MAYOR ANNOUNCES TEN LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2005
CONTACT: VINCE MORRIS or Sharon Gang, 202-727-5011

(Washington, DC) At his weekly press briefing today, Mayor Anthony A. Williams announced his top ten priorities for the upcoming legislation session. “With the Council back from its recess, I am looking forward to a busy legislative session,” said Mayor Williams. “There are hundreds of issues we are working on but my ten priorities for the upcoming session are listed below:

1. National Capital Medical Center
Next month, I am introducing legislation to approve an exclusive rights agreement between Howard University and the District government to move forward in financing and building a full-service, state-of-the-art hospital on Reservation 13.

2. Omnibus Public Safety Act
Earlier this year, I introduced legislation that would, among other things, strengthen criminal penalties for crimes committed against children and the elderly. The bill would also target gun crimes, prostitution, domestic violence, and gang activity. The Council’s Judiciary Committee has held a hearing and I am eager for a mark up and passage before the year ends.

3. Ballpark Construction
This fall, the District Sports and Entertainment Commission will forward to the Council a contract to build the ballpark in Southeast DC along South Capitol Street. I will be working to seek approval from the Council in a timely manner.

4. New Communities Financing
Council has provided budget authority to dedicate $6 million per year in direct funding in order to leverage $60 million in total investment. We will seek Council’s approval to leverage this investment and begin the process of rebuilding key communities in partnership with residents who live there.

5. Central Library
I believe that a new central library at the former Convention Center site will be an important anchor for one of the city’s most important developments, creating a public facility and attraction for residents and visitors right in the heart of downtown. I hope to develop a full proposal by the end of this year to be submitted for Council approval as part of the former Convention Center site plan.

6. Way to Work Act
Over the summer, we worked with the business and labor community, non-profits, and government agencies to refine the Administration’s Way to Work initiative that establishes a living wage, strengthens First Source hiring requirements, and establishes a Job Opportunity Bank to provide job training to residents. We are asking Council to approve this legislation in the fall.

7. Department of Environment
I am working with Councilmember Schwartz to reach consensus on the creation of a new Department of Environment whose mission would be primarily to maintain air and water quality, manage hazardous and toxic waste, and combat litter and blight in our communities. I hope to have legislation approved by November.

8. Surplus School Dispositions
The Council has before it five surplus schools -- Bruce, Crummell, Keene, Old Congress Heights, and Langston/Slater schools -- proposed for disposition by sale or long-term lease. I would like to work with Council to approve these dispositions by year-end in order to put these facilities into productive use.

9. Mental Health Hospital Financing
We will be coming before the Council to seek approval of a financing plan for the construction of a new mental health hospital facility on the grounds of St. Elizabeths.

10. Headquarters Hotel Financing
Later this fall, I will be submitting legislation to approve District financial assistance for development of a Headquarters Hotel on 9th Street, adjacent to the new convention center. We have not determined a final package yet but will work with the Washington Convention Center Authority to put a proposal before the Council later this year."

Portland thoughts.

I have seen more graffiti and I did finally see trash on a light rail car at about 9:30 p.m. I am not going to be able to post much over the next couple days because the conference starts in earnest. (Plus, my new travel advice--don't leave home without a wireless network-accessible computer. Even dive restaurants in Portland have wireless connections...)

I will say a few things about Portland. One, it is probably the biggest collection of independent retail in the United States. It's amazing. Independent stores and services all over the city, EVEN DOWNTOWN. I spent 8 hours in a commercial district on Sunday (that included talking to proprietors) and that's merely one of as many as one dozen distinctive areas. Toy shops, book stores (not to mention Powell's), restaurants, of course resale shops, etc.

It's all dependent on "a large stock of old buildings" that allow for reasonable rents to support innovative and entrepreneurial uses.

Two, to have such a base of independent businesses means that there is a culture that supports entrepreneurialism and small business. Maybe we just aren't that innovative in DC although I think a lot of it has to do with the rents. These thriving commercial districts have large sectors with rents that are much lower than the asking prices on H Street, which is anything but thriving.

Three, I have been impressed with the quality of some of the new construction here. The Pearl District is pretty amazing. It's a high density neighborhood being built in an old warehouse and railroad district. It's made more valuable by transit connection by the Portland Streetcar. But the buildings are pretty damn good. In DC, too many buildings have contextless architectural "adornments" that are just ugly and anything but timeless. In the Pearl District, quality architectural embellishments add beauty and distinctiveness to a neighborhood that has a great industrial and railroad heritage, and takes the district into new directions architecturally.

Four, Portland has a variety of REQUIRED DESIGN GUIDELINES--design guidelines for the city, regardless of whether or not the neighborhood is a designated historic district, design guidelines for SIGNS! Streetscape guidelines, pedestrian guidelines. Now a developer might think that is too much but it makes a huge difference in the quality of the architectural environment.

The retail sign environment here is amazing. I've taken dozens of photos of mere retail signage. The average sign for a retail store is as good or better than the Expressive Signs on H Street, although not so arty.

And some great store names such as Imelda's for women's shoes, and Home Ec. for a resale furniture store.

Fifth, there is something to be said for the density directions here. More about that later. (The Pearl District is one example. Riverplace, a new urbanist development is another--although I think the design feels more authentic in Pearl, but they have real buildings to work with and set context--plus Union Station Portland.

Bicyclists watch out

Don't know if I'll be able to write an extended entry while I am here about bicycling in Portland (which I can only watch...). There are more than one dozen bike shops that I've probably passed by in my travels thus far. There are bike lanes everywhere and much bicycle riding and commuting. But there are also bicyclist deaths and other issues.

Bicyclists need to be careful of trolley tracks.

The closest I'll ever get to an art photo.

Shadows at Eclectic Home
Originally uploaded by rllayman.

Shadows at the Eclectic Home retail store in the Nob Hill Commercial District, Portland (near 23rd Avenue and Thurman).

Some Portland Oregon Transit photos

(Re the Clear Channel contract).

Bus schedules are posted inside each bus shelter.

And at each bus stop without a shelter.

Many bus shelters use decorative glass panels, which I think would help connect the shelter better to the community, and reduce the likelihood of vandalism.

OTOH, Portland has a different sensibility altogether. I have walked for miles in the city, including what people here would consider "bad" or desolate areas. (I laugh.) So far I have counted about 15 instances of graffiti.

People can eat on the Streetcar and Light Rail. But there is no trash in the cars. Think about newspaper-strewn WMATA subway cars.... What a difference. (According to the commuter column in the Portland Oregonian, guys can ride transit shirtless, but not if they smell... at least it isn't specifically forbidden in the regulations.)

All the Streetcar shelters have status indicators (although I can say that not all of them are working).

DCCH Town Hall Meeting tonight

DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION OF COLUMBIA HEIGHTS

TOWN HALL MEETING

Location: Harriet Tubman Elementary School
13th and Kenyon Streets Northwest Washington, DC 20010

Date: Tonight, Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Time: 6PM - 9PM


Topics for Discussion

Workshop on Appealing Tax Assessments
Business Opportunities in Neighborhood Retail Space
DC USA - 15,000 Square feet for minority and neighborhood businesses. How do we seize the opportunity?
Network with Affordable Housing Tenant Organizations
Save Neighborhood Jobs Initiative - Petition Signing

Mayor Williams Signs New Bus Shelter Contract; $100 Million Earmarked for Great Streets

(I have some reservations about this, although the money's good, and with my limited computer access at the moment, I can't write much. On the other hand, in Portland, the Streetcars have sponsors and so do many of the shelters along the Streetcar line. "This stop is sponsored by Powell's City of Books," etc. and the sponsor's name is imprinted into the metal structure).

From Bill Rice, Spokesperson, DC Department of Transportation

(Washington, DC) Mayor Anthony A. Williams today signed a new citywide bus shelter contract with Clear Channel Adshel, which has agreed to build close to 800 new shelters within two years in the city's neighborhoods and downtown and to pay the District more than $150 million over the next 20 years in exchange for advertising panels on the shelters. The District has earmarked $100 million generated from this contract to finance Mayor Williams' Great Streets program to improve and beautify some of the major transportation corridors in the District.

"This is a triple win for the District," said Mayor Williams. "We get new, clean bus shelters and much needed revenue as well as financing for the Great Streets program that will improve the streetscape and economic vitality of key roadways in the city."

In addition to the shelters themselves, which will be made of vandal and graffiti-resistant materials, ClearChannel Adshel will provide bus maps, real-time bus arrival information in cooperation with WMATA and a computerized bicycle rental program. ClearChannel Adshel will also manage the heritage trail and directional sign programs and give the District $350,000 in ad credits for local and international DC promotion.

Additionally, the company will set up a Web-based maintenance monitoring and reporting system and a 24-hour service line.

The Great Streets program that will be financed by a portion of the bus shelter revenue will improve and beautify some of the grandest corridors in Washington including: Pennsylvania Avenue SE, H Street and Benning Road NE, Nannie Helen Burroughs NE, Georgia Avenue and 7th Street NW, Minnesota Avenue NE/SE, and Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue and South Capitol Street. These corridors will be refurbished with new sidewalks, curbs and gutters, street lighting, trees and mass transit improvements that will help uncap the potential in the surrounding communities by attracting neighborhood retail, housing and jobs.

The prototype for these Great Street improvements is the recently completed 8th Street/Barracks Row streetscape in Southeast. Just three years after the expenditure of $8 million in improvements, the area boasts 34 new retail shops and nine new outdoor cafes. Additionally, most of the existing retail has been able to stay, adapt and thrive.

The District Department of Transportation negotiated and will administer the bus shelter contract. To evaluate the initial submissions, DDOT convened a 19-member public-private review panel, including representatives of the Committee of 100 on the Federal City, Federation of Citizens Associations, Downtown Business Improvement District, Washington Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, DC Vendors Caucus, Capitol Hill Restoration Society, and the National Capital Planning Commission.

Community input will continue through an advisory committee as well asthrough meetings in each ward on design, location and installation schedules. ANC representatives will be notified prior to installation.

Transportation Director Dan Tangherlini thanked Councilmember Carol Schwartz, chair of the Committee on Public Works and the Environment, for her contributions to the contract. "Councilmember Schwartz suggested increased payments for shelters around the new baseball stadium and in the area of the Anacostia Waterfront Initiative - thus, payments to the District were increased by more than $1 million," he said.

ClearChannel Adshel was selected competitively, based on advertising and revenue, product design and manufacturing experience, maintenance and operation commitment and qualifications and experience. Martina Schmidt, president, represented the company at the contract signing.

A new form of adaptive reuse and "recycling"

ANC Commissioner Nicholas Alberti reports:


My neighbors came home last night to discover that someone had broken into their home, loaded their goods into large plastic bags and hauled them to the alley. When they went to the alley they encountered someone about to load the bags into one of the new trash cans with wheels. The police were called and responded quickly.

We have not recieved the new trash cans on our block, so thanks to the kindly thief, our neighbor now has one.

Shaw Main Streets meeting on New Development projects

O Street Market after roof collapse. Photo: www.dcfd.com.

Shaw Main Streets Annual Community Forum on New Development Projects will be held on Wednesday, September 28, 2005, from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM at Immaculate Conception School, 711 N Street, NW.

Shaw residents have been waiting for years to learn what would rise from the rubble of the collapse of the historic O Street Market's roof. And at long last, a plan has been developed that the developers who control the property are ready to present to the community. This is only one of the many exciting new projects that will be discussed at this year's Shaw Main Streets Community Forum on New Development Projects.

Come hear about plans for development of long vacant lots along 7th, 8th, and 9th Streets; the redevelopment of the DC Housing Finance Agency headquarters at 815 Florida Avenue, NW; streetscape improvement projects in the neighborhood; and much more. For more information, contact Shaw Main Streets at 202-265-SHAW or email info@shawmainstreets.com.

Rendering of the O Steret market from the Roadside Development website.

Meeting tomorrow nite on the state of DC public school buildings

From Jan Eichhorn, Ward Six Democrats:

Tom Sherwood of NBC/TV will moderate a panel that includes Kathy Patterson, the Chair of the DC Council's Committee on Education, Tommy Wells, the school board member serving Wards 5 and 6, and Jason Spooner of 21st Century School Fund. (Also, the Ward 6 Democrats are cosponsoring a forum in October on the proposed National Capital Medical Center at the DC General Hospital site.)

Come to our meeting tomorrow night to express your priorities! Tuesday, Sept. 27 at 7 p.m. at the Eastern Branch of the Boys and Girls Club, 261 17th St. SE (at Massachusetts Avenue).

Ms. Eichhorn goes on to say:

DC probably cannot use bonds to raise more funds to fix our schools because there are too many other major projects on the table ("the baseball stadium, the new convention center hotel and the hospital") and we must protect our bond rating. I was told that this weekend by a councilmember who also said he did not believe that fixing schools was a major issue to most DC residents.

Richard Layman replies:

Frankly, I think that if we think of the school system's mission as building the capacity and reality of the community's ability to learn, then citizens should demand that DCPS reconceptualize how buildings are utilized and how school facilities can better connect to community needs.

You might be interested in this blog entry from June (below) and I also recommend this website: New Schools Better Neighborhoods; although I don't think the issue is new schools as much as it is better schools. As a historic preservationist, I favor continued use of historic school buildings (see e.g., Historic Schools from the National Trust website).

Furthermore, you might also be interested in the developing People's Property Campaign, which is addressing how the District Government utilizes municipal assets, and current plans to declare various buildings "surplus" having "no further public use," which allows the buildings to be sold and removed from the asset portfolio held in trust for residents of the District of Columbia. Parisa Norouzi of EmpowerDC is one of the organizers of this campaign.

Monday, June 13, 2005, "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 where 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.

Also see "Community Education and Neighborhood Schools" from the Neighborhood Planning meta-site.

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Note that after I wrote this a couple weeks later I wrote about "positive deviance" and the case of successful schools in Brazil, and how they exceeded national high scoring averages by entering into family learning contracts, engaging the entire family in the student's plan for success at school.

Stalwart neighborhood activist and ex-teacher Rich Luna suggested that such parent involvement with students would go a long way towards changing the success paradigm in local schools. I will say that year-round school isn't literally year-round, but it does reduce the duration of each break off school to 3-4 weeks.

Own your own island?

Congressman Richard Pombo of Tracy, California.

In "Roosevelt Island park to be sold," DCist reports that California Representative Richard Pombo has introduced legislation to sell of various parcels of National Park Service land for commercial and residential, including Roosevelt Island in the Potomac River.

I was gonna write about Pombo last week, because of this article in the New York Times, "House Bill Would Limit U.S. Power to Protect Species ," about a bill Rep. Pombo has introduced to gut the Endangered Species Act. Pombo made this blog in April over his efforts to gut the National Historic Preservation Act.

Well at least you can say the guy is consistent.

But you can't say that whichever party is in office, it really doesn't matter. It certainly does in the State of Maryland, where the Republican Governor has pushed forth the Inter-County Connector freeway over transit, made plans to sell off various state lands, often in private deals, and gutted "Smart Growth" initiatives.

Open Source Mapping Overview Workshop THIS WEDNESDAY

Another important training that I will miss because I am in Portland, Oregon (more about this later when I see if I can use the computer for a long time at Portland State University...).

From Ken Rubotzky, Chesapeake Chapter, Chesapeake Chapter of the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association. (CCURISA helps advance government geographic information systems (GIS) in Maryland, Virginia, West Virgina, and the District of Columbia.)

I wanted to give people on the DCRG list a chance to consider attending a workshop my mapping group is sponsoring. It's in DC on U Street NW and the cost is relatively low. Mapping and responsible growth tend to go together. Since the cost of mapping systems is down to the cost of your time, with "open source" software, I thought you might be interested. Here's the announcement:

Chesapeake Chapter presents a workshop on Open Source GIS software.The workshop will be held at 1351 U Street NW, 2nd floor, near U Street/African American Civil War Memorial Metro stop on the Green Line.

Workshop opens at 8am and closes at 5pm. There will be a break for lunch, but lunch is not provided. There are numerous eateries within a two block radius. Admission space is limited. Fee will be $40 in advance, $45 for walk ins. This workshop is being held the last week of September on Wednesday, 28 September 2005.

What have people done with open source GIS? Successful open source GIS projects include plotting features of an old missle base property; plotting incidents of Lyme disease in order to project where to place anti-tick treatments; analyzing fatalities on a highway system and fixing dangerous highway segments with similar characteristics; crimemapping.

Google mapping of Baltimore crime data in the Hampden Village area, from www.bosconet.org.

Learn how to put Google data on this map.

Losing my religion: Shiloh Baptist Church and Neighborhood Destabilization

Last week's City Paper has an article entitled "Shaw’s Main Drag: Why has gentrification skipped 9th Street?" The article focuses on the impact of Shiloh Baptist Church on a big chunk of 9th Street NW, where they own a number of properties that are not in use. Many of these properties adjoin the National Park Service-owned Carter G. Woodson House. In 1915 Woodson and others founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. Woodson helped create the Journal of Negro History, Negro History Week in 1926 (now known as "Black History Month" and celebrated each February), and in 1937 published the first issue of the Negro History Bulletin.



Here's my response, which I hope makes it in as a letter to the editor:

While I disagree with the term "gentrification" being used in the headline of the City Paper article, because neighborhood stabilization and improvement doesn't have to mean displacement, clearly Shaw Main Streets has its work cut out for it. Fortunately, they have able leaders and an executive director, Alexander Padro, who is a great organizer fully committed to asset-based urban revitalization and historic preservation.

From time to time on the National Main Street email list for practitioners of commercial district revitalization, we discuss the unintended consequences posed by having churches as part of the "mix of uses" that typifies traditional neighborhood and downtown commercial districts. Churches pose some tough issues for us.

One is that blue laws and the like precluding the sale of alcohol within a certain distance of churches and schools make it difficult to develop restaurants and similar uses. Commercial districts need restaurants in order to thrive because people need places to eat and yes, go to the restroom. Without restaurants, people's trips are in-and-out, focused on satisfying errands, quickly, and patrons don't take the time to linger and explore our commercial districts, and so they fail to learn about and patronize other retail and service options.

Furthermore, most restaurants need to be able to sell alcoholic beverages, if only to be on the same competitive keel compared to other restaurants, but also because it adds an often necessary revenue stream that the restaurant needs to be financially successful.

The District's strictures on the sales of alcoholic beverages within a certain distance of churches aren't as tough as other states because DC regulations allow obviating this rule especially when other alcohol sales establishments exist in the same area. Nonetheless, I think it would be reasonable to challenge such restrictions on the basis of Constitutional provisions precluding the mix of churchly business with state action.

Second, of 168 hours in a week, churches most often sit empty, as they are usually in prime use but a few hours per week, at times when the rest of the commercial district is idle (early Sunday morning). All too often, church buildings in commercial districts are activity vacuums that make a commercial district appear empty and unsafe.

Third, churches are well-known throughout the city (and nationally) for their "manifest destiny" inclinations, which are most often expressed through the acquisition of a great deal of property in the immediate vicinity of their houses of worship. According to the article, this appears to be an issue with Shiloh Baptist Church, but this church is merely one example of dozens.

It is perhaps counter-intuitive to say so, but I have come to the conclusion that many churches do not actively engage in stabilizing and improving their neighborhoods immediately adjacent because this gets in the way of property acquistion. Successful neighborhoods have more residents, increased demand, and higher property values, all of which make it more difficult for a church to continue to acquire property on the cheap.

Sadly, while improper maintenance of large property portfolios harms a neighborhood it appears to be a deliberate strategy that makes it easier for the church institution to do what it wants. This has been abetted by a general failure by the City's building inspection department to review inspect Church-owned properties and to fine Churches when they create and fail to abate nuisance properties.

In addition, church vestry often hold suburban land use planning and design paradigms which are counter to sustaining and extending neighborhood improvements in urban areas such as the City of Washington. I can provide five examples of churches demolishing historic buildings in favor of often illegal parking lots. How does paving over houses for car usage a few hours per week help rebuild neighborhoods?

Shiloh Baptist Church, 9th Street NW. The relatively new construction of the Family Life Center is to the right in the photo. Photo source: www.soulofamerica.com

Shouldn't a Church properly steward all of the properties it owns?

Starburst Plaza Design Presentation This Thursday

Starburst Plaza Design Presentation
Originally uploaded by rllayman.

This Thursday, details are in the image. This project was first outlined in the H Street Transportation and Streetscape Study, which has now been transformed into the DDOT "Great Streets" Initiative featuring H Street. It's been discussed a number of times in this blog as well as in the Frozen Tropics blog (frozentropics.blogspot.com).

We Pay, They Play

From the Evolution of the Ballpark poster.

In "Sultans Of Swap," Stephen Pearlstien, business columnist for the Washington Post, comments on the figures bandied about for the acquisition of the Washington Nationals Baseball team. The price of $450 million leaves a $150 million profit for the other teams to split up. Pearlstein makes the point that this price reflects the particularly good scraping of the public trough that the team will benefit from in terms of a sweetheart stadium deal, not to mention the high attendance figures that the team is achieving.

One possibility, he says that the final lease is still being negotiated and he holds out hope that the District government might be able to get some more favorable terms...

Photographer: Susan Biddle/The Washington Post. DC Council members Marion Barry, Kwame Brown, Vince Orange, former council member Frank Smith with Jon Ledecky and co - bidders for Washington Nationals, the Hidary's. They gathered on baseball diamond outside Barry Farm Recreational Center in SE Washington.



AP photo.

Mayor Anthony A. Williams acknowledges the accolades of the fans at the Washington Nationals' home opener. The mayor, who has a reputation for being aloof and out of touch, was in demand for autographs and handshakes. (Jonathan Newton -- The Washington Post)

At the announcement last fall.

Water Pours Into New Orleans' Ninth Ward

Storm clouds loom over Canal street while wind blows askew palm trees as the city prepares for the approaching storm caused by Hurricane Rita early Friday, Sept. 23, 2005, in New Orleans. The storm took a sharper-than-expected turn to the right on Thursday, setting it on a course that could spare Houston and nearby Galveston a direct hit. But that raised the risk that the hurricane could strike much closer to New Orleans. (AP Photo/Tracy Gitnick)

This AP story, from about 10 minutes ago, "Water Pours Into New Orleans' Ninth Ward," says that water is rising 3 inches/hour in the Old Ninth Ward of New Orleans, that a 30' waterfall has breached the repaired levee. (Reports earlier in the week stated that the levees likely failed during Hurricane Katrina due to improper construction as the levees were not breached by water--however, two weeks ago the Wall Street Journal reported that the breach of the levee on the London Canal occurred due to an errant barge driven by the Hurrican-force winds of Katrina).
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Today's Post also has a great editorial, "Go-Go Reconstruction" about the likelihood of waste and graft coming from the urban renewal and unfocused incentives pproach seemingly being adopted by the Bush Administration towards reconstruction in the areas devastated by the Hurricane. Despite CNU involvement in reconstruction planning in Mississippi, I don't expect much from big government programs these days--we are long past the days of the rural electrification initiative and the early initiatives of the Tennessee Valley Authority, and the hopeful necessity (and penultimate concern for quality and freedom from corruption) of the programs under the New Deal.

I wrote this earlier on an email list--

Earlier in the year, Mayor Nagins announced a demolition initiative (like Detroit...) comparable to the Neighborhood Transformation Initiative in Philadelphia. NTI wasn't an asset-based approach, but one of demolition and land assembly. (I like to think that I helped change the direction some with pointed criticism at a national conference held in Philly in 2003, as well as a piece in the Philly Daily News, but it was more likely the city government not having enough money and critical mass to tear everything down.)

Given that New Orleans has one of the most distinctive stocks of historic buildings of any city in North America, to say that an NTI approach is troubling is an understatement.

One thing that old urbanists and new urbanists can agree on is the primacy of the principles--urban design in all its aspects.

The Charter is a beautiful and important document.

That being said, the culture of corruption and big business in Louisiana, and what I often think of as a lag in attitude change on the part of public officials in acknowledging that the only sustainable urban revitalization strategies are asset-based (vs. traditional clearance and urban renewal car-oriented strategies) makes me not too hopeful.

I hope that the NU initiative in Mississippi could be the harbinger of a better way that could "trickle down" to Louisiana...

New Urbanists to lead design charrettes for Mississippi's Gulf Coast

The article Nation's leading professionals offer aid in Gulf Coast rebuilding, discusses the unprecedented effort to have the Congress for the New Urbanism lead a set of design workshops to shape the rebuilding of the communities destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

According to email from Andres Duany, one of the founders and leading practitioners of New Urbanism, co-author of Suburban Nation and principle of the architect and planning firm Duany Plater-Zyberk, these charrettes will run from October 11th to the 18th.

From the article:

Duany met with Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour earlier this week to talk about rebuilding communities such as Biloxi, Gulfport and Pascagoula. Duany heads the planning and design firm Duany Plater-Zyberk and Co. along with his wife, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk. The firm is widely recognized as a leader of New Urbanism, an international movement that among other things seeks to revitalize urban areas and end suburban sprawl. Duany said the need for rapid reconstruction along the Gulf Coast presents an unprecedented opportunity to improve the quality of housing and planning by applying the tenets of New Urbanism.

New Urbanists tout traditional town planning, with its compact towns and neighborhoods and pedestrian-friendly streets, as an alternative to car-dependent suburban sprawl. The pattern of subdivisions and strip malls, they say, waste energy and land, ravage the environment and strip established communities of their sense of place.

"In Mississippi it's about getting it done right, having it better than it was before. This is a tremendous opportunity to do that," Duany said. "We want to create areas that are more diverse, less auto dependent, more environmentally friendly and more secure from hurricanes."

Top 10 Reasons to go to Green Festival DC This weekend

From Green Festival DC --

1. Discover the best ways to start getting involved in making your community a better place.
2. Whoop it up with Jim Hightower.
3. Redefine patriotism for Bush.
4. Move your body in ways you’ve never imagined.
5. Learn how Wal-Mart is really bringing communities together—not in the way those commercials would like you to think.
6. Realize that, “Gee, organic food really does taste better.”
7. Enjoy guilt-free shopping, and maybe even find some unique holiday gifts early.
8. Snack on free fair trade coffee and chocolate, and feel good about the world even after the caffeine rush wears off.
9. Make your home a haven that is not only beautiful but also healthy and kind to the earth.
10. Visit a rainforest without leaving a dent in your wallet…and please, leave your luggage at home.

Speakers include: Amy Goodman - Congressman Dennis Kucinich – Cindy Sheehan - Greg Palast - Delores Huerta - Lester Brown - Daniel Ellsberg -- Youth Speaks -Medea Benjamin - Kevin Danaher - Alisa Gravitz - John deGraaf - Lois Gibbs -CodePink - Rev. Graylan Hagler-- Priya Haji - Van Jones esq. - Gifford Pinchot III - Nora Pouillon -- Brock Evans - - Michael Toms - Zoe Weil and 100 other visionary leaders....Special Attractions include: A marketplace of 300 green businesses - come and do all your holiday shopping, and Marc Maron and Laura Flanders of Air America Radio will be broadcasting live.

Buy tickets ($15) online or at the Convention Center tomorrow or Sunday.
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I will be traveling, otherwise I'd be going.

The Great Revival of Public Markets -- PPS's October Newsletter

You see this vendor upon entering la Boqueria in Barcelona, a market where they understand how to put the product front and center. Photo: Project for Public Spaces.

The last weekend of October is the "Great Markets, Great Cities" Conference, the Sixth International Public Markets Conference, October 28-31 in Washington, DC.

In "honor" of the upcoming Conference, the October "Making Places" newsletter is all about markets and making them successful including these (among many excellent) articles:

-- The Great Revival of Public Markets By Steve Davies. America's future may be small vendors as much as big boxes. Ever since humans first congregated in cities, markets have exerted a magnetic power over us--and they are on the upswing today because people are naturally drawn to the agreeable mix of both social and commercial activity that any good market offers. The next generation of markets is emerging as a viable alternative to conventional development projects like convention centers or big-box retail.
-- Ten Qualities of Successful Public Markets 100 well-tested tips on how you can create your own great market. By David O'Neil
-- Markets at Their Best Public markets are an essential building block of great cities--in the same way as parks, streets, and buildings. This gallery of historic and contemporary photos shows why.

Read this edition of Making Places and you'll know everything you need to know about successful markets--farmers, public, flea.

Register today for the conference!

Travel and Accommodation Stipends are available to assist people in attending the conference. Apply online or contact Julia Day at (212) 620 5660.

Fruitvale Market, Oakland. Sponsored by the Unity Council, which also sponsors the Main Street commercial district revitalization program in their neighborhood.

Senegal. Photo from the BBC.

Michael Berman at Eastern Market. Photo by Keith Stanley.

Austin Texas, photo by the Austin American-Statesman.

Pike Place Market, Seattle.

Think Cropp?

Paul Joseph Brown / Seattle Post-Intelligencer. If Seattle changes its zoning south of downtown, the area could see more construction such as the Silver Cloud Inn going up across from Safeco Field.

From today's Post, D.C. Urged on Height Limits Near Ballpark:

D.C. Council Chairman Linda W. Cropp (D) called on Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) yesterday to allow developers to construct tall structures near a planned baseball stadium in Southeast Washington, saying that limiting building heights to preserve views of the Capitol from inside the ballpark is unfair.

Council member Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) has pushed city planners to limit development so views of the Capitol Dome are not obstructed. In a two-page letter to the mayor, Cropp called on the city to rescind a stop-work order that officials recently issued on construction of a 110-foot building at 20 M St. SE by Lerner Enterprises, founded by Theodore Lerner, a bidder to buy the Nationals. "The District government needs to abide by its own rules . . . and not create a climate of uncertainty for businesses," Cropp wrote.

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Is it all just about satisfying campaign donors?

$4/gallon, here we come!

$4/gallon, here we come!
Originally uploaded by paytonc.

This photo features Payton Chung, a member of the pro-urb e-list and a staffer at CNU. I've also added a link to his blog www.westnorth.com, in the right sidebar.

Two-faced transportation policies by the State of Maryland

WMATA CNG-powered Metrobus.

In "Hybrid buses ready to roll: If first 10 vehicles perform, MTA could replace all diesels" the Baltimore Sun reported earlier in the week that the Maryland Mass Transit Administration is considering converting the state's bus transit fleet to hybrid vehicles.

Yet, Maryland state appointees to the WMATA board are scuttling WMATA plans to expand its fleet of natural gas buses. Last April, in Metro Considers Abandoning Natural Gas Buses, the Washington Post reported that:

"... Maryland's representatives on the board made clear that they would not support the purchase of more natural gas buses. The Metro board consists of six voting members -- two each from the District, Virginia and Maryland. Under Metro's governing rules, one jurisdiction can veto a proposal if both its members agree."

Site Planning for Mixed Use: Seattle's Northgate Mall vs. proposals for DC's Skyland Center

Northgate Mall in Seattle.

In my ongoing discussion about mixed-use development at the Skyland Center (which made the news last week when HUD refused to provide monies for land acquisition because of past transgressions in using such money by either the District Government or its awardees -- community development groups -- see Federal Funding for Mall in SE Falters from last Saturday's Washington Post) with some neighborhood activists, they said "we don't want mixed use."

That seems pretty short-sighted to me.

I find it very interesting that the site plan for the Northgate area shows a library, a community center, new housing, a light rail station, and a transit center--and now there is a proposal for a park as an upgrade over the current parking lot on the property, acording to this article "Park eyed to replace park and ride lot at Northgate: City wants parcel to add green space to area" from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

I had suggested a similar approach for the Skyland eminent domain project but within the center because the homogeneous sameness of consumerism pales after awhile...

Model walks down the runway at the Target's Fall 2005 Vertical Fashion show in New York on Wednesday, July 27, 2005. (Fashion Wire Daily/Grant Lamos IV). The developers are spreading around the possibility that Target could come to Skyland.

More shopping but where are the community uses at Bowie Town Center?

From the article:

For more than a decade, Northgate residents have wanted to see parks, a healthier creek and pedestrian-friendly streets gain a toehold against the area's domineering asphalt. Now, with a development-stifling logjam blown apart and apartments, condos and retail stores on the way, the city is aiming to create a 3.75-acre community park to balance that urban growth.

Why is sound urban design that is people rather than asphalt (car) oriented so difficult to achieve in Washington, DC?

From this (Washington Post Photo)

to this (view of the Brentwood Shopping Center from the Rhode Island Metro Station).

Would a Brentwood Shopping Center-like project in Ward 7 really be an improvement?

Before the oil runs out -- series in the Christian Science Monitor

Before the oil runs out: the search for alternatives: To replace oil, the US needs a fuel that can power aircraft, trains, and cars. Other fossil resources, rather than green energy, may have the inside track. Part 3 of three

Links to all the stories are in this article.

A passage to India... taking globally U.S. retail sales models

Taking Global U.S. retail sales models
Originally uploaded by rllayman.

An unidentified delegate looks at a model of a shopping mall at the India Retail Forum in Bombay, India, Thursday, Sept. 15, 2005. American and European experts were set to discuss business strategies Thursday in the cutthroat world of retailing, a sector that Indian authorities are eager to open to foreign investment. (AP Photo/Rajesh Nirgude)

A typical suburban subdivision -- IN CHINA!

A typical suburban subdivision -- IN CHINA!
Originally uploaded by rllayman.

This does not bode well for for sustainable land use planning....

Caption: A view of Thames Town outside Shanghai. Chinese professionals have flocked to purchase some of the 800 units in the one square kilometre urbanisation that is half near completion and will eventually house some 8,000 well-to-do residents. Villas retail for a minimum of nearly 500,000 US dollars (AFP photo).

Get to Know DHCD Seminar this Saturday

Unit block, Florida Avenue NW.

DHCD stands for the Department of Housing and Community Development and is the main conduit for urban revitalization programs in the city, particularly those that utilize funds via the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, such as CDBG (community development block grant) and other programs.

From Pamela.hillsman@dc.gov --

Please urge your ANC Commissioner to attend a "Get To Know DHCD" session on Saturday, September 24, 2005 from 9:00 AM until Noon at 801 North Capitol Street, Northeast 9th Floor Boardroom.

A continental breakfast will be provided. Please call Pamela Hillsman-Johnson to confirm attendance at (202) 442-7256 or by e-mail.

Bicycling, in London and Brussells

People cycle into the City during the morning rush hour in London, July 11, 2005. Police urged Londoners to get back to work on Monday to show the suspected al Qaeda bombers who killed at least 49 people on July 7 that they had not cowed the British capital into submission. REUTERS/Stephen Hird.

USA Today reports in "London commuters opting to pedal to work" that bicycle commuting is increasing significantly in London, in large part post- the bombings on the London Underground, but also in response to the congestion fee for driving into the City.

According to the article: No hard figures are available on the number of cyclists in the city. A poll in 2003 found that 300,000 daily journeys are made by bicycle. The Transport for London office estimates cycling has increased 52% in the capital since 2000, based on the number of cyclists crossing bridges over the Thames River. Still, only 2% of Londoners cycle to work, compared with 20% in Copenhagen and 28% in Amsterdam. London Mayor Ken Livingstone, a bicycle enthusiast, wants to increase cycling 80% by 2010.

Also, Reuters (via photographs) reports on Brussels car-free day as part of "Mobility Week."

Residents of Brussels ride their bicycles when the city centre was transformed in a car-free zone for a day as part as the 'Mobility week ' September 18, 2005. With cars banned from all 19 communes of the Belgium capital, only residents with special permission were allowed to drive their cars, and only then, at 30 miles (48 km) per hour. REUTERS/Yves Herman

New Orleans: "Visionaries Wanted," article by Nicholas Von Hoffman, from The Nation.

A tugboat pushes a barge up the Mississippi River into the Port of New Orleans, Louisiana September 14, 2005. (Brian Snyder/Reuters)

(Von Hoffman's work was discussed in a blog entry in March, "The building blocks of neighborhood revitalization" which is reprinted here--

The book House by House, Block by Block: Rebuilding America's Urban Neighborhoods, by Alexander von Hoffman, details success stories in urban revitalization. According to the book, there are five common threads to stitching a challenged community back together:

1. A sense of place. A community has to see itself as worth saving. It needs a central idea around which people can coalesce - whether it's a history visible in cobbled streets and gaslights, a central church or school about which people who've stayed in the neighborhood have fond memories, or something as simple as a name.
2. A group of tenacious leaders, reflective of the whole community. Reviving neighborhoods need "people with a certain kind of courage - maybe even foolish courage - in the face of devastation," says von Hoffman. That doesn't mean one charismatic leader. It means a broad coalition, including the "usual voices" - activists, religious and political leaders, philanthropists, developers - and voices less commonly heard: members of all the area's major ethnic groups, ordinary citizens who've never been politically active in their lives.
3. A problem, and good conversation about it. Groups start with a shared sense that their community has a problem. They probably don't agree on what that problem is, and they certainly don't agree on what to do about it. So the first step is to facilitate an exchange in which every voice gets heard, every grievance aired. This is a slow process, as everyone who's taken part in such a conversation acknowledges, because fundamentally it's about trust, and trust doesn't happen on a deadline. If participants have the patience to see the process through, however, they almost invariably arrive at a common sense of the problem they're facing - and a common vision of how to tackle it.
4. A sustainable plan, and the people who can implement it. At some point, though, it's time to stop talking and get practical. Community groups that aim for less - rehabbing a single building, constructing a swimming pool, repaving a street - often stop there, having failed to look systemically at what their area needs and what steps might really get them there.
5. Political support. The strongest coalition with the best plan is worthless without political leaders who take it seriously. Realistically, Chrislip says, you can't expect politicians to be behind every new neighborhood initiative that starts up. But the sooner they start coming to meetings, seeing a group's seriousness about change, and being engaged in the process, the better for that neighborhood's future.)

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By Nicholas Von Hoffman, Visionaries Wanted.

In the spirit of top-down government, talk abounds about the appointment of a czar, kaiser or gauleiter to run the reconstruction of the Gulf communities destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. The name of Jack Welch, former General Electric CEO, is mentioned. He'd be perfect, famous, as he is, for his considerate treatment of subordinates.

The hundreds of thousands of low- and moderate-income people whose lives have been blasted are not heard from. Nor will they be, scattered and unorganized as they are. If reconstruction continues in the direction it has been going, the displaced will get what they are given and can start practicing how to look grateful for it.

These people could be organized to have a voice in their own destinies. The Industrial Areas Foundation, which has organized scores of low- and moderate-income communities across the country, including in Texas and Mississippi, has the organizers with the skills and experience to mobilize marooned and powerless people. With organization comes democratic decision-making.

The rebuilt communities do not have to resemble penitentiaries or other forms of government housing. There are architects and developers who have made it a specialty to work with limited-income communities to design and build what people want. Among them are Telesis Corporation of Washington, DC, the brainchild of Marilyn Melkonian, with many low-income home developments to her credit. In Chicago, there is Archeworks, founded by architect Stanley Tigerman, who, with his wife, Margaret McCurry, a gifted architect also, has a long history of working with community groups.

Among the architects and designers qualified by experience and prizewinning results to collaborate with grassroots organizations are: Urban Design Associates in Pittsburgh; Calthorpe Associates in Berkeley; Pyatok Architects in Oakland; Moule & Polyzoides Architects and Urbanists in Pasadena; and, in Boston, Goody Clancy.

Grandiose talk aside, in the practical realm the skill, talent and experience is available to take this catastrophe and turn it into a political, social and design marvel. This thing doesn't have to be another hack politician, crony boy, bureaucratic morass that produces more excuses than homes. If a couple of the big foundations, for once in their cunctatious lives, got on this fast, instead of a top-down disaster we could have a bottoms-up triumph.

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Also see these op-ed pieces in today's Post, Back to Trent Lott's House by Anne Applebaum, and Master of the Poison Pill by Harold Myerson, as well as Trying to Resurrect the Body of a City Buried in Sludge and History in today's New York Times. Also, check out the National Main Street Center website for preservation-oriented information about post-Katrina recovery.

Though flooding has receeded several feet in many areas of New Orleans, water is still high in some neighborhoods.(Rick Loomis / LAT)

Suburban (Subdivision) Name Generator

http://www.suburbanname.com/

From Adam Parish (via pro-urb):

My wife is an Architect and we got the idea to create The Suburban Name Generator because we are so annoyed by all the new developments that are popping up around us here in Orlando. We tried to have fun when writing the narratives. I apologize for any typos you may encounter. The site is supposed to be fun, and to help expose the situation. The Cool Site of the Day listing has resulted in over 10,000 hits today!

Donald Baxter wrote:

I'm thinking we could use these names on many New Urbanisme projects built in those same suburban areas. When in doubt, though, add an "e" at the end of something. "Point" becomes "Pointe" (or Point-ee).
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Speaking of this, about 10 years ago, maybe longer, the City of East Detroit changed its name to "Eastpointe" to rid itself of the negative connotations of being associated with the City of Detroit. At the time, my friend Jonathan Weber suggested that Detroit change its name to "Pointe."

Map of Wayne County, Michigan, before the City of East Detroit officially changed its name. Eastpointe lies immediately north of Wayne County, in Macomb County. Source of map: University of Michigan digital collection.

The positive association with "Pointe" comes from the Cities of Grosse Pointe, Gross Pointe Woods, Grosse Pointe Farms, and Grosse Pointe Shores just east of Detroit still in Wayne County. When you drive down Jefferson Avenue and cross into the City of Grosse Pointe it's immediately a different world, within one block--tended yards and tree-lined streets--a block away from desolation.

It is in Grosse Pointe where members of the Ford (Motor) Family tend to live. GM and Chrysler executives tend to live in Oakland County.



Photo from the Detroit News.

Urbanity, History and the Giant Supermarket at Tivoli Square

Giant parcel pick-up lane constructed illegally in the public space on Park Road NW.

On the Columbia Heights email list someone wrote:

I actually heard a driver, as he was leaving his car parked in the pickup area, yell at some pedestrians that "this is a road, over there is the sidewalk" pointing at the area on the other side. I quickly yelled at him that "this is a sidewalk, that's the road" pointing to the street. Probably didn't do any good, but I had a good laugh.

I wrote:

I saw in the Giant announcement about the Cleveland Park store that for there, they hired an architecture firm with more direct experience designing projects in (real) cities. I think that the Tivoli debacle might have had some impact on that decision.

and Marcus Popetz wrote:

Last I heard they had submitted a design to DDOT, DDOT said "that's almost the same as what's there...no". and then said something to the affect of "Submit a new design by X date or we'll build it for you and charge you". I don't remember what that date was though.All gossip heard at the coffee shop, but may be some validity to it.

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Still, we haven't received any report about this. The arguments about the use of pubic space vs. having a "better" supermarket, and urban vs. suburban design are similar to the pro- and and anti- arguments about historic preservation.

Cities are great because of their urbanity and their history. By definition, the things you do to diminish urban design and history such as build suburban styled-car oriented buildings and spaces, demolish historic buildings in favor of post-modernist junk, or put on additions to buildings that are cheap and out-of-context compared to the use of historic materials and craftsmanship, weaken all the qualities that make cities (have the potential to be) great.

If we don't start young, and teach children these principles and why they matter and what they mean, we will continue to struggle against refashioning cities along suburban lines, the car (unless the world runs out of oil...)--not of a humanized scale, a walking city for people to go places and do things with others--on foot.