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, […]
Who Wants to Live in Pabst City?
Soon, Pabst-loving hipsters will be able to live in the buildings where the beer they saved was once brewed. Founded in Milwaukee in 1844, the Pabst Brewing Company’s flagship beer earned its name during the 1893 Columbian World’s Exposition in Chicago, where it was awarded the blue ribbon as America’s best beer. However, economic realities […]
Fixing American Cities, the 21st Century Way
I just posted my monthly blog post to Planetizen. Here’s part: After the dramatic collapse of the Minneapolis freeway bridge last week, the collective hand-wringing began. The bridge was known to be faulty, but had not been replaced. Our entire public transit system is underfunded, we were told. In addition to transportation infrastructure, those concerned […]
Attrition, Not Displacement
I took a look at some of the research on revitalizing neighborhoods for a recent post on the Urban Land Institute blog The Ground Floor: Is Gentrification a Good Thing?
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 […]
Light Rail’s American Moment
Which U.S. city has spent over $400 million to begin construction of an approved transit system of over 50 miles of rail lines? What other city recently kicked off a $6 billion project to build over 100 miles of new commuter and light rail, nearly quadrupling the size of the existing system? Charlotte, North Carolina […]
Calling in the Feds
Under Article IV, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution, the federal government is ordered to protect the states from invasion, and upon request from state governors or legislature, protect them from “domestic violence.” Article 1, Section 8 requires Congress to call forth troops to “execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions.” […]