Posts about Takoma Park
Development
Takoma Park progressives are for progress
Tim Male, a City Councilmember in Takoma Park, Maryland, sent us this response to Dan Reed's recent article, "Sometimes, it's okay for progressives to embrace progress."Dan Reed wrote recently about the link between development and progressiveness in and around the area of Takoma Park, but the narrow coverage missed the real story of what is going on.
Takoma-Langley Crossroads, at the edge of Takoma Park. Photo by thisisbossi on Flickr.
Its true that City residents worked to oppose a proposed development that would have eliminated green space at the Takoma Metro in favor of townhouses with two car garages and less bicycle and bus access. Somehow that didn't sound like smart or progressive growth to us.
However, at the same time, development plans on nearby previously developed but underused sites have been moving forward near the Metro.
Elsewhere, the City of Takoma Park has been working to facilitate mixed commercial and residential space along the University and New Hampshire Avenue corridors to make more housing and affordable housing available on mass transit and future Purple line routes. These are developments that take advantage of underutilized commercial and retail space to build new capacity and energy into an area In both cases, the City is supporting more density where it makes sense. In fact, if you actually watch the video about Melbourne, Australia's urban development plans that Alex Steffen refers to, they did precisely what Takoma Park has been promoting And in reference to the claims of Takoma Park pushing poor people out, we have great data from the Community Indicators Project that shows just the opposite. We have a higher proportion of low and moderate income families than the rest of Montgomery County Part of this is because since 1980, the City has had a rent stabilization policy in place that has been an effective way to keep rents down and not without sacrifice from other residents who end up paying a higher property tax burden. The point is, not all development is progressive and if you look a little deeper, you will see a lot more evidence that Takoma Park knows how to balance quality of life, diversity and development far better than Mr. Reed suggests.
Development
Sometimes, it's okay for progressives to embrace progress
Takoma Park has long been known for civic activism, dating back to the freeway fighters who stopped I-95 and I-270 from cutting through the area 40 years ago. But that culture of resistance to change could prevent the community from allowing positive improvements to take place.
Old Town Takoma Park. Photo by the author.
Writing in Utne Reader, the same publication that once called Montgomery County the "Most Enlightened Suburb," Alex Steffen notes that Takoma Park's progressive politics prevent it from being truly progressive:
One of the most unfortunate side effects of the urban activism of the '60s and '70s is the belief that development is wrong and that fighting it makes you an environmentalist.
We know that dense cities are both environmentally better and dramatically more equitable places. Walkable neighborhoods are better than the suburbs for people with a wide range of incomes, and what happens in cities that don't grow is that they gentrify and poor people are pushed out. Trying to fight change makes you less sustainable and more unfair.Sometimes, standing in front of bulldozers is the right thing to do. It's likely that Takoma Park wouldn't have become a sought-after place to live if it were carved up by highways. And sometimes it's harmful, like the efforts of some residents to block a housing development adjacent to the Takoma Metro station back in 2007.
Well-designed urban infill development in places like Old Town Takoma can get people out of their cars and bring customers to the area's struggling local businesses, which presumably are progressive ideals. Not allowing development to happen effectively enables all of the things progressives say they don't want, such as more driving, more gentrification, more suburban sprawl, and more destruction of farmland.
Greater density would in fact support progressive causes, according to Takoma Park resident Victor Reinoso. He says that there would be more progressive businesses, such as the TPSS Grocery Coop, and the ones that exist would get more business, if his neighbors didn't oppose greater density at every juncture.
Not all progress is bad. It's the mark of a true progressive when they can tell the difference.
Events
See you Sunday in Anacostia, 3 weeks at Clybourne Park
This Sunday is GGW's tour of the Anacostia Museum, and there's less than 3 weeks left until our happy hour and watching of Clybourne Park.
Photo by MsVinDC on Flickr.
The Anacostia museum trip starts at noon with a brown bag lunch. At 1, we'll tour the Smithsonian's Anacostia Community Museum, then see the Anacostia Art Gallery at 3.
It's all free; RSVP here. You can reach the museum by the free shuttle from the Mall, W2 and W3 buses, bike, or car.
You also have just under 3 weeks left to get tickets to Clybourne Park at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre. GGW's performance is July 28, at 8 pm. Buy tickets here using discount code 1186 for 15% off and a $1 coupon for wine or beer at our preceding happy hour, starting at 6.
Here are some more events in the coming week:
Forum on TOD and housing in Prince George's, organized by the Coalition for Smarter Growth and Envision Prince George's featuring David Bowers of Enterprise Community Partners, Rodney Harrell of AARP, and developer Jair Lynch. Monday, July 11, 6:30-8:30 at the CSC Building, across from New Carrollton Metro station, 7900 Harkins Road, Lanham.
Circulator east of the river public meeting to present alternatives and get resident feedback on the route. Tuesday, July 12, 7-8:30 pm at the Southeast Neighborhood Library, 403 7th Street SE, DC.
Action Committee for Transit discussion about how White Flint advocates built support for Smart Growth, featuring Dan Hoffman and Barnaby Zall from Friends of White Flint. Tuesday, July 12, 7:30 pm at Silver Spring Center, 8818 Georgia Ave, Silver Spring, in the Woodside Conference Room.
Lunchtime workshop on Eco-City Alexandria with Bill Skrabak of the City of Alexandria and Joe Schilling of Virginia Tech discussing Alexandria's sustainability initiatives and community indicators developed based on best practices from around the country. Thursday, July 14, noon-1 pm at the Charles Houston Recreation Center, 901 Wythe Street, Alexandria.
Maryland Avenue SW plan public meeting to present draft recommendations for the CSX railway corridor between 4th and 12th Streets, SW, and adjacent property. Thursday, July 14, 6:30-8:30 at 1100 4th Street SW, DC in the 2nd floor meeting room.
St. Elizabeth's East public meeting to give feedback on land use and transportation concepts for the redevelopment of the east campus. Thursday, July 14, 7-9 pm at Imagine Southeast Public Charter School (Old Congress Heights School), 3100 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave SE, DC.
Takoma Langley Crossroads urban design guidelines discussion between the Planning Board and the community. The guidelines will govern development around the future Purple Line stop. Thursday, July 14, 7:00 pm at the Takoma Rec Center, 7315 New Hampshire Avenue, Takoma Park.
You can find these and many more events on the Greater Greater Washington calendar. If you know an event we should include, send it to events@ggwash.org.
Retail
More housing could bolster Takoma Park's business district
U-Md. journalism students Karen Carmichael and Jamie McIntyre try to explain why Takoma Park has so many locally-owned businesses in this ten-minute video, posted to YouTube late last month.
In the beginning, it sounds like another screed against commercialism. Carmichael calls a CVS in Takoma, D.C. a "chunk of suburbiana" (doesn't she know that making up words is only for English majors?), while McIntyre, a former CNN correspondent, contrasts historic Old Town Takoma with Olney, which he claims "could be Anytown, USA" for its many chain stores.
(Certainly, Olney has some local businesses - you can get snooty Belgian food at Le Mannequin Pis, beer at the Olney Ale House, and guitars at Rocketeria - but I digress.)
The video has interviews with owners of local mainstays like Mark's Kitchen and the House of Musical Traditions, though Carmichael and McIntyre can't get them to say why Takoma Park is able to do what it does. "The first thing you notice in Mark's Kitchen is ... it's not Starbucks," one talking head opines.
Roscoe the Rooster, Takoma Park's mascot, sits in the shopping district.
As much as I enjoy a local coffeeshop, I doubt many people outside of Takoma Park walk into to one and marvel, "Wow, what a locally-specific, non-homogenized experience!" What Carmichael and McIntyre don't explain is that Takoma Park can sustain so many local businesses because they're organized into one unified destination. Stores are close enough that people can park once and walk around, meaning they can rely on each other for customers and marketing - not unlike stores in a mall.
And like a mall, Takoma Park benefits from branding - for instance, from its long history of liberal politics. Sometimes, it manifests in negative ways, like vandalism of a Subway franchise on Carroll Avenue six years ago, whose owner is also interviewed in the video. But it also results in a focus on artistic pursuits - a music store, a vintage clothing store, a bakery - and preserved historic buildings that lend it a feeling of authenticity.
But cutesy Victorian storefronts can only go so far. At the end of the video, McIntyre suggests Takoma Park could do better. He goes to Ellsworth Drive in downtown Silver Spring, where he points out that successful business districts often have a high density of people (living there and/or working there) and are easy to walk around.
Takoma Park's nice to walk around in, but difficult to reach if you don't already live in the neighborhood.
Takoma Park is a joy for pedestrians, but it's not very dense, meaning that businesses cannot rely solely on people who can walk to their stores. At the same time, Takoma Park is difficult to reach by car, and though there's a Metro station nearby, it can be a long, hilly walk to either of its business districts. These impediments will discourage people from shopping there, and no shortage of ad campaigns will fix that.
In the past, some Takoma Parkies have opposed new housing in the area, like this proposed development at the Metro station. But if they'd like to retain its mom-and-pop businesses, they should push to have it built. It's a good lesson for neighborhood business districts in East County and beyond: if you want people to shop in your stores, you have to get them there. And it's often easiest to get them there if they already live in the neighborhood.
Transit
TIGER funds bus corridors, not K Street or bike sharing
The Washington region will receive $58.8 million for bus priority improvements across the region, but no money for the K Street Transitway or regional bicycle sharing in the TIGER grants. USDOT announced the winners today.
Image from USDOT.
Through regional planning organization MWCOG, local governments had applied for $204 million in bus improvements, $13 million for regional bike sharing, and $47 million for "transit station" improvements including a Takoma-Langley Transit Center and the Medical Center underpass.
About $140 million of the bus improvements would have built a dedicated busway along K Street for regional and local buses, many of which use that street, while the rest would have improved a patchwork of corridors in all jursdictions.
The final award provides $26.6 million for the bus corridor improvements, which will improve service on 16th Street, Georgia Avenue, H Street/Benning Road, and Wisconsin Avenue in DC; Addison Road, University Blvd, US-1 and Veirs Mill Road in Maryland; US-1, Leesburg Pike, and the Van Dorn to Pentagon route in Virginia. It also funds and connections from the TR Bridge and 14th Street to K Street in DC for Virginia buses.
Update: Here's more on the funded bus projects, which mean some long-awaited and exciting improvements will be going forward.
In addition to the bus improvements, the Takoma-Langley Transit Center gets $12.3 million, and Virginia gets $20 million for "station improvements (bus bays, real time bus information and other improvements" supporting bus priority on the I-95/395 corridor," which contribute to a longer-term plan to set up dedicated bus lanes.
It doesn't fund the Medical Center underpass, a second entrance to Rosslyn Metro, I-66 bus, bike sharing, or K Street. The table on page 11 of the application shows all of the improvements requested and their individual dollar amounts.
According to a so-far-unconfirmed rumor, the K Street project scored very highly on the metrics USDOT was using, but they excluded it because of potential bad press surrounding any funds going to "K Street" with its lobbyist connotations. If that's true, DC should immediately introduce a bill to rename K Street as "Abraham Lincoln Boulevard" or something. While they're at it, maybe they should rename Capitol Hill just in case.
Or, that could be totally false, and they simply decided that the Washington region could get almost $60 million but, at nearly $140 million, the K Street project was too large and more money had to go to other cities.
History
Recently Lost Washington: Allen Theater in Takoma Park
Early Saturday morning, a clothing store and former Allen Theater in Takoma Park was destroyed in a three-alarm fire. Police from Montgomery and Prince George's counties were called into fight the blaze at what was Gussini Fashion and Shoes, located at New Hampshire and Ethan Allen avenues. The story quickly made the rounds on firefighter blogs drawn to the spectacular flames.
The former Allen Theatre in Takoma Park. Photo by Dan Reed.
The fire could be a setback to the City of Takoma Park's The New Ave campaign, which seeks to draw customers to local businesses and eventually revitalize the New Hampshire Avenue corridor. The building and the adjacent strip mall were one of the major properties along New Hampshire targeted for redevelopment. A pair of The New Ave banners can be seen on the corner of the building, partly singed but still intact.
The building originally opened in March 1951 as the 946-seat Allen Theater, whose neon marquee was so bright that it was never fully turned on due to fears of distracting motorists. Shuttered in 1990, the Allen joined a handful of now-closed single-screen cinemas in the Takoma Park area, including the Langley Theatre at New Hampshire and University, the Flower Theatre at Flower and Piney Branch, and the Takoma Theatre on 4th Street NW in the Takoma neighborhood of DC.
In the 1950's, the Allen Theater didn't discriminate against black patrons, unlike other local theaters. Burtonsville resident Jeffrey Fearing would walk to the Allen Theater as a kid while living nearby on Sheridan Street in the District. "It was one of the Maryland theaters that my parents knew was integrated. Not all of them made people of color welcome," he writes in an e-mail. "Only movie I remember seeing there as a kid though was Peter Pan, though I went there at least once as a grown-up when it was more of a grindhouse theater."
The Allen Theater on opening day in 1951.
Photo from Maryland's Motion Picture Theaters by Robert Headley.
The Allen Theater, now Gussini Fashion & Shoes, in 2008.
Photo by Jack Coursey.
While many of the Allen Theatre's original features had been removed after its conversion to a clothing store in 1990, the marquee and double-height lobby windows remained. They were emblems of the area's dwindling supply of Mid-Century Modern or Googie buildings, which after fifty or so years are old enough to be irrelevant but too young for many people to appreciate for its history. One well-known example would be the Perpetual Building in Downtown Silver Spring, which has long been threatened with demolition despite being neither abandoned or in poor condition.
On Monday, the Montgomery County Fire Department told the Gazette that the Allen Theater will be razed. "Three of the walls were still standing ... they were eventually knocked down," said Capt. Oscar Garcia. "Essentially, the building is going to be demolished."
Check out this photo of the theatre in 1985, these photos of the fire taken by firefighter (firefighter enthusiast?) Bill McNeel, and below, a slideshow I took of the destroyed Allen Theater.
Crossposted at Just Up The Pike.
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.
Politics
Almost lunch links: the District's Republicans
Photo by kimberlyfaye on Flickr.
What is "affiliated"? Everyone reported the DC Republican Party's lawsuit yesterday, which claims that Michael A. Brown is ineligible to serve on the Council since is is "affiliated" with the Democratic Party. He changed his registration to independent, but remained pretty obviously a Democrat, including calling himself an "Independent Democrat", campaigning for Obama, being an ultimate party insider, and more. I'm with Marc Fisher that we should junk this ridiculous minority-party rule, though I'd not complain if Mara replaced Brown on the Council.
Even Takoma Park can be purple: The Takoma Park City Council endorsed the Purple Line, though only if it doesn't hurt pedestrians or take away Takoma Parkers' inalienable right to park.
Think different, Detroit: A looming automaker bailout plus dropping gas prices has thoughtful commentators proposing alternatives, like raising the gas tax, a gas price floor, or expanding to build transit vehicles.
There's a heliport 0.5mi from my house! Last week, DC's very cutting-edge Office of the Chief Technology Officer (with the geeky acronym OCTO) announced the winners of their Apps for Democracy mashup contest. Top honors went to iLive.at, which combines WalkScore-like local listings with interesting pie-charted census data. Personal faves also include DC Historic Tours, which Google maps self-guided walking tours of historic areas, and Stumble Safely, helping you find the best and safest late-night route home from a bar.
Roads
Breakfast links: Scratching poison ivy in Maryland
Photo by bankbryan on Flickr.
From airport to sprawl: Hyde Airport in Clinton, MD will close, to be replaced with more houses and stores nowhere near transit, continuing Prince George's pattern of having no particular development plan as they rapidly convert their county into auto-dependent suburban sprawl.
More vanilla in our chocolate: Rob Goodspeed crunches the census numbers and concludes that if trends continue, DC will stop being majority-black in 2014. Ryan Avent thinks the bigger news is that the population growth in Wards 1, 2, and 6 will change ward boundaries in 2010 and move political power from the edges into the center.
Please reread the definition of "news": A remarkably unhelpful Gazette article reports on excited reactions by the Takoma Park City Council to improvements in New Hampshire Avenue. Only problem is, the article completely fails to say anything about the actual improvements. Meanwhile, WTOP announces that DC may use eminent domain in Southeast Washington. How about including where? (City Desk does).
Plus: Might a Trader Joe's be coming to 14th and U? Infosnack analyzes the ballpark performance parking pilot's flaws and makes suggestions; No deal is in the works with Columbia Country Club.
@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
District of Columbia
