Posts by Jaime Fearer

Jaime Fearer has been working in the book industry for over 10 years, spending the last 4 with a local academic publisher. After living in the Northeast DC neighborhood of Woodridge for 3 years, where she ran the blog stop, blog and roll, Jaime decided to formalize her passion for community building and planning by pursuing a Masters in Community Planning at UMD. Jaime currently lives in the Trinidad neighborhood of DC. You can reach Jaime at . Follow Jaime on Twitter @bogrosemary.

Breakfast links: Smarter smarter growth

by Jaime Fearer • August 13, 2010 8:36 am

Photo by alykat on Flickr.

Serious about TOD for PG: CSG and Prince George's ACT, released its "Smart Growth Platform 2010 for Prince George's County" outlining the County's significant economic development opportunities, including creating walkable communities around its 15 Metro stations, focusing new development in the Developed Tier, and conserving land in the Rural Tier.

Adding insult to injury: Police respond to a crash that leaves a rollerblader unconscious with three skull fractures, a broken cheek, three cracked ribs, and a broken pelvis by leaving the victim a ticket without talking to her. (We wish they wouldn't keep using the word "accident.") (TBD, David Alpert)

With a little dedication...: BART has an $8.5 million surplus because of unexpectedly high sales tax receipts. Why doesn't WMATA have dedicated funding again? (San Francisco Chronicle, AW)

Pinching pennies: Based on the current average national gas price, which AAA reports to be $2.78 per gallon on 8/10/10, taking public transit and living without a car will save a DC resident, on average, $9,115 annually and $760 per month. (APTA, Steve G.)

Unparalleled parking: The PARK(ing) Day site has been given a face lift in advance of the five-year anniversary of Rebar's original PARK(ing) project. Anyone here planning on PARK(ing) locally on Friday, September 17?

Eat the city: As interest in urban agriculture continues to grow, we have an opportunity to think about cities in new, yet historically based, ways that offer the potential for social, economic, and spatial "recalibration." (ArchitectureBoston)

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60 comments Share	— tags: BART, crash charges, dedicated funding, gas prices, links, Maryland, Park(ing) Day, Prince George's, Smart Growth, TOD, transit, urban agriculture

Breakfast Links: Learning to share

by Jaime Fearer • August 12, 2010 9:17 am

Photo by janelleorsi on Flickr.

Healthy employees are happy employees: The City of East Lansing, MI — home to Michigan State University — is starting up a bike-sharing program for city employees. Local bike advocacy organization Share-A-Bike has placed eight donated bikes at five prominent locations throughout the city, and employees can check out bikes via their work email. Helmets are required, but not included. (City of East Lansing website, Geoff H.)

Bike sharing the social way: Another totally different, experimental bike sharing program in New York simply involves a bunch of bikes which people can take anywhere, lock to any bike rack, and others can find using a mobile app. (CrunchGear)

Prince William County goes to the dogs: Ana Santiago, a 12-year-old Dale City resident, has started a campaign to bring a public dog park to PWC. She originally wanted to clean up a local dog park for her Girl Scout community project, but discovered that PWC has no such parks. Ana and her mom began calling county commissioners and park officials, created a Facebook page, and recently had a yard sale to raise money and support for a public dog park. (InsideNoVa.com, Facebook, mandy)

There must be an app for that: The latest numbers from the BEA show aggregate personal consumption expenditures are up 2.9%, or $285 billion from 2007IV to 2010II. Mike Mandel points out that while spending on phone equipment and pets is up over $7 billion, Americans have cut back their spending by over $125 billion on gas, cars, and parts. (Innovation and Growth, charlie)

P is for Portland, but not for pedestrian: Even in Portland, believed to be a bastion of smart growth, pedestrians are treated as impediments to car traffic. The People's Department of Transportation (PDOT) reviews, with video, the new pedestrian barricade at the NE 82nd Ave Transit Center. (People's Department of Transportation, Steve O)

Newspaper page rage: Are auto reviewers over-emphasizing horsepower at the Washington Post and New York Times to blame for some of Detroit's troubles? Gregg Easterbrook asks editors to "stop demanding conservation on the editorial page while promoting road rage and gasoline waste on the auto pages." Ouch. (Reuters, charlie)

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13 comments Share	— tags: auto industry, bike sharing, dog parks, links, Michigan, New York, Oregon, parks, pedestrians, Portland, press, Prince William, spending priorities, Virginia

Breakfast links: One step at a time

by Jaime Fearer • August 11, 2010 9:34 am

Photo by txd on Flickr.

Take this lock and stick it: A vigilante in Williamsburg, Brooklyn has gotten fed up with the number of bikes parked in his neighborhood, so he's decided to rectify the situation — by gluing the locks. Funny thing is, the bikes are still there... (The Brooklyn Paper, Erik W)

Metro opens data: WMATA's new developer's license agreement doesn't seem to have any indemnity language. Does this mean the Google Maps detente is nearly over? (DCist, Joey)

Getting to work: The Center for Workers with Disabilities has published a report [pdf] focused on transportation barriers to employment. Profiling the four Medicaid Infrastructure Grant transportation projects in Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and New Jersey, the case study suggests ways in which states and communities can advance accessible transportation. (Center for Workers with Disabilities)

We aren't getting any younger: The challenge of aging in a car-dependent place goes beyond the sense of loss many senior citizens feel when they have to give up driving. While this Post article doesn't quite make the leap, it touches on the need to reevaluate our transportation planning to help seniors maintain their independence. (Cavan)

No turn on red: Two USDOT employees have been struck at the intersection of M and First Streets SE; the first, Amy Polk, died. After a site visit by DDOT Director Gabe Klein and a meeting with USDOT Secretary Ray LaHood last Friday, no-right-on-red from 7 am to 7 pm will likely be the new rule at this pedestrian danger zone. LaHood also blogged about the meeting and general pedestrian safety on the FastLane. (TBD.com, FastLane, Stephen Miller)

You don't say: "The car is still king," Robert Thomson's headline tells us. No news there. The real story is that solo driving has become less popular in the past decade as transit and other modes grow. (Washington Post, Stephen Miller)

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12 comments Share	— tags: bicycling, bike parking, Brooklyn, car dependence, data openness, DC, disabilities, Gabe Klein, links, Near Southeast, New York, paratransit, pedestrian safety, Ray LaHood, seniors, transit, USDOT, WMATA

Breakfast links: What a mess

by Jaime Fearer and David Alpert • August 10, 2010 9:50 am

Image via BoingBoing.

Seat hogs rejoice: Why use your bag when you can use a faux spilled drink or melted ice cream to save the seat next to you on the bus or train? (BoingBoing, Steve B.)

Fare hikes and the federal benefit: As we knew when the fare hikes were being debated, it's not affecting many federal workers, who can just increase their transit benefit, but workers whose employers don't pay for transit are feeling the pinch. But if Congress doesn't act, the maximum federal transit benefit will decline, forcing many to pay out of pocket for some of their commute cost. (Post)

Murder is sooo 1991: Despite the summer heat, despite the unemployment rate, and despite the Supreme Court gun ruling, DC is on its way to its lowest murder count since 1966. (Washington Post, Eric Fidler)

As the crow flew: Walk Score is working on their algorithm to move beyond crow-flies distances to a Street Smart score that takes into account "Pedestrian Friendliness Metrics" like intersection density, link/node ratio, and average block length.

Stay right for cars: Maryland National Capital Park Police are (driving!) on the Capital Crescent Trail, reminding bicyclists and pedestrians of safety tips. (TheWashCycle, Fox5)

Third time's the charm: After being twice accosted for taking pictures on Miami's Metro, a photography rights blogger organized a photo protest. Photography is legal on the Miami Metro, and this time, security guards behaved themselves. (Photography is not a Crime, Matt')

Cities of God and man: RPUS tips us to The World, a conservative Christian magazine whose latest issue is dedicated to cities. Savannah, New Orleans, Detroit, Brooklyn, and Port-au-Prince are featured. (Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space, Stephen Miller)

Atlanta express buses face shutdown: Months after the Atlanta area lost local Clayton County bus operator C-Tran to budget cuts, the regional express commuter bus system, GRTA (pronounced Greta), is facing a severe budget shortfall, and might be forced to end all service. (Saporta Report, Matt')

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27 comments Share	— tags: Atlanta, Brooklyn, buses, Capital Crescent Trail, civil liberties, crime, Detroit, fares, Haiti, links, Miami, New Orleans, photography, Port-au-Prince, Savannah, seat hogs, technology, Walk Score, walkability, WMATA, WMATA budget

Development

Vince Gray talks IZ, New Communities, and rent control

by Jaime Fearer and Geoff Hatchard • July 7, 2010 1:43 pm

At the recent blogger roundtable, Mayoral candidate Vince Gray talked about his goal to unite residents in "One City."

Photo by Geoff Hatchard.

He noted that while DC is currently "very divided by geography, age, gender, and race," ultimately "people have got to feel like there's a place for them." While education, economic development, and workforce education are pieces of this puzzle, without suitable and ample housing for all, we will continue to struggle as a divided city.

Gray noted that he pushed for inclusionary zoning from the start of the two-and-a-half year struggle to get the regulation on the books, working through one emergency legislation after another while the Fenty administration delayed implementation. Lamenting the loss of potentially hundreds of affordable housing units during the hold-up, Gray says that if elected mayor, he will "aggressively implement" IZ.

Another housing issue we discussed was rent control. Under current legislation, which Gray co-sponsored, rent control is up for re-authorization every five years. Gray promised that, as mayor, he would work to make rent control permanent, though he acknowledged it could potentially be challenged as unconstitutional.

Avoiding displacement is perhaps one of the most daunting challenges to housing equity. Under federal programs like HOPE VI, new mixed-income, and sometimes multi-use, developments are built with the intention of providing homes for both current and new residents of the community. A hiccup comes when low-income residents "temporarily" move to make room for new construction.

Under the New Communities Initiative—established at the end of Anthony Williams' administration—Barry Farm (Ward 8), Lincoln Heights/Richardson Dwellings (Ward 7), Northwest One (Ward 6) and Park Morton (Ward 1) are to "transform [from] highly concentrated low-income neighborhoods into healthy mixed-income neighborhoods." Perhaps the most important component of this initiative is the guiding principle of "build first" which "calls for new housing on publicly-controlled lands to be built prior to the demolition of existing distressed housing to minimize displacement."

When asked how best to retain current residents while improving housing, education, and economic opportunities, Gray pointed immediately to New Communities. While not a new initiative, it is one we seem to have lost track of as the economic boom turned into a bust. The reality is that while most of us are facing challenges in the current climate, many residents in our city who were struggling at the peak are in further distress now.

Gray, at least on the campaign trail, is able to recognize this gulf that continues to divide DC, and he seems to be genuinely interested to continue to push for solutions that have been staring us in the face for years now. Issues like inclusionary zoning, rent control, and New Communities are all ways the city can help bridge that gulf—they just need to truly be championed in order to work. It will take serious sustained effort from all the city's leadership to accomplish these goals.

Cross-posted at The District Curmudgeon.

11 comments — Share	— tags: affordable housing, DC, inclusionary zoning, politics, rent control, Vincent Gray

Demographics

Food desert or mirage?

by Jaime Fearer • March 30, 2010 2:05 pm

Food security is an extremely important issue for the livability of cities. To educate citizens about it, accuracy in mapping is vital as well.

Upon first glance two weeks ago, I and a number of like-minded folks in the region sent along links and tweets to our contacts about "When Healthy Food is Out of Reach," a joint report from D.C. Hunger Solutions and Social Compact.

Sadly, it comes as no surprise that food deserts or or "grocery gaps," defined as an "area in the United States with limited access to affordable and nutritious food, particularly such an area composed of predominantly lower income neighborhoods and communities," exist in DC. Similarly, it comes as no surprise that, based on that definition, Wards 5, 6, 7, and 8 are the hardest hit.

However the maps used to convey the District's food deserts are misleading, particularly Maps 3 and 4 on pages 15 and 18 of the report. Below is an annotated version of Map 4, "Food Deserts in the District of Columbia."

Click to enlarge.

This illustrates what Mark Monmonier calls a "Blunder that Misleads" in his book How to Lie With Maps. According to the report, map 4 combines "census tracts where 51 percent or more of the population lives at incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty level" and census tracts with "below-average access to full-service grocery stores."

The blunder — not a lie but rather a "cartographic fallibility" — comes from using census block group data. Entire block groups get designated as food deserts that either have no living residents (such as cemeteries and parks) and so do not have much income and require no access to food, or house institutions (like hospitals) and so do not have much income but likely provide food on site. Nearly 1/4 of the areas designated as food deserts may technically, but not realistically, fit the working definition.

Particularly during this time of increasing unemployment, homelessness, and hunger, advocacy groups across the District and the country are working overtime. Like many others, I want to help in the fight for social justice, but we need to be sure our data are airtight in order to effectively convey our messages.

Cross-posted at The District Curmudgeon.

19 comments — Share	— tags: DC, demographics, food, maps, poverty

Retail

Thinking inside the box: Reusing Ward 5's empty big boxes

by Jaime Fearer • April 2, 2009 4:06 pm

Julia Christensen has become the authority on adaptive community reuse of empty big box stores with her 6-year project and now recent book, Big Box Reuse. Empty stores have transformed into community centers, museums, charter schools, markets, and more. While Christensen's project focuses primarily on the suburban landscape, we are dealing with a similar loss in DC's northeastern Ward 5.

Photo by iwasteela.

This past November, National Wholesale Liquidators, Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. In little over a month we had two empty big boxes less than two miles apart: one at 514 Rhode Island Avenue NE in the Rhode Island Avenue Center, and the other in the Hechinger Mall at 1600 Benning Road NE. Conversations over what should next fill the space have erupted and died down many times since on neighborhood email lists.

Many residents suggested filling the dead space with higher-end retail, including the ever-elusive Trader Joe's or Harris Teeter. However, Safeways already anchor both suburban-style strip malls. While the NWL on Rhode Island Avenue replaced the Ames department store (which took over Zayre's) when it left the mall during that company's death throes, we are currently in the midst of a recession. That makes the prospect of finding another big box retailer to fill 60,000+ square feet two times over in DC almost certainly impossible.

Ryan Avent, in response to Jebediah Reed's interview with Christensen on the Infrastructuralist, envisions creating a dense, mixed-use neighborhood in place of dying strip malls. This fits with recent literature on "retrofitting" or "recycling" suburbs and is, in fact an integral part of the THINK Rhode Island Avenue Great Streets Initiative. But that project has just begun and is on an extended timeline. What do we do in the interim?

Edgewood's ANC-5C08 Commissioner Marshall Phillips has seen the Rhode Island Avenue Center transition over the years, and he began thinking outside the box before he'd even heard of the big box reuse movement. At the March 17 ANC-5C monthly meeting, Phillips took the floor during the Commission's "Workshop on Infrastructure Issues" and spoke from the heart of his desire to work out a deal between property manager Vanguard Realty and the DC government to fill the dark space with community services, perhaps a combination of CSOSA, an MPD-5D substation, and a larger space for the overcrowded Brentwood DMV. The DMV is constantly overwhelmed, yet Mayor Fenty is proposing to close it in his new budget.

Phillips would like to see community services rent the space for approximately 7 years. That's enough time for the economy to rebound and the Rhode Island Avenue Great Streets to hopefully move from planning to the beginning stages of inception. Currently, Vanguard is looking for a retail tenant to sign a 30-year lease. H&R Retail manages the Hechinger Mall, and is likely looking for similar terms. Neither site is listed in the Washington, DC Economic Partnership database, though I'm not sure that would necessarily help right now.

Communities across the country are, in varying ways, reclaiming private space for public benefits. This movement, suburban in its genesis and at first glance contrary to New Urbanist ideas, sets a great precedent for what we can do with existing infrastructure here in DC, even if not ideal or urban in its form. I commend Commissioner Phillips on his vision, and hope both the community and the District government are able to work together to reopen these dark spaces as soon as possible.

12 comments — Share	— tags: big box reuse, budget, Carver-Langston, DC, Edgewood, retail

Parking

Saint Elizabeths: reuse or abuse?

by Jaime Fearer • December 10, 2008 1:01 pm

In mid-November, I attended the second St. Elizabeths West Campus walking tour hosted by the DC Preservation League (DCPL). Founded in 1852 as the Government Hospital for the Insane at the urging of social reformer Dorothea Dix and its first Superintendent, Charles H. Nichols, St. Elizabeths' entire campus was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, designated a National Historic Landmark in 1990, named to the National Trust for Historic Preservation's "Eleven Most Endangered" List in 2002, and placed on the DC Inventory of Historic Sites in 2005. In 2008, DCPL named the West Campus as one of DC's Most Endangered Places.

The East Campus, now under District control, continues to operate as a hospital, and DC recently finalized a framework plan for redeveloping the site. Meanwhile, the West Campus was essentially abandoned in 1987. In 1999, Mayor Anthony Williams suggested moving UDC to the West Campus. In hindsight, and in my opinion, this proposal would have proven beneficial to both UDC and Anacostia. After all, the Center Building was designed by Thomas Ustick Walter, the fourth Architect of the Capitol and designer of the Capitol Dome. The Main Building—its three-story columns facing a sprawling quad—was designed by the Boston firm of Shepley, Rutan, and Coolidge, architects of the Stanford University campus.

Outrage over the proposal, fostered primarily by accusations of racial insensitivity, killed the idea (at least on an official level) and the land was transferred to the federal government in 2004. Shortly after, GSA began shoring up the buildings with red plywood. GSA cut off public access to "The Point"—with the best views in the city across DC and into Virginia—and a cross-shaped Civil War cemetery. They will remain inaccessible to the public if the Department of Homeland Security moves forward with its plans to build up to an additional 4.5 million square feet of office space and 1.5 million square feet of parking to serve up to 26,000 DHS employees.

DCPL and community members are pushing for "a re-use incorporating rehabilitation of historic structures and landscapes, sensitive new construction, and public access to The Point." Will future generations of residents get to enjoy this site, its buildings and its views, or will Saint Elizabeths West turn into another giant missed opportunity for DC?

8 comments — Share	— tags: Anacostia, architecture, campuses, excessive parking, GSA, historic preservation, Saint Elizabeths, UDC

Bicycling

Support the Bicycle Safety Enhancement Act

by Jaime Fearer • November 13, 2008 11:08 am

Jaime Fearer has now joined the GGW contributor team! Jaime recently moved to Logan/Shaw after 3 years in the Northeast neighborhood of Woodridge, where she ran the blog Stop, Blog and Roll. Please welcome Jaime!

Photo by M.V. Jantzen on Flickr.

After Alice Swanson was struck and killed while riding her bike to work on July 8, bicyclists across the region have been clamoring for enforcement of seemingly basic safety standards. The Washington Area Bicyclist Association / WABA has dedicated much of its time in the past few months working with the DC Council to draft legislation. In October, Councilmember Jim Graham, chair of the DC Council's Public Works and Environment Committee, introduced the Bicycle Safety Enhancement Act of 2008. The bill includes:

A requirement that blind spot mirrors be installed on all DC owned heavy duty vehicles

New bicyclist and pedestrian awareness training for DC heavy vehicle operators

A requirement that motorists give three feet of space when passing cyclists

A fine for the use of restricted lanes (bus/bike lanes or bike lanes) by unauthorized vehicles

Bicycle advocate Joe Mizerek has even created bike jerseys to promote the importance of passing cyclists with three feet of space. That's already the law in many states, and hopefully DC will soon join them.

The Council will hold a hearing tomorrow (Friday, November 14th) at 2 pm. WABA, Matthew Yglesias, and countless others urge you to express your support for the Bicycle Safety Enhancement Act. If you can testify in person (which makes by far the most impact), email or call Maria Angelica Puig-Monsen at 202-724-8195 or mpuigmonsen@dccouncil.us today.

If you can't testify, please send your Councilmember a letter via WABA's action alert site. I sent one to my Councilmember, Jack Evans of Ward 2, and within minutes I received a confirmation from his office. You can also send written statements to Puig-Monsen

Please take a few minutes today to show your support for this long overdue legislation!