Grant Would Help NAACP Move to SE

The D.C. Council unanimously approved a $3.5 million grant yesterday that would help the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People move its headquarters from Baltimore to Southeast Washington.

The grant to the NAACP, the nation's oldest civil rights organization, was one of several measures that the council approved yesterday in its final session before Mayor-elect Adrian M. Fenty (D) and Council Chairman-elect Vincent C. Gray (D) take over Jan. 2.

The council also voted unanimously to spend $245 million -- funds from its portion of a national tobacco settlement -- to build major clinical facilities, strengthen emergency services and improve programs that combat diseases such as diabetes and cancer.

Other bills passed yesterday include salary increases for the mayor and council and a land deal to develop the waterfront along the Anacostia River.

The potential NAACP move was promoted by its chairman, Julian Bond, who said he thinks that the organization needs to be in the nation's capital, closer to other civil rights groups and Congress. The headquarters relocated to Baltimore in 1986.

NAACP spokesman Richard McIntire said the council's vote was "welcomed" news.

"This is another step in the process among other continuing negotiations," he said. "All the parts of the puzzle have to be approved by the [NAACP] board," which will meet in February to take a final vote on moving.

Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley (D), Maryland's governor-elect, said attempts to persuade the civil rights organization to stay in the city had failed.

"Unfortunately, we couldn't relocate the nation's capital to Baltimore, and that seemed to be the most important consideration for them," O'Malley said at a news conference yesterday.

This summer, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) failed to lure the NAACP to the $2 billion National Harbor project, near the Woodrow Wilson Bridge in Oxon Hill on the banks of the Potomac River. The project is slated to include shops, restaurants, housing and a conference facility.

The District wants to use the NAACP headquarters as an anchor for the Anacostia Gateway, a smaller venture but one that is significant in revitalizing historic Anacostia, considered the heart of Southeast.

Anacostia Gateway is at the foot of Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE, one of the city's neglected corridors targeted for redevelopment in the $100 million Great Streets Initiative.

Anacostia Gateway LLC will sell a 63,000-square-foot building to the NAACP for $25 million, according to a fact sheet attached to the legislation yesterday. The $3.5 million grant would help the NAACP pay for the building.

"We have a wonderful opportunity to make history here," council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) said before members voted on the grant.

In other business, the council gave final approval to a land deal that will make way for the $800 million redevelopment of 47 acres along the District's Southwest waterfront.

But the council voted to attach an amendment to evaluate the effectiveness of the Anacostia Waterfront Corp. and the National Capital Revitalization Corp., quasi-public agencies that disagreed with the land deal and have delayed the project.

Under the amendment, Fenty, as mayor, will consider whether both agencies should continue to exist independently of the city. A report on the agencies is due within the first 120 days of his administration. The amendment, which Fenty supported, was sponsored by council members Kwame R. Brown (D-At Large) and Jim Graham (D-Ward 1).

This fall, the quarreling between the two corporations held up design plans of the Southwest development, which includes restaurants, shops, offices, housing and a promenade.

"If anything, we have created agencies that are now interfering with the city's ability to get things done," said Jack Evans (D-Ward 2).

Several council members and city officials worked out a compromise between the two groups. The Anacostia Waterfront Corp. will be in charge of developing the 47 acres, and the National Capital Revitalization Corp. will get 25 acres of the McMillan Reservoir near Michigan Avenue and North Capital Street, in addition to more than a dozen other smaller properties.

In a unanimous vote, the council also approved a bill by Phil Mendelson (D-At Large) that would allow ex-offenders to petition the city to seal the records of their arrests and minor misdemeanor convictions.

In another measure, the council voted 10 to 2 to prohibit discrimination in employment and housing based upon a person's criminal record. Barry made some amendments yesterday, including one that would exclude sex offenders from benefiting from the law.

The council also gave final approval to salary increases for the mayor, from $152,000 to $200,000, and council chairman, from $142,000 to $190,000. Members will earn $115,000, up from $92,530.

Brown, Kathy Patterson (D-Ward 3) and Carol Schwartz (R-At Large) dissented. Fenty and Gray recused themselves, and Sharon Ambrose (D-Ward 6) was absent because of illness.