Posts about Benning
Development
Pepco Benning Road site is perfect for the NFL or FBI
The FBI is looking to move its headquarters, and some DC leaders are trying to woo the Redskins back to the District. The soon-to-be-shuttered Pepco power plant would make an ideal site for either one.
The Pepco plant. Image by the author from Google Maps base layer.
The FBI requires 55 acres surrounded by a large security "moat," which makes it impossible to locate downtown and undesirable in most any DC neighborhood. Prince George's and Fairfax counties are both vying to make one of their Metro stations the future home for the FBI.
As the map above shows, Pepco's main parcel (outlined in black) covers approximately 80 acres. There is plenty of space here for a new FBI headquarters. This could be an option if DC truly wanted to fight to keep the FBI here.
There would be other obstacles, though. A Senate committee required that the GSA place the FBI within 2½ miles of the Beltway, and within 2 miles of a Metro station. The Pepco site is less than ½ mile from the Minnesota Avenue Metro, but more than 5 miles from the Beltway. It is, however, adjacent to a freeway that directly connects to the Beltway in two places, but Congress would need to amend the requirement to make the Pepco site eligible.
FedEx Field, the current home of the Redskins, and its adjacent parking lots encompass approximately 160 acres. A National Park Service maintenance facility and land used as a trash-transfer station lie immediately north of the power plant. These could be combined with the plant site, creating a 90-acre parcel (outlined in red).
While this is significantly smaller than the area currently used by the Redskins, it's not much smaller than the approximately 95 acres of RFK Stadium and its adjacent parking lots, which the Redskins used for decades (when the team actually won multiple championships). Plus, a new stadium could take up less space by replacing the massive asphalt deserts that surround RFK and FedEx Field with more compact parking decks while still leaving some surface space for tailgating.
The west facade of the power plant. Imagine incorporating this into a new stadium; would you be ready to watch football at "The Powerplant"? Image from Google Maps.
The Pepco plant abuts a freeway, two Metrorail lines, a major street that provides direct access to downtown, and eventually, a streetcar line which will run along that street. Bicycle infrastructure in the form of trails and Capital Bikeshare stations are being added adjacent to the site; the Anacostia River trails are already close by. An infill Metrorail station could be built at the western end of the parcel, serving a stadium or a headquarters building as well as the River Terrace neighborhood to the south.
A serious obstacle with this site is that building anything first requires environmental remediation. While that might delay any construction there, Pepco and the District Department of the Environment have reached a preliminary agreement on site cleanup (more here and here (PDFs)). Planning for an actual use for the site could help make cleanup a higher priority for all parties involved.
A football stadium or FBI headquarters building would not foster good urbanism, but this site is already cut off from the neighborhoods to the east by the freeway, while the highway-like Benning Road and the Metrorail tracks form a formidable barrier to the south. Parkside, the neighborhood to the north, is not yet fully developed, and the Anacostia River lies directly to the west.
Administration officials are actively negotiating with the Redskins about putting a practice facility at Reservation 13, on the western side of the Anacostia. Unlike the Pepco site, this area can directly connect to the adjacent neighborhood if DC extends the street grid, as is planned.
If the District's leadership continues to insist on bringing the Redskins back, the Pepco would make more sense in the long run than Reservation 13. If they believe we shouldn't let the FBI walk away from DC, this could be a location worth looking into. In addition, there could be many other uses for this site, from adaptive reuse of the plant itself, to light industry (perhaps renewable energy generation?), a unique mixed-use neighborhood, or expanded parkland.
The District shouldn't wait to seriously plan for the reuse of this valuable piece of riverfront property, but will city leaders be able to pursue a use that's creative?
Events
Join GGW at Anacostia Community Museum & Art Gallery
Greater Greater Washington invites you to a Sunday afternoon tour of the Smithsonian's Anacostia Community Museum and the Anacostia Art Gallery on July 10.
Anacostia Community Museum. Photo from Congress Heights on the Rise.
Other events coming up include the Kidical Mass bike ride, a gathering on Met Branch Trail safety, a streetcar happy hour, and Arlington's Capital Bikeshare expansion meeting.
For the Anacostia day, we will meet at the museum at noon for a brown-bag lunch and networking hour. From 1-3 pm we will divide into two groups for a guided tour of the museum and the art gallery.
Space is limited, so registration is required for tours. RSVP here.
The Anacostia Community Museum is located at 1901 Fort Place SE. The W2 and W3 buses from the Anacostia Metro Station stop across the street from the museum. There is also a free shuttle from the National Mall.
This Saturday, June 18, is Kidical Mass, the monthly family-friendly bike ride. This month's starts at Turkey Thicket Recreation Center in Brookland at 10:30 and heads up to Mt. Rainier for a pool party. For those farther south, there will be a bike caravan going from Capitol Hill and stopping in Bloomingdale, Eckington, and Edgewood.
There are two great transportation-related events on Wednesday, June 22. From 4 to 7 pm is a Met Branch Trail safety open house at the 4th and S pocket park along the trail, organized by GGW contributor and Rails-to-Trails coordinator Stephen Miller. MPD and DDOT officials will talk with riders about recent safety and dispatching problems on the trail.
The Guardian Angels are also organizing trail safety patrols, and will talk with trail users at the event. They need people to sign up to patrol, which you can do at the event or online.
After that, bike or ride Metro (because the streetcar isn't yet running) over to the Sierra Club's streetcar happy hour at Ray's the Steaks, 3905 Dix St. NE by the Minnesota Avenue Metro, starting at 6 pm.
Finally, Arlington's meeting on CaBi expansion is Monday, June 27, 7 pm at the Arlington county offices at 2100 Clarendon Blvd, Cherry and Dogwood conference rooms.
You can find these and other events on the Greater Greater Washington calendar. If there's something else we should know about, send it to events@ggwash.org and we'll get it added.
Politics
For ANC in Ward 7
In a ward that usually has ANC races with no one running for some of the single-member districts, it is refreshing to see so many contested races. While there are six SMDs with no candidates, each ANC in Ward 7 at least has one contested SMD race.
7A07 sits at the Pennsylvania Avenue gateway to Ward 7. A key property in this SMD is the MPD 6D Substation that the community has been fighting for years to keep open. During this commissioner's term, the lease extension will expire.
The incumbent Villareal Johnson has two challengers, Adwoa Aggrey and Robert Idlett. Some residents hold him in high regard, while others handpicked Aggrey to run against him for to her efforts opposing a permit for a daycare operating out of a private residence. Idlett is a young resident who has worked in city government his entire career. He has wants to organize monthly clean-ups and push for economic development.
Although Johnson comes with mixed reviews from residents in his SMD, he has been a vocal champion of creating community benefits agreements that provide a sustainable benefit to the community as opposed to one-time benefits, such as turkey dinners, which have satisfied some ANC commissioners.
ANC 7B has traditionally been one of the stronger ANCs in Ward 7, containing Hillcrest, Randle Highlands, Penn Branch, Fairlawn, and Fort Davis neighborhoods. Robert Jordan is challenging incumbent Richard Evans in 7B06, which includes Fairfax Village. Jordan comes with fresh ideas to assist the ANC in running more structured and professional meetings. In addition, he is focused on economic development, public safety, and keeping the community litter free.
Evans has missed several ANC meetings and when he is in attendance he does not stay the entire meeting. Most members of the SMD have no idea who he is as he does not communicate with them. Evans sits on a lot of boards and committees, such as DC's Bicycle Advisory Council, Pedestrian Advisory Council, Deanwood Main Streets, and the East Washington Foundation board. However, his participation in each of those committees has been consistently spotty.
Ronnie Streff has been labeled a rabble-rouser due to vocally expressing opinions that sometimes go against the grain of more longtime residents. However, in his role as in the Capitol View Civic Association he has been instrumental in working with the city to have their basketball courts repaved and tennis courts refurbished, in addition to an annual community day.
He is also a volunteer member of MPD and a DDOT Livability Community Advisor. In 7C03, around Kelly Miller, he is challenging incumbent Catherine Woods, who has missed several ANC meetings and when she does attend she is usually arguing for the sake of arguing. Most disturbing to a community over run with liquor stores, she has missed key ABRA hearings over making substantial changes to liquor licenses.
Sylvia Brown, who represents 7C04 in Deanwood, has been one of Ward 7's most effective and visible commissioners. She tweets constantly, showed the City Paper around the neighborhood, and pushes for better transit-oriented development in the area's Metro stations. She is running unopposed, but deserves special mention for her advocacy and particularly her ability to build relationships across both sides of the river.
Veronica Ranglin, a long time fixture in the community, apparently opposes everything. She has been attacking the Kingman Park/Rosedale Community Gardens, citing the garden is a breeding ground for mosquitos, rodents, and other unwanted insects.
Lisa White is running against Ranglin for the Kingman Park district 7D01, the only SMD in Ward 7 west of the Anacostia. White is a fourth generation Washingtonian and a supporter of the community garden.
Both Liz Pecot, challenging Rick Tingling-Clemmons in ANC 7D05 around Benning Road Metro, and Derrick Daniels against Sharita Slayton in Eastland Gardens' 7D02, would bring new life to districts where the longtime incumbents have ceased to put much energy into the community and the role of commissioner. Tingling-Clemmons is also on the ballot challenging Eleanor Holmes Norton as a representative of the Statehood Green Party.
Incumbent Evelyn Hunter Armstrong in Marshall Heights' 7E06 deserves reelection over hopeful Marquette Austin. Armstrong has been working with fellow commissioner Maxine Nightingale-Starling to bring all the commissioners of Ward 7 together. Ward 7 needs to have people like Armstrong working to unite the ward.
Development
Should urbanists be nervous about Vince Gray? Part 3: Does Gray believe in Smart Growth?
This one is easy. On Smart Growth, Gray is on the right side.
Image from Google Street View.
Sorry, antis. It's true that many who oppose a growing city and think that a three-story townhouse is a skyscraper supported Vince Gray early, figuring he must be better than Mayor Fenty. However, they would be disappointed with a Gray mayoralty.
Gray recently walked along Wisconsin Avenue from Tenleytown to Friendship Heights with a group of residents of the area. They pointed out the many glaring flaws in Wisconsin's streetscape. There's the CVS at Wisconsin and Brandywine, where the sidewalk becomes a sharply sloped ramp to a roof parking deck leaving a 2-foot space for pedestrians between fences and telephone poles. Near the other end, there's the Western bus garage, a half-block blank wall right along Wisconsin and literally atop the Metro. And there are plenty of examples in between.
Gray nodded eagerly when residents and even his own campaign manager outlined their ideas for how Tenley Circle could feel more like a college town if more retail and housing accompanied American's plans to move the law school there. And his reaction bordered on incredulity when Friendship Heights residents told him that many people would oppose any new buildings on the site of the bus garage.
Gray is also very excited for the potential of "downtown Ward 7," the corner of Minnesota Avenue and Benning Road, to become a walkable hub for the surrounding neighborhoods (complete with streetcars!) His approach and that of Mayor Fenty may differ a bit only in implementation: Gray's approach is to plan then act, while Fenty's Office of the Deputy Mayor seems far more focused in simply closing real estate deals.
Sometimes getting the deal done moves the ball forward more than a plan, but when buildings last for 50 years or more, moving hastily can lock in bad design for a generation. In Ward 7, the Donatelli development at the northwest corner of Minnesota and Benning has shaped up to be a real disappointment even in ways that have little to do with the economy. DMPED chose Donatelli's plan despite community consensus around another bid. DMPED also plunked a parking lot down at 5th and I and totally blew it with the Tenley Library.
On development, Gray's approach will be to create a good plan and hear out all the opponents before moving ahead, while Fenty's approach has been to move ahead without any plans or much listening. Here, both approaches have merit, and I'd give a small edge to Gray's. Perhaps some bold planning and community engagement could have resulted in improvements along the Wisconsin Avenue corridor, where recent development has more often produced a boring low-scale bank rather than anything transformative.
But as one Smart Growth proponent recently pointed out, we are fortunate. We have two candidates who have made a clear commitment to many parts of a Smart Growth vision. They'd implement it with different styles and might focus on different elements, but four years from now, there will be more housing opportunities near commercial corridors and Metro stations regardless of who is Mayor.
Fenty and Gray share a lot of other policy ideas as well. Education reform? Fenty's for it. Gray's for it.
Next: But what about streetcars?
Roads
Ask Kwame Brown to maintain public access in downtown Ward 7
This afternoon, the DC Council Committee on Economic Development will decide whether to give Donatelli Development an entire large parcel at the corner of Minnesota Avenue and Benning Road for free, or whether to give them almost all of the parcel while maintaining a public right-of-way around the perimeter for a future road connection and a reasonable Community Benefits Agreement.
In the last few years, DC acquired this prominent parcel at the intersection often called "downtown Ward 7." The DC government originally planned to construct municipal offices on the site, but then decided to offer the parcel for private development. The 2006 Comprehensive Plan recommends focusing development in Ward 7 at this corner to create a large-scale "regional center," the only one east of the Anacostia River. As such, projects in this area need good urban design, good quality, and community benefits. They should also comply with the longer-term plans for the area, including the Minnesota Avenue Great Streets Plan, which calls for a future road connection adjacent to the railroad tracks, connecting the Metro station to the Benning Road viaduct.
This road connection would reduce conflicts between cars and pedestrians, bicycles, or a future streetcar at this heavily used corner, and make it possible for the intersection to become a great "neighborhood gateway." ANC 7D passed a resolution calling for the project to move forward, but with the right-of-way reserved and a community benefits agreement. Unfortunately, Ward 7 Councilmember Yvette Alexander has decided to put the developer's pressure ahead of the neighborhood's longer-term interest, and won't push for the road.
Kwame Brown, the Chairman of the Economic Development Committee and an at-large Councilmember with possible Mayoral aspirations, has the opportunity to block the land disposition agreement today and ask for a public right-of-way to be added. Reserving the land won't stop development here. It'll just make it better, and ensure that Ward 7 residents can enjoy a vibrant and safe local center once this and other projects come to the area.
Please contact Brown at (202) 724-8174 or Twitter him @KwameBrownDC.
Roads
On the calendar: Walk, bike, park, and paddle
DC's traditionally quiet summer is over. There are lots of events coming up this weekend and across the next few weeks. September is always a particularly big month in transportation, as Park(ing) Day and Car-Free Day both show up just days apart, sandwiching Walking
Photo by Scott Beale/Laughing Squid.
The Surfrider Foundation is paddling the Potomac from 10 am to 2 pm, starting at the Thompson Boat Center where Virginia Avenue meets Rock Creek Parkway. And the DC Building Industry Association is helping out all day to improve Fort Mahan Park.
The following Tuesday, September 22nd, is the more official non-car event, Car-Free Day. As they have the last few years, DC will hold a celebration at 7th and F, NW. You can take the pledge to try to get around without driving for the day. The week is also Try Transit Week in Virginia, designed to encourage Virginians to give transit a try.
State-named avenues. Image by Matt Johnson.
Speaking of long bike rides, the following weekend is WABA's 50 States Ride, which hits all 50 of Washington's state-named avenues on a tough ride of over 60 miles. For those who want to see some state streets without so many hills, there's also a 13 Colonies ride hitting the original 13 colonies, all of whose streets come into DC's center, from Rhode Island just north of downtown to South Carolina on Capitol Hill. Both rides are on September 26th, start between 8 and 9 am, and cost $10-15.
In Montgomery, the Takoma Park Folk Festival is this Sunday (the 13th) from 11 to 6:30, and the Magical Montgomery Festival celebrates the arts in Downtown Silver Spring on Saturday, September 26th from 12 to 6.
The Brookland Neighborhood Civic Association is having a discussion of bicycling in Brookland, including the Metropolitan Branch Trail and other trails, featuring folks from the Met Branch trail coalition, WABA, and Rails-to-Trails. That's Tuesday, September 15th, 7 pm at the Brooks Mansion, 901 Newton Street, NE right near the Metro.
Zipcar founder Robin Chase will talk about transportation in a lecture entitled "Beyond Zipcar" at the National Building Museum on Monday the 21st at 12:30. That event is free, but you have to RSVP.
Photo by Amsterdamize.
If this is totally overwhelming, all of this is on the Greater Greater Washington calendar, with the next week or so of events always appearing on the right sidebar on the main page.
Roads
Minnesota-Benning road connection would substantially cut traffic
DC economic development rep Ayris Scales claims that a planned road connection around the intersection of Minnesota Avenue and Benning Road is a "road to nowhere." But according to a traffic study prepared for DDOT, the connection will meaningfully relieve traffic congestion in the area. It'll also make the main intersection safer by lowering the numbers of cars competing with pedestrians, bicycles, and buses.
Road connection from DDOT's Great Streets plan.
DC Councilmember Mary Cheh, who chairs the committee responsible for selling or giving away public land that DC doesn't need, raised questions at a July hearing based on testimony from local residents, citywide groups and a Greater Greater Washington article. DC purchased parcels at the northwest corner of Ward 7's main crossroads, originally for a government building, then decided to give the land to private developers for housing and office space.
DDOT's Great Streets plan included a recommendation to run a street around the back, from the Metro garage to the Benning Road viaduct over the railroad. The CityInterests plan, one of two finalists, included the road, while the other, from Donatelli development, did not. DMPED chose Donatelli, and has now been lobbying against the connection.
According to the traffic study (large PDF), cars today experience 101 seconds of delay at the intersection in the morning peak. Without changes, the study estimates that will rise to 136 seconds by 2025 with the new development, but the road connection would cut that to 84 seconds. That means the connection would save about 17% today and 32% in the future. The difference is even starker in the afternoon peak: delay is 94 seconds now and will rise to 124 by 2025, but would decline all the way to 48 if DC built the connection. In other words, traffic would be 2½ times worse at the Minnesota-Benning intersection without the road than with.
Of course, vehicular LOS is not the only factor on which to base transportation decisions. The study also computed pedestrian level of service, and the road improves that as well. Unfortunately, the scanned copy I have does not show the pedestrian chart with enough detail to make it out clearly. It is clear that some areas do change from E or F (red) to other letters (black), however. Update: Pedestrian LOS, like vehicular LOS, also doesn't measure the most important factors. Ped LOS just determines how crowded the sidewalk is, not the safety of the intersections or whether pedestrians have to walk long distances out of the way. The apartments could have an entrance facing the back road, allowing pedestrians and bicyclists to walk or ride from the development across the Benning viaduct without going all the way around.
If the main intersection is too harrowing, bicyclists trying to head north or going to the Minnesota Avenue Metro could take the back road. Giving cars an alternative could make it easier to give the many buses that traverse the main intersection a little more space. And as some suggested in the comments on the earlier post, the new connection might also be helpful for streetcars, depending on how DDOT ends up designing the eastern end of the H Street-Benning Road line and its connection to the Minnesota Avenue Metro.
DMPED is arguing that the land is "surplus." Of course, they also argued that it had been "blighted" and "long abandoned," yet the African Heritage Dance Center had happily operated there until the DC government evicted them to clear the land for the development. This doesn't sound like surplus land.
Fortunately, keeping the land isn't incompatible with letting the project go forward. At a July 31 community meeting, Donatelli told the community they could work the street into the plan, "to Scales' vocal disagreement." The Council is only permitted to approve or deny the land transfer, but DMPED should stop fighting against their own city's interests and resubmit the land disposition request with a right-of-way or easement reserved for the road connection.
Development
Reserve public land for a street connection at Minnesota and Benning
The DC government is getting ready to sell give Donatelli Development a large parcel of land, at the corner of Minnesota Avenue and Benning Road, for a mixed-use project at the site. This project will help revitalize Downtown Ward 7, moving the area one step closer to a lively, walkable, mixed-income neighborhood center next to the Minnesota Avenue Metro station. DC should move forward with the sale, but should also reserve some land at the edge for the future street connection recommended by the Minnesota Avenue Great Streets plan.
Aerial view of the Minnesota Ave-Benning Road intersection. Image from bing.
The parcel is on the northeast corner (top center in the above image), with a large surface parking lot and several low buildings. DC originally bought the land from multiple individual landowners to construct a "Government Center" with buildings for the Department of Employment Services (DOES) and Department of Human Services. They are moving ahead with the DOES building, between the Metro garage and Minnesota Avenue (the tan parcel in the upper right of the photo), but decided not to build Phase 2, the Human Services facility at the corner of Minnesota and Benning, and bid it out for development instead.
Donatelli and Blue Skye Development won the RFP, which includes retail, community space, affordable housing, and some market-rate housing. A "retail incubator" will help retail businesses get started.
However, the current plans do not leave room for a road behind the project, adjacent to the Metro tracks. The Minnesota Avenue Great Streets plan suggests extending the current road from Minnesota to the Metro garage around to the Benning Road viaduct, creating a new intersection, and then down again on the other side.
This project would relieve traffic at the busy intersection of Minnesota and Benning, and make it easier to add pedestrian amenities and longer crossing times at the city's most dangerous intersection for pedestrians. For those concerned with vehicular Level of Service, the connection would also improve traffic congestion, reducing the Minnesota/Benning intersection from LOS F to D, which is the difference between jammed and moving.
Proposed new road connections to the Benning Road Viaduct.
Image from DDOT's Minnesota Avenue Great Streets plan.
DC doesn't have the money to construct this connection right now, but they will one day. DC needs to reserve the ability to build the connection in the future. Unfortunately, ODMPED has not pushed for this. According to ODMPED Project Manager Ayris Scales, the connection was "merely an option" in the RFP and "not a requirement" of the Great Streets plan.
Tomorrow evening, the DC Council will hold a hearing on the formal land disposition for this project. They should agree to the sale, but retain a public right-of-way at the edge of the site for this connection. Since it should become a road, they could certainly let Donatelli use that right-of-way for access to parking or loading docks.
The DC government bought the land from private owners for the purpose of making public use of the property. Selling it back Giving it away to one private owner with a provision that ensures public access to the small piece we'll need one day helps to justify the public's role in buying and selling the land. Furthermore, the site already has a public alley, which Donatelli will need to close. Taking away one public right-of-way in the middle of the property while reserving another at the back benefits the overall project while maintaining the public access we need.
Councilmembers Kwame Brown (At-Large) and Mary Cheh (Ward 3) chair the two committees holding tomorrow's hearing. Email kbrown@dccouncil.us and mcheh@dccouncil.us to ask them to approve this sale but reserve a public right-of-way at the edge of the site for this future connection. This is the best way to maximize the future potential of Downtown Ward 7, reduce congestion, and improve pedestrian safety at the same time.
Update: The original version erroneously said that DC was going to sell the land. Instead, they are giving it away for free and receiving more affordable housing in exchange. That means that DC is not foregoing any potential revenue, except possibly some small amount of future tax receipts, by slightly narrowing the disposition.
Development
Better Know a Single-Member District: 7D06
"The fightin' 7D06"
SMD 7D06. From Google Maps.
Walkable urbanism is coming to 7D06 and the surrounding neighborhood. The burning political question in the area is, are residents ready for it, and will it benefit their community?
7D06 is one of four Single-Member Districts touching the corner of Minnesota Avenue and Benning Road, often called "downtown Ward 7." For better and worse, this is a transportation hub of the area, with two Metro stations (Minnesota Avenue station and Benning Road station) and a busy intersection that carries many bus lines and large numbers of car commuters from Maryland each day.
The traffic makes this a prime location for retail, and the transportation makes it a great spot for mixed-use housing. But the heavy traffic, pedestrian and auto, also makes Minnesota and Benning the number one pedestrian crash intersection in DC, narrowly beating 14th and U.
Planners have a lot of plans for the area. Benning is one of DDOT's Great Streets priority corridors. Minnesota will get new mixed-use, mixed-income housing, as Cavan wrote about this morning. These plans could transform a fairly suburban-style, busy vehicular area into a real center for this community.
Residents see both promise and danger. There is a great deal of fear, some founded, some not. As Tony Scurry, current ANC commissioner for 7D06, told me, "many residents worry that [the developers and city officials] only want our property, only want our land, and are going to price us out" of the neighborhood. They fear that taxes will rise and they'll no longer be able to afford their homes, especially the older residents who make up a large percentage of 7D06.
Tony Scurry and Willette Seaward.
Scurry, who owns his own event planning firm, was on the advisory committee of the Ward 7 vision project, and participated heavily in the Great Streets planning, knows that's not the intent of planners and economic development officials, but it's a real fear in the neighborhood. That's why communication is so important from city agencies, and whether in poor Ward 7 or affluent Ward 3, that's not always as forthcoming as residents would like.
Willette Seaward decided to run against Scurry for the ANC seat in 7D06 specifically because of transparency. She feels that not enough residents receive enough information about plans for the neighborhood. For example, talking about the Great Streets project, Seaward argues that "[DDOT] came with a plan and then they told us about it." Especially since many residents of 7D06 are not online, she would try to find other ways to communicate, including conducting regular surveys of residents and quarterly SMD meetings.
In my experience, no matter how many announcements, flyers, public meetings, newspaper notices, or other communication agencies conduct, many residents nonetheless feel left out, and the less politically engaged the population is in an area, the stronger and more widespread this feeling.
Both Scurry and Seaward listed affordability as the most important issue in development. Scurry said planners need to ask themselves, "when we bring in mixed use, are we bringing in mixed income?" and ensure area residents can afford the new housing. Seaward suggested tying inclusionary zoning and other affordable housing programs not just to area median income but to a more local, ward medan income; AMI includes the high-income parts of the metropolitan area and thus is far above the median income in Ward 7.
Seaward was very involved in the Benning Library and its associated controversies. Leading among them was a proposal to move the Benning Library from its current site (on the south side of Benning across the street from Fort Mahan Park, which is the large park in the middle of 7D06) to a new spot farther south and east. As Scurry explained, moving the library has its good points: right now, it's on a major road with no light or crosswalk to let people cross in front of the library, and it's hemmed in between two retail developments, limiting its future growth. The owners of the surrounding retail proposed a land swap to a site on 40th Street, at the end of a new pedestrian-friendly road through their current shopping center.
However, the new site is farther from the Benning-Minnesota "downtown" area, and would move the library away from the future Benning "great street." The best solution would place the library at the corner, to anchor a new walkable downtown like the Rockville library in Rockville Town Center. But that wasn't one of the options, and DCPL is moving ahead with the library at its current site.
Seaward personally opposed the move, among other reasons because the current site has a good view down Benning and H Street. She'd hoped to get a second floor to provide more expansion space, pointing out that "when employment is down, library use is up," at least in poor communities like 7D06, with people using library facilities to create and send resumes.
While many residents along H Street and in Northwest DC are dying to get streetcars, residents of Ward 7 are still skeptical, and both Scurry and Seaward echoed these concerns. According to Seaward, many residents have told her, "What do we need streetcars for? We have enough problems with traffic now." Scurry pointed out that Ward 7 has the highest percentage of residents who don't drive, and already use the Metro or buses. Therefore, a streetcar has less effect on Ward 7 residents. Scurry said many residents "feel like they woke up one day and heard that the streetcar is coming."
Seaward has one specific suggestion for traffic safety: move the bus transfers from the Minnesota-Benning corner into the Minnesota Avenue Metro station loop. That station is set off from the neighborhood in a suburban style, with parking and a traffic loop. Currently, Seaward explained, many people transfer between buses at the corner of Minnesota and Benning, forcing them to cross the street (sometimes at a run to catch a bus). Instead, she'd have all the buses stop inside the Metro station, where the environment for pedestrians is more protected.
That's a car-oriented suburban-style solution; it might reduce injuries, but would also inconvenience bus riders and slow buses. It would also harm prospects for a vibrant and walkable downtown in Ward 7. At least to some residents, currently laboring under the burden of heavy traffic, traffic danger, and high poverty and illiteracy, that may sound like a good tradeoff. (The Great Streets plan also moves stops, but to safer locations still near the intersection, and adds a small side street.)
It's harder to think about the long-term benefits of urbanism when people don't have jobs and are afraid to cross the street. Shifting the land-use paradigm in a place like Ward 7 will take a lot of time, a lot of careful commmunication to build community buy-in, and most of all, active listening. We affluent, mostly white, well-meaning urbanists must take careful care to tailor our plans to the needs of the community and ensure they really do solve the community's problems and enrich the community's current residents.
@ggwash
- Successful speed cameras require fair speed limits
- Amid scandal, don't lose sight of Gray's policy achievements
- Montgomery plans 160-mile, "gold standard" BRT system
- VDOT ignores own data, pushes widening I-66
- DC's parks are 5th best in the nation, says "Park Score"
- Bethesda gets new but terrible bike racks
- DC's divide need not be black and white
Greater Washington
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