Live from Riversdale: The Blues

This announcement is stolen wholesale from the RP Muse blog:

M.S.G. The Acoustic Blues Trio: Free Concert @ Riversdale Mansion June 27, 7pm


Riversdale Mansion hosts a series of free outdoor concerts during the summer and the next one features M.S.G. The Acoustic Blues Trio. M.S.G. perform Piedmont style blues. The trio consists of Jackie Merritt (Hampton, VA) on harmonica, Miles Spicer (Riverdale Park, MD) on guitar, and Resa Gibbs (Hampton, VA) singing. This is one talented group. Come join the fun next Wednesday (7pm, 4811 Riverdale Rd., Riverdale Park, MD 20737)!

"Four-quadrant safety gate" -- where are you?

On my way to the MARC this morning, I noticed that the portable warning signs are gone; the detour signs are down; the heavy equipment is gone; it's as if CSX is done with the upgrade work at our RxR crossing -- and the "four-quadrant safety gate" is nowhere to be seen. Inquiring minds do need to know...

UPDATE: Mayor Archer has today provided new information to TownTalk, namely that the installation of the new gates will be carried out in a separate phase of the work, dates TBA.

"Four-quadrant Safety Gate" countdown continues...

You know you live in a quiet town when the closing of a RxR crossing brings out legions of curious onlookers. The area around our MARC station was a popular destination this weekend, as CSX began its reconstruction of our RxR crossing on Queensbury Rd. one week later than originally announced.

The road is open again as of this morning, but my observation last night and this morning indicates that while the grade work appears to be done, there is as yet no visible progress on replacing the old crossing gates with the new "four-quadrant safety gate". Presumably they will continue the work next weekend?

Some photos taken around the crossing and Town Center over the weekend are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/dwightrholmes/TownCenterQueensburyRdRxRCrossing

Brentwood Wants to Be More Like Us? (Tax hikes in Brentwood & Cheverly)

On the subject of taxes... With our new property tax bill due to arrive shortly, I presume, there have been two recent articles in The Gazette that caught my eye. One, "Town taxes to nearly double in Brentwood", reports that Brentwood has voted itself a tax increase in order to buy into Mt. Rainier's police force protection. Raising their rates from 24.8c per $100 of assessment to 47.6 -- nearly double -- is a pretty dramatic statement that they want the additional security that comes with having a hometown police force, and are willing to pay for it. I guess they want to be more like us! Time will tell if this partial buy-in gets them what they want.

Cheverly is also raising its taxes, according to the article "Cheverly gets second tax increase in two years", but only by 3c (from 45 to 48c per $100) this year after a 5c raise last year. Reportedly, the town is battling a continuing budget deficit.

Cafritz summation -- from Rethink College Park and both local papers, The Gazette and The Sentinel

Still waiting for the Cafritz team to post its findings from the series of "community workshops" to its website, as promised... Meanwhile, we have three articles reporting on what was said, from Rethinking College Park, The Gazette, and The Sentinel.

Rethink College Park's Chris Ellepola has posted his writeup for us , summarizing the community input offered at the Riverdale Elementary meetings.

http://rethinkcollegepark.net/blog/2007/425/

I won't quote from Chris' article here, because the entire thing is well worth the read. I will point out that the most crucial item in his writeup is the observation that the Cafritz team's "report out" on June 14th omitted one entire range of views that had been expressed by some area residents at the meetings: Namely, their preference that the property NOT be rezoned at all, and instead be developed as a single family residence neighborhood -- if at all. (I would venture to say that most of the people arguing for no development at all, or at least no rezoning hail from either University Park or the section of College Park just north of Cafritz. But Hyattsville Councilman Chris Currie argued eloquently for the same in his screed which can be read on the Route 1 Growth blog.)

The Ellepola article also includes the announced schedule of further, upcoming Cafritz meetings, also to be held at Riverdale Elementary, which is as follows:

THURSDAY, July 26TH (7-9pm) & SATURDAY, July 28th (10am-12pm)
Two identical meetings, to share the team's "design principles."

SATURDAY, September 15th (10am-12pm) -TUESDAY, September 18th (7-9pm)
Two identical meetings to share their "concept plan."

Earliest possible groundbreaking: Fall 2009 (assumes successful rezoning -- see Dineen O'Connor quote from The Gazette, below).

The Gazette article, by Maya T. Prabhu, "Waiting for the details on Riverdale project: Owners of Cafritz property to seek rezoning to allow retail on undeveloped tract near Route 1," is available at:
http://www.gazette.net/stories/062107/hyatnew202417_32379.shtml

The most interesting items in this article are the quotes from University Park Mayor Tabori and from Dineen O'Connor, the responsible representative for our area on the Planning Commission.

Mayor Tabori summarized input from several UP residents at the meetings:

‘‘An important issue for us is where the entrance and exit are going to be. Is it going to be right on Route 1 and across from us?”

(To which I would respond, "Of course it's going to be on Route 1!" How could it not be? I would think the question is 'what additional access routes will there be, besides Route 1?')

O'Connor shed some light on what's involved assuming the Cafritz team proceeds and applies for the zoning change (to change the property's zoning from single family residences to multiuse zoning):

"The developer has to either prove there was a mistake in the original zoning...or prove that there has been a change in the character of the area to warrant a re-examination of the property,” she said.

O’Connor said it typically takes the Planning Board a year to decide.

Our town is represented in the article by Ward 2 representative Kate Sharpe, who (rightfully) is quoted as commenting that "It’s hard to make a decision one way or the other when we’re so early in the process."

There's also an article inThe Sentinel, "Developers seek feedback on Cafritz property," by Raechal Leone. It features quotes from Mayor Tabori and another UP resident, along with a College Park resident -- and none from any Riverdale Parkies. The gem from this article is the line "[University Park] Town officials are already making contact with state highway administrators and politicians." I bet they are.

Snapshots in time...

The photo labeled "Cafritz Property, 1965" (which has now been moved to near the bottom of this page) was taken in 1965, showing the Cafritz property at the top, and Riverdale Park Town Center at the bottom -- and no East-West Highway.

I grabbed this and some other overhead photos of the Cafritz area from the M-NCPPC website www.pgatlas.com.

Four images cropped and scaled identically from 1938, 1965, 1993, and 2000 are available via this link: http://picasaweb.google.com/dwightrholmes/CafritzPropertyAndTheParksFromAboveOverTime

Of note:
In the 1965 shot, you can clearly see the scars of the WWII manufacturing town that occupied the site; you can also see the clear line of the Trolley Line, which had at that time been recently abandoned. Also, I see that there was a street that occupied what is now the route of East-West Highway from west of the tracks to Route 1 and on over to Queens Chapel - Adelphi. Does anybody remember what the name of that street was? I'm guessing it was Rittenhouse?

In the 1938 shot, notice that much of what was to become the WWII manufacturing site, as well as what was to become the ERCO factory on the east side of the tracks, is essentially barren land, at least that's how it appears in the photo. Plenty of trees to the north in what is now Calvert Heights, but most of what is now the wooded Cafritz property was anything but at this time. Interesting.

Speaking of the ERCO factory (and adjacent airport), which spanned what is now River Rd., there are some good photos and history of the place here: http://www.airfields-freeman.com/MD/Airfields_MD_PG_C.html#erco
Thanks to Stuart Eisenberg for the link!

Comparing the 1993 and 2000 views, focussing on our Town Center, it's perhaps telling (or, more likely, just coincidental) that in 1993, there are only a few cars backed up on East-West Highway at Rt. 1, heading west, and the Town Center parking lot is jammed. Seven years later, it looks like all the cars have moved out onto East-West Highway, causing gridlock, and the Town Center parking lot is nearly empty.

"This too will pass."

We're hard wired for the farmers' market!

"Consumers have 10 times as many conversations at farmers' markets as they do at supermarkets — an order of magnitude difference. By itself, that's hardly life-changing, but it points at something that could be: living in an economy where you are participant as well as consumer, where you have a sense of who's in your universe and how it fits together. At the same time, some studies show local agriculture using less energy (also by an order of magnitude) than the "it's always summer somewhere" system we operate on now. Those are big numbers, and it's worth thinking about what they suggest—especially since, between peak oil and climate change, there's no longer really a question that we'll have to wean ourselves of the current model." [emphasis added]

Bill Mckibben, "Reversal of Fortune: The formula for human well-being used to be simple: Make money, get happy. So why is the old axiom suddenly turning on us?" Mother Jones, March/April 2007

available at: http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/03/reversal_of_fortune.html

Brian's post to TownTalk (where he talks about the oil running out, gas reaching $10 a gallon, and a time when we're all walking to do our errands, out of necessity, and won't it then be nice to have some mixed use density around us...) reminded me of this article in a recent issue of Mother Jones (rest her soul -- she died not so far from here, you know).



It's a very interesting article on "happiness", and what a new and growing school of thought in economics has to say about it. One "finding" is that a lot of what we treat as "morality" seems to be hard wired into us genetically! "Indeed, we seem to be genetically wired for community."

And the particular section from which I pulled the above quote seems to me to say that what we are about here in Riverdale Park is the right thing -- and we should just keep doing more of it!

Reactions to the first Cafritz Property "community workshop"

Am I the only one who can't wait til Thursday to hear what the Cafritz development team tells us they gleaned of the two community workshops they held? And how they see themselves proceeding from here? (I only wish I could be there on time, but a conflict will prevent that)

I would love to hear what other people are thinking, and what they foresee as obstacles... Does this seem like just one more proposal that will likely disappoint or even just peter out in the end? Or is it really something refreshingly different? Other than save some of us a bunch on gas money and driving time, how would it change our community to have something like a Whole Foods store in town? What are the plusses? and minuses? And do we need a reality check before we start planning our errand list around having a local Whole Foods!?!? And what about Councilman Olson's proposal that the residential aspect of the project be an Over-55 community to prevent any negative impact on our area's schools?

There's been little (no?) discussion of or reaction to the Cafritz meetings on TownTalk. Perhaps we're all waiting to hear what the Cafritz team has to say at the third and final meeting on Thursday, June 14. My own reaction continues to be conflicted: While I'm sincerely enthusiastic about the promise, I don't want to let myself get carried away -- so I remain cautious. For one, as we all know, there are a bazillion hoops to go through before the first shovel can be pushed into the ground. Moreover, it's usually healthy to be at least a bit skeptical; after all, doesn't this sound too good to be true? The Cafritz family have brought in -- along with themselves -- *seven* different professional firms or agencies (along with donuts, lunch, and a violinist) - what do they want from me? Surely, it's more than my opinion?!? (And is it more than my support for a zoning variance?)

Of course, this is a classic case of damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't. Had they proceeded headstrong with a proposal, they'd be criticized for not soliciting community input -- and deservedly so. Instead, they've gone to great lengths to approach our elected officials, and then to arrange this series of meetings to find out what our interests and concerns are. For this they should receive credit -- and I believe they are. I certainly applaud them for their approach thus far. Nonetheless, some degree of skepticism (or cynicism) seems unavoidable, if not advisable: I guess I'll just fall back on the famous words of Ronald Reagan: "Trust, but verify." :)


One thing I've started to wonder: Why don't the Cafritz family buy up the Riverdale Park Industrial Park and merge that in with their current holdings? Or even the USPS parcel (ahem... no pun...)? (anybody know who owns that property?) When you look at the overhead views or maps, the USPS and Industrial Park properties really stand out as vestiges of the old, and obstacles to the new (at least to what appears to be the future direction of the area).

Meanwhile, there are at least three writeups of the Cafritz development and/or the workshop from last Saturday (June 2nd), published on the following blogs, Rethinking College Park, Route 1 Growth, and Life in Riverdale Park:

from Rethinking College Park (By Chris Ellepola):

"The Business and Retail arm of the resource team stated that Whole Foods Mid-Atlantic President Ken Meyer has seen the Cafritz Property and said he would like to put a store there. The company is waiting on plans for the development in order to move forward. Fall is a reasonable time to expect a more definitive position from Whole Foods as to whether or not it will place a grocery store on the Cafritz Property."

http://rethinkcollegepark.net/blog/2007/409/

from Route 1 Growth:

"My overall impressions were positive and I felt that the development team was interested in engaging the public in this discussion. County Council member Eric Olson termed the outreach unique and important. Although no development plans have yet been filed, one must keep in mind that the development group does have a vision for the property. Certainly the selected team members, the stated values and the workstation topics lead me to believe that this project will tend towards high-density development. The very point of having the community input meetings is to modify the original single family zoning."

http://route1growth.wordpress.com/2007/06/04/summary-of-june-2nd-cafritz-community-input-meeting/

from a new local blog, Life in Riverdale Park: http://lifeinriverdalepark.blogspot.com/2007/06/cafritz-property.html

"My wife and I have shopped at the Whole Foods in Silver Spring, and it is a huge store. Their food selection appears superior in terms of quality and health conscious options to a standard Giant, Safeway, Shoppers, etc. However, the prices are high, and I know some residents would be turned off by this. I still think that there would be enough interest though to justify a store. I would really hope that environmental concerns are taken seriously with a development so close to the Anacostia River. I've read a lot about how the vast amount of impervious surface at PG Plaza has really hurt the local tributaries of the Anacostia. A garage would be ideal in order to keep as much green space as possible."

Cafritz Property & Riverdale Park - Aerial shots

I wasn't able to get to Thursday's Cafritz "Community workshop" but am looking forward to next week's "summary" meeting. It's exciting to ponder the possibilities of what could be a very positive change for our town and the larger community.

I grabbed a few aerial photos off of WindowsLive -- for the slide show, scroll way down, down near the bottom of the page. Here's one still shot:



The above aerial shot, facing south, shows the Trolley Line trail (proposed hiker-biker trail route) cutting across the Cafritz property towards Riverdale Park Town Center, with the USPS facility to the west and the CSX tracks to the east.

You may click on the photo to see an enlarged version.

For more of these aerial photos of the Cafritz - WMATA area plus adjoining areas of Riverdale Park go to:

http://picasaweb.google.com/dwightrholmes

and choose the Cafritz album.

Cafritz' high-powered starting lineup

I found these links via Google: Collectively, these represent all of the firms or agencies that were present at Saturday's Cafritz program, and listed on the back of the brochure distributed there, I think.

[The role(s) of each group on the "resource team" is in brackets]

The one I'm not entirely certain about is this one:
MV+A ARCHITECTS ["Placemaking"]
http://www.mva-arch.com/
In the brochure they're listed as MV&A Architects -- but that would not be the only typo on the brochure, to wit, the representative of MV&A is listed as Jim Volzke; on MV+A Architects' website the name Voelzke is in the banner along with others. I'm willing to wager this is one and the same group, but can't be certain...

Here are the others:

The first one, HO&C, is intriguing: Did anyone at the meeting hear or see the term "affordable housing" anywhere?

HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES & CONCEPTS: THE EXPERTS IN AFFORDABLE HOUSING ["Livability"]
http://www.hocmc.org/AboutHOC/Documents/HOC-Concepts-Brochure.pdf

LOIEDERMAN SOLTESZ ASSOCIATES ["Environmental Sustainability"]
http://www.lsassociates.net/

BENNETT FRANK MCCARTHY ARCHITECTS ["Open Spaces & Connections"; "WMATA"]
http://www.bfmarch.com/

H & R RETAIL ["Business & Retail"]
http://www.hrretail.com/

THE TRAFFIC GROUP ["Transportation"]
http://www.trafficgroup.com/

EHRENKRANTZ ECKSTUT & KUHN ARCHITECTS ["Moderator"; "Graphic Design"]
http://www.eekarchitects.com/

How many Whole Foods can you fit in a VW Bug? or in the Cafritz Property?

I had a whole host of reactions (ranging from the very positive to the highly cynical) while attending the Cafritz Property extravaganza on Saturday (complete with solo violinist, snacks and lunch, and a high-powered team of consultants and salespersons!)

I don't have time to write up all of my reactions & subsequent questions, but I'll throw out a few here in hopes of stirring up some discussion among others who attended...

Clearly, they have their hearts (and wallets?) set on landing a Whole Foods. And in an interesting sort of conflict-of-interest, the marketing/business location guy that they had there happens to work for a firm that is employed by Whole Foods to help find new viable locations. Hmmm... I asked him if he could tell me how big the property is where the Silver Spring Whole Foods sits. He could not. So I did a little back-of-the-google map calculation myself:

NOTE: All 3 photos are at same scale (and you can click on each one to see a larger image)

PHOTO #1: Aerial shot of the Silver Spring Whole Foods complex (incl the other stores and parking lot)

PHOTO #2: I copied my outline (red line) from Silver Spring onto an aerial shot of the Cafritz Property (white, dotted line).

PHOTO #3: I multiplied that red outline (and rotated one of them) to determine that approx 5 of them would fit on the Cafritz Property. So the Whole Foods complex is roughly 5 - 6 acres, I reckon.

This question of 'how big is a Whole Foods in relation to this property?' came to mind as I was seeing and hearing an ever-expanding "wish list" develop at the meeting. Included: many competing priorities. Housing, amenities, greenspace, Whole Foods, hardware store, ethnic restaurants, minimize environmental impact, hiker-biker trail, playgrounds, etc... Since shopping centers come with big parking lots, how much of your 36 acres are you willing to give up to asphalt? (BTW, I asked if they'd considered putting the parking underground and on the roof, as at the P St. Whole Foods -- "We haven't gotten that far, yet.")

Overall, I left with an image of the magical Arabian tent from childhood cartoons -- tiny from the outside, seemingly infinitely large on the inside. So what of these many, desirable ideas will give way as the project takes shape?

P.S. Here's one more: PHOTO #4 (below). On this view of the Cafritz property I've overlaid the outlines of three different Whole Foods from the Metro area: Silver Spring, P St. (near 14th St NW), and Falls Church. The Silver Spring and Falls Church stores are similar in that both have other stores in the same shopping center, and a large parking lot. Location-wise these two are most like our Riverdale Park situation. The P St. store is, of course, urban and not suburban, and is a standalone store (though surrounded by a variety of other retail, office and residential properties). It is noteworthy for having its parking on the roof and underground. (As a frequent shopper at this store, I can attest to the fact that parking is often difficult to find!)

Obviously, with its biker-ped-friendly "hidden parking" and overall smaller "footprint" a store along the lines of the P St. Whole Foods would take up much less acreage, greatly reduce the runoff from a sprawling parking lot and leave much more land for other purposes -- including greenspace. (However, it should be reiterated that the P St. store is a standalone Whole Foods -- adding additional stores and businesses would certainly increase the footprint.)

The Coffee House is "Virtual" for now...

I added the word "virtual" to the welcome message at the top of the page. One earnest reader was confused, and wrote to ask me where the new coffee house is! Don't we wish... BTW, when I first heard about Busboys & Poets coming to EYA, I figured that might also serve to satisfy our coffee house needs somewhat. But i don't see the word coffee even mentioned on their website, let alone in their menus. So maybe I'm wrong. Would still love to hear from someone who's been to the one at 14th & Columbia NW.

Cafritz Property

The map to the left shows the outlines of the Cafritz Property (thin red line) nestled between:

NORTH: WMATA property which lies between Albion Rd. /College Park-Riverdale Park town line and the Cafritz Property;
WEST: Rt. 1, and University Park;
EAST: CSX RxR tracks;
SOUTHWEST: USPS facility;
SOUTHEAST: RP Industrial Park.

Town Center connects to the property via the route of the old trolley tracks, current well-worn pedestrian path, and hoped-for future Trolley Line Hiker-Biker Trail (shown by thick blue line). You can click on the map to see it in full size.

Route1 Growth blog has some thoughts on the future of the Cafritz property:
http://route1growth.wordpress.com/

I guess we'll get a hint, perhaps, of what the developers have in mind tomorrow at 10 a.m...

Pizza & a Novel?

EYA East lands Busboys & Poets Restaurant and Bookstore

EYA developers (the new developments along Rt 1 in Hyattsville AND Riverdale Park) announced an agreement with Busboys & Poets to be the "anchor restaurant" in EYA East. This is EYA Phase II, which lies partially in our town, and which will help build and abut on the Hyattsville portion of the Trolley Line Hiker-Biker Trail. I've never been to Busboys & Poets, though we've often talked about going -- they've got quite a bit of press in the Post and elsewhere. But it seems like an excellent fit with the concept of a Route 1 "Arts Community" while also fulfilling some of the need for more local choices in places to eat and places to hang out.

Has anyone been to Busboys & Poets downtown? I'd love to hear what you think of it.

They've got a nice website, with menus, etc.

http://www.busboysandpoets.com/