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Metro Bus Garage Considered for Soldiers’ Home Grounds

November 1, 2012

Development map from the AFRH final master plan (2008)

Over the last several days with everyone focused on Hurricane Sandy, many folks may have missed an article posted at the Washington Post on Sunday titled “Metro considers Armed Forces Home land for new bus garage.” In short, the article describes the need to upgrade or replace the Metro bus garage on 14th street and Metro’s interested in exploring the use of land at the Armed Forces Retirement Home (AFRH) for a new Metro facility.

I completely understand that Metro should explore any and all options before building a new facility. It also appears that Metro is very early in the process of identifying possible sites as alternatives to the 14th Street garage. But even so, it is impossible to support any proposal to locate a Metro bus garage on the grounds of the Old Soldiers’ Home without more details — especially when Ward 4 Councilmember and Metro Board Member Muriel Bowser has stated that “any [new] location should contain a job training component or facility if possible, as well as serve as a catalyst for economic development.”

In looking at a map of the AFRH from their 2008 final master plan, the land already identified for future development is the area at the southeast corner of their current grounds (Zone A). Zone A is the wildcard. If future development there has already been set in stone then a bus garage would need to go somewhere else. But the other areas formerly considered for development are along Park Place on the western frontier of the AFRH. If this is the area being considered it would have a significant negative impact on Park View residents and would need to be opposed.

If a bus garage were planned for Zone A and placed near the intersection of Irving and North Capital streets, the impact would be far less but there would still potentially be much more bus traffic in the area as buses go to and from the garage. Some of that traffic would definitely be driving through Park View. Again, this is not all that desirable.

But … here’s something to consider. If a bus garage were located near the Irving and North Capital intersection and it was accompanied by a community amenity such as publicly accessible green space/park on a portion of the land along Park Place, would that be a trade off that would be acceptable to the community?

I’m certainly not suggesting that such a deal is in the works. As stated above, the problem with the Post article is the lack of details.

My greatest concern here is that, after the residents at the AFRH, the residents most impacted by any development of the AFRH land would be the Ward 1 residents of Park View. Yet, the 14th Street bus garage is in Ward 4 and CM Bowser is also on the Metro board. The AFRH on the other hand is in Ward 5.

We’ll definitely want to watch this development as closely as possible and make sure all stakeholders are included in any decision making should plans move forward.

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Categories: Armed Forces Retirement Home, Metro, Transportation
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MetroACCessIDENT

May 25, 2012

The MetroAccess Van pictured below hit a street light at the intersection of Warder and Irving Streets, NW, yesterday morning. An authority was on the scene and traffic seemed to not have been affected. Luckily, the van looks to have taken the brunt of the impact, and the street light on the southeast corner may have prevented any further damage to parked automobiles &/or houses.

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Working with Metro for a Better Station Area Map

January 27, 2012

Station Area Map with numbers indicating where additional features could be located

One issue I’ve been working on for a very long time is getting the illuminated Station Area Maps at the Georgia Avenue-Petworth Station updated to include information I consider to be clear omissions. I began this process in October 2010 and thought I’d made some progress when WMATA committed to include Park View on future maps with updated maps scheduled for installation by March 2011. Well, clearly that did not happen. So, I’ve dug in again and have reopened the conversation with Metro.

While my initial observation was that Park View was inappropriately omitted from the map as Petworth, Columbia Heights, and Mt. Pleasant were all included, upon inspecting the map more closely I discovered that there were several opportunities to make the map better. Below are six significant improvements I noticed.

  1. Include Park View to show the location of the neighborhood;
  2. Show the location of the MPD 4D Substation at 750 Park Rd., NW;
  3. Include the Bruce-Monroe Park at Irving and Georgia Ave.;
  4. Show the location of the Cesar Chavez Public Charter School (770 Kenyon Street);
  5. Show the location of the Lincoln’s Cottage National Historic Site; and
  6. Include Armed Forces Retirement Home on the map to identify its location.

In each of these cases, the type of information suggested is in keeping with the categories of information WMATA currently includes on their maps. I’ll be sure to post follow ups as my conversations with Metro advance.

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Brief History of the Georgia Ave. Metro Station

November 17, 2011

With as much time and energy that has been focused on Metro Stations this year, particularly with names, I thought it would be interesting to dig into the history of the Georgia Ave-Petworth station. While there are many who feel that there was a missed opportunity by not changing the name of the Georgia Ave-Petworth station name to something better and representative of its location, the WMATA board did approve five other name changes. I’m willing to wager, however, that most residents debating the merits of the station’s name may not be aware that the location of the Georgia Avenue station was not originally to be at New Hampshire Avenue, or there was once a Petworth station planned as well as a Georgia Avenue station.

Metro map as recommended by the National Capital Planning Commission, 1966

As Zachary M. Schrag outlines in his book on the Washington Metro, the Green Line would take more than two decades before the first stations were opened in May 1991 and it would be another decade before it was completed. The delay, Schrag continues, resulted as much from extreme sensitivity to inner-city demands as from official disregard.

The Red line  was authorized in 1965 and remained largely as planned during its construction. The trunk portion of the Blue and Orange lines was approved by Congress in 1967. The Green line was not authorized until December 1969 after substantial work had already been done on the other trunk lines. While the Green line from its conception was scheduled for a late start, late originally meant September 1977.

Metro was not able to hold its original schedule. Metro encountered physical obstacles, lawsuits, and appropriation problems. The Green line itself had its own hurdles. The D.C. government was determined to avoid the top-down planning that had displaced tens of thousands of people in Southwest. All of this further delayed construction of the Green line and left the route open to continual modification and uncertainty. (more…)

Categories: History, Metro, Transportation
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Georgia Ave-Petworth Metro Name to Remain Unchanged … for Now

November 4, 2011

Unlike many other Metro stations, the name of the Georgia Ave.-Petworth station will not change in the new maps

Yesterday, WMATA sent out a news release on various email lists outlining the Metro station name changes that will be incorporated into the new Metro maps. Sadly, an update to the “Georgia Ave-Petworth” was not among them.

Not only did Georgia Ave-Petworth not include neighboring Park View, but the station name did not incorporate Petworth as a subtitle — something that WMATA originally proposed and a change made to many other stations with long names. The grandfathering of the Georgia Ave. station’s name was justified in the WMATA release, along with three other grandfathered names, by stating that “customers have strong familiarity with the existing names.”

Of course, this is hogwash. Customers have strong “familiarity” with all of the current names. The fact that two ANCs passed resolutions requesting a change in the station’s name shows that there was enough consensus in the community that those “familiar” with the name of the station did not agree with the name.

The real reason for keeping the status quo with the Georgia Ave. station is that DC Councilmember Muriel Bowser was dead set against any change that would include Park View. Furthermore, she was caught between a community divided on which is more important, Georgia Avenue or Petworth. Those living closest to the station had a clear preference for the station to be renamed either Petworth-Park View or just Petworth, a nod for neighborhood dominance.  Those living further from the station tended to prefer Georgia Avenue as the primary name … one  such supporter being ANC 4C01 Commissioner Michael Yates, who also happens to be the partner of CM Bowser’s twin, Marvin.

So, for now, nothing will change in our corner of the Metro world. However, as the Metro continues to get built out to Dulles there will be other opportunities to reconsider as system-wide sign updates occur.

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Councilmember Bowser Opposes Renaming Georgia Ave.-Petworth Metro

October 17, 2011

CM Bowser opposes adding Park View to the station's name

In a letter sent on October 12, 2011, to both ANC 4C and ANC 1A — both of whom had unanimously passed resolutions in support of appending Park View to the name of the Georgia Avenue-Petworth Metro station — Councilmember Bowser made it clear that she does not support this “proposal.” While graciously acknowledging that ANC’s have “great weight,” Bowser’s opposition most assuredly kills this proposal since she is the District’s current representative on the Metro Board of Directors.

In explaining her opposition, the Councilmember began with the pro forma list including the cost, length of name, and policy favoring continuity and certainty.  Yet, when considering the proposed name change for the Georgia Ave. Metro against the four name changes put forward by DDOT, it’s clear that these aren’t really the barriers Bowser makes them out to be.

Name Length: There is no denying that adding Park View to the name of the station does increase the length and would not comply with WMATA’s approved policy on station names. Yet, when comparing it with the list of name changes put forward by DDOT it is also clear that station name length is not a real issue. Three of the four proposals (listed below) also do not comply with WMATA’s station name policy. Only Navy Yard-Ballpark is fewer than 19 letters.

Current name Proposed name
Waterfront – SEU Waterfront – Arena Stage
Navy Yard Navy Yard – Ballpark
New York Ave. – Florida Ave. – Gallaudet U. New York Ave. – NoMa
Gallaudet University
Smithsonian Smithsonian
The National Mall

Continuity and certainty certainly appear to be a sound policy, but embracing station names simply because they are currently in use diminishes the ability to critically examine station names for their appropriateness. In nearly all cases such examination should validate current station names. In some cases, a name may be found to be inferior. The New Columbia Heights blog had an interesting post examining the appropriateness of the Georgia Ave.-Petworth station name.

Cost: While the $100,000 or greater cost of changing a station name sounds daunting, in the grand scheme of things it isn’t a lot of money. The chief reason for putting forth this proposed name change at this time was to minimize costs as much as possible. The District often seems to have the ability to come up with a $100,000 here and there whenever they want to. A recent case in point is the proposed renovations at the Park View Recreation Center. The District recently added $200,000 to that project without any apparent difficulty.

So, if the arguments tied to WMATA’s policy on station names either don’t apply or have not be uniformly applied to all station renaming proposals, this leaves us with Councilmember Bowser’s real objections. Reading her letter further, they come out as:

  • The station is not located in Park View;
  • Station names should be associated with centers of activity; and,
  • Changing the name of the station “dilutes the identity of Petworth.”

In looking at the Metro map the location of the station is listed as Georgia & New Hampshire Aves. The station’s entrances are on the north (Ward 4/Petworth) side of the intersection, but the intersection itself is “in” both Petworth and Park View. Additionally, with the station being underneath New Hampshire Ave. it’s possible that a small portion of the station could be in Ward 1. On a purely practical level, it’s hard to argue that a station less than 250 ft. north of a neighborhood is not “IN” that neighborhood. As I wrote to the WMATA Board of Directors on September 19th:

I invite the members of the Metro Board, Councilmembers Bowser and Graham, and others to visit the station. As you stand at the leaf sculpture and look to the south you will notice the new Georgia Avenue CVS and an Ace check cashing location directly across the street. Both of these businesses, and all of Georgia Avenue you can see beyond, are in the Park View neighborhood. You will immediately understand that this station is on the border of two neighborhoods.

Bowser’s assertion that station name’s should be associated with centers of activity also indicates that she may associate development on Georgia Avenue with Petworth and consider Park View a dead zone. But activity has been happening south of the station as well as north of it and the station itself is becoming the center of activity as developers look for property close to Metro. Because of this it is impossible to separate out the “Park View” from the “center of activity.”

But what it all seems to boils down to is this, the proposal to change the name of the Georgia Ave.-Petworth station would be fine if the station wasn’t located in Ward 4. In an example of classic DC politics a double standard is being applied that let’s other non-conforming station names to move forward for consideration while this one does not. The draw bridge has been raised and the soldiers called to the battlements. The fiefdom will be protected at all costs.

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ANC4C Votes to Support ANC1A Resolution to Add Park View to Metro Station

July 13, 2011

Should Park View be added to this station's name?

According to a couple of people that were able to attend the July 13, 2011, ANC 4C Meeting, the Commissioners took up the issue of ANC 1A’s Resolution Urging Renaming of Georgia Ave-Petworth Metro Station. With an unanimous vote (Commissioners Shanel Anthony and Jean Badalamenti being absent) the Commission voted to support the ANC 1A Resolution with the provision that Georgia Avenue remain in the main title.

Commissioner Joseph Martin stated it thusly in an email sent out shortly after the meeting:

“Voted in favor of a resolution to … change the name of the nearby Metro Station to Petworth/Park View with a reference to Georgia Avenue in the title.”

After WMATA released their July 7th press release stating that Metro riders preferred short distinctive station names, ANC 1A08 Commissioner Boese contacted the 4C Commissioners stating a clear preference for the neighborhood names taking top billing and having Georgia Avenue listed as the subheading rather than the other way around. The reasoning behind this preference was that residents frequently shorten the current station name to Petworth rather than Georgia Avenue now, and that Petworth/Park View is phonetically only four syllables, which puts it on par with other successful station names including Metro Center, Union Station, and Dupont Circle. ANC4C apparently did not agree.

As could be expected, discussion on the issue was passionate at times. One Park View resident I spoke with afterward relayed to me that several of the people who spoke out against the change were uninformed that Park View is a solid neighborhood located adjacent to the station. According to her, one gentleman expressed to her in a private conversation afterward that he couldn’t understand why Georgia Avenue would be removed from a sign and replaced by the street Park View. While some may have Others viewed this as an attempt by Ward 1 residents to take something away from Ward 4, mostly people inferred that nobody  knew where or what Park View was [updated].  (more…)

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Man Stabbed in Neck Leaving Georgia Avenue-Petworth Metro Station

November 28, 2010

The following news was reported Sunday evening (11/28/10) via TBD:

ABC7′s Kris Van Cleave reports that a Metro train rider leaving the Georgia Avenue/Petworth station was stabbed in the neck at turnstile.

D.C. Fire transported the victim priority one, and a suspect is unknown so far. Check back for any updates.

UPDATE

WTOP provided the following details:

Metro spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein says the victim was approached by another man at about 4:15 p.m. after passing through the fare gate at the station in Northwest. The suspect then stabbed the man in the neck area.

The man was taken to an area hospital as a Priority 1 transport. D.C. Fire spokesman Pete Piringer said the victim’s condition was unknown. Metro Transit Police were investigating the incident.

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Apparently, Not All Neighborhoods Are Equal in Metro’s Eyes

October 13, 2010

Metro arbitrarily lists neighborhoods on their station maps

Regardless of where one stands on the issue of existing Metro station names, there should be no argument on the need for accuracy in the station maps that are supposed to assist riders when they are unfamiliar with a station they don’t use frequently.

Being a frequent rider at the Georgia Ave.-Petworth station, and knowing the neighborhoods around the station well, I’ve passed by the maps for years without ever looking at them. That changed recently when I was using one of the illuminated station maps to give a fellow rider directions.

Imagine my surprise when I was looking at the map and saw that it listed some neighborhoods but not others. There is either 1) no rhyme or reason to which neighborhoods are included on the maps, or, 2) Metro considers some neighborhoods as being more important than others.

Regardless of how Metro creates its station maps, it seems clear to me that all neighborhoods surrounding a station should be listed if the map is to maximize its usefulness. In the case of the maps at the Georgia Ave.-Petworth station, the neighborhoods to the north and south of the station are Petworth (included on the map) and Park View (not included). Due to its proximity to the station, the inclusion of Columbia Heights on the maps is reasonable. However, I fail to see how Mt. Pleasant is helpful to anyone using the station as a terminus, though I will acknowledge that a rider can transfer to Metrobus and continue their commute there that way.

The bottom line is that Metro needs to do better with its signage. If they are going to include neighborhood names at all on their station maps they need to include all the neighborhoods in the immediate vicinity, not just the ones Metro deems significant.

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Gray’s Turn to Stump in the Neighborhood

May 27, 2010

Vince Gray supporters getting the word out, Georgia & New Hampshire Avenues

This morning (5/27/10), it was supporters of mayoral candidate Vince Gray’s turn to get the word out to voters traveling through the intersection of Georgia and New Hampshire Avenues. Residents may recall that Mayor Fenty and his supporter similarly used this site on May 4th for the same purpose.

While there is no way to gauge the actual support Gray has by the public response, it is evident that there are those that solidly support him. Gray’s campaign team received several thumbs up and elicited a good deal of honking from motorists.

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Categories: Elections, Metro, People
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