Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Stabbing Near Starburst intersection

The police alert from a little before 4pm today:

Stabbing in 1500 block of Benning Rd NE LOF B/M wearing a coat DO NOT TAKE ACTION CALL 911 W/EVENT #I20110655227

Sent by DC Police Alert to e-mail, pagers, cell phones....powered by Cooper Notification RSAN

6 comments:

Tom A. said...

Speaking of the Starburst Intersection....

Can we agree that it's mostly a failure in terms of usable public space? It seems to just be a nice shortcut to the other side of the "park." Is it even considered a "park?"

I'm not sure how to make it better used. Maybe a farmer's market? Maybe some food trucks could set up along the side?

Chris said...

Tom -- I don't follow your post. What part of the Starburst was ever intended to be "usable public space," or indeed anything other than a bunch of roads coming together? What am I missing?

Tom A. said...

chris- we spent milions making a park there. (A plaza, I suppose) Basically it's just a giant sidewalk with a couple of benches with a concrete wall behind it. There was discussion of adding a lot of green space, but that wasn't done for safety issues. I guess criminals hide behind trees and bushes, so they just put concrete over the whole thing.

http://tinyurl.com/7g94oxc

Tom A. said...

Chris- it's where they reconfigured Maryland Ave to go to Bladensburg rather than straight through Benning Road.

Chris said...

Oh, you mean the way they jazzed up that space across Maryland from the CVS, right at the Starburst? I guess I never really thought of that as a park per se -- just as space intended to be nicer than what was there before.

Thanks.

Anonymous said...

agreed, that public space can be considered a failure. its great it has the CaBi bikeshare station but it pretty much ends there. that tall retaining wall combined with the concrete plaza is so unsightly...just a large concrete place for those waiting for buses, etc.