New York Avenue Metro Station anniversary

New York Avenue Metro Station
Originally uploaded by rllayman

From the NOMA Business Improvement District:

Happy Anniversary to the New York Avenue Metro Station!

Five years ago, the New York Avenue Metro Station transformed our neighborhood. To celebrate this milestone, the NoMa BID is treating all-comers to free coffee Friday morning (tomorrow)! Stop by our tables at either Metro entrance on Friday, December 11, from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. for a free hot beverage, courtesy of our local coffee shops, Pound Coffee, Au Bon Pain, and Uptown Cafe.

About the New York Avenue Metro Station

This Metro station opened in 2005, and was the first infill station - meaning it was the first station built between two existing stations, in the Metrorail system. Through a unique public/private partnership, $120 million was raised from private property owners, District government, and federal government.

Now this station boasts a daily ridership approaching 10,000, making it the third-fastest growing station in the Metrorail system. It was also the first Metrorail station to incorporate a bike trail (the Metropolitan Branch Trail) in its design.

See the WMATA press release, Ridership growth, station a catalyst for economic development."

Revised: Proving once and for all that U.S. defense spending is mostly about maintaining access to oil

It turns out that last year's fleet average of miles per gallon of all vehicles on the road in the U.S. was 21 mpg, not 17 mpg. Therefore the numbers below need to be revised.
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The Washington Post suggests today in an editorial, "Paying for war," that to pay for the increased cost of war in Afghanistan, that the federal excise tax on gasoline be increased, not to pay for costs for roads and transit--as the estimated cost per mile of driving is 11 cents to maintain the road system as it is, and 20 to 30 cents per mile to improve the system (including transit--but for war, and when the war is done then the money can be dedicated to transportation. From the editorial:

As we have pointed out before, the federal gas tax of 18.4 cents a gallon has not been raised since 1993 and is long overdue for an increase. Two federal commissions have proposed one in the past couple of years. In January the National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission said its recommended hike of 10 cents a gallon for gasoline and 15 cents for diesel would raise $20 billion a year.

car culture and automobility, gasoline excise taxes, public finance and spending, transportation planning

A 40-cent increase over five years, proposed by a second federal commission, would cover most or all of the war's costs and still leave gasoline prices well short of where they were in the summer of 2008. Those months showed that higher prices could do much to reduce U.S. carbon emissions -- another national imperative. While most proponents of a higher gasoline tax want to use the money for highway infrastructure, or refund it to taxpayers, Congress could shift funding to those purposes once the U.S. mission in Afghanistan begins to wind down.

I am not an artist, but for a long time I've wanted to do a political-artistic redo of the old Exxon advertisements with the tagline "put a tiger in your tank" to "put a dead soldier in your tank" to make very clear the links between U.S. foreign and military policy and maintaining automobility and sprawl.

The average yearly number of vehicle miles traveled in the U.S. is about 3 trillion. And the cost to maintain the road system (not to improve it) is about 11 cents/mile, so the total is $330 billion.

The average mileage per vehicle in the U.S. is 21 miles per gallon.

That means that the number of gallons of gasoline consumed in 2008 was about 142,857,142,857.

The average yearly cost of war in Iraq and Afghanistan is about 100 billion dollars.

And probably half the cost of the rest of the military budget is related to maintaining stability in areas where the U.S. has strategic interests related to access to oil. Last fiscal year, that was over $500 billion, so let's say the net dedicated to maintaining access to oil is about $250 billion.

Adding the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to this amount equals $350 billion.

So we need to pay $330 billion to maintain roads and $350 billion for the military including wars, totalling $680 billion. Divide that by 142,857,142,857 and the cost is:

$4.76 per gallon of gas.

And the federal gasoline excise tax is 18.3 cents per gallon.

So let's talk about subsidies for driving...

Of course, I think that the gasoline excise tax should be pegged at the average mpg per vehicle, not at the specific rate by car, so yes, people with better mileage would be penalized under this system. But over time, as the average mileage of the fleet of all vehicles improved, the rate could be adjusted.

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Note that I have wanted to write about Afghanistan even though it has nothing to do with the blog, which is why I haven't written about it. Today's cover story in the Post by Keith Richburg, "Plan to show possibility, limits of nation building," starts with a flawed premise, that Afghanistan is a nation that needs to be restored to social, economic, and political health.

Actually, Afghanistan is a collection of tribes. It's not a nation. (Of course, I am an expert on this having read the schlock fiction book Far Pavilions many years ago.) Just like Yugoslavia wasn't really a nation either but a collection of ethnic provinces. Or how Czechoslovakia was really two separate nations, etc.

So like with humpty dumpty, putting Afghanistan back together as a "nation," when it was never a nation to begin with, is an impossible task

Advocacy for livability and walkability

While I don't remember his exact words, an area blogger mentioned to me last night that now I am part of the system (at least through the end of this project) since I am working for a county government. It's kind of interesting, because while I write in a reasonably strident fashion, I am not comfortable with being direct and argumentative, unless people are so hypocritical or out and out misrepresenting-lying, so if my b.s. meter hits about 70% I end up speaking out.

(e.g., the time I described the transportation planning project that is resulting in what is now being built as the new H Street NE Streetscape as "faux urban renewal shopping mall aesthetic, [that] H Street is a real neighborhood not neighborhood 9 at Potomac Mills Shopping Center" and I went on to explain why their response to perceived problems with loss of traditional building stock [every place there are new buildings, for the most part what was there was destroyed in the 1968 riots] was extremely "flawed.")

For 20 years I have been bicycling transportationally. For 10 years I have had many roles as an involved citizen, advocate, grant writer, consultant, and commercial district improvement program manager. Now I work for government...

So when you're sitting on a board and someone says something so outlandish (i.e., the day when a board member of H Street Main Street argued that we should create and operate a retail business so we would understand and have empathy for businesspeople), if you blurt out "that's absolutely insane" because you can't help it (even though the correct response is "what an interesting idea" and then ignore it) because it is insane, you can kind of get away with it. (Well, eventually they kicked me off the board because they weren't into directness about our situation, but I ended up learning from that too.)

But you can't say stuff like that working for government, when you have to build relationships with other agencies in the Executive Branch of your government, as well as other agencies in surrounding jurisdictions and the State, as well as with legislators representing at all levels of government within your area of service.

The trick though is to think radically (see the field of "communicative planning" which is derived from the work of John Friedmann and is focused on building a radical planning discourse) rather than bureaucratically, while working practically and pragmatically to achieve the best possible outcomes, from that radical-progressive framework.

So when someone from the DPW says something that to me is "absolutely insane" I don't say it. I think it. And I figure out how to deal with the problems that the attitude causes, and lay out a long term course of action to change that policy and practice.

Anyway, while Councilmember Tommy Wells of Ward 6 doesn't have the luxury of always being doctrinaire because he has to answer to all too often extremely parochial constituents (a/k/a "people who vote, donate money, and work on campaigns"), the fact of the matter is that he is the only DC City Councilmember with an active platform and agenda focused on placemaking--walkability and biking as well as transit--improving the Ward's neighborhoods and advocating for better city policies, laws, and practices more generally.

Tommy Wells talking to campaign workers at the Hine School polling site, 2006.

Three years ago Councilmember Wells introduced annual awards for Livability, to call attention to the residents, civic groups, government employees, and others working to make Ward 6 (and to a lesser extent, the city) a better place to live, work, play and visit. The third set of awards, given out Monday night, shows the progress of the Councilmember's thinking and working on these issues. It's a great array of awards (I seem to recall the first event had three honorees).

From the Councilmember Tommy Wells Blog, "Tommy Hands Out 3rd Annual Livable, Walkable Awards":

Livable, Walkable Neighbor Award – Ms. Elizabeth Nelson

Elizabeth Nelson has spent the better part of two decades working to improve her neighborhood and community. In reviewing the nominations, one neighbor wrote that Elizabeth “personifies the livable, walkable ideal of public service”. Another wrote of her as an “ambassador for the North Lincoln Park neighborhood”. Noted Councilmember Wells, “Elizabeth has helped lead Trees for Capitol Hill – an effort that adds more tree canopies and shaded walks every year.” He added, “Countless times we’ve seen her hauling water jugs to area parks in the summer to make sure young trees survive and thrive. Everyone who knows Elizabeth knows of her passion for preserving and creating great public spaces.” An active volunteer with the Capitol Hill Restoration Society, ANC 6A, the North Lincoln Park Neighborhood Association and the Maury Elementary School PTA, she is both dedicated to our community and our neighborhoods - not just her trees or her street, or her park, or her block, but her entire community.

Livable, Walkable Community Organization Award – Moms on the Hill

Moms on the Hill has become a vital link for parents and families across the Ward. It’s moved well beyond finding the latest information on elementary school test scores and now boasts thousands of members that don’t shy away from sharing the diversity of opinions, priorities and advice from within our neighborhood. Besides becoming a font of information, Moms on the Hill has developed a reputation for true grassroots advocacy for many of the principles and values that create livable, walkable communities. Stated Wells, “From pushing for challenging and high performing neighborhood schools, to supporting strategies to slow traffic commuting on our streets, to embracing public parks and green space, MoTH creates a forum for thoughtful debate that doesn’t pull any punches.” In handing out the award, Wells noted that there is no one voice for Moms on the Hill, but accepting the award on the group’s behalf were many of the women that serve as moderators for the group.

Livable, Walkable Business Award – The Channel Inn

In Southwest DC, retail and restaurants can be scarce. Hundreds of millions of dollars of redevelopment are in the pipeline, creating new housing and office space, and renewed commercial retail options for neighbors. But for right now, neighbors have a hard time finding a cup of coffee, let alone a meal. Despite it all, Manny Fernandez and the Channel Inn have kept their doors open, creating community space where residents can gather, discuss, or simply socialize. “In a neighborhood that too often feels isolated, the Channel Inn is steps from the Circulator bus, two blocks from the Waterfront Metro station, accommodates walking, biking and wheelchairs, and opens its doors onto the river walk of the Washington Channel with boat docks and slips just a stone’s throw away -- it’s just about the most transit friendly restaurant in the city,” commented Wells. Manny Fernandez, the owner of The Channel Inn, accepted the award on behalf of his business and all the Channel Inn employees.

Livable, Walkable Public Service Award – Barry Margeson, Dept. of Real Estate Services

Earlier this year, the community reopened Eastern Market to much excitement – welcoming back the merchants and vendors into their homes. “Shortly after the fire, one man had the unenviable position of serving as the District’s go-to guy – and with every challenge we put before him, he answered the call,” stated Wells. Barry Margeson worked with all the stakeholders – merchants, vendors, neighbors, and elected officials, to find compromise and common ground, be it during streetscape construction, improving daily maintenance, or ensuring our local merchants and vendors have what they need to be successful. Added Wells, “Eastern Market is a special and revered place in the hearts of our community – it’s practically the definition of ‘livable, walkable.’ Barry Margeson has bent over backwards to preserve that for us and I’m proud to recognize that public service on behalf of all of us.”

Livable, Walkable Honorary Award – Miles Groves

“Miles Groves became a resident leader in Penn Quarter almost before there was a Penn Quarter neighborhood,” stated Wells. As the city created a new vision for our downtown, Miles played a pivotal role in turning an area that emptied out at 6 pm, into a vibrant community with retail, restaurants and nightlife, but also supported the new residential neighborhood that emerged. From fighting for better sidewalks, better lighting, stepped up police presence, neighborhood based retail, and most recently, supporting two-wheel alternatives as personal vehicles, he’s been a champion of the revitalization of our downtown. Miles also helped form and lead the Downtown Neighborhood Association, bringing a voice to City Hall for thousands of his neighbors, and became a mentor to dozens of leaders in the communities around him. Miles was unable to attend the event last night, but Councilmember Wells will present him with his award at an upcoming Downtown Neighborhood Association meeting.

Congratulations all, and thank you Councilmember Wells for continuing to focus attention and action on livability and placemaking.

Cool bicycle planning stuff

1. Requirements in New York City for bicycle accommodation in office buildings in with freight elevators has just gone into effect. See "Clearing a Path for Bikes in City Office Buildings" from the New York Times. The most enlightened of property owners and managers are already developing bicycle access plans.

Last night at the NACTO unveiling of their "Cities for Cycling" initiative, Janette Sadik-Khan, the Transportation Commissioner of NYC and the chair of NACTO, mentioned that the #1 barrier to bicycling to work as indicated through surveys is secure parking--people are worried, justifiably, that leaving a bike outside for 8 or more hours daily increases the likelihood that the bike will be stolen or vandalized. Hence the new law.

2. Speaking of the NACTO meeting, while it was great that David Bryne of the Talking Heads spoke (he is on a book tour promoting his new book Bicycle Diaries) and Rep. Earl Blumanaur of Oregon (Portland), the most consistent advocate for sustainable transportation that "we" have in Congress, the real star to my way of thinking was Commissioner Sadik-Khan. From "Names & Faces" in today's Washington Post:

... Byrne told us that he has "four or five" bikes and that he likes to lend them to friends who come visit in New York. So how can more people be persuaded to bike? Safer roads (with more bike lanes) and simpler bikes (with fewer parts), Byrne says. "That takes part of the fear away."

(And it was very clear to me that the moderator, the urban policy guru from Brookings Institution, Bruce Katz, doesn't bicycle. It's great that bicycling is the new wonder bread of sustainable urban transportation policy, but I don't have much time to listen to people who don't have the knowledge to be able to teach me stuff.)

The new initiative is focused on bringing together/codifying the best practices for bicycle "facilities" -- the infrastructure improvements -- from the leading cities, and creating a master manual on the subject.

3. From some of the questions in the audience and the various panelists responses, I got the sense that Rep. Blumenaur is pretty distant from his experience as Commissioner of Transportation in Portland.

My focus when I work on a planning project is to look at what are the intended outcomes, determine whether the outcomes are being realized, and then look "backwards" at the processes and organizational and systems relationships to determine why or why not.

My focus is on systems and on the most "elegant" way to institute and inculcate change. (For example my recent blog entries on "walk to school" programs in Maryland and how the simplest way to implement "massive change" is to require the school districts to provide balanced transportation planning and support, rather than merely focus on school bus operations. Right now, except in the most enlightened school districts, individual schools are on their own. And the problem with the Federal Walk to School program and the money it can provide for improvements is that the reporting and documentation requirements are so onerous, that many planning and transportation/public works agencies don't want to do the projects, because the many hours that are required, in agencies that are for the most part short staffed.)

3. For example, when one federal employee made the very good point that federal agencies in the city do support transit (most provide transit benefits), their support of bicycling is pretty minimal.

The problem is that the Transportation Element in the "Federal Elements" of the DC Comprehensive Plan, produced by the National Capital Planning Commission, is pretty weak.

And while GSA has a transportation demand management program too, it needs to be more robust.

Try to find it on their website. I can't. And they don't return calls and email queries...

It's not getting 535 people in Congress to pass a bill, and President Obama to sign it (the first inclination of a legislator, even Rep. Blumenaur, is to pass a new law), it's to deal with NCPC and GSA to make transportation demand management planning, and resultant improved support for bicycling, key to their planning and building management practices.

4. At the local level, it's a question of getting "Departments of Public Works" to split off their transportation function or at least retitle it from "public works" to transportation, as the enlightened cities that are members of are doing.

On the other hand, the real issue is getting more than a title change, but to have the department look at transportation as their primary responsibility, with optimal mobility as the goal, rather than their primary responsibility as moving motor vehicles as quick and as safely as possible.

Montgomery County Maryland demonstrates that just because you create a department called Transportation, doesn't mean that it is necessarily progressive, and focused on optimal mobility. Even though the agency runs a national best practice model of suburban bus transportation, the agency cares more about automobiles than it does about optimal mobility overall, and better support and expansion of transit, bicycling, and placemaking and pedestrian programs.

I don't see how Rep. Blumenaur can get a law passed at automatically converts our local departments of public works into balanced and sustainable transportation converts and advocates.

That's a problem we have to grapple with on our own. (And Bruce Katz and David Byrne can't help us with that either.)

It's a classic problem of organizational change, culture, and long time frames.

It's a campaign, and of course, having progressive elected and appointed officials helps considerably.

5. One of the other questions/points was a real tough one. She mentioned that bicycling is made out to be an urban issue/technology/solution, but what about suburbs and exurbs (and presumably small towns)?

Bicycle lane (wide shoulder? but it is 5 feet) on Queens Chapel Road (a state highway) in Hyattsville, Maryland.

Obviously, that's an issue that I am dealing with right now. Now here I am, the center city advocate, serving as a bicycling and walking planner in a suburban county (at least through next June) that is very large geographically, with a goodly number of residents (not one million, but a lot of people nonetheless), major work destinations, and a street network that doesn't have a lot of extra room for bicycle lanes, and at one time where building codes didn't require sidewalks (and in some instances with waivers, developers can still get out of constructing sidewalks).

The reality is that you have to plan for each type of land and use form somewhat differently. The opportunities for "transportational" bicycling, and that is truly what the focus is in the profession right now--the reality is that while David Byrne and people like him make bicycling fashionable--what we are concerned with is getting more people to bicycle to places instead of driving--are in denser areas.

In short, we aren't focused on making bicycling beautiful and getting everyone bicycling as much as we are focused on getting people to shift trips from automobiles to bicycling, walking, and transit. E.g., on the street, you can fit six moving bicycles into the space occupied by one car. So it's really about efficiency, not fashion, irrespective of fashion.

"Real bicyclists" rarely look or dress like this. A bicycle isn't an accessory, but a tool. Caption: Carol Christian Poell tanned 'parkachute' vest with built-in raincoat $5,575, and Julius cotton and cashmere ribbed T-shirt, $350, both at Atelier; Trussardi pleated trousers, $695 Barneys; hooded sleeveless sweater, $509, and long distressed leather boots, $1,528, both at Rick Owens. Photo: Joe Mama Nitzberg for The New York Times

And when you have to spend millions of dollars to build facilities, acquire land, and maintain the facilities, in a scenario of limited funds, you want to spend this money where it will have the most impact. It seems unequitable, but it is really about impact and efficiency. (The DC Pedestrian Master Plan has a nice appendix on measuring pedestrian potential as a way to prioritize and phase improvements and investments.)

Even so, in the context of the plan I am working on, I am trying to mention some of these issues, even when they are out of the scope of the study. So that means promoting bicycling in rural areas, comparable to how Carroll County, Maryland does it, or Worcester and other counties in Maryland, Virginia, and Delaware do with the Great Delmarva Bicycle Trail. See "They packed up the kids and pedaled 235 miles in six days" from the Boston Globe. It means laying out a master off-road trail network. And thinking about accommodating mountain biking in certain parks.

Will, Elizabeth, Anna, and Jennifer Skerrett leave Trap Pond State Park in Laurel, Del., last month. (Wessel Kok for The Boston Globe)

And it means coming up with differential policies, practices, and facilities based on the land use type and density.

To repeat:

My focus when I work on a planning project is to look at what are the intended outcomes, determine whether the outcomes are being realized, and then look "backwards" at the processes and organizational and systems relationships to determine why or why not. My focus is on systems and on the most "elegant" way to institute and inculcate change.

So working in this particular environment is a particularly rich opportunity for learning and figuring out things and for coming up with more great insights on how to make this work.

Now the challenge is to convert those insights into books and other things (e.g., I am speaking to a University transportation planning department in March on extending and testing two of the concepts I've laid out, the national and metropolitan transit network and the transit shed/mobility shed) in order to make the process of change more understandable and efficient.

MD 193, University Boulevard, College Park, Maryland.

Tools we can use for better planning and decision making

The Main Street Approach to commercial district revitalization is a volunteer driven program. You organize into 4 committees, create work plans each year, and go to town... The Main Street Center has a number of quality materials and training programs.

At the start of the program in DC when there were 5 programs designated the first year and 7 the next, there was a great deal of training offered in the four points (organizational management, design, business development, and marketing and promotions), including massive discounts on the national training, and programs were required at a minimum to send the executive director and the chair of the organization to the annual Main Street conference.

As you can imagine, I attended many of the trainings and read many of the publications (and many other publications besides), all of which helped grow my base of knowledge tremendously.

Even though others didn't avail themselves of it, the trainings were open to members of other civic organizations and to ANC commissioners. But these trainings could have been the start and foundation of developing a strong civic involvement and engagement training system in DC, but that never developed. (See as examples the Urban Information Center at the Dallas Public Library and the Training offered by the Neighborhood Revitalization Program in the City of Minneapolis, as well as this neighborhood planning web resource, and the many others listed in the "civic engagement" and "Business Development/Retail/BIDs/Main Streets" groups of links in the right sidebar.)

Sadly, over time, in DC the training apparatus to support Main Street programs has atrophied. Of course part of the problem is that the typical person involved in civic affairs thinks they know everything already (I ran into this facilitating some meetings for a neighborhood project in northwest DC), so they aren't too open to working to identify areas of knowledge improvement and then taking active steps to learn (and apply) more.

(My take on this is the observation that for the most part, no matter how many planning study iterations people participate in, for the most part, to my way of thinking anyway, they don't "improve" with each instance of their participation, in terms of knowing more, being more reflective, and helping to shape the plan in creative and productive ways.)

While you could argue that I am too focused on learning more, always, the fact of the matter is that you can never know enough, and frankly the great thing about working in urban planning is that if you are open to it, you learn new things every day.

Anyway, three resources that I have come across in the past few days that are particularly exemplary.

1. Dan Reed's blog entry on skateboard parks mentioned how "Skateboard Mom" uncovered the resources of the Skaters for Public Skateparks organization. On their website they have a fabulous presentation for use as training for advocates, as well as for advocates to be able to take this presentation and use it in public presentations.

That presentation is a model for the kind of resource that national groups should be working to provide to local organizations and advocates, in order to strengthen our ability to communicate and explain best practices and the kinds of programs we are looking to emulate and adopt in our own communities.

2. The Wisconsin State Department of Transportation publishes a Transportation Planning Resource Guide, which is intended to be used by communities in their creation of the transportation element in local comprehensive land use master plans.

Imagine giving people a resource guide so that they address the planning element comprehensively, rather than their focusing on the modes that concern them most?

3. I noticed in this week's Current that DC Department of Transportation is beginning to change how it approaches "traffic calming" in neighborhoods, in response to some hullaballoo in Chevy Chase. Also see the past Post article, "The Speed Hump Sound-Off: It's Petty. It's Personal. And Chevy Chase Is Honkin' Aggravated."

The reality is that the current "system" is narrowly defined and it doesn't consider a broad set of options and it doesn't "feel" very systematic.

But the City of Tempe Transportation Department (like Arlington County and New York City, it is also a national best practice example) has a great program for streetscape improvements as a part of "traffic calming" and quality of life improvement initiatives (it's funded in part by the sales tax monies that are dedicated to transportation as well as bond funding) and it results in impressive outcomes such as the Fifth Street Pedestrian Enhancement and Traffic Calming Project

How would you like an intersection like this in your neighborhood, designed to call attention and build pride in the neighborhood and improve the public realm, as well as to slow down cars? I like that a lot better than speed bumps and humps, which in the end don't do all that much to calm traffic.
They have organized their efforts into a program called Streetscape and Transportation Enhancement Program (STEP) (click on the traffic calming tab at the top of the website to link to this and other pages on transportation enhancement projects) and they publish a Streetscape and Transportation Enhancement Manual to guide residents in the process of creating neighborhood-specific improvement programs. (Of course the NYC Street Design Manual is also a great resource.)

Here's the table of contents:

1.0 INTRODUCTION

2.0 STEP GOALS AND POLICIES
General Scope
Large and Small Scale Problems

3.0 STEP GUIDELINES AND PROCESS
Selective Enforcement Motorcycle Squad
Stakeholder Submits a STEP Request Form
City Staff Review
City Staff Response
Decision to Proceed with Small Scale Projects
Decision to Proceed with Large Scale Projects
STEP Team Informational Meeting
Form an Action Team
Develop a Draft Action Plan
Community Presentation for Testing
30-Day Comment Period
Conditions for Approval of Testing
Conditions for Approval of Implementation
If Approval is Not Achieved
Project Selection and Prioritization

4.0 STEP TOOLBOX
Identify the Problem
Mixing/Matching
Multi-Modal Considerations
Table 1: Impacts of Traffic Management Devices
Median
One-Way Choker
Two-Way Choker
Bulb-Out
Chicane
Star Diverter
Right Turn Diverter
Traffic Footballs
Intersection Cul-De-Sac
Traffic Circle
Median Barrier
Roundabouts
Speed Hump
Speed Table
Departure Choker
Entry Choker
Diverter
Semi-Diverter (Type A)
Semi-Diverter (Type B)
Table 2: Cost and Construction of STEP Tools

5.0 APPLICATION FORMS
Resident Action Request Form
Resident Support Form
Resident Request Form

But having a manual and system for dealing with such requests, that is so not DC, where everything is deliberately not systematized, but I can't say that I know the reason for why that is.

Page from the Tempe Streetscape and Transportation Enhancement Manual.

Looking outward as well as inward in transportation planning

While they don't use the term sustainable transportation, which I think is a better term theoretically than "enhancing choice" to discuss why transit, bicycling, and walking need to be supported in the context of the State of Wisconsin Transportation Plan, there is no question that the State of Wisconsin Department of Transportation is looking outward, not just inward, in terms of forward planning.

From Transportation in Wisconsin... a vision for the 21st Century:

The quality of life of all Wisconsin residents is greatly influenced by the state’s transportation system. Everything—from our daily commute to work, to the food we eat, to the merchandise we purchase, to the area in which we choose to live—is greatly affected by the transportation decisions made at the state and local level.

Wisconsin enjoys an outstanding transportation system, but to ensure that the system is able to continue to support and improve our quality of life and strong economy, we will have to address many transportation needs in the new millennium. ...

[3 items from the list of 10 critical needs]


Nearly 750 people died on Wisconsin roadways during the past year. This number could rise to over 1,000 by 2020 if the current fatality rate remains the same.


In many areas of the state there are a lack of transportation choices available to the general public.


It is essential that environmental concerns are adequately addressed when making short- and long-term transportation decisions.

For example, citizens should have access to a transportation system that allows them to choose whether they want to drive, take the train, ride the bus, bike or walk. Our system currently provides people with some choices beyond automobiles, but we need to expand and improve those choices to respond to the growing demand from those who can not, or choose not to drive. A recent government study estimated that over a third of households in southeastern Wisconsin currently do not have an automobile. These individuals need to be provided accessible and affordable alternative forms of transportation to carry out their daily activities. Looking into the future, by 2020 the number of state residents over 65 is projected to increase by over 50%. This aging of the population will require more choices of transportation including intercity bus, rail, pedestrian, and bicycle travel. To respond to these needs, the state must give strong consideration to modes of transportation other than highways when considering the future needs of its residents. ...

In the future, perhaps an even greater challenge will be trying to determine the right funding mix to further integrate our transportation system (i.e. highways, buses, rail, bikeways, pedestrian accommodations, etc.). It is a constant struggle for the state to determine the appropriate combination that will best suit the needs of both urban and rural residents.

Only by identifying and discussing the conflicts can we begin to resolve them. And these are conflicts that exist simultaneously at all levels of government: local; regional; state; multi-state; and national.

Also see this article from the Green Bay Press-Gazette, "Plan looks at transit needs in the future: DOT's Connections 2030 includes projects in area."

Skateboarding as an example of needing to "triangulate" and "connect" when doing planning

Dan Reed of the Just Up the Pike blog also blogs at Greater Greater Washington, and he wrote about efforts to create a skatepark in the Silver Spring area a couple weeks ago, in "Downtown Silver Spring needs a large skatepark."

I have been thinking about the skateparks issue (as one of many issues as part of parks planning and youth planning) for awhile because it's an illustration of the failure to take into consideration the variety of demographics and interests that ought to be systematically addressed during parks planning and land use planning generally.

For example, one of my criticisms of planning processes is that typically they rely on unsystematic data collection (i.e., web surveys). But the data appears scientific because formal (online) questionnaires are used, the reality is that the survey data is unrepresentative in all likelihood, because it is merely the collection of responses from the people who filled out the form.

Face it though. Planning processes are constrained by both money and time, and usually systematic surveys of citizens are not conducted. Usually the interests are represented by the people who come to meetings, complemented by site visits and evaluations, and ideally benchmarking against other functions and facilities in other communities, within a framework of best practice planning theory and typologies. In my opinion, when planning processes don't look outward as well as inward, they tend to be overly narrow exercises.

In the case of the DC Bicycle Master Plan for example, the bulk of the people who responded to the online survey were a bunch of men under the age of 40. What about women? What about families? What about children? What about teenagers? What about seniors? What about visitors? What about people from specific ethnic/language groups? Recreational vs. transportational interests? etc.

It's great that people responded to the survey, but if the point of planning is to serve "all" (or at least most) of the people, then more systematic ways of collecting opinion need to be utilized, to ensure that multiple audiences/segments/customers/demographics are heard and are responded to and planned for within the context of a particular study.

Parks planner David Barth of the firm Glatting Jackson writes (and makes presentations) about state of the art parks planning and he has a powerful concept called triangulation that helps us address this problem.

Triangulation* means considering needs from at least three vantage points. Multiple perspectives ensures a more accurate assessment of community needs and helps to make choices and set community priorities. See "Parks System Master Plans: Tools for Sustainable Communities."

In short, for people who play soccer, every park should be a soccer field. For people who believe parks should be passive spaces, every park should be simple open space. For people who participate in indoor activities, every space should be a physical building, a recreation center with facilities for the activities they are interested in most, with less interest in providing space for activities they don't participate in. Etc.

Triangulation starts from the philosophy that multiple needs must be met, in a systematic fashion, by planning for a comprehensive set of facilities of all types, across an entire jurisdiction (city, county, region, state, etc.), in a way that best balances conflicting preferences and interests, recognizing that the interests of all citizens need to be addressed in some fashion.

* Project for Public Spaces uses the same word but with a different meaning. William Whyte called triangulation the process by where "some external stimulus provides a linkage between people and prompts strangers to talk to other strangers as if they knew each other." (p. 154, The City).

Fred Kent extends this idea with what he calls "layering" or "layering attractions" to build and strengthen places as the "external stimuli" where more of those kinds of inkages can happen.

[PPS has] plenty of suggestions for creating the sort of clutter on a street that people like, for the way buildings ought to behave — don’t create blank walls, don’t confront pedestrians with the heating and air conditioning infrastructure, don’t lard a block with curb cuts — and for layering attractions that gather people in. “If you have a children’s reading room inside and a playground outside,” says Kent, “then you put a coffee shop, a Laundromat and a bus stop right there, you will create the busiest spot in your community.” (From Governing Magazine, "Pride of Place," April 2005.)

And in her dissertation on trails planning, Anne Lusk (now at Harvard School of Public Health where she researches bicycling and health issues) extended Whyte's observations into the concept of the social bridge:

Except for a minimal number of elements, the environment does not facilitate interaction between strangers. While someone could hold open a door and a person passing through could say thank you, necessary ADA regulations are making many doors automatic. If social capital is to be increased and interaction between people who know one another and people who do not know one another improved, environments that might foster positive interaction should be built. At the destinations, social bridge elements could be incorporated in the built environment. These social bridge elements include four types: 1) Assist, 2) Connect, 3) Observe, and 4) In Absentia.

("Design Guidelines for Greenways," from the concluding chapter of Dr. Anne Lusk's dissertation titled "Guidelines for Greenways: Determining the Distance to, Features of, and Human Needs Met by Destinations on Multi-Use Corridors." University of Michigan.)

Jan Gehl, in Life Between Buildings: Using Public Space calls this "to assemble or disperse" in city and site planning:

To Assemble or Disperse
To Integrate or Segregate
To Invite or Repel
To Open Up or Close In.

In the comment thread to the earlier entry on People's Counsels, one respondent quoted from the American Institute of Certified Planners code of ethics:

"We shall provide timely, adequate, clear, and accurate information on planning issues to all affected persons...."

"We shall give people the opportunity to have a meaningful impact on the development of plans and programs that may affect them. Participation should be broad enough to include those who lack formal organization or influence."

"We shall deal fairly with all participants in the planning process...."

While residents are not required to be "ethical" or concerned with maximizing the response of municipal services to serving multiple needs (as cost effectively and as comprehensively as possible I would add), I would hope that would be a basic concern of all of us as "citizens" in a "democracy."

Elected and appointed officials need to step in a lay out a better groundwork for our participation as citizens in these processes, and for ensuring the maximal amount of service to a maximal number of residents-citizens in the public services that we provide from the municipality as a whole.

While this won't cure nimbyism, it should at least put out into the open the most nativistic aspects, and only by naming and addressing and modeling the behaviors that we desire we will begin to achieve and receive more of the kind of behavior we want.

Where to start?

Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne wrote ("A courageous call for civility") about this in the context of civility and the soon to be launched "50 state tour on civility" by the National Endowment of the Humanities, kicked off by a speech last month entitled "Bridging Cultures," by the chair, Jim Leach, a former Congressman.

It's worth reading both the article and the speech.

Societal change (and sustainable transportation)

I have been wanting to write a long analysis of the health care "reform" process and why it is flawed, because for the most part it is a top-down phenomenon driven by lawyers, interest groups, and the politicians, and it is pretty much disconnected from real life.

Most analyses by people who know stuff find the "reform bill" to be pretty limited. I agree, and aver it's because it's about health insurance rather than health care, delivery systems, wellness programs, and public health generally. And health insurance was created to begin with to regularize income for hospitals, it was never about wellness.

But instead, because Washcycle writes a blog entry about all the hullaballoo in Philadelphia, in response to the justifiable outrage that two pedestrians were killed by bicyclists riding on the sidewalk, so I can write about that. See his entry, "Philadelphia Crack Down," which has links to a lot of the coverage on the issue. There are all kinds of anti-cyclist responses including ill-thought out legislative responses.

Washcycle points out that while the cyclists behavior cannot be excused, far more pedestrians die each year having been hit by automobiles (the rate is at least 1000 times higher than the rate of pedestrian-bicycle crash deaths) and yet, as we see with the lack of substantive penalties for cyclist deaths caused by automobile drivers, there is little outrage or governmental response. (More about that later in an entry I have been composing in my head called "Rights vs. Privilege, Safety, Negligence vs. Accidents, and Consequences.")

While I can't claim to be the foremost expert on social change, it is something that I have paid close attention to for at least 20 years, having spent some time working with one of the people who founded the field of "organizational development," having come across Everett Rogers work on "diffusion of innovations" at a young age, and then coming to Washington and off the bat working for a Nader-influenced consumer group that addresses health policy (nutrition, alcohol policy, agriculture-safe food).

Having witnessed some of the campaigns the organization undertook, both successfully and unsuccessfully, and sitting back and analyzing what happened, along with a number of other cases, plus my current experience working for a county government on strengthening the environment for walking and biking in a place that is dominated by car culture and automobility, I have some perspective to offer.

1. Change takes a long long time. Look at the campaign to reduce smoking. From the Surgeon General's report stating there was a link between tobacco, smoking and cancer in 1964(!), to the various public health policies that have been enacted since starting with limits on advertising and extending to the always contentious each time an attempt is made to ban smoking in public places (and yes restaurants and bars haven't gone out of business as a result of the ban) and massive increases in excise taxes on tobacco sales, we must recognize that it has taken the 45 years since the report to get to the point where we are today--that except for youth and low income demographics and baseball players and cowboys--the use of tobacco products is dropping significantly.

Sure I joke that one of the reasons that people walk or go outside is not because of quality of place and desires for exercise but because they can't smoke inside, but the reality is that the incidence of smoking is dropping drastically.

But many additional steps were required:

1. Original report. - 1964
2. Ban on television ads (although print advertising was still allowed.) - 1971
3. Warning labels (1966) and an "escalation" of the directness of the message over time.
4. Initial (1972) and subsequent reports on the impact of secondhand smoke.
5. And the resulting start of campaigns for restrictions on smoking in public places (which is ongoing and must be done at the state level and/or at the level of the individual jurisdiction--plus the industry fights these proposals, Virginia's ban just took effect a couple weeks ago).
6. Including the federal ban on smoking on airplanes. - 1989
7. Individual lawsuits.
8. Class action settlement with states including further restrictions on promotion.
9. Continual increases in tobacco excise taxes at all levels of government.

Another example is environmentalism. While there has been ostensible interest in the environment since the first Earth Day in 1970, for the most part, it was talk, even though environmental concern and regulation changed considerable. But in the last 5 years especially, environmental concerns and sustainability are moving to the forefront of business activity and public policy in ways that were not present before.

2. The process of change, both individually and societally and organizationally is messy, sometimes ugly, and ridden with conflict.

This is what we are seeing today with bicycling, as more people are cycling, and automobile drivers who have been accustomed to dominating the roads are chafing at having to cede some of their perceived control.

Plus there is the issue of mixing traffic, the vast difference in speed, weight of the vehicle, and the opportunity for damage between cars and cyclists, the difficulties of retrofitting cycling infrastructure, the fact that cycling infrastructure appears to be underutilized compared to roads for cars (because you can fit 4-6 bicycles in the same space as a car, the perception is that cycling infrastructure is underutilized when really it is a matter of more productive use of space).

I have written about "the other" issue quite a bit. Because except in a few cities, automobility dominates, cyclists are seen as a danger and threat, because they are doing something different from prevailing behavior.

(In my job, to get around the issue of "the other," I am working to place walking and bicycling within the context of placemaking, livability, quality of life, and civic identity, rather than "adding choice and balance" to transportation, or even sustainable transportation. Most people don't want to grapple right now with the reality that how they travel is unsustainable.)

3. What automobility advocates see as "normal," the provision of a street network for use primarily by cars, and that each vehicle takes up/is entitled to a minimum of 162 square feet (that is the dimension of a typical parking space), and free parking, is actually "abnormal" or at the very least, a misuse of resources.

Unjam 2025, Street Capacity Demonstration, Thomas Jefferson Planning District, Charlottesville, VA.

With cyclists and pedestrians (and transit users) demanding a network of quality service and infrastructure, automobilists are and feel threatened by the change.

4. With regard to the long period required for change to take root in society (again, see the work by Rogers), people often look at best practices examples and cases without taking into account the long time it took those places to get where they are today.

For example, Copenhagen is one of the world's best case studies of the prevalence of bicyclists, with 57% of daily trips made by bicycle and 37% of trips to work by bicycle.

BUT 40 YEARS AGO, COPENHAGEN WAS DOMINATED BY AUTOMOBILITY, AND NOT MUCH DIFFERENT FROM U.S. CITIES OF TODAY (except for the maintenance of a good transit network, including railroad service, which U.S. cities had already junked in the 1950s, with some exceptions).

5. There were many changes made, to laws, to the physical environment, and other polices, in order to foster this change. This included enacting high gasoline excise taxes, to fully cover the cost of driving, something that hasn't happened in the U.S.

Getting to the point where bicycling is a primary mode of transportation in the U.S. will be a long difficult process. In many places it won't happen. On the other hand, there are many places where topography, jobs-housing balance, density, proximity to amenities, and other factors favor bicycling as transportation.

And that's what we should focus on.

Recognizing that the process of getting there will be difficult, contentious, and not easy.

It's about a long, multi-decade "campaign."

But the success with public health campaigns such as reducing tobacco use and making drunk driving pariah behavior demonstrates that it is not a walk in the park, and that the actions of many people and organizations and polities at all levels of society will be participating in this process, as the demand for change continues and escalates.

Movies and tourism and touristification

After the movie Sideways, featuring a journey of a couple friends in the wine country not of Napa or Sonoma, but Santa Barbara, tourism skyrocketed, and the local tourism agency created a wine tour-trail based on the movie. See "Sideways: Wine Country movie has tourism only headed up" and "Have Movie, Will Travel" from the American Way airline magazine.

- Touristification
- Sideways, The Winery Tour

In today's Seattle Times, Emerson Richards writes in "Don't let 'Twilight' suck the life out of Forks" about his worries that Forks, Washington, featured in the Twilight series of vampire stories, could get wrecked by people going to find what doesn't exist (vampires, werewolves, Bella, Edward, etc.) and the town being made over in response, in order to maintain appeal to tourists. From the article:

The tourists going to Forks are choosing to do so not for the real, natural beauty and sincere character of the town, but rather to try to relive or recreate or be a part of fictional vampire love affairs. This is yet another marker that our society is choosing escapism. Art as "Twilight" series author Stephanie Meyer has called her artistically and intellectually bankrupt pulp fiction — should inspire and beget more art, not the commercialization, and therefore, degradation of genuine America

Parents should not send their children to Forks until they can appreciate it for what it is. Do not let Forks become disingenuous. It is not the home of Edward and Bella. It is not a land protected by Native American werewolves. Do not turn this honest town into another Silver City, where the only remnants of the advertised Wild West past lay alongside the bones buried in the Comstock Cemetery in the desert outside of town.

Forks is purer than that. Forks has its own natural enchantments. Forks is what is left of true America. It is America without Starbucks, America without Disney and without superficiality.

Forks is all that is right with America set in beautiful landscapes of rock, tree and moss. And that is why Forks should be visited.

Please, do not let Forks suck!

How Montgomery County is dissing Baltimore on state historic tax credits

Baltimore City is one of the oldest major cities in the U.S. and as a (still) major port and onetime hotbed of manufacturing, it has both many old buildings and many large buildings. Large buildings and manufacturing complexes are perfect opportunities for what is called adaptive reuse. And it is adaptive reuse of old large buildings that is one of the only dependable and sustainable strategies for urban revitalization.

Particularly good resources on this subject are the books by Roberta Gratz, Cities Back from the Edge: New Life for Downtown and The Living City: How America's Cities Are Being Revitalized by Thinking Small in a Big Way and Changing Places: Rebuilding Community in the Age of Sprawl, co-authored by President of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Richard Moe.

Because Baltimore City is one of the oldest major cities in the U.S. and because for more than 100 years it was the State of Maryland's major center for manufacturing, it has more old buildings and more large old buildings than any other jurisdiction in the State of Maryland.

So of course, Baltimore City will benefit "disproportionately" from the state historic tax credit program, simply on a basis of the inventory of possible projects.

According to this editorial from the Baltimore Sun, "Credits that work," I guess that doesn't sit too well with the Maryland House of Representatives chair of the Ways and Means Committee, Sheila Hixon, a representative from Montgomery County.

From the editorial:

What do you call an economic stimulus program that produces an $8.53 return on every dollar invested? A smashing success? The envy of the White House? The greatest idea government's had since the income tax refund? In Annapolis, they use quite a different title: Endangered. ...

Baltimore is not the only community to benefit from this economic revitalization engine - small towns from the Eastern Shore to Western Maryland have, too - but the city has clearly benefited the most. There are simply more opportunities to renovate historic (and undervalued) buildings in Baltimore than anywhere else in the state.

But even that fact works to Maryland's advantage. With some of the highest concentrations of poverty in the state, the city is also the ideal target for such investment. A report produced earlier this year by the Abell Foundation found that for every $1 million in tax credits, 72.5 jobs are created.

Yet over its 13-year history, the tax credit program has been treated like an unwanted stepchild by the state legislature. It's been capped and cut and tied up in red tape in order to reduce its cost and funnel more of the benefits to other jurisdictions. ...

Much of the opposition can be traced to one person, House Ways and Means Chairwoman Sheila E. Hixson, who hails from Montgomery County, a subdivision with far fewer historic rehabilitation projects than the city. Delegate Hixson might be convinced to extend the program beyond its 2010 expiration - but no doubt only in its current form. Gov. Martin O'Malley has sought to upgrade the program to add resources and reduce its waiting period (often of a year or more), but a measure to do so died late in the last legislative session.

Such a stand-off could stop the Baltimore economic renaissance in its tracks. As it is, a project like Tide Point could no longer qualify for the $17.7 million tax credit it actually received nearly a decade ago because the program has been scaled back so much. (It's down to a total of just $5 million for commercial projects during the current fiscal year).

Enough is enough. The state's budget crisis can't be used as an excuse not to renew the heritage tax credit program. The economic recession is proof of how much it's needed: Cutbacks to the program over the years have likely cost the city hundreds, if not thousands, of jobs.

Putting Baltimoreans back to work doesn't add to the state's long-term budget woes, it helps reduce them. More jobs not only means more people paying taxes, it results in fewer dollars needed in safety net programs.

If there's ever been a more successful economic development program undertaken in Maryland, we haven't seen it. That lawmakers would even consider abandoning a relatively modest tax credit that's spurred so much historic preservation and job-creation is stupefying even by State House standards.

This is one of the advantages that DC has in not being part of a state, it doesn't have to deal with the kind of horse trading, regional cheerleading, and other obstructions that come from intra-state competition. Although DC manages to mess things up in other ways, and intra-city competition and balancing spending amongst the eight wards of the city means that government funding gets wasted within in the city just as much as in other jurisdictions...

You'd think that it would be the policy of all the jurisdictions in Maryland to want Baltimore City to be economically healthy, rather than an economic drag on the rest of the state. (This comes from sprawl and the fact that the city is the place of residence for a significant plurality of the state's highest poverty households.)

I bet this is being held as a horse trade for the reduction of the income tax rate for millionaires, since Montgomery County has a plurality of the state's highest income households, and because it is alleged that the increase in the tax rate for the highest income households has led to some of those people moving out of state. (At present there is no data to show this is the case. It's all speculation.) See "Md. lost nearly 30% of millionaires last year" from the Sun.

Tide Point is one of the premier adaptive reuse projects in Baltimore, done by a company, Streuver Bros. Eccles & Rouse, that does spectacular work, but these days is in financial exigency, losing projects as a result of the real estate crash and the difficulty of landing new loans. Image by David Muse Photography.

The difficulties of working with merchants: "it's all about me"

The Lambda Rising bookstore on Connecticut Avenue in Dupont Circle has always had great window displays, contributing to an active streetscape. (DC Agenda photo by Aram Vartian)

People who work in the commercial district revitalization often get criticized when seemingly loved retail businesses close. The frustrating thing is that a lot of time the business owner never reaches out for help--until it is too late, when most of the options and tools you have to work with are no longer available, or aren't available because of the accelerated time frame that you have been presented with. Or they decide that the business is too much about them that they can't possibly imagine selling it to someone else who might possibly change it.

But it's not appropriate for a commercial district revitalization manager to talk about this "in defense" when criticized by residents and other stakeholders when businesses close.

But with regard to the last point, what I call "the business of me/retail as a lifestyle" problem of merchant perspective, is that they forget is that the barriers to entry in creating quality independent retail businesses are quite high, and that when businesses close, it actually makes it much more difficult for other in-business retailers, who lose an anchor in an otherwise increasingly chained up retail environment, and leaves the space vacant, or more likely to be snapped up by a chain store, if it's in a good position.

I mention this because the DC Agenda newspaper-website (a kind of resuscitation of the Washington Blade LGBT newspaper) has a story about the upcoming closure of the Lambda Rising bookstore, which in its heyday was a pathbreaking bookstore focused on the LGBT market, and an anchor of the gay community in DC.

See "Lambda Rising bookstores to close." From the article:

Deacon Mccubbin, 66, the store’s founder and co-owner, told D.C. Agenda in an exclusive interview that he plans to retire soon and that he and co-owner Jim Bennett, his domestic partner of 32 years, decided they would rather close the stores than sell them to a new owner who might change their focus and mission.

To me this is an incredibly shortsighted decision (although I do know that the business has been declining there for some time, especially as the books and other items that they sell have become more widely available at traditional bookstores) but not a surprise. And very frustrating.

What it means is that it's very unlikely that a new gay bookstore will ope.

On the other hand, it poses an interesting question. In center cities like Washington, are LGBT issues so mainstream that the need for a specialty bookstore is no longer so pressing? Has the LGBT community "dispersed" geographically so much that Dupont Circle is no longer the epicenter and the bookstore is less relevant to local shoppers? Etc.

------------------
From the Boston Globe:

"200 years of pages turned" at the Andover Bookstore, which is celebrating its 200th birthday and is the second-oldest bookstore in the country.

Rediscover your neighborhood downtown banner ad, Baltimore County Government website

Rediscover your neighborhood downtown banner ad, Baltimore County Government website
Originally uploaded by rllayman

While the overall Baltimore County Government website is a bit dowdy, I was very much impressed with the banner ad promoting shopping in local commercial districts throughout the county, placed on their website landing page.

It's a more externally focused "marketing" concept that you don't typically find on municipal and county government websites.

Not the Urbanite Magazine you are looking for...

Not the Urbanite Magazine you are looking for...
Originally uploaded by rllayman

Urbanite is a free monthly in Baltimore that covers urban issues. This vending rack has been commandered by an individual protest.

Mural honoring the dead from the Lanvale-Barclay neighborhood, Baltimore

Mural honoring the dead from the Lanvale-Barclay neighborhood, Baltimore
Originally uploaded by rllayman

Author talk tomorrow--DC: Politics and Place

From the Historical Society of Washington website (the HSW is Downtown at the Carnegie Building on Mount Vernon Square):

Sunday, December 6
2:30 - 4:00 p.m. HSW Author & lecture Series
WASHINGTON D.C.: POLITICS AND PLACE
By Mark N. Ozer

“The District of Columbia is a place devoted to politics. Thus, it offers a unique opportunity to explore the interaction of geography and history, the place and the effects of politics on that place. This book describes the impact of the historical developments on the place evidenced by structures and other artifacts that the reader may explore today. Each era is exemplified by its characteristic design starting with the neoclassic original public buildings. These developments are crystallized in the manmade modifications—the streets, the landscapes, the buildings, and monuments—the changes in space that document the political trends. At each stage, the book focuses on specific buildings, their sculpture and other decoration that embody these changes. The political changes include the evolution of the concept of America from its republican origins with limited suffrage to people of different religions and races. Modernization and globalization have occurred while the previous layers of local and regional identities and earlier political thinking remain. Concurrently what had been a town in the Tidewater region developed into a national capital and then a world capital.”

“Thoughtful and useful guide to the current city. Skillful demonstration on how the city’s history and geography interact to capture the political philosophy of the American Experiment.” — Donald Kennon, Vice-President for Scholarship and Education U.S. Capitol Historical Society

About the Author
Mark N. Ozer, in his travels and writings, has explored the interaction of history and geography of many of the great cities of the world. A resident of Washington since 1964, he has found the place of especial interest as he has interpreted it both to visitors and inhabitants who are seeking a deeper understanding of the meaning of America. Copies of the book will be available for purchase and autograph by the author.(Ages 16 to Adults) No RSVP required. FREE