Two out of three ain't bad (Duncan Spencer, Hillscape column)

(cf. lyrics from the song by Meatloaf)
East Front, U.S. Capitol. Architect of the Capitol photo.

This week's Hillscape column by Duncan Spencer, published in The Hill, covers important stuff. And he got most of it right.

1. About plans by the NCRC to remake the Anacostia Waterfront into some programmed Disneyland-like equivalent of Inner Harbor, in the bit "Who is kidding whom," he writes:

Unfortunately, the developers who are spinning their plans to the city’s Anacostia Waterfront Corp. seem to have forgotten one thing: Washington’s host of competitive (and free) attractions close by, which make new attractions simply another name at the bottom of a long list.

Those determined to compete with the Smithsonian museums, the Capitol, the monuments, the White House and the galleries risk the fate that befell the Washington City Museum at Mount Vernon Square: Tourists found neither the time, the interest nor the entrance fee to stop by.

He neglected to mention the long since forgotten failure of the Old Post Office.

I happened to come across a copy of Roll Call recently (not online for free), and they featured an almost two-page interview with Adrian Washington, the president of the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation. He was talking crazy about making the SW waterfront a retail mecca with the likes of Bed Bath and Beyond, etc., the same kind of crazy talk we heard from Herb Miller last summer vis-a-vis the baseball stadium.

(See this blog entry from last August, "Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie, and Mixed Primary Uses" about Herb Miller, and this one about inauthentic experiences at the Inner Harbor and elsewhere, "Thoughts for Tuesday: NoMa, sports-based development, Starchitects, and developer stratagems and realities of the market ")

Who is going to go buy crabs, eat them, and then purchase towels or a mattress and lug the stuff back home in the Washington region, or to West Chester, Pennsylvania or wherever they are visiting from?

It's not like the retail in the Inner Harbor area, or in most tourist places, is distinctive in terms of quality. It's distinctive, but too often it's along the lines of taffy and boardwalk fries. See "Speaking of touristification," and "Is there a link between historic designation and chaining up of retail in neighborhood commercial districts?."

Plus, I forget to mention some more stuff, including this blog entry from last December about development in the baseball stadium area, "Batter up, "M Street Live." Is inauthenticity on the horizon for for the Anacostia SE Waterfront?" and these articles from yesterday's Seattle Post-Intelligencer, "Tacoma, Bremerton show how to revamp Seattle's waterfront," In "Bremerton, crowds tell story: Waterfront is now inviting," and "Tacoma turned waterfront from Superfund site to esplanade."

And how about some art and other non-commercial uses? See "Unique outdoor artist leaves no stone unturned."

There are other good examples of waterfront revitalization, especially Providence, Rhode Island. I read this article a few years ago, although I can't seem to find it online. For people interested in this issue, the article is worth digging up. See "Just Add Water: Providence: Rhode Island's Capital Offers Hartford a Recipe for Success" from the Hartford Courant, Jun 29, 2003. Abstract:

WATERPLACE PARK , the centerpiece of Providence's downtown renaissance, draws a million visitors a year. The biggest attraction is WaterFire, a display in which torch-bearing workers light nearly 100 braziers along the river on selected spring and summer nights. HISTORIC HOMES on Benefit Street in Providence's historic east side were nearly razed several decades ago before a wealthy benefactor rescued and restored them. The neighborhood now stands in testimony to the city's born-again preservation ethic. THE MOSHASSUCK and Woonasquatucket rivers, which flow into the Providence River in the city's downtown, were uncovered and relocated more than 10 years ago. HARTFORD'S PARK RIVER, which once flowed openly through Bushnell Park, above, was buried in segments between 1941 and 1980. A PARKING LOT that covered the river in the center of Providence, left, was turned into a waterside park with benches, outdoor dining and an amphitheater.

2. Relatedly, Duncan Spencer also writes about the ongoing baseball stadium debacle, in "Get ready for S.E. parking lot desert," saying:

The sad part is that this latest impasse was so predictable, right from the first aura of desperation, the scramble to get a “deal,” the confusion over the design, the legal battles over eminent domain, the ironclad deadline. All the important details were left up in the air, and now they are falling to ground with a resounding thud.

What is the likely outcome? Mayor Anthony Williams (D) has already suggested a compromise, allowing some garages. Lerner will push for more suburban-type parking — this is what he knows — and if the past is any example the city will end up paying both for the parking garages and later for underground parking, which will become necessary to allow development around the stadium.

Business as usual in Washington is to delay making decisions until it is almost too late; then enter a compromise that placates no one, then pay an exorbitant amount of money to paper the whole mess over.

3. Where Duncan misses is with his rumination about increasing the height of downtown buildings, because of the recent op-ed in the Post (discussed in this blog entry, "More muttering about the Post" as well as by the great Mark Jenkins in the City Paper blog, City Desk). He writes, in "D.C. needs to grow up" that:

Sooner or later, downtown D.C. is going to need a skyscraper. Or 10.

It’s becoming more and more obvious that downtown D.C., to cope with its economic revival, increased street life and thousands of new urbanites flocking to handsome condos, will need bigger buildings to house places of employment, retail and services.

It’s good to remember that the dictum against height in Washington was laid down before elevators were commonplace, in 1899. Its noble object was to be sure that the capitoline campus did not become an island amid canyonlike skyscrapers, such as those dwarfing Gracie Mansion and other historic buildings in downtown New York.

I thought it was also to preserve the viewsheds of the Capitol and the Washington Monument. Tall buildings will obscure these important views.

Still, the issues raised are important, even if I don't know the answer (at least not yet).
Boston. From a community visual preference survey conducted in Austin, Texas.

Index Keywords: urban-revitalization