Park View, D.C.

As expected, Tarek Bolden, Ward 1 Neighborhood Planner, DC Office of Planning, made a presentation on the Georgia Avenue Retail Action Strategy (RAS) at last night’s ANC 1A meeting. The slides from the presentation are at the right.

While the information is based on the Georgia Ave.-Petworth Action Strategy drafted in December 2009, Bolden explained that one of the goals of the RAS is to find ways to redirect the untapped spending power of undeserved areas  and refocus that spending on the neighborhoods they are in or near. The Office of Planning wants to attract and retain the appropriate mix of local, small and independent retails as well as national brands. Currently, the District estimates that about $1 Billion in annual residential retail is spent outside of the District. The Office of Planning is in the early stages of identifying how to achieve these goals so Bolden wasn’t able to share any concrete methods to improve area retail during the presentation. However, the Office of Planning does know that they want to do it in partnership with the communities and organizations that are in the areas they have identified.

One aspect of the RAS that I particularly liked was the introduction of community branding to the planning process. While the presentation introduced the concept with the area around Howard University, I stretched the conversation to include the area around the Georgia Ave.-Petworth Metro and how that area needs to be more accurately portrayed in city documents, including the presentation at hand.