The up to 20 things you would do to improve the city...

A contest...

Yesterday I had lunch with a famous blogger from one of DC's neighborhoods, and I was using the example I always give about how it's easy to get paralyzed when thinking about the whole city. My question is "how would you fix Baltimore--in 20 words?"

I use this example iteratively to break it down, getting down to the neighborhood level, rather than trying to do everything simultaneously. Baltimore's a harder example because it's bigger than DC-- 80.8 square miles vs. 61 square miles for DC, but only 39 square miles that aren't federally owned--and it doesn't have the same kind of job generation engine that the federal government provides to DC, not to mention the impact of deindustrialization.

S/he misheard me and came up with almost 20 things that ought to be done in DC:

1. Better school administration
2. Better enforcement of traffic and parking regulations
3. Bigger system, more reliable, longer hours for the subway system
4. More Vietnamese food (*Note: we were eating Korean food at the time)
5. Less political hucksterism
6. More HOPE VI funding for affordable and mixed use housing (*Note: that is the justification for the New Communities initiative started by Mayor Williams and the new affordable housing initiative that Mayor Fenty has embarked upon with WIN--I just wish that churches were known for a focus on quality in architecture and design--most church-built housing in DC is butt ugly from the moment it is built)
7. A less F*d up (problematic) DC Department of Housing and Community Development
8. Positive community building development across the river in Wards 7 and 8
9. Clean up the Anacostia River and make it a great place to be, a water-based resource for the entire city
10. Commuter tax
11. Better incentives for green development
12. Better cab distribution -- more service outside of the NW quadrant
13. Get CVS and the City to work together and have CVS give back the theaters and make them into community-based arts and cinema establishments
14. A better Department of Parks and Recreation, better maintenance at parks and recreation centers and more programs (Note: and maybe in the summer, later hours...)
15. Smartly (re)develop and preserve the Florida Market
16. Promote and utilize the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens and the National Arboretum