Schwartzman, Paul (August 4, 2017). "D.C. judge temporarily stops development of Adams Morgan bank plaza". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 15, 2021. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Schwartzman, Paul (September 23, 2020). "Judge rules that groups have no legal standing to fight Adams Morgan project". Retrieved February 14, 2021. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "D.C. Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Against Adams Morgan Plaza Building". DCist. Retrieved 2021-02-15.
- ↑ ABC7 (2021-02-14). "D.C. groups continue to fight to preserve Adams Morgan Plaza in Northwest". WJLA. Retrieved 2021-02-15.
