Virginia Main Street Program

Sounds like a great 2 day session focusing a lot of what Vienna needs in its downtown and at only $110 for both days the price is very reasonable.

I'd find money in our Vienna budget to send several TC members.

I would actually like to know what TC/Mayor actively do each year in regards to redevelopment and thinking about the future of Vienna. Nothing, right?

Do you know if anyone's going? I just realized this event is tomorrow so it's too late to see if the council is interested if they haven't already signed up.

Things will not EVER change until the current members either die, leave, or are voted out. Thanks for voter apathy.

I hope someone from our local goverment does attend this, especially after some campaigned on revitalizing Maple Avenue.

There was a great program on PBS the other day about how suburban sprawl took hold during the Eisenhower era in the '50's. The gist of it was that the sprawl and its negative impact on traffic, the environment, and community life is the result failed experiment based on the false expectation of endlessly cheap oil, land, and highways.

Whether you accept the thesis - or at just agree that there are significant downsides to this 60 year old community planning model which have taken a long time to manifest themselves - then you must accept that things will only be worse in ten years without a change in course.

Those in power and against change in Vienna appear to be our more mature citizens and may be able to ride it out and hold off change for another long while, but please consider yourselves stewards for the next generation. Change can only be suppressed for so long before it becomes unstoppable, so you be proactive now to guide and shape this inevitable change so it is for the better, rather than letting unplanned insidious forces bring about only changes for the worse due to lack of forward thinking.

Since "no change" equals stagnation, and stagnation starts a downward spiral into blight, declining revenue base, traffic, pollution, and ultimately a "transitional" neighborhood (don't throw up the race card, I'm just that the value of 70-year-old rambler housing stock is a wasting asset that needs to be torn down or be in a area desirable in other ways in order to prop up its value to keep up with long-term housing costs in the competing surrounding areas, or else in ten years or more it will eventually be home to families with lower household income, like me).

So, if you're still reading, I argue that change is inevitable, without planning that change will be for the worse, change with poor planning will likely also be for the worse, so good change, while not guaranteed, can only be accomplished by growth. Since no one espouses dumb growth, we must pursue some form of well thought out, planned, forward thinking growth that considers what Vienna will look like in the future instead of how it was in the past.

Whether it be "Smart Growth America" or "Virginia Main Street" or "Green Revolution" or Hooters, please be stewards for future generations if you will not turn over the reins.

it's too late to see if the council is interested if they haven't already signed up.That just says volumes doesn't it! How about our 2 new leaders
any initiative on their part?

Since 1985 the VMS program has been gentrifying out poor folk and the middle class. Just ask former Mayor of Richmond Tim "Hot Lanes" Kaine how effective VMS was at ridding Richmond of the African American working class.

Among the TC and various commissions, who is both responsible and in position to actually push redevelopment? I assume that there is some ability to do things to attract certain businesses and discourage others. I assume that zoning can be used to do some of this and that various other laws and regulations can be put in place to assist. But, the TC can't buy up an empty lot on build whatever they want on it. So, what can they really do? Can they actively deal with that abandoned gas station? Can they actively do anything to update some of the horrendous looking storefronts?

I heard the folks from the Town-Business Liaison Committee talk about things they'd like to do. But they don't seem to have any ideas other than ribbon cutting ceremonies. Who can make things happens? I'm not even asking who will...just who can.

I want to know how Maud is going to control the stupid things Jane Seeman says when she is on TC meetings? Is Boob Mayor Seeman going to wear a hearing device, i.e. a listening device to hear Maud's Voice kicking her in the shins when she starts babbling about something idiotic, which is very much commonplace for her.

That being said, with her at the wheel, we will never see any good or smart growth until these old sots either die, leave, or get voted out, so why even discuss this Main Street Issue?

What has Mayor Boob Jane Seeman ever done that has truly been the result of real true leadership? Nothing.

http://www.historicvienna.com/council_members/jane_seeman/

Need I say more?

Gee, did anyone bother to send TC/Mayor a note about this? or will you only post your negative dooms day diatribe "Things will not EVER change until the current members either die, leave, or are voted out. Thanks for voter apathy."

On June 18, the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority presents “The New Urban Economic Model: The Transformation of Fairfax County,” a conference at the Hilton McLean Tysons Corner. Learn how suburban communities are meeting the challenges of growth to become better locations for business with stronger economies and a higher quality of life. Interact with distinguished speakers such as Urban Land Institute Senior Resident Fellow (and former Indianapolis Mayor) William Hudnut and Brookings Institution urban policy scholar Anthony Downs, and expert panelists from the Washington, New York and Seattle areas. This is a must-attend event full of insight and networking opportunities for corporate executives, corporate facilities managers, site location consultants, commercial real estate professionals, economic developers and urban planners. Visit www.transformingfairfax.org for event information and registration. (Enter promotional registration code “FCEDA” on the registration screen and then enter “Randi Lombardozzi”.)

Vienna-Tysons Regional Chamber of Commerce
http://www.vtrcc.org/new.htm

Looks like more smart growth gentrification.

I saw what has happened to Clarendon in Arlington and Del Ray in Alexandria. Thriving middle class communities with Mom & Pop retail which the Yuppies pointed to as being "blighted."

So what's there now? Trendy retail, bars, and restaurants. Lots and lots of traffic. Least expensive homes list for $800,000 and least expensive condos list for $500,000. Same old same old Club Hedo Yuppie stuff that's been around for 25 years. What ever happened to the diversity the politicians inside the Beltway constantly preach? Just more PR.

Barry - Don't look now but all the homes in Vienna list for no less that $600,000. I would love to see the mom & pop retail in Vienna but they can't compete with the real estate prices. What do you have to present us with to save us from your so called "smart growth gentrification".

Gentrification Station

Virginia Main Street program helps towns that have a population of 75,000 or less and they emphasize re-use of existing buildings. Nowhere is Richmond mentioned as a town that Virginia Main Street program helped out. I'm not sure where you are getting your information from.

Barry - as the saying goes..."life is not always greener on the other side..."

Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarendon,_Virginia

Clarendon today
Some people claim that Clarendon is an excellent example of smart growth and transit-oriented development. It has been speculated that the term "urban village" was coined in reference to the plans for modern Clarendon. Yet some residents argue that these terms conceal part of the story, as businesses serving residents' needs (hardware store, drug store, dry cleaner, ice cream parlor, etc.) have been faced with displacement by high-rises and businesses luring people from outside the neighborhood.

Don't look now but all the homes in Vienna list for no less that $600,000.

Not sure what you mean when there are 39 properties for sale in Vienna listed below 450k.

Yes, not necessarily "affordable" to everyone in this country but the correction in the real estate market has made Vienna much more realistic for more people.

Who can make things happens?

Correct me if I'm wrong but Town Council could vote to change the zoning anytime they wanted, yes?

Who can make things happen?

See the hurdles set by TC for things not to be able to happen.

Take a look at:

Town/Business Liaison Committee MINUTES 01/08/2009
http://www.viennava.gov/allagendas/liaison_minutes20090108.htm

and

the minutes from Planning Commission 10/01/2008 http://www.viennava.gov/allagendas/planning_minutes20081001.htm

I'm so tired of people comparing Vienna to Clarendon. It's about the same for me as comparing Vienna to Washington D.C. Vienna is a small town and although it can have some similarities to these areas, it is still a very different size with different needs. Small towns can redevelop while still maintaining their character and many of their older buildings. Virginia Main Street lists the following areas that they currently work with: Abingdon, Altavista, Bedford, Berryville, Blackstone, Culpeper, Franklin, Harrisonburg, Luray, Lynchburg, Manassas, Marion, Martinsville, Orange, Radford, Rocky Mounty, South Boston, Staunton, Warrenton, Waynesboro, and Winchester. None of these symbolize "smart growth gentrification" to me.

Face it, the Yups hate the middle class. And they despise poor people. The Yups who control Arlington are bulldozing the last of the Mom & Pops out of Clarendon.

As far as the towns in Virginia you mention are concerned they are becoming like Clarendon. Main streets are becoming Yupscale enclaves and the local middle class can't afford $4 ice cream cones and $5 lattes. Middle class Mom and Pops that survive have been gentrified out to strip malls far outside town limits.

Twenty five years of Yuppies...enough is enough.

What is the difference between "urban renewal" and "smart growth"?

Urban renewal buildings were bare concrete modernist boxes. Smart growth buildings are modernist boxes with a veneer of beige, red, and/or orange brick.

Vienna won't become Clarendon and it shouldn't. Clarendon is heavily geared towards singles with all those bars and nightlife. We don't and won't have that. But, we could have a lot more sidewalk "culture", if you will. We could and SHOULD have a TC that is doing everything it possibly can to keep small businesses that are here and to attract new ones to our town. Some things can't be helped, of course. We aren't going to have some local grocery store, for example. But we sure as heck don't need Walgreens considering what is already here. Why our town government can't figure out ways to promote retail land use that encourages more diversity and more locally owned and operated business is beyond me.

I don't want a Pottery Barn or a Borders or an REI or a California Pizza Kitchen or anything like that. I would love to see locally owned versions of a record store, book store, running store, food co-op, pottery place, bagel place, shoe/athletic store, etc. I'd also like to see more attractive office buildings that use their lots more effectively. One or two story buildings with parking lots are just a damn waste.

Why doesn't the TS support the Maple Ave Vision? I can tell from the minutes that they don't, but I can't tell why?

Why should I automatically support a Mom & Pop business that charges significantly (I've seen as much as a 150% markup from Amazon) higher prices for the same product and (more than likely) pays their workers even worse than the chains?

I've never heard anyone comparing Bedford to Clarendon before. Interesting.

Barry, do you think Vienna needs any major changes? I've seen you rant constantly about yuppies and smart growth, but have yet to see any actual ideas from your end.

Maybe we will be lucky and redevelop to be like Del Ray in Alexandria, middle class was gentrified out but older buildings and local owners remain.