Sources consulted:
"Dedication Of N.Y. Ave. Church Tonight." The Washington Post, December 20, 1951, B2.

Goode, James M. "New York Avenue Presbyterian Church." In Capital Losses, 238. Washington: Smithsonian Books, 2003.

Hall, Martha J. "Final Service Today Ends Era At Presbyterian Church Here." The Washington Post, January 29 1950, M16.

All options maintain the existing treebox areas, then place protected bike lanes inside the current curbs, but elevated to sidewalk level. Additional pedestrian and/or planted spaces (in red on the diagrams) then protect the lanes from traffic and parking.

North Carolina Avenue would get an eastbound cycle track and retain its westbound bike lane, while the westbound cycle track would continue on the one-way portion of C Street west of 16th Street and transition to a standard bike lane as the road narrows past 15th.

The largest difference between options is in the numbers of vehicular lanes. All reduce the eastbound lanes to one, as there is little eastbound traffic. Instead, drivers generally use Independence Avenue. For westbound cars, option A preserves the current three lanes and parking. B would preserve the three lanes in the peak but use the space for off-peak parking only, and C reduces the travel lanes to two with full-time parking.

In the center, a planted median would separate the two directions of traffic and provide left turn pockets. Each alternative includes a chicane, gently curving the road back and forth, either at a gentle 3000-foot radius or a narrower and more traffic-slowing 600-foot radius. The medians also prevent cars from crossing over C on smaller cross streets such as 17th Place, 18th Street, and 20th Street.

Raised crosswalks would slow traffic on cross streets to assist pedestrians. To the west, there is an option to reconfigure the intersection of Constitution and North Carolina to create one large island instead of several small ones.

Finally, the proposals contain significant "green streets" elements. The cycle tracks and new pedestrian paces in red would use permeable paving to minimize stormwater runoff. In addition, where there are large bulb-outs (also in red), Toole proposes bioretention areas, planted areas that are left more wild than manicured and can hold water like miniature wetlands during and after storms, letting it slowly drain into the ground rather than overloading storm sewers.

This project could create DC's first real "green street" and show how good design can do so much more with public spaces. I'm just disappointed we aren't getting the same for projects like 17th Street, NW, now under construction. Fortunately, the new DDOT is using Toole for several other ongoing projects, boding well for more designs like this to come.

They want to renovate the plaza at the corner of Colesville Road and Fenton Street, the mall's most visible entrance but perhaps also its most foreboding. Signs for anchor stores Marshalls and Burlington Coat Factory are plastered several stories up, making them hard to see for people on foot or driving past. A large sculptural fountain, lined with spiky strips to discourage loitering, blocks the door.

The developer's proposal would take out the fountain and repave the entire plaza, making it easier for people to circulate and open up sight lines. This will hopefully discourage loitering and make the space feel safer. A tree that interferes with wheelchair ramps at the crosswalk for Colesville Road will be removed.

And a new metal screen, similar to the ones placed along Ellsworth Drive and Fenton Street in 2005, will wrap around the corner. It'll display large tenant signs, a new sign for the mall itself, and a video screen "that will televise events, ads and information as an aesthetic response to this admittedly commercial enterprise," according to a report filed by Planning staff. The screen will be required to display public information and event calendars every five minutes.

The proposal doesn't address any changes to the restaurants flanking the entrance, Taste of Morocco and a shuttered Ruby Tuesday that was vandalized in the fall of 2008. Both eateries' street-facing windows are either covered up or tinted, and their patio seating - a great way to activate the plaza - is largely unused. Hopefully, renovating the plaza will encourage at least Taste of Morocco to open up to the outside.

A new plaza is only the beginning of ambitious changes planned by Petrie Ross. Parts of City Place's upper two floors, occupied by a ten-screen movie theatre that closed in 2004, could be converted to offices. Signs around the mall already advertise the yet-unbuilt space for rent, and a flyer from the leasing agency shows how the building would be retrofitted - both inside, where the theatre would be gutted, and outside, where new windows would be added to the upper stories - to accomodate the renovations.

The office addition, both within the existing mall and in a nine-story office building on top that was first approved twenty years ago, brings a customer base that could draw new, higher-end retailers to City Place. As recently as last summer, the developers had unsuccessfully courted Park and Planning to occupy the 300,000-square foot tower. But without office tenants willing to take a chance on the mall's potential turnaround, it's likely that nothing could happen at all.

In the meantime, there's a possibility that City Place Mall could get a new name. All of the renderings above show new signage at the corner of Colesville and Fenton reading "The Galleria at Silver Spring." As Silver Spring, Singular first suggested in 2006, the name City Place carries with it some serious baggage and could use a new moniker to get disenchanted shoppers interested again.

Transit benefits far more than just the individuals who ride it. Transit takes cars off the roadways to keep traffic congestion down. It enables more jobs in our employment centers than we could accommodate with just roads and parking. It connects many employees who do not or cannot drive to jobs that keep our region and its economy operating. It brings people to shopping centers, cultural destinations, medical appointments and more.

Under the proposed budget, transit riders are expected to shoulder most of the burden of WMATA's $189.2 million gap. The current proposed budget calls for nearly half of that ($89.2 million) to be covered with a massive fare increase, plus cuts to administration that will impact customer service, reliability, communications and more. However, all residents of our region — whether they ride Metro or not — should share in the responsibility to keep transit running as they all share in the benefit.

We realize that you are facing historic budget deficits yourselves and face painful cuts in many areas. However, the loss of important transit service outlined in the current proposed budget would further burden congested roadways and inhibit further job growth. Those costs cannot be ignored. Riders are willing to accept higher fares for their part, but are understandably unwilling to accept significantly higher fares coupled with reduced service. We ask you to share the responsibility by finding revenues or other room in the budget to maintain transit service.

Please go to FairShareMetro.com now and ask your representatives to support a fair share for Metro.

Though Community Three will need the approval of the city's Historic Preservation Review Board for the overall project, they are not seek zoning variances.

The proposal calls for 14,000 gross square feet of space and features 14 residential units and four garage spaces— a mixture permitted by zoning. One of the units would be set aside for affordable housing.

Here are some drawings and diagrams from the concept. Note that the developer proposes to add a new rowhouse on the south side of the property (middle of the first drawing below). Some residents have expressed concern that the proposed rowhouse is too tall. The developer states that the added height was the idea of the Historic Preservation Office (HPO), since end-unit rowhouses were traditionally built to be bigger and more prominent than the intervening units.

In the next drawing, the concept preserves the historic carriage house (on the right) and connects it with the main house with a new structure (middle) with a hipped roof that mimics the former and dormers that mimic the latter. Some residents also expressed concern that providing only four on-site parking spaces for 14 units would overwhelm the adjacent streets with additional parked cars. The developer said he proposed five spaces, but HPO suggested four, so as not to overwhelm the site. One ANC commissioner asked the developer what, other than providing less parking, would the developer do to discourage car ownership. The developer had no other plans, but said he would consider bike parking and car sharing.

With the new connecting building and rowhouse, the project will increase the building footprint on the lot.

The developer clearly put a lot of thought into the proposal and it will be interesting to see in the coming weeks what modifications will be made to the plan in light of community input and further HPO staff opinion. Some residents are surprised by the number of proposed units, while others want to see construction start tomorrow.

Renovating LeDroit Park's unique historic homes (unique to Washington, in fact) is nothing new. A few years ago a developer renovated another historic LeDroit property, the Italianate-styled Juniper, and many consider that renovation an exquisite achievement.