An Equity + Development Field Trip

When I asked the youth which part of the trip they liked best, they all said the same thing: "The Museum." I could not disagree.

Last week, I had the good fortune to tag along with the Youth Leadership Team from Friendship Court, as well as some friends and mentors, on a trip to Washington, DC. The purpose of the visit was for the seven high school students to learn more about Equity Planning, property development and how the two intersect, through the lens of some specific projects. It was the culmination of a two-year program of civic education to empower them to be active contributors to Friendship Court’s redevelopment plan.

After taking the morning train and depositing our luggage at a rented townhouse, we traveled to Southeast to meet with Vaughn Perry, Equitable Development Manager of the 11th Street Bridge Park. The 11th Street Bridge project is one that I have been following closely because it is cool in so many ways. Attempting to bridge the Anacostia's social divide is challenging enough but they are also setting a new standard of positive social impact.

The project is relentlessly community-driven. It started with an honest discussion of whether the neighbors even want the park, and if so what kinds of features, uses, and programs will make the project appealing and useful for the entire community—especially those under-served neighborhoods on its south bank. This striking architectural project is accompanied by an equally bold Equitable Development Plan, which has specific strategies for workforce development, affordable housing, and small business enterprise. Although it's by no means required (or anything like standard practice), they’re on track for a 1:1 match of community development monies raised to park project funding.

Tyquan asked what was on everyone’s mind: “Are you really going to build this?” Vaughn didn’t hesitate, “We’d better build it—too much is at stake not to. Let me just say this: I’m 99.9% certain.”

From a physical standpoint, it’s still just a plan, although work is slated to begin in a year or so (a speed made possible by the fact that it is being built with local, not Federal, funds.) Still, they are not waiting for the physical structure to start pulling people to the river or to pursue their equity mission. They co-host a major festival in adjoining Anacostia Park, as well as youth programs (focused on gardening and the river), neighborhood-specific public art, a Ward-8 home buyers club and more.

They host periodic walking tours and I think we should take a group from Charlottesville. In any case, this is definitely a project I will continue to watch.

The meeting with Vaughn was a big highlight for me, but it was just the beginning of an ambitious agenda. The youth also met with Matthew Steenhoek, vice-president of the firm that is developing the massive mixed-use District Warf project. They had a private visit (!!!) to the National Museum of African American History and Culture. And, they toured SeVerna on K with Mel Thompson, of Grimm and Parker—the firm selected to redesign Friendship Court. SeVerna is very similar to the envisioned future of Friendship Court and it was very enlightening to walk through an actual space (including some apartments)--much better than looking at plans or drawings. I think it would be useful for more people to do that.

It was a whirlwind trip, with a lot to take in and no small amount of walking and riding around the capital city. It was great to hang out with the kids, most of whom I’ve known since they were very young. It was also quality time with some of my favorite adults—Barbara Brown-Wilson, Claudette Grant, Beth Meyer and Margaret Haltom. It’s nice to be with friends but it’s especially great to be together in beautiful spaces and to see real-world expressions of ideas we talk about so much.

I'm looking forward to applying some of what I learned to my work in Charlottesville.

Connective Corridors to Monticello

Charlottesville to Monticello & Beyond is a report I co-authored about re-connecting Charlottesville to Monticello for pedestrians and cyclists. The entry explores the core of the report: a comparison of four possible connective corridors. My deepest gratitude to my co-authors (Maura Harris, Caroline Herre, Joel Lehman, and Julie Murphy) whose ideas and language infuse this entry.



The practicum team and its advisors studied four corridors to connect Charlottesville to the Saunders-Monticello Trail based on City and County Comprehensive Plans, which are closely aligned on this subject. Although it is possible to get from source to destination using other routes, such as stream valleys, our analysis had to be finite and build upon our stakeholders’ previous consensus-building work. Our work focuses mainly on transportation corridors, while acknowledging that a truly comprehensive outcome will probably make other, more recreational connections, too.

For convenience, we named these corridors Routes A, B, C, and D.

Garrett Street Mural is a Step Forward

The site chosen by the Tom Tom Founders Festival (the corner of Garrett and 6th Street in Charlottesville) for its City as Canvas mural project was already slated for a capstone expression in the Bridge PAI’s Play the City program. My initial reaction was to ask myself, “Doesn’t anyone talk to each other around here?” As I dug deeper and spent time with artist Mickael Broth and his project, I came to the conclusion that it really doesn’t matter. We should just celebrate the mural, which is pretty cool and it's real.

The site was not just a blank wall—it’s at the heart of a major urban renewal project that effectively erased a neighborhood and replaced it with a new housing project, which is in its turn now the subject of intense speculation. Bitterness about the erasure of history cohabits the zone with nervous speculation about the future, along the historic 6th Street right-of-way and steps from multiple public housing complexes with many children. The location offered a tremendous opportunity for the community to work through some of its issues through the arts and make a strong statement with its own ideas about its specific dreams and desires. That’s an ambitious goal.

Meanwhile, the Tom Tom organizers saw an opportunity to make a mark of their own. They reached a private deal with the landowner (no public bodies needed to be consulted in this case) and they hired an artist from Richmond, essentially freezing out community discussion. The result would undoubtedly be livelier than the status quo, but perhaps a missed opportunity to have something more layered, in line with advanced contemporary thinking on public art.