Tomorrow, Saturday, is car-free day around the world and in the DC region. Most jurisdictions in the region have official events of some sort, including DC, the inner suburbs, and even some of the outer suburbs like Loudoun and Frederick.
But why do it on a Saturday?
Car-free day is a world-wide event, so DC-organizers didn’t pick the day. It happens every year, and it’s always on September 22. So 2 out every 7 years, it happens to fall on a weekend instead of a weekday.
In any given year when it falls on a weekend, it might seem like the event isn’t getting the traction that it could, if it were held on a commuting day. But taking the long view, 2 weekend events mixed in for every 5 weekday events gives participants the chance to think about car-free (or car-light) living in a variety of circumstances, instead of just commuting. That’s a good thing.
So there you go.
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I’ll be on vacation from August 19-26, in upstate New York. Although I’m not actually spending my vacation in Albany, odds are I’ll be there at least one day. Any suggestions for what to see? My previous experience there consists of a layover and transfer at the Rensselaer Amtrak station.
There won’t be any blog posts here on BeyondDC while I’m gone. I will tweet periodically though.
New York’s Summer Streets program could be a model for a July 4th celebration in DC.
The National Mall is a great place to watch DC’s July 4th fireworks celebration. But it’s also such a tremendous hassle that many Washingtonians prefer to watch from more local neighborhood vantage points. A street festival on 13th, NW would instantly become the prime non-Mall celebration.
Every year thousands of Washingtonians watch the fireworks from somewhere along the Meridian Hill escarpment. Cardozo High School’s football stadium is a popular choice, as is Meridian Hill Park. But the best vantage points are from the roadways of north-south streets, where they slope up the escarpment between Florida Avenue and Euclid Street. Unfortunately for fireworks watchers, an active street is not a safe place to put down a blanket.
But surely every single north-south street is not needed for transportation purposes on the 4th. 16th Street is probably too important as a traffic artery, but what about 13th? If the city were to close it to cars for a day, it would provide a fantastic viewing spot, right in the heart of the residential city. 14th Street could also work, but the views from 13th are significantly better.
Closing 13th Street would also provide another benefit: it could easily accommodate a street festival.
Instead of spending the 4th camping out for a good spot on the National Mall, imagine spending it strolling up and down a car-free 13th Street, lined with food, shopping, and art vendors south of Florida Avenue. Then just before dark, imagine hiking north of Florida Avenue to watch the fireworks from the sloping hill.
For years many DC residents have lamented that we have nothing like New York’s Summer Streets program, which closes Park Avenue to cars on 3 Saturdays each summer, resulting in a 7-miles-long walking and biking street fair. New York’s program has been hugely popular, and a DC version surely would be as well.
Why not kill two birds with one stone? Close 13th Street between Logan Circle and Euclid Street, providing DC residents with both a mile-long summer cyclovia, and an awesome new place for thousands to watch the fireworks, hassle-and-impediment-free.
Update: According to Pedro Ribeiro, Director of Communications for the DC Mayor’s Office, the city did in fact close 13th Street this year, between Euclid Street and Florida Avenue, beginning at 8:00 pm. That’s a great first step! Now let’s extend the closure down to Logan Circle, and make it all day.
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Although the final recommendations have yet to be made, some of the information from VDOT’s I-66 Multimodal Study is beginning to become publicly available.
The study is considering whether or not I-66 inside the Beltway should be widened. It’s also looking at the possibility of tolling, and of adding bus lanes to Route 50 and increasing bus service in that corridor as an alternative to driving on I-66.
They held a public meeting last night in Arlington, and will have another one tonight in Falls Church. The meeting materials are available online, including analysis of the various options.
Tonight’s meeting is from 6:30 to 8:30 pm at Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School, 7130 Leesburg Pike. It’s accessible via West Falls Church Metro. You can also email comments to VDOT at info@i66multimodalstudy.com.
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Hurricane Irene is expected to be a big deal. The New York subway is already planning to suspend service on Saturday. The hurricane isn’t expected to be as bad in DC as in NY, so WMATA’s plans are correspondingly less severe.
So far WMATA says they are not planning any suspensions of service. However, *if* things become worse than expected, Metro’s contingency plan will be to operate under its blizzard plan and suspend above-ground service. In the event that happens, the service map will look like this:
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Have you ever looked at a storefront that’s been empty a long time and wondered why it couldn’t be filled, at least temporarily, by a small local business?
After all, nobody benefits when a storefront sits empty too long. The property owner isn’t making any money, potential businesspeople aren’t operating their business, and neighborhood residents have fewer shopping options and have to travel farther for them.
Unfortunately, it’s common practice for property owners to charge such high rents that it can take a long time to find a tenant. Months, even years sometimes. This is especially true for new buildings, and for buildings developed by large-scale corporations (which can eat the losses from an empty lease if they need to).
Amidst all those empty storefronts, however, are hundreds of smalllocalbusinesses that would love to occupy a retail space, but can’t afford the asking prices for a lease in a good location.
Why not let small businesses use some of these spaces on a short-term basis at reduced rent, while deals with longer-term, higher-paying tenants are being sought and worked out?
Actually, there’s no real reason why not. That’s exactly the premise behind the Mount Pleasant Temporium, a pop-up retail store selling goods from 30-some local businesses that don’t have stores of their own.
The Temporium is a project by the DC Temporary Urbanism Initiative, which seeks to promote economic development, incubate local businesses, and activate underused commercial properties. It’s an absolutely fabulous idea that benefits just about everyone, and should be emulated across the city.
The Temporium is at 3068 Mt. Pleasant Street and is open 2-7pm M-F and 11-5 weekends, until March 13.
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The ICC isn’t exactly my neck of the woods these days, but I do want to try it out. The state won’t start charging tolls until March 6, so watch for a few pictures sometime before then.
In the mean time, happy motoring everyone! If you pretend it’s still the 1950s you won’t have to think about any of the ICC’s negative effects.
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In my mind, rallies in Washington fall in to one of four categories when it comes to how they affect life in the city: 1) Rallies nobody notices; 2) rallies which draw enough people to notice, but not to dramatically affect the city; 3) rallies which cause the city to be noticeably more crowded than usual; 4) the Obama inauguration.
Jon Stewart’s rally on Saturday was a clear 3. Regardless of your personal politics it affected life in the city considerably, much more so than the recent One Nation or Glenn Beck rallies, which I would characterize as levels 1 and 2, respectively.
Getting around town Saturday was an adventure. Metrorail broke its all time Saturday ridership record, which had stood for 19 years. Half of downtown streets were closed. Bikes were generally a good way to move, although I didn’t bother trying bikeshare. Buses were surprisingly reasonable as well, provided you could find your bus amidst all the closed streets. Restaurant lines were long. I’m sure the museums were crowded.
It was no inauguration, but it was certainly an experience.
