Quote of the Day and Weekend

I can't believe I forgot to do this earlier in the day.

From the Post article, "Nissan's Chief Chases His Biggest Idea Yet":

Among Ghosn's fans at the motor show was D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams, who recognized the executive's ability to articulate and act on his vision. "A great leader combines an ability to envision and to abstract and at the same time have an ability to implement on another level," Williams said.

I like Mayor Williams, but talk about disconnection from rhetoric to reality. Four examples:

1. With regard to the libraries, "Building a Community of Learning." Reality: a god-awful report, proposal for a Central Library, and an incredibly constrained "public" engagement process.

2. Comprehensive Plan: "Building an Inclusive City." Reality: why I testified about the Comp Plan a couple nights ago, and many others. A failure to address substantive issues such as urban design and transportation demand management in a fashion that breaks new ground and paradigms (really old paradigms, but new to the new suburban thinking residents of the center city).

3. National Capital Medical Center. Reality: too complicated to write out, but definitely a debacle.

4. Old Convention Center site:
Reality: two office buildings; two condominium buildings; a modicum of retail; and rather than a glorious public space, a glorified public patio.

Talk about letdowns...

Index Keywords: good-government

Hug a Thug

This post is swiped in its entirety from Frozen Tropics:

WSJ: Hug A Thug

The Wall Street Journal's got an interesting piece on a novel approach to dealing with drug dealers in a community (you need a subscription to follow the link above, but it's temporarly free if you go through here).
--------------
Also see "Straight Outta Boston" from Mother Jones Magazine.

Index Keywords: civic-engagement; public-safety

Out of the box thinking about the Florida Market

"Coach Toby sings his message to the skies about the importance of good nutrition and exercise. Junkfood Janey, played by Erika Johnson, is amazed to learn that too much sugar may produce a burst of energy but it will inevitably let you down. PETER TABER. From "Entertainment is hook for children’s nutrition education program." (What is to prevent us from doing this, but having the programs at the market, for parents and children? And this is done by some health organizations at farmers markets, including Kaiser Permanente "Family Days" at various FreshFARM Markets in DC.)

-----------------------------
Also see this blog entry: Florida Market destruction legislation hearing, Weds. October 11th
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One of the biggest "problems" with the Florida Market is what Kevin Lynch called legibility. For more on the concept, here's a brief paper, "Legibility: Helping People Find There Way Around."

This is complicated, because the Market has two very different roles. It is a wholesale food distribution center that supports business clients. And it sells retail. But the majority of the commerce conducted there is wholesale. The place isn't set up for a lot of retail business.

This has consequences. There aren't many places to go to the restroom. There aren't good places to buy a cup of coffee and linger. "Merchandising," making great looking displays, etc., is practically a foreign concept. There are language and communications issues. There are hours issues--most of the businesses are focused on business clients, so that hours aren't necessarily conducive to retail, etc.

For example, for most food businesses Saturday is the biggest sales day of the week--but Litteri's closes at 3 pm. And except for the "cinder block" market, the Farmers Market building, all the businesses are closed on Sundays, which is the second biggest sales day for food-related retail businesses.
Flickr photo by EZRaw.

The reason Elise Bernard of Frozen Tropics and I often mention the Italian Market in Philadelphia is that it is a perfect model, mixing hip retail places like Fantes as well as coffee shops and cafes, as well as the wholesale food aspect of the business, and grit as well.

Speaking of grit, I was blown away at the tour that Elise and I did in July, because there were two or three babies in attendance--with strollers. Yet this is how I often think of the market area--not a place for babies.

Speaking of Fantes, tomorrow their in-store cooking demonstration is:

How to Make Ricotta at Home; Saturday, Sept 30th; 11 am to 2 pm.

One thing that we do a very very very very very very bad job of in DC, and in most cities I suspect, is approaching every revitalization opportunity intending to accomplish multiple objectives.

I think as a hangover of the concept of separating uses in zoning regulations and the comprehensive-rational planning model more generally, we haven't really embraced the idea of what Jane Jacobs calls "mixed primary uses."

This should be thought of in many dimensions. On a site, it means mixing commercial, residential, and retail. It can be within a single building--vertical mixed use, which is often preferred in the city--or on a site, horizontal mixed-use (which still creates zones of single use and often vitality problems at the street level).

It should also reflect the idea of the historical mixing of uses in downtown and traditional commercial districts--public and private uses--public uses such as city hall and other government offices, post office, library, schools, as well as commercial, retail, and entertainment, plus residential, now within the downtown core-central business district, and in the old days, abutting this area.

As soon as the idea of revitalizing the Florida Market area was put forth by the Office of Planning two years ago--based on strengthening and extending the historic character and use of the market, not by tearing it down--I have been suggesting that another dimension could and should be added to the market, certain public functions.

For example, La Boqueria in Barcelona has a teaching room, and they teach kids how to cook and about nutrition. (Click here for the webpage which is in Catalan or Spanish.)


In DC, the Office on Aging teaches seniors, usually men, how to cook--often the cooking students were reliant on a partner for cooking, and for whatever reason their situation is now different. and they have to learn how to cook--but they are embarrassed. Everybody in the city would want to take cooking classes at a revitalized Florida Market!

Similarly USDA, WIC, and school education programs often provide nutrition education programs; so do health organizations.

I have suggested that such functions be added into the revitalization concept for the Florida Market, to expand the learning opportunities, and to do it in a way that reduces "social exclusion" factors. If the Florida Market is a kicking, fun place--and the prices are vastly better than Eastern Market, as much as I love Eastern Market--people who are there will be thought of as being there because it's a cool place, not because they are going to a food education class for "poor" people.

Similarly, this area can be used better to help foster the development of new businesses. Today's Examiner has an article about a food-related business in Alexandria, "Heather Stouffer: Local mom turns health-conscious lifestyle into baby food business."

Well, I have written before about the business incubator in Athens, Ohio that does the same thing, the Appalachian Center for Economic Networks. Such a facility could be located in the Florida Market area.

E.g., awhile back Firehook Bakery was looking to move their baking operations to DC. The Florida Market area would have been a perfect place to do so--if we could just get Gallaudet to give up their parking lots and construction materials storage lot space (talk about wasted space).

This is another example of mixed primary uses and in fact illustrates Jane Jacobs' point that a large stock of old buildings with cheap rents are necessary to stoke the development of new businesses and innovation. Richard Florida has milked the "Creative Class" concept for all that it's worth, but Jane Jacobs provided the foundational ideas 45 years ago!

Fred Kent of Project for Public Spaces has retermed this concept "Layering," see "Pride of Place: Fred Kent and the Project for Public Spaces," from Governing Magazine.
H Street Community Market booth at the H Street Festival.

One more thing, almost since the H Street Community Market concept has been suggested, I say, open in the Florida Market area. For one, it would add an education and organic option that isn't really provided currently. Etc.

This is a much different orientation than bringing out the bulldozers and wrecking balls.
The demolition of the U.S. Beef building, 4th and Morse Streets NE.

The U.S. Beef building was recently demolished by the proposers of the "New Towns" plan. So much for asset-based revitalization.

Index Keywords: food-agriculture-markets; mixed-primary-uses; urban-design-placemaking

DCRA Announces Vending License Orientation Week and Fair

From DCRA’s Communications Team:

Events inform vendors of new vendor licensing program and offer small business development assistance

The Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA) announced today that the moratorium on vending officially lifts October 15, initiating a 90-day phase-in period for DCRA to implement its new vending program that begins January 15, 2007.

DCRA is hosting a series of orientation sessions from October 10 through October 17 to educate current and new vendors about new rules, regulations and updated application process. The five, two-hour sessions lead up to the October 19 Vending Fair.

The Fair features workshops on vending application basics, vending food regulations, vending merchandising and cart aesthetics. Vendors can also learn the steps to take to become a certified Local, Small Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (LSDBE) in the District. The Fair will also include classes on accessing capital, writing a business plan, preparing financial statements, business marketing and working with communities. The fair will also feature a “Vending Best Practices” panel.

Government agencies and local resource providers are partnering with DCRA to provide education and information for everyone interested in becoming a vendor in the District of Columbia.

WHAT: DCRA Vendor Orientation

WHEN: 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Tuesday, October 10;
Thursday, October 12;
Friday, October 13;
Monday, October 16
Tuesday, October 17

WHERE: 441 4th Street (One Judiciary Square); Old Council Chambers (first floor)

-----------------------------------------
WHAT: DCRA Vending Fair

WHEN: 2 p.m. - 8 p.m., Thursday, October 19

WHERE: Martin Luther King, Jr. Library 901 G Street, N.W.

The events are open to anyone in the metropolitan area who is interested in becoming a vendor in the District of Columbia. Attendees should RSVP for the orientation sessions and fair to either DCRA’s Communications Team by email or by calling 202-442-4512 or e-mail or contact Barry Margeson by email or at 202-727-2241.


Index Keywords: vending; food-agriculture-markets

Florida Market destruction legislation hearing, Weds. October 11th

Another item just added to the Upcoming Calendar in the right sidebar:

ROOM 412, PUBLIC HEARING, COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, Sharon Ambrose, Chairperson

Agenda items:

"New Town at Capital City Market Revitalization Development and Public/Private Partnership Act of 2006," Bill 16-868. To create a public/private partnership between the District of Columbia and New Town Development, LLC for the purposes of economic, social and cultural revitalization of a 24 acre site located in Ward 5.

This bill has been entered by Councilmember Orange, and is co-sponsored by Councilmembers Barry, Cropp, Evans and Patterson.

For many many reasons this legislation is misguided. Although there's no point in divulging the strategy before the hearing... But it's not like my reasoning isn't out there, such as in the blog entry "Is the Florida Market Going Down?"

Apparently, Robert Bobb, when he was still City Administrator, ordered the DC Office of Planning to work with the people proposing this New Towns venture, which has a couple decent ideas, but mostly eradicates the market, which is one of the last vestiges of light industry in the city. Rather than look toward models like the Ferry Building Marketplace in San Francisco or the Italian Market in Philadelphia, or even the Midtown Exchange in Minneapolis (which has some issues in my opinion) they propose a 21st Century version of Urban Renewal.

But the New Towns people are going around making presentations, not stating that there is supposed to be a forthcoming public planning process in response to their (odious overall) proposal.

And like urban renewal, they are asking for eminent domain authority and as much as a few hundred MILLION dollars in subsidy (nice work if you can get it).

And since new construction costs a lot of money, to stay, the average tenant would have to pay rents 5-10 times greater than their current cost. This means that most of these businesses are likely to close.

What was it that Sam Smith said last year in writing about Kelo v. City of New London --"those that are eminent get the domain." It helps to be connected to people like Vincent Orange and John Ray...

Why is it that people are still enthralled by urban renewal, as well as unable to learn from all of its many mistakes?

Index Keywords: Growth-Machine; food-agriculture-markets

Protest as Civic Engagement and the role of the media #2

Somehow I missed this comment in a Post editorial about Thailand, but eagle-eyed Post reader Manuel Briskin of Arlington caught it, and brings it to our attention via a letter to the editor in today's Post, "Voting With Their Feet":

The Sept. 21 editorial "Thailand's Leap Backward" said that political parties have been trying to force Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra "from power through such undemocratic means as street demonstrations."

Haven't you heard of freedom of speech and freedom of assembly? And how did you feel about the street demonstrations that took place during Ukraine's Orange Revolution, elsewhere in the former Soviet bloc and in Tiananmen Square? Peaceful street demonstrations are not undemocratic.

But in this country they are too rarely covered. And too much effort is put into delegitimizing protest.

Ted Rall editorial cartoon, 12/2/2004.

The fact is, newspapers, being part of the growth machine and supporters of the general political economy and society, aren't so big on challenging the status quo.

In the earlier piece, I don't think I mentioned Todd Gitlin's book, The Whole World is Watching, which is another of the books that has had tremendous impact on the way I view the world, especially media.

In the early 1960s, Gitlin was president of Students for a Democratic Society, a foundational organization of the student movement of the 1960s. This book is an expansion of Gitlin's dissertation, which analyzes how the New York Times and CBS News covered SDS, and how this impacted external perceptions of the movement, as well as how the organization was impacted internally, because of press coverage.

Another book I haven't really read, but should, is Making Local News by Phyllis Kaniss. From the description:

Why do crimes and accidents earn more news coverage than development and policy issues affecting thousands of people? Filled with revealing interviews with both journalists and city officials, Making Local News is the first comprehensive look at how the economic motives of media owners, professional motives of journalists, and the strategies of media-wise politicians shape the news we see and hear, thereby influencing urban policy.

And the Express ran an AP article today, "Pirate Radio Stations Challenge Feds," on the pirate form of community radio. Do you know that there is a community radio station in Mount Pleasant that is derived from this broad movement?

Similarly to how the press focuses on big institutions, radio and the broadcasting industry was originally a much more democratic and community-involved media (other than the RCA and newspaper-owned stations of the time). Robert W. McChesney has written many books about this. From the Wikipedia entry on Professor McChesney:

McChesney sees the Communications Act of 1934 as essentially allowing monopolistic rights to broadcasters who had shown the greatest propensity for profit. Subsequent to this act were the provisions of the Fairness Doctrine, which had provisions for public interest broadcasting due to the scarcity of the broadcasting resource. These restrictions were later overturned in the 1980's under the banner of "deregulation."

Two other local "independent media" resources are:

-- Provisions Library
-- DC Independent Media Center.

Then there are incredible learning opportunities and the ability to broadcast via DCTV (Public Access Cable). Plus the ability to listen to a wider variety of perspectives on the Pacifica Radio Station WPFW-FM Radio. And just making stuff available on the DC Government Cable Television Channels 13 and 16, showing Council Hearings and like says something.

Maybe the "revolution will not be televised" but information is out there. Plus the Internet of course.

Out of the mouths of babes...

Nycole Gunn, 12, puts up descriptive signs on the transformation wall at the Storefront Artists Mainspace on Pittsfield's North Street as part of the 'Voices in Action' project. Photo by Caroline Bonnivier / Berkshire Eagle Staff.

"'Voices' of local change: Art project takes hard look at Pittsfield," is an article in the Berkshire Eagle, about an teen art project working with the Artist in residence at the Storefront Art Project. From the article:

If you listen, people will talk. Such was the lesson learned from "Voices in Action," a month-long collaborative art project taking place in downtown Pittsfield and created by eight local teens from the Gladys Allen Brigham Center and artist-in-residence Carla Repice for the Storefront Artist Project.

Their objective was simple: Hit the streets and start asking questions. The subject was Pittsfield; the questions were about change...

The teens agreed that working on the project was a wake-up call for them. In addition to the external interviews, the youths created their own artistic narratives about who they are and how they'd like to change, all of which will be on display.

But as hopeful as they are, the teenagers also seemed skeptical about whether they will see change in the near future.

"People realize the things that need to be done but don't want to be the first to do something," said Gunn.

Index Keywords: civic-engagement

Personalizing spaces....

Asiento
Originally uploaded by Daquella manera.

Sam Smith's City Desk calls our attention to this photo by Daquella Manera, which reminds me of two photos of mine...

4th and H Streets NE, Washington, DC.

Bus shelter with balcony seating, 21st and P Streets NW.

Why Smart Growth isn't as smart as it thinks it is

Not because I'm quoted, but because of the analysis, it's worth your reading Sam Smith's piece from the Progressive Review, about the issue of "smart growth," the Comprehensive Plan revision process, and what he identifies as an example of one of the densest, most integrated, mixed-use communities in the city, Capitol Hill, which was developed for the most part before the car--and the impact of the car on shaping planning.

To get a sense of why the Capitol Hill neighborhood is so great, check out the profile and 64 photos, from the great BeyondDC website.

And of course, despite the excoriation of historic preservation in so many quarters these days, it's likely that Capitol Hill would have been "renewed" just like Southwest DC too, were it not for the resident movement to preserve the neighborhood, in large part through their efforts under the rubric of the Capitol Hill Restoration Society.

If you don't believe me, think about the area south of the Southeast-Southwest Freeway, how the area was redeveloped along modernist principles, and a goodly amount of great historic building fabric was lost (as documented in photos now in the Kiplinger Library Collection).

I'm told that a group of real estate types bought and renovated houses (this is in the 1950s) to stave off the northward movement of the urban renewal regime.

In addition to the dissertation that Cameron Logan is working on at GWU, another student, at either Brandeis or Boston U, is doing hers on Capitol Hill and community organizing in the 1950s around preservation and anti-federal expansion (conceptual plans in the 1930s laid out the idea of extending the National Mall eastward beyond the U.S. Capitol to the Anacostia River).

Index Keywords: urban-design-placemaking

Consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds

Klav 3
Originally uploaded by inked78.

A proposed new building on the south side of the 600 block of H Street NE. Photo by David Klavitter.

This is one of the things I've been involved in lately. Most neighbors are supportive of mixed use on that site, but not the design. There is some difference of opinion on how to deal with parking, ingress and egress, bulk, and other issues.

In any case, this project is particularly important because it is the first to come under the requirements of the H Street Design Guidelines, which were enacted as part of the Neighborhood Commercial Zoning Overlay for this district.

Because all the other Neighborhood Commercial Zoning Overlay districts are in historic districts, they have a procedure for design review. H Street doesn't.

And it doesn't help that the project referenced here, as proposed for the most part, ignores 9 and 2/3 pages of the 10 page design guidelines document.

But there are always people who think that new development is better than no development at all, so someone sent an email out about how to write and where to send letters of support.

I was kind enough to provide some suggested language for people so minded...
----------------------------
For those of you equally inspired by the project on the 600 block of H Street and want to write a letter of support to the BZA, I offer you some language free of charge.
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I support this effort because it is consistent with the fundamentally anti-urban car-oriented, anti-historical new construction that has typified the neighborhood since 1974.

I think that the poor sense of city- and neighborhood- self-worth as depicted in the renderings of this cynically designed and misrepresented project is consistent with backward looking neighborhood development trends.

Furthermore, the poor design, while out of character with the high quality design typical of neighborhood residential and commercial construction dating from the 1870s to the 1920s, is perfectly consistent with the value engineered "products" produced as a result of the H Street Urban Renewal Plan.

Merely compare this project as rendered in designs submitted as part of this application for zoning relief to the results of the H Street Urban Renewal Plan:

1. Delta Towers
2. Quadrangle Apartments
3. Hechinger Mall
4. the bridge over H Street
5. H Street Connection
6. Capitol Towers
7. the two office buildings on the south side of the 600 block of H St. NE

and you can't help but notice the congruence.

But of course, don't ask the question whether or not the millions of dollars of federal (alleged) investment in the neighborhood as a result of this plan have contributed substantively to urban revitalization generally, and to revitalization of this neighborhood specifically.

Because the 1960s urban renewal architecture quality of the design as currently put forward is consistent with all the other bad architecture constructed in the greater neighborhood since that time, and because "consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds" and I am small minded, I fervently support this equally execrable development.

Thank you for your consideration and support of mediocrity.

Sincerely,


Insert your name here

Delta Towers, 1400 block of Florida Ave. NE.

H Street Connection, photo from Rappaport Companies. Capitol Towers in the Background.

Index Keywords: urban-design-placemaking

Best Reason to Leave Baltimore: Bad Public Transportation-- so says the Baltimore City Paper

A ghost from the Baltimore Streetcar Museum on Falls Road. Flickr photo by Baltimike.
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Guest writer: Gerry Neily (with a couple of edits). This item originally appeared in the EnvisionBaltimore googlegroup.
----------------

In last week's big annual "Best of Baltimore" issue, City Paper gives its award for Best Reason to Leave Here to "Bad Public Transportation." City Paper sums it up by saying that without a decent transit system, "we'll always be a second-class city." From the City Paper piece:

Wherever urban planner Robert Moses is now, he's probably chortling with glee over how completely our city's soul is sold to the automobile. Yes, there are buses, and light rail, and subway, but no public transport system, no web that seamlessly whisks people hither and yon efficiently, and reasonably inexpensively. If you're well-off enough to own an automobile, you grit your teeth and deal with it. But if you're not, you're beholden to taxis, hacks, buses, bikes, and walking, all with varying degrees of reliability and safety. And it's not just inconvenient--if you're poor and depend on bad public transportation, you can't get to the jobs that pay enough to buy a car, which means you still depend on crappy public transportation--lather, rinse, repeat. Washington has a great public transportation system. And despite the worst efforts of Moses, who preferred highways to public transportation, New York has one, too. Until we get ours, we'll always be a second-class city.

Yes, the transit problem really has reached such acute proportions, but it is difficult to maintain the urgency necessary to focus on solving it. The shouting on this listserve has been reduced to a whimper. It will take a huge concerted effort to get our transit system moving. The MTA has failed to do it. The City hasn't even tried. The public has been reduced to a million tiny voices shouting in the wilderness.

It will take big, bold action. The current Red Line planning process is not it - a strange assortment of alternatives that are too lame, too expensive, and mostly both. Where do we go from here?
Baltimore at night. Photo from the MTA website.

1. Bus improvements have not been enough. The State's recent bus route restructuring effort has been a commendable attempt to instill some rationality into the system, but it is far too incremental to satisfy our needs. The new #40 line was the biggest change, but not nearly big enough. It appears from our experience that only a rail transit line plan has the magnetism - the gravitas - to pull together the disparate forces and elements that can translate to BOLD ACTION.

2. A streetcar project (rail or even bus) could fulfill the need for bold action if it was so consummately attractive that it utterly transformed people's hearts and minds regarding the area that it went though. Supposedly, Portland's streetcar line has done just that (if you believe the hype), but Baltimore is a much different City and a neo-streetcar system in Baltimore would need to meet Baltimore's needs and conditions, not Portland's. If not, a streetcar line would be too touristy cutesy (like Tampa's) and/or too insufficient (like Philly's new Girard Avenue line) to make the required impact.
(Charles Street Streetcar Project photo.)

3. A true regional rail transit project holds the most promise simply because it could draw upon the most comparable positive experiences with other cities. (This is the link for a proposed Baltimore regional rail plan. Most Baltimore area transit advocates consider the plan to be inadequate. In any case, it is being ignored for the most part.)

4. True regional rail provides the most apparent tool to achieve true maximum positive impact on the transit system. However, the planning processes for most major transportation projects are geared for minimizing impacts. The people who live in the affected areas want to go about their lives with the minimum intrusion. This may sometimes work for highways, but with transit, it is far too easy to end up with some lame project that at best is barely worth building.

5. So maximum impact is the key. Regional rail needs to utterly transform the area that it goes through, either by drawing a totally new citizenry whose lives are wrapped around the new transit lifestyle, or by achieving such breadth of impact that the transit system for a wide swath of the City becomes naturally reorganized around the rail transit system. This can be done by

(a) designing the transit line for the widest possible service corridor,
(b) making service so good and fast that the widest and largest possible service area is attracted to it,
(c) organizing the system around effective transit hubs that establish a true logical hierarchical system structure, and
(d) effectively tying the new rail line together with the existing Metro, light rail and MARC lines to create what has commonly been referred to as a "seamless system".

What we need is a Red Line Plan that, in a single swoop, generates the critical mass and energy to reorganize Baltimore's transit system into something that can achieve the required greatness.

The MTA Red Line plans do not do this. I commend the CAC/Transit Riders Action Coalition of Baltimore proposal which certainly does do it. I have tried to contribute many other options for achieving what is necessary, as I believe it can be done in a cost effective manner with either heavy or light rail, with service to existing riders as well as new development, and with various ways of using the Red Line as a catalyst to transform the existing system (Metro, light rail, MARC and buses) into something that truly works.

As City Paper says, the alternative is a second-class city.
Baltimore brand identity campaign logo.

Index Keywords: mobility; transit; urban-design-placemaking

Protest as Civic Engagement

I happened on this demonstration Tuesday as I was riding to GWU to attend a talk. I got a few shots. But there was nothing in the paper about this. And I didn't see any tv cameras, etc., and I don't watch television anyway.

But this reminded me of something that I have thought about ever since I was an involved student 20+ years ago.

Access to the media, especially for "alternative" viewpoints, is essential for change within democracy. This was hard for students. Most press and broadcast outlets use a crime frame to analyze demonstrations. And the University of Michigan dominated standard communications processes vis-a-vis media around the state. Sure the student newspaper covered demonstrations, but that had limited impact.

(I've always thought that the Civic Indicator Survey by the National Civic League should include access to media as something to measure a community's civic capacity.)

In DC, press and broadcast outlets used to cover demonstrations and press conferences a lot more than it seems like today. How does a small group especially get access to media.

And television barely covers anything other than murders, accidents, and fires (+ sports and weather). Radio news and longform pieces are nonexistant almost, except for public radio, and the occasional all-news station.

This demonstration wasn't covered by the Washington Post. But because some of the people arrested at a demonstration inside the Hart Building are from Baltimore, it was covered in the Baltimore Sun. See "71 war protesters seized: Baltimore's tradition of civil disobedience continues in capital."

C-SPAN would be a lot better if they covered more radical stuff, like demonstrations against the institutions they cover. To show that it's not all about measured discourse, etc. And I forgot that I had an idea like this maybe fifteen years ago, a channel like C-SPAN that would cover conferences, teach-ins, demonstrations, etc. I hope it would be more successful than Air America...

Index Keywords: civic-engagement; media

WalkingTown, DC FALL EDITION, Saturday, September 30

Marie Johns with grandchild at Bloomingdale Inn (on walking tour)
Originally uploaded by rllayman.

(This isn't the greatest photo. It's Marie Johns with her grandchild, during the Walking Town tour of Bloomingdale last April.)

From Rae Sinanan:

Join Cultural Tourism DC for 26 FREE walking tours
in neighborhoods across Washington!
-------------------

Explore Washington's Neighborhoods in Autumn!

Choose from 26 walking tours (a few boat and bike tours too!) led by professional and volunteer guides across the city. From Anacostia to Adams Morgan, you'll experience vibrant street life and learn the stories and secrets of DC's neighborhoods.

Check the schedule, pick your tours, and just show up! (Some tours require reservations.)
Call 202-661-7581 for more information.
(I took this photo during that tour...)

Index Keywords: cultural-heritage-tourism

When the ideology (rubber) meets the road...

From "Would Higher Tolls Affect Your Use of the Greenway?," pages of letters in the Loudoun Extra of the Washington Post. For those of us who have read most issues of the Post for the last 20 years, we remember when the Dulles Greenway was proposed, and the big to do of it as a privately built and managed toll road. Well, like with privatized railroads in Britain, the consequences aren't always what people want.

Theoretically, businesses run enterprises efficiently to reduce costs, but also they run businesses to make profits. The other way of looking at transportation is that it is a public good, and could be run collectively more efficiently without the need to profit. Now, this is skewed, because of the overfocus on the automobile as the primary transportation mode, but we are talkiing more generally.

Here is one of the letters, by Dan Celinski of Ashburn:

Before the latest toll increase, I would take the Dulles Greenway every weekday morning from my Ashburn Farm home to my job in Fairfax County. I would seethe at the amount of money I had to shell out just to drive a few miles along this road.

With the last increase, we must fork over $2.70 each way. This is ridiculous, and I, for one, won't pay it! Our state government has let us down by putting us at the mercy of a private company, Toll Road Investors Partnership II. Drivers from all income levels are being asked to pay for the operations (mismanagement or not) of this company. And now we're being told that we must pay $4.80 each way by 2012!

The Greenway should be taken over by virtue of eminent domain and made part of the Dulles Toll Road. The money paid to this company could be amortized over many years and could be partially offset by a more reasonable toll.

Index Keywords: mobility

Little girl in a park with Union Station in the background, Washington, D.C.

Little girl in a park with Union Station in the background, Washington, D.C.
Originally uploaded by rllayman.

I knew I had seen the photo before, the photo used in the cover of Howard Gillette's book, referenced in an earlier blog entry today. It's from the Office of War Information-Farm Security Agency photo collection, now housed at the Library of Congress. These photos are from around 1943.

In honor of local history and commerce

There's more to the city (well, a little bit more) than only the Growth Machine.

Index Keywords: cultural-heritage-tourism

A lesson in how not to "negotiate" with the Growth Machine

Image from the Holland and Knight website. In DC, arguably H&K has the leading land use practice focused on local development matters.

An email, not from me, about an H Street development issue:

On the dangers of "negotiating" with the developers

At the design guidelines meeting I took the position that we should offer design suggestions to the developer to show good faith before the BZA hearing. Everyone else was opposed to that idea.

It turns out that everyone else was right. Here is a practical argument against "negotiating" with the developers before they design a building that complies with the zoning and the design standards.

This group knows that the FAR in the C-2-A portion of the original design was over the permitted 2.5 and that the zero setback violated the 10-25 feet in the design guidelines. In the revised plans they now comply with these rules but they portrayed it as giving up density and lot occupancy as a result of negotiations with the neighbors. In exchange for what amounts to complying with the law, they are now asking for a 2514.2 exception to move the 9 story building and the associated FAR into the C-2-A zone.

Their argument is "We lowered our density to help the neighbors, so we should be rewarded". If we just stuck to the line, "comply with the zoning regs" they probably would have ended up in the same place but wouldn't have the "negotiations with neighbors" excuse as justification for the 2514.2 special exception.

I don't think this problem is unrecoverable, but it is much more important that we ask the Zoning Administrator for a ruling of the FAR aggregration issue. If we win that (and a plain reading supports our position) it will help undercut their 2514.2 argument.

I thought people were arguing the "no negotiations strategy before compliance" based on arguments like "we shouldn't have to do that", but there are even stronger practical reasons for not negotiating them into compliance -- your good faith negotiations will be used against you.

Index Keywords: Growth-Machine; negotiating; urban-design-placemaking

Unholy alliances: The Growth Machine, simple-minded leftist folks, and the Comprehensive Plan

From an e-conversation (slightly edited), based in part on yesterday's 8 hours of testimony at the City Council hearing on Comprehensive Plan revision and whether or not to go forward:

I'm amazed at how cavalier people are about quality. What's worse is that people who do care about quality and who have a certain amount of integrity -- i.e. who believe that you don't pass judgment till you read and understand the whole document, that you need to think beyond your pet project/issue, that you don't settle for rhetoric when what you want is reform, that you don't ask people who don't know squat to weigh in -- are really at a disadvantage.

This unholy alliance between lefty single-issue advocacy groups and the growth machine has me somewhat taken aback. I understand the Smart Growth-developer alliance, but why does someone like (name withheld) (for whom I have a great deal of respect) support adoption of a plan that, in practice, is more likely to provide discount luxury condos to law students than decent Section 8 housing for poor people and that, on top of that, represents the same twisted priorities when the baseball stadium was at issue? I suspect that the answer is that s/he doesn't understand planning. But, geez, if you don't understand, get out of the way. Sometimes I think that the non-profit world is so insular and that they face such obstacles that they can be very easily bought/manipulated.

My response:

The unholy alliance comes out of a misplaced sense and understanding of "social justice" and the ability of people with power to manipulate people with concern. As Gang of Four say in the song "Is it Love?":

The men who own the city
Make more sense than we do
Their actions are clear
Their lives are unknown.

I was talking about this broad issue of cynical manipulation by the Growth Machine yesterday because a Phd student at GWU is doing his dissertation on what he calls the "Constitutent Landscape" and the shift in the planning regime in DC (1950) to include consideration about residents instead of only being concerned about the federal presence. In particular he looks at the preservation movement. The only chapter I read (he did a presentation yesterday) is on the preservation piece.

He quotes from Gillette, Between Justice and Beauty: Race, Planning, and the Failure of Urban Policy in Washington, D.C., (which I have not yet read) about the tension between "social justice" and "beauty" in DC. Gillette terms the federal presence being focused on beauty and the quality of the built environment, and the justice movement concerned with bringing about "social justice for the district's largely black population."

This is a more applied look at the issue of contested spaces and shifts in power within the local political structure, and the shift from federal to local control. But the Growth Machine is still first and foremost about development, and merely recast itself, becoming a bit "more inclusive" but maintaining its continued control of the local political and economic agenda.

Under Home Rule, particularly during the Barry years, "social justice" mutated, from being more about helping the poor (i.e., "The Great Society") to focus on (1) "local"(2) community control (3) by a newly enfranchised (4) relatively new (the population shifted from majority white to majority black between 1954 and 1960); (5) majority; (6) of African-Americans (7) in a city that had once been run by the Federal Government directly; (8) and where the federal government still maintained (and maintains) a strong interest and authority.

It was--and is--about money and power, not about city livability. And I've discussed the book Dream City: Race, Power, and the Decline of Washington, D.C., 1964-1994, especially chapter 4, which is about the devleopment agenda and regime during the Barry years.

See these blog entries for more:
-- Department of Duh: Washington Examiner edition
-- E(l)ectile Dysfunction
-- Tom Sherwood, Duncan Spencer, Anwar Amal, and thinking about what I call the "Uncivil War".)

The growth machine is smart enough and well-funded enough to be able to use people concerned with "social justice" and "smart growth" and "the environment." Seemingly responding to their concerns ($50 for a block party, or a new computer for a local school helps too) out of a shared sense of social "justice," the Growth Machine yields a lot of value.

One of my lines is that the great thing about Washington, DC is that we sell ourselves for so little. At least Randy ""Duke" Cunningham got a yacht. We just get rhetoric, and ugly (for the most part) new buildings and chain retail.

I was naive like that when I first moved to DC, but I never turned off my analytic side and I became, very quickly, what I call an "inner city progressive" where my politics are mediated by the reality of dealing with and observing municipal and civic dysfunction.

Barry and the crew were allegedly about social justice, but more about getting a piece of the pie.

The Social Justice types, and I include the Smart Growth people because they are the lead groups behind the inclusionary zoning initiative, get totally used because they are so @#$%^& clueless, a-historical, and a-literate seemingly on these issues in an intricate and nuanced fashion.

This was particularly evident in the Inclusionary Zoning effort, and their trotting out of schoolteachers (workforce housing) and such to ANC meetings, when seeking resolutions of endorsement.

When you would ask questions about the impact on the built environment, in particular historic districts and/or areas eligible for designation, if they were able to respond, it was more out of the "it's better to destroy the qualities that make our neighborhoods distinctive in favor of ramming in some housing and achieving greater access," while failing to recognize the negative aspects of destroying authenticity and quality of life.

The IZ stuff is problematic because they focus on only one very narrow part of the housing agenda: new construction.

The IZ provisions could put historic fabric at great threat, but with the same kind of Social Justice focus on "equity" rather than use value, which Gillette more narrowly calls beauty, they threaten to destroy the qualities that make DC a livable place to begin with. All for producing maybe 60 more units of affordable housing/year.

To deal with affordable housing in a substantive way, you have to address the reality of the market forces within the real estate market, and thus a whole set of policies and reactions are required, including:

-- rent stabilization, rent control, and tenant support programs;
-- removing properties from the market via cooperatives and community land trusts;
-- having the government being an active builder and owner of quality housing that is maybe majority affordable;
-- actively developing DC owned properties instead of selling public asset properties at mostly market rates to developers, with some provisions for providing affordable units;
-- dealing with Section 8 vouchers and related issues;
-- constructing, managing, and maintaining Single Room Occupancy housing; etc.

I raised the SRO issue in my old ANC6C where I was on the zoning committee and nobody understood. Plus on the "communtiy benefits" questionnaire given to developers by the ANC, I said put on a question about the acceptance of Section 8 vouchers (for the new housing going up in Mt. Vernon Triangle) but they never did... I had the same frustration with the "environmentalist" on the Committee over use value issues. He was fine with tearing down city neighborhoods for denser housing in order to save more land in the exurbs from being developed.

Plus, if a developer said they would consider a green roof, then they seemed to receive a pass on everything else. Green architecture should be considered a minimally required industry standard for which city and community givebacks should not be proffered.

So the environmentalists, and I consider myself one, frequently get snookered too, at least in cities.

Index Keywords: Growth-Machine

Get it in the contract or you have no leverage

Mark Touhey, chairman of the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Council, left, Linda Cropp, chairman of the D.C. City Council, center, and Washington, D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams, signed a symbolic home plate after announcing the relocation of Montreal Expos' baseball team to his city, Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2004, in Washington.(AP Photo/Lawrence Jackson)

Last weekend's newspapers discussed the failure of the City to do a deal with Herb Miller for a mixed-use something or other by the new stadium, and the Post editorialized about it yesterday, "Mayor Williams's Dead Deal." Of course, the Post has been against mixed use at the stadium site for awhile and fully in the Lerner camp on this issue--which makes me wonder if the Post editorialists understand urban vs. suburban design... But I am pretty tired of this battle. Here are a number of entries I wrote about this general issue last year.

-- Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie, and Mixed Primary Uses
-- Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie, and Business as Usual
-- Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie, and Transit
-- Denver's Delightful LoDo District-- A Lesson for Stadium District Development
-- Unforced Error: DC Officials Bobble the Ball When it Comes to Transit, Urban Design and the New Stadium.
_________
Note: since these pieces were written, the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation has done a number of pro-urban things. I don't know if it's because they already were thinking this way (likely) or because writings such as these have had some effect. Still, authenticity is an issue, see "Batter up, "M Street Live." Is inauthenticity on the horizon for the Anacostia SE Waterfront?"
_________

This fits in with something else though. Last weekend, I met someone who works for the Bureau of National Affairs, a large employee-owned publisher of expensive newsletters about government. About 10 years ago, they got a huge property tax reduction as an economic development measure, to stay in DC. As soon as the exemption was about to end, they made plans to move to Crystal City.

From a press release:

BNA, a wholly employee owned news and information publisher, today announced that it will move its headquarters to Arlington, Virginia in the spring of 2007.

At a press conference led by Virginia Governor Mark Warner, BNA’s President and CEO Paul N. Wojcik confirmed that the company has reached an agreement in principle with Charles E. Smith Commercial Realty, a division of Vornado Realty Trust, for the purchase of the 290,000 square foot office building at 1801 S. Bell Street in Crystal City. The building will be fully renovated for BNA.

In Crystal City, BNA will consolidate more than 1000 reporters, editors, and attorneys, as well as technical, marketing, sales and support professionals, under one roof. BNA’s Washington operations are now spread across the company’s three buildings at 1227, 1229, and 1231 25th Streets, N.W., as well as in leased space at 1250 23rd Street, N.W. The Crystal City building also will afford the company space for future growth.

Why were there no recapture provisions in the agreement, if they didn't stay in DC for at least 5-10 years after the tax cap ended? Or at the very least, a right of first refusal to match similar offers from elsewhere (without tax givebacks).

There are plenty of buildings large enough for them in DC. Or they could have agreed to take on the third building at Station Place, etc.

Why didn't the DC Government (1) write a contract with Major League Baseball that didn't have almost impossible construction deadlines; (2) mixed-use provisions; and (3) requirements for underground, not aboveground, parking?

Once the contract is signed you have no leverage. None. I repeat: Once the contract is signed you have no leverage.

This is why I am always disgusted when community types and alleged thinking activists ask for "community amenities" after approving a project and not before.

Afterwards, it's not even worth attempting to hold a conversation. And this is with presumably intelligent, aware people...

But then, if the DC Government doesn't think to include such provisions, you can't be too critical of neighborhood associations and ANCs for being "rubes" or "bamas" as well.
-----------
Addendum: I realize after writing that this is really about two different points.

1. Protect yourself, make demands, recognize your value;
2. Get it in the contract.

With regard to the first point, also see "Maybe DC can learn that it has something that developers want."

Index Keywords: stadiums-arenas; negotiating; impact-fees-amenities

Golden Gate Bridge by Spacecadetsf

Golden Gate Bridge by Spacecadetsf
Originally uploaded by rllayman.

In the Flickr photo file, kindly allowed by Space Cadet SF, the webmaster of Cyclelicious posted a bicyclist 's perspective of the Bridge.

Thank you both for the incredible photos!

Why the #$%^&* doesn't MTA have bike racks on buses?

MTA Bus, "Finished service" on North Avenue, Baltimore
Originally uploaded by rllayman.

And the response from Mark Counselman:

MTA doesn't have bike racks on many buses because of space limitations at the bus yards. Appearantly they pack them in bumper to bumper, and the 1' in added length would mean busses wouldn't fit. I say run more busses 24 hours...Point is, something simple like bike racks on buses runs into some big logistical hurdles which no one has the willingness to fix. It's noted in our newly adopted bike plan.
From the Baltimore Bicycle Master Plan Powerpoint presentation.
Transportation Secretary Robert L. Flanagan (left) talks to Ronald Epps of Reservoir Hill on the No. 13 bus during a three-hour tour that let passengers tell him what they thought of the overhaul. (Sun photo by Amy Davis) Feb 2, 2006

I'm a big fan of these kinds of simulations, although they needed to include one of MTA buses with bike racks. Images from the above-mentioned Powerpoint presentation.

Index Keywords: mobility; bicycle

Washington wax museum in the works and remembering Planet Hollywood

Wax tom cruise
Originally uploaded by www.nataliebehring.com.

Madame Tussaud's in Shanghai. Caption: Visitors to the newly opened Madame Tussaud's Wax Works look at a figure of Tom Cruise. Photo by Natalie Behring. Then again, it could be fun...

You mean you don't remember Planet Hollywood's DC location? You can probably do a decent DC movie based restaurant--Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Suspect, No Way Out, Washington Confidential, American President, A Man Named Hawk, 24, etc. Although I guess you could argue that such stuff is inauthentic too, as it is fiction, but at least fiction relevant to Washington.

But having a Planet Hollywood, with Hollywood stuff, in a city with a distinct and authentic history doesn't make sense to me. I wonder about a Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. They're smart people, so they'll probably make it somewhat political, but is a lot of money to visit a museum in this city, when the most popular attractions:

1. White House
2. U.S. Capitol
3. "The Monuments" -- Washington, Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, WWII Memorial(?)
4. The Smithsonian Museums and the National Mall
5. Arlington Cemetary
6. Alexandria Virginia & Georgetown in Washington (or vice versa)

are free. From the AP story:

One of the world's leading entertainment companies is close to reaching a deal to open a Madame Tussauds wax museum in the nation's capital, officials familiar with the talks confirmed. London-based Tussauds Group has been negotiating with a developer for space in the old Woodward & Lothrop department store building downtown.

"They're very close to a deal," said Steve Moore, president and chief executive officer of the Washington, D.C. Economic Development Partnership, a non-profit group that promotes economic development in the city. A company spokeswoman in London acknowledged that Washington is one of the North American sites being considered for the company's international expansion.

The D.C. wax museum site would be located near the National Spy Museum, the Smithsonian Institution's American Art Museum, Ford's Theater and the Verizon Center, which is home to the city's professional basketball and hockey teams. Conservative estimates suggest the wax museum could draw about 35,000 visitors a month, but Moore and others suggest the success of the privately owned Spy Museum indicates attendance could be much higher.

In 2002, the Cleveland-based Malrite Company expected the Spy Museum to attract about 500,000 guests annually, but attendance has consistently topped 700,000. "We have had 2.5 million visitors to date," said Amanda Abrell, a Spy Museum spokeswoman. The museum's adult admission is $15 per person. Tussauds charges between $22 and $31 at its U.S. locations..

Gosh, this sure communicates why it is so essential to have an Arts and Culture Element in the Comprehensive Plan that demands authenticity in supporting the development of new cultural attractions. Only attractions that comport with priorities and extending the competitive advantage of history, culture, and authenticity should get funded.
___________
This reminds me that I have been meaning to mention a couple articles from last week, including this one, "Smithsonian Attendance Down; Galleries Draw More." From the article:

Overall attendance at the Smithsonian Institution has dropped this year, but its art museums are attracting record crowds. The National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum have drawn nearly a quarter-million people to the Reynolds Center since it reopened in early July. That is a dramatic upturn; the museums had never drawn more than 450,000 a year.

The Smithsonian's three most popular museums -- Air and Space, Natural History, and American History -- traditionally bring in the largest crowds, and they still do, but there has been little growth. "Attendance is flat to slightly down," Secretary Lawrence Small said yesterday, during a briefing on the Board of Regents' meeting. The art museums, he said, have had "quite a number of pretty exciting things that have brought people there."

A factor in the overall decline, he said, was "the terrible rains that took place. We were closed down three or four days." Small also cited the shootings and muggings that took place on the Mall in the spring, the height of the tourist season. "That scared away people," he said.

Attendance at all Smithsonian facilities through August was 17.3 million, down almost a million from the same period a year earlier.

On the other hand, the Washington Convention and Tourism Corporation reported that tourism visits and spending were up in 2005 over the previous year, according to an article in the Washington Post, "Tourists Spent $5 Billion in D.C. Last Year," subtitled "Capital Is Attracting Singles and Empty-Nester Travelers, Nonprofit Group Says." From the article:

Tourist spending jumped nearly 5 percent last year, pumping an estimated $5 billion into the District's economy and cementing tourism as one of the key economic drivers in the city, according to a survey released yesterday. By paying taxes in Washington's restaurants, shops and entertainment venues, last year's 15.4 million visitors contributed more than 40 percent of the city's total sales tax revenue and created almost 60,000 full-time jobs, according to numbers from the Washington, DC Convention and Tourism Corp., a private, nonprofit corporation that represents tourist industry businesses

The survey also found District tourists and business travelers to be better-educated, wealthier and more willing to spend money than travelers elsewhere in the country. The renaissance in many urban neighborhoods has allowed the tourism group to focus on more than families and grade-school civics classes.

"Where the new opportunity exists is with empty nesters and young, single travelers who want an urban, edgy, trendy travel experience," said William A. Hanbury, president of the tourism group. "It's not just about the monuments and memorials on the National Mall."

Still, follow the money. Most of the money WCTC spends goes towards attracting tourists to monuments and memorials on the National Mall, and the Washington Convention Center... But they are putting their press releases and data and reports online, which is a step forward.

Also see, "Fairfax, Arlington Lead the Way in Tourism Spending," which says:

A statewide survey finds that most tourism dollars in Virginia are being spent in Fairfax and Arlington counties. The survey by Travel Industry of America shows that the new counties generated about $1.9 billion each last year when it comes to money spent at hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions.

Officials say that a close proximity to Washington is one thing that gives Arlington and Fairfax is a boost in generating revenue. But tourism isn't just big business in northern Virginia, as the industry produced about $16.5 billion last year -- a nearly 10 percent increase over 2004.

You can't rest on your laurels in this business. All of the surrounding jurisdictions are competing for these dollars.

But note: I could be wrong on this one. This could work. Even without lots of DC oriented stuff, because many of the people visiting DC don't likely visit other places where Madame Tussauds wax museums are present. OTOH, except for a small amount of staff, and rent, most of the funding stream from this attraction would be repatriated to the company headquarters, not to be recycled (the multiplier effect) in DC.

Index Keywords: cultural-heritage-tourism; museums

An article about coming toll lanes, maybe, in Virginia and Maryland

From Roads and Bridges magazine is the article "Network Futurevision," subtitled (even though it's about MD and VA), "Washington, D.C., looks to execute managed-lane system to help battle congestion." From the article (which is written by a representative from the contractor, Fluor Corp.:

The cornerstone for a future Washington regional bus rapid transit (BRT)/high-occupancy toll (HOT) lane network has been laid with the signing of a comprehensive agreement between the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) and Fluor-Transurban, an integrated team consisting of Fluor Enterprises Inc. and Transurban Inc.

HOT lanes, or managed lanes, have been around for a long time. In 2003 Bob Poole of the Reason Foundation suggested that the benefits of HOT lanes could be greatly multiplied by forming HOT Networks in our congested urban areas. HOT Networks include market-driven toll lanes that would vary in price with the traffic level on America’s most-congested urban freeways. The Washington, D.C., area, which is consistently ranked near the top of America’s most-congested cities by Texas Transportation Institute’s annual Urban Mobility Report, is an ideal candidate for HOT Networks.

Index Keywords: mobility; car-culture

Yes there is local Washington history

Postcard: Baca Bros. Cafe, which was located on the site of the present-day Madison Building of the Library of Congress.

I happened upon this postcard image a couple weeks ago, which is probably why the name Bacas called out to me while thumbing through the Metro section in yesterday's Post, where I came across the obituary "A Touch of Greece, and a Spatter of Grease," subtitled "A Local Life: Homer Angelos Bacas." From the obituary:

His father, Angelos Bacas (pronounced BACK-us), came to Washington as a young man and eventually brought three brothers with him. They ran a series of restaurants across the city, including the Bacas Bros. Cafe on Capitol Hill.

In 1919, Angelos Bacas opened the evocatively named P.O. Visible Lunch on North Capitol Street. The "P.O." came from its location near the main post office and the Government Printing Office; "Visible Lunch" referred to the glass-front cases that allowed customers to watch food being prepared in one of the city's first cafeterias.

It was part of a quainter, more relaxed Washington that was never forgotten by Homer Angelos Bacas, who died Sept. 9 of a stroke at 82.

Index Keywords: cultural-heritage-tourism

Planning for contraction

Have you driven a Ford lately? Caption: Scrap dealer Vernon Mills pledged he would not "miss out on a good deal" as he hauled away what's left of Detroit's East Side. Photo copyright The Onion.

A colleague and I discuss what we call the "planning for contraction," or the reverse of sprawl, because of the likely reduction of access to oil, either because of diminishing oil resources (Peak Oil) or because of increased demands from countries (China especially but also India) which have 4-6 times the population of the U.S. -- the U.S. consumes 25% of all the world's oil resources at present.

Then, cities, particularly in the midwest, or the upper tier of the United States (such as upstate New York) are shrinking. Places like Niagara Falls, New York and Youngstown, Ohio have active shrinkage programs.

Almost 1/3 of the City of Detroit is vacant land...

So the humor publication The Onion has stepped in with an idea for Detroit, in the article "Detroit Sold for Scrap."

Now I think The Onion might have something here, sad enough to say, as an ex-Detroiter, because the conditions that will lead to growth of center cities along the East and West Coasts are not present in the midwest--other than a reduction in access to oil, cities like St. Louis, Detroit, and Cleveland are on a downward spiral, until exurban sprawl and continued deconcentration can be halted.

Index Keywords: urban-revitalization

It's time for another edition of The Center City Gentrifier

The man on the right isn't a customer, just someone walking by as I was shooting a photo of the abandoned car. See the original photo here.

Made with FD's Flickr toys. I made a couple of these last year, but had to remove them from public view because some of the headlines were just a little too direct, and could get me in trouble, especially because I regularly testify before various Council committees.

This cover is in response to my seeing an abandoned car on West Virginia Ave. NE yesterday, with taped signs advertising the car as "free" for the taking, with a prostitute ambling by, before 7 pm in the evening! While I was over there, at least two police cars drove by (it's down the street from the Police Dept. Maintenance Garage).

With this "issue," I didn't make any headline very controversial, unlike the last time, meaning I can keep the image up and public.

The idea was originally spawned in reaction to a cropped photo by Inked78 on the Frozen Tropics blog, as well as the "American Gentrifier" covers produced as part of Stay Free Magazine. See the photo and comments in "Out for a Walk," from Frozen Tropics, October 2005. My first "Center City Gentrifier" cover used this photo.

Index Keywords: urban-revitalization

Today is National Good Neighbor Day

From the National Good Neigbor Day website:

Always the fourth Sunday in September, "National Good Neighbor Day" enjoys quite a long history of enthusiastic support from school-children, their parents, their teachers, community leaders, education leaders, congressmen and even Presidents of the United States! On this website, we would like to offer you, the children, parents, teachers and community leaders of our great nation, some ideas and some materials with which to celebrate "National Good Neighbor Day".

From Marc Borbely:

Please consider joining the DC Public Schools NeighborCorps, launched today, September 23, 2006. Sign up or call 202-544-2447.

The idea is simple: you identify one thing you're willing to do for your neighborhood school (elementary, middle or high) -- even just once a year! For example: reading to kids, talking to kids about your job, helping to fix computers, helping to raise money for the PTA, tutoring, helping with school activities, beautifying the grounds, calling parents about upcoming PTA meetings -- anything. We'll compile and update NeighborCorps resource lists for every school and give them to the principal and the PTA president every month. They'll call or e-mail you when they can use the help you've offered. (Note: DCPS requires volunteers interacting with children to pass a criminal background check and show proof of a negative TB test.)

Our neighborhood schools need our involvement, as activists and/or as volunteers -- and as owners. They're our schools.

Index Keywords: civic-engagement; education

This isn't a Walker Evans photo, Ivy City DC

From a mural on Ivy City and the Crummell School. In the background is the Ivy City railroad yard at the time that it was owned by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Note the streamlined locomotives. Provenance unknown.

Ivy City Mural produced as part of the Empower DC project in the Ivy City neighborhood project in Washington, DC.

Index Keywords: community-organizing

A government agency that has a good idea for marketing what they do

A government agency that has a good way to market their efforts
Originally uploaded by rllayman.

Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission is the water and sewer agency for Prince George's and Montgomery Counties in Maryland.

At Port Towns Day, Bladensburg Maryland, Saturday September 23, 2006.

Index Keywords: constituency-building