At the Sursum Corda Housing Project, a Standoff Awaits the Mayor-Elect

As Williams had in other parts of the city, he proposed to bring the benefits of gentrification to those who are often left out. He would erase a deeply dysfunctional place; rather than accede to the ravenous forces of the marketplace, he would rebuild Sursum Corda as a mixed community, with housing divided equally among swells paying market rate, middle-income families in affordable units and the existing poor residents, who would be guaranteed a return to their rebuilt homes.

Now, as Williams and his social engineers slide off the stage, the Sursum Corda project is in limbo. Jackson says the city is ready to start building the first phase come spring, but it's not clear what Fenty plans for this holdover initiative.

Chestnut is encouraged that the mayor-elect assigned his friend and most controversial campaign worker, Sinclair Skinner, to look at the Sursum Corda situation. Skinner has a history of racially divisive street work; after Skinner portrayed D.C. Council member Jim Graham as a racist in a Georgia Avenue NW neighborhood broadside, Graham withheld his endorsement of Fenty. The mayor-elect told me during the campaign that if Skinner were given any job in the new administration, it would be a "minor, street-level" position, with "no policy role."

Fenty repeated that assurance yesterday, saying Skinner will "be working on political issues outside of government" and "won't be working with my administration immediately."

Immediately? "That's not to preclude some role at some other time."

Fenty said decisions about Sursum Corda will be made by newly appointed Deputy Mayor Neil Albert.

Will Fenty turn away from the Williams plan, which involves invoking eminent domain to take Sursum Corda if no deal can be reached with the project's directors?

"The residents of Sursum Corda have lived in an unfit housing project for too long," Fenty said. "We're going to make sure we change that." The council has authorized the use of eminent domain, but Fenty said he hasn't decided whether to force out the project's current management.

For now, the Williams administration is taking a harder stance: "We will use all tools available to us," Jackson said. "In an area that's gentrifying immensely quickly, this is our opportunity to build a new, mixed-income community. You're going to have to see me now or see me later."

Chestnut rejects the notion that Sursum Corda is cornered and sees the departures of Williams, Linda Cropp and Robert Bobb from city government as a sign from on high. "This is a praying community," he says. "God has just removed the mayor, the city council chair and the city administrator. I think He's tilled the ground for something different."

The new mayor hasn't even been issued a desk yet, and he's got himself a defining situation.

E-mail:marcfisher@washpost.com