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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]1. Relax the height restriction in a sensible way, with preference given to new residential and mixed uses.
2. Improve enforcement of traffic laws with ticket reciprocity and an enforcement division.
3. Improve and densify public spaces, with more events  and more control over commerce in public spaces
(this last one is really an NPS issue re: the Mall and downtown parks, but DC sure would benefit from solving it).

A lot of the quality of life things that people cite are actually a function of #1. Downtown isn't dense enough to be fully vibrant without 100% in office workers, and in much of downtown its uses aren't diverse enough. Also, a lot of larger private sector business stays in VA because they can't find contiguous space to expand in DC.

Trying to make DC more suburb-like (with more parking and less bike infrastructure) will never work; the suburbs will always win on that front, and the city has spent decades and millions of dollars undoing the negative consequences of pursuing that strategy from the 50s to the 80s. DC has to lean into what makes it special and interesting and unique, which means emphasizing being around other people and doing cool things. More density downtown and better use of public spaces for events, food, and commerce would bring more people downtown, better traffic enforcement would make the experience of being out and about more pleasant, and a lot of the other stuff people worry about would just follow along. Also, more residential density downtown would raise revenues again to help offset the decline of office space.[/quote]

Getting rid of the height act restrictions would give away a huge distinguishing feature of Washington, DC, which leads to open vistas, light, green space and a more human-scale city.  Otherwise, we'll wind up as another Cleveland or Indianapolis skyline.  [/quote]

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