I would really like to see Merrifield become better known as Merrifield. The "city" for area's ZIP code (22042) is Falls Church. My agency recently relocated some employees to an office building near Gatehouse Rd & Gallows Rd. These folks keep saying they're in Falls Church and I keep telling them - No - you're in Merrifield.

by JC_Thomson on Mar 22, 2012 8:56 am • link • report

Nice to hear about merrifield and the mosaic district. That area was really stalled by the recession and its nice to see it starting up again. Though I imagine there will be a lot of hand-wringing over what to do about Lee Hwy which needs to calm down to really make the area work.

by Canaan on Mar 22, 2012 8:58 am • link • report

Merrifield is HIDEOUS. Seriously. Has anyone driven through there lately on 29 or gallows road?

Walkable? More like laughable. I'd never want to walk around that area.

by Nick on Mar 22, 2012 8:59 am • link • report

there are more things within walking distance in that merrifield, but the multiple construction projects - both the development, and the intersection project - make it currently a very difficult place for walking. When those are finished it should be much more walkable.

by AWalkerInTheCity on Mar 22, 2012 9:18 am • link • report

I'd have to think that takign those WMATA lots at Dull Loring, building big on them, and burying the parking lots undergound would be a winner.

by charlie on Mar 22, 2012 9:32 am • link • report

@charlie

Mill Creek, a 628 unit development of which phase 1 is currently under construction is doing precisely that. Its taking the lot closest to the station entrance.

by AWalkerInTheCity on Mar 22, 2012 9:42 am • link • report

@ AWalkerInTheCity; thanks. Amazing with all the noise I haven't read a peep about that.

by charlie on Mar 22, 2012 9:54 am • link • report

It's great to see them trying to transform the Merrifield area. My one concern about making it walkable though, is the Target coming to the development. That target is going to be a huge draw as it's pretty isolated except for the one on 50, which is gross and overcrowded. I would bet that it's going to increase traffic on 29 even more than there is now.

Also, not sure if this exists, but they really need to come up with a comprehensive plan to update 29. The area has so much wasted potential.

by S on Mar 22, 2012 10:02 am • link • report

I think DC has done a pretty good job of encouraging biking as transportation.

Although we some yearned for more Lydia (WCP) her recent article criticizing Alexander for not wanting a marijuana cultivation center in a "fragile business district" and characterizing her opposition to a ploy to win votes..or not lose them. Outside of that, she couldn't (according to Lydia) possibly think that a cultivation center would actually impede development.

[Deleted for violating the comment policy.]

by HogWash on Mar 22, 2012 10:36 am • link • report

Oh and if a cultivation center is the "single business in w7 that made it through DOH's initial screening" then w7 has much bigger issues than this one.

by HogWash on Mar 22, 2012 10:38 am • link • report

While we are at it, and since Metro is redoing its map anyway, how about renaming the Dunn Loring metro stop "Merrifield" - its short, simple, and conveys a better sense of place.

by Mike on Mar 22, 2012 10:39 am • link • report

It's also the best time to figure out transit solutions now. I defy even the most ardent road supporter to figure out how any road expansion would somehow make fiscal sense compared to expanded transit.

by Canaan on Mar 22, 2012 10:45 am • link • report

The change in Merrifield is going to have to come in stages. Right now, the folks who use Merrifield are drivers and their biggest concern about development is (usually) the impact on driving. However, as all the new condos/townhouses fill up in Merrifield, there will be a new contingent of stakeholders who's biggest concern will be walkability. I think that's when Rt. 29 in Merrifield starts to include the needs of folks other than drivers.

That said, there are some quick fixes being made in Merrifield to improve walkability/bikeability and the place will look a LOT better and be MUCH easier to navigate on foot once the construction is out of the way.

by Falls Church on Mar 22, 2012 11:09 am • link • report

I shouldn't be surprised at this but...

So this blog is ignoring the latest allegations about the Gray campaign, that he ran a highly illegal shadow campaign?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/feds-probe-shadow-campaign-for-gray/2012/03/20/gIQA21NXSS_story.html?hpid=z2

I mean, a daily roundup of milquetoast "Yay, cycling!" articles is great and all, but this is news that affects everyone in this city -- at the very least, it looks like Gray is going to be federally indicted, and at worst, he's going to have to resign because of this -- and GGW ignores it completely. That's pretty telling.

by Anon on Mar 22, 2012 11:11 am • link • report

@anon

actually a bunch of us (contributors and regular commentors) don't live in DC. While DC politics certainly impacts the shape of the region, I think GGWs comparative advantage is strongly in transportation, zoning, and development issues, not in general political coverage.

by AWalkerInTheCity on Mar 22, 2012 11:33 am • link • report

@Anon,....a daily roundup of milquetoast...it looks like Gray is going to be federally indicted, and at worst, he's going to have to resign because of this -- and GGW ignores it completely.

Don't you hate when you submit links to GGW for publishing and yet they consistently ignore your requests? Wait, you did submit the link for consideration right?

by HogWash on Mar 22, 2012 11:38 am • link • report

@AWalkerInTheCity

Any blog that makes political endorsements engages in "general political coverage," I think. When it suits their goals, anyway.

@HogWash

The Gray article was up on the Post's Web site at like 6:30 p.m. last night and was above the fold on A1 in the paper today. Pretty hard stuff to ignore.

by Anon on Mar 22, 2012 11:40 am • link • report

The native Californian has been “doored” — struck by an opening car door while bicycling — twice since moving to Petworth just over a year ago.

“Drivers aren’t as conscious here as they are in other cities,” she said before pedaling away, helmet-free.

This is wrong on just so many levels:

1) After getting doored once, you'd think she would have realized rule #1 of not getting doored:

2) Don't ride in the door zone! Folks, it really is that simple. Never, ever ride in the door zone for any reason. Just don't. If the bike lane puts you in the door zone, ride on the edge of the lane and in the car lane if needed.

3) It's futile to rely on the "conscientiousness" of drivers to avoid getting doored. You ride by hundreds of cars and it only takes one of them to door you. Riding in the door zone is playing Russian Roultette.

4) Helmets. That piece of styrofoam on your head isn't made of magic. Wearing a helmet is a lot less important than not getting hit in the first place.

by Falls Church on Mar 22, 2012 11:41 am • link • report

My reaction to the "doored twice in one year" was exactly the same.

If you have been doored twice in one year you are probably doing something wrong. Take a WABA class or something. Ride on the left side of the bike lane so if a door does open, you can take evasive action to avoid it.

The most dangerous thing I see my fellow bike riders do on a daily basis? The "MUST KEEP TO THE RIGHT" mentality. Weaving to the right every time there's a break in parked cars, passing on the right of vehicles you KNOW people are going to be exiting (TAXIS, BUSES!) People are just putting themselves out there to get creamed.

The one fact everyone on a bike should know: getting hit from behind by a car is the last thing you have to worry about. Yes, it is scary because you can't see behind you. But the people behind you CAN see you. As long as you are predictable and don't weave in and out of the parking lane/sidewalk, people coming up behind you will see you and avoid you. You are 100X more likely to be hit with a door, right-hooked by a vehicle, hit by someone turning left across you etc. THOSE are the things you should be worried about and watching for. Forget "getting out of the way as much as possible" so that you don't get hit from behind. It almost never happens.

by MLD on Mar 22, 2012 12:02 pm • link • report

@Anon - Hogwash's point stands. The links are reader-submitted and volunteer-curated. I'm sure there will be some discussion of the Gray situation in the coming days if enough readers request it and if there's an appropriate angle for the focus of the blog.

I come here to read about transit and planning and housing in DC, so I don't really care if the latest political news from the Post isn't here. Why would I, when I can just read the Post in the first place?

by worthing on Mar 22, 2012 12:03 pm • link • report

@anon

I did not say they don't cover local politics. I just don't think thats their relative strength.

I try not to complain about inadequate coverage from news sources I don't pay for (and that don't even have ads)

by AWalkerInTheCity on Mar 22, 2012 12:04 pm • link • report

The Gray article was up on the Post's Web site at like 6:30 p.m. last night and was above the fold on A1 in the paper today. Pretty hard stuff to ignore

I would surprised if most people here "didn't" know about the Gray affair. The question is whether you followed DAl's oft-mentioned suggestion of submitting links to stories we would "like" to read about in the b'fast links. They're plenty of things GGW is aware of that they choose not to publish. I would surprised if there was any sort effort to not publish unfavorable stories about Gray.

by HogWash on Mar 22, 2012 12:06 pm • link • report

Is someone pretending that they can't even imagine why Yvette Alexander wouldn't want a weed shop in Ward 7, or that jobs are so paramount they should trump any other considerations? Am I wrong to assume they feel similarly about Keystone XL? Or a casino, or a brothel, or...?

by J.D. Hammond on Mar 22, 2012 1:14 pm • link • report

Is someone pretending that they can't even imagine why Yvette Alexander wouldn't want a weed shop in Ward 7

It was a cultivation center (where they manufacture the medicine) not a dispensary (where they sell it). Also, DC's medical marijuana regulations are by far the nation's strictest (as they will receive lots of congressional scrutiny) and it will be far more difficult to obtain a prescription for questionable needs than in other states.

by Falls Church on Mar 22, 2012 1:34 pm • link • report

To hear some "medical" weed advocates tell it, there's no such thing as a questionable need: it's a magically non-habit-forming panacea for war and unhappiness with no side effects whatsoever! Or something.

by J.D. Hammond on Mar 22, 2012 1:38 pm • link • report

Is someone pretending that they can't even imagine why Yvette Alexander wouldn't want a weed shop in Ward 7

Yes, starting w/Lydia who doesn't think n'hoods should have much say over who/what business occurs w/in their communities.

by HogWash on Mar 22, 2012 1:51 pm • link • report

From what I'm told there was significant neighborhood opposition to the facility.

by J.D. Hammond on Mar 22, 2012 1:56 pm • link • report

@Anon - The Gray article was up on the Post's Web site at like 6:30 p.m. last night and was above the fold on A1 in the paper today.

To me this is a good reason NOT to include it here. I come here for information i'm not likely to see otherwise. A WP A1 above the fold story is one i'm likely to see and/or hear reported on in other media.

by Tina on Mar 22, 2012 2:38 pm • link • report

So HogWash, does this story change your opinion of Gray at all?

What if he is indicted and then pleads guilty like his pal HTJ?

by H Street Landlord on Mar 22, 2012 4:37 pm • link • report

So HogWash, does this story change your opinion of Gray at all?

No it doesn't. If there were more meat to the story..possibly.

by HogWash on Mar 22, 2012 5:12 pm • link • report

I'm not positively inclined towards Gray, either, but I don't see how yet another DC corruption scandal is so relevant to planning that it needs to be up here, any more than yet another bleeds-it-leads 11-o'clock TV news story about yet another horrible gunfight in Seat Pleasant.

by J.D. Hammond on Mar 22, 2012 8:37 pm • link • report

@J.D. Hammond: From what I'm told there was significant neighborhood opposition to the facility.

LOL, this is DC. There's neighborhood opposition to ANYTHING.

I was involved in preliminary work for the facility and the contact person said they had worked hard and invested money and time in the project to work through the bureaucratic hoops and alleviete FUD-based concerns. It's an unassuming industrial building way back on a access road that's currently vacant; there were to be security measures added, but overall nothing on the outside to indicate what it was so little would be changed about it. The bulk of the work was interior.

And then, it's all flushed down the toilet at the last minute for either irrational reasons or self-righteous ones. GG Yvette. I can't believe taxpayers are providing a six-figure salary to you. I know people who make a fraction of that who work harder and provide something of value.

by Bob See on Mar 22, 2012 9:24 pm • link • report