Last week, District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly issued a ruling in Paul Simkind’s lawsuit against the Park Service and DC. It didn’t go his way.
Simkind is suing both the District and the Park Service in order to argue that the transfer of the parkland from DC to NPS was invalid and even if it were valid it was subsequently rescinded.
It’s a long decision and a bit dense with legalese, but the long and the short of it is that the court rejected Simkind’s case against the District. It didn’t rule on his claims against NPS, and will do so in a separate opinion, but it’s hard to see how that ruling would be any different.
Simkind has expressed the position that it will take a court order to get him to leave. This isn’t that decision. But this is likely the first of many decisions that won’t go his way, ultimately ending in an eviction notice.
That is a scathing opinion. I don’t understand how he was advised so badly in this case. If he had simply replied to the RFQ and mustered the support he obviously has from the community for his application he would still be in business. There isn’t some crazy conspiracy to get him, the NPS just has a legal obligation to bid out its concessions. He would have been the best candidate for the concession… Too bad.
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Jack’s should not have been forced to bid on their own business that had been in operation for decades, and that they had grown and improved upon substantially. NPS’ actions and approach are government largess run amok, at the expense of the wellbeing of a local business owner and the wishes of the Georgetown community. Shame on NPS.
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