Posts from October 2008

Preservation

Third Church: Decide another day

by David Alpert   •   October 28, 2008 12:22 pm

Acting as the Mayor's Agent in deciding whether to allow Third Chuch to raze their Brutalist building, Office of Planning Director Harriet Tregoning granted a request by the DC Preservation League to "continue" the hearing in a month. The Preservation League just received Third Church's financial information on Friday, and argued that they hadn't had sufficient time to prepare a rebuttal or find expert witnesses. The financial hardship of maintaining the current church is one of Third Church's main arguments. After conferring privately with the attorneys, Tregoning announced she had reached a "reluctant agreement" to resume on November 25th, two days before Thanksgiving.

GGW will be out of town then, and is disappointed that Harriet Tregoning afterward expressed her wish not to broadcast the hearing, as the Zoning Commission, Board of Zoning Adjustment, and HPRB now do along with the DC Council. DC has many public hearings, and there's no reason that "public" ought to be restricted to only those citizens with time to actually travel to a hearing; everyone interested in seeing our government at work should have the opportunity to do so.

Tregoning's Office of Planning does a great job of making policy, and unlike some agencies (such as DDOT), its decisionmaking follows a clear process with ample chance for public participation. It's too bad she doesn't wish to expand public accessibility to this hearing. Tregoning did point out to me the technical obstacles of broadcasting, since the rooms at 801 North Capitol are not equipped for the job, but if they can't use the Zoning and HPRB hearing room at 441 4th Street, a portable setup, even to record and then post after the fact, isn't such a technical hurdle in the modern day.

At this morning's session, Tregoning also heard and ruled on other motions. Without justification or comment, she denied DCPL's motion that she recuse herself because of a conflict of interest. As Richard Layman covered last night, they argued that since the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, of which she is part, already weighed in against landmarking, an impartial judge rather than a political appointee ought to hear the case. Typically, an administrative law judge, not Tregoning, presides even though Tregoning is the official Mayor's Agent. Tregoning denied this motion, saying that the final written opinion would explain her reasons.

DCPL's attorney, Tom Papson, also moved to dismiss the church's "special merit" claim. A landmark can be demolished to construct a project of special merit, but the church has never shown any plans for what they wish to construct. The church said that they won't be presenting a special merit argument and withdrew this portion of their application. DCPL had also moved to dismiss the religious liberty claim by the church, who argue that "being forced to maintain a place of worship" that doesn't fit with their beliefs violates federal RFRA and RLUIPA statutes. Papson argued that, just as HPRB decided it doesn't have the authority to decide a constitutional quesiton, neither does the Mayor's Agent. The Church's attorney, Keyes, countered that in a previous case about the Frasier Mansion, the Mayor's Agent determined federal religious freedom didn't apply to the placement of a cross. Therefore, said Keyes, it's proper for the Mayor's Agent to consider religious liberty. Tregoning decided to allow the applicant to provide testimony and "make a record" on the subject before she decides whether to dismiss that claim.

The hearing had its share of procedural quibbling, common to legal proceedings. Third Church's attorney moved to deny party status to DCPL and the Committee of 100 because they hadn't filed the proper letters designating their attorneys (Tregoning denied the motion). Papson asked for more documents about the church's financial agreements with developer ICG Properties, to whom they sold the land (Tregoning agreed to ask for specific documents, but resisted turning the request into a "fishing expedition").

The hearing on the 25th will last as long as it takes to hear the case. That'll probably be quite a while, since the church expects to need 90 minutes to present their case and interview their witnesses, DCPL and the Committee of 100 estimated that they need two hours, and those times don't include cross-examination or rebuttals. Plus, public agencies, affected ANCs (in this case, that's Dupont's ANC 2B), and members of the public are all allowed to comment as well. It'll be a long night, but not for me; I'll interview interested people from the church, the preservation commmunity, and the ANC to bring you the latest news on this fascinating, educational, and quite intricate saga.

Preservation

Breakfast links: Raze baby raze?

by David Alpert   •   October 28, 2008 8:47 am

Third Church first to go? Today is the Mayor's Agent hearing on whether to allow Third Church of Christ, Scientist to tear down and redevelop their landmarked building at 16th and I. I'll be there to watch and report. Observers think the church is probably going down; allowing a raze would also forestall civil rights litigation and legislation that might have far-reaching and damaging repercussions. Richard Layman finds the process dirty if not actually corrupt.

Three fewer townhouses: The Mount Vernon Triangle will lose another three Victorian townhouses to a new development. The Triangle laments that in that neighborhood, with historic properties scattered about, there's no single cluster to fight to save. Commenters wonder why the facades, at least, couldn't have become part of the new building.

How low they stoop for parking: Baltimore has had a rash of counterfeit parking permits, where people take pictures of others' permits and print them to post in their own windshields. Baltimore is cracking down. Via Inside Charm City.

More on Hill fence, parking: Hill Rag covers the debate over fencing the former Marine parking lot on 8th Street that Infosnack wrote about yesterday. The area ANC (6B) also endorsed less parking at a commercial site to allow ground-level retail; that's yet another good reason not to mandate parking (or complex and expensive variances).

Transit

RAC 'em up

by David Alpert   •   October 27, 2008 4:09 pm

WMATA's Riders' Advisory Council (RAC) is accepting applications for positions. There are three openings for DC, two for Prince George's, one for Arlington, and two at-large. The application asks what lines (rail or bus) you take, why you use Metro, your racial and ethnic background, education, and more; I presume they'll strive for some balance among members across those factors.

Let's get some GGW reader(s) on the RAC! Plus, I'd love to have any readers who are accepted become GGW contributors and write articles about the meetings and WMATA issues. Do you have time to spend 4-5 hours a week and go to a meeting the first Wednesday of each month? Become a RAC member and GGW's correspondent!

Parking

You just got a ticket

by David Alpert   •   October 27, 2008 2:16 pm

Last week, I helped organize a focus group of young professionals in Dupont Circle talking about their impressions of the neighborhood, area businesses, city government, the ANC, etc.

When asked about interactions with local government, two people immediately mentioned parking enforcement woes. One person had a fairly typical experience: he parked on the street, came back almost a week later in time for the next street cleaning, and discovered his car gone. In the interim, someone had put up Emergency No Parking signs, then towed the car.

Someone else had parked a car on the street, but also found it missing one day. DPW had no record of towing this car, so she filed a police report for a stolen vehicle. Months later, she found out from the DMV that her car had been actually towed around the corner to a nearby major street, where it had been sitting for months. That street had a rush hour parking restriction, so during those months it had been blocking a lane every single day. It was never towed from there, but had accumulated hundreds of dollars in unpaid tickets.

Let's solve this problem with technology. The DMV already collects email addresses. I suggest they set, or DPW, up a simple system to email people when they get a ticket or are towed. People could go online to opt in, or we could simply do it automatically. Then, if someone's car gets a ticket for violating an Emergency No Parking zone and is scheduled to be towed, the owner might find out in time to move the car. If a car gets courtesy-towed around the corner, they will find out; and if, as in the above case, DPW manages not to record it properly, they'll at least receive a notification when the car is first ticketed.

Our government's needn't restrict its interaction with parked cars to putting notices on the windshield and occasionaly moving them. We have easy ways to reach many citizens electronically. Let's use them.

Update: Mention parking enforcement and everyone's stories come up. Here's Ryan's.

Parking

Lunch links: Fashionable transportation and land use

by David Alpert   •   October 27, 2008 11:52 am

Très cycle chic: Cycling and fashion go together, and at least in Europe, there are whole blogs devoted to photos of people looking good while riding a bicycle. One could easily get plenty of similar photos on one of DC's main streets to or from downtown around rush hour. Tip: Froggie.

Shakespeare Not In the Park: The Shakespeare Theatre's free shows will move from summer performances in Rock Creek's amphitheatre to the company's new theater in Gallery Place. Marc Fisher decries the move. If only we had a big, centrally located park in which to hold productions...

Commuter lot on 8th Street? A parking lot underneath the Southeast Freeway formerly used by the Marines will become a public lot, reports Infosnack's Michael P. The current plan is to limit parking to 2-4 hours, but Michael thinks it should accommodate all-day parking (at market rate, of course) so area employees park there instead of shuffling cars around the neighborhood all day.

Ring my Belvoir: A Fairfax task force is recommending the county zone the area around Fort Belvoir for greater office, residential, retail and hotel development, reports the Post. But others worry that too much development far from transit will cripple the state's roads. How about this as a solution: build some transit there!

Politics

The Metropolitan President

by David Alpert   •   October 27, 2008 10:49 am

In June, I wondered if Obama would be a more "metropolitan President" than others in recent memory, given our combination of rural Southern Democrats and ranch-oriented Republicans. Sunday's Post runs with the idea, praising the wisdom of discussing "metropolitan" issues rather than just the traditional "urban" policies:

"When you think of urban, you think of poor, you think of drugs, you think of crime," said Jerry Abramson, the Democratic mayor of Louisville. "When you think of 'metro,' you realize we are linked together, and that the success of one will have great effect on the success of the other."

Although the country has re-embraced the city, its political battleground remains the suburbs, said Robert Lang, a demographer at Virginia Tech's Metropolitan Institute. ... "If [Obama] frames [spending on public transit] as being about metro competitiveness, he can do a lot," Lang said. "It should be, 'Hey, suburban guy sitting in traffic, would you like transit?' instead of 'I'm going to take your money and spend it in places you don't visit.'"

Reporter Alec MacGillis stretches a bit to call Obama the first metropolitan candidate since Al Smith: "John Kerry was more Nantucket than Beacon Hill; and John F. Kennedy was defined by Hyannis Port." That we only remember our past candidates by their vacation homes speaks more to the public's obsession with luxury and the media's tragic focus on Kerry's vacationing habits over his actual policies. If Obama one day buys vacation property in Wisconsin, will that eclipse his metropolitan cred?

In truth, Kerry's and Kennedy's elections turned more on foreign policy because international issues were at the fore in 1960 and 1996 2004. With the American public bored of Iraq and our economy collapsing amid crumbling infrastructure, we're paying attention to Obama's urban policies and he's running hard on them. Obama's a metropolitan candidate because of his urban community organizing background, sure, but also because of the moment in history: a metropolitan candidate can best succeed in what's turning into very much a metropolitan election.

Transit

The Purple Line is cost effective and a great idea, too

by Cavan Wilk   •   October 27, 2008 8:54 am

Not only would the Purple Line benefit many Maryland commuters, it's also cost effective, says the recently-released Environmental Impact Statement. It's so cost-effective, the Columbia Country club claims that it's now in talks with the state about a land swap deal. I'm a little confused about the timing on that one..

According to the Gazette, the Purple Line meets the FTA's cost-effectiveness guidelines. This includes the preferred "High Investment LRT", one of six alternatives being considered. (Ryan Avent wishes heavy rail were among them.) To make a long story short, the High Investment LRT is the most Metro-like in performance, with separated, dedicated rights of way for the entire route, except on the University of Maryland campus. Through the campus, the line runs at grade to avoid dividing and destroying the pedestrian friendliness of the campus. The campus plans to close the streets the Purple Line will run on to automobiles so the trains won't be held up by rush hour traffic. (In truth, UMD had planned to close Campus Drive before the Purple Line was being planned for. It's great that the two developments happen to work together nicely.)

This is an incredibly welcome development, given how many years of planning this project has taken, combined with its enormous potential to increase mobility and economic vitality in our region. One primary reason the project is so cost effective, even with the $1.6 billion price tag for the most expensive (and best) option, even with the Bush Administration's anti-transit FTA, is the high ridership projections: 68,000 per day. Plus, most of the work for that projection was done before $4/gallon gas affected the transportation habits of our region, despite the temporary reprieve we've had at the gas pump in recent weeks. Also, those models were done using FTA guidelines that tend to lowball estimates. For example, light rail lines in Charlotte and Salt Lake City exceeded their ridership estimates in their first year. In my view, those factors imply that ridership will actually be higher once the line is running.

I don't completely know what to make of this report that the Columbia Country Club is negotiating a land swap with the state for a different right of way. Why would the Columbia Country Club now claim to be discussing this? Montgomery County has owned a former freight train rail bed with a 100ft wide right of way since 1986. The right of way is flanked on both sides by the golf course part of the time between Wisconsin and Connecticut Avenues. The Club has been opposed to any passenger train uses on this county owned right of way since the County bought the land with the intention of using it for electrified rail mass transit. The freight train line existed before the golf course.

The cynic in me says that it's yet another attempt to delay things and hope a transit project—one that has an incredibly wide coalition of community support, broad support of elected leaders at all levels of government, is a solution to an obvious shortcoming in our region's beloved Metro system, and meets the FTA's cost effectiveness guidelines—just magically goes away. I suppose an optimist would say that they had a change of heart and genuinely want to be helpful after years of being an opposing force. Either way, I can't truly know someone else's intentions. I have my view, but I suppose every GGW reader could reasonably come up with a differing opinion on that one.

Either way, I highly doubt the state would consider rerouting the Purple Line at this late stage. I can't imagine them redoing all the engineering that has gone into planning the Purple Line segment between Wisconsin and Connecticut Avenues. That includes both the Purple Line tracks and a grade separated hiker/biker trail. Restarting the engineering could take years and millions of dollars. The cynic in me seems to be winning the argument over CCC's motives.

I am excited to see such a positive development. Despite the criticism that the O'Malley Administration deserves for not killing Ehrlich's ICC, the current governor also deserves praise for following through on his public support for the Purple Line so far. For more information, including information about the upcoming hearings, check out the state's page and the pro-light rail Purple Line NOW! coalition.

Transit

Weekend reading: Best medicine for a depression

by David Alpert   •   October 25, 2008 12:43 pm

Purple good for business: The Washington Business Journal endorses continuing to fund the Purple Line despite the economic downturn (along with the ICC).

Sharing is caring (about the environment): The DC government will establish a car-sharing program for government vehicles, to save money and reduce emissions. How about reducing emissions even further by removing reserved parking spaces and giving DC employees a parking cash-out? (AP)

Let's Smart Grow our way back to prosperity: In his latest column, Roger Lewis hopes the lesson from this economic downturn is: stop building so much damn sprawl. "Rather than continuing to suburbanize the agrarian landscape, we should urbanize more of the existing suburbs," he prescribes.

Bailing out stupid transit financing deals: Years back, the FTA pushed local transit agencies to sell their assets to banks and lease them back in a complex tax-shelter deal. Now, AIG's collapse could force agencies to pay billions as the deals' financing is falling apart and cash-strapped banks call in the debt they themselves profited off selling. Ryan Avent and Matt Yglesias are livid. Senators Menendez, Durbin, Lautenberg and Boxer are trying to pull the emergency stop cord on this particular fiasco.

Retail

14th and T heading toward big-box furniture

by David Alpert   •   October 25, 2008 9:21 am

Prospects for the Tryst/Diner/comedy club/yoga studio/dance company plan for 14th and T, which has become a major campaign issue in 2B09, are looking dim. The City Paper found out that the owners have decided to sell to a big-box furniture store, Room and Board, instead.

The deal isn't totally done, and some neighborhood activists including 2B09 candidate Doug Rogers are already pushing Room and Board to pull out of the deal (which they have the option to do).

I'd love to see a late-night diner in the neighborhood more than a furniture store. At the same time, I'm not as outraged about big-box stores coming in to compete with local retailers. It is good to have more retail in DC, even big-box retail. The simple fact is that big national chain retail can often provide better prices, and many shoppers, especially new residents who don't know the quirks of local stores, are more comfortable with them.

When we moved here, we went to Crate & Barrel in Tysons for some furniture, because we didn't know the local stores (and still aren't aware of any store with as much selection). To set up our wedding registry, we're going to pick out items at Williams-Sonoma rather than a small local kitchen store. I always look for housewares at the houseware annex to the hardware store on 17th, but the fact is that they don't have much and, except for minor everyday items like a spatula or towel rack, I usually don't find what I need there. It's not really worthwhile to walk all the way to 14th to check out a slightly bigger store that still lacks the selection and price of a big box.

I want to support local retail, and do when it meets my needs, but there's only so much reduced convenience a local shopper will suffer to patronize the neighborhood stores. If we don't want people driving out to Tysons for all their clothes shopping and home decorating, we want some the national chains to open stores (but without DC USA's excessively huge parking garages) in walkable and Metro-accessible areas. 14th and U, like it or not, isn't a bad place for some big-box stores in walkable, urban buildings.

It's an even better place for a diner, of course, and as I said, I'd prefer to see that. I'd also support tax incentives to help local businesses compete, to keep our streets from becoming completely generic. But we also do need an urban alternative to the mall. Ideally, there'd be enough retail space to go around so all stores can share the streetscape in our walkable neighborhoods like 14th Street.

Bicycling

This weekend: hop on your two-wheeled broomsticks

by David Alpert   •   October 24, 2008 5:18 pm

The DC Ministry of Bicycling is back with a Halloween bike ride Saturday Sunday afternoon. The MOB will be looking scary while making sure bicyclists aren't feeling scared to ride in the city.

The ride leaves at 2 pm from Oak Hill Cemetery, at Avon and R north of Georgetown, and heads through downtown to Eastern Market and then to the Palace of Wonders on H Street for the post-ride party.

Dress up in your scariest costume to frighten passerby into looking at the bicycle and traffic safety informational flyers riders will distribute along the route.

Update: The ride has been moved to Sunday due to scary weather.