Public Spaces

Breakfast links: parks, parkways, and parking

by David Alpert   •   March 9, 2009 8:36 am

This might have been a football field. Photo by vladeb.

Morgan Boulevard/PG United, maybe: DC United owner Victor McFarlane's first choice for a stadium site is a 37-acre property at the Morgan Boulevard station. According to the article, some Maryland officials are also skeptical about the wisdom of dedicating revenue bonds to the project amid severe budget cuts. (Post)

Signs at last: The National Park Service is planning new signs that represent a huge departure from the Mall's current signage. The major change: unlike the previous signs, these will actually tell visitors how to reach major attractions. (WTOP)

Bike trails, less of a freeway feel, and parking meters, oh my! Signs aren't the only piece of NPS's new Mall plan. WashCycle has a summary of the proposal, which includes separated bicycle facilities and bike trails throughout the mall, better pedestrian connections between the Washington Monument and the Tidal Basin (currently a mess of freeway-like ramps for cars), and parking meters on Madison, Jefferson, and Ohio drives. WashCycle even gives us a little shout-out.

Why 7? Why any time? Mount Pleasant's Jack McKay sensibly asks why the National Park Service reopens Beach Drive, in Rock Creek Park, to traffic at 7 pm on Sundays. It's still light out, and runners and cyclists are still enjoying the park. There's no urgency to move traffic Sunday nights. Why not wait until dark, or after? (DCwatch)

Mess with Texas's bags: A Dallas state representative has introduced a bill to charge 7 cents for, similar to DC's proposed 5-cent charge. Other Texas lawmakers and Wal-Mart are pushing an alternative which would simply require stores to offer reusable bags, stamp bags with reminders to return them to the store, and recycling bins in the store for the bags. Recycling is a very distant second to reusing, making the latter proposal potentially much less effective.

David Alpert is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Greater Greater Washington and Greater Greater Education. He worked as a Product Manager for Google for six years and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He loves the area which is, in many ways, greater than those others, and wants to see it become even greater.