Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space

"A community’s physical form, rather than its land uses, is its most intrinsic and enduring characteristic." [Katz, EPA] This blog focuses on place and placemaking and all that makes it work--historic preservation, urban design, transportation, asset-based community development, arts & cultural development, commercial district revitalization, tourism & destination development, and quality of life advocacy--along with doses of civic engagement and good governance watchdogging.

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

The grass being greener...

PH2006020800834.jpgClarendon photo from the Washington Post.

Don't know if you caught the recent article in the Post about Clarendon, "More Urban, Less Village." It extends the same points made by Marc Fisher in a column in the summer, "Entrepreneurs Who Changed Clarendon Find It Has Changed Too Much," about how independent businesses are being displaced, which I blogged about here.

To me, articles like these, about Dupont Circle ("Dupont Circle's changing retail environment covered in today's Post" for my response), and other commercial districts in the area, are indicators--just like the canary in the coal mines--that we shouldn't merely tut tut about this, but do something. I wrote a piece about these issues, "Disappearing Small Businesses Here & Elsewhere," with particular attention to Dupont Circle, in the Intowner last January. Also see "The War of Attrition."

Anyway, the people in Clarendon aren't just putting their heads in the sand, they are worried and trying to figure out what to do. Is displacement of independent retailers something inevitable or something that can be managed?

Well, I say it is inevitable if it isn't acknowledged, addressed, and managed.

Yesterday, I gave a presentation to the Clarendon Alliance about these issues and the way forward, at least as how I see it.

You know the saying, that you are considered an expert the farther the distance you are away from your home base... Here you only have to cross the river, or Eastern or Western Avenue.

One of the attendees was a member of the Arlington County Board...
Mexicali Cafe and Barley the dog, in Arlington, VirginiaHow people see Clarendon. Painting by John Aaron, featuring Mexicali Cafe and resident Tom Petty's dog, Barley. The Museum of Modern Arf has been displaced. And Barley has passed as well.

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