Posts about Charlottesville

The city claims over 120 businesses on the mall. I saw a great mix: a museum, at least two really awesome indie coffee shops, multiple restaurants, art galleries, a cupcakery (of course!), a real theater, a newer Regal movie theater, sports bars, a hotel and much more, not to mention City Hall.

There are no residential buildings that I saw, but institutional, open space, industrial, and commercial sectors were all represented. My favorite aspect was outdoor seating for the restaurants. It made the whole 8 block expanse feel alive.

Dining outside in the Charlottesville pedestrian mall. Photo by the author.

The only downside was that a few of the cross streets allowed automobile traffic. Drivers on those side streets often sped through with at least one in particular not respecting the fact that I was in the road and the fact that he had a stop sign. At only 8 blocks, I would have liked to see traffic forced around the whole pedestrian area.

There is plenty of parking, including a massive surface lot (next to additional garages) only one block form the pedestrian mall. That's pretty cool when the farmer's market is on the lot, but pretty unattractive at other times.

Could the Charlottesville mall be a model for a small scale similar set up in DC? We have residents in Cleveland Park asking for automobile-controlled space to be turned back over to pedestrians. Adams Morgan is currently getting more sidewalk space for its patrons. And one of the largest downtown development projects in the nation is taking shape at CityCenterDC, which will include a pedestrian alley.

Southeast DC has two decent examples of this, with Eastern Market and surrounding streets closed off on the weekends, as well as Half Street's closure during Nats games.

Where else could we incorporate a permanent pedestrian mall? 8th Street NW between D and F? F St NW between 6th and 7th? M St in Georgetown (could you imagine?) Adams Morgan? Post ideas in the comments or tweet them with #dcpedmall. Meanwhile, go Charlottesville. I was very impressed.

Cross-posted at The 42 Bus.

Fairfax Supervisor Cathy Hudgins, the current WMATA Board chair, came to Richmond to testify against the bill. She said that Northern Virginia governments are willing to give the state government some involvement in WMATA governance, but not at the expense of diminishing their own role. She asked the legislature to let the current process of discussion and negotiation within the WMATA Board and NVTC continue to a resolution.

None of the senators brought up the fact that Governor McDonnell has still sent no letter to Congress about the $150 million capital appropriation for needed repairs that's on the chopping block, but that's a great argument against writing it into law that he must get power over WMATA.

Chairman Charles Colgan (D-Manassas) was the only Democrat to support the bill; four of the five Republicans, none from Northern Virginia, also voted for it, and two were not present.

NVTC can still give a seat to Drake if they choose; the benefit of having NVTC decide to do it instead of the legislature mandating it is that NVTC could reverse course if the governor decides to cut back on the already-meager state financial support.

The Senate panel also killed the two "anti-livability" bills, which would essentially override regional transportation planning and enshrine six-Beltways booster Bob Chase's own transportation priorities into law.

They would have required VDOT to rank projects (HB1998) and prioritize funding (HB1999) based on just two factors: what moves traffic faster, and what aids evacuation in case of a disaster.

The evacuation argument is a common canard used to push road-building, but the fact is that no realistic amount of roads will let everyone in the DC region drive at the same time. As Senator Mary Margaret Whipple (D-Arlington) pointed out, DC's own disaster plans recognize that, and don't call for mass evacuation.

Fairfax, Arlington, and Alexandria representatives lobbied against HB1999, arguing that these transportation priorities should instead come from the existing processes through regional bodies that already make these decisions. The panel agreed on a party-line vote despite pressure from groups like the Price William Chamber of Commerce and the Apartment and Office Building Association.

Responding to questions from Senator Edward Houck (D-Spotsylvania), Finance Committee staff judged that HB1998 would have cost up to $5 million, and so no senator even made a motion to pass that bill.

News out of the legislature wasn't as good for bicycling, as the House rejected a number of bicycle bills including one to give Charlottesville permission to put contraflow bicycle lanes on one-way streets where the traffic and police departments feel it's appropriate.

The bill to require passing cyclists with three feet of space also died, as did a number of bills to limit cell phone use while driving.