The grass being greener...

Clarendon 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...
How 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.

Index Keywords: retail; urban-design-placemaking