After the Trial, Struggles for Community Control of Public Property Continue!

The trial is over, and the Franklin defendants have been convicted of unlawful entry.  But the struggle over the use of this and other public properties continues.  We hope that you will still take action to tell the Mayor and Council that Franklin should serve the community.

Franklin School is, in fact, one of many public properties that Mayor Gray and the DC government are misusing or trying to sell off to private developers. Now, more than ever, it's clear that we can't trust politicians to manage these public resources. We hope that all Free Franklin supporters will also act to support the grassroots groups who are organizing to take control of what rightfully belongs to the people of DC in order to meet communities' needs in two other essential campaigns.

Parcel 42 in the Shaw neighborhood was the subject of a tent city occupation two years ago.  The land was promised for affordable housing, but there now appear to be proposals to use it for market rate (not remotely-affordable) developments. Click here to learn more and sign the petition.  As of July 26th, ONE DC has unveiled a new petition for affordable housing on Parcel 42--please sign this one, even if you signed he previous petition.

At the same time the city is currently trying to use the vacant Crummell School in Ivy City as a parking lot for charter buses.  This goes against the wishes of Ivy City residents, who have spent many years developing a vision to use it as an adult education and recreation center. Click here to learn more and sign the petition.