Environmental mumbo-jumbo -- green limosine services in Alexandria...

Environmental mumbo-jumbo -- green limosine services in Alexandria...
Originally uploaded by rllayman

I think I am going to go crazy at "honest" dissembling, such as seeing an ad in Vanity Fair for cigarettes made with organic tobacco (note: organic tobacco isn't a protectant against lung cancer and other diseases) and seeing a Mercedes in Old Town Alexandria branded as environmentally correct. It turns out it is from some firm, Enviroride, a company that "provide[s] dependable transportation service to environmentally conscious individuals."

RIDE TRANSIT. WALK. BICYCLE.

I was in Alexandria to hear Robert Gibbs do a presentation on fixing the retail environment on King Street. He's one of the nation's leading retail planners, although much of his work is done for developers.

I think he missed some important things (although it's good to know that I still have some concepts that will extend best practices thinking and approaches to commercial district revitalization).

I understand his focus on parking. After all, he's based in Birmingham, Michigan (the town over from where I went to high school), which had a fabulous traditional downtown (although finally around 2000 it lost its two legacy department stores, which anchored the town in the face of massive competition from malls), but was dependent on the success of the automobile industry for so many decades... He got his start working for the Taubman Company (see "The Terrazzo Jungle" from The New Yorker to understand his background and training.

So I wanted to scream when the shop owners were lamenting about how difficult it is for their workers to find parking, that it costs upwards of $15/day.

Take transit. There is a subway station up the street. And bus service, including a free "circulator" (I should resolve to not call fake buses "trolleys") from the subway station to the attractions along King Street.

For more on what they are doing in Alexandria, see the city webpage on the King Street Retail Strategy.