Dont' feed the troll. Talk about the Mosaic district or just let others stew in their urban smugness.

Anonymous wrote:My take is that "militant urbanist" means someone who thinks they really were destined to live in an edgy urban neighborhood in NYC or Chicago, but ended up living in a place like Columbia Heights that is now full of chains like Best Buy and Chipotle and working in some dead-end public policy job. Crapping on the suburbs is as good a way as any to vent their frustrations. It takes more keystrokes than working out, but less energy.

LOL!!! Seriously. Go to Williamsburg, oh militant urbanist. Oh, wait a second, even Williamsburg has been disneyfied now so you probably would hate it there too. Yawn.

I live about 3-4 miles from Mosaic in Falls Church. We have been going about once every 3 months. Went there this past weekend in fact.

Ignoring the troll who just wants to hate everything in suburbia, here's my take:

Pros: cool theater, Target, and other key stores. (Last Call Neimans? yes please!) Walkable atmosphere.
Home Depot also across the street.
Some great or might be great restaurants: 4 sisters, RJ Chapmans, Cava, etc.
Some great stores: The Butchery and MOM's are great.
Plenty of free parking.

Cons:
Fish store seems kind of sad/empty.
Ah Love Oil is both ridiculously names and obscure in what is sells. (Reminds me of the Portlandia sketch where they go to the Knot store.)
I think certain stores like Anthropologie, Dawn Price Baby, and others are overpriced boutiques and not for me, but I know others love them.
Some restaurants are not so great (Sea Pearl)
Not a lot of green space there--it'd be great if there was a skating rink or something for the kids a la Reston Town Center.

Anonymous wrote:We lived in NYC for 13 years (in the East Village, no less) and now live near the Mosaic District. DH and I were just saying how happy we were to have all this great stuff going in just a couple of miles from our house. I love that while Mosaic has chains, they are mostly local chains and not shitty national chains you'd find in any other strip mall. The whole thing feels very cool and urban in an area that is anything but. I would never drive there from DC or probably even Old Town, but compared to the rest of the junk we get out here in the close-in burbs, Mosaic is awesome!

Yes exactly but it goes against the city dwellers view that we only have applebees and no public transport. Just cause we live out here for better housing and schools doesn't mean we sacrificed boutique stores and public transport. I think that shocks them cause they had to trade that off where we can have it all (theoretically). haha

We lived in NYC for 13 years (in the East Village, no less) and now live near the Mosaic District. DH and I were just saying how happy we were to have all this great stuff going in just a couple of miles from our house. I love that while Mosaic has chains, they are mostly local chains and not shitty national chains you'd find in any other strip mall. The whole thing feels very cool and urban in an area that is anything but. I would never drive there from DC or probably even Old Town, but compared to the rest of the junk we get out here in the close-in burbs, Mosaic is awesome!

Anonymous wrote:
Sorry to hijack the discussion, but we live in Vienna and I think there are plenty of finely balanced "McMansions" here. My house was built by Steve Bukont and it is a well thought out architecturally and structural sound home. There's nothing wrong with having a big house on a big lot, just as there's nothing wrong with living in a tiny city rowhouse cramped by 1000 people within 100 feet of you.

"Finely balanced"? Here are examples of Mr. Bukont's restraint:

http://www.ayrhillhomes.com/Slideshows/Exterior%20Photos/EXTERIOR%20PHOTOS/index.html

What sayeth the hivemind?

My take is that "militant urbanist" means someone who thinks they really were destined to live in an edgy urban neighborhood in NYC or Chicago, but ended up living in a place like Columbia Heights that is now full of chains like Best Buy and Chipotle and working in some dead-end public policy job. Crapping on the suburbs is as good a way as any to vent their frustrations. It takes more keystrokes than working out, but less energy.

What the hell is a "mosiac district"? Is that a thing? Like a real thing, not a invented-by-developers-in-2011 thing.

Anonymous wrote:Militant urbanist here. The Mosaic District will be a great development for the region, as are all of the other "town centers" (and I get that this one is aiming to have some better... programming, I guess, than many of the others) that bring a little bit of "New Urbanist" experience to yesterday's 'burbs.

No reason to knock this little oasis of civilization, but also no reason for us to shlep way the hell out there. And although the Mosaic experience will certainly help to alleviate the painful idiocy of suburban life, you all will still pile into your minivans at the end of your visit and return to either your cookie cutter "townhomes" sitting in parking lots, your formerly working class rambler 'hoods with chain link fences, or perhaps your architecturally unbalanced McMansions that would fall down after the first huff and puff.

So... on the one hand, not too shabby. But on the other, still a resounding MEH.

Sorry to hijack the discussion, but we live in Vienna and I think there are plenty of finely balanced "McMansions" here. My house was built by Steve Bukont and it is a well thought out architecturally and structural sound home. There's nothing wrong with having a big house on a big lot, just as there's nothing wrong with living in a tiny city rowhouse cramped by 1000 people within 100 feet of you.

The Mosaic Center may not be your cup of tea (no pun intended), but it will give ppl here some options for shopping and entertainment besides the dreary Falls Church downtown or Vienna's Maple Ave/Church St. mess. Not everyone has to drive to downtown DC to "go somewhere."

10:11, you started out nicely and then got nasty.

Reality is, even if urban living was for everyone, simple population density means that not everyone can live in an urban area. Suburbs are a reality, unless we want to be in an environment like Karachi or Delhi. Why mock those who choose it, when there really isn't room for everyone to move into the District tomorrow even if they wanted to and could afford it?

And, even for those like me who don't want a McMansion, urban living doesn't make sense. My work is in the burbs and not accessible by mass transit, I don't have the income to send my child to private school so I need the better schools that the burbs provide. At least in this area, urban living as defined by DC proper doesn't make sense for us. My house and yard probably are smaller than most in Upper NW, so I'm certainly not living the much maligned 5,000sqft McMansion lifestyle.

That being said, I do hate schlepping everywhere in my car, and would be more pedestrian if the realities of my job allowed it. Pockets of mini-urbanity like the Mosaic District, Reston Town Center, Clarendon or even Shirlington or Pentagon Row that allow for retail shopping, dining, grocery shopping, etc... in a consolidated space are a good thing.

Nope, wouldn't really see the need to head from Capitol Hill or Dupont Circle out to Clarendon or the Mosaic District. But if I can get the same quality of life things there or in another city-center type space, then it minimizes the need for me to jump in my car and add to the traffic and pollution by heading to Capitol Hill or Dupont Circle.

Anonymous wrote:Militant urbanist here. The Mosaic District will be a great development for the region, as are all of the other "town centers" (and I get that this one is aiming to have some better... programming, I guess, than many of the others) that bring a little bit of "New Urbanist" experience to yesterday's 'burbs.

No reason to knock this little oasis of civilization, but also no reason for us to shlep way the hell out there. And although the Mosaic experience will certainly help to alleviate the painful idiocy of suburban life, you all will still pile into your minivans at the end of your visit and return to either your cookie cutter "townhomes" sitting in parking lots, your formerly working class rambler 'hoods with chain link fences, or perhaps your architecturally unbalanced McMansions that would fall down after the first huff and puff.

So... on the one hand, not too shabby. But on the other, still a resounding MEH.

Yawn. I don't think the expectation is that militant urbanists would trek to the Mosaic District, but rather that the monied suburbanites won't trek to places like Old Town or Dupont for things they can now find at Mosaic.

There really isn't much difference in the types of people who seek out these yuppie comforts in the city and the suburbs. The suburbanites might be a bit more open minded, many previously having lived in cities, but I'm sure there are some who ferociously disdain the Disney-fied stage set that passes for DC urban living these days. In their own way, places like the Mosaic District seem more honest about exactly what they are and are not. Oh, and parking there is a breeze!

Ciao.

Anonymous wrote:PP, you're an ass.

(Shrugs) I can live with that.

But I'm not sure how OP can STAND to end every sentence with "haha". Like a hyena, that one.

Hey, is this anywhere near Pimiento Hills?

PP, you're an ass.

Militant urbanist here. The Mosaic District will be a great development for the region, as are all of the other "town centers" (and I get that this one is aiming to have some better... programming, I guess, than many of the others) that bring a little bit of "New Urbanist" experience to yesterday's 'burbs.

No reason to knock this little oasis of civilization, but also no reason for us to shlep way the hell out there. And although the Mosaic experience will certainly help to alleviate the painful idiocy of suburban life, you all will still pile into your minivans at the end of your visit and return to either your cookie cutter "townhomes" sitting in parking lots, your formerly working class rambler 'hoods with chain link fences, or perhaps your architecturally unbalanced McMansions that would fall down after the first huff and puff.

So... on the one hand, not too shabby. But on the other, still a resounding MEH.

Another cool shop opening in Mosaic District !

Funny that their other locations are Bethesda, Dupont, Old town and Annapolis so I guess Mosaic is not that BAD haha.

"Capital Teas will call Mosaic home! Capital Teas is fifth generation, family-owned specialty tea merchant offering a very unique experience...starting with sniffing wall, where you can “Stop and smell the teas!”"

You can hear about all the exciting stuff immediately at
http://www.facebook.com/MosaicDistrict