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Reno Park Update 091212A: Finding Activity

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Okay, so I mentioned in the last post that neighborhoods, as conventionally defined, are not necessarily the best ways of measuring human activity, and so is the difficult concept of community. However I attempt to define such a thing, it’s going to be imprecise, subjective, and doubtful. But most people can recognize  community when they see it. Likewise, when you look a good space, you can tell because of the people there.

Last year, when I was but beginning my job as an apparatchik of the цarьchitect, I quoted Freddy N. in On The Geneology of Morals:

Only owing to the seduction of language (and the fundamental errors of reason petrified within it) which conceives all effects as conditioned by something that causes effects, by a “subject,” can it appear otherwise. For just as the popular mind separates the lighting from its flash and takes the latter for an action, for the operation of a subject called lightning, so popular morality also separates strength from expressions of strength, as if there were an neutral substratum behind the strong man, which was free to express strength or not to do so. But there is no such substratum, there is no being behind doing, effecting, becoming; “the doer” is merely the fiction added to the deed – the deed is everything.

Now, replace “strength” with “community.” Community is, in essence, an act. It is not merely your sheer propinquity to another human meatbag, nor crude ethnic similarities, it is the action to do like others, to help the person nearby, to talk to them, to smile at the man on the street when he says hello. Community, is an cooperative action between people, in the conscious and subconscious, of coming together and working for each other’s values. Why one might associate with one another, and care for them is a wholly different question. But it is relatively easy to see evidence of community, just as it is possible to see evidence of social activity.

Continue reading ➞ Reno Park Update 091212A: Finding Activity

Small Town Politics: Just Safeway

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Gate way

I apologize for the delay, but here’s the Safeway portion of the ANC meeting. However, this should get everyone excited for December’s meeting, no?

Safeway sent Avis Black, the Regional Real Estate Manager for DC, as a representative instead of their pricklier spokesman. She reiterated Safeway’s position as wanting to work with the community and then stood for questions.  And I mean stood there – she faced the audience for at least an hour of tempered but stern questioning. And for all the criticism, everyone was polite and cooperative. In fact, most of the other people who spoke brought up, again and again, that they wanted changes to the plan, not no growth at all. Actually, many present were conducive to a project that would build an as-of-right building above a store that was still larger than the existing one, but not so gargantuan as the proposed.

First to stand was Adam Rubinson, the de facto leader of the critics. He likewise reiterated his requests for Safeway to make substantial changes to the design of the new store. He listed off the general complaints everyone involved has heard so far, as well as some new ones. I’ll repeat them here for people who weren’t there.

Continue reading ➞ Small Town Politics: Just Safeway

Fojol and 99 designs

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I’m a bit overwhelmed with various jaints at the moment, but take a look at these prospective designs for the Fojol Bros. logo, made in a sort of capitalist fantasy called 99 Designs.

I’ve gotta say, though, the one I like the most is the one below. It’s so simple, yet so jaunty. I’m a fan of understatement (especially litotes), so even though this design doesn’t suit the Bros. too well, it deserves recognition.


Small-Town Politics: Everything but Safeway

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The Current covered the November 5th ANC 3E meeting, but it’s worth discussing it in a format that’s indexed by Google – and one that doesn’t use two inflammatory headlines for one ANC meeting. Hyperbole is something that can only be applied to Zoning Commission cage fights. Speaking of which, the obvious topic of the night was the Tenleytown Safeway, but like any good spectacle, that discussion came only after a long development. Actually, the debate over Safeway’s PUD was so long that I’m going to put it up as another post tomorrow.

After the crime report and some perfunctory zoning adjustments, a manager at Maggiano’s in Friendship Heights discussed their mandatory re-application for valet parking. The loss of parking is one of DC’s bugaboos, but he assuaged the concerns with cold, hard facts about where they park. Friendship Heights’ traffic is particularly bad and people from nearby neighborhoods complain about visitors parking in along the narrow streets to the east. So it was a huge surprise to learn that the garage under that block is largely empty most of the time. That suggests that most people will take the stress of driving around Jenifer Street over paying to store their cars, have parked in one of the other garages, or that a good number of the shoppers crowding the streets have arrived on transit. It definitely requires further study. The application was approved, and they moved on to the Reno School.

Jane Maroney, the newly elected Deal PTA chair spoke on behalf of the school in regard to the future of the Jesse Reno School. She explained Deal’s intents for the building in general: that it will be used as a performing arts facility and school nursery that could double as public meeting location. Apparently the two major goals are to keep the main building secure at night and reserve the dulcet tones of the band for infants who will only remember the experience subconsciously.

The blocked archway became a source of contention.
The Reno School. The blocked archway above was a source of contention.

The Jesse Reno building is unquestionably a historic structure, so the debate came down to whether to landmark it now and then renovate, or to renovate and then landmark it. Either way, renovations have to undergo Historic Preservation review because the structure was built in 1903. Deal received money from the city to renovate it, but hasn’t yet hired an architect. Board Member Waldmann of the Tenleytown Historical Society explained a little about its history as a segregated school and the lone survivor of the town of Reno, but her justification for why landmarking was so essential with everyone on board could only be justified with shadows of reckless demolitions during Barry years, so eventually the board voted 3-2 against the nomination. Oddly, the Bender-Frumin-Serebin and Eldredge-Sklover split is the same way they voted on the Janney application.

So, that was the lesser part of the meeting. The rest comes tomorrow.

A temporary future for Friendship Heights

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I’ve got some more details about the new commercial building behind Mazza Gallerie. The National Realty Development Corp. want to have at least one of the five stores open in the 40,000 SF building sometime around 2011, according to the small-town rumor department. Although the FAR is hovering around 1 here, having something to activate the area will bring other business in and encourage other developers to add “units.” All along the course of the Broadway IRT in the early 1900s, speculators threw up one and two story placeholder buildings until the market warranted residential construction. Some lasted two years, a handful are still there. This Friendship Heights Plaza is in the same vein.

home-plate-site-friendship-heights
Site Plan. All images from NRDC

According to the tearsheets, it will have all of its storefronts on Western Avenue, with a tiny amount of parking in the rear. Having the shopping street on Western Avenue will add a lot of vitality to what is a pretty suburban condition now. An empty field and parking lot, part of the GEICO complex, faces the site across Western. The other buildings adjacent to it are two big-box department stores, and there’s a bus garage around the rear.

NRD is apparently aiming for a really high-end market. That’s no surprise, since Friendship Heights has remade itself as an upscale shopping district in recent years. Their research data highlights the affluence, homeownership, high ratio of females to males in adjacent neighborhoods.

Both views show Western Ave.

If the Tenleytown Safeway was modern traditional, then this is traditional modern. In terms of massing, it has asymmetric stone-clad corners with glass and steel in between.  I have to say it’s attractive and comes replete with shadow joints and exposed steel – sculptural I-beams like you’d never believe. Finally, it’s got the usual pro-urban ornaments like fountains and brick sidewalks, which should make it pleasant to walk by.

Like the T-Town Safeway, this isn’t ideal, but it’s still a positive change for the neighborhood.

A lack of trust in Tenleytown

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A week ago, some Tenleytown residents, received letters from Safeway or a Safeway representative.  The letters discussed the project to rebuild the Safeway at Davenport and 42nd Street, asking residents to sign reply cards in support of the project. Safeway hasn’t exactly explained what they intended to do with the card, but the general sense is that Safeway and Venator simply wish to hedge their bets against vocal opposition. A stack of paper and a polished graphic of neighborhood support could prove the existence of a silent majority favoring the project, with some NIMBYs with too much free time getting in the way.

Courtesy Safeway
Courtesy Safeway

Now, that strategy alone would be a cautious and defensive practice for a company. Considering that the Cleveland Park Giant has been under review for nearly half my life, I can sympathize with their fears of endless fighting. However, according to posts on the Tenleytown Listserv and offline as well, it has come out that Safeway excluded the people who live nearby from the mailing. The people who live on the block, and who would be most affected by any changes got no voice in that survey. Considering that there was no way to say “No” on the card, again, the only reasons why Safeway wouldn’t send it out to the residents that are known critics are that the answer is a forgone conclusion, or that they did not want to incite opponents further. The Northwest Current quotes spokesman for the company, Craig Muckle, as saying the omission was an “oversight.”

To be completely honest, I’m pretty split over whether this action was reasonable but defensive or an example of disrespectful cunning. At meetings of ANC 3E, which represents residents on the western side of Tenleytown and all of Friendship Heights, vocal transit-oriented denialists can bring to bear a disproportionate influence on decisions. However, critics of the project include people who want more building or just a shorter one – the opposition is not necessarily opposed to the current project. Some residents worry about the effect of large, blank walls abutting their townhouses. In fact, when presented with their  concerns, the Zoning Commission told Safeway modify the building in response to resident concerns over shadows and massing.

While no wrongdoing has occurred in a legal sense, Safeway may have breached the public trust in going around the public Zoning Commission hearings. Safeway has touted the successful integration of their stores into neighborhoods and their outreach to neighbors. So far, they had done an exemplary job, proposing a fine urban structure, submitting to the public process for a planned-unit development, and presenting a good amount of information to the public. Safeway could have built a multistory building as-of-right with no discussion.

Jon Bender, the ANC3E chair, is trying to broker a deal, and he’s suggesting progress in the right direction. He has mentioned a compromise of a multistory structure on 42nd Street, stepping down into townhouses nearby. That would be an ideal resolution: to not only ameliorate the impact on the community, but also to make it better for the greater city and environment by adding some reasonable density. Whether Bender’s plan has any more support than the current one will come out at the ANC meeting tonight. Hopefully, with that discussion, Safeway and the residents can continue to work together to find a reasonable compromise for Tenleytown’s future.

ANC 3E will discuss the Safeway at their meeting tonight, 7:30 pm at St. Mary’s Church, 42nd and Fessenden Streets.

Cross-posted at GreaterGreaterWashington.

North of Tilden: Corporate Shenanigans

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Upper Northwest has been all abuzz with some recent news, but I’ve been too busy to report on it. Apologies in advance for slamming all these things together, but it’s all worthwhile.

Ward 3: DC’s plans to bring modern streetcars were on display at Stoddert ES yestday. The most frequent question to asked regarding LRT in Ward 3  was “Why are there no plans for streetcars in Ward 3?” The planners were all pretty helpful, and the event seemed to go well.  There was a lot of interest in getting streetcars up MacArthur Boulevard and Connecticut Avenue, but nothing real. The most telling discussion I had was from a consultant on the project, who explained the lack of routes from an economic development perspective. He pointed out that the ability of the lines to spur economic development guided their location; Northwest, he said, is as developed as it can be. Such an assertion is absurd on its face, a condition upheld only because of the disproportionate effect of neighbors on sensible zoning.

Friendship Heights: National Realty and Development continues on with their project to fill in the home-plate lot behind Mazza Gallerie. More on that in another post.

Tenleytown: Last week, some Tenleytown residents began receiving postcards from someone representing Safeway. Apparently, the cards ask homeowners to sign the card in support of Safeway’s plans. The details are fuzzy and Safeway is equivocating in its responses. I get that the Tenleytown crowd can be a little hysterical at times, but this strategy is sneaky at best and otherwise disrespectful of the community. No pictures of the cards yet, but if you get one, I’d really appreciate a forwarded scan.

specs
The Reno Stage is roughly where that first house is. Courtesy TD Banknorth and the DC Historical Society

Also, the TD BankNorth BankBuilding will be having an OpeningParty on November 14. They are so enthusiastic about talking to the community that they sent me a PressRelease. Maybe they really want to have a sincere talk about their love for trees – so ask them about that. Only Tenleytown residents laughed there. Meanwhile, they’ve installed a floor-to-ceiling blow-up of a historical picture from the brick water tower (at right). It dates to 1935, so it shows buildings in Fort Reno Park, and – gasp – the Negroes who occupied them. That should make for a great conversation piece. “Say, Madison, where are those houses now? The Chevy Chase Land Company had the city clear them in the 1930s? Oh, you don’t say…”

ANC 3E: The agenda for the November ANC 3E meeting at 7PM on Thursday the 5th reflects the above issues. In addition to a discussion of the Safeway expansion project, the Tenleytown Historical Society will be talking about plans to landmark the Jesse Reno School, which is one of the few surviving structures of Reno City and a unique artifact (see above picture).

There is still much, much more 

Continue reading ➞ North of Tilden: Corporate Shenanigans

McMillan Two gets some feedback

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Last week, I published the McMillan Two concept, after hearing about it on the Kojo Nnamdi show and interviewing the designer, Nir Buras. I’ve been pretty excited by the dialogue – the post of GGW received 88 comments and several thousand views. Others have jumped in.

First was the excellent constructive criticism by Alex Block. But he outdid himself with another article arguing for an ecologically balanced solution, which built on a post by…

…Mammoth, who delivered a strident critique of the more Eurocentric and anti-wetland flaws in the proposal. I commented on the article, and the exchanges between me, J.D. Hammond, and Rob Holmes are all good dialogue. The example of the Port Lands project in Toronto is worth examining in depth.

Straßgefühl, the only other blog whose name rivals mine, offers a counter-proposal based on the Sumidagawa river in Tokyo. The post opens up a new direction of thought, but it’s marred by insisting that Buras would be building a pseudo-historical development,  since the proposal has no pretensions of history.

Obviously there was the news coverage too. BDC offered his thoughts, Ryan Avent jumped in with a skeptical but enthusiastic reception, JDLand noted that the plan exists, and DCist had its usual commentary.

If you’re still thirsty for information, you can look at the earlier reactions: City Block’s initial thoughts and then a look at precedents.  Straßgefühl kinda-sorta liked it before; and Spencer Lepler was generally ok as well.

But it is great to see this kind of dialogue happening. The issues of nature, tradition, environment, autonomy, and culture have a lot of intersections not yet explored. The only thing everyone agreed on: tear down the highways. Interesting, no?

Bonus: Here’s an in depth article about Buras from Las Vegas Weekly. Read it!