Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Monday, January 5, 2009
No development without a fixed rail solution.
It is no secret that the Washington Hospital Center is the most dense commuter destination not served by fixed rail. This has been studied and documented by the DC Transportation Authority (see above). Since this is public property, we DC taxpayers should have a say regarding the circumstances under which the developer will profit from turning this public green space into low-income housing and eight story buildings (ka-ching!). It makes no sense to add ten thousand cars a day to one of the city's worst problem areas. Only now does the community have any clout whatsover in this "cooperative" process. If there is going to be such a massive, $1 billion taxpayer-subsidized project undertaken, we should insist on a fixed rail station serving the Hospital Center and Bloomingdale.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Bloomingdale already has its share of crime.
Here is Scott's listserv:
+ See this 12/28/2008 message from a resident on the 200 block of Flagler Place NW: "I would like to report that my car was vandalized this evening. My car was parked a couple doors down from my house in the 2000 block of Flagler Pl NW. The rear left passenger window was broken. If someone seen anything please respond to the listserve."
[ 2 ] John Salatti: Public Safety Announcement & 1st Neighborhood Safety Walk of 2009 -- Friday, 01/02/2008
See this 12/29?2008 message from Bloomingdale resident and ANC 5C04 Commissioner John Salatti:
PUBLIC SAFETY UPDATE AND ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE FIRST NEIGHBORHOOD SAFETY WALK OF 2009
Happy Holidays, Everyone,
Before the year closes, here is a public safety update.
The very good news is that crime is DOWN!! For the year 2008, in the northern half of Bloomingdale, total crime is down about 20% compared with 2007. Violent crime is down about 5%. So overall we continue to do better. I commend 5D for all Commander Greene and his officers are doing to help us. They are responsive to our requests and have helped us cut down on some drug crime and have closed a number of problem houses where drug crime was beginning to take root. Many thanks to neighbors who alerted me to problems early. That helped us keep the problems from becoming big trouble.
Also, note that 5D is aware of the drug activity centered around the north end of the alley that runs parallel to the 2100 blocks of Flagler Place and 2nd Street . Nevertheless, if you see something, either call 911 or let me know and I’ll get 5D involved.
But while we have done pretty well concerning crime, all has not been well. We have had two homicides in the north Bloomingdale and others not far away. Some of those cases are making real progress. For example, in the case of Delfa Hercules, who was stabbed at a bus stop on the 1700 block of 3rd Street , police are confident that they know who committed this murder and are building their case to ensure conviction. Regarding the most recent killing, which occurred at the corner of 1st and U Streets at 2:45 in the afternoon in front of many witnesses, the victim was Orlando Carroll who has lived at a couple of places in the neighborhood including the 100 block of Rhode Island Avenue and on Flagler Place. According to police, Mr. Carroll was involved in drugs and was a suspect in a few murders. Because of the witnesses, police hope to arrest a suspect.
Because we still have a ways to go before Bloomingdale is the safe place we all want it to be, I am organizing the first public safety walk of the year for this coming Friday. Although many will be away for the holiday, we neighbors who will be here can set the tone for 2009 by walking the streets and letting everyone know that we will not be complacent about crime.
So dress warmly, bring a flashlight, and meet at 1st & U at 6:30 p.m. this Friday, January 2nd.
If you have any questions or ideas, please let me know.
I look forward to seeing you!
John
John T. Salatti
Commissioner, ANC 5C04
Recording Secretary, ANC 5C
(202) 986- 2592
Jsalatti @ earthlink.net
"Together, Building a Better Bloomingdale"
Bloomingdale already has more than its share of traffic.
This graphic is from Appendix B of the Needs Assessment done by the Washington Metro Area Transit Authority as part of the now defunct DC Transit Future project. Their website has been pulled, but thanks to the Web Archive folks, the site can still be accessed here:
http://web.archive.org/web/20060511104657/www.dctransitfuture.com/.
This graphic shows that the Washington Hospital Center, and Bloomingdale, are one of the city's most congested traffic problems in the City. Of the three darkest blocks on this map, the eastern most block in this diagram includes Children's Hospital, Washington Hospital Center, VA Medical Center and Nat'l Rehabilitation Hospital. The blue blocks to the south include Bloomingdale.
Washington Hospital Center is the most dense commuter destination not served by transit rail. Another study done shows that WITHOUT additional development at the Armed Forces Retirement Home and McMillan, traffic in Bloomingdale is already severely stressed and will get worse. The developer's response to this concern is to have we taxpayers foot the bill for timed traffic lights up and down First Street, the heart of Bloomingdale.
Let me add that if the city had a role in designing this site, they certainly would never dream of adding only cross street between First and North Capitol. (There would be four if the standard city grid were followed.) Since the developer is a private corporation they are maximizing profits and could care less about the mess they will leave behind.
So, if you like North Capitol Street, you will love the developer's vision for timed traffic lights for First Street. I am very interested in hearing from folks in Bloomingdale that like First Street the way it is, especially those with pets and children.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
City Paper Story - an explication
Following is a posting that appears on the City Paper site. There are many interesting details that betray the developers emphasis on maximizing square footage and falsely suggesting the developer has any control over which types of business will appear after the developer disappears. Comments are numbered and appear in red.
« Capitol Riverfront…Definitely Cleaner!
A Bit More on the McMillan Sand Filtration Site
Posted by Ruth Samuelson on Dec. 17, 2008, at 5:50 pm
An artistic rendering of the amphitheater at the McMillan site.
1) The developer is required to keep some of the towers, so the tower space and that immediately surrounding are counted as open space, despite how useless this space is regarding recreation. Any other city would insist on making running trails or bike trails, or sport fields or gardens. Because the developer is in control, maximizing profits and square footage are the highest priority. That is why there is only one cross street, which will quadruple traffic on Channing, and that is why 'open space' includes the towers, which they are required to preserve anyway.
I wanted to post a few more details about the McMillan site plans presented on Saturday.
(For those that don’t know, the McMillan Sand Filtration site is 25-acre parcel of land at the corner of North Capitol Street and Michigan Avenue, Northwest. A water filtration plant operated there until the late 1980s. Now, a development team is looking to turn the area into a mixed-use community including up to 1,200 units of “mixed-income and multi-generational” housing.) So here are some more elements of the design scheme:
- The land use plan shows several residential buildings with three to four floors up to buildings with five to eight floors.
- There’s plans for a public amphitheater close to the corner of First Street and Michigan Avenue.
- A merchandising plan calls for three types of retail on the northern end of the community by the corner of North Capitol Street and Michigan Avenue: Restaurant/Food & Beverage, Neighborhood Goods and Services, and Grocery.
- The merchandising plan lists some possible restaurants and businesses that the developers would like to conceivably see in the community. Some of those listed under “Restaurant/Food & Beverage”: Ray’s the Steaks, Cactus Cantina, Sala Thai, Busboys and Poets, and Ceviche. The merchandising plan also names Neighborhood Goods & Services: CVS, Griffin Cycle, Logan Hardware, Sports Zone. Additionally, there’s space for a grocery store. I asked Aakash Thakkar, Vice President of Development at EYA, to further explain the meaning of this list, and how it was compiled. Were these businesses that his development team intended to reach out to, or just ideas—or a mix? Here’s what he said: “Some of the restaurants, our team has relationships with.” However, no one is signed up now, and they won’t be approached for quite some time. “[The names] are concepts, ideas, and we will pursue them at the appropriate time.” The first tenant to be signed on would likely be the grocery store, and hopefully that would happen within six to nine months.