Posts about Street Fairs

Development

Weekend reading: Up and down the Green Line edition

by David Alpert   •   October 4, 2008 8:30 am

Men twirling hula hoops at Columbia Heights Day 2007. Photo by Mr. T in DC on Flickr.

Remaking les écoles non-historique: Renew Shaw imagines how Seaton Elementary and Shaw Middle School, both at 9th, Q, and Rhode Island, could better integrate with the community and the street grid if and when DC overhauls these outdated buildings.

Marriott looking good: 14th and You attended a community meeting about the planned Marriott Marquis Convention Center. They're actually constructing two boutique hotels along with the main hotel, with a sports bar, coffee shop, and two restaurants at street level.

Raze this: What DC building would you tear down? Mr. T in DC has a list of his least favorite buildings in DC. City Desk disagrees with some and adds some. Both agree on one: the FBI building.

MoCo Residents Against Pesky Trees: The Gazette prints another letter from AAA's anti-tree lobbyist Lon Anderson and one from a resident on the Road Code. Just Up the Pike covers this increasingly ridiculous debate.

Those silly injured pedestrians, ha ha: A driver in New York got confused, "clipped two pedestrians", and ran through a plate glass window. The Post thinks it's hilarious. Streetsblog reminds New Yorkers that even non-critical injuries are no laughing matter.

Roads

A better Car-Free Day next year?

by David Alpert   •   September 23, 2008 10:00 am

[Autoposted while I'm in France]

Car-Free? Photo by monceau on Flickr.

As I write this, I don't know how Car-Free Day went. However, (assuming it didn't get canceled for some reason), we should thank and applaud DC officials for making it happen.

Nevertheless, we can and should do more next year. How about, instead of one small lightly-used block, we close one street (Pennsylvania Avenue? I Street? Some but not all lanes of K?) through downtown during lunch and have a big citywide picnic for office workers, accompanied by music and arts? How about (as suggested by commenter Tom) keeping the rush hour restrictions and setting up temporary street furniture in the parking spaces—like a big Park(ing) Day?

I know some of you will say it's crazy and will cause too much traffic. But all we need is to get enough people to go car-free, even just for lunch, and knowing that one of the several roads is closed will give people reason to do it. Besides, we close Pennsylvania for inaugurations, the Pope, etc. already.

What should we do next year? Let's not be afraid to think big.

Roads

Go celebrate car-freedom right now!

by David Alpert   •   September 22, 2008 11:00 am

[Autoposted while I'm in France]

Unless something changed since I went off to France for the week, the Car-Free festival should be starting right now at 7th and F streets. Enjoy the free music, yoga classes, try out a SmartBike or get a bike tune-up.

Hie thee to Gallery Place between now and 3 pm! There's free valet bike parking, and the Circulator is free all day.

Say hello to the Ministry of Bicycling, or help them wave flags and hand out flyers. They're planning to arrive around noon.

When you get back, post your experiences and/or photo links in the comments.

Public Spaces

Does regulation hamper street fairs?

by David Alpert   •   July 28, 2008 9:21 am

Want to hold an outdoor festival? You have to get signatures of 90% of the businesses and residents within 500 feet (that's about two short blocks or one long block). In many other cities, street fairs are a regular sight on warm weather weekends. Vendors take over a few blocks of a major street, selling food, clothing and accessories. It's fun (and convenient) to serendipitously run across these fairs.

Photo by ohad on Flickr.

In DC, we have Adams Morgan day and a few others, but they are relatively few and far between. Does the high regulatory bar keep away more street fairs? Is that what we want?

Other cities' street fairs do have their problems. In New York, most street fairs are exactly the same because a small number of street-fair-organizing companies manage them all, but neighborhoods are starting to insist on changes. The ideal fair features neighborhood cuisine and diverse, interesting, local merchants.

Do you think DC should have more street fairs?