Date: Thu, 22 May 2014 09:07:38 -0700
From: dianne_brns@yahoo.com
Subject: ANC5E Draft CBA
To: ANC 5E commissioner, Michael Henderson, Scott Roberts
Community Awareness: Please share.
Respectfully,
Dianne Barnes
SMD 5E09 Commissioner
Dianne Barnes
SMD 5E09 Commissioner
Ok...some good things here...such as the space between the park and silos being integrated into the park portion with cafes..etc. that is a major improvement.But we need to ensure that the space between the silos and the park on the S. Service court is indeed a reserved pedestrian street and not one open to traffic....the wording here suggests that a space will be created, but it does not confirm that that space will be full time pedestrian and not just blocked off during special times for a market..etc. It needs to be full time pedestrian with hydraulic bollards that allow access for service vehicles to the community center or for special needs.
ReplyDeleteSecond. What a true shame if we don't do something like Paddington Reservoir Park on this space. What an opportunity lost! Does it make any sense whatsoever now that DC WASA has torn up the southeast corner of the site, to pay millions to rebuild the plinth so that we can have a single open field? NO sense whatsoever.....let's instead use that money creatively to better feature the underground archeology of the site just like Paddington did....that way we get more creative and diversified use of space.
Glad to see the kiddie stuff being integrated.
Still would rather have a 50m pool rather than 25m which will be might small. The front doors of the Community center should open up all the way to allow for air flow and to make the indoor space contiguous with the gardens during the summer. That seems obvious.
With these changes, i think that more people will be convinced.
Oh. and trees..... i was in Meridian Hill park the past two weekends and I observed the use of the space. The park was fulll....people everywhere...really incredible. They did not use the open space however that was in the full sun. Fortunately, Merdian Hill has large mature trees that provide shade well into the center portions of the park. Unfortunately, VMP's current design restricts the mature trees to the periphery using only the red hawthorn in the interior. Unfortunately the red hawthorn remains smallish with not much spread even when mature. This means that even when these trees are fully mature the majority of the grass space in this design will be in the full sun. We know what that means in the DC summer heat. This will make it less useful. We need more broad shade trees in this park to provide more shady space for people. Otherwise, the utility will be limited in the summer months.
ReplyDeleteOH finally.....we need to ensure that this park is free and open to all of the public forever. This must be a sina qua non.
ReplyDelete