Posts by David Alpert — Founder
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Less parking at 14th and U would solve many problems
At Wednesday’s Dupont Circle ANC meeting, architect Eric Colbert presented revised plans for the 14th and U development proposal. The ANC still wants to make it smaller, but beyond the classic fight over density, this project is a perfect example of the silly and detrimental effects of minimum parking requirements. Current zoning requires one space per two units for… Keep reading…
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Seattle’s waterfront freeway may come down
Thanks to the efforts of Seattle’s People’s Waterfront Coalition, Seattle will be Keep reading…
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Lauriol Parking Improvement District?
I live a block from Lauriol Plaza, a Mexican restaurant popular for its large size, drinks, and outdoor and roof seating. On weekend evenings, parking is very scarce as scores of people drive to Lauriol and circle around and around the neighborhood streets in search of parking. This is a great opportunity to try creative parking policy like a Parking Improvement District. If we… Keep reading…
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Poplar Point may get a deck over I-295
Mayor Fenty has chosen Clark Realty to develop Poplar Point, a large waterfront site near the Anacostia Green Line station. And Now, Anacostia was rooting for Clark, most significantly because their plan included building a deck over part of I-295, connecting Poplar Point to the rest of the Anacostia neighborhood. If you can’t convert a freeway to a boulevard, covering it… Keep reading…
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Public spaces on public radio
Roger Lewis, architect and Washington Post columnist, discussed urban public spaces on the Kojo Nnamadi show on WAMU today. (Cleverly, in the membership drive appeal during the show, the WAMU staff referred to the public square-like nature of public radio). Lewis talked about many interesting topics, like the evils of single-use zoning, and about Rockville Town Center, which… Keep reading…
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The favored quarter, illustrated
The Option of Urbanism talks about the “favored quarter”, the pattern in almost every city’s suburban development where most of the wealthy white people settled in certain parts of the region, leading to mall developers and employers wanting to locate there, leading to more highways there, making property values rise and more wealthy white people, malls, and jobs locating there. Keep reading…
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Audio interview with Christopher Leinberger
Leinberger is the author of The Option of Urbanism: Investing In a New American Dream, which I’m currently reading. Leinberger explains how government policy has favored the creation of more sprawl (which he calls drivable sub-urbanism) over walkable urbanism. Rob Goodspeed has a good review of the book. In this podcast on Planetizen, Leinberger explains the key points… Keep reading…
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Parking isn’t a good reason to move the Rockville courthouse
The Montgomery County courthouse, in the county seat of Rockville, is old and badly needs replacing. Maryland is ready to pay for a new courthouse on a downtown site formerly occupied by the library, but some people want to move it. There are good arguments for moving it and for not moving it. There are also some very bad arguments. In particular, many who advocate changing the location… Keep reading…
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Digging the parking hole deeper
The Washington area is deeply schizophrenic about whether it wants to be a city of driving and parking or of people and transit. While DC is working hard to put mixed-use high-density development next to many of its stations, plans in Foggy Bottom and West Hyattsville call for more parking than should be necessary. Whether a city is car-dependent or transit-accessible is… Keep reading…
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Maryland’s missed opportunities
Rethink College Park has a thoughtful roundup of the great promise but disappointing results of the Smart Growth and Neighborhood Conservation Act of 1997. That law created incentives for development in denser, transit-accessible parts of the state over the creation of more sprawl. Unfortunately, it hasn’t lived up to its promise, blocking some sprawl but failing to stop… Keep reading…