Reply to What is the purpose of an ANC? Do they have any real powers?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I hope that Macwood stays forever, particularly if the alternative is someone like her last opponent, Mr Ward.[/quote]

And continue to see the commercial strip whither away to nothing but CVS and Walgreens, each with 15 storefronts.[/quote]

Cleveland Park's challenge is that there are many other competing retail districts, when 20 or 25 years ago, today's trendy areas were sketchy areas.  CP, just like Chevy Chase DC, in today's DC economy is unlikely to be a major retail/entertainment district.  Another challenge is that real estate investors want national tenants or local chains with deep balance sheets, which allows investors to finance and more easily monetize their portfolio.

What CP can do is make its streetscape more attractive (a DC project that will start soon) and have more focus activities to bring people to shop there, like the farmer's market, as well as develop more of a neighborhood brand identity (historic Cleveland Park, Art Deco architecture, zoo, etc.).  The new library and Uptown theater help.

That said, the CP commercial area is way more successful than Van Ness, which has a lot more empty storefronts despite being a busier Metro station with "high rise" residential and commercial buildings surrounding it.  [/quote]

Van Ness is thriving.
Chevy Chase, DC has a new restaurant open and another coming this year.
Other parts of the city have throngs of people supporting their businesses during the day and evening.

Cleveland Park is stagnant and on the verge of failing as a commercial area. There isn't enough daytime traffic to support restaurants being open before dinner, and one cannot support a thriving food business with patrons only there from 5 - 10.

It will be a challenge to address this, but the simple solution is to get more density and try to ensure some of it is office space, like a WeWork, that can generate some daytime support for the businesses that are there.
[/quote]

Is Van Ness thriving?  They couldn't even keep the pharmacy (Walgreens?) alive and the Giant is downright depressing.

Agree with your points on Cleveland Park.  The NIMBYs would rather have a dead retail strip than more traffic.[/quote]

The Walgreens failure had little to do with the neighborhood and everything to do with the company's foolish expansion plans, which have been well documented. They decided to put a store a football field's length from an established CVS and a half mile up the road from another Walgreens. Shockingly, the new one didn't last.

The Giant isn't my ideal place to get groceries but calling it depressing is hyperbole. It's fine for what it is, and having a full grocery store right on top of the Metro is a pretty big asset. If you want a depressing Giant, look to the one in Columbia Heights, which is a horror show.[/quote]

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