Posts by Alex Baca — DC Policy Director
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Wal-Mart, urban design, Main Street, jobs, and eye care
Wal-Mart is planning four stores in the District, in areas varying in walkability from dense New Jersey and H Streets, NW to Brightwood and East Capitol to the very auto-oriented New York Avenue. Lydia DePillis has stayed on top of one question on the minds of many who care about walkable development: could these Wal-Marts be friendly to the urban landscape, or just more “Sprawl-Mart”? Keep reading…
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Gentrification needn’t displace if we do more than shrug
Megan McArdle, the Atlantic‘s business and economics editor, has purchased a property in Eckington (after a challenging real estate search). Her latest post, titled “The Gentrifier’s Lament,” is a brief glance toward her contribution to the neighborhood. It’s laudable to raise the question of one’s location in a gentrifiying neighborhood—those… Keep reading…
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Great Hall’s new look could accentuate its past
Having spent most of my life in the DC area, I have a good stock of memories of things that I found particularly impressive or pleasing: Meridian Hill Park, rowhomes in Capitol Hill, the Tidal Basin, and seeing the Washington Monument at night have stuck, indelibly, in my head. Union Station is the train terminal for DC, and it’s historic, too. It should be on my personal list… Keep reading…