{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://norton.house.gov//media-center/press-releases/at-historic-walter-reed-deed-signing-norton-to-speak-about-how-she-got", "At Historic Walter Reed Deed Signing, Norton to Speak About How She Got the Walter Reed Site for D.C.", "2014-12-10", "2014", "2014-12", "Democrat", "House", "DC", "Eleanor Norton", "N000147", "norton.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) will speak at the Deed Signing Ceremony to celebrate the transfer of the first federal property, Building 18 at the campus of the former Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC), from the U.S. Army to the District of Columbia, today, December 10, at 10:00 a.m. at the John A. Wilson Building, Room 509 (1350 Pennsylvania Avenue NW).\u00a0 Building 18, once demolished, will accommodate the relocation of D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services\u2019 Engine Company 22.\u00a0 Norton was instrumental in ensuring that at least 67 acres of the 110 acre WRAMC site would go to the District of Columbia.\u00a0 A result of the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process, initially D.C. got a smaller portion, but Norton got the General Service Administration (GSA), in 2010, to declare a larger portion as surplus property that could be used by the District.\u00a0 She then questioned GSA and argued that the property should not be used to house federal agencies due to its distance from a Metro stop, considering distance to a Metro is a key regulation regarding the housing of federal agencies.\u00a0 GSA then transferred more land to D.C., giving the city the 67 acres they have today.\u00a0 Some of that acreage recently became endangered when the Department of State (DOS) sought, for free, 13 acres meant for Children\u2019s National Medical Center, while D.C. was negotiating to pay for the land.\u00a0 Norton protected those 13 acres for Children\u2019s, which included a building with a state-of-the-art lab space for research on children\u2019s health.\u00a0 Norton said that if DOS had succeeded, that space would have been demolished.\n\u201cToday\u2019s land transfer will enable D.C. to get the new fire and emergency station Ward 4 has long needed to reduce response times for the northernmost section of the District, enhancing public safety.\u201d Norton said.\u00a0 \u201cBuilding 18 is only the beginning of a historic land transfer that will transform upper Georgia Avenue with mixed-use development and the commercial amenities upper Ward 4 has needed.\u201d In 2006, Norton got the General Services Administration (GSA) to agree to consider plans to develop the WRAMC campus that would allow commercial development on Georgia Avenue, NW.\u00a0 Under the agreement, GSA would work with D.C. officials in deciding the type of development, including retail that the uptown Georgia Avenue community has long desired.\u00a0 Norton tried to get the federal Walter Reed site for exclusive development by the city, but the federal government is so short of necessary space that the 16th Street portion of the Walter Reed site was quickly claimed by the State Department for consolidation and similar uses. Norton has continued her involvement with the land at WRAMC.\u00a0 She got language in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (NDAA) last week, authorizing the transfer of the Pathology Building to Children\u2019s National, which desires to use their state-of-the-art lab space for research on children\u2019s health.\u00a0 DOS wanted to demolish the building at a cost of up to $20 million for use sometime in the future when it can get funding.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://norton.house.gov//media-center/press-releases/at-historic-walter-reed-deed-signing-norton-to-speak-about-how-she-got"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.12171471118927, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}