Reply to Upper NW DC the "Suburbs"?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We live in Upper NW and it is definitely not the suburbs.

All of upper NW was built around street car lines and most neighborhoods are very walkable to both transit and retail.

And several of the commercial corridors in Upper NW (really all of them except Wisconsin Avenue) have some fairly dense residential areas though the residential side streets are obviously mostly single family homes but even there the houses are mostly on lots that are a fraction the size of suburban lots including the lots just across the line in MD.

BTW there are many similar neighborhoods across all 4 quadrants of DC (ok not really SW DC) with single family homes immediately adjacent to higher density corridors with commercial and multi-unit buildings so NW isn't really that different from much of DC except it only has some small pockets of blocks with rowhouses which are more common in other DC neighborhoods.[/quote]

Cool. We have all of that and live in MoCo, outside the Beltway. [/quote]

Really - which neighborhoods in MoCo outside the beltway have all of that?  The faux urbanism of King Farm doesn't count because the transit there sucks and there really isn't that much density there either though it may feel like it because the traffic is still awful.[/quote]

I really don't feel like naming where I live so that you can mock it. Thanks. [/quote]

Because it doesn't exist.

I know Montgomery County pretty well.  The only two places that sort of come close would be close in to old town Rockville and if you count MARC service old town Gaithersburg.

If it exists then name it and it won't be mocked but as I pointed out faux urbanism doesn't count.[/quote]

What you call "faux urbanism" actually encompasses some really wonderful neighborhoods. You realize DC was planned as well, right? That's why there are so many similarities in terms of the type of architecture you see in particular neighborhoods; much of the city was done as part of subdivisions.

So stop acting like DC is this organic city. It's the product of urban planning, just like the "faux urbanism" neighborhoods you look down your nose at. [/quote]

You make think they are fine and we'd probably agree whatever neighborhood you are defending but strangely won't name is probably much better than most of what is found in Montgomery County.

But to re-iterate I bet your well planned suburban neighborhood still doesn't check several of the boxes that my DC neighborhood does, particularly around transit use and walk and bikeability.

And I don't understand the gripe about planning.  Your suburban neighborhood probably was much more a product of planning than just about any DC neighborhood but that's really neither a good nor a bad thing but on balance it is better that neighborhoods are planned than unplanned.[/quote]

So you're saying planned neighborhoods are good, but you criticize "faux urbanism"? How are those 2 things consistent with each other?

Also, you're wrong about walkability; I have sidewalks throughout my entire neighborhood. Getting to the metro requires a 10 minute bus ride from the bus stop, which is a 5 minute walk from my house. [/quote]

Look you are painting us as foes here when we really aren't.

Faux urbanism is better than no urbanism at all so I'm glad King Farm or wherever you live is at least incorporating some of the good elements of city living.  And yes some of these suburbs have the infrastructure to be walkable and have some connections to transit and even have some well designed retail areas that encourage walking and the bundling of trips and all of those things are good.  But the truth is that walking in these places is still more of a curiosity than a way of life for most people and the retail areas (and the transit stops) are still mostly visited by people driving and are surrounded by acres of parking.

I'm a 5 minute walk from a Metrorail station that gets me downtown in 13 minutes.  That same station is served by 35 bus routes, buses that take me to Georgetown, Silver Spring, Wheaton, Glen Echo etc.  I can get one seat rides to locations all over the region including in the suburbs.

My neighborhood, like yours, is imperfect.  But they are different.  Which is fine.[/quote]

If you really think walking is a curiosity in these neighborhoods, then I have to conclude you just haven't spent that much time here. That's a shame.

Also, newsflash: lots of DC residents have cars. I lived there for 10 years and know what the car usage is like. This is a city with a Walmart, for pete's sake. It ain't NYC, where truly no one (except the uber wealthy) have cars. [/quote]

Yea not like NYC where there is like 15 targets now  ;) [/quote]

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