tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246743662284890173.post5493410419690324420..comments2023-09-16T04:58:07.261-04:00Comments on the Annandale Blog: Urban design guidelines in the works for Bailey's Crossroads and Seven CornersAnnandale Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07543558586252790593noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246743662284890173.post-88563788187368073582017-11-18T15:00:04.157-05:002017-11-18T15:00:04.157-05:00Which Farmers Markets did they go to? We live prac...Which Farmers Markets did they go to? We live practically on top of Seven Corners and always go to the Falls Church Farmers Market. We are never home on Thursday mornings to attend the one at Mason District Park.Gail Fhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15844961556218960569noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246743662284890173.post-13592515403282291442017-11-12T21:32:34.165-05:002017-11-12T21:32:34.165-05:00“It’s not like people missed an opportunity to com...“It’s not like people missed an opportunity to comment.”<br />Uh, yeah it kinda is.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246743662284890173.post-16324819697797129832017-11-09T22:02:02.953-05:002017-11-09T22:02:02.953-05:00The area will never be revitalized. County is not ...The area will never be revitalized. County is not equipped to revitalize anything. All they can do is spend money and build social service centers. That's it, 1970 revitalization strategies that failed then and will fail now........sorry. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246743662284890173.post-85619823396413301252017-11-09T20:32:14.194-05:002017-11-09T20:32:14.194-05:00Failure to notify the immediate neighborhoods and ...Failure to notify the immediate neighborhoods and the District Council of the survey is a gross omission.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246743662284890173.post-77581556586460974462017-11-09T15:49:01.542-05:002017-11-09T15:49:01.542-05:00LOL, they will ignore it just like they allowed Sp...LOL, they will ignore it just like they allowed Spectrum to do so. Why bother wasting time on these things when Penny Gross ignores them anywayAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246743662284890173.post-62198064672671157242017-11-09T14:35:03.794-05:002017-11-09T14:35:03.794-05:00The so-called Office of Community Revitalization (...The so-called Office of Community Revitalization (OCR) has been an albatross around Mason District’s neck for the last 20 years. Its purpose seems to be to suggest there is a County program to “revitalize” the district when in fact there is no such thing of any kind here. The OCR drastically inhibits revitalization by taking up space that could otherwise be occupied by a real Office of Community Revitalization. The OCR is represented in Annandale under the Annandale Central Business District Planning Committee. The ACBDPC’s mission is “to combat neighborhood and commercial deterioration and to enhance the quality of life in Central Annandale for residents and businessmen.” Does it seem to you like it has been successfully doing that the last 10 years? <br />The average homeowner would assume that revitalize means revitalize as in fix up the commercial areas, make them nice, clean them up, make sure the codes are being enforced in a reasonable manner, and insure that the roads, sidewalks, bus shelters etc. were in good repair, not just every 20 years, but continually. Maybe even push back a little after the 5th cash-for-gold blighting machine, the 5th tractor trailer started taking permanent residence in our shoping centers and the 50th overflowing donation drop-off box bloomed in our once thriving business districts. <br />That would go a long way toward filling our empty office space and not doing it is why we have a huge inventory of empty office space. Who wants to bring their families to a dump? Families want nice suburban neighborhoods and business districts and if that is what employees want that is where employers go so they can have those good employees. It is not all about class A buildings. One in Baileys Crossroads is in the process of emptying despite its close proximity to DC. The area has been blighted by a near totally dysfunctional Department of Code Compliance which the Annandale Central District Planning Committee describes in glowing terms. <br />One can imagine an OCR that responded to complaints, enforced the codes, incentivized the business to keep their signs within prescribed limits, followed up on maintenance requests, worked with the District Supervisor to get rid of the donation boxes, tractor trailers, trash piles, decaying parking lots and store fronts, trimmed the vegetation and made sidewalks safe and attractive. One could imagine that being the work of the OCR but it is not. <br />From the point of view of someone interested in good land use I conclude that a likely goal of the OCR is to block or misdirect efforts to do real revitalization while the lack of code compliance drives our neighborhoods and commercial areas into such a state of blight that a case can be made for totally destroying residential and commercial buildings and streets and sidewalks, trucking the wreckage out to a landfill, then rebuilding from the ground up to a great height with other materials trucked, shipped and flown in from all over the world with much externalized carbon release. <br />Not a very green solution when one thinks of reuse as the best form of recycling, but this is what the OCR and its “partners” in development/banking are all about. No wonder they avoid input from the community while enthusiastically seeking to fulfil the wishes of outside interests. How can that be in a democracy? Consider this: the District Supervisor has taken in about a $1million in her 20+ years in office largely from the development sector. A county supervisor, 1$million! How much have you given her? That is why corruption is often considered a negative. It is anti-democracy. And it makes haters. Let’s not make more haters, please.<br />Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246743662284890173.post-71850680716798109752017-11-09T12:56:20.565-05:002017-11-09T12:56:20.565-05:00So what's up with route 7 Transit plan? Havn&#...So what's up with route 7 Transit plan? Havn't heard anything about it in over a year. That will be the real game changer. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com