Updates and city developement

Urgh. Sorry for the lack of updates. As those close to me know, the new job in DC is keeping me fairly busy and I'm adjusting to a more "normal" schedule. However, the change of pace has been fairly stimulating as well as exhausting at times. So it's just about time that I start addressing some more recent developments that have come out since not just my last post, but the brain dump that I had last summer on my personal blog.

My instinct has been telling me for a few years that GGP was probably going to have financial issues, but I never thought it would be as big as they are now. While I don't want to start speculating about finances and the like (not my specialty, that's for sure), I pretty much knew that with the current economic climate and demographic trends, Columbia has a few choices to make that could lead us into one way or another. Fortunately (or unfortunately if you which to view it so), the credit crunch and GGP's financial difficulties may buy us some more time to talk things over a little more. This is not to say that some work should go ahead, but there's still a bunch of things that can be done for later projects.

Matt Yglesias pointed out a Census report on the declining ratio of children under 18 per household (read the full report here), the reasons for it and it's implications down the road. While I differ with Matt on the "cities are better" point, I do tend to agree with him about the advantages of walkable cities. For this, the GGP is fairly good about, but then, they do have a decent base to work off of. However, the car still reigns supreme in their designs. Let's bring the worst part of cities to the new one, eh? Let's bring the traffic and congestion to town center like what happened with Bethesda. Let's build a town center that you need to drive to like Reston Town Center. That would really improve our quality of life.

Electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids are certainly coming out and there are some already on the market. The Tesla Model S is also a game changer in many respects for the future of the car industry. Therefore I should remind you, gentile readers, that electricity and parking garages that are exposed to the weather can and will cause a lot of problems over time and can have some shocking repercussions. Pun intended. Also, with "shared parking" constructs, it would make the implementation of auto plug-ins difficult billing wise. I would like to hear of GGP's solution to that particular problem.

The target demographics is also important as well. As much as I disagree with Matt, he's also emblematic of the best and brightest of my generation and the one that follows me. Getting away from the sterile, boring suburbs that are too expensive for the everyman and have little of interest to the post-post-modern adult. From what I can glean from the GGP proposal is a targeted plan for the Baby Boomers and the generation that preceded them, who will most likely be dead by the time this plan is completed. Sorry, had to say it. I know I'm harsh, but statistically...

...On another note... The lack of discussion on rail still irks me.

1. Trains are way more energy efficient than cars.


2. Trains mean less of a need for cars moving in and out of town center.


3. There's a significant portion of the population who commute into either Baltimore or DC.


4. If we manage to attract more businesses to downtown, not all of those workers will live here.


5. Rail lines are a cheap and easy way to run communication lines to other population centers.


6. As DC is emblematic of, sought-after development is being centered around existing metro stations and those that are not near them are beginning to flounder.


7. If development is booming around rail and car-based developments are not attracting the younger generations, we'll be spending a lot of time building very expensive slums for future generations.

I understand the arguments of my hometown elders, but they're inadvertently hurting the town that I grew up in and love so much. I've lived in the city and I both love and hate it. We have the opportunity to make a city the right way, but the short sightedness of those working and opposing the plan are both aiming for a very tragic end. The death of possibility.

--Chris