Food - Greater Greater Washington

DC, the taste testers

Fri, 17 May 2013 08:29:00 EDT

Several restaurant chains use DC to test out new concepts before expanding to the rest of the country. Harriet Tregoning says DC makes a perfect test bed for many urban innovations, from urban Walmart to car2go. (City Paper)

Comment

Harriet Tregoning is pro-choice (on transportation) (Oct 24, 2012)
Right on, Harriet Tregoning! (Mar 4, 2008)
Arlington chair says keep Tregoning and Klein (Sep 16, 2010)
Proposed Walmart undermines Rockville Pike redevelopment (Oct 20, 2011)
Walmart's 6 DC stores: Some will be urban, some won't (Apr 26, 2012)

Groceries on the bus?

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 08:33:00 EDT

by Steven Yates

Could a cooler on the front of a bus be the solution for food deserts? Grocery stores might be interested in it as a way to cut down on grocery cart theft. (Atlantic Cities)

Comment

Chef Herb cooks up a healthier future for DC children

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 10:12:00 EDT

by Jessica Christy

All photos from Herb Holden used with permission.

Children like Chef Herb for his engaging food demonstrations and visually appealing creations. Adults like Chef Herb because his lessons encourage children to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables, all with the hope of reducing obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and other associated ailments.

Expedition returns from previously-uncharted Land of Mary

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 12:23:00 EDT

by Randy Feet

This article was posted as an April Fool's joke.

Word came over Instagram today that an expedition of H Street twenty-somethings in search of a downhill bike route to Columbia Heights have returned from what was previously thought to be uncharted land north of Washington, DC.

Amundsen and friends in New Columbia. Image from Twitter.

Friday night, 23-year-old social media producer Roald Amundsen and a group of friends set out from Little Miss Whiskey's at 11th & H NE on their fixed-gear bikes in search of the fabled Northwest Passage, which would allow them to reach Wonderland Ballroom at 11th & Kenyon NW without sweating as much.

"Our friends loudly and drunkenly told everyone that fixies are unusable in these regions and that their drink specials are rubbish," he said. "We shall see," he added. "We shall see."

However, the first sepia-toned images to surface on Amundsen's Twitter account appear to be of a settlement in the little-understood territory called the Land of Mary, located due north of the District. Until now, all that anyone knew about the Land of Mary is that it was home to a boring and cultureless race of people who piloted large, metal vehicles in an erratic fashion, ate crab cakes, and were the ancestral home of the rich kid in somebody's freshman year dorm at Oberlin.

Initially, Amundsen expressed dismay about the territory's strange inhabitants after crossing Eastern Avenue, long considered to be the end of civilization, into a village he dubbed New Columbia.

"They seemed on the whole to me, to be a very uncool people," he wrote in a tumblr post. "They all go completely without scarves and mustaches, even the men, though I saw one guy who looked like he might be a DJ."

Amundsen's lunch.

One day after landing in New Columbia, Amundsen claimed to have seen sidewalks, buildings far taller than any that exist in the District, and a grody dive bar in a basement. Around lunchtime Saturday, he tweeted photos of an Ethiopian restaurant.

"Eating tibs & injera at hole-in-the-wall with amazing smells. Theres like 100 of them on 1 block here in #unchartedterritory," he wrote.

By Sunday, Amundsen and his crew found New Columbia's three record stores and began to wonder if the uncouth villagers could be civilized. "It appears to me that the people are ingenious ... I am of opinion that they would like the new Yeasayer album," he wrote on his Facebook page. "If it's okay with my landlord, I intend to carry home six of them to crash at my place so we can listen to it on my record player."

While the savages of New Columbia, which Amundsen dubbed "Columbians," were flattered by the invitation to listen to records on the floor of Amundsen's English basement studio, they politely declined, citing job and family commitments.

15 comments

Where could a small grocery store thrive in Ward 8?

Tue, 18 Dec 2012 10:29:00 EDT

by Chris Dickersin-Prokopp

The Yes! Organic Market in DC's Fairlawn neighborhood has struggled to survive, and Anacostia's only grocery store recently closed. Why can't grocery stores thrive here? Mainly, economics. But one spot could work.

There are many factors that determine the success of a retail enterprise, including marketing, accessibility, visibility, competition, demographics, and location. Yes! Organic may have been difficult to access for westbound drivers, and it could certainly have benefited from an improved outreach campaign, but the fundamental challenge for the store is that it is located in an area with low aggregate income, a result of relatively low household incomes and the presence of relatively few households.

Much of the area around Fairlawn's Yes! is undeveloped (Anacostia Park and River, Fort Dupont Park, etc.), and the developed blocks are low- to medium-density. The graphic above helps illustrate how the purchasing power the store's service area compares with those of other grocery outlets in the city.

The Anacostia Warehouse Supermarket closed its doors because the former owner sold the property. The buyer is optimistic about the site's potential, but in a presentation to the Historic Anacostia Block Association in February of this year, he all but ruled out the possibility of bringing in another grocery store. He said that the potential grocery tenants he spoke with were deterred by the presumed arrival of Walmart at Skyland, just up the street.

Does the eventual presence of two full-service grocery stores at the top of the hill mean that Ward 8's flatland neighborhoods will be forever without their own market? If there is a location best suited for a store to fill the gap, it is at the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Ave SE and Howard Rd SE, immediately adjacent to the Anacostia Metrorail station and Metrobus hub, and the meeting point for the Anacostia, Hillsdale, and Barry Farm neighborhoods.

The ideal, and most feasible, site for new development at this intersection is the vast lot owned by Bethlehem Baptist Church, currently used as parking. It is not uncommon for churches, often major landowners, to develop the land they own for a purpose consistent with their mission.

Matthews Memorial Baptist Church, two blocks from Bethlehem, recently oversaw the development of a new affordable housing complex on one of their parcels. Across town, at 10th and G Streets NW, the First Congregational United Church of Christ was part of a redevelopment team that delivered a new facility for the church on the ground floors of an office building.

Bethlehem Baptist lot. Photo by the author.

By developing their vacant land as housing, office space, or a community or spiritual facility, with ground floor retail including a grocery store to replace the shuttered Anacostia Warehouse Supermarket, Bethlehem Baptist Church, and its pastor Reverend James E. Coates, DC's inaugural Ward 8 councilmember, could cement a legacy in the District while doing a huge service to their neighbors in the heart of Ward 8.

Cross-posted at R. U. Seriousing Me?

43 comments

Grocery stores scarce for many DC residents (Jan 22, 2009)
Homeless shelter with no retail will hinder Anacostia (Aug 2, 2011)
Grocery stores disappearing in NYC (Feb 19, 2008)
Will tax incentives make food deserts bloom? (Dec 4, 2009)
GGW discusses: The focus on Anacostia (Feb 21, 2011)

Yes! changes

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 08:31:00 EDT

by Steven Yates

It turns out that Ward 8 won't be losing its Yes! Organic Market. The store will get a name change to Healthy Gourmet Market in hopes that dropping "organic" from the name will help dispel the perception of high prices. (Post)

Comment

It wasn't prices

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 08:26:00 EDT

by Steven Yates

The recently closed Anacostia Warehouse Supermarket wasn't any cheaper than the soon-to-close Yes! Organic Market. Can future East of the River grocery stores learn from this? (THE ART of WARd 8)

Comment

Grocery stores scarce for many DC residents (Jan 22, 2009)
Grocery stores disappearing in NYC (Feb 19, 2008)

Thousands eating contaminated Anacostia River fish

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 12:00:00 EDT

by Julie Lawson

At least 17,000 people in the lower Anacostia watershed eat fish from the river every year. These fish spend years swimming in polluted water and resting and feeding amidst sediment contaminated with toxic chemicals.

Anacostia Park, June 2012. Photo by the author.

This contamination is very likely ending up on people's dinner plates. In many cases, the people eating this fish have limited resources and few alternatives for safer food.

The Washington City Paper recently discussed these findings from a report, Addressing the Risk, the Anacostia Watershed Society, the US Environmental Protection Agency, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, NOAA, Chesapeake Bay Trust, and other local entities assisted in the report.

The team set out to understand how large the subsistence fishing population was, and how much they knew about the river pollution and the risk of eating fish from it. We did not expect to find so many people sharing the fish so widely.

How do you refuse an elderly neighbor on food stamps, when she asks you to bring back a fish? Or if you've been unemployed for a while, but need to feed your family, how do you resist a free, local meal? If you're hungry today, is it worth the risk that the chemicals in the fish might cause cancer in 20 years?

Many fishermen are in fact aware that the river is polluted and that the fish reflect that. They have informal methods for screening the fish, and many will throw back a fish with lesions, cloudy eyes, or other outward signs of sickness. But those methods are further evidence that the fishermen think the fish are only contaminated on the outside, and don't address the PCBs hiding in the fatty tissue within.

Even if they don't plan to eat the fish themselves, the pleas of a neighbor in need or a passing child are irresistible. The fishermen feel like they have helped in their generosity.

Obviously the long-term solution is to clean up the river. We should be able to paddle, fish, and even swim in the river without worrying about damaging our health. Cleaning up the six legacy toxic sites and reducing polluted stormwater runoff (which carries toxins from roads, parking lots, and other hard surfaces) will go a long way.

In the meantime, we need to do more to educate everyone, and particularly at-risk groups like women of childbearing age, about the condition of the river and the risks of consuming its fish. It is also incumbent on leaders in DC and Maryland to improve access to other healthy food. Generally speaking, fish is a very healthy protein. Could the DC area support aquaculture, perhaps in a community-supported model?

AWS and its partners will be holding a community meeting in Ward 7 in early December to answer questions about the research and begin the discussion of how we solve the problem. We hope councilmembers and community leaders will come and pledge to be part of the solution.

7 comments

The Anacostia River can again be swimmable and fishable (Feb 9, 2012)
Riverwalk will connect communities and the Anacostia River (Oct 16, 2012)
Food insecurity in the District (Feb 5, 2009)
Gentrification east of the river, pt. 1: Organic and inorganic (Nov 8, 2010)
Weekend video: Cleaning up Rock Creek (May 8, 2011)

No more Yes

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 08:29:00 EDT

by Steven Yates

The Yes! Organic Market in Fairlawn will close after failing to make a profit, which will leave even fewer grocery stores in under-served East of the River. The owner blames difficult access to the store as the main problem. (Post)

Comment

Grocery stores scarce for many DC residents (Jan 22, 2009)
The plight of the blight: River East liquor stores (Jul 10, 2009)
Gentrification east of the river, pt. 1: Organic and inorganic (Nov 8, 2010)
GGW discusses: The focus on Anacostia (Feb 21, 2011)
Homeless shelter with no retail will hinder Anacostia (Aug 2, 2011)

Capital Area Food Bank moves, expands

Tue, 31 Jul 2012 08:21:00 EDT

by Thaddeus Bell

Capital Area Food Bank nearly doubles as it moves to a new $37 million facility near Fort Totten, largely funded by DC's Office of Housing and Community Development. (WAMU)

Comment

Food insecurity in the District (Feb 5, 2009)
Growing possibilities: A new census of community gardens (Dec 7, 2009)
Then & Now: Anacostia Bank (Dec 19, 2011)
Support the CaBi CANstruction and feed the hungry (Aug 30, 2011)
TD Bank a step back for urbanism at RI Ave (Nov 15, 2010)

Shuttle goes to fresh food

Mon, 18 Jun 2012 08:41:00 EDT

by David Alpert

A new shuttle bus will transport residnets of Ward 8 to the ward's farmers' market, one of the few nearby opportunities for fresh produce. Organizers hope to serve an upcoming St. Elizabeths market as well. (Post)

Comment

Public land deals give hot neighborhoods affordable housing

Mon, 04 Jun 2012 12:05:00 EDT

by Cheryl Cort

Someone sitting in the lively plaza in the heart of Columbia Heights or enjoying a bite to eat at 5th & K's Busboys and Poets might not know that the shiny new apartment buildings nearby house both well-off residents and and those earning modest to very low incomes. The new mixed-income buildings, built on formerly city-owned land, contain 20-35% affordable housing that reaches down to deeply affordable levels.

Columbia Heights photo by M.V. Jantzen

While demand to live in DC rises, its stock of low-priced homes is shrinking. Projects on city-owned land have created many mixed-income housing opportunities throughout the city. A new paper (PDF) by the Coalition for Smarter Growth examines how DC has used public land to provide affordable housing and other community benefits.

From Walter Reed in upper Northwest to St. Elizabeths in Southeast to smaller projects in between, city-owned land will play a meaningful role in shaping the future character of DC's neighborhoods and providing housing choices for moderate and low income residents.

Want to know more about what the city is doing, or could do, to use public lands for more affordable housing? How might a library be a good candidate to become mixed-use and mixed income? Join us on Wednesday evening, June 6 for a conversation with the leading thinkers and decision-makers on what gets built on city-owned land, including Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development Victor Hoskins and DC Chief Librarian Ginnie Cooper.

DC's history of affordable housing

Throughout the 2000s, DC has provided thousands of housing units, including a large share of affordable and deeply affordable units, by aggressively managing its surplus lands. 9 parcels on 13 acres of land in Columbia Heights produced nearly 600 new affordable housing units, or 35% of all new units.

The City Vista project at 5th and K NW generated a robust mix of 685 units of housing and retail. 138 units, or 20% of the total, were made available at moderate to deeply affordable levels, including some for those earning no more than 30% of the area median income (AMI).

During earlier decades of disinvestment and population decline, the District acquired substantial amounts of vacant and underutilized land. Many of these properties are now valuable assets that have been or can be redeveloped for housing, commercial uses, or new public facilities. The District also owns large parcels of former federal property as well as scores of aging schools, libraries, and other public facilities with the potential to meet a range of community needs.

Since 2000, starting with Mayor Anthony Williams' administration, the District government has racked up an impressive list of accomplishments putting surplus lands back into productive use through public-private partnership deals. Affordable housing has been a priority for these redevelopment projects, with DC seeking to designate 20-30 percent of the overall units as affordable.

Going beyond some affordable housing deals, DC sought to create a mix of housing opportunities at very low income levels. It's most difficult to pay for deeply affordable housing, but there is the greatest need for this housing because it's expensive to build and most low-wage jobs don't pay enough to cover even that cost.

A promising success story: The Hine school

The Hine School project stands out as an example of how a project on public land can balance affordable housing and other public benefits with market-rate development. Located between the Eastern Market Metro station and the historic market house, the Hine School project has an extra challenge of rebuilding in an historic district.

Residents and prominent local community groups engaged early in the decision-making process to express their vision for the site and influenced the selection of the developer, design, and uses. The project will include 46 low-income housing units, with 5 units at 30% area median income (AMI), 29 at 60% AMI, and 12 at 80% AMI.

In addition, the project would rebuild C Street SE as a curbless street and plaza and provide room for weekend vendor tents that can accommodate much (but not all) of the flea market currently using the existing school parking lot. Unlike many public land deals, the developer is also adding office space, which can diversify the activity in the area throughout the day and generate revenues that contribute to what the city collects as both taxes and rent.

In all, the Hine project adds up to a winner of a public land deal. Its design fits the historic context of the neighborhood while offering a mix of affordable and market-rate housing, along with office, retail, and public space in a highly desirable neighborhood and adjacent to a Metro station.

A missed opportunity: The Tenley Library and Janney School

One of the big ones that got away was a mixed-use proposal for the Tenley Library and Janney School. Few chances exist to provide affordable housing in the affluent upper Northwest neighborhood of Tenleytown. This project would have provided 53 units (30% of the total) at 30% AMI, offering low-income residents the chance to live in the community, rather than only commute to it.

The deal would also have accelerated needed upgrades to the popular Janney Elementary School at the same time, using up-front payments from the private developer, and it would brought $5 million in cost savings to the library.

The plan followed a lengthy and tortured path until 2009, when leaders decided to defer the project's housing elements with a promise to allow for putting it partly on top of the library in the future. However, it's hard to see how that would be feasible, let alone affordable.

Instead of using money from the project to fund Janney, the city reallocated money to pay for the school, exacerbating an already inequitable tilt in capital school expenditures towards Ward 3. The result was no affordable housing, no added resources leveraged by private investment, and a more inequitable distribution of school modernization dollars.

Community supporters for the mixed-use plan were disappointed. "The [school and library] agencies had no interest in combining land and resources, said Allison Barnard Feeney, a Janney School parent and advocate for the mixed use proposal. "By the time the mayor got behind it, this idea had quite a lot of entrenched opposition."

What's next?

Public land deals have delivered a lot of affordable housing in the District through the 2000s. But the future direction for public land redevelopment is unclear. The recent request for proposals for the site near the Shaw Metro station (Parcel 42) has not specified specific amounts of affordable housing, which is a change from practices in the past decade.

The administration of Mayor Vincent Gray has not established its policy for future public land dispositions but has continued to execute deals with substantial amounts of affordable housing.

As for future deals, according to Deputy Mayor Victor Hoskins, the city may no longer insist that projects on public land require a specific amount of affordable housing or target income levels as they did under the Williams and Fenty administrations. Instead, the administration may ask developers to maximize affordable units below 80% AMI in their proposals, as with the Parcel 42 request. Under such an approach, achieving affordability reaching all the way down to 30% AMI is less likely. Deputy Mayor Hoskins has suggested that the Mayor's Comprehensive Housing Strategy Task Force, convened in February 2012, will help provide broader guidance on this question.

High costs of construction, a tighter District budget, and a shrinking federal role make the path to more affordable housing uncertain. While the District has completed many successful projects, many more opportunities remain to realize public benefits from public land.

26 comments

A new West End Library is a good deal for DC (Jan 6, 2012)
DC poised to relax affordable housing in Waterfront deal (Dec 20, 2010)
Ask Kwame to keep the West End housing deal affordable (Jun 1, 2012)
Cheh, Brown ask to shelve Tenley library PPP (Oct 29, 2008)
Delay scuttles affordable housing at 14th and U (Jul 28, 2008)

Seattle's food forest

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 11:41:00 EDT

by David Edmondson

Plans are underway for a food forest in Seattle, with nut and fruit trees alongside herbs and spices all in a park-like setting and free for the taking. It faces challenges, but the city is excited about the possibilities. (Atlantic Cities)

Comment

WalkScore heat maps (Jun 13, 2008)
Food insecurity in the District (Feb 5, 2009)
Park Service makes great strides, but much work remains (Mar 24, 2012)
Growing possibilities: A new census of community gardens (Dec 7, 2009)
Food desert or mirage? (Mar 30, 2010)

Hard to grab lunch in Anacostia

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 08:34:00 EDT

by Steven Yates

By highlighting race, Marion Barry distracted from an otherwise valid point that it's tough to find a decent lunch in Anacostia. The low density of the surrounding neighborhood hampers retail development. (R. U. Seriousing Me?)

Comment

Homeless shelter with no retail will hinder Anacostia (Aug 2, 2011)
Rally questions Barry's leadership in Ward 8 (Dec 30, 2011)
Anacostia shelter ignores community, starts construction (Dec 14, 2011)
Roads by Anacostia Metro among worst in DC for pedestrians (Feb 17, 2012)
Barry surprised at streetcar plan from Barry mayoralty (Jul 1, 2010)

A city that still sleeps

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 08:34:00 EDT

by Steven Yates

2 restaurants recently opened in the U Street corridor with late night hours, but have now scaled back. They hoped the influx of new residents is turning DC into a 24-hour city, but it appears that time hasn't quite yet come. (Post)

Comment

Hungry in NoMa after 7 pm? Your choices are lean (Apr 28, 2011)
24-hour service that isn't: the drive-thru dilemma (Dec 31, 2008)
Performance parking but no spaces at Barracks Row (Nov 24, 2009)
What's wrong with 17th Street? (Apr 10, 2008)
Ghost Town (Sep 19, 2005)

Don't drink on Metro

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 09:42:00 EDT

by Steven Yates

97% of tickets Metro Transit Police write are for drinking alcohol. They write few tickets for eating, because riders get a warning first under a policy begun after they arrested a 12-year-old in 2000. (Post)

Comment

Why doesn't Metro post the police phone number? (Jul 14, 2010)
Riders appeal to Metro police to stop bag searches (Jan 4, 2011)
Metro stations could get DVD kiosks and trolley tour tickets (Jun 21, 2010)
Weekend station closures will become common on Metro (Jul 14, 2011)
To address bicycle crime, Metro PD should take it seriously (Oct 3, 2011)

Office cafeterias decline

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 08:14:00 EDT

by David Alpert

Many federal buildings and law firms have cafeterias, but more and more workers are going elsewhere for better food at restaurants and food trucks. Cafeterias are better for private conversations, though. (City Paper)

Comment

Food trucks enhance brick-and-mortar restaurants (Mar 16, 2011)
The soul-crushing emptiness of downtown DC (Dec 1, 2007)
Food trucks could fill in retail gaps (Apr 22, 2010)
Hungry in NoMa after 7 pm? Your choices are lean (Apr 28, 2011)
Encourage better conditions for restaurant workers (Nov 9, 2010)

Food deserts not a huge issue?

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:45:00 EDT

by Steven Yates

A new survey shows that most urban families are satisfied with their access to food, but grocery prices and having time to cook were more pressing concerns. (WAMU)

Comment

Food insecurity in the District (Feb 5, 2009)
Will tax incentives make food deserts bloom? (Dec 4, 2009)
Food desert or mirage? (Mar 30, 2010)
Grocery stores scarce for many DC residents (Jan 22, 2009)
"Bank deserts" harm underserved communities (Aug 18, 2009)

Caught by the boss

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 12:08:00 EDT

by Steven Yates

A Metro employee was caught eating in a station by General Manager Richard Sarles. Sarles sent a message in a newsletter telling employees to be more professional. (Examiner)

Comment

What would you ask WMATA's new CEO? (Feb 2, 2011)
Richard Sarles will make safety top priority, ride Metro (Mar 4, 2010)
WMATA picks new GM, rumored to be Sarles (Jan 19, 2011)
5 top issues for Richard Sarles (Jan 30, 2011)
If you want to take photos inside Metro, just do it (Oct 26, 2010)

Quenching food deserts

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 12:21:00 EDT

by Steven Yates

The DC Central Kitchen is fixing food deserts by stocking fresh fruits and vegetables at corner stores in underserved communities. (WAMU)

Comment

Will tax incentives make food deserts bloom? (Dec 4, 2009)
DC tries to ice problem of "cupcake deserts" (Apr 1, 2011)
Food insecurity in the District (Feb 5, 2009)
Food desert or mirage? (Mar 30, 2010)
Grocery stores scarce for many DC residents (Jan 22, 2009)

Watergate Safeway, 1966-2011

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 08:48:00 EDT

by Moira Gillick

The store closes this week, leaving elderly residents without accessible groceries and college students without affordable groceries. Are Whole Foods and Trader Joe's the only urban model grocery? (Post, GW Hatchet)

Comment

Grocery stores scarce for many DC residents (Jan 22, 2009)
Dedicated parking not optimal for Clarendon Trader Joe's (Sep 22, 2010)
Grocery stores disappearing in NYC (Feb 19, 2008)
Pimp my Safeway: Redevelopment potential for the Capitol Hill Safeway (Jun 30, 2009)
Tenleytown Safeway plan shows no signs of improving (Dec 16, 2009)

DC cuts, then restores, seniors program

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 08:31:00 EDT

by Jamie Scott

DC eliminated funding for a program that provides free groceries to senior citizens living in poverty but then found money for a new provider to run the program. (City Paper, Poverty and Policy)

Comment

It Takes a Village 2: Walkable urbanism is good for seniors (Nov 30, 2009)
Seniors testify about vital pedestrian needs (Feb 23, 2009)
Breaking: Gray cuts streetcars (now restored) (May 26, 2010)
Fenty budget sets stage for huge transit cuts (Apr 2, 2010)
DC 2010 budget would end Saturday free parking (Mar 24, 2009)

With risks, rewards, Cafritz development must be done right

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 12:22:00 EDT

by Roland Stephen

Discussion of a massive residential and retail development that will house Prince George's County's first Whole Foods Market is bringing forth the usual anxieties around growth. It represents a series of dangers and difficulties, but if done right, it could bring positive change to a county in need of an economic boost.

Photo by Gino Carteciano on Flickr.

The Cafritz property, located on East-West Highway between Baltimore Avenue (US Route 1) and the CSX railroad tracks in University Park, is about a mile south of the College Park Metro/MARC station (and just a few blocks west of the Riverdale MARC station).

Current plans call for several high-end retail spaces in addition to the Whole Foods, along with town homes and condos. Yet the current design would greatly alter the shape of the surrounding neighborhood and would serve to reinforce auto dependence, though it would be just up Baltimore Avenue from the burgeoning (and quite walkable) Hyattsville Arts District.

At Monday night's University Park town council meeting, concerns were aired that the development would generate excessive storm water run-off, poor access for public services, and much, much more traffic. At the same time, the enterprise's economic prospects were questioned: some characterized the design as "another strip mall" where no one could live , shop, or navigate the traffic even if they wished.

Current designs would worsen the traffic problem by only allowing cars to flow on and off of the two arterials, blocking access to neighborhood streets.

The developers, who put up a glossy website using Whole Foods' cachet to promote the project, are nevertheless deliberately vague about their plans while they seek initial rezoning of the property. There is still some doubt as to the soundness of Cafritz' business prospects, and about the company's ability to produce a successful design that would draw customers and residents.

There have certainly been false starts around large scale projects in the area: Wells Fargo recently repossessed the nearby University Town Center, to name one example. But as census data suggests, the DC Metro area is growing relentlessly, and the Route 1 corridor from Mt. Rainier through Hyattsville, Riverdale Park and College Park, will be an important axis of future growth. This will become an increasingly urban area.

Smart growth demands that property around the principal arteries be rezoned from single family to mixed use, especially in areas well-served by mass transit. The 80s Metrobuses provide frequent service along Route 1, Metro's Green Line is nearby, and proposed service expansions would make MARC's Camden Line a more potent transit corridor. As the council members recognized, change is coming, and the real challenge before them is to shape that change in a way that enhances the quality of life rather than worsening congestion.

The town wants the county and state to help fund a $15 million bridge over the railroad for rear access to the property from Lafayette Avenue. It will be challenging to get that kind of commitment in this fiscal climate, but it would be one of the best uses of Council members' political capital.

The Council's discussion accentuated every possible risk, leading a casual observer to think that the project faces a significant political hurdle. Nevertheless, the majority of the Council is confident that the development will succeed, voting to provide $5,000 for a market analysis of its impact, which, as Mayor John Tabori noted, would only measure the "negative externalities" and not the positive ones that could come from a less car-oriented design.

Strangely, there was no mention of jobs, which is a top concern of many voters, particularly in Prince George's. Also lacking was discussion of the value to consumers of new retail opportunities, or of increased property values, or of new sales tax revenues for a town and county overly dependent on property taxes to make up its $2.5 billion annual budget (although it should be noted that Maryland's sales tax exempts unprepared food sales).

Councilmember Jacqueline Bradley Chacon (Ward 7) took a larger view in a letter to her colleagues, noting that encouraging and meeting the needs of consumers with educated tastes would allow for more diversity and more retail outlets, and attract more like-minded residents. Prince George's County is obviously not overflowing with these kinds of choices. Retail sales and sales taxes leak out of the county, and with those retail sales go badly needed jobs.

It is important to understand and work to mitigate the risks of such a major development, but one must also step back and take in a larger view that balances those risks with a sense of the rewards. Unfortunately, the beneficiaries of those rewards tend not to go to council meetings.

5 comments

Can a commercial enterprise succeed if hidden from view? (Aug 18, 2011)
Want a Whole Foods? Add residences, or face traffic (Aug 17, 2011)
The other end of the Purple Line (Dec 27, 2008)
Olson may scuttle new housing in College Park (Sep 13, 2010)
On the calendar: Kojo in McLean, Bloomingdale parking, Prince George's development, Anacostia streetcars (Mar 22, 2011)

Support the CaBi CANstruction and feed the hungry

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 15:50:00 EDT

by Letters to the Editor

In this morning's Breakfast Links, we pointed out a sculpture of a Capital Bikeshare bike made out of cans. Builder Jorge Mayor wrote to us with more information about the project and how it helps the needy.

I was part of the team that built the Capital Bikeshare bike out of Amy's soup cans. We made a timelapse video and posted it on Youtube:

CANstruction benefits the Capital Area Food Bank (all food used is donated to the food bank). People can either go to the Building Museum and donate canned foods by voting for their favorite structure (one can = one vote), or they can go online and make a donation where $1 = one vote. It's a great event for a great cause, and we'd love for your readers to get involved.

Comment

Submit tips here (Mar 17, 2009)
Buy a CaBi membership, donate to WABA (Apr 8, 2011)
Support local charities this holiday season (Dec 16, 2010)
Weekend video: It's a wonderful city (Feb 12, 2011)
Past and future chances to walk and bike (Sep 21, 2010)

And...

Sat, 20 Aug 2011 13:04:00 EDT

by Eric Fidler

London is building 2,012 garden beds in which residents may grown food. (Inhabitat) ... The "virtual tunnel" between the Farraguts will be called "Farragut Crossing." (TBD) ... New York finally installed its first on-street bike corral. (Streetsblog)

Comment

WMATA readying software for Farragut "virtual tunnel" (Dec 11, 2010)
Growing possibilities: A new census of community gardens (Dec 7, 2009)
Metro will look at the "invisible tunnel" "later this year" (Jun 29, 2010)
The growing classroom (May 21, 2009)
Weekend video: Buses and bike racks (Feb 19, 2011)

Maryland's conflicting priorities

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 10:40:00 EDT

by Jamie Scott

Maryland's highway administration evicted a local farmer from a roadside stand but the farmer has a license and the state is encouraging local farming. The SHA hasn't been clear in its reasoning, but now says the stand is unsafe. (WAMU)

Comment

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