More Shopping, Less Center
Former Editor-in-Chief Ryan Avent writes a weekly column about neighborhood and development issues.
I asked in a post last week that developers not go out of their way to accomodate cars and that residents not go out of their way to drive. Reasonable propositions. Still, as a number of commenters noted, you can't suggest something along those lines and then expect Washingtonians to be heroes, throwing knapsacks over their shoulders as they head off on a long march to the grocery store two miles away. If we want city life to look a certain way, we have to do our best to make that way easy and attractive.
Part of that process is improving access to and the quality of public transit. The city should make extending and upgrading its transit system a high priority, but that will take plenty of time and money to do. A complementary plan is considerably easier--allow neighborhoods to do more to serve their residents by zoning for retail in predominantly residential areas.
This is not something Washington does well. A look at the city's zoning maps is illustrative. With the exception of a few neighborhoods, commercial zoning proceeds solely along main streets, resulting in large blocks of residential land without any retail establishments. It's not an accident that many of the District's residents have to walk long distances to pick up necessities; that's specifically how the city drew it up.
Why is this a poor way to lay out one's neighborhoods? For starters, as mentioned before, the longer someone has to walk to get something that they need, the more likely they are to use a car to do it. Longer walks decrease the load someone is able to carry on foot, further pushing them toward the use of a car. Even when just an odd or an end is needed, residents find themselves driving to get it, because no nearby option is available to them.
Of course, once someone is in a car, there's no particular reason for them to opt for the closest store when a bigger or better one, perhaps with more parking, is just a little further away. There is no guarantee, even, that the driver will stay in the District. Whatever their choice, it's likely to be one that caters to people using automobiles. By pushing residents into their cars, the city makes solvency more difficult for businesses seeking to attract pedestrians and easier for big box behemoths with acres of welcoming pavement. It also ensures that some dollars which might have been spent in the city instead flow into the suburbs, where more of those big box collections await.
Picture taken by billadler.
Certainly that aspect of concentrated zoning entails a bias against independent business, but that's not the end of the troubles for them. By focusing retail into fewer and concentrated areas, the city increases the customer base served by any one location, thus making them more attractive locations for chains. A corner bodega or deli serving one or two streets might be profitable while also focusing on a customer base too small to draw in chains. Push that independent business onto a high traffic commercial strip, however, and suddenly it finds itself competing with national chains and franchises -- not an easy environment for the small-time enterpreneur. By allowing business to distribute itself throughout residential areas, the city would make way for more businesses, more independent businesses, employing more people and with more money staying here in the District. That might not be as glamorous as the construction of a new Target, but it would be welcome news to many Washingtonians.
The benefits don't end there. As Jane Jacobs would tell us, small retail spread around neighborhoods encourages more people to spend more time on more streets. Busy streets serve many neighborhood functions, from improving community communication and organization to self-policing.
And the city shouldn't forget that this is something that many residents want. It's annoying to have to go a long way to get something, to have to drive and face crowds, to always have to go to the sad and boring CVS. It's very nice to have a little shop or two close by. To have places to go for a missing ingredient or a sandwich, for some toothpaste or a drink with your neighbors. Distributed retail would make life in the city better, and it would do so at a minimal cost to the government. Mayor Fenty has the announcement of a new retail action strategy as part of his 100 day plan. He'd do well to consider letting the stores come to the people.