Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Congestion Tax

I don't know DC well enough to be sure if it's a good idea, though certainly other related things which would effectively increase the price of commuting by car would be. But, definitely, there's something not quite right about what I've perceived to be the character of much new development in DC. Leaving aside the building height restriction, which I assume will never go away, much of the new residential condo development seems to be happening without the inclusion of neighborhood amenities such as basic retail (supermarkets, etc). So even as residential density might be increasing in spots, it still isn't very pedestrian and transit friendly.

Large parts of DC remind me of large parts of LA - dense enough to have many of the downsides of density while not quite dense enough for many of the advantages of density to kick in.