Long Branch, Montgomery County: Main Street manager job | Purple Line

GGW's job listings include one for a Main Street Manager for the Long Branch district of Montgomery County, housed in the Montgomery Housing Partnership (a CDC focused on housing affordability and community building).  

I'd be interested in it because of the long term potential of the area.  Sparked by the opening of the Purple Line light rail line in 2027/2028.

Long Branch Station under construction

OTOH, Main Street managers aren't planners so much as event developers and event managers.

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In October 2018 ("Montgomery County Maryland Parks Department Speaker Series: David Barth, Wednesday October 3rd"), Montgomery County Parks Department brought in David Barth ("David Barth, Rest in Peace," 2022) to do consulting training with department staff and a public talk about his approach to (parks) planning called "High Performing Public Spaces".

They reached out to him via the then chair of the planning commission, because of how much I talked him up in the blog.  David sadly is no longer with us, but I learned a lot from his writings, and occasional in-person encounters at planning projects.

In 1950 an art deco shopping complex opened on Flower Avenue, anchored by a theater and a Giant Supermarket.

Where they had him do the onsite work was in Long Branch.  Long Branch is a part of Montgomery County (not Takoma Park, which it is next to) that is heavily Hispanic and more low income.  

Don't forget Takoma Crossroads.  Long Branch abuts Takoma Langley Crossroads another lower income, minority majority area, that spans both Montgomery and Prince Georges Counties.  Both areas will have Purple Line light rail stations, which will open in late 2027 or January 2028 at the latest.  Parts of the east side of New Hampshire Avenue are in Takoma Park.

One public investment is a bus transit station now, for buses but will complement the forthcoming light rail station. ("Takoma Langley Crossroads Transit Center: A Critical Evaluation").  PGC had a neighborhood investment program for the neighborhood for awhile, but the program dissipated.

New Ave initiative.  Takoma Park has a New Ave corridor revitalization initiative for the part of New Hampshire Avenue in the area within the city.  While the website hasn't been updated for years, a number of projects are underway.

There is work to create a continuous bikeway along the Avenue, although the hills are serious (e-bikes!).  And the city updated part of its master plan to address other parts of the city roughly abutting these areas, west of New Hampshire Avenue.  There is a placemaking initiative with Dance Exchange, an arts group based in the city.

The County planning department created a Long Branch Sector Plan, but in 2013.  The area is ripe for a new plan, with the coming of the Purple Line.

Long Branch is an unincorporated part of Montgomery County.  Long Branch is an area of the county that they've done more economic development investment given the area's lagging status compared to West County ("East County, Montgomery County, Maryland: Council redistricting spurs ideas for revitalization," -- I never did write the second piece, but the transformational concepts are also here, "St. Louis: what would I recommend for a comprehensive revitalization program? | Part 1: Overview and Theoretical Foundations" and "National Community Planning Month | Civic Involvement").

I can't remember if I did the site visit with them, or if I just went out there and did my own site visit and analysis (comparable to what I did in Silver Spring (or both), "Setting the stage for the Purple Line light rail line to be an overwhelming success: Part 1 | simultaneously introduce improvements to other elements of the transit network").  It seems that I never wrote it up as a blog entry.  

Later the Parks Department created an initiative to improve parks and open space in the area, which is ongoing.  

A community development corporation is needed to jumpstart development.  I advocated in the meeting for doing advance investment there in association with the Purple Line and station area planning.  They made the point that because of the economic demographics, developers weren't going to be first movers.   

That's among the reasons I advocated for a community development corporation serving the Purple Line transit shed ("PL #6: Creating a transportation development authority in Montgomery and Prince George's County to effectuate placemaking, retail development, and housing programs in association with the Purple Line," "Revisiting creating Public Improvement Districts in transit station catchment areas").

(The Montgomery Housing Partnership may be functioning like that as it relates to Long Branch.)

Equity planning.  Note that I'd been thinking about that area for awhile (I used to shop by bike in the area), contrasting Long Branch and the Takoma Langley Crossroads area (New Hampshire Avenue and University Boulevard) with DC, talking with a person working for the light rail program at the time about the concept of "Social Urbanism" as practiced in Latin America, and my grand jury experience.  This led to my writings about equity planning.

-- "An outline for integrated equity planning: concepts and programs," 2017
-- "Equity planning: an update," 2020
-- "Social urbanism and equity planning as a way to address crime, violence, and persistent poverty: (not in) DC," 2021 
-- "Black community, economic and social capital: the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago/Chicago," 2021

And yes, I used a graphic by David Barth to show how you can think about equity planning as a system.  I never redid the graphic, but I wanted to add lines (like on a subway map) connecting the "bubbles" with "subway lines" denoting transportation, education, community and social services, media, etc. laying out a way to think about all this at the community scale.

Assets.  There are some great assets in Long Branch--a library and a separate recreation center, both which could be redeveloped as more mixed use and active spaces ("Neighborhood libraries as nodes in a neighborhood and city-wide network of cultural assets").  

(New York City has done/is doing a number of projects with housing above libraries, "New library/community space + 100% affordable housing mixed use building in New York City").

The Giant supermarket is a site with a lot of redevelopment potential, as other supermarkets elsewhere in the region have been re/developed with a store on the ground floor and housing above.  

This apartment-grocery store building in Petworth DC replaced a single story Safeway that had been fronted by a parking lot.

There are a nice couple blocks of traditional commercial storefronts on Flower Avenue ("a long life for long branch: tools to preserve independent retailers," UMD student studio), including the old theater that is used as a church.

If I remember right, there is other land with development opportunity in the area.

Conclusion.  Long Branch + New Hampshire Avenue + Takoma Langley Crossroads has a lot of potential.

But, like with any revitalization program, and this one doesn't necessarily have a strong plan to start out with, it will take years to come to fruition.

One more thing.  Maybe Long Branch should be annexed by Takoma Park.  Although it would mean up to a doubling of property taxes as properties would pay both the city and county tax.  That's probably no go in these times of an affordability crisis.

Blog entries outlining a comprehensive approach to commercial district revitalization 

-- "Basic planning building blocks for urban commercial district revitalization programs that most cities haven't packaged: Part 1 | The first six," (2020)
-- "Basic planning building blocks for urban commercial district revitalization programs that most cities haven't packaged: Part 2 |  A neighborhood identity and marketing toolkit (kit of parts)," (2020)
-- "Basic planning building blocks for urban commercial district revitalization programs that most cities haven't packaged: Part 3 | The overarching approach: destination development/branding and identity, layering and daypart planning," (2020)
-- "Basic planning building blocks for "community" revitalization programs that most cities haven't packaged: Part 4 | Place evaluation tools," (2020)

Blog entries outlining a comprehensive approach to neighborhood revitalization

-- "The need for a "national" neighborhood stabilization program comparable to the Main Street program for commercial districts: Part I (Overall)." (2020)
-- "To be successful, local neighborhood stabilization programs need a packaged set of robust remedies: Part 2." (2020)
-- "Creating 'community safety partnership neighborhood management programs as a management and mitigation strategy for public nuisance programs: Part 3 (like homeless shelters)." (2020)
-- "A case in Gloucester, Massachusetts as an illustration of the need for systematic neighborhood monitoring and stabilization initiatives: Part 4 (the Curcuru Family)." (2020)
-- "Local neighborhood stabilization programs: Part 5 | Adding energy conservation programs, with the PUSH Buffalo Green Development Zone as a model," (2021)