Posts about Development
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Presidential candidates on transit, cycling and walking
Streetsblog’s LA correspondent Damien Newton researched the Presidential candidates’ positions on transportation. For the Democrats, both Obama’s and Clinton’s platforms hold a great deal of promise. Obama is the most pro-cycling candidate, extols the virtues of walking, and supported Chicago’s transit system while in the Illinois legislature,… Keep reading…
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Sprawl to fight immigration
Should the free market decide how many people live in one house? Or the government? The Post’s Marc Fisher reports on a flood of anti-immigrant bills introduced in Virginia’s General Assembly. One, from Republican Bob Marshall, would prohibit more than four unrelated people from living in one house (whether legal, illegal, native-born American, or even “the… Keep reading…
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Long Islanders crave alternatives to suburbia
Long Island’s lack of walkable downtowns containing apartments and townhouses is hurting the region and causing young people to leave, according to Long Island Index, and a third of Long Islanders would like to have the option to live in that kind of downtown. Keep reading…
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Another side of Capitol Quarter
Via DCist, new documentary Chocolate City examines gentrification from the point of view of Capper/Carrollsburg residents, who feel the new mixed-income Capitol Quarter development doesn’t do enough to enable previous residents to return to the community. Keep reading…
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Building over Union Station rail yards
One of the best ways for cities to improve the often-forlorn areas around major infrastructure is by building on air rights. When a street crosses over a major highway, why not put buildings over the highway on either side, turning an empty bridge into a city street with activity along the sidewalks, like they are doing in Boston and Columbus. Covering a big rail yard near a major… Keep reading…
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A suburban hotel grows in the urban city
The most controversial topic at the Dupont Circle ANC meeting was the Hilton Washington, the 1960s building on Connecticut Avenue between Dupont Circle and Adams Morgan. The hotel was recently purchased by a private group that wants to renovate the hotel and build a new condo wing on the property, part of a trend of many older hotels adding or converting rooms to condos. The Hilton… Keep reading…
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Preservation “incompatible” with historic preservation
There is a lot of bad blood between the Dupont Circle ANC and the HPRB. Even before the Third Church issue, there were several other deeply felt conflicts, which led to serious discussion at this month’s ANC meeting about a “historic preservation bill of rights” limiting, in some ways, HPRB’s authority. Some ANC commissioners argued that HPRB is inconsistent… Keep reading…
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Bad urbanism on the Potomac waterfront
In December, I got into an interesting debate on the Dupont Forum neighborhood list about my feelings concerning the Third Church landmarking. Lance, who considers the building a “masterpiece,” asked if my desire to get rid of most 1970s-era buildings in downtown DC extended to more widely praised structures like the Watergate and Kennedy Center. I replied:The Watergate and… Keep reading…
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Picking on planners
I’m reading two books about urban planning, Donald Shoup’s groundbreaking work on parking policy The High Cost of Free Parking, and Cato Institute planning critic Randal O’Toole’s The Best-Laid Plans: How Government Planning Harms Your Quality of Life, Your Pocketbook, and Your Future whose agenda is apparent from its title. Keep reading…
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Ward 3 Vision
A community coalition pushing for smart growth in the upper Wisconsin Ave corridor (Tenleytown to Friendship Heights) and elsewhere in DC’s far Northwest ward 3. Keep reading…