Pets eat pet food forever, but babies grow older and eat regular food, not baby food...

Photo courtesy of Phaction DC.

I am resigned about the Comprehensive Plan passing, although my reservations (primarily the necessity of making urban design the primary organizing element as well as a real transportation plan centered around transportation demand management) can and probably will be addressed due to my (and others) continued advocacy.

But it's worrisome to be thrown into the same pot as the Federation of Citizens Associations, who are also against the Comp Plan being passed right now, because our perspectives are completely different.

One of their big things is their assertion is that DC's planning regime is only focused on providing housing to attract "younger people" not families.

Alas, younger people get older. I moved to DC when I was 27. While I don't have children, I can tell you, I am no longer young... People change, their households change, they have sex, and intentionally or not, many have kids...

It is true that the housing type being built the most tends to be apartments and condominiums, and those aren't traditionally the kind of housing that we think of when we think of family housing, but in fact, such housing can be conducive to families.

It is in places like Vancouver, BC (see "High density living in Vancouver, British Columbia") and it is in places like Arlington, Virginia, if Saturday's feature on an apartment building on Wilson Boulevard is to be believed, according to "2201 Wilson: A Very Social Scene" subtitled "Play Groups, Community Parties Enliven Arlington High-Rise."

From the article:

Even the preschoolers at 2201 Wilson in North Arlington have a very active social life. On weekdays as many as 16 parents and their young children gather for an informal play group that meets in the large community room on the first floor of the 219-unit, 10-story apartment building located across the street from the Court House Metro station.

It isn't just toddlers who find themselves surrounded by friendly faces; adults who live at 2201 Wilson say they have compact but well organized apartments in a sociable building, in the midst of a walkable neighborhood.

I think people need to be direct about what they are concerned about, which is the new housing development regime being focused almost exclusively on those in the higher income brackets.

For another perspective, check out the Children's Strategy developed by the City of Christchurch, New Zealand. Can you imagine DC interviewing almost 900 children under the age of 12, to determine what they thought about:

• the city's physical design and layout
• leisure and recreation
• safety and welfare
• their environment and their future?

School matters more than not. I talked to a couple last night that moved back to the city. They left in 1974 for Virginia, because their daughter (now engaged) was school-aged and they couldn't hack DC schools. Now they live back on Capitol Hill. But what city can afford to lose residents, their social capital and tax revenues, for 30 years while their children get educated?

To be fair, I didn't think they needed to apologize for making this choice.

Also see "A lament about the City and Schools" from October, where I reprinted a colleague's frustration about feeling forced to leave the city because of the quality of schools (speaking of the unexpected, they are having twins). He said:

The suburbs are probably crawling with parents who would much rather live in the city, if only they didn't feel like they'd be sacrificing their kid's education for the benefits of the urban environment. Many of those soccer moms and little league dads were probably happy urbanites before they had kids and were forced to make the Great Compromise.

Index Keywords: housing