An RFP isn't a plan: redux

I caution against cities releasing RFPs--requests for proposals--without being built upon a planning process.  Without a plan, anything can come over the maw and what comes reflects the developer's preferences, not necessarily either "the city" or "the public".  And proposals tend to be conservative because cities are conservative.

A great example of this is the redevelopment of the Walter Reed Military Hospital Campus in DC.  Hey, they've done a good job.  But it's mostly housing and retail, because the city economic development group is most comfortable with that ("Nice looking five story brick apartment building, Parks at Walter Reed development, Washington, DC," 2026).

Some of the RFPs included wacky hope of getting MIT involved, etc., because the campus included the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, which basically was a set of buildings turnkey that could have been used to start a medical school, biotechnology campus, etc.

That happened sort of, but not by the city's hands.  The Children's Hospital of DC separately lobbied Congress to get control of that property and they did.  Stuff's happening there, not sure about how breakthrough it is.

I wasn't involved at all in the public process around Walter Reed even though it's less than two miles from our DC house, because I had been working on a bunch of other stuff.  

Later, some people came to me with their concept of using the new hospital building (since torn down and it cost more than $125 million to do so) and the Pathology facilities to create a graduate medical education program (the aim was to get the Royal College of Surgeons Dublin to open a medical school, and with Washington Adventist University--there is a medical school at Loma Linda University and many Adventist colleges have medical professions education, and other institutions, open other allied medical education programs) and a biotechnology research initiative/research park.  And I wrote it up.

We were far too late in the process, again the city is conservative, and it didn't help that the leaders of the effort were somewhat wacky, one's focus was to use the H1B Visa program for funding, and we couldn't get either the Royal College or Washington Adventist to sign on the dotted line so that the city would take it seriously.

But in contrast to the housing and retail, it could have supported thousands of high paying jobs, including technology associate positions that didn't require postgraduate work.

St. Elizabeths East campus (West is for the federal government).

Later I wrote it up as a proposal for the city's St. Elizabeths campus in SE DC.

-- "POrdinary versus Extraordinary Planning around the rebuilding of the United Medical Center in Southeast Washington DC:  Part Two: Creating a graduate health and biotechnology research initiative on the St. Elizabeths campus," (2018)

And after that went nowhere, suggested the University of Maryland could do it at the new Largo Hospital--UMD's biomedical research is mostly in Baltimore.

-- "University of Maryland could seed a complementary biotechnology and medical education initiative in Prince George's County" (2021)

I learned the importance of pre-planning from the example of Kennedy School in Portland.  Residents wanted a say in how it would be sold and remade.  They ended up supporting the idea of a bed and breakfast ("Vision and Versatility: The Story of McMenamins," Spirited Magazine, "Preservation Brotherhood," Chicago Tribune, 2004, "Preserved in Alcohol: Case Studies of Adaptive Reuse Projects by McMenamins, Inc.," thesis). And the McMenamins Company came up with an amazing response resulting in an award winning property.

Edgefield Manor

But they moved from brewpubs and cinemas to larger property redevelopment earlier, buying the 300 acre Multnomah County poor farm,  Edgefield Manor..

By the time they got the property it was pretty much wrecked.  They found the money to rehabilitate it.  Now it has a hotel, golf course, brewpubs, distillery, gardens, and other amenities.

They've gone on to do this with many properties in Oregon and Washington, they didn't stop with Kennedy School.

Sadly, it's rare to find a developer that is (1) super creative, (2) committed to historic preservation, and (3) willing to work with "white elephant" properties that are difficult and costly to redevelop.  (Note that while the firm doesn't deal that much with former public buildings, Jemal Development is fine with historic buildings, first in DC, then in places like Frederick, Maryland, Richmond, Virginia, Pittsburgh, and Buffalo, among others.)

Northampton State Hospital in 2007.

Other cities have either been good or bad at this dimension.  This article laments that such a path and a company like McMenamins isn't active in Massachusetts, ("Miracle Manor," Valley Advocate), suggesting that the old Northampton State Hospital could have been developed similarly.

-- "A planning process done right | NYC to build affordable housing on a city parking lot & points about DC and Montgomery County" (2026)
-- "Adaptive reuse of a high school to a concert space in Portland, Oregion: Revolution Hall" (2023)
-- "One way to encourage community input into development planning" (2010)

TGM photo by Sammy Kogan.

Toronto Waterfront.  Conclusions in the Toronto Globe & Mail article "A bigger Biidaasige Park is another waterfront triumph for Toronto," encapsulates this argument, also mentioning the failure of the Province of Ontario in its quest to "revive" Toronto's waterfront separate from the City.

There is a lesson for other governments about how to make a place. Think hard up front, with public input, about what your goals are; then hire excellent designers, give them direction, and rigorously defend their vision.

... Mr. Glaisek says success began with decades of public advocacy – the citizen group Bring Back the Don was central – and basics: “We had strong leadership, we had funding, and we had the continuity of an organization that could focus attention for 20 solid years.”

While city staff and others helped realize the project, Waterfront has been at the helm. In meeting after meeting, year in and year out, their staff has defended the idea of “leading with landscape” and the specifics of this huge, complex, fragile project.

Of course, that presumes the local government doesn't blow off the opportunity.  In DC, like with Walter Reed, St. Elizabeths, and many other civic building projects. Which the writer points out is a problem with Toronto's city agencies.

Over at Toronto City Hall, none of those conditions exist. The parks department’s output is chaotic and nobody seems to know how its decisions are being made or by whom, much less what the guiding principles and design standards might be.

Waterfront has been different. The expanded Biidaasige invites thoughts of a city that can build great things, and whose greatest times are still ahead of it.

A planning process done right | NYC to build affordable housing on a city parking lot & points about DC and Montgomery County

 A lot of advocates argue that the primary use for ersatz city property that is being sold off should be for affordable housing.  In most places, that doesn't happen.  Land is expensive.  Cities want a lot of money for the property.  The higher the price, the fewer number of affordable units.  And cities don't always do a good job of ensuring the public element of such projects stays good.

For example, NYC is building a lot of housing on what were single story libraries.  The projects that have been built all come with great libraries on the ground floor ("New library/community space + 100% affordable housing mixed use building in New York City").

West End Library, DC.  By contrast, when DC sold off the West End Library site it got a new library and an adjoining cafe, but the library profile is seriously constrained and IMO wasn't designed well or its use of space is encumbered by the housing around it ("West End Deals," and a section within "National Libraries Week and a libraries update").

A Request for Proposals is not a plan.  When cities aim to sell off properties, they often release an RFP, a request for proposals.  Usually the RFP doesn't have good guidance on what the city/citizens believe would be the best use for the property.  Sure, sometimes public engagement processes don't generate good recommendations.  But the city is at the mercy of whether or not "good developers" participate and submit "good proposals" that include public benefits.

Many of the RFPs for such properties in DC have left me dissatisfied, although some still turn out "well" despite the opportunity costs, like the Walter Reed Hospital site ("Nice looking five story brick apartment building, Parks at Walter Reed development, Washington, DC").  Most languish for years.

Kennedy School, Portland.  But examples like the re-creation of Kennedy School in Portland into a bed and breakfast, brewpub, and event space came about because of a solid pre-RFP planning process ("One way to encourage community input into development planning").  

As I say, "an RFP isn't a plan, a plan is a plan."  

I think about this a lot, when most city property sell offs end up with not very creative results. Or institutional property sales, like the various shuttered Catholic facilities in the Brookland neighborhood of DC.

Portland wanted and got a creative result ("Vision and Versatility: The Story of McMenamins," Spirited Magazine, "Preservation Brotherhood," Chicago Tribune, 2004).  

There's a bar, hotel rooms, an outdoor spa, the gym is a cinema and entertainment space, and the facilities are heavily used by nearby residents separately from tourists.

The McMenamin Group that got the property went on to use the same model on difficult to rehabilitate properties throughout the Pacific Northwest, maximizing the civic benefit far beyond Portland.

NYC parking lot conversion.  New York City is doing that with a parking lot for a police precinct.  

It's a small lot, about 0.25 acres, 11,540 s.f.  The community wanted affordable housing there, and a public engagement process outlined what they wanted (324 E. 5th Street: Community Visioning Report, NYC).

The new building will be modern in design but respectful of the historic architecture style and building materials that predominate the neighborhood.

They're jamming a lot into it, 130 units in a tall building.  From the Crain's New York Business article, "City to turn East Village NYPD parking lot into affordable housing":

The development will include community space, a senior adult daycare with multigenerational programming, landscaped terraces, green roofs, an all-electric building system and replacement parking. Housing Works will provide on-site supportive services for residents. Additionally, 30% of the Aurea’s roughly 130 units will be reserved for formerly homeless New Yorkers.

That's an excellent outcome.  And it's because the city isn't charging at all for the land, in return for the public benefit of affordable housing.

Chevy Chase DC.  To be fair to DC, maybe they are learning.  After a lot of controversy and push back by residents ("Opposition to affordable housing in Chevy Chase, DC"), a similar project in the Upper NW neighborhood of Chevy Chase will come with 177 units of housing, with about 1/3 deeply affordable, with a brand new library and community center on the ground floor, retail, public spaces, and underground parking (City press release, Library press release).

Chevy Chase Maryland.  Interestingly, Montgomery County has a similar opportunity in their side of the neighborhood with a similar property.  The County Council wants a mixed use project with a new library and a school, the term limited County Executive doesn't.  It will be interesting to see what happens after this November's election.  

That County Executive ran for Council at large and was (re)elected--he was on Council before getting elected to County Executive.  

He will be somewhat of a wrench in plans to do affordable housing.  He thinks the County is doing fine, despite falling further behind in comparison to suburban counties in Northern Virginia--the county doesn't have the same level of business formation or large businesses, and isn't attracting as many new residents ("The East-West Divide | DC area regional economic development: anchors and where they are placed matter + airports | But military spending matters the most," "East County, Montgomery County, Maryland: Council redistricting spurs ideas for revitalization").

The coming of the Purple Line is the cover story for the June 2026 issue of Mass Transit Magazine ("The MDOT MTA Purple Line: Nearly Two Decades in the Making").  Although they have the timeline way wrong.  I sent them a letter but got no response.

Montgomery County has renewed opportunity because of the Purple Line.  Interestingly, with the addition of the Purple Line light rail, an east-west line from Bethesda to New Carrollton, Montgomery County has some great opportunities to reposition.  

-- "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" (2017)
-- "Part 2 |   the program (macro changes)"
-- "Part 3 |   influences"
-- "Part 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"
-- "Part 7 | Using the Purple Line to rebrand Montgomery and Prince George's Counties as Design Forward"
-- "Revisiting the Purple Line (series) and a more complete program of complementary improvements to the transit network" (2019)

I didn't get good photos, but I did see the Purple Line under construction on University Boulevard and New Hampshire Avenue on my recent trip to DC, and I was amazed.  It's really happening.

According to the Mass Transit article, it should open in December 2027, "only" 5 years late.  For a time there was talk it would be 2028.  I guess they are pushing hard.

Wikipedia photo of PL construction at the University of Maryland.

Silver Spring.  I wrote a whole series on Silver Spring, inspired by a query from blog reader Ed Drozd.   I never suggested it, but similar programs could be devised for Bethesda, Rockville, and Wheaton.

-- PL #5: Creating a Silver Spring "Sustainable Mobility District" (2017)
- Part 1: Setting the stage
- Part 2: Program items 1- 9
- Part 3: Program items 10-18
- Part 4: Conclusion
- Map for the Silver Spring Sustainable Mobility District
- (Big Hairy) Projects Action Plan(s) as an element of Comprehensive/Master Plans
- Creating the Silver Spring/Montgomery County Arena and Recreation Center
-- "Making "Downtown Silver Spring" a true open air shopping district by adding department stores" (2018)

I did make a related point about Long Branch.

-- "Long Branch, Montgomery County: Main Street manager job | Purple Line" (2026)

Five more items I'd add to a Montgomery County "transportation" agenda, which would have great ROI for economic development more generally, would be:

1. extending the West leg of the Red Line from Shady Grove at least three stations to Gaithersburg and Germantown
2. making the MARC Brunswick rail line bi-directional during the day -- this is in the supplemental piece from 2019
3. including an infill station in North Bethesda
4. a Separated Yellow Line Metrorail either up Georgia Avenue or out New Hampshire Avenue from Fort Totten Metrorail Station could serve more parts of Montgomery County, even towards the border with Howard County
5. push for beginning planning to extend the Purple Line from Bethesda to Tysons.

Fourth of July | US 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence

There's far too much going on for me to be able to write something pithy and searing about the state of American Democracy, other than my contribution to a Utah commemoration of the anniversary last week at the opening of the Museum of Utah History.

Below, it's the last of the line of red bars.

There is an article in the Toronto Star, "How does former foreign affairs minister John Manley see America today?," interviewing John Manley, former minister, about Canada's relationship now with the US.  Which has deteriorated in so many ways ("Trump threatens not to renew USMCA as Carney talks trade strategy with premiers," "North American free trade is gone, dead and buried," Toronto Globe & Mail).

It's not very good.  

One example is Trump holding Canada hostage over the new Gordie Howe International Bridge.  Canada paid for it because the US wouldn't contribute and the Detroit-Windsor crossing is key to trade between the two countries, the auto industry, and Canada-Michigan, Canada being Michigan's largest trading power ("For people in Detroit and Windsor, Gordie Howe bridge delay fits a familiar – and frustrating – pattern," "Canada built the Gordie Howe bridge. Trump weaponized it," "Donald Trump can’t open the Strait of Hormuz, so instead he’s blocking the Strait of Detroit," Toronto Globe & Mail).  

The new bridge will correct transportational bottlenecks that result from the current set up.

The owner of the private Ambassador Bridge, which is the major above-ground link between the two nations, but the bridge dumps its traffic into a neighborhood not set up to facilitate very well the movement of the truck traffic towards the freeways, has made lots of donations to Trump ("Trump keeping Gordie Howe bridge closed to help donor, Michigan senate candidate claims in ad," AP).

The Gordie Howe International Bridge in Windsor on Thursday. Canada picked up the tab for the recently-completed bridge, but it still hasn’t opened because Trump doesn’t want it open, writes Tony Keller. Photo: Dax Melmer/The Globe and Mail

From the interview:

How truly democratic is the U.S. today?

We need to remember that every institution has some fragility to it. And that it requires all of us to remain vigilant. Democracy is not something to be taken for granted. It takes work. We have to inform people. We have to educate people. Literacy is a prime requirement in a democracy. We have to preserve the independence of voices that can be critical of what those in power are doing, holding them to account. I think (journalist) Anne Applebaum uses the analogy that we tend to think of democracy like we go to the tape in the kitchen and pour ourselves a glass of water. It’s way more complicated than that. It’s like when we had to go up the hill to the well and pump some water out in order to get a drink. That’s what democracy is. It requires work.

This is so true.  As despondent I am about the state of the nation today, especially how Republicans put party before country, how they have abdicated their responsibility as co-equal members of the Legislative Branch to be lapdogs of the President, how the rule of law is disregarded ("Electing a Federal Attorney General and a Chief Inspector General | Expanding Democracy") and how the conservative majority of the Supreme Court is overtly Republican in many of its rulings, we still have to try to work Democracy, to improve it, to push back against the transgressions.

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"American flags are everywhere this weekend. But the symbol has become politicized to a degree unseen before," Boston Globe.

Partisans at each end of the political spectrum use the flag to disparage the patriotism of the other side. Politicians on the right literally wrap themselves in the banner to proclaim their love of country. And protesters on the left wave the flag at mass demonstrations as a rallying cry to protect or expand American rights.

... For many at that time, the flag symbolized a transcendent sense of broad national purpose, even if large swaths of the population still struggled to claim their rights or bitterly criticized the government. This Fourth of July, even flying the flag at home can have political, demographic, and racial overtones.

About 70 percent of Republicans, and 60 percent of Americans ages 60 and older, fly the flag at least during national holidays, according to an April survey by The Associated Press and the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago.

Conversely, about 60 percent of Democrats and independents said they never fly the flag, including about 75 percent of Democrats under 45, the survey showed. In addition, only about 30 percent of Black adults said they ever display the banner.

I'm more with Zohran Mamdani in his speech on Friday ("Zohran Mamdani rebukes Trumpism with pro-immigrant speech for US’s 250th birthday," Guardian). 

“Patriotism has never been about pretending our nation is without flaws,” the New York mayor said. “Patriotism is every act of righteous dissent. It is every march led under the heavy sun. It is every protest held a decade before its time. It is precisely because we love this nation that we will not leave it.”

Common Good in Cities: People Who Cycle Are "Better" Than People Who Drive

"Orientation towards the common good in cities: The role of individual urban mobility behavior," Journal of Environmental Psychology (2023)

Abstract:  Orientation towards the common good is considered as a building block of  social cohesion and has been shown to benefit both social communities and their residents. Mobility behavior (e.g. cycling) is associated with many positive psychological variables, but little is known about its relationship with the orientation towards the common good. This study examined the relationships between mobility behavior and four facets of orientation towards the common good: political participation, social participation in organizations, neighborhood solidarity, and neighborly helpfulness. Using a longitudinal multilevel analysis, annual surveys between 2014 and 2019 of a representative sample of the German general population (GESIS PANEL, N = 410) were analyzed. Cycling rather than driving was positively associated with orientation towards the common good in all models. Cycling was the only variable that was a significant positive predictor for all four facets of orientation towards the common good after controlling for possibly confounding variables (homeownership, personal income, education, sex). This research demonstrated that mobility behavior is associated with the orientation towards the common good. These findings are significant for policy and planning because the benefits of cycling over driving are more profound and sustainable than previously thought.

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Makes sense to me that when you're riding (or walking) you're more connected to your community than when you're apart from it in a car.  

And this concept is expressed in an article about the Louisville Loop, a concept for a 100 mile trail loop around the core of Louisville, Kentucky, through various different land use contexts from Olmsted era parkways to the city's Riverwalk ("Louisville Loop architect of 30+ years drives effort to build more trails," Louisville Courier-Journal)

Despite the obstacles the Loop has faced in the last decade, Swintosky remains focused on the vision laid out by the Louisville Loop Master Plan, which called for the completion the 100-mile trail "that becomes an essential component for the growth and prosperity of the region."

"I mean, you could read the Louisville Loop Master Plan, but I can enunciate the words just from my own knowledge and experience," he said. "(The trails) are community-building, they provide good, healthy living opportunities. They give the community opportunity to experience parts of their own area that you don't get by just driving down a road."

This is an example of how parks, trails and open spaces contribute to community well being, engagement, and the presentation of third spaces.

In the entry on National Trails Day, I forgot to reference the term I prefer, "social bridge" and William H. Whyte's term, "triangulation" about how public spaces provide the opportunity for people who don't know each other to interact:

William H. Whyte and "triangulation."  Whyte, who had been editor of Fortune Magazine, became interested in cities and public space, and pioneered methods of urban observation, including filming people and how they used public space.  He wrote a couple of very important books on cities and activation, The Social Life of Small Urban Places and The City: Rediscovering the Center.

One of his concepts is what he called "triangulation," where people who didn't know each other talk to each other.  Triangulation is the process: 

in which a stimulus provides a social bond between people. Strangers are more likely to talk to one another in the presence of such a stimulus. The stimulus might be musicians, or street entertainers, or apiece of outdoor sculpture. Museum professionals will note the relation of these stimuli to landmark exhibits which have a similar effect.

Anne Lusk, in her dissertation on greenways, calls this a social bridge. and I like that term better, it sounds less "social sciency." She wrote about how to design greenways to promote social interaction: 

Except for a minimal number of elements, the environment does not facilitate interaction between strangers. While someone could hold open a door and a person passing through could say thank you, necessary ADA regulations are making many doors automatic. 

If social capital is to be increased and interaction between people who know one another and people who do not know one another improved, environments that might foster positive interaction should be built. At the destinations, social bridge elements could be incorporated in the built environment. These social bridge elements include four types:  

1) Assist, 2) Connect, 3) Observe, and 4) In Absentia. 

An assist social bridge is the built element that allows one person to assist another person. A connect social bridge is a form of William Whyte's triangulation where a third element is watched, such as people kayaking, and strangers talk as friends. An observe social bridge is the positive feeling when a kindness is witnessed and that kindness is facilitated by the element in the built environment. An in absentia social bridge could be experienced in the perception of the person who created or maintained the space for the enjoyment of the recipient. 

And we need to think about that more broadly, in terms of both design of spaces but also programming ("The layering effect: how the building blocks of an integrated public realm set the stage for community building").  And once again, David Barth's integrated public realm framework.

And that's exactly what I ended up doing a couple Sundays ago, crashing the Turkish holiday Kurban Bayramı (Eid al-Adha) held at Sugar House Park.  I made a new friend, and had great food and I learned a lot.

Ah, the H Street Community Development Corporation

The Washington City Paper reports that the former director of the H Street CDC paid himself more than $1 million of unjustified bonuses, without notifying the board ("Former Housing Nonprofit Director Found To Have Diverted Funds for Six-Figure Bonuses").  

This was complicated by the fact that a long time ago, the CDC created a for profit division which allowed them more shenanigans with little oversight.  A previous director had created a janitorial service which got the contract to maintain facilities, but as the potential conflict of interest was disclosed, it was allowed, etc.  So top staff were able to generate additional revenue streams beyond their paychecks.

The DC Superior Court ruled that Kenneth Brewer, Sr. has to return more than $1.2 million.  Looking over the board members mentioned in the article, and on their website, I recognize a bunch of the names still, not all, even though that was 20+ years ago.   And I think it's interesting that on the current board there are no white people to reflect neighborhood demographics.

But as the neighborhood improved, the HSCDC could no longer compete in the market for property, so it moved to doing projects in still distressed areas of the city.

Things haven't changed much from 20 years ago.

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Community development corporations were created in the 1960s to stabilize inner city neighborhoods  in the face of outmigration.  Back then cities had two main types of neighborhoods: 

-- areas that could be stabilized: those with building stock that was attractive and that in turn attracted "urban pioneers,"-- basically white people willing to live in the center city when housing choice trends favored the suburbs.  Interest rates were high, neighborhoods were run down, city services constrained, and overall the city faced a loss of population.  Historic preservation efforts were the primary tool for neighborhood stabilization.

Preservation had the benefit of being low cost to cities.  Some regulation and staff time--supported in part by the federal government, and some investments in elements like brick sidewalks and historic facsimile light poles.  Otherwise the residents bore the costs of rehabilitation.

-- more distressed areas with a lot of population leakage and a preponderance of low income residents.  Cities tended to put their limited resources in these areas on equity grounds.  But the return on investment was minimal.

The areas were CDCs were directed to act were istressed and challenging economically. This was complicated/accentuated by and in areas of cities that experienced riots.  Riots decimated commercial districts especially, destroying the local micro economy.  A lot of housing stock deteriorated.

CDCs were created to address these issues in distressed areas, but mostly focused on what I call "building housing for poor people." Great on equity grounds, but didn't have much positive effect on the micro economy.

Some addressed commercial district issues but mostly focused on housing.

DC did create historic districts in two historically black areas of the city, one East of the River, that remains impoverish, and Le Droit Park, which is better situated in the NW quadrant is pretty central, abuts Howard University and became "gentrified" by income if not originally by race.

Lack of accountability.  Many CDCs lacked accountability and much success.  Although to be fair, CDCs were given difficult areas to try to fix.  The New York Times Magazine ran a cover story, "The Myth of Community Development" in 1994, in excoriating CDCs as an economic lever.

Some were good, some places had too many, there was always more demand for action than money, and the process of financing these kinds of deals was hard, even though back then the US Department of Housing and Urban Development actually provided money to cities for these purposes, which is a far cry from how it's been the last 20 years.

Leinberger's book made the point that before the change in attitudes, 70% of people wanted to live in the suburbs.  With the change, it was 30% cities, 30% suburbs, and 40% either.  That's changed though since covid.

Times changed: c. 2000 and the new demand for urban living.  OTOH, with the change in willingness to live in cities around 2000, momentum from private investment of large real estate developers and individual households reached a point of critical mass and was self-replicating.  Although distressed areas still lagged, and needed city and other subsidies to fund improvements.

Improvements also came through gentrification and displacement, where relatively low cost housing was bought by people with more money--they weren't necessarily rich but they definitely had more money than the people they may have replaced.  

For a long time you didn't see displacement in DC, because with the exception of converting four unit apartment buildings to condos, a lot of the housing that was acquired and renovated had been vacant.  After all, the overbuilding of housing in the suburbs left a massive inventory of vacant housing in the cities.  

But this started to change after 2000.  For example, one subsidized development in Columbia Heights with great views was warehoused to be able to upscale it ("HUD Set To Seize D.C. Housing Complex," Washington Post).  I visited that complex as a Census worker in 2000 and I was astounded at the number of vacant units. And the beautiful hill over the city from being on the hill of the escarpment.  From the article:

U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry Cisneros announced plans yesterday to seize ownership of a federally subsidized apartment complex in Northwest Washington that he said is one of the 100 worst-maintained developments in the country.

There was a reason  Now it's a fine example of a market rate development

CDCs are a mixed bag.  An organization created in response to urban poverty, the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, was created by the Ford Foundation to provide technical support and access to funds.  In some cities, LISC branches were robust and demanded accountability.  In other cities LISC was so so and definitely not pushing internal improvement.

Buildings weren't valuable.  Design wasn't valuable.  Only the ability to assemble land.  When I started getting involved, the H Street Community Development Corporation was the primary revitalization actor in the neighborhood.  The leadership didn't see any value in the historic building stock and the attractive architectural design it represented, either in the commercial district or the neighborhood, even though just a few blocks south, Capitol Hill was revitalizing because of people attracted to the "pretty buildings" and proximity to the US Capitol Complex and Downtown.   

H Street NE from the top of the Hopscotch Bridge (over the Union Station railyard.

Flickr photo by Mr. T in DC (he's in Maryland now).

They tore down one of the oldest and most historic buildings to build a s**** looking 3 bay retail unit.  And the strip shopping center, now replaced with an amazing building, was typical crap.  None of the buildings they constructed were designed sensitively in a manner that would complement and extend the historic architecture of the commercial district and the neighborhood.

It wasn't pretty, but this similar building in Brooklyn that tends to be a restaurant on the ground floor with apartments above show that rehabilitation was possible.  The building that replaced it is terrible, and the "second floor" is fake, it's just an extended facade.  In fact, I came across that building when it was the Hope & Anchor Diner, and I immediately thought it was relevant to the 8th and H Street NE intersection

Two more examples of historic preservation driven rehabilitation.  The now defunct Taylor deli on the 1200 block of H Street NE and a corner building at 7th Street and New York Avenue NW.

H Street Connection has since been replaced with...

The Avec Apartments on the 800 and 900 blocks of H Street NE.  

Now the corner space is operated by an Aldi Supermarket.  

Interestingly, Aldi still operates its first DC store which is just over one mile to the east.

Live Baltimore used to run ads in the Express, making the point that Baltimore houses were often bigger, but definitely cheaper, compared to rising prices in DC.

The Greater H Street neighborhood had the same conditions, except for poorer residents, and at the time maybe it could have flourished with a residential recruitment program like Live Baltimore, but it would have come with displacement.

In any case, the H Street CDC only saw value in the opportunity to capture and assemble land for bigger projects, and they rebuilt housing that had been frame (worth a lot more today) in 1980s style rowhouses in a number of places around the neighborhood, helped fund a suburban style shopping strip, etc.  

Houses built by the H Street CDC on the 700 block of 8th Street NE.  While I think they're ugly, some have an asking price of $1+ million.  Maybe I'm the person whose position is wrong-headed.

They did buy and hold the Atlas Theater, but they wanted to convert the interior to parking, or to build a roller rink.  Creating an entertainment focus for the business corridor never crossed their minds.

So when we created the historic preservation focused Main Street commercial district revitalization program for the corridor, complemented by a revitalization plan commissioned by the rejuvenated Office of Planning, we were at odds.  

(I wrote about this tension on the anniversary of LISC, "The community development approach and the revitalization of DC's H Street corridor: congruent or oppositional approaches?," in 2013, in response to a laudatory op-ed, "The seeds of the H Street ‘miracle’," in the Post.)

Banner from the Montana Community Development Corporation.

I thought CDCs sucked by definition ("The Community Development Corporation Model of Urban Redevelopment: A Political Economy Critique and an Alternative").  

But then I went to the National Trust for Historic Preservation conference in Cleveland in 2002, and their CDCs blew me away.  It turns out that the philanthropic community joined together to demand accountability and for a bunch of the CDCs to merge, since they covered similar areas, and would have more heft.  Funding was dependent on these changes.

That never happened in DC.  LISC was weak.  A couple CDCs did some decent work, but even then they had a hard time showing quantum improvement.

The Washington Post did a hard hitting series in 2002 ("Falling up -- Accountability and DC Community Development Corporations").  We thought we were vindicated but nothing came of it.  And this was when the Post was still doing important local coverage and investigative reporting.

-- "Federal Money Flowed With Little Oversight: City Promises to Cut Off Ineffectual Groups"
-- "D.C. Revitalization Promised, Not Delivered: Nonprofits Collect Millions as Work Goes Undone, Neighborhoods Left With Eyesores"
-'"Risky Ventures, Little Accountability: After Years of Public Funding, Nonprofits Have Completed Few Projects"
-- "Blighted Sites May Revert To D.C.: Revival Has Stalled Under Nonprofits"
-- "$100 Million Down the Drain" [Editorial]
-- "D.C. Housing Authority Fines Nonprofit: Development Group Sold Two Row Houses, Meant for Individuals, to Investor"

I guess that's when I learned that $100 million didn't go very far anyway, let alone when grift and graft is involved. 

Conclusion.  A few years later the groups won awards from the DC Building Industry Association.  And in 2011 the Post ran similar stories ("(Some) Community Development Corporations still screwing up").

Now in 2026, we basically have embezzlement.  That's 39 years of experience all right.

All the stuff I've experienced gets referenced in my thinking.  The point about accountability mechanisms that I wrote about in terms of best practice revitalization, was based on good and bad examples in Europe in a series I wrote for the EU National Institutes of Culture Washington Chapter on culture based revitalization in Europe.

From "Updating the best practice elements of revitalization to include elements 7 and 8 | Transformational Projects Action Planning at a large scale":

1. A commitment to the development and production of a broad, comprehensive, visionary, and detailed revitalization plan/s (Bilbao, Hamburg, Liverpool);
2. the creation of innovative and successful implementation organizations, with representatives from the public sector and private firms, to carry out the program. Typically, the organizations have some distance from the local government so that the plan and program aren't subject to the vicissitudes of changing political administrations, parties and representatives (Bilbao, Hamburg, Liverpool, Helsinki);
3. strong accountability mechanisms that ensure that the critical distance provided by semi-independent implementation organizations isn't taken advantage of in terms of deleterious actions (for example Dublin's Temple Bar Cultural Trust was amazingly successful but over time became somewhat disconnected from local government and spent money somewhat injudiciously, even though they generated their own revenues--this came to a head during the economic downturn and the organization was widely criticized; in response the City Council decided to fold the TBCT and incorporate it into the city government structure, which may have negative ramifications for continued program effectiveness as its revenues get siphoned off and political priorities of elected officials shift elsewhere);
4. funding to realize the plan, usually a combination of local, regional, state, and national sources, and in Europe, "structural adjustment" and other programmatic funding from the European Regional Development Fund and related programs is also available (Hamburg, as a city-state, has extra-normal access to funds beyond what may normally be available to the average city);
5. integrated branding and marketing programs to support the realization of the plan (Hamburg, Vienna, Liverpool, Bilbao, Dublin);
6. flexibility and a willingness to take advantage of serendipitous events and opportunities and integrate new projects into the overall planning and implementation framework (examples include Bilbao's "acquisition" of a branch of the Guggenheim Museum and the creation of a light rail system to complement its new subway system, Liverpool City Council's agreement with a developer to create the Liverpool One mixed use retail, office, and residential development in parallel to the regeneration plan and the hosting of the Capital of Culture program in 2008, and how multifaceted arts centers were developed in otherwise vacated properties rented out cheaply by their owners in Dublin, Helsinki, and Marseille).
7. commitment and time.  Revitalization is a forever process that takes a long time to begin to see results.  It needs to continue beyond the vicissitudes of changing political administrations.
8. adaptive management. Visionary revitalization requires continuous process improvement.  Other ways to think about it are using the design method or adaptive management instead of remaining static.  Programs can always be improved and should be.

But we have plenty of our own good and bad examples in the US. DC CDCs and the H Street CDC in particular.  Fleetwood Mac sang the song, "You can go your own way."  That hasn't worked out so well for DC ("Urban economic development best practice is not found in DC").

There should be community bulletin boards in commercial districts (and other places)

Flyers on a light pole, 2100 block Highland Drive, Sugar House, Salt Lake City.

It's so much harder to find about community events and such with the decline of traditional newspapers.  Some alternative weeklies used to publish lists, some much better than overs, others maybe just a feature listing a couple.

One such feature, sadly no longer a part of the editorial program of the Salt Lake City Weekly, led me to participate in a canoeing event on the Jordan River ("Canoeing on the Jordan River, one of the events from Latino Conservation Week in Salt Lake County").  ... that was before I was sick, and I biked there--it was about 8 miles away.

The Salt Lake Tribune has a feature listing select events, but it doesn't come out until Saturday.  

Now you have to subscribe to all kinds of feeds to get that information.  I can't even get through a day's email, so I don't do much social media--in itself bad because if I republished entries on Instagram and Substack I'd have way more readers--since blogs have been supplanted.  If only I could afford to pay someone to do it for me....

These days, libraries are good places for posting this kind of stuff.  And that's about it.  The Millcreek Public Market on the ground floor of the City Hall has a pillar that people post flyers on, just like light poles.  That's about the closest to community bulletin board I've seen in a civic building other than libraries.

Commercial places with a more community vibe, like coffee shops, certain restaurants, local food stores, etc., have bulletin boards

I hate to admit that I haven't read any Jurgen Habermas. He introduced the concept of the “public sphere." Based on an analysis of coffee shops in the 1800s England and France, "he theorized that democracy emerged and could continue to exist in a healthy form only if there was a space that was outside the control of the state, where deliberation and the exchange of ideas could freely occur."

In 2011, "Community cleanups (and other activities) as community building and civic engagement activities," seeming about cleanups and such, I also wrote about spaces for community organization and protest, and listed a variety of ways to communicate beyond the traditional media.  From the piece:

I am thinking along this kind of framework, from the personal to the group, but somehow the other dimension of support/expression vs. opposition and resistance needs to be incorporated:

- individual expression (graffiti, letter to editor, social media))
- group/community (block party, mural, neighborhood parks, street fairs, community media, smart mobs, pirate radio, etc.)

- community bulletin boards and community media -- providing space for such in civic and commercial spaces, e.g., bulletin boards in parks, libraries, etc., and do you have to get permission to post things? 

- public assembly (Hyde Park type speakers corners, public squares in cities, college campues, etc.)
- resistance/opposition, including suicide bombings in public space/transit infrastructure, what the IRA did in their London bombing campaign, wilding, riots, also celebrations, i.e., college sports related, that get out of hand, etc.). [Note that in Planning in the Public Domain, Friedmann distinguishes between radical practice, which accepts the existence of the state; and revolutionary practice, which does not]

Left: Bulletin board, Lamplighter Coffee Roasters, Richmond, Virginia. 

Right: concepts from Planning in the Public Domain.

2. Planning for community spaces in libraries and recreation centers, for meetings (yes we do that already), but what about spaces for community organizations located in libraries and other public buildings, bulletin boards sure, but how about galleries for local artists and other exhibitions, or spaces for regular exhibitions (that could rotate around the city) on community issues?  

3. What about having some funds available, like what the Humanities Council of Washington does, for community curation projects, for projects on urban issues, etc., that can then be shown in such facilities?

Urban Sustainability traveling exhibit, Montreal at a farmers market, 2010.  Sponsored by the Écomusée du fier monde. 

(The ecomuseum concept is worthy of a separate blog entry of its own.  At that one, I found a copy in the public communications area of the executive summary of the then Province of Quebec bicycle plan, "Making cycling a mode of transportation in its own right," while not necessarily transformational for Canada, certainly was wrt the US.  It's out of print and off the Internet but I'm trying to track down a copy.)

4. Or something I've said for about 5+ years, that all libraries should have collections of materials specific to their communities. The Georgetown branch of the DC Public Library has the "Peabody Room" which is a focused collection on Georgetown. But all libraries could have a filing cabinet full of stuff and finding aids.

5. Public squares, pocket parks, etc., in neighborhood commercial districts. E.g., I will take some responsibility for failing to advocate for this in the H Street NE revitalization plan, or for not thinking of the need for an expanded public space around the 2nd and N Streets NE exit at the New York Avenue Metro station in NoMA.

6. Having funds to support community festivals and events, even on a smaller scale.

7. And micro funds to support micro community projects. (Although ANCs do have some funds for this.)

8. How Arlington County government agencies exhibit in force at the Arlington County Fair. Or how some Baltimore City government agencies exhibit at Artscape.

In 2020, I wrote a series about building blocks for commercial revitalization, including "Part 2 | A neighborhood identity and marketing toolkit (kit of parts)."  I list what I think should be all of the elements of a complete identity program for commercial districts.  That has two relevant items:

3. Include directory/place/events identification signage at transit stations and in bus shelters. 4. Include directory/place/events identification signage at public buildings in the area such as libraries, schools, parks, human services offices, etc.

But I didn't specifically list a community bulletin board as a distinct element.  In 2018, in "Why not post outdoor Community Information Boards at public buildings and sites?" I mentioned kiosks and bulletin boards.

Bulletin board at the Queens Plaza bus station, Liverpool.

Bulletin Board, Mount Pleasant Plaza, Washington, DC.

Community bulletin board behind Hampshire Langley Shopping Center on Kirklynn Avenue, Takoma Park (Takoma Langley Crossroads). It might be that the big board is run by the shopping center. The smaller box to the right is managed by the community association.

Bulletin board at the Rhode Island Avenue pedestrian bridge trailhead, Metropolitan Branch Trail. Most are bike related.  I believe this was put up by the DC Department of Transportation. A community Little Free Library has been placed to the right of this sign.

Kiosk in Adams Morgan at the corner of 18th Street and Columbia Road NW.

Information board, Sligo Creek Trail, Montgomery County Maryland.

I've been thinking again from a public communications need in an environment with limited options, that public parks should have community bulletin boards too.  

This is something I will put on my long list of projects to pilot at Sugar House Park.

But I wrote about that too. I can't find a photo, but there is a community information board at every park site in Takoma Park, Maryland.

Maybe we should create volunteer Garden Corps or Yard Corps efforts to help overwhelmed people care for their yards

A house with an unruly front yard on 200 South in Salt Lake City.

Salt Lake has so many homeowners who go out of their way to do attractive plantings.  

I don't know what their backyards look like, but some front yards are just stunning.  While others are just "merely" very nice.

I do know it's a ton of work.  At our DC house, for DC the backyard was big, not quite 50 feet wide and 90 feet long, with a garage.

It was pretty big for us.  When we bought, the defining element were two huge trees with such a great canopy that between them was a "living room" that was so thick that while not quite impervious to rain, provided a lot of protection.

OTOH, there was so much shade, we couldn't grow vegetables in the back, so we did in our front yard, which being smaller, was easier to maintain.  

We took up the Square Foot Gardening method, where you build your own growing medium, 1/3 peat, 1/3 vermiculite/perlite, 1/3 five different types of compost.

The first year we bought all the different kinds locally.  And it was expensive. 

Another year we found mushroom compost being sold at a farmers market in Richmond which was pretty cool.  We would call Veteran Compost for a load, but they never called back.  

Did you know that from yard waste, Montgomery County, technically the Maryland Environmental Service, makes a compost called LeafGro, like how Milwaukee's sewer socialists created Milorganite?

We liked to travel to places in Pennsylvania like Lancaster and rented a car to do so.  

I realized if we stopped at a farm store out there and bought our year's worth of compost, the savings would pay for most of trip!  

There are farm stores in the DC region, but I always liked the ones in Lancaster County.

The first year I pulled all kinds of "weeds" from the beds.  At a tour of the Winterthur House and Gardens, as we were being shuttled up to the house, the driver said "And you might think that the lawn is full of weeds.  No, those are native plants, flowering."

I realized what I had been doing was pulling up natives.  

Fortunately, the plant seeds were hardy and they came back.  The beds looked a bit unruly, but were beautiful.

Over the years we added more native plants, based on the US Fish and Wildlife publication Native Plants for Wildlife Habitat and Conservation Landscaping in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.  

My biggest lesson was to sit back, observe and learn from the yard, from what previous owners had done.  I still had the problem of buying stuff that I wouldn't get around to planting, like dahlias, but we planted a bunch of stuff.

Another lesson.  Apparently the realtor in prepping the house for sale before we bought, planted 3 azaleas on each side of the entry to the front door.  On one side, two kept dying off.  I replanted them twice.  They died.  I finally figured out I should plant something else...

Blue mistflower.

We'd go to area plant sales to shop for them.  Not just to sales elsewhere as the local Ace Hardware stores in Old Town Takoma Park and Petworth were also a good source.

We added a bird bath to the back yard (we bought an older home appropriate style from the catalog at a store in Alexandria; I can't remember the name.  We found it by going to a nearby French restaurant, which closed many years ago).

I learned that more than birds needed water.  I failed to get the photo, but once there was an inchworm walking around the rim, bees drinking water, and if I remember correctly, a grasshopper or butterfly.

It made a huge difference for birds.

Sadly, the two trees, one a Willow Oak, the other a Maple, reached the end of their useful lives and died. But I let a bunch of Willow Oak seedlings grow.  Because of a variety of circumstances it's been 7 years since I've been back and I want to see their progression.  Even by the time we moved out west a number of saplings were taller than me.

Back when the Willow Oak was still alive, but the Maple had died.  An easter egg hunt.

We used to hold a brunch-y thing and an Easter egg hunt for the neighbor kids and friends we met through them.  It was always a good time.

Another thing we discovered the second year is wild blackberries along the back fence.  We got some yield, but after awhile, the birds and squirrels won out. 

I realized it was our responsibility to  recognize that fauna have a right to the food too.

We planted some blueberries but they never really took, and birds got most.  We did have mint growing pretty profusely.  Rosemary was off and on.  The bay leaf tree was so so.  We grew lemongrass one year, garlic another--it's planted in the fall, but I thought the work required was greater than the cost of buying, although if you planted exotic varieties it'd be different.  We learned the best way to grow basil was in a container on the front porch, so it got some shade and didn't bolt early.

In parts of Ward 4, DC has planted serviceberry bushes in the planting strips on some streets.  With the little girls next door we would pick them and make pie.

It took a year or so of my talking about it, but the impetus was Suzanne and we finally built a compost bin, of pallets that we scavenged from the industrial road behind the Metropolitan Branch Trail in Takoma.  (Now used pallets cost a lot.)  We used plans from Montgomery County.  DC didn't offer an equivalent resource.

Before we composted formally, I collected leaves with a leaf machine (electric, like our mower).  We had so many, even though the recommendations today are to leave them be.  The leaf sucker makes them into little bits.  I just piled them against the bad soil by our garage and they made beautiful leaf mold and improved the soil.

(For the bin, I also learned to stock up on leaves in the fall, to be able to use them the rest of the year.  We didn't "clean up" grass clippings, just left them. And sometimes I would snag a neighbor's bag of grass clippings to speed up the heat in the compost bin--but only later I realized they might use fertilizer, put junk in the bags too, etc.)

Our bins after I pulled out some reserved leaves.

As the wood degraded over the years, we replaced it with plastic bins.  

Regardless of address, the County sanitation and recycling booth at the Montgomery County Agriculture Fair gives them out for free, and that's where we got them.  Going to the Ag Fair is fun regardless--sometimes we'd take the neighbor kids who loved the circus rides.  

Arlington has one too, but it's fun in a different way.  We never managed to go to the Maryland State Fair.

Separately, we had a pile for twigs and such.  We had tons but I never wanted to pay to compost them at the place in Montgomery County that will take them.  We just let them degrade, and they did.

I always meant to get a chipper but we wanted an electric one and at the time they weren't robust enough.  One of my recommendations years ago on the DC Sustainability Plan was for the creation of a community chipper (and log splitting) program.  But they'd degrade.

Our house has a walkout basement, which is a super cool feature.  While this is big for DC, as you go west, those houses and yards are even bigger.  But I do know of a house within easy walking distance of Takoma Metrorail Station that is one acre!

We had butternut squash grow out of the compost pile one year (I wasn't too religious about turning) and tomatoes another.  

When we lost our front tree due to waterlogged roots and it came down, after weeks of heavy rain, I took out all the compost and put it in there.  More than 30 tomato and cilantro plants took root.

I still regret not getting off my ass and planting asparagus.  Once it takes it grows for decades.

The worst thing of all was dealing with plants that were out of control.  We never could get out all the ivy that had been planted years ago, and Virginia creeper.  We had a Rose of Sharon tree that probably grew from seed, and Suzanne realized it was enveloped by vines, and I had to go in and delicately take them all out.

We also solved an interesting mystery.  One bluestone paver at the bottom of the stairs to the back from the front.  And another by the rear patio entry.  She figured out that the other stones must have been buried by subsequent growth.  They were.  I had a terrible backache that day, but we started digging out and raising the stones, some of which were quite heavy.  And later I realized my back pain was gone, from the work of digging and stretching.

Oops, the Takoma Park House Tour was last weekend.  They are fun to go on, also to volunteer, and then you get to go see the houses for free.

I called our yard rustic.  

But the amazing thing was how important that rusticity was to attracting fauna.  We had birds of various types, insects including butterflies and fireflies.  And yes, raccoons from time to time.  

Once a champagne colored (beige) skunk walked through the back yard.  Other neighbors experienced deer which fortunately never happened to us.  (Over the years I rescued raccoons from our garage and a neighbor's waste bin.)

My final lesson was rustic versus manicured made a huge difference.  

When we would go on the Takoma Historic House Tour the super manicured yards were always barren of birds and insects (fauna).  I'd take rustic over manicured any day.

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Sharon Schueler (left), Leif Dormsjo and Al Foxx clear weeds, dirt and grass in a courtyard at Calverton Middle School in Baltimore. (Baltime Sun photo by Kim Hairston).  This photo is from 2005.  Ironically, a decade later, Mr. Dormsjo served as the director of the DC Department of Transportation.

Volunteerism. So how does all this relate to the Garden Corps idea?  Also see with out of date links, "National Volunteer Week: April 16th-22nd," from 2023.

I saw that yard while taking photos yesterday, and it made me realize that like programs that help seniors and others with housing maintenance and repair ("A case in Gloucester, Massachusetts as an illustration of the need for systematic neighborhood monitoring and stabilization initiatives: Part 4 (the Curcuru Family)"), sometimes people just need help with their yards.

Photo from AthensNow, "My Neighbor’s Yard Is Overgrown/Unkempt/Has Junk Piled Up. What Can I Do?."

There are some programs where people will let others garden in their yards.  Or glean fruit from trees.  There is the Master Gardener training program sponsored by the Agricultural Extension Service in every state.  Some counties have urban oriented MG programs.   

Montgomery County's program often has people tabling at libraries and other places for advice and workshops. Some places offer a Master Composter training program.  Arlington County, Virginia has EcoAmbassadors focused on climate change issues.

Many parks agencies sponsor weed pulling of invasives and planting natives in their place. 

Technically illegal, I would do guerilla tree branch trimming on the route to and from the bus stop closest to our house.  

What about extending these kinds of program to yard help?

The Brookland neighborhood has the Greater Brookland Garden Club, and has for many years.  Members have monthly "parties" at houses and often are called upon to give advice.  

The group sponsors a Welcome to Brookland gateway sign with a planting bed.  

Decades ago, Savannah had a small block grants program that people could use for neighborhood projects like greenspace ("Enabling Productive Neighborhoods: The Role of a New Kind of Leader").

Asset-Based Community Development Manuals:

-- Leading by Stepping Back: A Guide for City Officials on Building Neighborhood Capacity, 
-- City-Sponsored Community Building: Savannah’s Grants for Blocks Story, 

H&R Block sponsors a similar program available nationwide.

San Francisco has created a variation of a neighborhood service district--they have those too, but unlike a business improvement district, it includes residential property as payers into the district--called a Green Benefits District (something that I will write a separate entry about).  

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But it's an idea.  I don't have the capacity or physicality to create it myself.  However, it could be a program of a revitalized Garden Center at Sugar House Park.