At Tuesday’s Council briefing on the Braddock Road Metro Small Area Plan, Eileen Fogarty was her usual bubbly self. There was the same yada yada about smart growth, walkable communities, vibrancy, and transitions. The politicians weighed in with the inevitable posturing about affordable housing and making sure the City gets maximum return for granting developers a density bonus.The discussion touched on tax credits for Parker-Gray homeowners, but more talk was reserved for open space, green building, and WMATA's interest in developing at the Braddock Road Metro Station.
There were signs of successful neighborhood pushback. Ms. Fogarty admitted that parking is a major concern in Parker-Gray and says her team has conducted a comprehensive study taking all new and future development into account. (It remains to be seen if her solution to parking stays on target or is just a cover for controversial traffic moves like lifting the rush hour restrictions on N. Fayette Street.)
But after seven years, there seemed to be a shortage of true enthusiasm among City officials about the plan. Instead, the briefing was oddly subdued. The Growler wonders if Council are having some concerns about the direction of the plan. Mayor William D. Euille brought up office development, a possible land use that has had little discussion in recent public meetings. Andrew Macdonald and Rob Krupicka ruminated about the loss of historic warehouses and light industrial space.
To which the Growler responds: it's a little late for the pols to start lamenting that they have turned Alexandria into a bedroom suburb monoculture overreliant on residential property taxes.
There was also reticence about retail, and the Growler suspects Council may be wondering how successful the much-ballyhooed "mixed use" mantra will work at Braddock Road Metro when there are already vacant store fronts on King Street.
But the real skeleton at the feast seemed to be ARHA and the role of public housing.
Mayor Euille solemnly declared that "they [ARHA] need to be at the table" and must start talking to their residents soon. "Everyone knows it's coming." Which implies that ARHA hasn't really been at the table all along and has been mum with its residents.
ARHA representatives have attended meetings about the plan. P&Z staff have spoken with ARHA about redeveloping their properties along the lines of Chatham Square. Deputy City Manager Mark Jinks says ARHA knows that HUD is not going to pony up new funds to rehab old units.
But Ms. Fogarty admitted that redevelopment of public housing is unlikely in the next five years as other projects at Braddock Road come online. And if redevelopment comes, it will transform the older Samuel Madden Homes Uptown first -- not the newer but more troubled Andrew Adkins project.
So the Growler suspects that the prospect of having to push ARHA uphill into the future accounts for the sombre meeting.
ARHA is Banquo at Macbeth’s table, the guest that has lingered too long. But it's seated front and center and the City hasn't figured out how to eject it ... yet.
12 comments:
Those who live west of US Route 1 are always the first to be screwed. By the city and more recently the civic association. Contain the crime. Redevelop the Madden projects first. What's next? More ICCA boundary changes? The return of tables and drug dealers to the Helen Miller Park? The time has come to give new meaning to the welfare phrase.
Growler - I don't get it...your so against new developments around Braddock Metro, why? What is your dream scenario how to develope (or not develope) the area? You seem to resent "newbies" (I think that's what you call them) who move here and would like to see some improvements. I've lived here for 5 years and didn't and still don't have any illusions about the area being transformed, but I wouldn't mind seeing more new development around the Metro. Not trying to be flippant, but if you want open spaces without a lot of people aren't the suburbs more suitable for that? AAAARRR!!!!
The Growler's dream scenario is to build more single family homes to retain the character of the neighborhood, with a few condos clustered near Metro and a sprinkling of useful retail (like a grocery store). Given the price of land, however, this isn't likely.
The Growler is not against development but is concerned about the City's dizzy enthusiasm for shoehorning very dense development in an area with limits on its infrastructure. (Like Route 1, which cannot be made any wider without exercising eminent domain and destroying historic homes.) Traffic, parking and quality of life may be badly affected if we gain hundreds or thousands of new residents in a small area.
I would like to learn more about the lack of federal and state historic preservation tax credits for the Parker-Gray Historic District. This is simply wrong. Is anyone, in addition to Sarah Becker, currently working to correct this?
That's a good question to ask the Mayor tomorrow on the neighborhood walk. So far, he and City Attorney Ignacio Pessoa have punted twice at Council public hearings asked about why we don't get the tax credits.
The first time, the Mayor abruptly shut down the discussion, referred the matter to the City Attorney and promised to get back -- even though several City Councilmen urged an answer, saying "Yeah, why don't they get the tax credit?"
The next time, a month later, the Mayor apologized and Mr. Pessoa stated that "they had to consult special tax counsel." Once again they promised to get back to citizens.
Duh! This isn't a complex tax issue and you don't need any highly-paid tax consultant. The answers can quickly be obtained from the Department of Historic Resources.
Either there is a lack of sincerity about going after the tax credits or the Mayor is worried about a discrimination suit and the City's liability, since it appears the sole reason the City sat on the tax credits for years was the fact that Parker-Gray in 1990 was mostly black, whereas the other neighborhoods were mostly white.
Grrrrrr!!!!!!
Growler, I agree with your comments here. (I frequently don't agree with your comments about the ICCA.) Your points are highly constructive, and they're right.
A lot of readers are waiting with breathless anticipation for an update on the Inner City Community Walk this past Saturday. Many of us who witnessed the "walkers" certainly might have found it a little amusing seeing families guiding their baby strollers and children into North Parker Gray.
Its nice to walk around on a sunny day at 11 AM and pull together the neighborhood for "crime". It just would have had more meaning to walk around at 11 PM perhaps, when the Queen/Fayette corner becomes a madhouse or when North Parker Gray turns into an all night festival of drinking, noisemaking, and drug use.
I am not sure what in the plan does not fit into the vision you have outlined. Most of the denser development is planned for near the Metro and is not designed to go anywhere south of Pendleton. The area north of Pendleton is mostly warehouses and public housing, almost all rundown and crime ridden. I agree on the retail; how anyone thinks retail can flourish on Queen Street or in North Parker Gray is beyond me; there is too high a concentration of poverty in Uptwon for retail support. Even the Harris Teeter is questionable, not because its not needed but because its going to become a magnet for bums and hoodlums tht frequent Uptown. How they keep them away should be an interesting saga.
As for single-family homes, what "family" would want to live anyone near the Uptown housing projects? On parking, all the parking for these new buildings is scheduled to be below ground, like the Monarch and the Madison.
As for the reference of ARHA as Banquo, I think you give them way too much credit. The reason the City can't or won't eject ARHA is because they have regulated them, through Resolution 826, directly into the conversation. Everyone knows that the projects need to be redeveloped and the concentration of poverty broken up, but since the City regulates 1-1 matching of public housing, what does ARHA care if its properties fall apart? They know that developers have to rebuild every unit no matter what.
To call ARHA "brave and noble" and to think they have any "ambitious thoughts" is an extreme stretch.
Growler,
If you don't mind, let me repeat some of your well-put remarks back in 2005, with the caveat that all shades of people, of all types of education and income, live in all parts of Parker-Gray (and participated in the walk):
"With the new generation, the arrogance and entitlement is right there in your face. “By God,” they seem to say, “I’ve spent $500,000 [$600,000, $700,000] on my house so now it’s time the City clear those projects out so they can be razed for more luxury condos and townhouses." We all know what the code means. As though black residents aren't long-time Alexandrians and entitled to live here too.
You just have to wonder about someone who buys an expensive home in the Braddock Lofts, and then expects the City to start evicting the less affluent residents out as soon as the moving trucks pull away from the curb. What did these owners think they were buying anyway? Didn't they look across the street during the walkthrough and understand they weren't moving to Bethesda? Or do they really want a Disneyworld urban experience -- you know, lattes and faux-Federal homes with nary a person of color in sight?
How quickly the issue of public housing has become a matter of ridding the neighborhood of crime, harrassment and increasing the quality of life - for some people, anyway. At least with the current ICCA officers... former president Amy Harris-White tried to work with the residents and their children. But that was a kinder, gentler time.
What?? Does this person really need an answer to her/his question, posted on Mon,11:52:42?
"As for single-family homes, what "family" would want to live anyone [sic] near the Uptown housing projects?"
For starters,Mayor Euille grew up IN the projects. With his family.
And now he lives nowhere near them, like many other citizens... And I don't ever recall him ever talking about moving anywhere near where they are now...
But for finishers, he also has stated (publicly) that it would be his wish to renovate them and rebuild them as mixed income single-family or town homes.
Who prevents that? ARHA
I am not aware of any resident trying to recommend that the projects be torn down and replaced with luxury condos, with all the residents removed. I would love to know where that came from. Your post shows an obvious reverse racial bias. Black residents in PArker Gray are nearly universally greeted by white residents in a positive way; black business development is not discouraged, all the white residents I see go out of their way to be neighborly, and vice versa. This happens regardless of income, race, educationb ,etc..
What nearly all residents of the northern part of Parker Gray are unaninous about are three things:
1. The high concentration of poverty is attracting a criminal element. Its indisputable. Why some on this blog argue about this is laughable. Come up to Montgomery or Wythe sometime at 11 PM. Come "walk" around.
2. For all the talk about longtime residents, the area just looks run down and horrible. This has nothing to do with race. We see trash all over the street on "Parker Gray Way" and both blacks and whites are upset about this, as it creates a negative impression.
3. Development doesn't have to be of any type; it just has to be. Whether its mixed use, higher density, or more single family homes is not an issue. ARHA sucks as a landlord, and they are non-responsive to citizen concerns. It doesnt matter that they are a state run agency; are we all just supposed to shut up because they are funded by the state?
Furthermore, what residents can't figure out are four things:
1. Why is it, that while every other community with public housing embraces the redevelopment of these projects into mixed income areas, ARHA embraces this concept of "public housing protection" that seems to argue that the only way to protect housing for the poor is to keep them all concentrated in one place in run down buildings.
2. Why is it that every time someone attacks public housing, the defenders cry out about the residents, when what is really being attacked is the landlord?
3. Why is it that so many commenters here "skirt" or "duck" the obvious parallels; high concentration of poverty in one area = high crime. Its as if anytime you mention that the public housing projects have severe problems, you are called a racist, attacked as insensitive, or told to shut up and put up with the daily problems and social dysfunction, because they were here first or thats just the way things are.
4. Why do people keep acting like all of Parker Gray is one and the same? The north part is much different in appearance and problems than the south.
Maybe the Growler needs to come up here, and take a walk around at night, to understand the differences. Come by at 11 PM. Or better yet, come up here and then walk back to Queen and Fayette at night.
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