Comments on "Neighborhoods are like children. They need attention differently." - Greater Greater Washington

Comment by Rick Rybeck

Wed, 03 Oct 2012 16:54:28 EDT

A good article about a good meeting. One point raised late in the meeting noted that efforts to improve low-income neighborhoods often end up enriching affluent absentee owners at the expense of low-income residents.

Some communities are tackling this problem by transforming their property tax into a public services access fee. This is accomplished by reducing the tax rate on building values and increasing the tax rate on land values. The lower rate on buildings makes them cheaper to build, improve and maintain. Surprisingly, the higher rate on land helps keep land more affordable by taking some of the profit out of real estate speculation.

The end result of this "universal abatement" is more affordable residential and commercial space, more infill development, and more jobs in construction, home improvement and other fields. (While deep housing subsidies will always be needed, reducing the market price of housing will allow limited subsidy dollars to help more people.) Another important result is that community-created land values (from transit or other improvements) are returned to the community instead of ending up as windfall profits to a few landowners.

Several working groups in the Sustainable DC Initiative have already identified this tax reform as an important measure. Readers of Greater Greater Washington should also bring this to the attention of the Comprehensive Housing Strategy Task Force and the DC Tax Revision Commission so that the District can make real progress on this important issue.

More information can be obtained from www.justeconomicsllc.com

Comment by Richard Layman

Mon, 01 Oct 2012 13:36:31 EDT

FWIW, while the Anacostia program that Maria Casarella cites is important, the reality is that Anacostia will change demographically over time as more people move to the city and supply in the currently attractive neighborhoods is dissipated.

E.g., VT professor Derek Hyra argues that Shaw has been successfully resistant to "gentrification."

I counter that he isn't studying the neighborhood over a long enough time frame, and taking into account the "delay" in demographic change induced by the fact that subway service in this area came later than in communities served by the Red/Blue/Orange Lines. Also that it has fewer subway stations.

While it's true that Anacostia has limited fixed rail transit service, that will change with a streetcar, and as other changes happen in the area, slowly the tipping point will change.

Comment by David Alpert

Fri, 28 Sep 2012 15:45:23 EDT

Lucre: Yeah, I had the same reaction. There is already a ton of parkland there, but a lot of it is not in places that it can serve the neighborhoods well. There are so many huge fort circle parks east of the river. Absolute number of acres of parks is not the problem with parks there.

Comment by Lucre

Fri, 28 Sep 2012 15:32:31 EDT

The "be careful to make sure the 70 acres stays" bit reminds me of this: http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/1642/poplar-point-and-the-case-of-the-too-large-park/

Green space is important, but as the quote from Jane Jacobs indicates, it's too easy to take its virtues for granted. More important than green space is _access_ to green space. Several narrow parks abutting businesses and residences will serve the community far better than one massive blob of green space that few people can access. Imagine 70 acres of Old Market Square type parks and the impact that would have on neighborhoods compared to the impact of 70 acres in one big pile on the other side of the freeway.

Comment by William

Fri, 28 Sep 2012 14:48:43 EDT

I agree with drumz. The majority of the community and civic associations are nothing more than a cabal of longtime residents interested in using their platform to advance their agenda. These are generally not inclusive groups, they often do not have open/public meetings and yet, are given great weight (not the same as the legal definition for ANCs) before the City.

It is a total crock.

Comment by John Muller

Fri, 28 Sep 2012 14:28:46 EDT

@Selxic... Good point.

"awaits development" is more accurate than "slowly moves toward development."

Comment by H Street LL

Fri, 28 Sep 2012 14:26:12 EDT

Thanks for the informative write-up.

I think "featured" is missing a "u" though.

Comment by selxic

Fri, 28 Sep 2012 14:17:15 EDT

In what way is Poplar Point slowly moving towards development? It seems like it's actually the opposite.

Comment by drumz

Fri, 28 Sep 2012 13:43:18 EDT

"When was the last time that ever mattered?" an audience member called out. "I have to dismiss your cynicism," Caserella said, reflecting the overall belief of the panel that Washington's active neighborhood level associations influence both planning and economic development.

Repeated for emphasis, if anything I would make the argument that neighborhood associations have too much influence when it comes to specific projects.

Also, it's good to point out the myriad programs there are to help people stay where they want to stay even if prices in the neighbhorhood sharply rise.