Every silver lining has a cloud
Your house gains in value, your taxes go up.A new luxury condo or office building is slated to go up near you, 1 year or more of construction crew tramping through your hood with noise and dust.
Then when the damned thing is finished and people move in, there is no parking around because even if the residents have parking, their friends/customers who want to visit don't.
A string of cool funky shops open up, weird funky looking people start walking around.
Then you wonder if it just wasn't better to live in a neighborhood where there were no decent eateries or shops, and you had rows of abandoned lots and no one wanted to just visit your neighborhood to look around. Now LaShawn's Beauty and Nail Salon don't look so bad now, 'cause she doesn't attract rats or a large customer base that want to take your parking space.
The Truxton area is on the verge of something. We could try to help develop the North Capitol Main Streets whatchamacallit, but do the residents really honestly and truly want to bring commercial development to North Capitol?
Everyso often people mention why can't we be like such and such neighborhood and another X [insert the old standbys, Georgetown, Dupont, etc]. Maybe we should think also about the big negatives that come with the things that make the place so great and ask "Do I want X so bad enough I'll put up with Y?"
Example:
"Do I want the convience of being able to get a cab a block over so bad that I'd put up with more traffic on nearby roads?"
"Do I want a bunch of luxury condos in my neighborhood so bad that I'd put up with higher taxes for my fee simple home?"
"Do I want an overpriced chichi grocers that will bring me closer to the poor house with each visit?"
"Do I want more of a residential feel to my neighborhood that I'd put up with a lack of commercial options?"
I'm sure the people of Georgetown are tired of non-residents of the neighborhood clomping through their hood ooggling their houses. I can guess the sound of drunks getting out of the bars near Adams Morgan is maddening. The people of Woodley Park might want to slap all the people who ask where the Zoo is, and the monkey that keeps waking them up in the morning. And somewhere in Dupont someone is tired of parking 2-3 blocks away from their house in a spot that took them 20 minutes to find. My point is, the cool funky thing you want for the neighborhood, comes at a price, may be you want to pay it, maybe not. Maybe your neighbors would be glad to put up with the negative to just get a sliver of the positive that you give no value to, maybe.
Over near Trinidad there is a question of if they want a bunch of bars and restaurants up and down H Street. Positive, all the really cool neighborhoods have a bunch of bars and restuarants down their high streets. Negative, bars and restaurants bring guys who pee in your alleys, people who park in front of your house, extra noise and traffic, and possibly more rats. Maybe with good will and open minds and hearts residents and businesses can try to combat the negatives, but there will be negatives.
posted by Mari @ 7.7.05
6 Comments:
There is always a trade off. The big issue around H Street NE right now is parking. Parking will continue to be an issue in DC simply because the city was not designed with all these cars in mind. When you put in denser developments (like condos) you get more people & more cars. But, the thing is that people near H Street have gotten used to having more parking because we also have/had so many vacant houses & vacant commercial spaces. Luckly, we have some pretty good people in the ANC working on this issue. With taverns & restaurants you do have to deal with a certain amount of noise (I think this will be the second biggest issue after the parking problem). I am not particularly worried about the new places bringing people who will pee in public. We already have that problem & right now people will even do it in the middle of day (not just after leaving some bar -frankly, I once looked out my bedroom window and saw some guy doing something a lot worse than peeing in the yard of an abandoned house down the street). I think we'll benefit from additional development in the area, not only because it will bring more places to hang out, but also because the additional food traffic tends to make the streets safer (i.e. more eyeballs on the street can act as a deterrent to crime). Only time will tell, but boarded-up buildings definitely don't benefit the residents.
I am not particularly worried about the new places bringing people who will pee in public. We already have that problem & right now people will even do it in the middle of day
Homeless guy pee vs drunk yuppie pee, anyway you slice it is still some bastard peeing.
And somewhere in Dupont someone is tired of parking 2-3 blocks away from their house in a spot that took them 20 minutes to find.
Hehe. That's funny. Actually, it should be "Everywhere in Dupont, everyone is tired of parking 6-8 blocks away from their undersized and overpriced apartment in a spot that took them 40 minutes to find.
Actually, I would go with yuppie guy pee. They drink better quality stuff, & so much of it during a night at the bar, that the pee tends to be clear & fairly odorless.
Homeless guy pee, on the other hand, is fueled by constant drinking of crap like Mad Dog or Olde English & smells much worse. Plus, yuppie guys tend not to poop in your alley, or use it to hook up w/ hoes.
Just thought you guys would wanna know:)
But your post raises good points. There's always a tradeoff, but I think the good outweighs the bad when a neighborhood develops.
You would be surprised who is peeing on the street. It mostly is not homeless guys that I see doing it (although the guy in the yard was homeless). It really just average looking guys & (I swear I am not making this up) I have actually seen two (in separate incidents) guys get into cars with Maryland plates after they finish up. The fact is that people see the way the street looks (and remember how it has looked) and they think they don't have to follow these rules. These same guys would probably never dream of peeing on CT Ave, but they think they can do it on H Street. That's the crazy part.
Maryland tags. 'Nuff said.
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