Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Shiny new tourism video makes DC look awesome

Washington DC has a new tourism video making the rounds this month, mostly among locals ironically. It's a pretty big improvement over other videos that the district has pushed
( >_>), most importantly because it includes pretty pictures and high-contrast landscapes and clips showing that people actually live here. It even goes so far as to suggest that some of those people choose live here by preference.



Unfortunately it's only a small glimpse of what DC has to offer in ways of culture and amenities. District Scoutmob puts it well. "For one, we'd have included a lot more food porn. Sure, we get a glimpse of Spike Mendohlson's dashing visage gazing upon us from above, a nighttime shot of Ben's Chili Bowl lighting up our bowels screens and a view of what looks like a downtown restaurant, but what about the rest of it? Mainly, what about all of our dope-as-hell food trucks?" Washington is definitely developing a new vibrant culture around its food scene, so why not hype it up a bit more?

On the other hand, I love that they included a shot of a cool-looking gal in a gauze skirt riding a Bikeshare cycle with pastel balloons tied to the back, showing that not all Washingtonians are permanently dressed for a call into the office.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

District Bikeways, or "The obstacle course"

It looks like DC is finally looking to make moves on District bikeways just in time for the transit bill to take away local control of bike-ped funds. Yay timing!

Let me drop you some knowledge about biking in DC. It's not great. The District has received a lot of attention recently for its increasingly bike-friendly policies coming down the proverbial pipes, but the experience includes plenty of indirect routs, unprotected bike lanes, disjointed bikeways and drivers that are largely uneducated on right-of-ways and, on average, very bad at driving.


Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Quote of the Day

Found this gem in my land use planning course - it is a quote by an early-20th century planner that, in several variations, has nearly become a mantra for public planners.
"Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood and probably will themselves not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistency."
-- Daniell Burnham, 1907