BID Supports Pennsylvania Avenue Plan

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Pennsylvania Avenue, dubbed “America’s Main Street,” hasn’t reached its full potential. That much was clear when the National Park Service (NPS), the National Capital Planning Commission (NPC), the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), and the District of Columbia held an informational public meeting last month to discuss a master plan for the avenue’s long-term management. The plan seeks to address current problems and concerns and the avenue’s connections to the city. It presents alternative approaches for providing visitors, residents and workers with amenities as well as ways to streamline management so the avenue can fulfill its purpose and significance as one of the world’s great streets.

At the meeting, a DowntownDC BID representative presented an overview of our written remarks in support of the preferred alternative in the Pennsylvania Avenue Plan. Specially, the BID agrees that NPS’s Pennsylvania Avenue Plan’s preferred alternative—of the avenue “as a colorful, lively, urban environment with simplified management and jurisdiction”—is what Downtown D.C., our city and our nation deserve in making the section of Pennsylvania Avenue between the U.S. Capitol and the White House—an area wholly contained within the DowntownDC BID area—a model, global street.

“In many ways, with events such as the quadrennial Inauguration Parade, it is one of America’s greatest traditions,” wrote Richard T. Reinhard, the BID’s deputy executive director. “However in many ways it isn’t.”

He noted the avenue suffers from deferred maintenance, it’s retail sector is stifled by a wide, somewhat barren streetscape, and regulations have squelched sidewalk cafes in an otherwise lively Downtown that, at last count, had 147 outdoor restaurant spaces.

In addition, many of the goals listed by the Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation (PADC) in 1974—including transforming the avenue into an attractive and pleasant place for residents and visitors and providing a mixture of cultural and commercial activities to attract a wide variety of people and activate street life—have not been attained. Clearly, property managers and tenants along the street are willing to work to make them a reality. At a meeting convened by the BID, the NPS and the D.C. Office of Planning (OP) last month, they were enthusiastic about the preferred alternative.

Reinhard stressed that the BID would like to play a crucial role in moving ahead with implementation of the NPS’s preferred alternative.  Currently, the organization is in a partnership with NPS and the city to improve Franklin Park by working collectively to solve concerns in intelligent and creative ways.