A previous map I made of vacant property owned by a neighborhood church in my D.C. neighborhood has proven a popular and controversial post, attracting views and comments months after it was first published. Although the church does own a number of vacant buildings in the neighborhood, I have often thought they are singled out […]
What’s Needed: Community Vacant Property Database
Like many U.S. cities, vacant properties are a stubborn problem that continues to plague the District. The city’s official list has over 2,000 properties listed, and it seems likely the actual number is much higher. An article in today’s Examiner describes how these properties can impact neighborhoods. Despite high demand for both housing and retail, […]
The Bridges of Rock Creek Park
The unfortunate collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota last week has put attention on the country’s bridges. Many of the Washington, D.C. bridges are quite old, and well documented in the Library of Congress’ Historic American Engineering Record, available online through the American Memory website. The images here and more are all available […]
Understanding the 1960s ‘Civil Disorders’
In the summer of 1967, violence broke out in African American neighborhoods in 164 American cities, including major events in Buffalo, Cincinnati, Detroit, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Newark, Plainfield (N.J.), and Tampa. In April 1968, after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., violence was recorded in over 100 cities, including major events in Washington, D.C., […]
The Street Tree Considered
Years before creating his award-winning designs for urban plazas and parks, legendary landscape architect Lawrence Halprin studied trees. Street trees, to be precise. In a meticulously detailed article for an architectural magazine, he sketched the patterns, colors, and shape of their canopies, leaves, and seeds, noting nuisances or special features in loving detail. In a […]
Street Liquor Economics
What does one of the country’s best selling beers have in common with a label of vodka so obscure it barely registers two dozens mentions in Google? Turns out, judging by the large number of empty containers on the street, they’re both top sellers in my neighborhood. After its launch in 1997, Steel Reserve High […]
Planning Underway for New Shaw Park
Design work has begun for a new Carter G. Woodson Park, located in my neighborhood one block from the Carter G. Woodson house at the intersection of Rhode Island Avenue, Q Street, and 9th Streets NW. According to the project’s manager at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, who is overseeing the planning, the project […]