A look at what's going on in Trinidad, on H Street, and in the larger area north of Capitol Hill.
Friday, July 02, 2010
THIH: Wylie Street Hears More from DDOT
The Hill is Home reports on the recent DDOT meeting about a proposed substation on Wylie Street. It sounds like the proposed facade has improved, but residents of the tiny street continue to question why Wylie Street at all.
15 comments:
Anonymous
said...
That was a weird meeting. Too much time was spent answering general anti- street car questions, including one about the Anacostia line running in the historic area. It was like DDOT had/has no intentions of placing the substation anywhere else but Wylie Street. No reasons were given for why the site was chosen, and the other suggested sites dismissed.The spokesperson did admit that he wouldn't like have the substation on his street.
A vacant industrial building can be worse than a vacant lot. Have you been around a transformer when lightening strikes? Have you read the signs on them?
The streetcar is going to be a block away with or without the transformer being placed on Wylie. Why not put the transformer underground at the RL Christian site? Or why not give Wylie street residents a property tax abatement? There is something odious about this industrial use of property that makes it unacceptable on undeveloped DC owned properties in the commercial area, but OK on a little narrow residential street. DDOT needs to work more with Wylie street residents for an acceptable solution.
hmm, the article seems fair to me, and makes this whole thing seem like a mountain out of a molehill. the substation has to go somewhere, and it sounds like people are really reaching to find something wrong with it. suck it up, Wylie St, if there's anything to suck up, given the increase in your property values with the street cars go in.
anon 4:49: why give them a property tax abatement? should i get a property tax abatement for the school across from me that closed two years ago and is now vacant? in contrast, this building looks like it will fit in just fine with the rest of the street. this wining is ridiculous.
LOL @ the anonymous jackass that says "wylie street has other problems". what problem is that, anonymous internet commenters who talk bad about their street without ever visiting there? wylie is an almost entirely gentrified street of beautiful rowhouses with one vacant lot in the middle where two rowhouses apparently burned to the ground years ago and were never rebuilt after the city acquired the land thereupon.
who on earth proposes to put a substation on a one block street with historic rowhouses on it a block away from the proposed streetcar line that the substation will be powering? why not put the substation on the actual street where the streetcar will be? what next, a substation on linden? maybe slap one over on parker street while we're at it?
they should build that substation where the now abandoned rl christian library stands.
if they feel like throwing up a free rowhouse there, maybe as some kind of streetcar relations office, that would make more sense than putting an electrical generator in the middle of a one block street of rowhouses.
can anyone think of an electrical generator in the middle of a one block street of historic rowhouses anywhere else in, well, the whole f**king world? no? and this idea doesn't seem ridiculous on its face to who?
Soul Searcher, perhaps you should search your soul for some online etiquette. Calling someone a jackass doesn't contribute much to dialog.
Yes, a substation can be placed on a residential neighborhood--safely, blended in with the other houses, etc. And it can be done even on a "gentrified" block.
It could go on H street, as you suggest, but I then again maybe we want prime space on H street to be reserved for all the commercial stuff we hope to attract down here. What do you think, soul searcher? Maybe you should really think about this before you just call people names.
I just clicked on soul searcher's profile. that's funny. unless his name is actually soul searcher it seems he's being an "anonymous jackass" too. maybe he should tell himself he shouldn't post!
the person i was responding literally posted as "anonymous". what i am posting under is a pen name. just because i'm not a famous blogger doesn't mean this isn't a name i write under. pen names are quite different from signing as "anonymous", as i hope you must realize (although your statement leads to an opposite inference). i have been writing under the same name on this blog and my own blog(s) for years now, although my blogs have fallen by the wayside, update-wise. now, would you care to address my underlying points?
as for calling the anonymous commenter a "jackass", i suppose i could have found a more constructive way to reply. thank you, anonymous person @ 6:46
your comments are essentially conclusory statements
transformers can be operated safely, obviously, and many are operated safely for years, sometimes decades. in the context of this conversation, we are dealing with an electrical fire. and that raises the possibility of the possible dangers of having a substation immediately adjacent to a rowhouse. nothing in your post directly addresses this very narrow point. if you personally know of a substation that has been operated safely immediately adjacent to a rowhouse for many years, that would be a valuable contribution...anything else is a random overgeneralization, which doesn't add much to a very narrow policy discussion about transformers in a very specific context, i.e. adjacent to a rowhouse on a block of attached rowhouses, in light of a recent transformer fire a block away. thanks.
15 comments:
That was a weird meeting. Too much time was spent answering general anti- street car questions, including one about the Anacostia line running in the historic area. It was like DDOT had/has no intentions of placing the substation anywhere else but Wylie Street. No reasons were given for why the site was chosen, and the other suggested sites dismissed.The spokesperson did admit that he wouldn't like have the substation on his street.
Wylie Street has other problems. I would think they would be glad to have a vacant lot put to productive use.
A vacant industrial building can be worse than a vacant lot. Have you been around a transformer when lightening strikes? Have you read the signs on them?
I'd wager to guess that the streetcar a few blocks away will add more value to their houses than the substation will take away.
The streetcar is going to be a block away with or without the transformer being placed on Wylie. Why not put the transformer underground at the RL Christian site? Or why not give Wylie street residents a property tax abatement?
There is something odious about this industrial use of property that makes it unacceptable on undeveloped DC owned properties in the commercial area, but OK on a little narrow residential street. DDOT needs to work more with Wylie street residents for an acceptable solution.
hmm, the article seems fair to me, and makes this whole thing seem like a mountain out of a molehill. the substation has to go somewhere, and it sounds like people are really reaching to find something wrong with it. suck it up, Wylie St, if there's anything to suck up, given the increase in your property values with the street cars go in.
anon 4:49: why give them a property tax abatement? should i get a property tax abatement for the school across from me that closed two years ago and is now vacant? in contrast, this building looks like it will fit in just fine with the rest of the street. this wining is ridiculous.
I'm think that they should put the transformer in that school.
LOL @ the anonymous jackass that says "wylie street has other problems". what problem is that, anonymous internet commenters who talk bad about their street without ever visiting there? wylie is an almost entirely gentrified street of beautiful rowhouses with one vacant lot in the middle where two rowhouses apparently burned to the ground years ago and were never rebuilt after the city acquired the land thereupon.
who on earth proposes to put a substation on a one block street with historic rowhouses on it a block away from the proposed streetcar line that the substation will be powering? why not put the substation on the actual street where the streetcar will be? what next, a substation on linden? maybe slap one over on parker street while we're at it?
they should build that substation where the now abandoned rl christian library stands.
if they feel like throwing up a free rowhouse there, maybe as some kind of streetcar relations office, that would make more sense than putting an electrical generator in the middle of a one block street of rowhouses.
can anyone think of an electrical generator in the middle of a one block street of historic rowhouses anywhere else in, well, the whole f**king world? no? and this idea doesn't seem ridiculous on its face to who?
http://www.dcbia.org/pipeline/Pipeline_JuneJuly2010/Web/JuneJuly2010.html
Soul Searcher, perhaps you should search your soul for some online etiquette. Calling someone a jackass doesn't contribute much to dialog.
Yes, a substation can be placed on a residential neighborhood--safely, blended in with the other houses, etc. And it can be done even on a "gentrified" block.
It could go on H street, as you suggest, but I then again maybe we want prime space on H street to be reserved for all the commercial stuff we hope to attract down here. What do you think, soul searcher? Maybe you should really think about this before you just call people names.
I just clicked on soul searcher's profile. that's funny. unless his name is actually soul searcher it seems he's being an "anonymous jackass" too. maybe he should tell himself he shouldn't post!
steve,
the person i was responding literally posted as "anonymous". what i am posting under is a pen name. just because i'm not a famous blogger doesn't mean this isn't a name i write under. pen names are quite different from signing as "anonymous", as i hope you must realize (although your statement leads to an opposite inference). i have been writing under the same name on this blog and my own blog(s) for years now, although my blogs have fallen by the wayside, update-wise. now, would you care to address my underlying points?
as for calling the anonymous commenter a "jackass", i suppose i could have found a more constructive way to reply. thank you, anonymous person @ 6:46
anonymous @ 6:46
your comments are essentially conclusory statements
transformers can be operated safely, obviously, and many are operated safely for years, sometimes decades. in the context of this conversation, we are dealing with an electrical fire. and that raises the possibility of the possible dangers of having a substation immediately adjacent to a rowhouse. nothing in your post directly addresses this very narrow point. if you personally know of a substation that has been operated safely immediately adjacent to a rowhouse for many years, that would be a valuable contribution...anything else is a random overgeneralization, which doesn't add much to a very narrow policy discussion about transformers in a very specific context, i.e. adjacent to a rowhouse on a block of attached rowhouses, in light of a recent transformer fire a block away. thanks.
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