Save the C&O Canal from intrusive development!
DEFENDERS OF POTOMAC RIVER PARKLAND
GU Spending on Lobbying for Boathouse Reported to Top $1.2 Million
A report dated July 30, 2009, on the blog Vox Populi indicated that Georgetown University paid $20,000 between April and June to a lobbying firm working on the University's proposal to build a large boathouse on land within the C&O Canal National Historical Park. This sum brought the GU's total expenditure on lobbying efforts in connection with the project to more than $1.2 million. An August 1 article on a blog maintained by EcoAction, a student environmental group at GU, called on readers to reflect on the environmental and financial costs of the boathouse project.
These blog items followed a series of related articles by online media associated with the GU student body. On March 26, 2009, an article by Juliana Brint in The Georgetown Voice stated that disclosure forms showed that the University had spent some $990,000 on lobbying for the project's approval since 2009. A May 15 article by Christine Roberts in The Hoya reported that such expenditures had reached more than $1 million, including $40,000 during 2009.
On April 2, The Georgetown Voice published an editorial entitled "Boathouse Should Not Be a Priority," and also a Letter to the Editor from Sally Strain, D.C. Coordinator, Defenders of Potomac River Parkland, and Bill Snape, Senior Counsel, The Center for Biological Diversity.