I received this via email:
I just wanted to follow up on the mailing that was sent out last week and remind everyone electronically that the Mayor's Hearing, the last public forum in the NoMA Vision Plan & Development Strategy Project, will be held on Thursday, September 28, 2006 from 6-8 pm, at the U.S. Government Printing Office Building, 710 North Capitol Street, NW (Bookstore Entrance). The meeting will take place in Harding Hall, on the 8th Floor of the building. The closest Metro is Union Station, and if you exit on the First Street, NE side, the GPO Building is only two blocks away. The Final Draft of the Plan will be presented at the meeting, and public testimony will be heard as well.
Each individual or representative of an organization who wishes to present testimony at the public hearing is requested to provide his or her name, address, telephone number and name of organization represented (if any) by calling Patricia Zingsheim, Associate Director of Revitalization and Design at 202.442.8965 no later than 5:00 pm, September 27, 2006. All oral presentations will be limited to three (3) minutes.
Written statements may be submitted for the record until 5:00 p.m., September 27, 2006. Written statements should be addressed to:
Patricia Zingsheim, Associate Director of Revitalization and Design , D.C. Office of Planning, 801 North Capitol Street, N.E., Suite 4000, Washington, DC 20002.
The draft plan is available for public review at the following locations:
D.C. Office of Planning
801 North Capitol Street, NE
Suite 4000
Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library
901 G Street, NW
R.L. Christian Community Library
1300 H Street, NE
The draft plan is also available online at: www.planning.dc.gov .
Of course, if you have any other questions that I can answer for you regarding the plan please feel free to contact me as well. Remember, public participation and input is crucial to this planning effort, so please try and attend on the 28th-I look forward to seeing all of you there!
Thanks,
Kevin Brady
Staff Assistant
Neighborhood Planning\Revitalization & Design
DC Office of Planning
801 North Capitol Street, NE
Suite 4000
Washington, DC 20002
202-741-5241
202-442-7638 fax
5 comments:
all i can say is, "wow"! if you actually take a look at some of the FANTASTIC renditions they have of the projected developments.....
it's sort of jolting. almost incredulous.
i'd really like to see some of the empty/abandoned spaces put to good use, but never expected anything on this scale.
It is really exciting- and it looks like the office of planning has a really well thought out approach to making it a vibrant and viable neighborhood with pedestrian friendly areas and park spaces- as well as avoiding the desertedness of downtown spaces after work hours.
However- it's going to take a LOT to get it there- if you look the section on plan economics-there is an interesting assessment of some of the weaknesses and threats to development in the area. A lot of the factors are chicken and egg questions- about getting investment in the area when it currently has nothing and developers not knowing what the demographics will be before deciding what to build. I hope a couple more responsible major players get involved and take that leap of faith-it will really take off in the next few years.
I confess to only skimming this, but should I be concerned that I didn't see a reference to the H St. streetcar?
The transportation section does not seem to envision a streetcar either going into Union Station or going across to Gallery Place, though the issue seems well within the study's scope.
Anyone have insight? Or did I just miss it?
I think that the H Street street car is outside of the scope of this study. They didn't really reference any major projects outside of the NoMA boundaries....
It seems to me that the streetcar needs to go into the NOMA boundaries or it won't be of much use. So it's troubling that the study discusses making Union Station a "multi-modal hub" but doesn't mention the streetcar as one of those modes.
Meanwhile, the study does discuss "strengthening city-wide transit connections" through improvements along K St. NW and proposes a new Circulator route to access NOMA. So, clearly they haven't limited their scope to the geographic boundaries. They just haven't tried to connect the area to H St. NE except through the existing bus routes.
I am not implying that no mention here = no streetcar on H. I am just asking whether we would be better served by trying to include the streetcar terminus as part of the plan for NOMA. Seems to me it could only help.
I'll admit that I'm out of my league here as to whether this really matters, and am appealing to more experienced minds.
p.s. Remember this? http://frozentropics.blogspot.com/2006/03/street-car-poll.html
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