The Gettysburg Address

Gettysburg Battlefield. Photo: New York Times.

Last Thursday's New York Times has an article, "Gettysburg Casino Plan Starts Whole New Battle," about the onset of gambling in the State of Pennsylvania, and the jockeying going around the state in order to "win" a casino for the various localities. One of the places under consideration is Gettysburg.

From the article: A casino spokesman says the casino would be a mile and a half from the battlefield, "and there won't be anyone dressed in Civil War costume."

Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Local residents say that the battlefield is actually the whole town. Graphic: New York Times.

Segway in Annapolis, Maryland. Photo: Washington Post.

Urban Gardening

New York Times Photo.

From "Please Don't Pick the Roses. Let the Chain Alone, Too." SEE those fine rose bushes on the left side of the first picture? They recently graced the modest garden at the front of an Upper West Side brownstone co-op for a few weeks. In that short time, they sprouted quickly, brightening the co-op's entrance with nascent red and orange blooms - and the promise of many more for years to come.

Good thing the picture was taken. The roses were stolen a day or two later. Not at night. Not in predawn darkness. Between 4 and 5 p.m. On a Saturday. They were uprooted and taken; the trellises were thrown willy-nilly - and themselves disappeared later.

Plant theft is nothing new. Just a week before someone snatched the roses, three hosta plants at the back of this very same garden were swiped....

The beauty of this park-side street, where a neighborhood association each year plants impatiens next to the trees that line the road, no doubt draws attention. This comes with a price.
In an e-mail message about the rose caper, a longtime resident of the co-op, Jonathan Baker, noted that a previous resident "had the privet bushes chained by their trunks to the iron fence, so if we want to plant anything substantial in the future, the bushes will have to be conspicuously chained in the same fashion until they gain some size in a couple of years."

Night time stroll on H Street

Last night, the Economic Development and Zoning Committee of ANC6A walked along the H Street commercial district as preparation for considering cleaning and safety services along the corridor.


Atlas at Night.

New woman's clothing store on the 1200 block. Virginia Gaddis window shopping...

Roll down security door graffiti.

Koma-Nores graffiti has been up for about two years. (See "2 Charged With GraffitiMd. Men Spray-Painted in Much of D.C., Officials Say".)

Downtown Circulator imminent

www.dccirculator.com

This has been discussed in a number of previous blog entries so I don't feel a huge need to discuss it more, other than to comment that a 5 minute head end is likely to generate a lot of bus bunching, and the demand may not warrant such frequency.
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I saw one last Sunday at Union Station, but it wasn't yet painted with the logo and all. I didn't photograph it because the three drivers were all standing in front of the bus, smoking, making for a not very lovely photo.

Why I don't always favor "community" development corporations

721-727 H Street NE, Washington, DC. Owner: H Street Community Development Corporation. Photo by Elise Bernard.

This building was constructed in the place of four of the oldest historic buildings on H Street, which were illegally demolished by the H Street CDC. The buildings were in disrepair but could have been repaired and rehabbed, likely for less than the $2.2 million+ spent building its sorry replacement. The four buildings on this site were two and three stories tall and were replaced by a one story building with a fake second floor.

Beuchert Tavern, constructed between 1872-1875, located at 727 H Street NE, Washington, DC. Demolished in 1999.

Maybe the building didn't "show well", but that was out of neglect and disinvestment, and wasn't the fault of the building. (The process of demolition-by-neglect is usually used by unscrupulous property owners to justify demolition. But the process of disinvestment is the problem, not the state of the building--I call the demolition as "cure" process "Blaming the Building.")

The new building was constructed in part with money from the DC Department of Housing and Community Development, HUD, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta, and the Local Initiatives Support Corporation. They are proud of it (see page 9).

I, and others, fought unsuccessfully to get a better building. See this memo (alas, without the photo supplement).

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It is projects like these that make me have serious reservations about the success of local government "economic development" projects, and why even though I can support the use of eminent domain powers, I have to be convinced about the merits of each case. The return on investment often seems to be negative.

Matchbook cover acquired by Peter Sefton.

The Kavakos Club had been located in 727 H Street NE years ago, and even made it into the text of a George Pelecanos novel. Rather than taking an asset-based community development approach, the H Street CDC is still committed to the now more than discredited urban clearance and "renewal" approach.

Edward Hopper. "Early Sunday Morning."

These Italianate buildings were similar to those previously extant at 721-727 H Street, NE, Washington, DC.

The Hope and Anchor Diner, Brooklyn, New York, is an example of an Italianate commercial building of rowhouse construction likely built in the 1870s.

Interior, Hope and Anchor Diner, Brooklyn, New York.

There are all sorts of ways to look at what you have and imagine what it can be--and then to make it happen.

For more information on Club Kavakos, see this page from Peter Sefton's Victorian Secrets website.

Even more on eminent domain -- DC style

H Street Connection, 8th and H Streets NE, Washington, DC. Photo by Elise Bernard.

A big pending eminent domain case in DC is exactly like the New London case--eradicating an extant shopping center, Skyland, in Ward 7, to build an "even better one."

In the vein of Sam Smith "those that are eminent get the domain" the project is to be given to the Rappaport Companies of Virginia--for a song.

Rappaport Companies were given another property for very little money in the early 1980s.

That property is now the H Street Connection.

If anything, it should be defined as blight and be seized as well. It's dirty--or we could say politely "it's undermaintained"--and the parking-fronted design contributes to safety and disorder issues, and creates a vacuum--negative space--in the rhythm of the street. It is fully leased up though, and most of the businesses use roll down security gates, further increasing the negative contribution of this complex to safety and perceptions of safety on the H Street corridor.

Granted a goodly part of the trash in this vicinity is contributed by the four bus stops here that connect the 90s buses to the X buses at 8th and H Streets.

But still, you'd think that they would put more money into maintaining the property.

Given this kind of track record, they shouldn't be deemed fit to receive more gifts from the government.

But Rappaport is connected. He is a past chairman of the industry trade association, International Council of Shopping Centers.

I'm sure that has nothing to do with this.

(Also see my blog entry from Sunday, April 10, 2005, "City Business as usual--land giveaways, diminishing urban design.")

Neighborhood Development Center Builds Community Capacity -- in San Jose, California...

If I ever get around to relaunching the Citizens Planning Coalition in a focused way (including block-by-block canvass city-wide to build the constituency and membership on every block, in every neighborhood of the city) this is the kind of stuff it would do...



Neighborhood Development Center of San Jose

The mission of the Neighborhood Development Center (NDC) is to assist all neighborhood associations, emerging and existing, in achieving their desired neighborhood quality of life. The NDC is the initial point of contact for residents to mobilize and organize their neighborhoods. The services provided by the NDC are designed to build the leadership and capacity of residents to attain their neighborhood goals.

Community Connections Spring 2004 Edition

The following are services provided by the Neighborhood Development Center:

Leadership Development and Neighborhood Organizing Trainings
Neighborhood Organizing Assistance
Technological and Information Resources

We have nothing like this in DC.

The level of informed discourse on a wide-variety of local issues demonstrates the impact of the dearth of such.

More on police monitoring cameras

Title 24 of the DC Code of Municipal Regulations is about "Public Space and Safety." Unfortunately, that section of the DCMR is not online at the DCMR website (which is listed in the DC section of links in the right sidebar).

Perusing the chapter, it could probably be argued that alley monitoring cameras wouldn't be a violation. But then, I am not a lawyer. Even so, that slippery slope does concern me, although I support speed cameras and red light cameras as it is. And one could argue with me because the definition of what "closed circuit television" is covers everything, if it is a live link -- "Closed-Circuit Television--Any live video link that is electronically received into the SOCC. [*11448]"

But because these cameras do not provide a live link, they probably would not be out of compliance with the regulation. Would they be covered by the regulation at all?

If any monitoring devices are supposed to be covered by this chapter, then alley monitoring wouldn't qualify right now in terms of purpose as outlined in 2500.2 and 2500.3

Before getting into the fascinating regulations, check out this article about the use of such cameras in San Jose, California "Smile You're on Candid Camera" or these photos-case studies and this BBC article from the UK.

Plus according to the DC "Business Resource Center" e-newsletter, such a camera was tested in Adams-Morgan in 2003--see "DC launches major anti-graffiti effort."

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From 24DCMR

2500 PURPOSE

2500.1 The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) has employed an internal network of closed circuit televisions (CCTV) within the Synchronized Operations Command Complex (SOCC) that are highly secured and protected against unauthorized access.

2500.2 MPD's CCTV system is generally intended to be used: (1) to help manage public resources during major public events and demonstrations; and (2) to coordinate traffic control on an as needed basis.

2500.3 In addition to the purposes listed in 2500.2, the CCTV system may also be employed in exigent circumstances for the duration of the exigent event or circumstance.

2501 POLICY

2501.1 MPD shall comply with all federal and District law applicable to the use of CCTV cameras in public space.

2501.2 The technology will not be used to replace current policing techniques. [*11444]

2501.3 Under no circumstances shall the CCTV systems be used for the purpose of infringing upon First Amendment rights.

2501.4 Operators of the CCTV systems shall not target/observe individuals solely because of their race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability or other classifications protected by law.

2501.5 CCTV systems shall be used to observe locations that are in public view and where there is no reasonable expectation of privacy.

2501.6 MPD shall not use audio in conjunction with the CCTV unless appropriate court orders are obtained.

2501.7 MPD is authorized to enter into agreements with public entities to access their external video feeds for the purposes established in 2500.

2501.8 MPD is authorized to enter into agreements with private entities to access their external video feeds for discrete periods and only in exigent circumstances.

2501.9 MPD shall abide by these regulations if it receives CCTV feeds from another agency, jurisdiction, or entity.

2501.10 Until legislation is enacted authorizing the use of CCTV for other purposes such as general crime deterrence in non-exigent circumstances, additional permanent cameras will only be installed after public notification has been provided and only in locations that will advance the purposes defined in section 2500 of these regulations.

2502 PUBLIC NOTIFICATION

2502.1 Except under exigent circumstances and/or when the CCTV systems are deployed pursuant to a court order, the Chief of Police shall provide public notice of MPD's intention to deploy a camera.

2502.2 Public notice shall include the general capabilities of CCTV systems, their use in departmental operations, and the duration of the deployment. Public notice will also identify the viewing area, but not necessarily the precise location of the camera. The precise location of a camera may be disclosed if the Chief of Police determines that disclosure will not undermine the security of the camera and the efficacy of the deployment.

2502.3 The public shall have thirty (30) days to submit comments regarding a proposed deployment to the Chief of Police. The public may submit comments to the Chief of Police at any time regarding a particular camera deployment or the CCTV system in general. [*11445]

2502.4 The Chief of Police shall consider the comments submitted by the public in determining whether to go forward with deployment of the camera. The Chief of Police will provide public notice of his decision and provide an explanation.

2502.5 In exigent circumstances, the Chief of Police is authorized to deploy cameras without first consulting or soliciting comments from the public. After the conclusion of the exigent circumstance, the camera shall be turned off immediately. As soon as feasible after the conclusion of the exigent circumstance, the Chief of Police shall have the camera removed. The Chief of Police will provide post-deployment public notification of any camera deployed under this provision.

2502.6 When cameras are deployed pursuant to a court order, neither pre nor post-deployment notification is required.

2502.7 MPD will post and maintain signage indicating the presence of CCTV systems in the District of Columbia.

2502.8 On a semi-annual basis, MPD will provide updates on the CCTV system at community meetings to be announced to the public.

2502.9 MPD will provide information about the CCTV system and its usage in its Annual Report. The information shall include the viewing area of cameras, periods of activation and/or recording and the purposes of activation and recording, disposition of any recordings, and an evaluation of whether the camera achieved the purposes stated in section 2500. The MPD shall not include any information pertaining to cameras deployed pursuant to a court order or deployed as part of an on-going criminal investigation.

2503 OPERATOR CERTIFICATION

2503.1 Only certified operators shall operate the CCTV system.

2503.2 All operators of the CCTV systems shall sign a certification that they have read and understand the CCTV regulations and acknowledge the potential criminal and/or administrative sanctions for unauthorized use or misuse of the CCTV systems.

2503.3 Anyone who engages in the unauthorized use or misuse of CCTV systems shall be subject to criminal prosecution and/or administrative sanctions, including termination. The administrative sanctions will depend on the severity of the infraction and shall be taken in accordance with MPD's Disciplinary Procedures and Policies General Order and/or the adverse and corrective action procedures as provided in the District Personnel Manual. [*11446]

2504 ACTIVATION AND USAGE

2504.1 Except for demonstration purposes and exigent circumstances, members of MPD shall receive written authorization from the Chief of Police prior to activating the CCTV system.

2504.2 Every system activation shall be documented. SOCC personnel will enter activation information, including the disposition of any observed incidents, into the running resume of the daily SOCC report, including a copy of any written authorizations pertaining to each activation, the name(s) of any person(s) activating the system, a general description of the activity being monitored, and documentation of when activation began and ended.

2504.3 An official of the rank of Lieutenant or above shall be present in the SOCC at all times, and shall supervise and monitor CCTV activities conducted in the SOCC.

2504.4 Operators of CCTV systems shall not focus on hand bills, fliers, etc., being distributed or carried pursuant to First Amendment rights.

2504.5 Operators will dispatch resources as needed.

2505 AUTHORIZATION TO RECORD AND RETAIN RECORDINGS

2505.1 Except in exigent circumstances or when recording is being done pursuant to a court order, the Chief of Police shall issue written authorization prior to recording any CCTV feed.

2505.2 Every recording shall be documented. The record shall include a copy of any written authorizations pertaining to each period of recording, the name(s) of any person(s) recording, a general description of the activity being recorded, and documentation as to when the recording began and ended.

2505.3 When recordings are made in exigent circumstances, the recording documentation shall also include a description of the exigency that gave rise to the need to record without prior written authorization.

2505.4 All recorded CCTV footage shall be maintained and secured by the official in command of the SOCC.

2505.5 Video recordings shall be indexed, stored, and maintained for 10 business days after which time they will be recorded over or destroyed.

2505.6 Recordings may be retained beyond 10 business days because the recordings contain evidence of criminal activity, because the recordings capture an occurrence that may subject MPD to civil liability, or because the recording will be used for training purposes. Recordings that contain evidence of criminal activity or recordings that [*11447] capture an occurrence that may subject MPD to civil liability shall be maintained to final case disposition.

2505.7 The Chief of Police must provide, in writing, any decision to retain any recording beyond 10 business days.

2505.8 Decisions to retain recordings beyond 10 business days must include the purpose of the retention, the nature of the recording, and length of time for the retention. Retention of recordings for training purposes must additionally include a written description of the training purpose to be served by the recording as well as a description of the recording's unique suitability for the training purpose.

2505.9 Recordings retained for training purposes may only be retained as long as they are actively used for training purposes.

2505.10 Recordings retained for criminal or civil purposes shall be secured as evidence, and access to the recordings shall be appropriately limited and documented.

2505.11 SOCC staff shall maintain a video catalog of all tapes held beyond 10 days, including a copy of any written authorizations pertaining to each activation/recording, the name(s) of any person(s) doing any recording, a general description of each activation/recording, and documentation as to when activation/recording began and ended.

2506 MAINTENANCE

2506.1 MPD shall be responsible for the safekeeping, maintenance and servicing of MPD equipment (e.g., cameras, cables, monitors, recorders, etc.).

2507 AUDITS

2507.1 MPD's Office of Professional Responsibility will conduct periodic audits, at least quarterly, to ensure compliance with these regulations.

2507.2 The audits conducted pursuant to 2507.1 shall be provided to the Mayor and the Council of the District of Columbia.

2599 DEFINITIONS

2599.1 When used in this chapter, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings ascribed:

Closed-Circuit Television--Any live video link that is electronically received into the SOCC. [*11448]

Demonstration - A temporary presentation of the capacity of the SOCC to visitors of the MPD.
Exigent Circumstances--Unanticipated situations that threaten the immediate safety of individuals or property within the District of Columbia.

External Video Feeds--Any video link received in the SOCC on a live basis from a source other than MPD.
Public Entities--District of Columbia or Federal agencies.

Public notice--Shall at a minimum include, but is not limited to, publication in the D.C. Register, posting on the MPD website, written notice to the relevant Council Member, written notice to the relevant ANC Commissioner, and issuance of a press release.

More on eminent domain

Some really great discussion in the latest issue of DC Watch, including a link to (as usual) great comments about this topic by Sam Smith--EMINENT DOMAIN MEANS THE EMINENT GET THE DOMAIN--from his weblog Undernews. This entry specifically discusses what happened in Southwest DC.

As someone said in a posting on the pro-urb list...it's scary to end up on the same side as rabidly anti-government folks...as reflected in such examples as this article, "Shocking New Developments In Supreme Court vs. Homeowners CaseNews Media Blackout On 'Revving Bulldozers,' Intimidation And Harassment Of New London Residents," from the website Prison Planet which I would never have likely come across otherwise.

As H Street neighbor and (newly minted lawyer) Rich Luna said on a neighborhood e-list:

The Mayor has statutory authority to condemn property that meets certain statutory requirements. By administrative regulation, he has assigned that authority to ReStore DC for commercial development or Home Again for residential development (both divisions of the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development). Title 16, section 1311 (D.C. Stat. sec. 16-1311 (2004) of the D.C. Code is one section that discusses it.

I began a dialogue with contacts in those offices in the spring to explore the possibility of condemning some the worst empty lots on H (so that we could turn them into community gardens until the city found a better use). The decision in Kelo is likely to make that option a lot more appealing now.

That being said, Kelo v. New London sets a very scary precedent. Oddly enough, it requires citizens to be far more vigilant and demand much greater responsiveness from the political branches. Yet responsivenessis exactly what our political branches are designed to avoid. (Emphasis added.)
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Also, this editorial "When Government Takes Too Much," by Philip Langdon, ran in the Hartford Courant in March. It provides the back story of the New London case, that the projects were really pushed forward by the State of Connecticut more than the local community....

"John Norquist, mayor of Milwaukee for 15 years before becoming president of the Congress for New Urbanism, says that when government has to resort to eminent domain to carry out economic development, often the projects don't make economic sense.

Until I visited what's left of the neighborhood after extensive bulldozing, I had assumed that Pfizer's $270 million research complex would spin off tremendous benefits for nearby sections of the city. Naive me. What I found, on a peninsula down the Thames River from downtown New London, was a 23-acre private compound - 700,000 square feet of buildings plus an ample amount of open space - retreating behind a guarded gatehouse. If you so much as aim a camera toward the complex from a public overlook, as I did, security personnel will come question what you're doing.

There is little chance that the Pfizer complex, with its 1,500 physicians, researchers and other employees, will eventually become part of a lively urban neighborhood. It has been designed as an isolated corporate campus rather than a workplace intimately connected to its neighbors. Perhaps the self-imposed isolation seemed essential to a company involved in competitive, sometimes controversial pharmaceutical research, but it defeated the possibility of breathing new life into an old city. The complex's only major contributions to New London are likely to be tax revenue (which the city certainly needs) and employment (also needed in a city with a 7.6 percent unemployment rate). (...)

Although the NLDC has since cleared much of the 90 acres, the hotel and conference center it promised have yet to be started. Office space in a 90,000-square-foot research and office building left over from the Naval Undersea Warfare Center stands vacant. Construction has yet to begin on upscale housing that was to be suitable for Pfizer employees. Norquist says such disappointing results are common in economic development projects that rely on the threat or use of eminent domain. The "rigorous economic evaluation traditionally carried out by the private sector" is eliminated in many undertakings carried out through eminent domain, Norquist says. The result, he avers, is "many ill-conceived, special-interest projects."

Architecture Film Series at National Building Museum

Michael Schade's e-newsletter "Dupont Circle Update," clued me into the 25th anniversary of the National Building Museum film series, "Reel Architecture," running from July 9–August 24, 2005.

Should camera-based alley monitoring be considered for DC?

Scenes of illegal dumping in Inkster. The city of Inkster is one of two metro areas, Detroit is the other, that is testing a high tech camera to catch people that illegally dump trash. The camera, which has a range of 100 feet, will be used on a trial basis for 60 days. Photos taken on Wednesday, June 8, 2005. (The Detroit News/John T. Greilick)

Alley safety and dumping issues are always of concern to urban residents. Last week, a dead burning body was discovered in the alley between H Street and Linden Place. Illegal auto repair and dumping, drug sales, and other acts plague the residents that abut the alley. ANC6A SMD02 Commissioner (and Chair) Joe Fengler have and residents have successfully advocated for greater DC government involvement and coordination of activity to address these problems. (More more information on the District Government's MAP--Multi-Agency Plan--for the area bounded by 12th and 14th Streets, and Linden Place and Wylie Place, see this document from the ANC6A website.)

In Columbia Heights, the issue of alley safety is high on the radar as well. From the columbia_heights@yahoogroups.com email list is this message:

I've noticed a spike in alley incidents and crime located between the 12th and 13st Euclid and Clifton. It seems like the series of alleys that connect our blocks to yours is being used for illicite activities. In the last 4 months I've had 4 breakins in my garage, I've come across one lurker (a guy waiting and hiding) and another hooded individual whose shirt was stuffed with objects other than his own body. (He also hid when he saw me.) I've come across drug-users, dealers and prostitution...

Last week, the Detroit News reported, in "Cameras may capture dumping: Detroit and Inkster crack down on graffiti and illegal trash with high-tech Flash-Cams," how certain Michigan communities are beginning to address some of these issues:

Detroit and Inkster are testing a cutting-edge approach to catching graffiti artists and illegal dumpers. For the next month and a half, both cities will test a battery-powered camera called the FlashCam-530 to document wrongdoing. The two cities got cameras June 1; they were installed by a California-based company called Q-Star Technology.

Inkster hasn't caught any illegal activity, and has moved its camera's location from its original site. But it's still early and there are plenty of kinks to work out, said Police Officer Dawn Wall. Detroit's camera has captured some pictures of people who apparently stopped plans to dump because they saw the camera. "We're still doing the fine-tuning on the range location and angle," Wall said. "When we can identify an offender with a license plate number and picture, then that will allow us to prosecute efficiently."

The cameras were installed at no cost to the municipalities or taxpayers. After the 60-day trial, each city will have the option to purchase cameras for $3,500-$5,000.

I distributed the article on a neighborhood email list, which led Rich Luna, a resident of Linden Place, to suggest that the District Government install one of these cameras on Linden Place as a test. This is the response he received:

As I mentioned at the meeting the other night, current regulations prohibit MPD from using such cameras for law enforcement purposes. If you think those regulations should change, I urge you to contact your Councilmembers and others. The Mayor and the Chief would love to see that change & we're planning to make that proposal.

Edward D. Reiskin, Deputy Mayor for Public Safety & Justice
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This is a tough issue. The civil libertarian in me hesitates to give this power to the government to monitor our public spaces. Like with the eminent domain discussion of late, such powers need to be exercised with great restraint, care, and responsibility, yet all too often these powers are misused (i.e., the arrest without cause of hundreds of demonstrators in Pershing Park -- "D.C. Settles With Mass Arrest Victims: 7 Rounded Up in 2002 IMF Protest to Get $425,000 and an Apology" or this editorial from the Post "A Bust in Pershing Park."

But how do we reduce the kinds of problems residents are having? Is a very limited monitoring system with a limited purpose in a geographically defined area a good thing, or movement down a slippery slope?

Old Convention Center Site--Chicago offers something to think about

Sculpture, incorporating video and other elements, by Jaume Plensa. Located in Millennium Park, Chicago.

Today the Chicago Tribune assesses the first year of the Millennium Sculpture Park in Chicago. Blair Kamin, the architecture critic for the Tribune, writes in "The Millennium Park effect: It has emerged as a sparkling example ... of how big cities can get big things done," that:

The joyful postindustrial playground, which has brazenly discarded the old industrial age model of the serene urban park, is blowing equally strong winds of change across the cityscape that surrounds it, altering a museum's plans, boosting real estate prospects and (perhaps) opening doors for more innovative architecture in a city whose design scene had grown stale as recently as a decade ago. It has emerged as a sparkling example, despite its widely publicized delays and cost overruns, of how big cities can get big things done.

In the national conversation, Millennium Park is being hailed in some quarters as an example of how business and political leaders can pull together -- in sharp contrast to the feuding among powerful interests that has turned the rebuilding of ground zero into a textbook case of civic inertia. "One of the great new models for a new kind of urban park," The New Yorker's architecture critic, Paul Goldberger, told television host Charlie Rose on Rose's show in May.

The article includes links to the special report and online extras that the Tribune published last year upon the opening of the Park.

From the Photographic Ramblings blog by Ken Ilio.

"This fountain, designed by Barcelona-based sculptor Jaume Plensa, consists of a pair of 50-foot glass-brick towers facing each other across a black granite plaza with water cascading down their sides. At regular intervals, the flow of water over the inside face of each tower is interrupted as a giant LED screen behind the glass brick displays the face of one of the 1,000 Chicagoans filmed for the installation. Each face appears for about 15 minutes and periodically the face will purse his/her lips as water pours from a spout creating an illusion that the person is spitting water into the plaza below. The space between the towers is bathed in an eight of an inch of water, deep enough to reflect the images and shallow enough for people to walk across to interact with the fountain or a soak under the cascading water and/or spout."



It makes me think that the Old Convention Center Site is such a key location, and could have a similar transformational impact downtown, in terms of doing some great things with public spaces. Granted that everyone seems to want to put about 20 pounds of their ideas into the 5 pound bag that the site represents (Convention Hotel, Library, National Music Museum, etc.), but part of the space could be utilized in a similar fashion to Millennium Park.

Baring that, there are other opportunities, although not many, elsewhere in the city, perhaps as part of the revitalization of the waterfront areas of the city, or even Freedom Plaza, which I think of as a pretty lousy space most of the time.

Restaurant in the Park. Park Grill diners eat under the Bean Wednesday afternoon in Millennium Park. (Chicago Tribune Photo by John Lee)

One of the problems holding back making public parks more successful in the central core of Washington, DC is that the National Park Service doesn't allow the sale of food anywhere but on the National Mall. This often results in barren spaces such as McPherson Square or the Eastern Market Metro Plaza.

A conveniently located but wasted opportunity.

More images of Millennium Park.

Freedom Plaza, Downtown DC. www.archvision.com

Freedom Plaza, Washington, DC. Successful from above, but a failure on the ground?

The Future of Barracks Row? A Counter-point to letter to the editor about Smoke-Free Restaurants

In yesterday's Post, Elliot Wright, manager of Finn MacCool's on 8th Street SE (Barracks Row) writes in "Smoke-Free vs. Free to Smoke":

I am the general manager of Finn MacCool's Irish Pub on Eighth Street SE. My customers primarily are professionals and families who live and work in the neighborhood. The pub has two dining areas and bars, each with its own heating, ventilation and air conditioning system.

Most of my floor and kitchen staff are worried that their livelihoods will be damaged by a smoking ban [news story, June 19]. Customers who smoke spend more time and more money than those who do not. Often I have difficulty staffing the nonsmoking section of the restaurant for that reason.

My servers, bartenders, food runners and busboys and girls have chosen to work in a restaurant that allows smoking because they feel it is in their best interest financially or because smoke does not bother them. Less than a block away is a restaurant that is smoke-free. Just like customers, restaurant workers have the freedom to choose.

I don't deny the negative health effects of smoke -- the scientific evidence is overwhelming -- and I am concerned about the health of my employees. However, I am also concerned with their happiness, which is tied to a positive work environment and a busy restaurant.

Smoking is not a crime -- it is a regulated activity, just like the consumption of alcohol. It is the duty of the D.C. Council to regulate smoking in a reasonable manner, but that should take the form of legislation that respects the wishes of customers, restaurant workers and owners.
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Elliot Wright has a limited perspective and clearly doesn't understand the restaurant business as well as he should...

The late founder of Clyde's, Stuart Davidson, had a great quote that sums up why the Clyde's Restaurant Group is so successful:

It's more fun to eat in a saloon than it is to drink in a restaurant.

The fact is, restaurant sections by bars, smoking or not, are more popular than sections not by the bar.

Finn MacCool's upstairs is nice, but boring. It's not connected to the street, it's not by the bar. I guarantee that if they switched things around, and made the first floor non-smoking, it would still be the most popular area of the restaurant.
Barracks Row at E and 8th Streets SE.

Marty's Restaurant, one block away from Finn MacCool's is a 100% non-smoking restaurant in the interior (people can smoke during temperate weather outside). It's busier than Finn MacCools, but the sections by the bar are busier regardless. Marty's does lose some customers that prefer to smoke. On the other hand, it attracts a fair amount of family business, which likely compensates for it.

Plus, as a waiter, I appreciate not having to breathe smoke, or have my hair or clothes reek of it. The fact is that smoking not only smells but the possible health effects from second-hand exposure are real. At times I make less money at Marty's than I would in a Dupont Circle or Georgetown location, but the fact that the restaurant is smoke free is one reason I put up with it.

I know that people who drink spend more money, but I think that research demonstrating a positive link between smoking and drinking and tipping, especially "extra-normal" tipping is not solid. From my own experience waiting on about 100,000 tables over the years, I say that:

(1) People who drink have higher checks.
(2) Generally (but not always) this results in higher tips only from a gross standpoint because after all a higher check means that a 15% to 20% tip is going to naturally be higher based on a $6 glass of wine, versus a $2 Coke or a free glass of water.
(3) Because smoking behavior is associated with class (socioeconomic status), in my experience I often find that drinking smokers are bad tippers, especially if they smoke heavily. This makes sense, because research into tipping behavior by economists and sociologists finds that a willingness to tip is based on SES, and people of lower SES are less inclined to tip in general, as well as to tip at the commonly accepted percentage of 15% to 20%.
(4) Smoking behavior is also associated with youth, and younger people, perhaps for similar SES reasons, tend to not be great tippers.

Anyway, for the long-term success of his restaurant, I suggest that Mr. Wright focus on some other issues:

(1) Each new restaurant that opens on Barracks Row reduces the revenue of the extant restaurants.
(2) The population density of the immediate area is not enough to support all the restaurants that are open currently
(3) Unless the district is able to attract other market segments from outside of the greater Capitol Hill neighborhood.
(4) At the present, only a few restaurants on the street are distinctive enough to draw from outside of the immediate neighborhood and whether or not they do is questionable.

(5) Even though I am against public funding of a new baseball stadium there is no question that the inaugural season of the Washington Nationals has increased the business of restaurant-tavern establishments on Barracks Row, and this is likely to continue even when the new stadium is built, because it will be a long time before that immediate area develops a variety of restaurant and other entertainment destinations. (In fact, I tremble to think about how bad the money would be overall on Barracks Row right now without any baseball-related business.)
(6) This should reinforce the understanding that Barracks Row needs other attractions in order to draw customers particularly at night. Restaurants aren't enough.
(7) This is why I think it is short-sighted for the Barracks Row Main Street program and other civic groups to oppose attempts to bring more entertainment options to the street. There is a way to balance providing new attractions without becoming a nightclub district. Especially because Capitol Hill is far away from where most of the people more inclined to go out on a Thursday or Friday or Saturday night live.

It's likely to not have to fear becoming a serious "destination district" on the scale of a Georgetown, Clarendon, Shirlington, or Adams-Morgan -- but us poor waiters need something more to have more customers to wait on, especially on a Saturday night, when people are likely to go to a district where they can do something after they eat other than hanging out in front of the 7-11.

Fear of an Adams-Morgan Like Future; A Real Concern or Merely Fantasy?

For some Barracks Row restaurant reviews, including Marty's, see this article from the Weekend Section of the Post: "Comfortable Spots on Barracks Row".

ABC Hearing notice for application of a licensed establishment at the People's Church, 500 block of 8th Street SE. Photo by Norman Metzger, via DCist.

For a discussion of the issue of Barracks Row and its future, particularly with regard to the reuse of the People's Church, see this post from DCist.

Finally, getting back to smoking in restaurants, the experience in New York City has proven that the fears of a big falloff of business are overblown (see http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3016321 or do a google search of your own). Marty's survives... and I probably make more money than the average waiter at Finn MacCool's.

I think we have no idea about just how difficult is the challenge of urban schooling

Last year, the Richmond School District merged two low-enrollment high schools into one. The Richmond Times-Dispatch monitored this change over the course of the past year and today ran a special 8-page section, "Put to the test: A year at the new Armstrong High."

It's worth reading and it certainly provides food for thought in terms of thinking about DC Schools, where according to the Post in the article "Reinventing The Route to D.C. Diploma: Fast-Track Course Load, 5th-Year Option Planned," "One D.C. school system report showed that though 4,207 students enrolled as ninth-graders in 2000, only 2,740 graduated four years later. But the study did not account for students transferring into or out of the D.C. system."

Something I read in the Post more than 10 years ago clued me into the fact that the average center city urban school district spends upwards of 33% of total funding on special education, representing a student population of about 10%.

The stories in the Richmond paper remind me of a phone call I received a couple years ago from the social worker at Gibbs Elementary School in northeast DC. She was looking for a list of businesses that might be willing to make donations of alarm clocks, because the children "have no one to make sure that they get up in the morning to come to school."

Now, by default, charter schools are setting the education agenda in the City of Washington, as seen by the quantum leap in the granting of charters for new schools. Today's Post reports in "As D.C. Charter Schools Grow, Competition for Space Tightens," that "The number of D.C. public charter schools will grow from 42 to as many as 61 over the next year, making a shortage of affordable buildings even more acute, according to charter school advocates."

At first, I was supportive of the charter school movement, because I think it's wrong to hold students hostage to broad educational philosophies about the importance of the overall school district. If the school system isn't doing the job, does that mean that we should force students to remain with that system, in order to keep that system intact? After all, Everett Rogers in research recounted in the book Diffusion of Innovations, found that K-12 school systems were the most resistant to change of all major institutions in American life.

Now, I have serious reservations. By default, charter schools are becoming the primary "neighborhood planning organizations" because of the way Congress intervenes and by law provides charter schools with first dibs and first right of refusal on all DC Government properties deemed surplus.

Maybe a charter school disconnected from the immediate neighborhood isn't always the best use for such properties given other needs and interests on the part of a community for service. In the article "Senator Targets Underused Schools: D.C. Buildings Should Be Closed and Resources Redistributed, Brownback Says," the issue of under-utilized school properties is discussed, but by giving charter schools first rights, consideration of neighborhood and/or other city priorities and needs are removed from the discussion.

Plus, charter schools are not neighborhood schools, they have city-wide enrollments, and they end up disconnecting the school from the neighborhood, when normally, neighborhood schools are the foundation of stabile neighborhoods.

Plus, they add greatly to the number of car trips around the city every morning and afternoon, as students travel to schools far from their neighborhoods, and the trips are usually inefficient from a public transit standpoint, leading to greater automobile usage.

A bit on eminent domain

No time to write a lot but this is something I wrote in email.

The opinion: KELO et al. v. CITY OF NEW LONDON et al.

C. M. Glover for The New York Times. Susette Kelo bought her house in New London, Conn., eight years ago. Thursday, the Supreme Court allowed the property to be condemned.

These are tough and troubling issues--balancing the new and the old, attracting tax base, intensification of land use, density, etc. I look forward to attending the sessions on this topic at the conference in Portland.

Measure 37 is an attack on urban growth boundaries as a way to manage and focus development. However it was characterized, that is why the development lobby pushed this initiative forward. This law is about sprawl and keeping it going, rather than recentering and focusing more compact development patterns.

The Kelo case is about the use of public authority for what can be legitimately interpreted as extreme private benefit rather than "public use."

There are no easy solutions. Should I let my neighborhood of 2500 or so buildings constructed mostly before 1920 in favor of a number of tall (for DC) buildings? I don't know. My HP zealotry says no, absolutely not. OTOH, my support of urban growth boundaries, transit-oriented development and attracting people back to the city means it ought to be considered, especially as the neighborhood has two subway stations and will eventually be served by two streetcar lines as well.

But I do see this as a destruction of the qualities that make DC neighborhoods attractive to begin with--their historic buildings-architecture and pedestrian-centric urban design.

Maybe it would be easier to sign off on this if the results of the 1950s-1970s (and beyond) urban renewal weren't so poor.

I think it's ironic that Southwest DC, a pilot site for the national program of urban "renewal," where the entire neighborhood was leveled for towers in the park modernism, is going through a new phase of urban "renewal" out of necessity, because the neighorhood created isn't very successful in terms of circulation, retail, etc. OTOH, the DC neighborhoods typified by the kind of building stock destroyed in SW are experiencing almost insane levels of market demand for the historic housing that is still extant.

Typical building stock destroyed in the Southwest DC Urban Renewal Program. Photo by Louise Rosskam, Farm Security Administration, circa late 1930s.

Or the old Convention Center was just torn down (and it was built on an area of historic downtown-Chinatown) because a new one was just built. Yet, the old building wasn't even 30 years old, and the debt service hasn't even been paid off...makes me question again the success of the kinds of "redevelopment" projects the Kelo case represents.

What the Kelo case represents to me is something fundamentally different from HP laws. I think of HP laws as balancing the rights of the individual with the concerns of the community, both the other immediate neighbors and the community at large. I think of the Kelo case as saying that balancing the rights of the individual vis-a-vis the community is no longer important, that the state can do anything and is more important than any other individual or community concerns.

This is accentuated by the fact that the political and economic system is subject to gaming and abuse of power. The people who benefit from eminent domain most often are the developers, not the people more generally, and not really the coffers of the local government. Logan and Molotch's Urban Fortunes: The Political Economy of Place is probably the best description around of these forces. For the Washington DC experience, read chapter 4 from the book Dream City.

Getting back to property rights advocates, I think they have similarly unbalanced arguments as they focus on the right of the individual property owner to the exclusion of any and all other legitimate public policy concerns.

I think it would be very difficult to work with such people (given some really ugly experiences I have right now in the heart of DC, which I haven't written about yet on this list) because it wouldn't be a true coalition based on a shared sense that balancing individual and community needs to be at the heart of such decision-making. Preservationists push balance. The property rights folk are concerned solely about individual property owners ability to have untrammelled authority over their domain.

A meeting I missed

Zipcar Hosts First Annual 'Innovation in Transportation' Fair; Public and Private Transportation Organizations from Around Metro Washington Showcase Alternatives to Car-Ownership

WASHINGTON June 22

WASHINGTON, June 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Zipcar, the nation's largest provider of self-service cars for use by the hour or day, is bringing together public and private transportation organizations from around Metro Washington D.C. for the first annual Innovation In Transportation Fair on June 23 from 3-7 PM on 8th St. between D and E Streets, NW. From the new DC Circulator Bus to the latest Segway Scooters to demonstrations from local transportation leaders, the event will provide local businesses and residents with a fun and exciting opportunity to learn more about cost-effective, viable transportation alternatives to car-ownership, and experience first-hand the newest and most innovative ways to get around.

Participants include Zipcar, WMATA/Metro, D.C. Department Of Transportation (DDOT), The Downtown Business Improvement District (BID), Capital Segway, Vespa DC, The Washington Area Bicycle Association (WABA) and The American Lung Association. Each organization will have information available to educate attendees about their particular contributions to the DC area's evolving transportation landscape. In addition, those in attendance will be treated to various fun and interactive displays including:

-- Downtown Business Improvement District and DDOT will bring the new
European-style DC Circulator Bus, which will soon be running an East-
West loop between Georgetown and Downtown DC.
-- WMATA/Metro will be on site to answer questions, and will be treating
the kids to their "police robot".
-- Capital Segway will exhibit the latest in Segway Human Transporters.
-- Vespa DC will display their new line of Vespa motor scooters.
-- Washington Area Bicycle Association (WABA) and Bike the Sites will have
bikes at the event to promote bicycling as an alternative way to get
around town.
-- Several Zipcars will be on hand to demonstrate award winning vehicle
access technology, the latest in XM Radio gear and the new MINI Cooper
Convertible and Toyota Hybrid technology.

Attendees of the fair will also have a chance to win free Zipcar memberships, XM Radio hardware and free Zipcar driving time as an incentive to attend the event.

"Parking, traffic, and the environment are all concerns that are becoming increasingly important to leaders and residents in the District," said Gabe Klein, regional vice president at Zipcar. "The District has an effective combination of public transportation and private companies like Zipcar that offer alternatives to car-ownership, and we are thrilled to bring them all together to show the residents of DC cleaner, cooler, and more community friendly ways to get around."

"DDOT is proud to support innovative transportation reform through our bicycle, car-sharing and pedestrian programs, and the advent of the new DC Circulator. By considering alternative methods of transportation, we can help the District become a more mobile and environmentally-friendly city," said Dan Tangherlini, director of the District Department of Transportation.

Zipcar works to improve traffic, parking and environmental problems by reducing the number of cars on the road and by replacing older cars with new vehicles that have more stringent pollution controls. Zipcar members report that they drive 4,000 miles less each year, and save an average of $435 compared to the average cost of owning a car in the city. Additionally, each Zipcar takes more than 20 privately owned vehicles off of urban streets.

About Zipcar

Zipcar was founded in 1999. Since 2000, when Zipcars first hit the road, more than 38,000 consumers and small business drivers ages 21+ have joined. Zipcar currently operates more than 600 vehicles in seven states and 21 cities, including Boston, New York City and Washington, D.C. For a convenient and cost effective driving experience or to learn more visit http://www.zipcar.com/ .

CONTACT: Media: Kristina Kennedy, Kristina.Kennedy@rfbinder.com ,+1-781-455-8250, for Zipcar

New York Avenue Transportation Study Meeting Tomorrow

Too much going on to write much but tomorrow there is a public meeting on this project at the Reeves Center from 9-12:30. For more information go to www.ddot.dc.gov. To print off the report, click on Transportation Studies and choose "New York Avenue."

People that "care", but about different things

The issue of "seizure" of the public space on Park Road for cars rather than for pedestrians and bicyclists (note to everyone--no bike racks at the Giant Supermarket at Tivoli Square, at least not yet, but plenty of room for cars in the public space) as well as the conversation about historic preservation and designation in Brookland demonstrate how difficult it is to reach consensus on issues, when people have such widely different viewpoints on the fundamentals.

Bear with me.

For people fervently convinced that they are the kings of their property, that building permits are an unreasonable restriction on their rights as citizens, no matter of discussion reflecting a different philosophy will percolate through.

I missed last night's meeting in Brookland, and in some respects I'm glad I did, although the way it was recounted to me reminds me of exactly what happened in my neighborhood in October 22, 2001, when work I was doing was opposed and rather than oppose it on the merits--I was excoriated and the issues were obfuscated. The same thing happened last night--just to different people--and it is incredible that people who are, let's face it, lying and mendacious, get accolades for the "quality" of their research.

Ad hominem attacks and twisting facts are never signs of good arguments.

I have never really been impressed with the level of discourse on civic issues in most community meetings. I am perhaps overly fact and research driven. But in an uncertain world, facts provide some certainty, some sense of control. That factlessness seems to run amok in DC civic life is distressing to me.

I will say that's a fundamentally different issue from what is happening in Columbia Heights. But the point about different philosophies is still relevant. For people like me, urban vs. suburban design will always be the foremost and primary lens through which I view everything.

For people more focused on more convenient consumerism, without much appreciation or concern or knowledge about the principles of urban design, well, those issues don't matter. The Giant store is bigger and newer than the previous one on 14th Street, but it's not a fundamental leap forward in supermarket development, comparable to what leading edge companies such as Ukrop's, HEB Central Market (Texas), Whole Foods, and others are doing across the country.

I wrote an updated memorandum with additional arguments and photos and sent it to Giant-Stop and Shop-Ahold USA executives yesterday. I may or may not post it to the blog, but the point is that there is a great opportunity to creatively interpret even large "big box" stores such as the new Giant for the urban context.

Giant didn't do it.

But that doesn't mean that we can't approach other companies, such as Safeway, which are opening urban locations in other parts of the city.

Below are some photos from the demonstration yesterday. Click through for larger images.









No bike rack.

"Sidewalks for feet, cars in the street." From this image (not doctored--I'm not that good of a photographer) you wouldn't know that this is an urban location.

Click here for more images of supermarket-related issues.

MY HOUSE.... MY PROPERTY.... MY MONEY – MY CHOICE!!!!

From an anti-preservation property rights flyer in the heart of the District.

Vis-a-vis economic forces and the growth machine, I would say that "we hold these truths to be self-evident."

"National Heritage Areas: The War Over Words" from Capitalism Magazine: In Defense of Individual Rights is an article criticizing "national heritage areas" as land grabs. Note: said heritage areas are a way to codify, coordinate, and manage history and cultural resources and don't necessarily involve the creation of new parks and attractions.

This website, http://www.highway-robbery.org/, is about how federal lands are being wrecked by forced construction of roads.

Congressional Research Service Report on Property Rights.

And this sign, despite the language, was actually part of the political strategy against limiting smoking in public places in Lubbock Texas. Maybe I should send this photo to Carol Schwartz.

There are all kinds of niches in tourism marketing

Bloomberg News reports that "South African Shark Tourism Booms After Cape Town Attack" According to the article: "South African medical student Henri Murray was spear fishing off the coast of Cape Town, the counnewspaper stories across the country suggesting sharks have started targeting bathers, just like in the Jaws movie in 1975. It's also fueling a niche industry in South Africa, where British and German tourists line up to see the predators close up. ``When there is an attack, we get even more people phoning,'' said Kim MacLean, who has run shark diving trips near Cape Town since 1992, in an interview. ``It seems to boost interest.''


Also see "South Africa shark victim 'knew it was his time'"


Cage diving operators deny their shark feeding stunts have made South Africa's popular coastal waters unsafe for tourists and locals.

Maybe we have the opportunity to be more creative than I thought in marketing local history.

Bleeding edge policy at DC City Council

David Catania proposes expropriating prescription drugs and now this from Carol Schwartz... (whether or not you agree with smoking bans, I do think people have to accept that smoking smells and is an irritant to others; it's not just a matter of personal choice, it impacts other people).

From the Business Journal: "D.C. Council's Schwartz: Ban alcohol along with smoking in bars":

D.C. Councilwoman Carol Schwartz introduced a bill Tuesday that would ban the sale of alcohol in all bars, restaurants and nightclubs. Suddenly, the debate over a proposed smoking ban in D.C. is getting fun.

In what appears to be a statement against anti-smoking legislation, the councilwoman, D-at large, introduced "the Worker Occupational Safety and Health Amendment Act of 2005, Part II," a response to a public health bill that would ban smoking in bars and restaurants in the District. "I never thought I could ban drinking just because I didn't like it, but now I know I can," Schwartz says in a lengthy, satirical statement. "The impending smoking ban has empowered me."

Is that wine, or perhaps it's non-alcoholic?

Nuisance Property Television--More "cutting-edge" tv from the land of Desperate Housewives

DC Government broadcasts a variety of hearings, including those of City Council, on cable television. If you ever testify before Council, people will mention that they "saw you on tv." To see the DC Government Cable Television Schedule, click here.

This article from the Detroit News, "Suburbs weed out untidy lawns: Metro officials target unsightly yards as fed-up neighbors complain about unkempt property" discusses how some suburban Detroit communities are addressing nuisance properties.

Todd McInturf / The Detroit News. A notice hangs on the door notifying the owner of this West Bloomfield Township house to cut the grass. If it isn't taken care of, the township will cut the grass Tuesday at the owner's expense.

Obviously, we have the same problems in the city, and "Clean it and Lien it" programs don't seem to do that much when addressing recalcitrant property owners. For example, at a meeting last week, I learned that the city spends $2.5 million+/year cleaning up vacant properties.

From the article: "Left unaddressed, bad lawns and other eyesores irk neighbors and carry a price, experts say. "It has a huge impact on the property next door," said Patti Mullen, a Remerica Hometown One Realtor in Plymouth. "It deters more buyers, which means fewer offers and less money."

Bob Townsend can relate. His 1,300-square-foot home is within walking distance of downtown Northville, but he pulled it off the market earlier this year when few lookers came through. Next door is a vacant property with uncut grass and a dilapidated look."

There is something quite interesting in this article though, that bears consideration for DC:

Televised hearings and posted, placarded notices

Communities across Metro Detroit have different tolerance levels for lawn length, vehicle storage and home maintenance... City officials also have different ways of getting residents to clean up their act.

In Sterling Heights, five ordinance enforcement officers patrol the neighborhoods. The complaints ultimately land before the Board of Ordinance Appeals, a group of five residents appointed by the City Council to settle disputes. Offending homeowners are summoned to the City Council chambers. A poster-sized sign is placed in the front yard alerting neighbors to the hearing so they can attend and comment if they choose.

The hearings are shown on the city's cable television channel. At them, code enforcement officers use laptop computers to display digital photos of the offending property on a large screen in the council chambers. A cursor darts around the screen pointing to the most egregious violations. "A picture is worth a thousand words," said building official Michael Bartholomew."
_________
Maybe we need to think about expanding our thinking about hearings and broadcasting. Perhaps tactics such as these can help us better address these problems in DC.

From the Sterling Heights TV website:

"Watch your municipal representatives at work LIVE! Broadcast meetings include City Council, Telecommunications Commission, Planning Commission, Board of Zoning Appeals and the Ordinance Board of Appeals. "

Learning from the suburbs that sometimes City TV might not go far enough.

The Spectrum-Continuum of Public Participation

From the International Association of Public Participation.

That's Not My Giant -- More about Giant-Horning-- NCRC response

Plan to Address Pedestrian Safety Issues at Tivoli Square Giant Food
Statement by Sandra Fowler
Vice President for Asset Management
The RLA Revitalization Corporation
June 21, 2005

We are working with Giant Food, the developers, Councilmember Graham, Deputy Mayor Stan Jackson and the appropriate District agencies to address the safety issues raised by the community regarding the parcel pick up at the Giant in Tivoli Square. Giant agreed to make the temporary and permanent changes to satisfy the DC Department of Transportation’s (DDOT) requirements for pedestrian safety.

DDOT will issue an interim public space permit that establishes:
· A 14.5 foot wide sidewalk along the front face of the store;
· A 12 foot wide parcel pickup lane, which is a 30 percent reduction in width over the previous plan;
· A 9 foot wide ‘traffic island’ to separate the customer pick-up area from Park Road traffic; and
· The placement of bollards and new street trees to clearly delineate the pedestrian-safe routes.

This interim plan will assure pedestrian safety as the developer and DDOT develop and implement a permanent plan over the next 30 days.

Tivoli Square is one of the Columbia Heights developments made possible through NCRC’s subsidiary, the RLA Revitalization Corporation.

_______
My response:

This statement is definitely more about the car, and less about making great public places.

"Think different" shouldn't just be limited to Nike.

Chicago Independent Grocery Store in a historic building.

You could have just as easily required Giant-Horning to make the Park Road facade engaging and open to the public space, one that strengthens the public realm by reaching out and connecting to the street and thereby adding to the vitality of the street experience.

Astoria, New York City

What if Giant would have put the produce section on the street, like a green market, and opened up this more like a patio?

Outside the Andronicos Grocery Store in Berkeley, California

By definition, suburbanizing the city by favoring and catering to the automobile destroys the vitality and competitive advantage of the city by promoting the car over the pedestrian.

We have so many opportunities to strengthen and extend urban vitality and time after time the city seems to blow it.

Given the millions of city and federal dollars "invested" in this project, this is extremely disheartening.

Proof that Urban Renewal didn't work

Shulman Market, Southwest DC, sometime in the late 1930s. Photo by Louise Rosskam, Farm Security Administration.

Waterfront Mall, Southwest quadrant, Washington, DC.

Lies in the fact that Southwest DC, the original demonstration project for urban renewal, is desperately seeking renewal plans for "Waterfront" Mall.

Something I wrote today on another list:

Places like Georgetown and the Southwest were significantly impacted by Federal action; the SW in particular was one of the first demonstration projects for urban "renewal."

The fact is that historic preservation laws were written in response to these virtually unchallengeable actions. Fortunately, times changed.

And the fact is that the City of Washington is one of the few center cities that is resurgent. This is due to the retention of attractive neighborhoods of historic residential building stock. Whether designated or not it's the historic neighborhoods that are the building blocks of the revitalized city.

On the other hand, Southwest DC, 50 years later, is looking for another "urban renewal" because the last one didn't take. Meanwhile, the neighborhoods of historic residential building stock continue to be attractive places live and are in high demand, a demand that like urban renewal, threatens to change neighborhood character in significant ways.

To equate urban renewal (demolition, displacement) or similar acts such as the Georgetown Reclamation Act with historic preservation is a serious misreading of history and the place of ordinary citizens vis-a-vis the power of the Federal Government.

Protest Giant's Sidewalk Theft: Wed., June 22, 6 pm

(From Cheryl Cort, Washington Regional Network for Livable Communities)

Location: on the public sidewalk in front of the new Giant Foods store onPark Road near 14th St.

For more information contact: Martin Baldessari; Tel. 328-1155

BACKGROUND: The developer of the new Giant supermarket on Park Road at 14thStreet built an extra parcel pick-up driveway on the sidewalk in front of the Giant, after failing to receive required permits to build in the public space due to pedestrian safety concerns. The city's recently announced "compromise" still allows vehicles to drive on the sidewalk, allocating most of the public space to private cars.

Giant's curb cuts allow vehicles to drive up onto and along the sidewalk in front of the store's entrance. Inviting cars to drive and park on the sidewalk is: (1) dangerous to pedestrians & wheelchair users, (2) violates the community public realm plan, (3) illegal, built with no permits, (4)unnecessary because a parcel loading area is provided in the parking garage, parcel loading could also be allowed in a "no parking - loading zone" in theparking lane along the curb. See photos:http://www.washingtonregion.net/Giant.html
__________________
ALSO, send email protesting the city's spinelessness to:

Stanley Jackson, Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, and
Mayor Anthony Williams

DC Visitor Transportation Study

Phil Wolf's comment made me check to see if I had put links to the National Park Service Transportation Study in my links section. I thought I did, but didn't. It's rectified, but you can check it out here as well: National Capital Parks-Central, DC Visitor Transportation Study.

I have written before the same point, that because Tourmobile royalties provide a significant chunk of change to the NPS, money desperately needed to maintain the NPS parks in the city, they are unlikely to challenge the status quo too much. This probably has something to do with NPS unease about the Downtown Circulator.

Check out this drawing which criticizes the Tourmobile approach to the reverence of history.

__________
From the 12/4/2004 Washington Post:

Mall Transportation Service Revisited

The National Park Service is considering revamping its transportation services on the Mall, including reducing available parking in one area. Park Service officials presented seven transportation alternatives yesterday at a public meeting at the Old Post Office Building. The ideas seek to improve how visitors experience and get around the Mall, focusing primarily on tour bus service and routes.

One alternative calls for expanding tour bus routes the Park Service oversees to include a broader area of downtown. Another explores the question of allowing visitors to rent Segways, the two-wheeled scooters. Yet another option includes reducing the amount of parking for private vehicles on Madison and Jefferson drives to create a more pedestrian- and bus-friendly environment. Alexa Viets, a Park Service transportation planner, said the reduced parking idea is one of many being considered. She said a preferred alternative is scheduled to be announced in the spring.

The public is invited to offer feedback on the ideas until the end of the year at ncr_transportation_study@nps.gov.

More Segs in the City

Erstwhile Dr. Transit correspondent Phil Wolf called out Dr. Transit for using an obviously doctored photo about "our" president. My flickr site does have the other photo, and clearly the Segway website newsletter was the source for others in the sequence.

As usual, Mr. Wolf offers some trenchant observation about Segways and Metro:

As a man of vision and pragmatism, you were surely drawn especially to the last, craziest, sentence in the Washington Post article, where the General Manager shares his worry that Metro will be overrun by Segways. The sky would sooner turn to yogurt! Here's why.

Never mind the crowds for a moment. Just try to imagine a line of lawyers-with-Segways waiting twenty minutes on the Farragut North platform for their turn to begin an odyssey of two elevators, first to the mezzanine, then to the exit.** Metro's elevators meter luggage very slowly into and out of stations. They also sometimes get stuck for a few hours. Commuters won't stand for the delays; joyriders won't find it much fun. I don't see Metro getting overrun by Segways!

This visionary says: If Segways ever "take off", it will be with "park-and-ride" facilities at the suburban stations; folks might enjoy the fresh air on their way to the Metro station, without the hassle of lugging the Segway downtown. Or it will be with commuters like the Mr Kanaley featured in the Post article, who got rid of his car and gets to work on a Segway, without help from Metro.

Yes, local governments in a panic about air quality pay for "Guaranteed Ride Home", subsidize Metro, and collaborate with Flexcar and Zipcar... all in an effort to convince a few people to relinquish their private car for the general good. But Mr Kanaley did even better: if a commuter on Metro is better than a commuter in a private car, then a commuter out on a Segway is better than a commuter in Metro. Biking and walking - better still. But on the whole, more commuters like Mr Kanaley would be a good thing for Metro riders, and therefore motorists too. Absent a problem, why put up obstacles?

By the way: The National Park Service, which the Post says prohibits Segways from some DC streets that aren't really DC streets, gets a cut from Tourmobile tickets. As for Metro - now that's a puzzle.

Maybe people could sell advertising for their Segways and have a different form of subsidized commute?

Brooklyn Resurgent

Special feature in the New York Times, printed and distributed only in NYC. Online here: "The New Brooklyns." "With 2.5 million people, the borough is bigger than San Francisco, Boston, Atlanta and St. Louis combined. The population is approaching the historic high of 1950, when Brooklyn was home to 2.74 million."

Fulton Street in the 1940s.

Land of the Free and Home of the Timid?

Illegal curb cut at Giant Supermarket, Tivoli Square, Columbia Heights.

I have been doing some drudge text entry from a couple decade old document that is about the history of early Washington, including the period before the United States was created, and it's incredibly fascinating to see how issues that concern us today were the same kinds of issues that were on the minds of people back then.

However, life then was a lot harder, and the inalienable right to buy cheap consumer goods wasn't foremost on people's minds. (Think back to the time when the Maryland Colony made Aglicanism the official religion, organized the colony into parishes, and taxed all households 40 pounds of tobacco/year to support the clergy and the construction of churches--this certainly puts the whole separation of church and state argument in perspective.)

Don't Tread on Me ... because you're in the way of my SUV?

Natalie Avery writes on the Columbia Heights email list--

Jay Philips argues that Giant and Horning Brother’s usurping of public space for a driveway at the new Giant is insignificant and not worth protesting. He then goes on to list some of the other serious negative repercussions of the city’s development policies as more worthy of picketing, including persistent homelessness, poor public schools and lack of affordable housing. I too wish there was more widespread and organized resistance to all the social ills and policy failures Jay Phillips lists. But I cannot agree that this particular episode is insignificant. Giant and Horning turned what could have been a vibrant, dynamic urban space into an ugly, unsafe parking lot. They did so illegally and in total violation of the public realm plan that dozens of residents and city workers spent countless hours crafting.

Beyond its trashing of promised public space, this whole episode sends a strong message both to other developers dealing with the law and with concerns of the local community and to residents hoping and trying to have a say in how the community would look and feel. It also says a lot about the competence of the regulatory authorities who were supposed to protect the integrity of our community’s public space.

Giant and Horning correctly assumed (as is apparent on this list) that, once they built the driveway, residents desperate for the store to open would resist any efforts to correct the situation, thereby giving political cover to weak city leaders who have acted with characteristic meekness in the face of this massive violation of public trust. Sure enough, the deputy mayor’s office has decided basically to let it go, forging a compromise that is only marginally better. Our city leaders once again sold out the interests of ordinary residents to multimillion dollar business interests. This latest episode follows the same vivid pattern of betrayal and weakness that infects our city’s urban development policy and practices.

This will only change if people start organizing and fighting for a more humane set of development priorities, more accountable leaders and stronger protection of the public interest. Where were the City’s regulatory authorities and leaders? After denying Horning’s application for permits to build the driveway, why didn’t they stay on top of the situation and stop it before the driveway was built - especially given the visible pace of construction at this stage? Their negligence has been devastating. It’s just one more example of the warped priorities of the William’s administration, the pervasive incompetence of DC’s regulatory authorities, and the widespread contempt city leaders have shown for ordinary residents - and even city planners - who were deceived into believing they actually had a voice in the urban planning process.

Rather than dropping this, as Jay Phillips suggests, this dreary incident may have benefits if it will galvanize some people to get more involved in building something better. Only then will we deal effectively with weak political leaders who speak out only for the highest bidder, with regulatory agencies staffed with incompetent cronies and with the general complacency of a discouraged citizenry. Otherwise, we are complicit in shaping a rather bleak future for our city.

This is the problem as I see it. It is disheartening to read posts decrying efforts to hold lawbreakers accountable. I believe it is important to keep fighting - and to continue making the linkages between this and the other issues that Mr. Phillips lists.

Beloved building vulnerable because it is not a landmark

Wrigley Building in Chicago.

Two of my favorite architecture writers, Blair Kamin of the Chicago Tribune and Beth Dunlop of the Miami Herald ("Our homes away from home at risk") have written recently about how the real estate market threatens landmarks, especially those that aren't designated. Dunlop's article is about hotels threatened by demolition or condo conversion, and Kamin writes about the Wrigley Building in Downtown Chicago. Because there isn't the demand for office space that there once was, plus tenants prefer "Class A" space ready for the latest and greatest in telecommunications networking and other conveniences, many buildings in what were once major commercial centers, find that these days, their "highest and best use" lies in residential conversion.

More Modern Rowhouses

Inga Saffron, urban design writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer, likes these buildings. I'm not so sure. See "Redefining the Rowhouse" and the project website, www.ragflats.com, for more.

From the project website:

Rag Flats is an experiment in specifically “urban” and sustainable forms of dwelling. Located in the Fishtown neighborhood of Philadelphia, Rag Flats gets its name from the former Rag Factory which occupied the site in the previous century. It has been recontextualized into a residential garden community created by four distinct and prototypical forms of dwelling commonly found in the City: the Row House, the Trinity, the Loft and the Pavilion. As such, Rag Flats very intentionally explores the relationships between density, intimacy and privacy present in any urban community.

As a “sustainable” project, Rag Flats will become the first community in Philadelphia in which the majority of electricity for the eleven units in the community will be supplied through a 30kw rooftop photovoltaic panel system. Additionally, all rainwater runoff is collected in a 6000 gallon cistern to be recycled for the community’s outdoor use. Heating for all units is supplied through an efficient gas fired “radiant” floor system. All units come with high efficiency cooling systems, Energy Star appliances, hard-wired cable, satellite, high speed internet, telephone, telecom and central audio systems. All units have private outdoor spaces, balconies and rooftop decks. Materials and finishes include: vertical grain bamboo flooring, slate and ceramic tile, slate countertops and stainless appliances. Off street parking is provided and public transportation is a five minute walk and encouraged.

New York Times article on U Street revitalization

"National Perspectives: A Revitalization For Washington's U Street Corridor"

Segs in the City

Segways are not as easy to ride as you might think...

Are Segways another example of a technology "solution" in search of a problem to solve? Bikes provide a lot more mobility and cost about $4,000 less (especially if you buy used). Bikes actually provide an opportunity to exercise, and in comparison are easier to store.

Yesterday's Post, in "Gliding Roughshod Over Convention: Policymakers Wonder What to Do About Regulating Travel by Segway," discusses the Segway in the context of DC, and how local policy makers are considering it. I don't see Segways that often, yet, but I do see them. For information on Nightime tours of Washington, DC by Segway, click here.

According to the article:

Particular attention is being paid to the way Washington handles this. Not only is the nation's capital seen as the ideal Segway city, because of its open spaces and sidewalks with ample ramps, but it is also host to the national Segway convention this fall. "Nationally, a lot of people are looking to see what we're going to do," said Metro Transit Police Chief Polly Hanson, who made clear her distaste for Segways at a recent meeting during which she urged that the transit system impose a rush-hour ban on them.

As silent herds of tourists mounted on the machines glide through popular vacation spots and handfuls of commuters float past walkers, city and state lawmakers are stitching together a patchwork of laws and codes without knowing quite what they're dealing with.

"It really is an emerging technology, and there's no federal code or law that talks about Segways," said Alexa Viets, the National Park Service's transportation manager for the Mall, where Segways have been banned pending further review. "A lot of people are trying to figure it out."

I vote "no." What do you think?

Last week, the New York Times also had an article about Segways, "In Halls of Albany, a Decidedly Unsqueaky Pair of Wheels Get the Grease," focusing on the lobbying campaign in Albany for favorable lawmaking.

Segway in the City. Mario Tama, Getty Images.

Out-of-Home Promotion Resources-Ideas

Pershing Square in Manhattan, site of a major "Out of Home" campaign by British Airways.

Places like Manhattan abound with advertising in public places. I am of two minds about this. What is overkill and a wrecking of spaces, and what is a good way to reach people, add vitality and interest to the street, and raise money for organizations like Main Street programs?

This article from Media Life, "Your client lunching at an outdoor cafe--Alfresco: Messages on umbrellas and signage," is a pretty good introduction to the practice. So is the Great Outdoor Network website.

Coffee sleeve marketing. For more info, check out "Your jive on a cuppa joe: Hands-on experience with coffee sleeve messages."

I've always thought that coffee sleeves provide great advocacy promotion opportunities.

Same with table tents in local restaurants in Main Street districts and in cafeterias of local institutions such as hospitals, schools, and colleges.

This campaign, "Water: Use it Wisely" has lots of great examples of "Out of Home" advocacy media--including this table tent. But table tents can be simple, and with widespread availability of color printers and desktop publishing software, most any community organization has the means to do this.

Nonprofit organizations can even get free color laser printers, if they can commit to printing a great deal of color copies over the course of a year. They get you on the supplies. But still, it can be cheaper than paying for printing. And as the Xerox ads say, you can get a 30% or more lift in response, which justifies the somewhat increased costs. Check out http://www.freeprinters.com/index.php for more information.

Are there no more good (commercial) opportunities left in DC?

Central National Bank Building, Richmond, VA. Photo courtesy of Mary Ann Sullivan, Bluffton College. Douglas Jemal plans to completely renovate the art deco Central National Bank building at 219 E. Broad St. into Class A office space. He purchased the building in April for $5.2 million.

Today's Richmond Times-Dispatch updates us on the latest doings of Doug Jemal, in Richmond, in the report "D.C. Developer is Moving In: Renewing Richmond landmarks." I had mentioned this a couple months back that Douglas Development is increasingly active in Richmond.

The article reports that Douglas Development owns ten large properties in Richmond and is actively seeking other properties. Although Baltimore is closer, it has plenty of developers such as Streuver Bros. Eccles & Rouse, comfortable with large scale adaptive reuse projects, although Douglas Development owns a fair amount of property in Prince George's County, in Hyattsville, Riverdale, and Bladensburg among others, and perhaps some in Montgomery. Perhaps Richmond offers extra-normal returns in today's overheated commercial real estate market.

At one time the company had sought to sell much of its portfolio of buildings in the Washington region ("Developer Looks to Anacostia: Southeast Waterfront is Next Target for Douglas Jemal" and "Is now the time to cash out" from the Washington Business Journal).

While some sales have been made ("Jemal's land sale signals NoMa is gaining ground"), the company is no longer looking to sell--after all, Doug is known for "portfolio" investing--buying properties and holding them for a long time until he has a good plan and/or tenants lined up. And he is known for being one of only a few DC developers that is interested in and unafraid of historic buildings.

Speaking of bus transit ... in Maryland

This is a really hot issue in Maryland, as the Mass Transit Administration wants to yield $5 million in cuts. The Baltimore Sun points out that while the bus system needs to be reviewed, forcing cuts isn't necessarily the best way to go about promoting public transportation.

See the editorial "End of the lines" from Wednesday, "State seeks public's input on modifying bus routes: Plan could reduce service in northern half of county" about a hearing in Anne Arundel County, "Taxpayer subsidies for MTA routes", and this report "Hundreds gather to decry bus route changes: Riders predict hardships; MTA leaders skip hearing" where "as of 5:30 p.m., about 675 people had shown up and 107 had spoken at the hearing, which was scheduled from noon until 8 p.m", as well as this editorial, "Not in Service," from last week.

Washington 45th out of 50 in "Clean City" (Sanitation) rankings

According to this feature in Readers Digest, 50 Cleanest (Dirtiest) Cities in America, Washington doesn't do too well in sanitation, although rankings range from 12-25 on air, water, toxics, and hazardous waste.

While I was doing some image research, I came across this program in Canada (speaking of social marketing-public communications, etc.)

A part of the St. John's, Newfoundland Clean and Beautiful Campaign--another great example that big cities can learn from smaller places...

Children are into transportation, particularly railroads and transit. Maybe this is an interest that can be leveraged for both transit and litter.

An opportunity to promote rail?

Light rail in Australia.

Advocacy Tactics Roundup

Discussion on the Columbia Heights email list has gotten a little heated over the value of picketing the opening of the Giant Supermarket because of the Giant-Horning illegal seizure of public space. Some people say yes, others don't want to hurt Giant's feelings. Among other things, I wrote this:

"IMO (forged by working for a consumer group that had some Nader-lineage), if you think that you have to roll over and take it so that they come, that hardly encourages companies to respect community needs, character, and concerns, just because you are seemingly desperate for places to spend your money.

Frankly, law breakers don't have "clean hands" and if the city wanted to play hardball they could deny the Certificate of Occupancy outright. If you don't stand up, you have no leverage whatsoever. And companies know that most people don't care enough to challenge them to begin with."

So for the roundup:

1. Today's Washington Post has an ad on the Federal page, a page with a high readership amongst federal workers, including those who work for Congress, by Mother Jones Magazine about their June issue and the article within about ExxonMobil and the way it supports "junk science and fake journalism" by supporting organizations that produce reports supporting their positions. Click here for "As the World Burns." (Note to Mother Jones: speaking of information architecture, if you're gonna pay for an expensive ad in the Washington Post, put your website URL in the ad, and reconfigure your home page to direct people to the article, perhaps with a special Flash feature. Otherwise you're wasting your money--unless everyone runs out to buy the issues at newsstands.)

2. Not quite so hard-hitting, yesterday's NYT has a similar type of ad on the op-ed page, paid for by JPMorgan, part of a series that supports nonprofit organizations. Yesterday's solicited funds for the Central Park Conservancy. Note that Coldwell Banker (Don Denton) on Capitol Hill provides a similar opportunity to Capitol Hill area groups, in the back page ads that they run in the Hill Rag and the Voice of the Hill.

3. Yesterday's Times also reports an interesting advocacy tactic in the "Arts, Briefly" column:

Telling It to City Hall, 21st-Century Style

Landmark West, a neighborhood advocacy group, passed out prepaid cellphones yesterday morning in front of 2 Columbus Circle, urging passers-by like Stephanie Rosenblatt (below with Mireille Martineau of Landmark West) to call Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg to request a hearing on the 1960's building. Landmarks West said that about 200 people made calls and that one woman got through to the mayor. On Thursday at 6 p.m., the group plans to form a "circle of support" around the building's famous lollipop base to bring further attention to its efforts to persuade the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission to hold a hearing on the building, designed by Edward Durell Stone to house the modern art collection of the businessman Huntington Hartford. It is to be reconstructed as the Museum of Arts and Design, designed by Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works Architecture in collaboration with Gary Edward Handel & Associates. ROBIN POGREBIN -- I think this is an interesting idea--war dialing whomever on whatever. It's certainly not a new tactic, but we need to be reminded from time to time.


Protest sign in Brussels, calling for a UK vote on the EU Constitution. (Reuters photo.)

4. Usually you see this more as ad signs tooling around city streets, from such companies as Street Blimps, advertising on buses, and the home painted buses, usually related to religion or some other transgression on the city's streets. But pro-city advocates can use this technique also.

5. Robert Kuttner, editor of the American Prospect, writes in the column "Head in the Sand," that our leaders are not dealing with issues that matter--"SOMEWHERE, in a parallel universe, real leaders in a country very much like our own are dealing with real problems. Imagine what America might be like if our top officials were addressing the genuine challenges that confront us."

One point on "the list of things to do is" "Repairing American Democracy" where he says:

"In that other universe, the president surely would have enlisted America's allies to combat terrorism. Had war between the United States and Iraq come, it would have come with the full participation of the world community, so that Iraq's reconstruction and the burden of keeping it secure would have been broadly shared instead of falling upon American taxpayers and GIs...

Repairing American democracy. American citizens still have no assurance that their votes will be accurately counted. Big money is crowding out citizen participation in politics more grotesquely than ever. More ominously, our ability to decide to rise up and throw the rascals out is being eroded by partisan trickery."

6. While looking for a photo, I found this photo from a section on "Teaching with documents" on the Howard University website:

Howard University website, Teaching with Documents.

Now I suppose what matters most is getting a good deal on a Michael Graves-designed appliance.

More on one-way streets and crime

As an aside in an earlier posting in the week, I mentioned that my suggestion that the one-way routing of certain streets in the H Street neighborhood be reconsidered, because it appears that these traffic patterns support crime and disorder.

Erstwhile Dr. Transit correspondent Phil Wolf had this to say:

A policeman remarked that outlaws prefer to set up shop on one-way streets because keeping a lookout is easier. Moreover, a car can pull over to make a business deal on a 2-lane one-way street without getting in anyone's way.

Coordinated Main Street Fundraising--Another First from Boston

Boston is the site of the first city-wide Main Street program. One of the advantages of city-wide programs is critical mass and the ability to develop a local training infrastructure cost-effectively. A major disadvantage is that you have fundraising competition and cacophony as all the programs (Boston has 19; DC has 12) approach the same potential funders year after year.

According to this editorial, "Main attraction", from last Saturday's Boston Globe, June 11, 2005, The Boston Main Streets program has addressed this by creating a foundation "tasked" with coordinating proposals and raising funds for all the Main Street programs.

From the editorial:

SOME OF the city-sponsored groups responsible for revitalizing neighborhood business districts are starting to look a little rickety themselves, due to tight municipal budgets and weak fundraising. But the fortunes of the Boston Main Streets programs should improve with the recent creation of a nonprofit foundation dedicated to raising funds for the 19 Main Streets districts extending from Maverick Square in East Boston to West Roxbury's Centre Street. Last week, 38 restaurateurs from Boston's Main Street districts ringed the hall of the Cyclorama building in the South End and served signature dishes to hundreds of Boston's downtown business leaders who had gathered to support the foundation. The event raised more than $325,000 for storefront improvements and beautification of local commercial districts. It was harder to calculate the value of the exchange of business cards between the food vendors -- among them many new immigrants -- and downtown movers and shakers.

That's serious money!

Metrobus Peer Review Report

Connecticut and R Streets NW.

The headline from today's Washington Post article about Metrobus, "Review Finds Metrobus in Decay: Outside Experts Say System Needs Investment" strikes me as belaboring the obvious. In a region that doesn't invest enough money in transit, where the funding of the WMATA system is not dedicated, but subject to annual decisions of each constituent jurisdiction (counties from Maryland and Virginia, the state governments, the District of Columbia), I hope that no one is surprised. Not to mention that bus service traditionally is used most often by lower-income folks, and bus service tends to lose out in favor of more "glamorous" transportation such as the subway.

The article is centered around the peer review report of the system, conducted via the American Public Transportation Association, the national professional organization for the industry.

I complain about WMATA's not putting documents online, but I discovered that part of this is more a matter of information architecture and organization, not a lack of disclosure. If you click on the Board of Directors tab, and then the agenda, and drill down further into that, lo and behold, you can access the report. Instead of doing all that, just click here.

Note to WMATA: work on how you organize and offer this information to the public. Plus, put up more planning documents (such as origin and destination research), and if you aren't going to reorganize this information to make it more searchable and accessible so that it is (more) useful, keep the Board agenda packets available in an online archive, organized in a year-by-year fashion.

According to the Post article, guess what, "The bus panel found room for improvement in the equipment, operations, driver training and maintenance of Metro's 1,460 bus fleet" and

"White agreed with the panel's findings and said that while Metrorail has gotten attention and dollars, the bus system has languished. "It has really taken a back seat," he said. Part of the problem is that several suburbs that help pay for Metro service also operate their own bus systems, and their allegiance -- and financial support -- is divided, said D.C. Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), who represents the District on the Metro board of directors. "We don't have a unified approach for bus, as we do for rail," he said.

The review, which I haven't read yet, calls for:

- adding bus route supervisors to limit bunching;
- supervisors to ride each route at least three times/year to assess service and systems;
- daily pre-run inspections of each bus;
- a full-time fleet of bus drivers;
- developing a facilities plan and reviewing maintenance and repair practices;
and a whole lot more.

Other resources to review when considering bus service include WMATA's Regional Bus Study, the report on Transit Waiting Environments from the Urban Design Center of Cleveland, and this resource guide on Building Bus Ridership.

Soldiers Home Development Proposal

The Washington Business Journal reports in "Military retiree center wants developers for 125 acres" that the Armed Forces Retirement Home "plans to lease nearly half its 276-acre Northwest campus to private developers as its seeks to add perhaps 8.7 million square feet of residences, retail and office space just west of The Catholic University of America. The federally owned retirement community, which houses about 1,000 veterans, says it no longer needs those 125 acres and wants to make money off the land. It will ask developers to submit bids of interest this fall. "

From the United Neighborhood Coalition in the Petworth neighborhood--

The complete Soldiers Home development draft Environmental Impact Statement is downloadable but this is a 16 MB file that can make for avery slow download.

FYI, individual chapters (easier to download and navigate) are hosted at the United Neighborhood Coalition website. Just click on "Click here for the draft Soldiers Home EIS" below the main page's "Welcome!" message.

Chapter 2 has the best information for a basic understanding of the proposed development -- look at the maps and tables. Note that just parcel/zone 6 (the parcel just two blocks from the Georgia Ave.-Petworth Metro station) is slated for up to 1,000,000 sq. ft. of development -- equivalent to 500 new rowhouses! -- up to 8 stories high and with more than 1,000 parking spaces.

Our first real community meeting on this issue is from7:00 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday (6/15) at MPD's ROC North-- 801 Shepherd St., NW -- in Room 245. The public hearing on the draft EIS will be at the Soldiers Home on June 22. See http://www.afrhdevelopment.com/ for more about the hearing -- public participation is IMPORTANT!

_________
In response to the WBJ article, someone wrote this on the Columbia Heights email list:

I think a blance can be struck, with somre green space and some commercial/ residential development. It's certainly not a bad thing. Of course, I know how some people freak out when the word "development" is used. Bringing tourism to that area is great, too. Let people from out of town spend their money in DC!

Jim Weiner wrote this in response, and surprisingly he got a number of responses saying he is a bitter, mean person:

That's right. Some of us bristle at "development" as an unqualified, unquestioned good. For example, "development" to "solve" problems that a sane and sustainable federal policy towards veterans used to address, but no longer do (hey, got to pay for those massive tax cuts, corporate give-aways, and our state of perma-war)

Great. Another sell-off of green space for development (just what we need: more condos and stores). What's next: Rock Creek Park?

Let's see. Because potential developers are salivating over the money they'll make, this is automatically good thing? Buzzards salivate over carrion too.

I don't see any "balance" when green space is being irrevocably gobbled up. I see shortsightedness and erosion. I also see a legacy of gross irresponsibility that future generations will rue. Why not a wildlife refuge? Or at least multi-use green space. Oh, I guess that isn't "highest and best use." Excuse me.

A couple more stores and condos will drive tourism? Give me a break. Our city is for sale in a joint federal-local conspiracy to undermine any notion of the public trust. And you're happy about it.

This photo on the above-mentioned website doesn't do a very good job communicating about development of the Soldiers Home site in DC.

What Would Jesus Do?

Photo by Thomas Anderson. On the pro-urb email list, there is a thread now about accommodating churches as neighborhoods change, in particular when properties become more valuable.

One person discussed the negative impact in a particular situation, in a Downtown neighborhood in a Florida city, which included massive new construction opposed by neighbors, and she ended her email with this sentence: "Who'd have thought spirituality could be such a bad neighbor?"

My response:

Me. At times.

In disinvested cities churches often acquire a great number of nearby properties. Subsequently, the properties are often warehoused-mothballed, neglected, demolished, etc.

The strong historic preservation laws in DC are a direct result of buildings being demolished by the Capitol Hill Baptist Church, when it was discovered that listing on the National Register didn't preclude non-federal demolitions. The Church's justification was in part, that they "couldn't afford the upkeep" of the buildings so it was better to demolish. Ironically, 25 years later, the empty lots were replaced with period-similar (but larger) buildings that are now each worth over $1.5 million.

Unfortunately, I can think of at least three situations in different parts of the city where churches have neglected historically eligible for listing buildings, at times illegally demolished such buildings (including buildings in historic districts), and created illegal parking lots.

I am not a big fan of churches with big property portfolios.

The good thing about the increase in demand for housing in the District is that churches can no longer afford to construct vast property portfolios. Alas, they still have big property portfolios that they are able to neglect.

As the nation has deconcentrated people no longer live by and walk to church, so they drive. Then churches want to reshape the city fabric, through parking lots, to accomodate their automobile-centricity. Of course, tearing holes in the building fabric does not contribute to strong neighborhoods.

Parking-driving is an issue in other areas, even if not associated with the demolition of historic properties. E.g., where a church basically "expropriated" the playground of a local public elementary school as a parking lot with the complicity of public officials--wrecking the ability of the playground to be used by students--and the Church justified this because of their various community activities. Some neighbors fought this, and the Church eventually decided to leave the city.

Full disclosure: In 2003, I lost an attempt to save two 1876 frame rowhouses ultimately demolished by a church in my neighborhood. I am still bitter about it.

That Church, by its failure to act in other ways, has contributed through inaction to the serious street disorder in the vicinity of its properties.

I came to the conclusion that this was in fact a property acquisition strategy.

As long as the area was dangerous, the Church could acquire properties more cheaply, because of lack of demand.

Eventually, the market changed despite the extant (but somewhat reduced*) disorder, and they can no longer afford to acquire nearby properties. (*Some of the properties that housed many of the people who assisted and/or masked this disorder have finally been sold--not to the Church, which still owns adjacent, under-occupied properties that if sold could go for $600,000 each.)

They still aren't happy about this. Their anger over this change in the market contributed, imo, to their intransigence and unwillingness to take responsibility for their active demolition-by-neglect of the properties in question.
_____________
Catholic Church officials say razing the Rochambeau (right) would help highlight the restored Basilica of the Assumption (left).(Sun photo by Kenneth K. Lam) Jun 1, 2005

This is an issue in Baltimore right now as well, see "Church, preservationists in historic battle." The Archdiocese Of Baltimore is spending millions to restore its domed icon, the famed Basilica of the Assumption, and now Catholic Church officials want to make the most of those efforts - even if it means clearing the area around the landmark to best show it off.The church proposes razing a downtown apartment building it owns on the basilica's block, replacing it with a prayer garden. The archdiocese believes it has a religious right to the demolition, a right to recast the area to fulfill the church's vision. But preservationists say tearing down the nearly 100-year- old Rochambeau would leave a gaping hole in one of Baltimore's most historic corridors.

The Church also justifies the demolition because of the cost to renovate the building. In six letters to the editor--"Save Rochambeau from wrecking ball"--writers argue against this proposal. One makes the point "The Archdiocese was fully aware of the economic burden that it put on its own back when it purchased the Rochambeau in 2002. If it was not prepared to maintain the building, the Archdiocese shouldn't have bought it" while another writes:

"One of the goals of my association is to bring more taxpaying residents and businesses to Mount Vernon without jeopardizing the historic character of this special neighborhood. The destruction of the Rochambeau would have a negative impact on our neighborhood by reducing the number of nearby residents who would patronize local businesses and cultural institutions. By doing so, it would also reduce the income and sales taxes that go to the city of Baltimore. The demolition of the Rochambeau would be an act of cultural vandalism aimed at our architectural heritage."

Testimony: Confirmation Hearing--Ellen McCarthy, Director, DC Office of Planning

From yesterday. Interestingly enough, droves of people came out from the Upper Wisconsin Corridor to testify against the confirmation. They aren't happy with the "revitalization" proposal for that area, which calls for intensification and densification, particularly in areas near Metro stops. Even though this is really a part of sound urban planning, residents criticize this as bringing too many people to an already congested area.

I will say that I went up there in 2003 for one of the planning workshops which introduced an interesting interactive exercise (people were given different colored stickers that denoted types of retail--restaurant, coffee, groceries, etc.--and put them on a map of the region to indicate where they most often purchased such goods; I think this is a good exercise to use in Main Street commercial district revitalization to demonstrate to people that retail is regional). At the time, I even said to another OP person that I thought the then Ward 3 Planner was likely to be eaten alive--that he couldn't make it on H Street.

This by the way is another reason why I advocate for some general workshops across the city about the principles of urban design, using Death and Life of Great American Cities, Cities in Full, Cites: Back from the Edge, and Cy Paumier's Creating a Vibrant City Center as the primary texts. Without knowing what makes cities work and be better, citizens often advocate for policies and practices that can be profoundly anti-urban.

Back to Upper Wisconsin... as Jane Jacobs says, people are asking the wrong question, which shouldn't be "why aren't there enough roads?" but "why are there so many cars?" I allude to this in the testimony below about suburban vs. urban sensibilities in approaching planning issues.

And as Ellen pointed out in her own testimony, in apartment buildings along Connecticut Avenue, 50% or more of the building dwellers do not own cars, do not have children going to local schools, etc....

This is one of those few instances where I can actually use the term "smart growth" and really mean it.

__________
Before the City Council of the District of Columbia
Honorable Linda Cropp, Chairman
Committee of the Whole
June 14, 2005

My name is Richard Layman and I am a resident of Ward 6, and Founding Member and current Executive Director of the Ivy City Village Community Development Corporation (ICVCDC). We are developing a mixed use, light industrial, and residential revitalization program in the Ivy City neighborhood centered around the creation of a building trades and preservation arts workforce training program for adults. I am here before you today to convey our strong support for Ellen McCarthy’s confirmation as the Director of the DC Office of Planning (DCOP).

Over the past five years, I have become increasingly involved in local land use issues, starting in my own neighborhood and gradually city-wide. In these activities, I have come to realize that of all the issues that a city government deals with–from public health to schools, from policing to trash pickup--building and land use issues are most likely to impact and engage citizens to the point where they actually get involved in the activities and processes of local government.

That’s why it is so important to make the right choice for the Director of the Office of Planning.

In an era when half of the U.S. population doesn’t vote in national elections, and as documented in Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, in all aspects of community life American citizens are participating less, and dropping out, the number of people testifying before you today demonstrates how important planning and land use issues are to everyday citizens.

That says a lot about the importance of the Office of Planning to citizens and a myriad of other stakeholders, those who own property, work in, or visit the city, not to mention the federal government and our 536 uber-mayors–Members of Congress and the President of the United States.

With the vehemence of some of the testimony today, perhaps it is easy to forget how far the Office of Planning has come during the time that you have served as Council Chair. The Office of Planning had declined to but a handful of staffers with little direction, new residential construction was unheard of, people flocked to the suburbs to shop, and a myriad of other issues influenced too many people to live in places other than the City of Washington.

Times have changed.

At the same time, we must remember that urban planning is more than just what happens in one particular neighborhood or street. It is about building and maintaining great places to live and work. It recognizes what defines "sense of place" and local identity, respects our natural, artistic and historic heritage, understands "urban grain" and urban design, focuses on the primacy of pedestrians–not the car, considers transportation and infrastructure, and recognizes that successful economic development of an entire community includes assets of all types–people and organizations, not just buildings.

As the seat of the national government, Washington is also a "national" and an "international" city, and is the engine of the metropolitan economy. At the same time the city competes with other jurisdictions in the region for jobs, businesses, and residents. Every and any mis-step is seized upon by hungry competitors. This not only complicates the job of the Director of the Office of Planning, it makes it even more important and vital that the position be filled by someone able to balance the multiple and often conflicting constituencies involved in planning and land use issues.

I ask you to think about this appointment in that context, and with this in mind:

First, the primary planning and development paradigm in the United States over the past 60 years has been suburban; one that has promoted the growth of suburbia at the expense of the center city; and at the same time promoted an unmixing of uses–separate zones for living, work, and other activities–pods connected by automobiles traversing freeways and 8-12 lane arterials--an environment where people spend far too much of their time inside of cars.

Washington is a real city, urban and proud of it, not a suburb. But because most current residents of the District settled here after living elsewhere, too often they apply inappropriate suburban land use and development perspectives to the land use questions that come before us–perhaps not even recognizing that they are doing so.

Questions of density, height, mixed-use, transit, etc., are difficult, complicated, and nuanced, and answers appropriate to the urban context are fundamentally different from those of the suburbs.

Second, like only a few very fortunate center cities, Washington is experiencing a marginal but significant increase in demand for urban living. People want to live in vital and interesting "18 hour" neighborhoods such as Downtown or Dupont Circle and emerging neighborhoods such as 14th Street NW, the Uptown Destination District, or H Street NE (where as many as 1,300 units of housing are in development or planning stages just on 3rd and 4th Streets NE between H and L Streets).

The District has many such neighborhoods of historic residential and commercial buildings, where people aren’t dependent on cars to get around and they can walk to work and to stores, shops, restaurants, and other activities. But a downside in the intermediate run is that many of our neighborhoods are faced with rapid change–new residents, new development and plans for more, and increased demand for quality municipal services–which can be wrenching and difficult.

Third, the District is dependent on increasing property and income tax revenues to achieve a balanced budget, and as Jane Jacobs pointed out in the classic text Death and Life of Great American Cities, cities need a basic level of residential density and mixed uses to be successful and to be able to support a variety of retail and other uses.
Somehow we need to be able to accommodate these changes without diminishing the character and scale of the neighborhoods that make the city attractive in the first place. Figuring out how to do this is difficult and many people are dissatisfied with the process. On the other hand, it wasn’t that long ago that urban sociologists thought that cities experienced a cycle of birth, growth, and inevitable decline. Who thought that revitalization and growth would again be part of this cycle?

Fourth, the ongoing tension between Downtown and Big Projects such as convention centers, sports arenas, and baseball stadiums versus more ground-up and neighborhood-focused revitalization can likely be ameliorated but never eliminated. One of the ways to address this is to recognize the experience and lessons that the profession of urban planning offers to the successful execution of revitalization.

I have frequently testified before Council on historic preservation and related matters. I find it hard to believe that all too often, the City’s economic development agenda pays short shrift to architecture and history, which in fact are the defining elements of the District’s "competitive advantage" vis-a-vis cookie cutter Toll Brothers constructed subdivisions, strip shopping centers and malls of the suburbs, and the false–albeit successful–construction of "sense of place" through chain-populated lifestyle centers such as Pentagon Row.

Clearly, the knowledge of urban planning best practices needs to percolate up, down, and across the various branches of District Government and its agencies. Ellen McCarthy, with a long history of living in the District (although like most of us, she came here from somewhere else), is well situated to help move the District of Columbia forward on each of these dimensions.

Ms. McCarthy has been a strong proponent of neighborhood-based planning in a city where for many reasons, the concerns of the commercial center of the city, Downtown, will always be paramount.
As a Deputy Director of the Office, she managed successfully what I always thought of as an interesting, complementary, and at times oppositional portfolio–combining "development review," neighborhood revitalization, and historic preservation.

In the Ivy City neighborhood where I work today, Ms. McCarthy engaged OP in an "economic planning" study of the Cluster (Cluster 23). This study produced a far-reaching vision that intends to keep community residents front and center in the revitalization plan–when typically such people have been forced out as new projects make their way into distressed neighborhoods which then become "hot" and desirable.
Ellen McCarthy has been strongly supportive of our CDC’s efforts to develop a neighborhood and workforce revitalization program centered around the creation of a building trades and preservation arts training school and related micro-enterprise development. We hope to be a key driver in the execution and implementation of the revitalization plan for Cluster 23.

This example is important because as successful as the city is, many segments of the population and certain neighborhoods still face persistent poverty and astounding rates of unemployment.
It is vital that the Director of Office of Planning be focused on "Growing an Inclusive City," while at the same time harnessing and directing the growth of the commercial core of the city, which is dependent on its proximity to and the constant growth of the Federal Government, and the other successful areas of the city. Ellen McCarthy is the person who can balance this (at times) competing urban planning mission.

For that reason, I strongly encourage the City Council of the District of Columbia to confirm Ellen McCarthy to serve as Director of the DC Office of Planning.

Thank you for your consideration of this important matter before you.

Washington Times vs. the Washington Post on Star-chitects and Star-chitecture

Norman Foster's proposed canopy for the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery.

Deborah K. Dietsch writes in yesterday's Washington Times that it is "Time to rethink 'star-chitecture': Big names are costly". She says:

The demise of these projects underscores the city's conservatism when it comes to architecture. The larger problem, however, may be relying on star power to repeat past successes of building projects in other cities instead of coming up with truly imaginative designs supportive of our own.

Far from being visionary, the selections of Mr. Gehry and Mr. Foster, who are part of the architectural establishment, evidenced a conformist, me-too mentality. They aimed to copy costly blockbuster architecture that has turned a number of European cities into cultural tourism meccas.

The choices also reflect timidity on the part of the Corcoran and Smithsonian to embrace true design innovation. Instead of tapping lesser-known or younger talents who might develop more imaginative solutions, these institutions jumped onto the bandwagon of big-name architecture.

On the other hand, Mark Fisher, the metropolitan columnist for the Washington Post disagrees in "Panels' thoughts on architecture belong in a museum," writing that:

Foster's design for Washington was breathtaking. An undulating ceiling of glass panels would connect our city's 19th-century architectural tributes to Greece and Rome with our 21st-century passion for technological innovation in an open, transparent society. The courtyard -- site of Abe Lincoln's inaugural balls -- would add a contemporary accent while preserving the past. The resulting space would draw tourists, create a snazzy party venue and demonstrate that art is not all obsession with the dead. But trying to shoehorn the new into Washington's cityscape is never easy. The out-of-towners who run the federal arts commissions are busy rooting out architects' challenges to their fantasy of the capital as 19th-century theme park.
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I strongly disagree with Fisher. What he calls "19th-century theme park" I call a distinctive architectural and cultural history that comprises the competitive advantage-unique selling proposition that DC possesses vis-a-vis other communities.

Dietsch is more right than Fisher. At some level, the modern architecture of the Fosters and Rosches and Safdies is merely more of the same that's everywhere else. Making over DC like Bilbao or the Business School at Case Western University or Disney Hall isn't much different than making every decent sized suburban arterial road miles and miles of parking fronted strip shopping centers. If anyone thinks that the Michael Graves designed expansion of the Prettyman Federal Courthouse is really worth looking at, please let me know. Or how is Safdie's coming ATF headquarters any different or less brutal than the famed HUD headquarters in SW?

Prettyman Federal Courthouse expansion by Michael Graves. Like Station Place, it doesn't look "this good" as built.

Architecture and history are the defining elements of the competitive advantage of the Eastern Seaboard center cities. Rather than just tear it all down, it wouldn't hurt to know something about it.

Tinkertoy ad. Possible design influence on Michael Graves?

Recycling cans and architecture? Have architectural historians looked at the impact of everyday objects in design?

Summer, Curfews, and Year-Round School

An article in yesterday's Washington Times, "Summer times," talks about parental managing of children when school's out for the summer, which reminds me of something that I think we should seriously consider in DC: "year-round" schooling.

I thought this was something I wrote about in the blog before but I guess not (it was written elsewhere including in themail at www.DCWatch.com):

Ted Knutson asks [themail, March 13]: “if youth crime goes up on days when the schools are closed for snow (or the prediction of snow)?” How about being concerned about the reduction in opportunity to learn? One way to “reduce youth crime,” and more importantly to expand the community’s capacity to learn and grow, would be to expand the school year. If the average DC student starts off behind, let’s provide more time in school (N.B., I do understand that more of the same things not working isn’t necessarily better, but I have hopes that the curricular changes that are coming will be positive).

Suggestion One: how about a 210 or 220 day school year instead of 180 days? What better way to demonstrate DC’s commitment to K-12 education?

Suggestion Two: consider adopting a year-round school calendar. This could have at least three benefits, one that Ted would find of interest.

1) better utilization of school facilities that would require fewer school buildings overall;
2) elimination of the 2.5 month long summer break, which is a period where youth crime does increase; and
3) helping improve learning outcomes by reducing the time required for catch up and review in each subsequent year.
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Also see "Community Education and Neighborhood Schools" from the Neighborhood Planning meta-site.

Bikers vs. pedestrians

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that on the popular Lakefront Trail, frequent accidents occur, because bicyclists ride too fast, and pedestrians don't look before crossing. It's hard to mix traffic of such varying speed. And it seems very difficult to segregate use in the same spaces. This is a problem in Battery Park City as well. It's unlikely to be a problem with the forthcoming Metropolitan Branch Trail in DC, because while appealing to bikers, it's too far a walk from where people want to go to be attractive to pedestrians who have far better places to walk in DC anyway.

You (Don't) really like me--DC and its suburbs

Back in the late 1990s, I was at the holiday party for my job and the husband of the director commented to me that he didn't see how "any thinking person could live in DC as long as Marion Barry was mayor." I merely replied that it took me "15 minutes to get to work....by bike" whereas his wife commuted from Gaithersburg or Germantown (whatever, it began with a "G"). He was speechless.

Anyway, I have always said that the farther you live from the core, the more you don't like the center city. Someday, I hope to test this with an attitudes survey...

Also, in the thread last year on H-DC about the closure of the City Museum, an instructor from George Mason, J.F. Saddler wrote this:

This semester in my U.S. history surveys at George Mason, I assigned my students to evaluate the (potential) effectiveness of the City Museum and the "Washington Perspectives" exhibit. I gave them a detailed list of questions that asked about, among other things, accessibility of the museum, how well the museum and exhibit held their attention, ease of "use", and clarity of the story being told. In the overall exercise, I instructed them to read the museum and its exhibit as they would a written text or an image that I had given them in class--another way of conveying history and meaning.

The summary of 125 students' answers to the four basic issues above were:

1) Accessibility: Many were put off not by the location, per se, however they were indeed apprehensive about the museum's general environment. Although they realized that the Museum is in a transitional area of the city, they were uncomfortable with what some described as the gauntlet of people asking for money as they entered the grounds of the museum. They related this as well to the level of refuse strewn around the building. In sum, many of my students--almost all of whom are Northern Virginia suburbanites--averred that they would not recommend out of town guests to visit the museum for this reason alone.

This bears thinking about.

So I find this article about tourism marketing in the Philadelphia region, "Brandywine tourism board concentrates on short trips" to be worth thinking about from the perspective of building the reputation of DC amongst people in the region. From the article:

"A new leader at the Brandywine Conference & Visitors Bureau is setting a few commonly held tourism notions on their ear. Tore Fiore, who was named permanent executive director in May 2004, has focused the bureau on convincing tourists to come for weekend or even day trips, rather than longer stays, adopting the slogan, "Minutes away for a weekend or a day."

At the same time, he wants the organization to be truer to its roots, representing not just the picturesque Brandywine River Valley but also Delaware County as a whole. "I think [in the past] we ignored Delaware County itself. It has 551,000 residents. If it were a city, it would be the 53rd largest city in the country. But it's not marketed that way. We wanted to reintroduce the area to the residents of the county," said Fiore, who was first asked in January 2004 by the BCVB's board to be interim director. He was later made permanent CEO.

"Prior to me, we advertised everywhere in the regional market. We're now advertising to Delaware County and the Philadelphia metro area, five counties," but also, he said, targeting people within two to three hours driving distance, in Harrisburg, North Jersey, Baltimore/Washington and New York."

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After all, I once heard John Parsons of the National Park Service state that according to NPS surveys, 80% of the visitors to the National Mall are from the region.... If we can sell the local cultural heritage story to residents of the region, it will be an easier sell to people outside of the region.

More about DC Tourism Marketing

(think of this as a continuation of the entry from yesterday)

4. Another thing I keep meaning to write about is the recent production of a cultural heritage tourism map of the Appalachian Region, which appeared in the April issue of National Geographic Traveler Magazine (note to local cultural heritage advocates, publications like these are important and are must reads for getting good ideas and seeing best practices.) One of many articles about this project is "Promoting Appalachia: Commission encourages tourism in 13-state region," an AP article from today's online Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. (There was a conference in April in Asheville, co-sponsored by the Appalachian Regional Commission and the Handmade in America National Heritage Area about this and "Building Creative Economies" that I wanted to go to but just couldn't swing it. Handmade has done some interesting work in mapping the Creative Economy in Asheville and other communities.)

From the article:

The commission has partnered with the National Geographic Society to develop a "geotourism" map promoting an eclectic mix of more than 350 attractions reflecting the diversity of the 13-state region. Attractions include both the mainstream and the obscure, from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y., to what's billed as the oldest continuous flea market in Ripley, Miss. Also featured are Civil War sites, museums, parks, hiking trails, festivals, historic districts, spas and resorts, celebrity birthplaces, prehistoric Indian mounds and notable farms.

"This map delivers a taste of Appalachia's distinctive culture and heritage to a wide audience, exposing this 'undiscovered national treasure' to many first-time visitors," the ARC said in a news release. Anne Pope, co-chairwoman of the ARC, said the goal is to spur economic growth by drawing tourist dollars to the area. "ARC recognizes the economic potential of tourism for the region," she said. "This type of tourism encourages the preservation of a site's unique sense of place and strengthens its prospects for long term sustainability."
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Also see "ARC–National Geographic Geotourism Project Geotourism Map Guide to Appalachia," which links to the online version of the map. I will say that like a lot of NGS maps, it's probably somewhat difficult to use from a trip planning perspective (which has five stages: dream; plan; book; go; come back -- from an article about Lonely Planet Travel Guides in an April issue of New Yorker Magazine).

I think we need to do something similar for DC's local history. I would make a map with one side focusing on the local cultural heritage experience and the other on the National-Federal architectural and history experience that for 99.9999999% of people in the world, defines Washington, DC.

A portion of one of the signs on the DC African-American History Trail.

5. Last week, the Richmond Times-Dispatch introduced a new feature on Friday, a two-page "pull-out" of things to do on the weekend. It's easy to fold up and take with you. It's called Weekend Update, and while they have it online as a text file, it really works best in print. (For those of you with burning interest, pick up a copy next Friday.)

Similarly, I think that we need to do something similar for the local cutural experience. The long emails from the various groups with a myriad of things to do, not super-well organized, are overwhelming and increasingly un-useful--I pretty much delete them now without looking at them.

We could still do those kinds of emails (but better organized), but how about a link to a 2-page or 4-page printable Adobe Acrobat file of the week's Cultural activities? (which is something that the Richmond Times-Dispatch should do as well)

NY Times review of Death and Life of Great American Cities--From 1961

In the last week, I've been involved in some spirited discussions of some stuff in the Columbia Heights and H Street neighborhoods (not to mention historic designation in Brookland, for which I am getting excoriated by someone appears to be far beyond reason). The former has been discussed in the blog, the "taking" of public space by Giant Supermarkets-Horning Development in the Tivoli Square, which I am happy to say, I received an email from a DC government official of whom I have the greatest respect, who says that this is under control and a 22 foot wide sidewalk will result.

The other has been an email thread that I initiated, that I haven't included in the blog, about the idea of changing the one way pair of streets: G Street NE going west, and I Street NE going east; as well as 7th Street NE one way going south from H Street to Massachusetts Avenue, in the context of the just now launching Capitol Hill Transportation Study.

I raised this because in my "Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design" perspective, I believe that these street traffic patterns, which experience so little traffic as to be laughable, which of course seems to not be the perspective of residents, contribute greatly to "border vacuums" that support disorder, in particular these streets have been drug sales corridors for decades. Increasing positive activity, adding more activity, can provide more eyes on the street and bring critical mass to "the forces of good."

Anyway, the New York Times online archive has decades of book reviews including this one:

November 5, 1961
Neighbors Are Needed
By LLOYD RODWIN
The Death and Life of Great American Cities by JANE JACOBS

One of the most memorable carticatures by Max Beerbohm shows George Bernard Shaw's view of the world: it pictures the celebrated dramatist-- his expression a cross between a scowl and an impish grin-- standing gracefully on his head. In some cases, such views are rewarding; in others, unforgettable. In any event, one sees things somewhat differently, especially if the reporting is done with an irreverent eye, a waspish tongue and a "no holds barred" attitude to customary villains, heroes, strategy and tactics. By dint of these talents, Jane Jacobs achieves a brashly impressive tour de force in her reinterpretation of the problems and needs of the contemporary metropolis.

To the innocent onlooker, the drive for more comprehensive planning regions, low density suburbs, redevelopment of central areas, more parks, open space and highways, public housing, modern neighborhood design with superblocks facing interior lawns to reduce traffic hazards and achieve economies of scale-- all these and more-- suggest that we may yet make our cities more gracious and efficient. Contemplation of these prospects, however only fills Jane Jacobs (an editor of Architectural Forum) with revulsion.

Big cities she says, are full of strangers. Citizens and strangers alike must enjoy security on city streets. This security, she insists, will never come just from a vigilant police force. It requires an intricate social system, which automatically achieves this effect. You get it from "public actors," from habitual street watchers, such as storekeepers, doormen and interested neighbors, and from more or less constant use at different hours, which is possible only if there is a rich mixture of activities in buildings of varying age and character. (Emphasis added.)

Mrs. Jacobs' view is that people like to live, not just be, in such lively neighborhoods. Youngsters and elders alike need such surroundings. But she scoffs at our understanding of these requirements; for we continue to put up civic centers, low density residential areas and housing "projects" segregated by income. All these developments, she complains, combine to produce boring homogeneous cores which generate traffic for limited periods and then lapse afterward into dead or dangerous districts.

Worse still, the new buildings with high rents squeeze out the marginal activities, the small business man just getting a start, the colorful shop with strange and exotic waves, the little restaurants and bars, almost everything deviant, bohemian, intellectual or bizarre-- in other words, all that the author believes lends spice, charm and vigor to an area.

To brighten neighborhoods, "unslum" slums and reweave housing projects into the fabric of the city, Mrs. Jacobs proposes that we do most of the things urban experts tell us not to do: attract mixed activities which will generate active cross-use of land; cut the length of blocks; mingle buildings of varying size, type and condition; and encourage dense concentrations of people. Some of the most intriguing parts of this work involve the ingenuity with which she applies her ideas for enlivening districts such as Wall Street or Central Park after dark Greenwich Village where the author lives as her model par excellence. A few other favorite examples include the North End of Boston, Georgetown in Washington, Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia, the "Back of the Yards" in Chicago, and Telegraph Hill in San Francisco.

Reading this volume, one almost gets the impression of a golden age before the Garden City and the High Rise enthusiasts appeared on the scene. For Mrs. Jacobs mainly blames their ideas, or bastardized versions of them for what is wrong with our cities. The irony is that most of the things she objects to are the effects of rising income and economies on parents hungry for more space for themselves and the kids. The reformers shared, perhaps even anticipated, this hunger: so that in effect, what the author really resents is their failure to buck the trend or to provide more sophisticated living styles.

Whether Jane Jacobs is right or wrong, the first big efforts to do something about our cities are not conspicuously successful; and the reformers are already worrying about the reactions to the increasingly visible inadequacies. Her book is significant precisely for this reason. It fuses ineffectual elements of discontent into a program that can pack quite a wallop. It won't matter that like the reformers she criticizes, she has little sympathy for persons who want to live differently from the way she thinks they ought to live; nor will it matter that some of her own proposals (on the planning process, for example) come straight from the planners she criticizes; and that some of her cherished reforms, however tentatively advanced, are as romantic and "utopian" as those she rejects. The same holds for transparent gaps and blind spots, such as her blasé misunderstandings of theory and her amiable preference for evidence congenial to her thesis. In short, except to the miscellaneous victims and the academic purists, it won't matter that what this author has to say isn't always fair or right or "scientific." Few significant works ever are.

Jane Jacobs' book should help to swing reformist zeal in favor of urbanity and the big city. If so, it might well become the most influential work on cities since Lewis Mumford's classic, "The Culture of Cities." It has somewhat comparable virtues and defects. Not quite as long or comprehensive, it is wittier, more optimistic, less scholarly and even more pontifical. The style is crisp, pungent and engaging; and like its illustrious predecessor, the book is crammed with arresting insights as well as with loose, sprightly generalizations.

A great book, like a great man, "is a strategic point in the campaign of history, and part of its greatness consists in being there." For all its weaknesses, Jane Jacobs has written such a book. Readers will vehemently agree and disagree with the views; but few of them will go through the volume without looking at their streets and neighborhoods a little differently, a little more sensitively. After all, it is the widespread lack of such sensitivity, especially among those who matter, which is perhaps what is most wrong with our cities today.

Planning Meeting: H Street Community Market

Food Co-op, Park Slope, Brooklyn.

Coffee Shop run by the Peoples Food Coop in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

From Tarek Maassarani--

If you are at all interested or curious... please read on (and distribute widely).. and come to a key meeting this Monday, June 13th (see details below).

WHAT IS A COOPERATIVE?

A cooperative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise.

Most Coops share the following Principles:
1) Voluntary and Open Membership
2) Democratic Member Control
3) Member Economic Participation
4) Autonomy and Independence
5) Education, Training, and Information
6) Cooperation Among Cooperatives
7) Concern for the Community

Who are we?

In November 2003, a meeting of neighbors came together interested in bringing alternative food to our area. We wanted more fresh, organic produce. We wanted healthy, quality, affordable choices here in Northeast. We wanted to be a part of a community who talked about food and health. Most importantly, we wanted to be part of the business, to participate in decision-making, and share the enterprise with our entire community.

Our Mission:
 To operate a consumer food cooperative, providing high quality natural products at a fair and reasonable price.
Our Vision:
 The H Street Community Market is dedicated to helping people live in ways that are ecologically and socially sustainable and that promote both personal and community health and well-being. We believe that this model can serve us in our vision and goals:
 To support local, organic, family-owned and sustainable agriculture.
 To make available healthy, fresh, delicious, diverse, and affordable natural foods.
 To increase consumer control of our local economies and sources of sustenance.
 To educate the community on important environmental, health, economic, and agricultural issues.
 To be open to all, bringing neighbors together in a common and spirited effort to achieve these goals.

Interested?.. please join us AND BRING ANYONE ELSE YOU THINK MIGHT WOULD LIKE TO GET INVOLVED...

Monday, June 13th at 7pm
Sherwood Recreation Center
10th and G St. NE
RSVP: holly@emaesmith.com ­or- (202) 374-0368

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One of the best ways to get the businesses you want in your community is to create them yourselves. RL

Tourism Marketing and DC

Still haven't received an answer to my query a couple weeks ago to the Washington Convention and Tourism Corporation about a master tourism development and marketing plan. Although they do have some visitor studies available online (see the link under Tourism Resources in the right sidebar).

2. This article, "Tourism magazine distributed in state visitor centers" from the New Mexico Business Weekly again makes me think that the local history story can be far better defined and marketed than it is currently. And it needs to be.

Most states produce magazines such as the one produced by New Mexico. But DC has a marketing dilemma as I have discussed a lot--it's "top of mind" marketing image is of the National-Federal Experience, while those of us that focus on local history think we have a great story to tell about local resources.

While it is true that the cultural tourist spends more money and time when traveling, Washington has an almost unique tourism-visitor situation where the National Experience crowds out the local story and this becomes a real marketing development dilemma. (This might be a dilemma shared by other National Capital Cities that experience a lot of in-country visitation.)

The people watching the passing of Ronald Reagan's funeral caisson probably don't care too much about neighborhood-based history and trails. (AP photo.)

3. Even though the WCTC, the people who did the City Museum, etc., are looking into creating a DC Visitor Center, which could better help visitors and also highlight the local story vis-a-vis the national story, I am not holding my breath in terms of success. Business as usual in the city seems to keep things pretty close to the chest, and best practices and innovation are not terms that seem to be big here.

A few weeks ago I did go to the Baltimore Visitor Center and I meant to write about it (I did a little in my "transit roundup" a few weeks ago). The 12 minute movie was good although it had some problems, and similar productions in DC would have to be available in multiple languages. They had a tremendous amount of information available to people and most of the staff seemed somewhat knowledgeable, although as I mentioned before, they could have done a better job highlighting transit options for getting around.

The Baltimore Visitor Center is located on the Inner Harbor, and opened in April 2004.

The Baltimore Business Journal reports in "Campaign targets D.C. tourists," that "Charm City plans to clobber the nation's capital this summer. And no, this has nothing to do with baseball. ...

This month, the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association (BACVA) is launching a $250,000 marketing initiative, dubbed "Baltimore's Super-Stuffed Summer," that will exclusively target residents in Washington, D.C., said Margot Amelia, vice president of marketing. The promotions, which will run through August, will include displays in the subway and bus shelters and print advertisements in the Washington Post. BACVA will also sponsor radio traffic reports.

Instead of spreading its dollars across several cities, as it has in years past, the agency is concentrating its money on a single region that accounts for one-quarter of Baltimore's visitors. "There's a big push to drive tourism in the summer" as the city celebrates new and expanded attractions, said Brian Hall, president of GKV Communications, BACVA's advertising agency of record. These include the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture, which opens June 25, and Sports Legends at Camden Yards, which opened last month. " ...

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This market is very competitive and as I always say, to stay the same is to fall behind, because (the best of) your competition is constantly changing and improving.

Check out the tourism development strategy for Johannesburg, South Africa.

Where is the equivalent document for DC?

Art Department: "The difference between selling and buying is asking engaging questions"

Three Houses. Andy Warhol.

A couple months ago, I was at a presentation at the Penn Quarter Neighborhood Association (business and residents organization) and in the pre-presentation announcements portion, a marketing-pr type for one of the newly opening theaters announced that they would be opening and that they were looking to set up preferred customer arrangements with businesses, so that their emploiyees could get discounts etc.

I went up to her afterwards and tried pointing out to her that she would have more success if she focused on the benefits to the retailers, rather than to her employees, and that the theater patrons were likely an even more desirable prospect market. She seemed somewhat miffed and not too interested in or appreciative of my advice. But then this happens a lot.

I will say that direct marketing is a great way to learn about marketing, and direct marketing is less about thinking what you want, it's what do you provide to the prospect so that they want to buy--the benefits!

Jeffrey Gitomer is a sales consultant and writer. Often his column, "Sales Moves," runs in the Washington Business Journal. In any case, it's always available online here.

This week's column uses an experience in an art gallery to make his point about something that has many different names, ranging from "consultative selling" to customer-focused marketing. I am sure that this column would be of benefit to all, including people from that theater newly opened on the 600 block of E Street NW.

____By Jeffrey Gitomer_________
"Ever been to an art gallery? What was the experience like? Was the artist there? If so, I'm sure you were more interested in the artwork than you would've been otherwise. How did the salesperson engage you? What did the salesperson ask or say? Maybe the salesperson asked a question such as: "Are you looking for anything special?" Maybe the salesperson made a statement such as: "I'm here to answer any questions you may have." Or maybe the salesperson asked: "What did you admire in the window that made you walk inside?"

This is what I have found to be true about buying in art galleries: Your taste determines your interest. You've got to like it. If you don't, you'll never buy it. Maybe you need a piece of art for an empty wall in your office -- but with art, taste prevails over need. But the real key to buying art has little to do with price or perceived value. Those are the "after motives." The key to the purchase? You gotta like it.

So, what's the secret of getting people to buy art (as opposed to the secret of selling it)? Engage them. Find out how much they really like the artwork. Get them to agree to take it. And get paid....

While in New York last week, I walked into a gallery in SoHo that featured many of the legendary Andy Warhol serigraphs. "Can I answer any questions?" the standoffish salesperson asked. "No, I'm just walking through and admiring the museum," I replied. "This isn't a museum," he snapped. "It's a gallery. All of these prints are for sale."

What could he have said? How much friendlier could he have been? How much more engaging could he have been? How much more helpful could he have been? ...

Whether it's art or another product, the selling points are the same:

1. Engage me with my interests, not yours.
2. Be friendly, not professional.
3. Be forward, not pushy (ask first -- then tell).
4. Be my equal; don't be smarter. When I ask questions, inform and educate me.
5. Make statements that reinforce my interests.
6. Don't tell me what you just sold, concentrate on me.
7. Be excited about my interests.
8. Be excited about the art.
9. Approach me if I seem to favor one piece or a particular artist.
10. Ask: "If you were to acquire this piece, when would you like to take delivery?"
10.5. Ask for the sale.

The art of the sale rests in the engaging questions. ...

Read the full column here.
_____________
P.S. I've experienced this before, like the person at Zenith Gallery who spent a lot of time talking to me about the metalcasting process used in some of the items on display (that I wish I could have afforded, only a bit more than $1,000....) or witnessed how a person who just walked into the Works on Paper Gallery in Brookland, wearing shorts and a cap (after looking at the George Nock show at Roxanne's Artiques), turned out to be a serious collector and ended up buying because of the skilled and natural discussion by the gallery attendants. This person could have been blown off just like Jeffrey Gitomer (who has plenty of money to buy Andy Warhol originals).

Regional Transportation Roundup

1. From today's paper, in response to the Washington Post series and the articles that have followed including "1 Billion Metro Plan Adds Jobs, Rail Cars: No Fare Increase in Budget Proposal That Wins Tentative Approval From Directors" and "GAO Asked To Investigate Metro Costs: Many Seek to Expand Oversight of Spending."

Clearly there needs to be an increase in responsiveness, transparency, and expectations for excellence, although given that Congress was the entity that forced the destruction of the remaining Washington streetcar system that managed to survive the onslaught of the personal automobile, the Federal Government is hardly blameless...

Car 6144 from Baltimore, Maryland. Fred Maloney photo Car circa 1930 J. G. Brill Manufacturing, Peter Witt - Modern Lightweight Trolley Car. From the Seashore Trolley Museum, Kennebunkport, Maine.

2. Interesting developments in Maryland

a. In "Trolley travel could be in city's future: Group hoping trolley can put downtown tourism on right path" the Sun reports:

"If there's a streetcar named desire, Baltimore boosters are hoping to catch a ride on a trolley named development.An organization charged with revitalizing the Charles Street corridor is studying whether a trolley system, extinct in the city since the 1960s, could be the answer.

The Charles Street Development Corp. is studying the feasibility of installing a 7.5-mile trolley line that would link the Inner Harbor with the Johns Hopkins University. It would drop riders at the door of city attractions such as the Walters Art Museum, the Lyric Opera House and the Baltimore Museum of Art - sights that most tourists spend days in the city not seeing.

And, the thinking goes, it might even cause developers to take another look at vacant lots in Mount Vernon, closed-down restaurants in the arts district and struggling neighborhoods that surround Penn Station."All up and down Charles Street, business would benefit," said Rebecca Gagalis, Charles Street Development Corp.'s executive director. "It would really, really be a huge benefit to small business."

* If this is coordinated with DC's own streetcar studies, and if the two systems used the same cars, perhaps this could reduce overall cost of production.

It could also help push some ideas Dr. Transit has floated about streetcar service in Prince Georges County (1) extending the proposed DC crosstown line from Brookland up Michigan Avenue-Queens Chapel Road-Adephi Road into the Northward part of the UMD campus, to the College Park station and back south through the campus back to Adelphi Road for the return, and (2) creating a Rhode Island-Rte. 1 service that could start at the Rhode Island Metro station and goes as far as Laurel. (One of these days I'll draw this out and post an entry on it.)

Proposed Trolley Route.

b. In the "are the military base closures proposed for the region designed to enable sprawl department?" today's Baltimore Sun reports that "Md. quietly plans for a rail link to [Fort] Meade: Discussions described as conceptual; new line would be at least 20 years away". As reported in the Washington Post a couple weeks ago, Fairfax County and Dept. of Defense officials are thinking about WMATA expansion to Ft. Belvoir--see this report from NewsChannel 8.

Relatedly, transit doesn't always have to promote compact development and density, it can be used to enable greenfield development, which imo was always the problem with the "Outer" vs. the "Inner" "Purple Line" which alas is on life support at the moment as the Inner County Connector highway is the number one transportation priority of the State of Maryland at this time. (See "Council Leaves Connector Out of Plan")

c. In the public transit breeds crime and trash department the Sun also reports in "Community groups leery of proposed MTA commuter line: Neighborhood leaders fear it could bring crime, trash; agency seeks public input" that not everybody thinks expanding transit is a good thing.

Redevelopment Roundup

Suzanne DeChillo/The New York Times. Opponents helped stop a football stadium on the Far West Side of Manhattan. But so far, those against a new basketball arena in Brooklyn, like protesters on Tuesday fighting the plan and high-rises in Prospect

1. In Seattle, "Billionaire's plan to remake Seattle enclave sets off furor" which features a plan by Paul Allen, a Microsoft co-founder, to rebuild a goodly chunk of the South Lake Union area south of downtown.

2. Mayor Bloomberg doesn't get $1 billion to subsidize a New York Jets football stadium. See "Requiem for a Stadium: Overtures Came Too Late" and "Proposed Stadium on Far West Side Wrong for the Taxpayers and the Fans."

Angel Franco/The New York Times. The site of a new football stadium for the Jets, a proposal that was shot down by state lawmakers this week.

3. But Forest City/Ratner's plans to bring the New Jersey Nets to a new sports arena, and redevelop railyards is a textbook case in co-optation of opposition and the value of money. See "Unlike Stadium on West Side, an Arena in Brooklyn Is Still a Go" and "Miller Backs $3.5 Billion Plan for Brooklyn Sports Complex."

(Data and Mapping Give) Power to the People

Adrian Holovaty shows his website which lists sites of crimes reported in Chicago, Tuesday, May 31, 2005, at his apartment in Chicago. Holovaty's site takes data from the Chicago Police Department website and creates an archive searchable by date, street, type of crime or other variables. (AP Photo/Brian Kersey)

By Greg Sandoval, AP Technology Writer

SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- Tracking sexual predators in Florida. Guiding travelers to the cheapest gas nationwide. Pinpointing $1,500 studio apartments for rent in Manhattan.

Geeks, tinkerers and innovators are crashing the Google party, having discovered how to tinker with the search engine's mapping service to graphically illustrate vital information that might otherwise be ignored, overlooked or not perceived as clearly. "It's such a beautiful way to look at what could be a dense amount of information," said Tara Calishain, editor of Research Buzz and co-author of "Google Hacks," a book that offers tips on how to get the most out of the Web's most popular search engine.

Yahoo and other sites also offer maps, but Google's four-month-old mapping service is more easily accessible and manipulated by outsiders, the tinkerers say. As it turns out, Google charts each point on its maps by latitude and longitude -- that's how Google can produce driving directions to practically anywhere in the nation. Seasoned developers have figured out how to match these points with locations from outside databases that can contain vast amounts of information -- anything from police blotters to real estate listings.

Thanks to Adrian Holovaty, 24, who overlayed Chicago Police Department crime statistics on a Google map, house-hunters in the Albany Park neighborhood can pinpoint all the sexual assaults in the district between May 19 and April 19 on a single map. With each crime marked by a virtual pushpin, Chicagoans can quickly learn what dangerous train stations, pool rooms and alleys to avoid.

Holovaty hopes to make the maps more current by persuading Chicago police to provide the data directly, rather than forcing him to glean it from the department's Web site. Police seem amenable -- he's got a meeting with them next week. But community activist James Cappleman is already impressed with Holovaty's www.Chicagocrime.org -- no longer do citizens have to trust politicians crowing about safer streets. "We've never been able to track trends before," Cappleman said. "Now, when we tell police there is a problem, we'll know what we're talking about."

Visitors to www.Floridasexualpredators.com, which combines Google Maps with data on convicted sex offenders, can call up maps of their communities and click on the pushpins to see the name, last known address and mug shot of each offender.

Drivers searching for their area's cheapest gas can go to www.ahding.com/cheapgas, which blends Google Maps with data from Gasbuddy.com's database of prices at individual gas stations.

Home buyers can pinpoint the locations of houses in their price range at www.Cytadia.com. And renters can turn to www.Housingmaps.com, which melds the technologies of Craigslist and Google, to spot available housing in 29 cities including San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

All these sites are operating without Google's permission, clearly violating the company's user agreement. But none charges any fees, and Mountain View-based Google, which declined to comment through a spokesman, has made no effort to shut them down. "Why would they?" asks Kenneth Tan, who works for a Chicago-based media research firm and is relying on Housingmaps.com to find a new place in New York. "This is fantastic publicity for the company." Before Housingmaps.com launched in March, Tan spent up to 30 minutes a day reading through Craigslist postings in his price range, trying to figure out if any were located where he wants to live.

On Housingmaps.com, the listings he wants are represented on a single map, marked by either a red or yellow pushpin symbol. Yellow come with apartment photographs; red have none. A click on a yellow pin sends Tan directly into the Craigslist posting on the street where he hopes to live."It takes two seconds to glance at the map to see if there is anything for me that day," Tan said.

Computer animation engineer Paul Rademacher developed Housingmaps.com shortly after Google Maps launched in February, matching it with all the U.S. apartment listings on Craigslist. He says he was intrigued by Google's technology and began tinkering with it after a long apartment search.

James Brown, founder of Floridasexualpredator.com, charted the home addresses of every registered sex offender in Florida's Megan's Law database, then wrote a software program that automatically converts addresses to the correct latitude and longitude.

Holovaty requested data from Chicago Police but never heard back _ so he wrote a program that automatically retrieves crime location data each time the department's Web site is updated.

Why go to this much trouble?

The site's creators said it was for the love of discovery and a chance to help their communities.
Brown came up with the idea for his site after watching television reports about a kidnapped girl with his father, a former policeman in Ocala, Florida, Rademacher says he wanted to help others avoid painstaking and time-consuming searches for new apartments. "I figured out a way to do it and I didn't see any reason why I shouldn't share it with everybody," said Rademacher, who lives in Santa Clara.

None said they did it for the money. But their efforts are certainly getting attention. Several companies have approached Rademacher about setting up other sites that marry data to Google maps. And San Francisco is among cities interested in whether Holovaty can develop crime-mapping sites for them. "I would be happy to help them set it up," Holovaty said. "The world is a better place whenever you provide more information."
_________________________
I guess this is a way to put the power of programs like Baltimore's Citistats into the hands of regular citizens.

Streets as Drive Through Galleries

Bennett Stein. From today's New York Times.

In Los Angeles, some designers are turning bare walls -- a ubiquitous feature of the city's streetscape -- into a highlight of the driving experience. A mural made of layers of colored vinyl, top, conceals a parking lot in Silverlake. When Barbara Bestor, an architect, and Paula Norman, a lawyer, remodeled their office building on Fountain Avenue, they extended its 14-foot-high wall to 100 feet in length, and asked the graphics firm Blik, which specializes in in do-it-yourself vinyl pattern kits for interiors, to decorate it.

The shadow of the Wild Bunch on a building on Cahuenga Boulevard in Hollywood, bottom left, was created by Electroland, a local public art team. Cameron McNall, a founder of Electroland, placed cut-outs of iconic movie images on the tops of buildings in Hollywood, to cast shadows on the walls of nearby movie studios. Electroland will introduce another dramatic piece next month on the facade of a new building in downtown Los Angeles: a large-scale display of lights that respond to the movements of visitors in the lobby.

The new retaining wall separating Santa Monica Boulevard from the parallel Little Santa Monica Boulevard in West Los Angeles, bottom right, encompasses a staircase, ramp and bus shelter. Deborah Weintraub, the deputy city engineer for the City of Los Angeles, describes herself as a strong "advocate for bringing design to large, engineered, city projects," and urged the wall's architects, Pleskow + Rael, to make it a compelling feature of the urban landscape. The wall is 1,500 feet long and 30 feet at its highest point. FRANCES ANDERTON

an FT letter writer on business plans to improve schools

In today's Financial Times, Walter Weis (either a student or teacher) of Forest Hills, NYC writes:

Sandy Weill (chair of Citigroup) and John Ferrandino think business can play a bigger role in public education ("American Schools can be saved by business"). Perhaps so, but probably the most importat thing it can do is pay its taxes. Instead of nickel-and-diming municipalities for ever more tax concessions, pay the regular corporate rate. Be a member of the community. Not only will the additional funding help relieve overcrowding of urban schools, but it will broaden the tax base currently being shouldered by the poor and the middle classes....
_______________
Well, there's a lot to do to improve municipal institutions of all sorts. As Joel Kotkin said (from another blog entry:

But two major things need to happen in order for cities to be saved.

First, they must undertake a CAT scan of sorts, which would reveal, underneath the glossy exterior of arts centers and arenas and hip downtowns, the reality of lost jobs, dysfunctional schools, and crumbling infrastructure.

Second, they need to acquire the political will to attack these issues head-on despite the inevitable roadblocks.

What is needed is for cities to craft their own New Deal. Given their shrinking political power, they will not be able to extract resources from Washington or most state capitals. They will have to get smart about how they are run and focus their resources on basic issues, like schools, infrastructure, boosting small business, and creating jobs--rather than promoting bread, circuses, and tattoo parlors. (Note from RL: see the very interesting series of articles from Black Commentator on "Wanted: A Plan for Cities to Save Themselves.")

Until there is an expectation of quality and high standards, the solution isn't always one of providing more money, but of ensuring that money is used wisely and focused.

Two more ideas about the Giant-Horning Problem at Tivoli Square

As said in yesterday's blog entry, the fact that the District Government has invested millions of dollars in this project ought to mean that the developer and the company (by the way Giant benefits separately from another financial incentive program made available to all new supermarket projects) care about respecting DC laws and the public realm, in particular those qualities that make the District of Columbia truly a livable city.

According to the banner, the store opens June 20th.

Hey, this project has been in the works since the 1980s (remember the Hafts).

What's a few more weeks? Until the store opens, the DC Government has a tremendous amount of "suasion" capability.

Two things.

1. Refuse to grant the certificate of occupancy--necessary for the store to open and to be able to sell to the public;
2. Refuse any consideration of Giant's application for a Class B liquor license*;

Until Giant-Horning agree to reverse the curb cut and put up a performance bond over it.

*WRT the liquor license:

Giant Food is appearing before ANC Commission 1A this evening at 7:00 PM at Harriet Tubman Elementary School (3101 13th Street, NW - at Kenyon) to ask its support for a class B liquor license.

At tonight's ANC meeting, the ANC should vote to not consider the application but to vote a recommendation against the license without consideration to be transmitted to the ABC Board, until Giant-Horning agree to reverse the curb cut.

The City too frequently plays softball, when already the City bends over backwards through the provision of monies, credits, land, etc., to attract development.

If the City can attract baseball, certainly it can start playing "hardball" wrt transgressions such as these.

Economic Development and Sports, Part 3 (Gambling, Continued)

Todd McInturf / The Detroit News. Eric Goodell drives Pokemon to a win Tuesday at Hazel Park, which spent more than $30 million on grandstand upgrades over the past two years.

Today's Detroit News reports, in "Northville Downs appeals Romulus track license: Harness racing facility says competition would force it to close; Hazel Park could also take hit", that "Northville Downs argues a third in Metro Detroit will oversaturate the market and force the 61-year-old track to close. The Downs is among Northville's top 10 sources of tax revenue, generating more than $500,000 for the city last year." Apparently, the Detroit Race Course, closed a few years ago.

Big Money

"The cities of Northville and Hazel Park reap cash from the tracks in their communities through a combination of property taxes and a percentage of winning payouts. The Hazel Park track generated about $600,000 for the city in 2004, down from about $900,000 in 1999. In the 1950s, revenue from the track made up about 50 percent of the city's budget; now its contributions amount to less than 5 percent of the city's $11.5 million annual budget, said City Manager Ed Klobutcher. Still, 'this is a huge part of our city's economy. Without its continued viability, the viability of Hazel Park is threatened,' Klobutcher said.

Gary Word, city manager of Northville, is keeping a watchful eye on Magna's racetrack plans. The city received $534,406 in revenue from the track in 2004, down from $684,195 in 2000."

Washington Post Series on WMATA: It Isn't Pretty

Photo by Tom Bridge (via Flickr).

This four part series by Jo Becker and Lyndsey Layton started Sunday and ends today.

Sunday: Efforts to Repair Aging System Compound Metro's Problems: Costly Projects Mismanaged, Records Show. Washington's world-class subway has fallen into decline, and nearly $1 billion spent on projects to upgrade the system has not improved service.

Monday: OFF THE RAILS: Preventable Problems Safety Warnings Often Ignored at Metro: Responses to Derailments, Track Flaws and Station Overruns Have Fallen Short, Records Show. Time and again, the public transit agency has disregarded the advice of experts and failed to address safety issues, a Post review of internal Metro documents shows.

Tuesday: OFF THE RAILS MetroAccess Problems: Service for Disabled Is Troubled: Metro Grapples With Late Rides, High Costs, Fraud Claims MetroAccess, the transportation program for the disabled, has been plagued by poor service, rising costs and dishonest drivers and riders.

Wednesday: OFF THE RAILS : Fitful Money Management: Metro Spending Often Veers From Core Transit Mission Even as Metro officials complain about tight finances, they continue to spend millions on projects that have little to do with the core mission of transporting customers.

More resources on transit in the Washington region
Photo by Drew McDermott.

Metro Responds to Washington Post Series: Important message from Metro General Manager/CEO Richard White

Sierra Club Metro DC Challenges to Sprawl Campaign on the Metro System.

Washington Regional Network for Livable Communities on Transportation:

WRN advocates transportation investments that provide equitable access, less reliance on automobiles and improved air quality. We promote innovative parking and transportation demand management strategies, an essential component to making transit-oriented development a success. Keys to the solution are: parking pricing that reflects true costs, priority attention to pedestrians and bicyclists, and incentives to ride transit rather than drive. Our advocacy to hold down Metro fares and support for market-rate parking prices to balance Metro's budget helped contain increases in overall rider costs.

Transit
Making the Most of Metro: Community Building though Transit (PDF)
Get on Line: The Purple Line - taking the Washington, DC region into the 21st Century (PDF)

Parking and Transportation Demand Management
Building Healthier Neighborhoods with Metrorail: Rethinking Parking Policies a Chesapeake Bay Foundation Report (PDF)
Neighborhood Parking Solutions: How to manage parking to create better communities, affordable housing and greater access (PDF)
Parking & Transportation Demand Management: Bibliography

Shoring Up Metro Funding for Metro Matters
Our Leaders are Failing Metro

Fighting Metro Fare Increases
2004: Metro Again Passes Costs onto Riders
Another Metro Fare Hike?
Metro Funds Fall Short, Customers Pay More Costs (Intersect v8n3, June 21, 2004)
A Time to Choose Metro or Outer Beltways (Intersect v8n2, April 21, 2004)
Metro Fare Hikes and Service Cuts Loom as Maryland Weakens Support (Intersect v8n1, February 17, 2004)
Metro Board Endorses Fare Increase

2003: Fair Pricing of Metro Parking Benefits Everyone
WRN Comments on Fare Increase Proposal
WMATA Press Release: Budget Committee Recommends Fare Increases
Washington Business Journal op/ed: Metro system to evolve past parking issues
WRN's Press Release (PDF)
Joint Letter to WMATA
A Fare Hike? There's A Better Solution
A Fare Hike? There's A Better Solution Flyer (PDF)
Metro Access Fact Sheet

Stand Clear of the Doors, by Drew McDermott.

Brookings Institution
Washington's Metro: Deficits by Design

Friends of the Earth/DC Environmental Network
D.C. at the Crossroads (1999). This blueprint is designed to help the District of Columbia with transportation investments and policies that could enhance safety, increase access, reduce traffic, diminish air pollution and promote economic development. While it focuses on D.C., many of the recommendations make sense for any urban area.

Sierra Club
Restore the Core (2000).
Sierra Club releases "Restore the Core" report
Not long ago, the idea of environmentalists supporting development would have seemed absurd. But, with its three-year in the making Restore the Core!/Challenge to Sprawl Campaign, the New Columbia Chapter of the Sierra Club has put a different, decidedly green spin on development in the urban context.

Done well, the Club maintains, development of Washington, D.C. and its inner suburbs restores economic vitality and enhances quality of life in the urban core while helping to stem the staggering suburban sprawl that consumes green space, farmland, tax dollars and time in harried commutes in addition to the investment of millions of dollars in additional infrastructure.

In its newly released report, "Restore the Core! A Citizen's Guide to Building a Livable Washington, DC," the Sierra Club provides an outline for a livable city, from preserving parkland and green space to encouraging development of brownfields and underutilized or vacant lots. The 24-page report examines several areas essential to livable communities: Schools, Public Safety, Employment, Development, Transportation, Green Spaces, Rivers, and Trees. The final two chapters demonstrate how to advocate for a livable DC and provides helpful resources.

While intended as a resource for neighborhood advocates, the guide also provides useful information for architects, planners, developers, and contractors who are interested in developing sites within the city in a way that enhances the surrounding neighborhoods and the city as a whole. Although many of the concepts contained in the report will not be new to those familiar with the principles of sustainability, "Restore the Core" brings home local, applicable examples illustrating what sustainability means here in the District. (Gwyn Jones)

Speaking of Pedestrians -- Protest Giant Supermarket's Taking of a(n Illegal) Curb Cut

Illegal curb cut at the Giant Supermarket, Tivoli Square, Washington, DC. Photo courtesy of Washington Regional Network.

From Cheryl Cort:

GIANT and Horning Brothers have built an illegal drive area on the sidewalk at Park Road

ACTION: Urge Councilmember Jim Graham and the Mayor to support pedestrian safety and public sidewalks and force Horning Brothers to remove the illegal construction in the sidewalk at the new Giant supermarket.

BACKGROUND: The developer of the new Giant supermarket on Park Road at 14th Street built a parcel pick-up area in the sidewalk in front of the Giant, without obtaining permits to build in the public space that we, DC residents, own.

Giant will allow drivers to drive up onto and along the sidewalk to pick up groceries. Inviting cars to drive and park on the sidewalk is: (1) dangerous to pedestrians & wheelchair users, (2) violates the community public realm plan, (3) illegal, built with no permits.

DC Dept. of Transportation & DC Office of Planning are holding firm against the developer's resistance to correct its illegal actions. We need to make sure that Councilmember Graham and the Mayor support the public's interest in a safe, quality pedestrian environment as Columbia Heights and other parts of our city redevelop and bring new vitality.

The tremendous success of the P Street Whole Foods store - which has no loading zone or dock in front, but instead has wide sidewalks offering tables and chairs, bicycle parking and plenty of room for walkers -demonstrates why we should insist on respecting the law and respecting the public realm and pedestrian safety.

Whole Foods Store on P Street in Dupont Circle/14th Street neighborhood. Note the bike racks (Giant doesn't have them) and the lack of a curb cut.

The Tivoli/Giant store is the first major National Capital Revitalization Corporation project to be constructed and threatens to set a bad precedent for implementing the Columbia Heights public realm plan.The corrective actions should require removal of the entire sidewalk area constructed on the Park Road side of the store and reconstruction in accordance with the Office of Planning's design.

No parcel pick-up area is required, because customers can load their groceries directly into their cars in the parking garage connected to the Giant.The reconstructed pedestrian sidewalk must also include street trees and pedestrian-scaled light fixtures.

Send an e-mail to Councilmember Graham and Mayor Williams now to register your support for pedestrian safety and the public realm.

SAMPLE MESSAGE:

Dear Councilmember Graham / Mayor Williams:

I urge you to support DC Department of Transportation's insistence that Giant Foods and the developer of the Giant store at the Tivoli obey the law, respect the sidewalk and honor the public realm plan. The Giant store design is illegal and endangers pedestrians.

The Giant and the developer should learn from the respectful, safe urban design of the highly-profitable Whole Foods Market on P Street, where tables and chairs, walkers and bicycle parking are placed in front of the store's entrance.

We view respect for the sidewalk and public realm to be a citywide concern as our neighborhoods welcome new shops and residents to areas that have suffered disinvestment.

Our city neighborhoods are once again desirable places to live and do business, developers and businesses must respect the qualities of our communities that give them value.

Sincerely,

Name
Address
___________
Addendum from Richard Layman. This project was built with significant city funding. All such projects should include covenants forcing developers to follow all relevant local laws. If broken, even for something like this, the City ought to have the right to declare the project out of compliance and therefore take appropriate steps to fine or seize, increase interest rates, assess and receive penalties, etc.

Therefore, I also suggest that people send a letter of complaint to the NCRC. Anthony Freeman is the President and CEO and he can be reached by email: afreeman@ncrcdc.com

Supersizing the Neighborhood: McMansioning the Washington Region

Photo Credit: Robert A. Reeder, Washington Post. Outsized houses have created a controversy in Arlington where officials are contemplating a limit on what are referred to as "McMansions." This one located on the 2000 block of Culpepper St. in Arlington.

Given the desire to live in Washington, but on their own terms, teardowns are an increasingly important issue in large lot neighborhoods that lie in the original "Washington County" neighborhoods of the city. (The L'enfant City is characterized by smaller lots where teardowns aren't really a concern in quite the same way.)

See the article "A Large-Scale Disagreement: As Massive Houses Prompt Protests, Arlington Proposes Limits" from the Washington Post, and this article,"Mega-mansions' upside: They help reduce suburban sprawl 'Tear-downs' in aging neighborhoods create smart growth, experts say", from USA Today (without images).

Mayor launches 10-point pedestrian safety campaign -- in Seattle!

New Seattle street sign.

Year after year Seattle wins awards for being a walkable city,” Nickels said. “I want to make sure residents and visitors can walk throughout Seattle safely – that means increasing pedestrian and driver awareness.”
- Mayor Greg Nickels

From the press release:

SEATTLE - Walking the pedestrian talk, Mayor Greg Nickels todayannounced a comprehensive campaign to increase pedestrian safety andmake Seattle streets safer. The campaign will launch with a series ofTV and radio Public Service Announcements (PSAs), pedestrian streetsigns, billboards and a Web site urging people to "Drive Carefully…Think of the Impact You Could Make."

To view/listen to the PSAs go to the mayor's Web site www.seattle.gov/mayor/issues/pedsafety.

Mayor Nickels' 10 Point Plan for Pedestrian Safety

1. We have Public Service Announcements [for television, web, and radio] to alert drivers and pedestrians to the 3 most common pedestrian v. auto accidents;
2. You’ll also see new signs that will be installed in busy pedestrian corridors;
3. Billboards will reinforce these signs;
4. The walking routes to two schools — TT Minor and Bailey Gatzert — will be improved;
5. We’ll be visiting kids at schools and community centers this summer, to talk about how to cross safely;
6. Seattle Police Department will step up enforcement of pedestrian safety laws;
7. Strengthen the penalties for drivers who fail to yield to pedestrians;
8. 110 crosswalks at 50 intersections will be upgraded, so they are easier to see;
9. Launch red light camera enforcement pilot project; and
10. Rotate speed limit trailers throughout the city to force drivers to slow down.
    View a list of proposed locations for billboards and signs - Adobe PDF 16 kb

_______________________________

Making their way across Connecticut Avenue, pedestrians use a bright orange flag to alert motorists. Photo Credit: Kevin Clark -- The Washington Post.

For the Washington alternative, check out "Battle Flag of the Pedestrians" from the Washington Post.

Losing media voices on local issues: corporatizing radio

Remember Cathy Hughes in the window-front studio on H Street, on WOL-AM, years before the company became Radio One, with "69 radio stations in 22 urban markets" and half ownership of TV One, a joint venture with Comcast? When Marion Barry was Mayor, and he pissed her off, she'd say something on the air.

Nationally, local radio is pretty plain, with local news, and those weekend radio magazine programs too often a distant memory. But not always

Columnist Luther Hughes reports that in Detroit "Radio shows cite city's worst, best."

"Listen to Detroit radio station WCHB (1200 AM) these days, and you'll get two entirely different portraits of the city. From 6-10 a.m weekdays, talk show veteran Mildred Gaddis relentlessly attacks what she views as the many failures of the administration of Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.

Because of the mayor's bungling, mismanagement and lack of ethical behavior, Gaddis tells her listeners, Detroit has become a laughingstock of inefficient and wasteful government, and the city's long-suffering attempts at a renaissance are simply pathetic. The city's $300 million budget deficit, the flap over the Navigator leased for the mayor's family, the mayor's $210,000 city-issued credit card bill and other perceived Kilpatrick failings are all fodder for criticism.

Gaddis also touches on other topics such as male and female relationships and national affairs. She has loyal supporters who phone in to concur with her mantra that "the mayor's best," is not good enough for Detroit...

But from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., right after Gaddis signs off, there is a much brighter, upbeat and positive picture of the city painted by host Karen Dumas, an appointee of the mayor, who began hosting "Up Front" on WCHB in April.

On her show, Detroit is on the rebound, and officials are dedicated and efficient in tackling the city's challenges. Dumas, director of the department of culture, arts and tourism, bills her show as an information source for Detroiters to make informed decisions on the issues and to acquaint them with various city programs and activities.

She has done that, but guest list has also included city officials and department heads -- such as Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings and even Kilpatrick himself -- who respond to questions and offer their view of an administration working hard and effectively to serve its citizens.
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Interestingly enough, the station is owned by Radio One.

Economic Development and Sports, Part 2 (Gambling)

Announcing receipt of a horsetrack license, Magna International Inc. Chairman Frank Stronach in Romulus last month called the racing license a "trifecta" -- wins for Romulus, Michigan and his company. Many question whether he can deliver. Photo by Max Ortiz, Detroit News.

Today's Detroit News reports, in "Magna racetrack record is spotty: Experts question company's ability to deliver $100 million racing facility in Romulus," about Magna Entertainment's announcement to build a $100 million racetrack in Romulus, Michigan (in Wayne County, near the airport). The article expresses skepticism because of Magna's failure to follow through on other announcements in other states, and because video lottery terminals ("liquid crack" slot machines of the type proposed in DC) are not legal in Michigan although casino gambling is legal.

The article linked to past coverage, including this article from September 2002, "Horse racing plans spur talk of revival: Track operators bet on Michigan" which stated that insiders believe "Metro Detroit is prime for more horse racing because of the same demographics that make casino operators -- blamed for sucking dollars from horse racing -- salivate: it's a major population area with higher-than-average per capita income and a predilection for gambling."

Good investment in a declining industry? Detroit News Graphic from 2002

I find these articles particularly interesting because Magna Entertainment owns Pimlico in Baltimore, home of the Preakness Race, and the company similarly announced that they would invest millions of dollars into the racetrack, and that these investments weren't dependent on slot machines being legalized, but this year announced that no investment would be forthcoming without slot machines, and further that the Preakness Race could leave Maryland unless slots are legalized. (This has been a contentious issue in Maryland. The Governor pushes it and the legislature hasn't been too favorable.)

This led Mayor O'Malley, a candidate for Governor of Maryland in next year's election, to come out in favor of slots. The Baltimore Sun reported this change of heart in the article "Mayor says survival of Md. racing tied to slots: O'Malley stance draws industry praise, attacks by political rivals, gambling foes".

From the article: "The Democratic mayor said critics have questioned the morality of his position backing a limited number of slot machines at racetracks to help the industry compete and to keep the Preakness in Baltimore.But, O'Malley countered, 'Where's the morality in doing away with 18,000 [Maryland] racing jobs? The Preakness is Baltimore's version of the Super Bowl,' said O'Malley, who is expected to run for governor next year. 'We need to rise above partisan politics.'"

The Baltimore Sun has a master webpage that archives continuing coverage on Maryland Political issues, including Slot Machines. (The Washington Post doesn't seem to conveniently bookmark for accessibility and continuity its coverage on ongoing issues such as the construction of a new stadium for the baseball team. However, they do keep their archive accessible for a long time, via Internet-based searching, although you have to remember very carefully what you are searching for.)
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Note that there was a very good presentation at the National Main Street Conference this year about the Park Heights neighborhood in Baltimore, which abuts the Pimlico Racetrack, home of the Preakness. The neighborhood is extremely distressed.

The session, "Building the Neighborhood from the Core," featured David Dixon from Goody Clancy, who spoke about national trends favoring repopulation of center cities, and by Otis Rolley, director of planning for the City of Baltimore, who talked about Baltimore's planning efforts and actions focused on city building. Both linked the broader themes to specifics on the ground in the context of the Park Heights neighborhood. I thought during the presentation that I never saw an area around a racetrack that was very nice (Hazel Park, Michigan; Arlington Heights, Illinois) but then, I've never been to Saratoga Springs, especially back in the Victorian era.

Goody Clancy webpage on Park Heights, Baltimore.

Victorian days in Saratoga Springs, New York. Park Heights, Baltimore never looked like this.

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UPDATE: Check out this article from Philadelphia Inquirer, "Ground is broken for Chester harness track and casino" about racing and slots in Pennsylvania, and http://go.philly.com/slots for continuing coverage on slots in Pennsylvania.

And this story from the Park Heights neighborhood in today's Baltimore Sun: "'Vicious cycle' takes its toll on one family: All three of a Pimlico woman's sons died on Baltimore's violent streets. " Will adding slot machines and "saving" the Preakness impact the quality of life much for Baltimore's residents?

World Environment Day ends with 'greener' city pacts, acts

Dozens of mayors and delegates from around the world walk along Crissy Field with the Golden Gate Bridge seen in the background, after arriving to San Francisco for the United Nations World Environment Day Conference, Friday, June 3, 2005. At the five-day conference that ends Sunday, the mayors are trading ideas on how to combat air pollution, water contamination, urban sprawl and other environmental problems that confront cities worldwide. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

World Environment Day was yesterday (apparently) and there was a major conference of big city mayors from around the world in San Francisco. This article from Reuters discusses the final conference accords, which are online here.

Urban Environmental Accords

Energy
Action 1 Adopt and implement a policy to increase the use of renewable energy to meet ten percent of the city’s peak electric load within seven years.
Action 2 Adopt and implement a policy to reduce the city’s peak electric load by ten percent within seven years through energy efficiency, shifting the timing of energy demands, and conservation measures.
Action 3 Adopt a city-wide greenhouse gas reduction plan that reduces the jurisdiction’s emissions by twenty-five percent by 2030, and which includes a system for accounting and auditing greenhouse gas emissions.

Waste Reduction
Action 4 Establish a policy to achieve zero waste to landfills and incinerators by 2040.
Action 5 Adopt a citywide law that reduces the use of a disposable, toxic, or non-renewable product category by at least fifty percent in seven years.
Action 6 Implement "user-friendly" recycling and composting programs, with the goal of reducing by twenty percent per capita solid waste disposal to landfill and incineration in seven years.

Urban Design
Action 7 Adopt a policy that mandates a green building rating system standard that applies to all new municipal buildings.
Action 8 Adopt urban planning principles and practices that advance higher density, mixed use, walkable, bikeable and disabled-accessible neighborhoods which coordinate land use and transportation with open space systems for recreation and ecological reconstruction.
Action 9 Adopt a policy or implement a program that creates environmentally beneficial jobs in slums and/or low-income neighborhoods.

Urban Nature
Action 10 Ensure that there is an accessible public park or recreational open space within half-a-kilometer of every city resident by 2015.
Action 11 Conduct an inventory of existing canopy coverage in your city; and, then establish a goal based on ecological and community considerations to plant and maintain canopy coverage in not less than fifty percent of all available sidewalk planting sites.
Action 12 Pass legislation that protects critical habitat corridors and other key habitat characteristics (e.g. water features, food-bearing plants, shelter for wildlife, use of native species, etc.) from unsustainable development.

Transportation
Action 13 Develop and implement a policy which expands affordable public transportation coverage to within half-a-kilometer of all city residents in ten years.
Action 14 Pass a law or implement a program that eliminates leaded gasoline (where it is still used); phases down sulfur levels in diesel and gasoline fuels, concurrent with using advanced emission controls on all buses, taxis, and public fleets to reduce particulate matter and smog-forming emissions from those fleets by fifty percent in seven years.
Action 15 Implement a policy to reduce the percentage of commute trips by single occupancy vehicles by ten percent in seven years.

Environmental Health
Action 16 Every year, identify one product, chemical, or compound that is used within the city that represents the greatest risk to human health and adopt a law and provide incentives to reduce or eliminate its use by the municipal government.

Action 17 Promote the public health and environmental benefits of supporting locally-grown organic foods. Ensure that twenty percent of all city facilities (including schools) serve locally-grown and organic food within seven years.
Action 18 Establish an Air Quality Index (AQI) to measure the level of air pollution and set the goal of reducing by ten percent in seven years the number of days categorized in the AQI range as "unhealthy" or "hazardous."

Water
Action 19 Develop policies to increase adequate access to safe drinking water, aiming at access for all by 2015. For cities with potable water consumption greater than 100 liters per capita per day, adopt and implement policies to reduce consumption by ten percent by 2015.
Action 20 Protect the ecological integrity of the city’s primary drinking water sources (i.e., aquifers, rivers, lakes, wetlands and associated ecosystems).
Action 21 Adopt municipal wastewater management guidelines and reduce the volume of untreated wastewater discharges by 10 percent in seven years through the expanded use of recycled water and the implementation of a sustainable urban watershed planning process that includes participants of all affected communities and is based on sound economic, social, and environmental principles.

Vision and Implementation
THE 21 ACTIONS that comprise the Urban Environmental Accords are organized by urban environmental themes. They are proven first steps toward environmental sustainability. However, to achieve long-term sustainability, cities will have to progressively improve performance in all thematic areas.

Implementing the Urban Environmental Accords will require an open, transparent, and participatory dialogue between government, community groups, businesses, academic institutions, and other key partners. Accords implementation will benefit where decisions are made on the basis of a careful assessment of available alternatives using the best available science.

The call to action set forth in the Accords will most often result in cost savings as a result of diminished resource consumption and improvements in the health and general well-being of city residents. Implementation of the Accords can leverage each city's purchasing power to promote and even require responsible environmental, labor and human rights practices from vendors.

Between now and the World Environment Day 2012, cities shall work to implement as many of the 21 Actions as possible. The ability of cities to enact local environmental laws and policies differs greatly. However, the success of the Accords will ultimately be judged on the basis of actions taken. Therefore, the Accords can be implemented though programs and activities even where cities lack the requisite legislative authority to adopt laws.

The goal is for cities to pick three actions to adopt each year. In order to recognize the progress of cities to implement the Accords, a City Green Star Program shall be created. At the end of the seven years a city that has implemented:
19 to 21 Actions -- shall be recognized as a 4-star City
15 to 18 Actions -- shall be recognized as a 3-star City
12 to 17 Actions -- shall be recognized as a 2-star City
8 to 11 Actions -- shall be recognized as a 1-star City
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Now I don't think that Mayor Williams attended this meeting. I wish he had. Maybe it'd give a strong mission and set of objectives to the proposed new DC Government Agency on environmental issues (see "Williams Calls for Environmental Agency: Ineffectual Response to Lead in Drinking Water Highlighted Need for Separate Department, Officials Say" from the Washington Post).

Rise in gas prices cuts spending, not driving

Who's responsible for this outrage? Not me! Cartoon by John Trever, New Mexico, The Albuquerque Journal.

According to a new study for the National Retail Federation by BIGresearch, 66.2% of consumers, or 145.3 million Americans, believe that fluctuating gas prices have impacted their spending habits, up from 56.8 percent in 2004. Despite a recent drop in gas prices, the report says, consumers continue to alter their spending to compensate for high numbers at the pump.

Tracy Mullin, NRF President and CEO, said "While shoppers seem to be getting over the initial sticker shock, gas prices have taken a long-term toll on consumers, many of whom have had to adjust their spending to compensate for the increases. Every penny spent on gasoline is a penny kept from retailers, so this is also a very real problem for our industry."

According to the NRF 2005 Gas Prices Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey:

• 68.5 million people (31.2% of consumers) have decreased vacation or travel plans
• 25.2% have been dining out less frequently
• 23.7% spending less on clothing
• 17.3% spending less on groceries
• 35.9 million consumers (16.4%) have delayed purchases of cars and furniture as a result of higher gas prices
• But only 5.7% of consumers increased carpooling
• 35.1% of consumers polled said that gas prices would affect their Memorial Day spending
• 69.9% of consumers with household incomes under $50,000 say they have felt an impact from rising gas prices
• 58.2% with household incomes over $50,000 have also been affected.

(Additional breakdowns and details are available on the NRF website.)

"High gas prices have become a way of life for consumers, and they are adjusting as much as they can," said Phil Rist, Vice President of Strategy for BIGresearch.
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AP graphic from 2004, from the Christian Science Monitor.

This 2005 survey certainly confirms the conclusions of this article from April 2004, "Despite high gas prices, Americans keep on driving: Fuel will have to top at least $2, if not $3, for drivers to change their behavior."

This roundup of editorial cartoons from last year is pretty pathetic, calling oil companies extortionist (granted they are making record record profits) while exonerating any responsibility on the part of the Asphalt Nation.

Center Cities, Joel Kotkin, Alice Rivlin, and the future of DC

Richard Florida, left, author of The Rise of the Creative Class, and Joel Kotkin, at a conference in Denver. Photo from the Denver Rocky Mountain News.

Joel Kotkin recently came out with a new book, The City: A Cultural History and he is supporting it through a barrage of op-ed pieces, public presentations, and the like. At first it bugged me because he argues that the creative class arguments aren't necessarily sustainable, and that center cities are still on the decline. The argument is summarized in this article, "Urban Legends: Cities aren't doing as well as you think," from the New Republic.

Here is some of what he says:

"Cities are not doomed, far from it; this is one point on which Richard Florida and I agree. But two major things need to happen in order for cities to be saved. First, they must undertake a CAT scan of sorts, which would reveal, underneath the glossy exterior of arts centers and arenas and hip downtowns, the reality of lost jobs, dysfunctional schools, and crumbling infrastructure. Second, they need to acquire the political will to attack these issues head-on despite the inevitable roadblocks.

What is needed is for cities to craft their own New Deal. Given their shrinking political power, they will not be able to extract resources from Washington or most state capitals. They will have to get smart about how they are run and focus their resources on basic issues, like schools, infrastructure, boosting small business, and creating jobs--rather than promoting bread, circuses, and tattoo parlors. (Note from RL: see the very interesting series of articles from Black Commentator on "Wanted: A Plan for Cities to Save Themselves.")

This will mean making choices. New York needs to decide that fixing its subways represents a more important use of its bonding authority than a stadium for the Jets. Los Angeles needs to decide its biggest priority lies in preventing the region's port complex, its largest generator of private sector jobs, from becoming hopelessly congested and obsolescent. Cleveland, Detroit, Philadelphia, and the other hard luck cases need to focus on trying to fix their schools, transportation systems, and economies. Phoenix needs to concern itself with generating jobs and opportunities for its soaring immigrant population. Let the glitzy restaurants and rock clubs take care of themselves."
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The fact is that he is right. The market is segmenting, with as many people interested in living in the city being countered by an even stronger force of people committed to suburban living. This means that while the core of many cities such as Baltimore, Cleveland, Washington, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and others are attracting new residents, overall the suburbs are continuing to attract even more residents, including immigrants, who traditionally brought their energy first to the center city, and the suburbs continue to sprawl further and further out. And even these above-mentioned center cities, with the possible exception of Washington, are continuing to shrink.

(Last week, the UN Environmental Program released the latest version of the One Planet Many People Atlas of Our Changing Environment, and the pictures are disturbing, showing the impact of sprawl and the loss of open space throughout the globe. See for example "Environment Atlas Reveals Planet Wide Devastation" from Reuters.)

Alice Rivlin of the Brookings Institution is known for her work on rebuilding and revitalizing Washington, DC. Her paper, "Revitalizing Washington's Neighborhoods: A Vision Takes Shape" is the seminal paper on the subject and is the basis of the city's strategy to attract more residents.

But Rivlin says some of the same thing as Kotkin does--that people demand good quality public services, especially schools. In a speech on the topic, Rivlin stated that "All neighborhoods should have attractive schools, with qualified teachers and programs that prepare children well for work and higher education. They should have police that are working with the community to reduce crime. They should have good-quality primary health care, and well-staffed libraries and recreation facilities. Day-care services, after-school activities, and senior centers should be accessible and well managed. Many of these services could be co-located in a community center that is a day and night hub of community activity."

Without success on these elements, cities, and Washington in particular, will continue to leak population and tax revenues.

Many people that I know that have worked diligently (which is a word that hardly begins to define their level of involvement and activity over the years) on improving the city and its neighborhoods are giving up and leaving--not just because housing prices are good if they sell--but because they are tired of dealing with the still very extant problems, from the ever-stagnant schools to the constant receipt of parking tickets for parking legally, to the still real problems with public safety, the difficulties of ridding specific blocks and streets of persistent disorder, etc.

In "Toyota Assembly Line Inspires Improvements at Hospital," Friday's Post had a great story about the application of world class quality systems and practices (the Toyota Production System, which is the basis of the GE Six Sigma program for eliminating defects in systems and products) to a hospital. Whatever happened to the big push on reinventing government? We still have a long long way to go to achieve success.

Rivlin's paper outlines a number of elements vital to rebuilding the city:

• Improving the District's economic and fiscal viability depends on attracting and retaining more residents—especially middle-income families with children. Already Mayor Anthony Williams has adopted a goal of increasing the District's population by 100,000 by 2010. Now, this paper follows up by exploring what policies would help attain that goal, where a larger population could live, and how to ensure that all groups in the District share in the benefits.

• Focusing development resources in target neighborhoods will increase the effectiveness of revitalization efforts. Public resources for development are limited. They should be spent on a small number of neighborhoods where they can make a visible difference and attract private investment and non-profit activity. In keeping with that, this paper discusses criteria for selecting target neighborhoods and maps the assets of 12 specific neighborhoods suitable for priority renewal.

• The mayor and City Council must commit to a phased targeting of their revitalization efforts, and use it to set budgetary priorities. Focusing on a manageable number of neighborhoods and then proceeding to others will make the most of limited resources and have the best chance of producing visible success.

• A single capital budget should govern both city agencies and schools. Replacement and modernization of schools, libraries, recreation centers, and public health facilities should be coordinated and focused on target neighborhoods.

• Public, private, and nonprofit enterprises must effectively partner. The city must reach out to potential partners and enlist their help and resources in planning and implementing neighborhood revitalization. It should work closely with anchor institutions in the target neighborhoods' CDCs with strong track records, major employers (universities, health facilities, District or federal agencies, and companies), cultural institutions, as well as public and charter schools.

• Schools must become an integral part of planning and implementation. The District and DCPS should jointly seek foundation support to hire a team to improve integrated planning and communication. DCPS should stage its Master Facilities Plan to give priority to modernizing schools in the target neighborhoods. Charter schools should also be actively involved in their neighborhoods.

• The District needs a citywide housing strategy that both protects low-income households and seeks to attract middle-income residents. Even if additional resources are allocated to housing, the trade-offs are tough. The city needs to preserve housing affordable to its poorest residents, protect low-income residents against rapidly rising rents and property taxes, and provide incentives to develop more mixed income neighborhoods.
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I think that's summarizes pretty well where we need to focus. How are we doing?

Mayor Anthony Williams and about 200 fans headed by bus to Philadelphia to watch the Nationals play in the season opener. Photo Credit: The Washington Post.

Economic development through sports

Washington Nationals' Ryan Church, right, celebrates his three-run home run against the Florida Marlins with teammates Vinny Castilla, left, and Gary Bennett, during the eighth inning, Sunday, June 5, 2005, at RFK Stadium in Washington. The home run proved to be the margin of victory as Washington won 6-3.(AP Photo/Nick Wass)

Today's papers report that the Washington Nationals are in first place, the first time since 1933 that a Washington major league baseball team is in first place. So I guess it's all worth it. Right?

This short, from the Thursday Washington Post, still peeves me:

Foundation to Take Children to Ballgame

The Freddie Mac Foundation will donate 50 tickets to each Washington Nationals home game to be used by disadvantaged youth in the District, Mayor Anthony A. Williams announced yesterday. Williams, along with the foundation's president, Maxine B. Baker, said the tickets will allow children, particularly those who may not have an opportunity to attend a game, to enjoy the experience of baseball. A total of 3,000 tickets at $7 each will be donated.

The tickets will be distributed by the mayor's office and the Department of Parks and Recreation, with help from such organizations as the YMCA and the Boys and Girls Clubs.

"We always said that bringing baseball to our city was about more than just dollars and cents," Williams said. "It's about community. . . . This donation will help to make Washington Nationals baseball games accessible to more children in our city."
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Why shouldn't the baseball team donate such tickets when they are playing to crowds of about 30,000 and the capacity is 45,000, and the team is getting millions and millions of dollars of public money?

Couldn't something better be done with the $21,000 that Freddie Mac is giving to the baseball team?--given the number of community organizations desperately seeking funding for a myriad of projects and the cessation of new grant funding by Fannie Mae Foundation in 2005--FMF is(was) the leading funder of Washington-area community organizations!

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Speaking of "economic development", many cities are seeking to be chosen as the site for the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

Today's Charlotte Observer reports, in "Can racing hall rev up tourism? Study: NASCAR facility would raise revenue from visitors by less than 3%" that the economic impact of such a site wouldn't be all that much. Local officials justify the investment more qualitatively, as an initiative to help maintain the city's centrality to auto racing.

"Charlotte leaders have called the contest to win NASCAR's Hall of Fame a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" to lure tourism dollars to the region. But an economic impact study shows the project would generate less revenue per year for Mecklenburg County's economy than a single Nextel Cup race at Lowe's Motor Speedway does for the region. And it would have only about five times as much impact as the McAdenville Christmas lights do in Gaston County.

The study was conducted for the city to help build support for the hall. The Observer obtained it from Gov. Mike Easley's office through the N.C. Public Records Law. Landing the hall over Atlanta, Kansas City and other bidders would increase the number of tourism-related jobs in Mecklenburg by 1.9 percent and raise the annual revenue generated by out-of-towners by 2.4 percent, according to comparisons with figures from the state Commerce Department.

Mayor McCrory of Charlotte, NC showing off the city's proposal for the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

Nice articles about Portland, Oregon transit and livability

Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin boarding the Tri-Met streetcar at the Portland airport. Photo by Maria Saporta, Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Portland is the poster child for livability and by extending livability by enhancing surface transit. The Streetcars initiative, "DC Transit Future" of the DC Department of Transportation can't be said to be a response to Portland because after all, DC has a great streetcar history, but it is informed by the Portland experience.

Streetcar, Union Station, circa 1959-1961. Photo from Bill's Railroad Empire.

In May, a group of 100 civic, business, and government leaders organized by the Atlanta Regional Commission, visited Portland. Maria Saporta, a business columnist for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, went along and documented the trip in this, "Trip by Atlanta leaders studies growth issues in West Oregon: trip puts focus on transit" and related articles. (Registration will be required to access the article.)

(Neon sign at Streetcar Lofts, Portland, Oregon.) Maybe we need more trips to livable places, and fewer trips to baseball stadia.

UK Official proposes 'Pay-as-you-go' road charge plan

A sign in London's Central District. Photo by Reuters.

The BBC reports in "Pay-as-you-go' road charge plan" that Britain proposes to scrape registration and gasoline excise taxes in favor of a plan to charge based on mileage.

"Drivers could pay up to £1.34 a mile in "pay-as-you go" road charges under new government plans. The transport secretary said the charges, aimed at cutting congestion, would replace road tax and petrol duty. Alistair Darling said change was needed if the UK was to avoid the possibility of "LA-style gridlock" within 20 years. Every vehicle would have a black box to allow a satellite system to track their journey, with prices starting from as little as 2p per mile in rural areas."

£1.34 = $2.42

As I have discussed previously, about 60% of the cost of roads isn't covered by gasoline excise taxes. Granted that roads do benefit all of us, but benefit disproportionately the drivers of automobiles. Since costs (and this doesn't even get into the provision of public space for parking and other inducements to drive) aren't covered by excise taxes, driving is encouraged, perhaps beyond the ability to fund and maintain the road system, given current conditions.

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In other news Mayor Ken Livingstone of London suggests that other cities adopt the daily congestion charge that London adopted in 2003.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The mayor of London told a gathering of world mayors Friday that they could unclog city streets and fight global warming by charging hefty fees to drive in congested areas of their communities.
Mayor Ken Livingstone said making drivers pay a "congestion charge" to drive in central London has improved traffic flow and reduced emissions of "greenhouse gases" blamed for raising temperatures and changing weather patterns worldwide. The $9 fee has forced people out of their cars and filled city buses, subways and sidewalks, he told mayors assembled here for the United Nations World Environment Day Conference...

Livingstone, who was elected to his first term as London mayor in 2000 and re-elected last year, introduced the fee in February 2003 to relieve his city's traffic-choked streets. Revenues are reinvested in the public transportation system.

Despite protests, Livingstone imposed the fee on drivers entering an eight-square-mile area of central London that includes its financial and entertainment districts between 7 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.
Drivers who enter central London must buy daily, weekly or yearly passes and register their license plate numbers. A network of 800 cameras photographs license plates within the zone, and drivers who have not paid are fined. A recent government study found that congestion inside the zone has fallen by 30%.

Unsustainable asphalt nation

President Bush at the Shell Hydrogen demonstration gas station on Benning Road in the northeast quadrant of Washington, DC. Expect to see a significant impact from hydrogen power in about 2060...

In "A crude awakening: It's a long highway to automotive sanity" the Boston Globe's Sam Allis discusses the energy-automobile future:

"The experience at the pump is so horrid these days that I hightailed it over to MIT last week to talk to the Yoda of the automobile engine, John Heywood, the director since 1972 of the Sloan Automotive Laboratory there and codirector of the Ford-MIT Alliance. You want to talk about car engines, he's the guy...

Doom-and-gloom types love to be right, so I'm delighted to report that Heywood is, for now, in my corner. ''The pessimists are telling a more convincing story than the optimists at the moment," he says. For one thing, the huge energy appetites of China and India are here to stay. For another, he adds, ''There's a rising sense that world production will peak in the next decade or so."

Add this news to a figure that will take your breath away: 1 percent of the gas in your car is used to carry you. (By ''you," Heywood means an average payload of two people and a couple of bags.) A mere 10 percent of the gas powers the vehicle itself. The rest is dissipated in the engine, transmission, accessories like air conditioning, and endless idling. It gets worse. Engine efficiency has improved 30 percent over the past 25 years, but all of it has been lost to our thirst for heavier, higher-performance cars. So it's a wash. We've gone nowhere.

If we're going to improve fuel efficiency, we should start with a Hummer rather than a small sedan simply because the Hummer uses so much more gas than the peewee. ''We've got to focus on the big, heavy end of the spectrum," says Heywood. But it is precisely that end of the market -- the sport utility vehicles and light trucks -- that has kept the domestic auto industry afloat.

According to a ton of market research, Americans are unwilling to pay much for better fuel efficiency, yet they'll pay through the nose for more power. ''This tells us the broader public hasn't been that concerned with the cost of refilling their vehicles," he says. Yes, the sales of the giant SUVs are off, but America has not yet changed psychological gears over the cost of driving.

''The very important question we don't have the answer to," says Heywood, ''is whether you think the future will be about the same as the past or significantly different."

Most sobering are the timelines needed to bring four new engine technologies to use in sufficient numbers to affect domestic gas consumption.

To have such impact, Heywood estimates, these projections demand improvements in a third of the cars sold in the United States that will translate, in turn, to a third of the total miles driven.

With that in mind, a better gasoline engine of the future is about 20 years away from reaching the point where it will do significant good, according to his numbers.

An improved diesel will take 30 years. We're talking 35 years for a gasoline hybrid and a breathtaking 55 years for a hydrogen fuel cell hybrid pushed by George Bush." ...

National Trust for Historic Preservation List of 11 Most Endangered Places for 2005

Proposed development projects in the "Journey Through Hallowed Ground" Corridor. This corridor has been recognized by national historians as the region which holds more American history than any other swath of land in the country. It is home to internationally significant and unique historical, cultural, scenic, and natural legacies. (Image from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.)

Sites on the 2005 list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places are:

Belleview Biltmore Hotel, Belleair, Fla. – One of West Florida’s most beloved landmarks, the Belleview Biltmore has welcomed presidents, business tycoons and other luminaries since 1897. Today, the Belleview Biltmore remains a favorite to Floridians and visitors, but as with many historic hotels, its prime location is attractive to developers who wish to cash in on the real estate values by converting the hotels or the land they occupy into residences. Protection under local law is very limited for the Belleview Biltmore, and unless someone comes to the White Queen’s rescue soon, this icon of Victorian charm and Southern hospitality will be destroyed.

Camp Security, York County, Pa. – The sole remaining site of a Revolutionary War prison camp may soon give way to new development with no plans to preserve, interpret or save any of its elements. Unless someone steps in to acquire the property and protect it, suburban houses will soon sprout on the land where Redcoats once languished in captivity.

Daniel Webster Farm, Franklin, N.H. – The Daniel Webster Farm was home and family farm of Daniel Webster (1782-1852), one of America’s pre-eminent orators and statesmen. In 1871, the farm became the site of a home and school for children orphaned in the Civil War – one of the first such institutions to be located in a healthful rural environment. Today, Webster’s home and farm buildings, along with surviving orphanage buildings and the surrounding 140 acres of rich alluvial farmland may be lost to a subdivision development unless a new plan is developed to save the historic buildings and retain the land in agricultural use.

Eleutherian College, Madison, Ind. – The first college in Indiana – and one of the first anywhere in pre-Civil War America – to admit students regardless of race or gender was founded in 1848, and served as a busy stop on the Underground Railroad with many college leaders and students active in the movement to shelter and shepherd fugitive slaves. Today, the building shows the effects of prolonged neglect and vandalism. The National Park Service’s Network to Freedom program, formed to assist Underground Railroad sites, provided some money for restoration – but now, congressional support for that important program is decreasing. Significant funding is needed to return Eleutherian College and other landmarks of freedom to the historic spotlight they deserve.

Ennis-Brown House, Los Angeles, Calif. – The grandest of Frank Lloyd Wright’s textile-block houses, the Ennis-Brown House was badly damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake and further ruined by recent rains. Today, the house is unsafe and off-limits to visitors until critical repairs are made. Estimates of stabilization cost run as high as $5 million, an amount that far exceeds the resources of the nonprofit organization that owns the property.

Finca Vigía: Ernest Hemingway House, San Francisco de Paula, Cuba – Finca Vigía was Ernest Hemingway’s home from 1939–1960. Structural instability and damage by the elements have caused the site to deteriorate so severely that experts now call it a “preservation emergency.” The National Trust and the Hemingway Preservation Foundation have assembled a team of architects and engineers who recently received permission to go to Cuba to prepare an emergency stabilization and preservation plan. But unless significant restoration funding can be raised and used to restore the property, these preliminary efforts will come to nothing.

Historic Buildings of Downtown Detroit, Detroit, Mich. – Downtown Detroit boasts a rich array of architectural treasures reflecting its role as a major station on the Underground Railroad, an industrial powerhouse, the world-famous “Motor City,” and the home of Motown – but today, many of these treasures are threatened by neglect and lack of vision. A “hit list” was recently issued by the city calling for the demolition of more than 100 buildings, and just last month, the Madison-Lenox Hotel, a 2004 11 Most site, was demolished. Detroit’s leaders need to work with developers and preservationists to breathe new life into old buildings and save the history of one of America’s great cities.

Historic Catholic Churches of Greater Boston, Mass. – A record number of historic Catholic churches in Boston have been slated for sale, redevelopment and possible demolition. To avoid the loss of these treasures, it is essential that local governments, preservationists, developers, architects, realtors and the Archdiocese work together to find viable and appropriate new uses for these buildings.
King Island, Alaska – Located 95 miles west of Nome, King Island is in imminent danger of being washed into the Bering Sea. For centuries, King Island was occupied by the Inupiat Eskimos, known as “King Islanders” or “Ugiuvangmiut.” In 1959, the Bureau of Indian Affairs closed the Island’s school, forcing King Islanders to relocate with their children to Nome. Today, the last surviving Inupiat families are seeking to seasonally return to the Island. The King Island Native Corporation, which owns the land, is working to protect and rebuild the remaining structures.

National Landscape Conservation System (NLCS), Western States– Encompassing 26 million acres in 12 Western states, the System includes dozens of national monuments, conservation and wilderness areas, historic trails, and wild and scenic rivers. Established by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) with the purpose of protecting entire landscapes of cultural and natural values, the System – threatened in part by theft and vandalism – and BLM’s ability to provide protection of these sites is seriously hampered by chronic understaffing and underfunding.

“The Journey Through Hallowed Ground” Corridor, VA, MD, PA – Encompassing hundreds of historic sites including, six homes of U.S. presidents, the largest collection of Civil War battlefields, Native American and African American historic sites, and numerous scenic rivers, roads and landscapes, the land is imminently threatened by suburban sprawl. The Journey Through Hallowed Ground initiative, a tri-state collaboration, is a public-private effort seeking 21st century solutions to balance growth and historic preservation in ways that celebrate and protect the region’s heritage. If this initiative fails, 400 years of American heritage may be lost.

Written testimony: B16-195--Historic Preservation Enhancements and Technical Amendments Act of 2005 (Washington, DC)

The Honorable Linda Cropp
Chairman
City Council of the District of Columbia

Dear Chairman Cropp:

Re: B16-195, Historic Preservation Enhancements and Technical Amendments Act of 2005

I am writing in support of legislation currently before Council, "Historic Preservation Enhancements and Technical Amendments Act of 2005" (B16-195). Due to other commitments, I was unable to testify in person at the hearing, and I am sending this written testimony to you for your consideration on this important matter.

This bill is an important step forward in addressing a number of glaring and evident gaps in historic preservation protections in the City, particularly with regard to authority for regulatory enforcement; including a means to effect enforcement; review of requests to demolish properties eligible for historic designation; and the development of procedures and practices to ensure that various District Government agencies act as appropriate stewards of the historic properties in their asset portfolios.

You may recall that I have testified about many of these issues at Council hearings for oversight and/or appropriations for the Office of Planning, before you in both 2003 and 2004.

I could go on for pages and pages and discuss each of the major provisions in detail, as I did in previous testimonies, but that isn't necessary--many people have testified before you already, including Mr. Tersh Boasberg, chair of the Historic Preservation Review Board, and you have reviewed the report submitted by the Office of Planning, which explains this bill.


"Altered" or demolished? 400 block of Massachusetts Avenue NW. (Through an alteration permit the facade of this building was ripped off and replaced with plywood sheeting painted brick red.)

Instead, I would like to discuss why historic preservation is particularly important in the District of Columbia, and why thinking of this bill, or preservation generally, as a hindrance to "economic development" fails to recognize the vital importance and centrality of historic preservation to the social, cultural, and economic vitality of the City of Washington.

Certain fortunate center cities such as Washington, DC are "comeback cities," and are on the plus side of the ledger in terms of adding new residents, office and other commercial development, including retail, and as thriving arts, cultural, and tourist destinations.

Yet many of our country's center cities are not experiencing even limited success with urban revitalization, and the character of these cities is changing markedly as city governments seize on a variety of strategies in a futile attempt to arrest the leakage of residents, businesses, and tax revenues in the face of increased needs and costs.

Historic (or Cultural or Heritage) Preservation is increasingly recognized as more than being concerned about recording the past, but is seen as an integral part of the development and extension of urban identity.

Yet, too often, people still have some difficulty in recognizing that history and culture is more than the story of great people like Washington or Lincoln and great buildings like the White House or the Supreme Court.

History and culture is also the story of peoples, neighborhoods, and communities--the whole of history is a mosaic that is incomplete when any one component is ignored, or discarded.

Map of the Federal (L'Enfant) City.

In the decades of disinvestment and a continuous leakage of population to the still thriving suburbs of Maryland and Virginia, what kept Washington going was historic residential building stock and the magnificence of the L'Enfant Plan--incorporating grand streets, monuments, and public buildings as well as a plan for compact and walkable residential neighborhoods, with small blocks, a grid pattern of streets, parks, and commercial districts, bringing together people of different incomes and races by providing for a variety of housing types meeting the needs of many.

Preservation of historic buildings and their context has been essential to the stabilization of city neighborhoods such as Capitol Hill and Le Droit Park (where the historic district was created through the efforts of a great many people led by Theresa Brown, a recipient of national awards in recognition of the historic preservation achievements in her neighborhood) through all the years that few people were interested in staying the course, and living in "just another" central city whose heyday was decades past, before the end of World War II.

Theresa Brown in LeDroit Park, photo courtesy of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Except maybe for Manhattan and Brooklyn, and perhaps Boston, as few as five years ago, no one thought that cities, including Washington, possessed a second wind.

Historic preservation made it possible:

+ by protecting, enhancing, and extending the city's image and identity, leading to an increase in residents' pride in the city;

+ by providing a destination attractive to visitors, which through "cultural heritage tourism" has become an increasingly important driver of economic development and jobs growth in the city and region; and

+ by providing an engine for (re)development through the restoration, rehabilitation, and reuse of historic buildings and sites throughout the city, integrating historic preservation into the broader development process of the city as a whole.

Historic preservation needs to be thought of as the foundation for virtually all of the non-federal development within the city, linked as it is to residential development, the revitalization of neighborhood commercial districts and portions of downtown such as Seventh Street--which is the longest extant stretch of historic buildings downtown, tourism especially in terms of its growth as a vital engine of the local economy, the development of the arts, culture, and entertainment destinations and districts, and other aspects of the revitalization of the local economy.


"Mixing it Up"--new and old buildings at Seventh Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW.

It is essential that all of us in the District committed to the revitalization and repopulation of our great city possess a nuanced understanding about the primacy of authenticity and historic capital and assets-- historic buildings, sites and landscapes; independent businesses; real experiences; unique community history -- as the basic building blocks of the community revitalization strategy for the District of Columbia.

Remaking the city over to be like the suburbs is not what an asset-based community economic development strategy is about. Trying to outmall the mall will never work.

Typical strip development in the suburbs.

Historic preservation is the heart and soul of our city's competitive advantage--what marketers call (the city's) unique selling proposition. It is not a matter of forcing people "to jump through 100 hoops." Historic preservation is the foundation of the only possible long term economic development strategy that the District Government can sustain.

Urban "renewal" didn't, hasn't, and won't work.

Passing Bill 16-195, Historic Preservation Enhancements and Technical Amendments Act of 2005" ensures that this is recognized by residents, city agencies, local officials, developers, and other stakeholders, and ensures that the District's competitive advantage will be preserved and extended in the 21st century.

Thank you for your consideration.

cc: Members of the City Council of the District of Columbia

Carol Schwartz (At Large)
David Catania (At Large)
Phil Mendelson (At Large)
Kwame Brown (At Large)
Jim Graham (Ward 1)
Jack Evans (Ward 2)
Kathy Patterson (Ward 3)
Adrian Genty (Ward 4)
Vincent Orange (Ward 5)
Sharon Ambrose (Ward 6)
Vincent Gray (Ward 7)
Marion Barry (Ward 8)

Speaking of comics

Click through for larger (readable) versions.

Today's Curtis.

Zippy from yesterday. It makes a similar point to the Curtis strip.

Crankshaft from about ten days ago. Crankshaft runs in the Washington Times. More than many strips, it actually covers big box retail issues and the closure of independently owned retail.

Comic Strip "About" Historic Preservation: All Over Coffee

Just discovered this historic preservation related comic strip in the San Francisco Chronicle. By Paul Madonna.

Click through for a larger version.

A thought or two on public assets and public schools

Photo by Peter Sefton. I joke that the DC Government's primary asset management strategy is "demolition by neglect." I will say that this building here has been stabilized due to the intervention of Councilmember Jim Graham and the responsiveness of the "new" director of the Office of Property Management, Carol Mitten.

I am increasingly interested in how municipalities think about, plan, and coordinate the utilization of physical public assets. I suppose there are many levels of consideration--infrastructure (streets and utilities), emergency services, public transit, etc.

At the neighborhood level, the three agencies that have the most impact on residents are the schools, parks and recreation, and library agencies. At least in DC, these agencies look upon their "portfolios" independently, and as owned by the agency, not the citizens. Certainly the provision of services is independent of the other agencies, as is their various missions. If they thought of their missions more broadly and linked i.e., "providing opportunities for citizens to grow and learn and enrich their lives and communities", in theory it would result in different activities, the coordination of services etc.

Imagine a school in an urban setting, but where they locate their library and media resource facilities (i.e. computers, etc.) at the front of the building, perhaps with separate entrances, so that the facilities can be open to the public particularly at times when the school is closed.


This organization New Schools for Better Neighborhoods has some of the ideas, but I don't like the idea of building new schools as much as I like the idea of asset utilization and reconceptualization of mission. Kids don't need 40 acre campuses. They need decent schools with decent teachers, high expectations, and engagement with the community.

There is an interesting article about "positive deviance" in the May issue of the Harvard Business Review. There is a very interesting case study about the schools in a poor state in Brazil where the teachers hadn't been paid in 6 months, and the test results for the entire province were about 50% worse than the national average. Yet some schools were amongst the highest performers in the country. It turned out this is because they engaged the parents into the learning process by creating family learning contracts, and because the parents were often illiterate the children were able to help the families apply for government benefits and the like--making the whole family committed and engaged in the education process.

This idea of the family learning contract has a lot of relevance to urban school systems.

A fundraising idea for the Federal Historic Preservation Fund

The beautiful stamp of the art deco Chrysler Building in New York and the building's 75th anniversary reminds me of an idea I had more than a year ago. Use an annual "semi-postal" stamp featuring historic buildings to direct additional funds to the Federal Historic Preservation Fund, which is used to fund historic preservation activities at the state level.

This fund supports cultural resource surveys, education, and the operation of state historic preservation offices. Note: this fund has never been appropriated the full funding authorized in the original legislation, and the amount available to each state and territory is less than $750,000 annually.

The US Postal Service website defines a semi-postal stamp thusly:

The U.S. Postal Service currently has three 45-cent fundraising or "semipostal" stamps available for purchase: the Breast Cancer Research stamp, the Heroes of 2001 stamp, and the Stop Family Violence stamp.

The price of a semipostal pays for the First-Class single-piece postage rate in effect at the time of purchase plus an amount to fund causes that the Postal Service determines to be in the national public interest and appropriate. By law, revenue from sales (minus postage and the reasonable costs of the Postal Service) is to be transferred to a selected executive agency or agencies.
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Stamps do have great power. I still remember the first time I saw these stamps as a child. (OTOH, the use of stamps is unfortunately declining as the Internet increasingly supplants the first class mail stream. OTOH/2, it is increasing the use of stamps for the mail of packages of items sold via ebay.)

Slow Down, You Move Too Fast

This article in the Chicago Sun-Times, "Tragedies on our streets teach drivers to take care" discusses pedestrians being hit by cars. But as the photo below demonstrates, pedestrians have been losing out to cars for a long time.

Maintaining Neighborhood Character and the Value of Historic Preservation

Modern rowhouses: an argument in favor of historic preservation.

This was posted on the Brookland listserv:

Hello Neighbors -- I am a native Washingtonian and Brookland homeowner. I understand the Brookland Historical Development Commission convened a mtg at St. Anthony's to discuss the prospect of zoning Brookland as a bona fide historical district.

As a homeowner, I am vehemently against formally zoning Brookland as historical district & resent such process being proposed without input/discussion by Brookland homeowners.

I am interested in attending the next mtg, of this Development Association. I am also interested in knowing who are the members and how to contact them.

Many of my neighbors knew nothing about the St. Anthony mtg nor about current discussion to attempt historical zoning. It is my experience (and the experience of some of my neighbors) that this issue seems to surface every 5 years or so when a new influx residents arrives. Any information you have or willing to share would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Carolyn C. Steptoe

Here is my response:

Typical over-sized house inserted onto smaller lots in historic neighborhoods. This phenomenon is called "teardowns".

Historic districts have existed in the city since 1950, when the Georgetown Historic District was created by an act of Congress. Ascribing an interest in designation to new influxes of residents misses the point (imo).

I think increased interest in designation generally is in response to increased forces of change (which can include new residents), be they economic or other, and the resultant threats of significant change to the built environment.

In the case of Brookland, that would be teardowns generally and the "intensification of land use" meaning in particular the likelihood of the conversion from residential to commercial in the area between the railroad tracks and 12th Street--again, imo.

If I am reading your post correctly, you ascribe the interest in designation to the new residents, when the interest seems more to be a response to this and other changes (people who move in possessing a suburban sensibility about planning and zoning issues, and a lack of awareness about buildings that are historic or at least eligible for designation are happy to replace stone walls with concrete blocks, ask for curb cuts, tear off porches etc.) which is not driven by new residents but by the "old" residents.

One of the things that always surprises me about posts like yours (and similar comments by Linda Cropp in last week's Northwest Current newspaper), is the failure to recognize that the existence and livability of the center city, in this case Washington, is fully a result of the preservation of historic residential building stock and the urban design of the city (cf. Jane Jacobs Death and Life of Great American Cities) small blocks, buildings fronting the street, etc. (L'Enfant Plan). Compare DC to Newark, Cleveland, or Detroit and you'll understand better what I mean.

It is the historic building stock and urban design (as well as the strong continued employment engine related to the federal government and a great public transportation system) that has allowed DC to be viable and competitive as a place to live vis-a-vis the suburbs. I say this despite the city's still somewhat dysfunctional municipal institutions. (I have written about this in the Philadelphia Daily News, as well as in my blog, see: "Updating my list of the "building blocks" of successful urban revitalization" in the March archive.

As an aside, of course, the entire city owes Brooklanders a great debt, because activists in Brookland (along with people from other neighborhoods) managed to fight off the decimation of the city through freeways (if all the proposed routes had been constructed, as many as 200,000 residential buildings would have been destroyed. They weren't and neither was the city. Think Detroit as an alternative that was avoided (that's where I am from and it's on my mind a lot).

Proposed freeway routing in Brookland, circa mid-1960s.

Now the issue before us is no less significant, to fight off the suburban paradigm of land use and planning (car centricity, single use, low scale and density) that new residents are bringing to bear on the urban built environment that isWashington, DC.

It is not to say that there are no costs to historic designation. It does mean some limits on changes on facades, and yes, no more vinyl windows (and there are ways to address this for those for whom this would be an economic hardship).

But at the same time, it provides for a systematic engagement of citizens in how the built environment is developed in the future, and a base line that protects and extends design quality. In the laws of the city, it is only in historic districts where citizens have this "power". Otherwise, land use is all about "matter of right," and design and quality have no place in the zoning regulations.

Maybe you would make sound decisions about your property. But your house and lot don't exist in a vacuum, they are on a block and in a neighborhood with others. If you make bad decisions, that negatively impacts the value of your property (so what, that's your choice) but it also negatively impacts the value of the properties of your neighbors. Historic designation helps to limit this possibililty (and there are thousands of examples throughout the city where this protection doesn't exist, to see the impact). Since for most people their home comprises by far the largest piece of their household-financial wealth, how other neighbors can negatively impact them through "unsound" actions on their properties really does matter.

For more about the value of preservation in a multiplicity of aspects, I highly recommend the paper "Economic Power of Preservation" by DC resident Donovan Rypkema, as well as his paper about historic preservation and its role in the past and future of the city.

Pennsylvania State Tourism Office adds blogs to website

Road Trip.

From the Philly Business Journal:

The Pennsylvania Tourism Office posted the first blogs from travelers making road trips across the state on its Web site, launching what the state has said is the first marketing campaign of its kind.

Travelers are looking for authentic experiences, so we found travel consumers with a wide range of interests who will share their experiences traveling through Pennsylvania this summer," said Mickey Rowley, deputy secretary of tourism in the Department of Community and Economic Development. "We hope to reach travelers through other consumers who share the same interests."

The travelers will post blogs (Web logs), digital photography and video on the tourism office's Web site, www.VisitPA.com.

They will report on six areas of interest in Pennsylvania, which include:

Culture Vultures: Two girlfriends will embark on a getaway exploring culture, fashion and relaxing at the hippest spas and nightspots in the state, including shopping in New Hope, the spa at Nemacolin and Pittsburgh's nightlife.

History Buff: Will visit battlefields, walk in the footsteps of historic figures and follow the trails blazed by the state's ancestors through visits to places such as Gettysburg, Fort Pitt and Valley Forge.

Thrill-Seeking Family: Will travel the state in search of theme park and other great adventures, the country's best ice cream, cotton candy and funnel cakes, including trips to Dorney Park, Erie's Presque Isle beaches, Allegheny National Forest and the Crayola factory.

Hipster Roadtrippers: An urban couple will experience culture shock by milking cows in Amish country, going to a major NASCAR event and then returning to Philadelphia's hippest scenes.

Outdoor Adventurer: Will pack gear and be ready to bike, hike and kayak the state's trails, mountains and rivers, including the city trails around Philadelphia and the vast outdoor opportunities in the Pennsylvania Wilds and the Laurel Highlands.

Open Roader: A motorcycle enthusiast will ride a Softail Custom Harley-Davidson to view some of the state's most scenic drives like Route 30, stopping at the Harley-Davidson factory.

Measuring and accountability and how newspapers can focus attention and foster action

Newsday is the newspaper of Long Island and Queens, with an NYC edition. Last week, they ran two articles about the state of small parks in the various boroughs, vis-a-vis the large well-known parks such as Bryant Park, Central Park, and Prospect Park (all of which have excellent and powerful "Friends" organizations).



This article "Fans say city's smaller parks could use some extra tender, loving care - funded by Parks Department" actually lists the phone numbers of the parks commissioner for each of the five boroughs of the city!

"Time to think small: When it comes to funding parks, the city and wealthy donors focus too much on signature facilities while little parks suffer, a report says" is a story about a report from New Yorkers for Parks that profiles the parks in each City Council District, and compares policies, maintenance, resources, etc. between neighborhood parks and the big city parks.
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This reminds me during the Strategic Neighborhood Action Planning process 4 years ago, that I suggested that a similar inventory of public assets in our cluster be conducted, but it wasn't.

+ Maybe three years ago (or more) the Baltimore Sun did an amazing article--it started on the front page and then took two full inside pages--where first they called the Parks Department and reported a number of problems such as broken benches, etc. Then they went back one month later and checked what happened. As you can imagine, not much did occur. And they ran big photos on it. Since then the Parks Department management in Baltimore has been transformed.

+ This is why I like "The Fixer" column in the Toronto Star as well as the "Urban Warrior" column in the Philadelphia Daily News. Both bring attention to problems in the city, name names, and follow up.

In the book In Search of Excellence, Peters and Waterman make the point that "what gets measured gets done." That's why I like the public reporting aspects of Baltimore's Citistats program, and "The Fixer"column such as this example, "Car no longer up the creek".

After. Car being hauled away from Etobicoke Creek in Toronto, after being reported in the Toronto Star.

A beat-up old Toyota that was abandoned in Etobicoke Creek was quickly hauled out, after the City of Mississauga learned about it in a Fixer story. In last Saturday's Star, an article about garbage in local streams, rivers and ravines included a photo of the Toyota, marooned near the east bank of the creek, a few hundred metres north of Eglinton Ave. (See "Garbage everywhereToronto's rivers, streams and waterways reveals a mind-boggling collection of trash.")

We were alerted to it by an email from a reader, who said he noticed it last winter. Of the astonishing array of trash we found in the water, the car was by far the biggest.

Before the article in the Toronto Star. A picture might not be worth 1,000 words, but it can get things done. (Note: the Post did this for a little while in the "District Extra" section but they stopped focusing on it soon after starting.)

Washington Post? DC Government website?

This map of results of an evaluation of Baltimore's Solid Waste program shows that all is not rosy in the alleys of Baltimore. But this map is from the Citistats program, and certainly this data will be used to improve the program, not make excuses.

Best practices transit reporting from Atlanta

Proposed Purple Line, Maryland segments.

The Atlanta region is considering a Beltline transit proposal that is comparable to the Purple Line proposal that has been discussed for years in the Washington region. While the Post has been pretty good about covering this issue, in particular the rise of road proposals and the decline of transit, as in this article,"Fortunes Shift for East-West Rail Plan: Purple Line Stalls, Connector Thrives" , the Atlanta Journal-Constitution recently published a great article "5 days along the Beltline: Intown could be transformed" that includes video and photographs of each proposed segment. (Registration required to access these articles.)

Beltline Map, Atlanta.

Imagine a similar effort from a DC area television station (they all seem to be content with having "on the scene" reporters talking about a murder or accident that happened the day before) or the Washington Post?

This article, from yesterday, "What MARTA riders think: Transit backer, legislator get aboard to listen" is also pretty good:

"One recent sunny afternoon, community advocate Terence Courtney heads west on a MARTA train from the Five Points station. ...Courtney is fairly new to his position as the Atlanta coordinator of Jobs with Justice, a coalition of labor, faith and advocacy organizations devoted to improving economic opportunities for blue-collar workers. He says he has come to understand the importance of affordable, reliable transportation to the community's economic well-being. ...

Since MARTA announced a 15 percent cut in its bus service last year, Courtney has been organizing MARTA's transit-dependent patrons. He hopes to intensify the campaign to add state funding to MARTA's operation as well as to pressure MARTA officials for the highest possible quality of service. State Rep. Jill Chambers (R-Atlanta) heads the General Assembly's MARTA oversight committee. Chambers also is new to the job, having been appointed in January.
Since taking the helm of the committee, Chambers has launched an aggressive examination of MARTA's spending.

With MARTA's pending approval of a budget containing a proposed fare increase, service cuts and other budget-balancing measures, Chambers, too, was eager to hear firsthand from riders about what effect the new measures might have on their lives. Chambers recently boarded a train headed south from the Five Points station to the airport just before the afternoon rush hour.