Posts tagged Bad Streets
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Positive resident activism: Shell no!
Shell wants to build a new gas station at the corner of 12th Keep reading…
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The San Francisco way: curb cuts
San Francisco’s streets are filled with curb cuts for individual houses, sometimes to an absurd level. Each curb cut takes away a parking space (or, in the best case, about two-thirds of one) to create one off-street space, and along the way makes the street and the houses less inviting, less walkable, and less attractive. Here are some more examples:… Keep reading…
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Takoma Park considering boulevard for New Hampshire Ave
Just Up the Pike reports that Takoma Park might reduce the number of lanes on New Hampshire Avenue to create a more walkable boulevard. This recommendation came from a charrette and study commissioned by the Council. Keep reading…
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Fairfax fills open space between strip malls with another strip mall
Fairfax Boulevard, in the City of Fairfax, is almost wall-to-wall strip malls. Many of them aren’t doing well, though; there are numerous vacant or closed stores. What to do? In Fairfax, the answer is: build another strip mall! Keep reading…
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Awful green barricade: the answer
Yesterday, I posted about this horrendous project that would create a blank-wall type building at 11th and U with a big green barricade a few feet high. Keep reading…
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Bad architecture of the day, and a quiz
Here’s a particularly egregious example of street-deadening architecture, via DC Metrocentric. This drawing shows a proposed building at 11th and U, one block from Metro. The silver lining: this project is “on hold” at the moment and not actively moving forward. With luck, the developers or regulators will come to their senses in time. Keep reading…
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Gateway Market plans inward-facing retail
Gateway Market is a proposed development at the corner of Florida Ave and Morse St NE, a vacant lot next to DC’s largest active food wholesale market, Florida Market. Frozen Tropics and Richard Layman object to the project. Keep reading…
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Fort Rotten design
At right is an apartment complex built in 2006 in a meadow out in Price William County. Wait a minute, no. This was actually built right next to the Fort Totten Metro station, about five miles from downtown and on three Metro lines. Nevertheless, this apartment complex got built on WMATA land with about half the lot occupied by parking. There do appear to be a couple of shops facing the Metro… Keep reading…
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Zoning Update may restrict long storefronts and blank walls
Today is the third meeting of the Retail Strategy zoning update group. I can’t make it, but I really like two of the proposals they will be discussing: a frontage limit for stores, and a limit on blank walls facing the street in retail space. Keep reading…
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Feds v. Feds on AFRH
The Federal Government has an enormous impact on the shape of DC through the large number of Federal properties. It represents some of the worst planning and also the best planning at the same time, through different agencies and boards that have very different approaches to design. The proposed Armed Forces Retirement Home development shows off both the good and the bad. Founded… Keep reading…