Class Clash

The Growler has been perusing the draft of the Braddock Road Metro Small Area Plan, which was just released last Friday. There's some interesting demographic nuggets tucked away in the report and it makes the City's treatment of this neighborhood more puzzling than ever.

"In 1999, for the first time, the median household income in Census Tract 16 exceeded the median income for the City" (Draft Plan, p. 28).

"According to 2005 estimates based on the 2000 Census ... median household income is $85,043" (Draft Plan, p. 42).

"When compared to the City, there are an especially large number of households in the planning area with incomes over $100,000" (Draft Plan, p. 28).

"Not only are the area's incomes rising, but they are rising faster than the rate of inflation. When adjusted for inflation, the median household income for Census Tract 16 rose by $16,441 during the 1990s as compared to the citywide median household income that rose only marginally by $334" (Draft Plan, p. 28).

"The average value of a single family home in the Braddock area rose from $196,859 in 2000 to $466,287 in 2005. As a result, single family houses in the area were 2.4 times as expensive as they had been five years earlier. Condominium values rose 2.7 times" (Draft Plan, p. 27).

"Since 1997, assessed property values have increased by 102% in the City as a whole; within the Braddock Road study area, property values have increased by 107%" (Draft Plan, p. 74).

This appears to be the picture of a neighborhood on its way up, in fact doing better in some respects than the rest of Alexandria. So why does the City continue to treat the neighborhood as though it were still frozen in the 1970s, when a third of the residents lived in poverty?

The Adkins Diet

The Growler has just seen the future of public housing in our neighborhood, and it looks like ... more public housing!

Tonight the ole Curmudgeon ambled down to the Ladrey Highrise for the monthly ARHA Board meeting, and thus was present when developer EYA laid out what should have been a very exciting proposal for the redevelopment of Glebe Park.

If you remember, Glebe Park is the crumbling ARHA property on Glebe Road with 65 shuttered units, a mold problem beyond remediation, a $6 million mortgage, and an annual operating loss of $500,000, with nary a penny forthcoming from HUD to fix this mess.

Earlier this year, ARHA invited bids for the redevelopment of Glebe Park and as a sweetener offered any other ARHA properties that might take a developer's fancy.

EYA, which built Chatham Square as well as the Braddock Lofts and other major projects in Alexandria, responded with a bold proposal. Let us redevelop Glebe Park, they said, but throw in Andrew Adkins as well as James Bland and James Bland Addition. All three will be redeveloped by EYA as mixed public housing-market unit projects like Chatham Square while meeting the City's mandate that public housing units can be replaced but not reduced.

Right about now, the Growler would be swooning with rapture at the prospect of EYA redeveloping Andrew Adkins and other nearby ARHA sites.

But then the numbers were laid out, and the Cranky One got even crankier.

EYA proposes replacing 90 public housing units at Andrew Adkins with 153 public housing units and 45 market units (all of which would face Braddock Lofts). EYA officials told the Growler that the Adkins units would be one or two-bedroom units, not three and four-bedroom units, which is the current configuration. But this means an absolute increase in the number of low income households shoehorned into Adkins -- some 58% more households in public housing units on the same land.

This proposal also seems out of synch with the Braddock Road Small Area Plan and whatever economic development that the City wants to achieve at the Metro station. We all know that the major reason Braddock Road never took off commercially was the menacing presence of poorly designed and policed public housing. What chance does it have with even more low-income residents thrown into the mix?

By contrast, the neighbors of the James Bland projects will walk away the big winners if EYA's proposal is accepted by ARHA. James Bland and James Bland Addition currently have 194 public housing units, but under EYA's proposal this concentration will be diluted to 65 public housing units, 186 market units and 20 affordable housing units.

Why does Bland get this favorable treatment?

EYA's proposal is still a paper plan and subject to change as negotiations begin with ARHA and the City. The Growler can only hope that EYA and the politicians rethink the mix at Braddock Road Metro, which EYA officials themselves described as the "premier site" of the three locations for redevelopment.

Crime Puff

Parker-Gray has finally found a champion in the form of Councilman Rob Krupicka, who pressed Alexandria’s new police chief hard about crime here at a recent public meeting.

And what Mr. Krupicka drew out of the top cop should be alarming to everyone in the neighborhood.

Then-acting Police Chief Dave Baker briefed the Mayor and Council about crime trends at a Council hearing on September 12, just days before his permanent appointment.

The Chief painted a glowing picture of Alexandria, where he said Part I crime is down 5.2% to date. He testified that aggravated assault went down 5.6% last year, auto theft has dropped 22%, and larceny is down 4%. But then he admitted that burglaries were up 6% and robberies up 5.3% last year, with an additional 4.4% increase this year. Plus there were four homicides this year compared to one homicide at the same time last year.

Ooops.

But Councilman Krupicka would not let the Chief off easily, and proceeded to grill him about our neighborhood. Here's the Chief's words about Parker-Gray:

We still have issues of drugs, we still have issues of juveniles. In some categories of crimes no, we’re not overrepresented. But it is an area of the city that we need to pay constant attention to and devote resources to fairly regularly, and if we do it consistently, almost on a full time basis we have the capacity to make an impact up there. That’s what we’re doing right now… I think it’s up to us to figure out how we can come up with a permanent enforcement strategy [in the inner city].

But wait a mo. Doesn't Parker-Gray have two community police officers assigned to the district? Isn't that supposed to be the permanent solution? Is the Chief admitting that this isn't working?

The Chief repeatedly described a month-old enforcement effort on the north side as "data driven," meaning driven by "calls for service." In essence he was saying the cops take their cues entirely from phone calls. If you don’t call, too bad. You didn’t create data. It's an approach that can only be described as wonky.

Chief Baker went on to discuss his philosophy of community policing:

I’m the liaison for example to the Potomac West Business Association (you know this Rob) and work closely at times with Del Ray Civic. My job is to look at those crime reports every day, and when I see things like you’re talking about, my job is to contact the president of that association and talk with them and fill them in on the details.

That's worrisome. Most experts would say that community policing is bottoms up, with cops interacting regularly, one-on-one with residents to glean valuable intel for fighting crime. The Chief’s vision is apparently top-down.

This exchange was all the more fascinating because other neighborhoods are starting to realize that so-called community policing in Alexandria has become a joke.

Just days ago, the Growler heard that residents of Chatham Square and Bulfinch Square are sick of the hookers and drug dealers haunting Euille Street (oh the indignity!) and have demanded a meeting with the Mayor.

In fact, citizens are routinely bypassing the police entirely and going straight to the Mayor and Council about crime. The Growler knows that Councilman Krupicka has gotten an earful from some worried residents and is pleased to see that he is taking this neighborhood under his wing.

You can listen to the Council’s interaction with Chief Baker on video at the City's Web site. Make sure you select Docket Item #25.

The testimony is best savored while watching the crack dealers mob both sides of Queen Street or the ho's strut around the Travelodge. Make sure you call ahead, though, 'cause poor Chief Baker is apparently clueless that they're there.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!

Try 1-800-MATTRESS

Speaking of picnic tables, last night at around 6:30 pm the Growler was trudging through the Buchanan Street Park to get to a meeting at Durant Center and passed a picnic table. It had been pulled away from the children's play area and positioned underneath a thicket of trees in a very dark area. On top of it was sprawled a young man, sans shoes, sans socks, with his T-shirt pulled up to his armpits. He appeared to be sleeping, drunk or both.

And this was in a playground immediately behind a City recreation center and an elementary school.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What Do Moms (and Dads) Want?

The Growler recently had an intriguing discussion with two of the smart, articulate and funny moms who live around here, and the Curmudgeonly One got a surprising earful about the shortcomings of some of the recreational facilities here.

Since the Growler is without cubs and since it always looked like young parents abandon Parker-Gray with depressing regularity, it didn't occur that there are moms and dads who would like to stay in Parker-Gray but are challenged by the lack of resources and perhaps the environment as well.

So let's hear it. What does it takes to raise children in an urban environment like Parker-Gray? What do you like, what do you hate, what do you think is needed to make this a better neighborhood for wee ones?

The Park and The Perfect Storm

The Growler has clapped the ole telescope to the ursine eye and scanned the horizons of the future in our neighborhood. And the view from here could not be more disturbing.

Here's the elements that could make up the future perfect storm, centered on Hunter-Miller Park — the eye of the tempest.

1. In April 2006 picnic tables are removed from Hunter-Miller Park, because according to police they are a magnet for crackheads, drug dealers and the homeless.

2. In August 2006, the owner of the Queen Payne Market at the corner of the same block is granted an ABC license for beer and wine. No single sales, but you can buy a chilled six-pack.

3. In September 2006, the owner of the Queen Payne Market applies to the City to offer carry out from 8 AM to 10 PM every evening, seven days a week, projecting to serve 70 to 80 customers a day.

4. In October 2006, the City holds hearings on the rehabilitation of Hunter-Miller Park. Given the past back and forth about picnic tables, they may very well feature in the redesign and end up back in the Park.

5. If the Queen Payne Market request is approved, by the end of the year crackheads and the homeless return to the Park. They pick up their carry out at the market along with a shared six-pack, amble the half block to the park, and make themselves comfortable at the new picnic tables to nosh their food.

It will be just like old times again. You can believe the Growler plans to be tied up safely at berth when this happens.

But it will be hard to watch the young parents who use the park and who may have innocently supported some of these measures struggle to navigate the tempest.

At Last, A Vision

Let us turn from the debate about the proposed carry out at the Queen Payne Market — and its tired old business model straight from the 1980s — and focus on other, more exciting projects emerging on the horizon.

The old Sykes auto parts warehouse at the corner of Queen and Henry Streets is now under contract to Dr. Robert Bunn, a Manassas dentist and real estate investor. Dr. Bunn has retained prominent local architect John E. Cole to draw up intriguing plans for the adapative reuse of the 1939 Art Moderne building, featuring design elements that pay homage to the building's past as the Lincoln Theater.

The renovated structure will include commercial office space on the second floor and three 1,000 sf retail spaces at ground level, which could be combined by a tenant to form a single storefront wrapping around Queen and Henry. The design has already been blessed by the Parker-Gray BAR, which approved the project in late July. Dr. Bunn anticipates closing on the property later this year, with construction starting in March 2007 and the building ready for occupancy a few months later.

The Growler talked at length with Dr. Bunn, who identified the Monarch and Prescott developments as key elements in his decision to invest now on Queen Street. He says he has already had feelers from a potential tenant for the second floor offices, and added that a coffee shop was one of the first things that came to mind for the retail space. (He ruled out a restaurant however.)

Of course, nothing's set in stone yet, and like any development project it could fall through at any stage from unforeseen circumstances.

At the very least, however, someone has a vision of what the Queen Street corridor could look like someday, and has proposed a project that respects the neighborhood's past while looking forward to an even brighter future.

And that looks mighty attractive from this Growler's den.

Huffa huffa huffa (happy Growler sounds)!

Two Steps Forward, One Back

Matuli Faustin, who operates the small EuroStar Market at Queen & Fayette Streets, has recently applied for a Special Use Permit (SUP) to offer carry out food. But not at the EuroStar.

Instead, Mr. Faustin wants to start serving carry out at the larger Queen Payne Market, just a block away at 235 N. Payne Street. He bought the second market earlier this summer and received a restricted ABC license for the new site on August 9. (EuroStar does not sell wine and beer.) Mr. Faustin proposes offering carry out at the Queen Payne Market from 8 AM until 10 PM seven days a week and anticipates 70 or 80 customers per day.

Mr. Faustin is an enterprising man who takes pride in his business and keeps EuroStar tidy, although it's been reported at ICCA meetings that he's had some issues controlling petty thievery by kids who stop by his store after school.

But (gulp) ... the Growler thinks reopening the carry out issue is a bad idea and brings up memories many around here would like to forget.

In the late 1980s, landowner and Chec-Soda owner Charles Curtis leased space in his building for a corner market and carryout. Various small businessmen ran the market until 1993, when Mr. Curtis decided to operate it himelf, with Dorothy Eller as manager.

The Uptown Deli (as it was then called) was a magnet for the rough trade. There were shootings, stabbings, robberies, fights, drunkenness, public urination, litter and loitering. In fact, the market was one of the main reasons the Growler was cautious about crossing Cameron Street into Parker-Gray — even in daylight — until the early 1990s. When the Growler bought a house after renting for years in the 100 block of N. Payne, a friend on the police force warned that Queen and Payne was the city's worst crime spot. Not Queen and Fayette, as one might now imagine.

When Mr. Curtis assumed direct control of the market again in 1993 and sought an SUP for carry out, both blacks and whites in the neighborhood decided they'd had enough. With police backing, they united to persuade Planning Commission to squash the application and the rejection was upheld by City Council.

After this thundering defeat, Mr. Curtis had to be content to sell groceries and offer wine and beer (with new and stringent restrictions), but he could not offer take out food.

All is not lost for Mr. Faustin if the new SUP application is rejected. Since the property is zoned CRMU/M he doesn't need an SUP to sell groceries. And while the Growler isn't thrilled about liquor sales so close to the den, it's only fair to let him have an ABC license since his predecessor had one. In fact, the Growler even wrote to the ABC in support of his license application, and was pleased that he quickly accepted the same restrictions as before.

But homeowners don't need the litter, much of which is bound to be beyond Mr. Faustin's control since it is often dropped blocks away from the market.

And the City certainly doesn't need to start encouraging loitering again. It's the start of the slippery slope in this neighborhood. If Mr. Faustin has problems now with children at EuroStar, he and his staff will probably be unlikely to control any unruly grown patrons.

It might be more productive for Mr. Faustin to focus on how he can best stock and operate his two stores to serve the new generation of Parker-Gray residents. This neighborhood could be a gold mine for the right entrepreneur and it would be nice if Mr. Faustin could reap the benefit of the positive changes here.

The SUP application is scheduled for a Planning Commission hearing on Tuesday, October 3, 2006. Contact Valerie Peterson of P&Z (valerie.peterson@alexandriava.gov) for further information.

I Dream of Retail

When, oh when, the Growler asks, will our neighborhood get the retail and service businesses it needs and deserves?

The Parker-Gray District is beginning to resemble a small scale version of Prince George's County, where there is also a large pool of individuals with substantial incomes but few local businesses where they might want to spend their dollars.

Here's just few of the types of businesses the Growler would like to see around here:

1. Full-service grocery with fresh produce, dairy and meat. This may come off the list if we get the Harris Teeter at the Madison. (The Growler likes Whole Foods but it's expensive and lacks staples. We need an everyday alternative.)

2. Pharmacy (CVS, RiteAid, Walgreens, etc.) for over the counter and prescribed medications. Could be bundled with #1.

3. Bakery (we miss you, Firehook!) and coffee shops. The Growler never imagined pining for a Starbucks before, but would welcome the green and white logo swaying on a sign in Parker-Gray.

4. Gourmet wine and cheese shop. You have to go to Mt. Vernon Avenue, Bashford Lane, Whole Foods or King Street to fulfil your jones for Syrah or goat cheese. Why not get the fix here?

5. Ice cream and sweets shop. This is a fervent plea to Del Ray's Dairy Godmother to branch out and start an outpost of the Dreamery over here.

6. Ethnic or specialty restaurants (Mexican, Afghan, Ethiopian, Vietnamese, Greek, Malaysian or anything cheap, delicious and chic).

7. Full service day spa (not to be confused with the current "Spa Court")

As for the rest, the Growler has mixed opinions. More dry cleaners? Maybe, but only if strategically placed. Boutique fashion stores? Nah, Pentagon City is too close and convenient.

The Growler's worst retail nightmare for Parker-Gray: a proliferation of check cashing stores. Yes, they might serve a need but only at an exploitative level.

Surveying the district, we have economy food already available, like the Blue and White, Goody's, and McDonald's for carry-out and one restaurant for sit-down service(Sarge's). There's several nail and hair salons and barber shops, but some don't seem to be thriving as well as they did, even as recently as last year.

There's some corner groceries, holdovers from the old days when people did their marketing locally. Now those business mostly supply junk food, sodas, cigarettes, wine and beer. Their numbers have dwindled drastically over the quarter century the Growler has been on the scene.

But where's the quality? Where are the businesses that meet the needs of the new homeowners who have spent $500,000 and up for their homes? Where is the retail activity that lures homebuyers here and shores up house prices, which are already dropping dramatically in Parker-Gray?

This neighborhood has the potential to have the diversity, variety and vitality of D.C.'s U Street corridor or even H Street, NE. Why hasn't that happened?

Residents here (particularly two income families) are pulling in five- and six-figure salaries. But they aren't spending those dollars in the neighborhood. We're yearning for smart businessmen who are ready to capitalize on this pent-up demand.

So what would you like to see around here?

Swan Song

Eileen Fogarty made her last appearance at the September Planning Commission hearing on Thursday, and the Growler is happy to say that she has not left Parker-Gray in the lurch.

The Commission held a work session before the regular hearing to discuss the status of the Braddock Road Metro Small Area Plan, the critical blueprint for development in the neighborhood.

Ms. Fogarty actually postponed her departure for California by a week to ensure that the draft will be delivered next Friday to Planning Commission, which will hold a hearing in late September or early October. The City Council has also requested another work session and public hearings will follow later this fall.

The protection of the historic neighborhood, cursory in previous drafts, is now a centerpiece of the plan. Ms. Fogarty even talked about "celebrating the history of Parker-Gray," which has a nice ring to it. The plan promises to respect the scale of the old neighborhood, transitioning building heights on new development immediately adjacent to Parker-Gray. Denser development and height will be concentrated further north, near the current Monroe Street Bridge.

And Ms. Fogarty boldly broke the ice about the future of the controversial Andrew Adkins public housing project by presenting a plan for its possible redevelopment.

Although acknowledging that she had not had formal discussions with ARHA yet and while hedging that this could happen in 5 years or 25 years, Ms. Fogarty presented a sketch of two taller buildings, presumably with both market and subsidized units like Chatham Square. The eastern structure would be C-shaped, eliminating the crime-prone hidden courtyards, and would feature a wide swathe of green space between the building and Fayette Street (undoubtedly as a better buffer between the project and Braddock Lofts).

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) has been pressing the City about development on the subway station lot, while some Commissioners like John Komoroske have urged that the open space be somehow preserved.

P&Z responded with a neatly creative solution that involves reconfiguring the kiss and ride and the bus stops. The plan places two office buildings on the north side of the site close to Braddock Place and a large green park at the southern end.

Some of the transportation aspects of the plan continue to sound worrisome (more about that later), but overall the plan is vastly improved from the first draft. The Growler thinks it’s a genuine attempt to address everyone's concerns, ranging from open space to better lighting, appropriate density and height, and mixed use development.

In the past, Ms. Fogarty sometimes gave the Parker-Gray District rather cursory treatment. But at the end she rose to the occasion, leaving the National Register nomination and the Braddock Road Plan well launched on the road to completion. So the Growler must say that nothing becomes Ms. Fogarty more than her method of leaving. Ave atque vale!

Momentum

The other day the Growler bumped into Lee Webb, the historic preservation supervisor in the Planning and Zoning Department, and posed the burning question about the status of the plan to nominate Parker-Gray to the National Register of Historic Places. With Eileen Fogarty's departure, some residents have been concerned that the project was going straight to the back burner again.

No, Mr. Webb assured the Growler, the City hopes to hold a public meeting about the nomination in early October. P&Z is also in the last stages of contract negotiations, poised to bring in outside experts to do the requisite survey. That's good, because it helps ensure the complex nomination forms will be completed fully and promptly. All in all, it sounds like the this project is still on track.

With Ms. Fogarty's departure there's also been some anxiety that the Braddock Road Metro Small Area Plan will slip through the cracks as well. However, it appears someone on Planning Commission is lighting a fire under P&Z staff, since the Comissioners have scheduled a work session on the Braddock Road plan for tonight (Sept. 7) at 6:00 PM at City Hall. Quite possibly they are asking for an update on the status of the plan. The Growler will letcha know ...