Notes about the Capitol Streets
The plan has a short section copying the highlights from the already-written South Capitol and East Capitol (RFK) plans.
- The South Capitol Street plan looks great, but with a couple of awful parking garages up already at the stadium and with Half Street looking like it will be the pedestrian, retail and entertainment spine, South Capitol itself is unlikely to become anything but a car funnel any time soon (though perhaps it can be a prettier one). The plan is great, but we need to do a better job staying true to it. It will be important to use M Street to connect the South Capitol neighborhood and the Southwest waterfront as a seamless urban district.
- The East Capitol (RFK) plan seems more than any other to be a "look good on paper" plan, but not necessarily a realistic one. It is full of cultural facilities, parks and monuments, but has relatively little neighborhood or commercial infill, and a waterfront that remains mostly devoid of development. The plan replaces RFK stadium with a museum or two, and replaces RFK's parking lots with trees, and is pretty much happy to stop there. That's unfortunate, because that part of town has a lot of potential. It can be, and should be, the uptown activity node for the eastern part of the city.
- Where are the bikes? Gas is way up, transit is awesome but expensive to build, and the Mall is a major leisure resource. The Mall and the neighborhoods surrounding it are ripe to accommodate more biking, both as transportation and recreation. It would be nice if this plan noticed, especially considering DC's upcoming bike-sharing network. (This note copypasted to each chapter, since it applies to them all.)
