Arena Grand Opening

Ward 6 Town Hall: Vincent Grey's "One City" tour hits Ward 6 on October 27th.  Town Halls in other wards have been well-received.  This is our opportunity to put Southwest on the presumtive mayor's agenda.  Notably though, this continues a disturbing pattern of Ward 6 meetings located north of Southwest and Capital Riverfront.

WaPo on the Waterfront:  Washington Post development writer Derek Kravitz just released his detailed account of the Southwest Waterfront proposal unveiling last week at Arena Stage.  

M Street Bike Lanes: Some may recall the recent effort by Councilmember Tommy Wells to put bike lanes on existing M Street SE and SW automobile lanes.  After outcry from Southwesters and business leaders in Southeast, the proposal was withdrawn, but the idea is still hovering.  Greater Greater Washington wonders if floating bike lanes would be a better solution.  Inspired by a plan in Kentucky, bike lanes might shift between the parking lane and the center traffic lane of M Street depending on the time of day.  More bike lanes would be a nice amenity.  Given the limited width of our streets and dramatic increases in development, a multi-modal transportation study would be a great first step.

Arena Stage Homecoming Grand Opening: Southwesters are looking forward to Arena's opening celebration, a "full day of free events, including performances by Broadway and Tony Award-winning stars, conversations with prominent Arena Stage artists, presentations by local arts groups and more."  Due to limited availability, events in the theater spaces require tickets.  Tickets become available tomorrow (Friday); Arena expects the tickets to sell out soon; don't wait to get yours.

Hirshorn Explosion:  The Hirshorn Museum and Sculpture Garden has an exciting new director and vision.  This week the Museum announced plans to dramatically rethink and expand the sculpure garden.  This is on top of a plans to convert the courtyard into a seasonal international exhibition hall.  Perhaps the National Mall will once again become a sort of backyard recreation and amusement space for Southwesters that it was before the 1910 McMillan plan turned the Mall into a monumental front lawn for the nation.  A future Built Southwest DC post will expound on this turn of events.

Speaking of Culture...:  A three-week outdoor cultural festival begins tomorrow in the NoMa neighborhood.  Given Southwest's cultural institutions - Arena Stage, the art gallery planned for Randall School, the Smithsonian Museums - and other notable public spaces, this might be a great model for a future Southwest culture festival.  Zestfest, as it is being called "will bring the NoMa neighborhood to life, celebrating the beautiful outdoors in DC’s autumn season – and focus on enlivening public spaces for use by residents and employees. Join us for Zestfest, a three-week party on the streets of NoMa! Fun unleashed for 3 weeks October 7-23, 2010."

Is Southwest DC's Dumping Ground?

I remember the days not too long ago when it was not uncommon to get the question "Where's Southwest?" whenever I met people from other parts of the city and told them where I live.  When I mentioned the Fish Market as an alternative identifier, a remarkable number would respond, "I didn't know DC had a fish market!"  Perspectives have changed.
 

Downtown DC

Capped by the monumental redevelopment vision for Southwest's Waterfront, planners are increasingly eying Southwest as an extension of downtown DC.
 
This past weekend, a contributor to Greater Greater Washington, a blog run by a group of smart-growth and alternative-transportation activists, argued that "the alternatives of either pushing growth to the suburbs or tearing down even more historic and well-loved neighborhoods [than Southwest] are not acceptable.  No where else in the region can we achieve so very much with such relatively little sacrifice."  As if to assuage concerns, the post notes that "this doesn't mean that existing apartments will be bulldozed wholesale"..."the more historic blocks can be preserved, but only a minority of buildings in Southwest and near Southeast are historic." 
 

Existing Southwest Waterfront

I'm not aware of anyone who has doubted the merits of redeveloping our waterfront.  It was one portion of Southwest that was never fully or successfully built-out as planned.  But the suggestion to redevelop Southwest into a "downtown" creates numerous economic, infrastructure, socio-historical, and racial concerns.  Some efforts like the District's 2008 Center City Agenda may be a framework to delicately navigate these challenges.  We'll explore such initiatives in future post(s).
 

But perhaps what's more remarkable about the Greater Greater Washington post are the generalizations and assumptions it exhibits about Southwest.  Much of Southwest consists of subsidized housing; how that could be redeveloped and converted into high-density developments is unclear at best.  The suggestion that Southwest’s built environment doesn’t have any notable level of historic or aesthetic significance is incorrect.  While much of Southwest is not yet formally designated as historic, most historians and professionals who have studied Southwest recognize the importance of much of its built environment.   Previous Built Southwest DC posts have begun to explore its significance; this Saturday's tour provides another opportunity to examine the significance of Southwest.
 
Generalizations aside, Southwesters should recognize that the Greater Greater Washington bloggers are a successful group of activists. Perhaps little known in some circles, this is a blogging forum that is credited with almost single-handedly convincing DC Council Chair Vincent Gray to reverse his decision on streetcar funding in the most recent budget year.  At the time, Gray and other Councilmembers thought it was appropriate to do more planning for the system due to the lack of clarity on integral streetcar components like the type of propulsion system, particularly given the city’s budget deficits. Nonetheless the bloggers successfully lobbied Gray to fund streetcar construction.  Through thoughtful analyses, the group has also significantly shaped WMATA’s decision-making.  A recent City Paper profile noted that WMATA staff are known to directly use graphical and statistical analyses developed by the group. 

One reason for this disconnect may be demographics.  The Greater Greater Washington bloggers are young, white males from Northwest DC and Montgomery County, MD, as noted in the City Paper article.  Other parts of the city have experienced wholesale shifts of economic and racial make-ups and any mixture is seen as merely transitional.   Conversely, Southwest has maintained a richly balanced community--racial, economically, and physically--unlike anywhere else in the DC region.

Over the comming months, Southwest and the larger city will be reviewing the waterfront plan.  During these months, Southwesters should recognize that the reaction to the waterfront development will to some extent set a precedent for future development in Southwest.

Walking Tour of Southwest

Two organizations interested involved in documenting and promoting the modernist architecture movement, DOCOMOMO and the DC Preservation League, are sponsoring a walking tour of Southwest this Saturday.  George Washington University professor Richard Longstreth will lead a discussion about the designers and architects behind the grand vision of Southwest.  The 10:00 am - 12:30 pm tour begins at the Waterfront Metro Station.  Registration is required; space is limited.

Tour of Forces

Southwest Waterfront Book Signing & Reception: Come to a wine-and-cheese reception on the lawn of the historic Thomas Law House for the launch of Swampoodle: The Life and Times of Jack Hennessey.  Author Paul Belford will be discussing his novel about an immigrant growing up in Southwest and other parts of the District of Columbia. Co-sponsored by The Ancient Order of Hibernians and the John Barry Division and Commodore John Barry Trust.  Event details: Sunday, October 10, 2010 3-6 p.m. @ Sixth & Water Streets.  RSVP by Oct 7 to 202-333-8076 / sueinnovent@aol.com

Transformers Invading Southwest: As reported by the Washington Post in June, part of the latest installment of the Transformers movie series will be filmed on the National Mall.  Filming will occur between October 11th and October 15th.  The Post has the complete schedule.  According to the Office of Motion Picture and Television Development, "The scenes will consist of pneumatic car flippers (which raise prop cars off the ground and flip them over), low-level pyrotechnics (roughly equivalent to small-scale fireworks like you might see at a concert or sports event), and simulated gunfire. These proposed special effects will create noise throughout the night (starting after dark and lasting until early in the overnight/morning hours)."  For better or worse, it promises to be quite the event.

Capital Riverfront a Criminal Hotspot?   Based on FBI and MPD data crunched by NeighborhoodScout.com, Wallet Pop reported that the area around L Street, SE between South Capitol Street and 11th Street is the U.S.' ninth most dangerous for violent crimes.  Dcist via JDLand reports that statistical anomalies may make the neighborhood appear higher than it otherwise might.

Can't Say Arena Didn't Give Us Anything: Wednesday night, Arena Stage is offering a Southwest our very own preview night.  For those who haven't been to the interior, it's equally remarkable as the exterior.  See flyer below for details: