ISSUE #6 July 1, 2012

Need small solutions

THETYSONSCORNER.COM PAGE 2

COVER PHOTO BY

TYSONS ENGINEER

Streetscape Pixilate

ALL PHOTOGRAPHY AND

GRAPHICS WITHIN THIS

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PAGE 3

MegaProjects

How About MiniProjects ………4

Falls Church Lagging Behind

Regional Neighbors ……10

A Shared Rail/Road Bridge

Can Connect the Region ……12

Germany

Utopia of Conservatism? ………8

Wolftrap ………7

Don’t Destroy Residential Districts with Boone Boulevard Ramp ……17

Tysons Development Updates ……21

……25

Merrifield Parks a Good Example of Design Excellence ……31

Retail innovation control the costs ……32

THETYSONSCORNER.COM PAGE 4

In the Washington Metro

area, when it comes to

transportation it seems like

we only ever have one

answer, let’s build it BIG.

How big? Mega project big,

and this term instead of

being viewed as something

that should be avoided for

its detriment to flow

patterns and residents

during and after

construction, is viewed in

admiration as a game of one

upsmanship between

jurisdictions and

departments.

Regardless of studies that

seem to show that smaller

more human scale and

interconnected projects

could be more effective and

less costly, our jurisdictions

continue to say the only way

forward is MORE mega

projects.

Well we disagree, the mega

project era is over. If the

Wilson Bridge and Mixing

Bowl could do nothing to fix

495, then there is something

bigger happening here. $3

billion should not go towards

an “incremental”

improvement. $3 billion

should make a generational

improvement. If polled a

majority of residents might

have preferred 2 or 3

additional smaller crossings

be made of the Potomac

rather than continuing to

funnel the flood of

commuters into the pinch

point we currently have.

M e g a P r o j e c t s

H o w a b o u t

M i n i P r o j e c t s

Smaller crossings beyond being more

cost effective and easy to implement,

reduce the need for massive indirect

land acquisition necessary to create

the 14 different directions of travel

similar to what we now see in the

mixing bowl or Wilson Bridge.

Overpasses and ramps for separation

of traffic are the number 1 cost

increase to any road project. Less land

acquisition means MORE efficient river

crossings and less impact to wildlife

and natural regions.

By providing only ONE mode of

transportation with a bridge crossing

we are wasting the opportunity to

provide for future infrastructure for

rail improvements. Combining the

structural costs does increase the

price tag compared to a vehicle only

design, but a new rail crossing will

eventually be necessary, and

combining these costs would reduce

the total funding by 40% in many

cases. Additionally, combining the

number of piers necessary through

combination reduces the impact to

wildlife and creates a future

sustainable option which includes a

lower pollution source of passenger

rail.

PAGE 5

Lastly, we need to stop viewing the only improvements

that are acceptable as being 495 style 10 lane mega

crossings. These are not appropriate in most of the

potomac corridor and completely gash the existing

dynamics of established areas. There are thousands of

cases of 4-lane bridges in the United States and the

world capable of carrying 30,000+ users per day. Is this

the same as the 250,000 users the Wilson Bridge carries?

No, but that is the Wilson Bridge.

Taking 30,000 users off of the Beltway and the Wilson

bridge with a more sustainable and human scale bridge

will cost 10% of the Wilson Bridge project.

Benefit per cost remains the same, and more

importantly better locating of these bridges can reduce

the length of time en route by removing the bottle neck

and detour distance that travelling around the beltway

causes. These 30,000 users therefore equate to half the

travel distance as well, doubling the effectiveness of

properly routing them.

We need to learn from the big

dig and mixing bowl projects

Expensive systems that

caused massive headaches for

a decade with very little

regional traffic relief

The Tysons Corner is a

website in its infancy,

started in 2011, created

to discuss the local issues

specific to eastern Fairfax

including the regions of

Tysons Corner, Falls

Church, McLean, Vienna,

and Merrifield. Our goal is

to provide a deeper

analysis of progressive

topics centered around

the new urbanism

concepts of a 21st century

Northern Virginia. We

have seen the region grow

from a quiet suburban

community to a cultural

and economic contributor

of the east coast rivaling

other more established

cities. The area for many

years grew without

direction leaving a

disconnected community

of micro-developments

without any coordinated

design concept. Our goal

is to create a unified,

or cacophonous, voice of

residents and interested

parties to discuss what the

future vision for the

region could or should be.

We look to fill the

questions that many have

and provide the depth of

coverage that is difficult

for overall news

publications to provide.

We are currently

looking for interested

bloggers who are

looking for a forum to

discuss their ideas as a

writer for TTC. This

could be done as an

exclusive TTC format

or as a cross post with

other independent

blogs. If you are

interested in reaching

a large base of readers

specific to this region

think about joining.

Please feel free to contact us;

navid@thetysonscorner.com

THETYSONSCORNER.COM PAGE 6

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PAGE 7

Wolf t rap

Wolftrap On Thursday night,

before any of us had to worry about the

ability to get air conditioning, clean water,

or gas, the grounds of Wolftrap were the

center of a new wind of young musicians.

The beautiful weather and music of the

Lumineers, Josh Ritter, and Brandi Carlisle

brought out an eclectic mix of revelers and

an atypical vibe for Wolftrap, which has

lacked the young feel for the past few years.

Bringing your own picnic, including a couple

bottles of wine, to Wolftrap is going to be

noticed by many who are weary of over

priced concessions, and if the music stays

this fresh, I’ll be the first in line.

Like The Constant Shopper and

want more? Follow @diaryofd on

Twitter or at her personal blog

DiaryofDee.com

THETYSONSCORNER.COM PAGE 8

G e r m a n y

Utopia of Conservatism? The past 3 months have been tumultuous in

Europe. The complete collapse of the Greek

economy and the teetering state of the Spanish

economy have brought into question the

European Unions financial stability. More than

one conservative in the US has taken this

moment to bolster their position on the United

State’s current debt level, noting the strength of

the French and German economies which are the

more right-centrist political realms of Europe

and the social obligations of Greece as the main

crisis culprit. Does the argument have merit? Is

the Republican platform better for the economy

of this country?

First we need to understand the decisions that

the French and German governments made in

the 2000s and recently which have helped avoid

the same downfall as the rest of Europe. Angela

Merkel, leader of the CDU and prime minister of

Germany, was elected in 2005 under a socially

conservative platform. Merkel’s initial victories

were in reducing and controlling a crisis of

undocumented immigrants, reducing social

obligations for unemployment and healthcare,

and updating an aging German infrastructure.

Part 1 and 2, I’ll give it to the GOP that we may

be over extending ourselves by not taking border

security and larger social obligations into

consideration when addressing our budget. I

have never been in support of a bloated

government, but what I am in favor of is a

baseline health care that remains competitive

which forces private health care providers to

evaluate their practices and provide sufficient

pricing as well.

If one were to investigate the German

Healthcare Reform Bill they would see that the

more centrist reform stays even further socialist

than the often scapegoated Obamacare plan.

The German Health Care system will still retain

%80+ state covered citizens. This system is

regarded as one of the best in the world and has

remained at a very high level of service,

disproving other GOP claims that state run

health care is inevitably worse than private

systems.

One element that helped save a significant

amount of money in the German reform was

Follow us on twitter for daily

food truck alerts forwarded

from the trucks.

Clearly something the GOP is supporting

Energy diversity (Not Oil Only Policy)

Keeping cities strong and controlling sprawl

PAGE 9

reanalysis of the purpose of

medication treatment and the rising

costs of medicine itself, something

that continues to be on the

Democratic platform in the US, and

is the real hidden cost of rising

health care domestically. So claims

by the GOP that the history of debt

in Germany shows that fiscal

conservatism is a way forward are

outrageously over stated. If

anything, the German health care

system gives us a pathway to

appropriate social systems, and that

pathway remains further left than

the current policy (to be enacted in

2014).

The real dynamo behind the success

of France and Germany has been

their massive infrastructure

improvements during the past

decade and continuing into today.

The German energy grid is

considered by most to be the best in

the world. In 2010 alone 26 billion

euros were invested directly into

renewable energy production in the

form of wind, photovoltaic,

hydroelectric, geothermal, and

biomass which have curbed the

countries total oil energy use

(including vehicles) to only 30%. As

of this past year non-combustible

renewable energy production

accounted for 20% of all energy

used in Germany which has a goal of

80% non-combustible renewables by

2050. The effort in updating the

energy grid for the 21st century has

also created over a million

sustained jobs in the past decade,

converting lost manufacturing jobs

to gained energy production and

construction jobs. The conservative

party in Germany in this way

understands that sticking to old

ideology, such as anti-climate

change, pro-petroleum institute,

and the concept that ALL spending

is wasteful is not productive in

creating a better German economy.

Some spending must be viewed as

an investment and some reforms,

although ideologically opposed,

must be reviewed for their ability to

create a stability in uncontrolled

businesses like health care. These

are the real lessons from the

German economy. The failure of

Spain and Greece is due to a lack of

leveraging the money gained from

joining the European Union into real

economic drivers, instead relying on

a real estate bubble and tourism

which in economic downturns have

shown they will collapse.

This is not an issue in the US. We

enjoy the most diverse and powerful

true economy in the world, and

while manufacturing has moved

overseas in the past decades

(though trends show it is returning

due to freight costs) it still remains

a substantial element of what

America is founded on. Losses in

manufacturing have also been

buoyed by gains in our high tech,

bio-medical, engineering, and

financial systems making the US and

the dollar the most stable system of

the world.

We must take our position at the

top and leverage our capabilities to

assure we will remain the

predominant economy of the world

through the 22nd century. We must

take our infrastructure and social

program system, intended for the

conditions of the 20th century and

no longer the reality in the 21st

century, and create a new design

capable of addressing the real

dilemmas of our time. Big problems

require big risks and big

investments, but as history has

shown those who make bold leaps

are often rewarded in the end.

Those who take this same

opportunity and stagnate are

destined to watch it crumble away.

Unfortunately for the gop you actually have to enact german policies in order to be more like germany

THETYSONSCORNER.COM PAGE 10

Northern Virginia’s thriving

office market was paramount

in my decision to enter a

competitive, commission-

based profession. Fairfax

County’s continued support

for mixed-use, metro-centric

zoning reaffirms this choice.

Zoning laws can prevent you

from running your tech

startup out of your parents’

basement or building an

office condo in that vacant

lot at the end of your street.

This type of single-use zoning

contrasts with the policy

changes taking place in

Tysons Corner, because

mixed-use development

layers residential,

commercial, and industrial

components in higher density

areas – preferably around

transportation nodes – to

create walkable communities

ideal for living and working.

The success of the R-

B (Rosslyn-Ballston) Corridor,

specifically Ballston,

exemplifies the benefits

associated with this type of

development when compared

to its Orange Line neighbor

Falls Church.

The Orange Line and careful

urban planning transformed

Ballston into an acclaimed

urban community. The

completion of the Metro

sparked a wave of

development that has

reverberated through the

past four decades. Since

1993 Ballston’s rentable

building area (RBA) has more

than doubled from 3.5

million to 7.6 million SF of

office space. Northern

Virginia’s effective office

rental rates typically grow on

average 2.5 to 3% annually.

Meanwhile Ballston’s average

effective rental rate has

risen from $20 to $42 per SF,

which equates to about 4%

annual growth and a

dramatic increase in property

tax revenue. Ballston’s office

space is now slightly more

expensive than Rosslyn’s

aging product despite

Rosslyn’s superior proximity

to DC.

The genius behind Ballston’s

rapid development is that

commercial and residential

land uses function

symbiotically. People want to

live in Ballston, because the

town includes a range of

residential possibilities and

abounds with opportunity.

Businesses gravitate there,

because the area is replete

with a young, educated work

force and contains quality

office product (among a

variety of demand factors).

Whether in the office or at

home, you rarely have to

drive to eat or shop for

either. Ballston’s small

streets and large sidewalks

exemplify the concept of

new urbanism, which reverts

to pre-automobile urban

design principles that

coincide with mixed-use

development. Think of new

urbanism as all the

ingredients of a healthy,

balanced meal neatly packed

into a recyclable grocery

bag. Fewer people have to

drive to work since office

buildings with first floor

retail space fit in like puzzle

pieces with residential high

rises and exemplary public

transportation.

NovaBroker began working in office brokerage

this past spring. He hopes to bring clarity to

complicated development issues, so passive

observers can more easily understand issues

effecting our community and contribute their

voice to the ongoing dialogue between residents,

workers, developers, and government officials.

Please reach out with any commercial real estate

related needs or questions to NoVaBroker

at taylor.monroe@colliers.com.

By NovaBroker

PAGE 11

This was the

best salad I have

ever eaten.

Falls Church rejected this approach

to the Metro, and intended to

exploit Metro’s benefits while

remaining an idyllic suburban

community. Charles Stewart

in Falls Church – A History of a

Village illuminates the psyche of

the town stating, “…the tired city

man can afford all of the

enjoyment of retirement and

tranquility”. Falls Church wanted

to utilize its proximity to DC

without corrupting the

“tranquility” of its white-picket-

fenced houses and lush green

lawns. Fairfax officials decided to

construct the Falls Church Metro

stops outside of its city limits along

I-66. Walkways over I-66 connect

the stations to large parking lots

for Falls Church residents to park

their cars in the morning before

work. Arlington and DC metro

commuters most likely need to

catch a bus from these stops to get

to work, if working near the Falls

Church metro stations.

Over this time period, the Falls

Church office market has

underperformed not only the

pricey inner-beltway submarkets

but also the Northern Virginia

office market as a whole. The

effective rental rate for office

space has increased over the past

nineteen years by two percent

from $16 to $23.50. The RBA has

only increased twenty four percent

from 8.7 million to 10.8 million

while covering a much larger area

of land than Ballston. This fact

points to the assumptions that Falls

Church has reached its physical

market capacity and/or developers

do not see the area as a profitable

investment. Either way much of

the inventory is older product with

nothing substantial in the pipeline.

Falls Church became an

independent city in 1948 to

improve its school system. In

hindsight, a pattern of

conservative isolationism underlies

the last century of local politics

which has created the disconnect

from the region we see today.

The past is an easy target for

criticism, though. If effective

commercial rental rates ultimately

guided where I live then I would be

shelling out three-fourths of my

paycheck for a matchbox-sized

apartment in New York City.

Personal preference clearly plays a

role in the matter as well. Falls

Church has beautiful homes just

like Ballston has nice penthouse

condos and apartments all within

relative proximity to essential

amenities. Both types of

residential units attract and repel

tenants and owners for legitimate

reasons. A more practical question

than taste would be what type of

city planning encourages the most

sustainable economic growth per

tax dollar spent, while

simultaneously minimizing

environmental impact. The

marginal growth of Falls Church’s

office market is not outpacing its

age. Falls Church will likely remain

a great place to live for some time,

but, as the commercial sector

goes, residential properties will

eventually follow if the status quo

persists. Just because Falls Church

is not the next Detroit does not

mean the city has the brightest

future in the DC Metro if it

continues the trend of isolation.

THETYSONSCORNER.COM PAGE 12

The urge for a new Potomac crossing

hasn’t been this great in a long time.

The fervor has reached a high

enough boiling point that even the

Outer Beltway monster, once

vanquished in the 1990s, is back to

haunt us again. Instead of a truck

corridor, it is now being promoted as

a development corridor which could

connect the growing residence and

businesses of Loudoun with the

growing residents and businesses of

Gaithersburg. It is also being sold as

a way of reducing traffic on the

inner beltway and east/westbound

traffic on the toll road and route 7.

We are not sure how effective this

really would be, as previously

discussed.

At best this new project would

connect the #5 economic center of

Metro Washington (Rockville) to the

#8 economic center of Metro

Washington (Eastern

Loudoun/Western Fairfax). The

current project is absolutely

ridiculous because of the extensive

amount of highway and right of way

acquisition necessary to connect

Route 28 to the ICC through desolate

regions of Northern Virginia and even

more expansive southern

Montgomery County. The real driving

cost? A right of way that is double

what it needs to be, with an

anticipated 90′ pavement width and

plans to upgrade a half dozen

intersections to be limited access

ramps.

Why do we have to have everything

all at once? This would be a huge risk

to build such a massive project on

the assumption of future growth,

especially in the current

environment in which large scale

growth is occurring closer into the

city drawing away large scale

developers. Scaling back the plans

isn’t acknowledging defeat, it’s

compromising with existing realities.

The cost of bridges and roadways are

directly related to the total number

of lane miles, not just the length of

the road but how many lanes are

involved. Reducing the pavement

width to 60′ will directly reduce cost

by a third of the anticipated cost. It

will also reduce anxiety over massive

environmental detriment and

intrusive visual effects along the

Potomac. A 4-lane bridge crossing

can be constructed in a far more

land sensitive and economical

method than the current plans and

more importantly the concept of the

separated highway will not be

necessary with this appropriate

design, removing the need for a half

dozen expensive on-ramps and

overpasses.

A Shared

Rail/Road Bridge

Can Connect the

Region

SUSTAINABLE AND ECONOMICAL BRIDGES

PAGE 13

This concept makes sense. No one

denies that a resident of Herndon

or Loudoun could use a better path

to reach Maryland, specifically

Montgomery County, but the issue

has been molded into a traffic

relief design. Traffic demands on

this new road just don’t support

the need for the massive up front

investment, and more importantly

would not support the tolls that

would be necessary on the new

bridge and ICC connection. Instead,

lets make only 1 toll, for the bridge

itself, priced around 2 or 3 dollars,

and make the rest of the road a

regular rural route through

Maryland. 45 miles per hour is a

heck of a lot better than 15 miles

per hour like most Loudouners

currently have to deal with in the

west bound direction, who said it

HAD to be another version of the

beltway?

What does any of this mean

though. The Route 28 bridge (let’s

stop calling it the outer beltway)

still isn’t very sustainable and by

my own measures won’t make

much of an impact on the regions

economy. Well it brings partners to

the table for an overall regional

improvement. That overall regional

improvement includes two new

Potomac crossings for road users

connecting Loudoun and

Montgomery as described above,

and a new river crossing that

connects Tysons/McLean to

Bethesda with a 495 relief bridge.

A few kickers beyond tying the #1

economic center of Fairfax to the

#1 economic center of Montgomery

county?

This project makes it feasible for a

Purple Line extension from

Bethesda, across the Potomac on a

shared rail/road bridge, stopping at

Langley (can you say Federal

assistance plus), and connecting to

the Silver Line. A new Potomac

crossing at this point will allow a

half/half split of Orange line trips

across the potomac, reducing the

stress on the existing Orange/Blue

Line Potomac tunnel. With all of

the silver line removed from the

tunnel, and 50% of orange line

trains, direct traffic from Arlington

and the Blue Line can have express

routing to DC. Additionally, a large

portion of riders who currently must

transfer at metro center to reach

Bethesda and use the outer Orange

line system (Vienna/WFC) can now

have direct service to Bethesda

helping reduce the over capacity

Orange Line trains. This can be

done with a price tag of just 2

billion dollars through the use of

the existing right of way.

Road users in this corridor, which

is over strained from funneling on

495, would see an approximate

(pending VDOT study of 267 traffic

destinations) 40,000 users removed

from 495 who currently travel in

both directions between Bethesda

and Tysons Corner/Arlington. Again,

this bridge would be tolled at an

economical rate of 3 dollars to help

pay for it’s construction.

Wait didn’t this guy just say let’s

NOT have everything all at once?

Well here in is how we create a

plan for the future without having

to build it all at once. We create

triggers in the system that indicate

when elements become necessary,

while saving a portion of the funds

being attained today in an account

that can reduce the effects of

inflation.

• Silver Line ridership trigger

• 495 crossings trigger between

Tysons/Bethesda

• Minimum saved via WMATA

portioning

THETYSONSCORNER.COM PAGE 14

Let’s build the 4-lane bridge and

connection for Loudoun and Western

Fairfax, but with this sustainable

design capable of full funding by

Maryland and Virginia, let’s take the

toll money raised and set aside 10%

towards the future rail/road bridge,

which in our previous analysis could

raise around 20 million dollars over the

next 10 years with a $2.50 toll

price. As this project directly improves

WMATA’s system, some of the funding

should come from set aside assets from

the Silver Line and Orange Line. A 10%

set aside from all Silver/Orange/Red

fares could raise $45+ million per year,

providing for 25% of the project cost.

With $500 million of the project

covered, we are still left with a $1.5

billion dollar deficit. Enter the federal

government which would be attaining a

new road and rail connection to

Langley and Bethesda Naval Hospital,

two major elements of the local

federal presence. How much is that

worth? We think it is atleast as

beneficial as the Silver Line was, and

therefore should receive a similar

funding of $900 million. The remaining

$600 million would be shared between

Virginia, Maryland, Fairfax, and

Montgomery County.

Our first reaction in the current

political climate is to isolate those who

we disagree with. This occurs usually

before understanding why a

disagreement exists. By compromising

and collaborating on the goals of both

political, ideological, and economical

views we can finally start to make

order out of the chaos that is this

region. We think this has to happen

eventually, but it doesn’t have to

happen all at once. Playing it safe,

saving money in advance and making a

plan, is something us as individuals do

when we have a big ticket item on our

minds and we should demand the same

from our leaders. In our final look at

this Potomac crossings project we will

look at some more detailed design

concepts.

PAGE 15

PAGE 16 THETYSONSCORNER.COM

CONCEPT Cable stayed bridges provide little

benefit in the case of a road bridge

for river crossings, beyond

aesthetics, as in most cases the

simpler and more economical

choice is a standard pier and deck

system. When a much more

demanding live load from a heavy

rail system is included the cable

stay provides an efficient method

of addressing the new structural

requirements. The cost per mile is

increased but compared to two

individual bridges this method

would remain more efficient.

By providing a

pedestrian/emergency vehicle road

deck above the metro rail, the

bridge width is reduced and a

central corridor for emergency

vehicles can be provided to address

bridge incidents. This also provides

a greater safety in the separation

of vehicles and trains that can

prevent intentional attacks on the

rail tracks.

The bridge is designed to carry 6

vehicular lanes of 11′ each with a 3′

shoulder and 2′ curbed retaining

wall. The cable stayed towers

would need to be approximately

250′ above bridge deck, for a total

height over water of approximately

350′. The elevation of the towers

would be approximately 100′ above

the side banks of the Potomac at

this part of the river. Much of the

towers could be screened with

vegetation. Most importantly, while

the towers might have a visual

impact, the water body itself can

remain undisturbed without mid-

span piers.

PAGE 17

Controversy Over Boone Boulevard Ramp

PAGE 18 THETYSONSCORNER.COM

Don’t Destroy Residential Districts with Boone Boulevard Ramp

Environmentalists and parents

please step out of my way,

because as much as your concerns

are valid, deer will lose their

habitat, children will be more at

risk at bus stops, it appears that

no one at Fairfax is listening to

the “Wont someone think of the

children!” routine. So lets put this

in terms of cold hard cash, terms

that even the most hypocritical

and trend word clutching planner

can understand. This project will

stunt the future growth of Tysons

Corner costing hundreds of

millions of dollars over the next

decade and will put at risk your

concept of a residential Tysons

Corner.

I will now open the floor to

questions.

VDOT (and FCDOT) planner “But

we have a serious traffic issue,

commuters from the toll road

have to be given priority to get to

their jobs. They live so far away

and this final 5 minutes of their

commute makes them oh so very

sad.”

No, sit down and stop ruining our

lives. Those people made the

decision to get more land and

house living further away. In life

one can not get everything that

they desire, especially when it

comes unfairly at the detriment

of others who have made a more

sustainable choice.

PAGE 19

VDOT (and FCDOT) planner “This

project will help reduce traffic

within Tysons Corner which will

make it a much more attractive

location to live in”

How can you say this with a straight

face? I mean do you actually believe

this, because if so then we need to

just clean house with our

transportation department and start

from scratch. Poll all of the

residents of this region of Tysons

and I assure you that at a minimum

90% of them will say traffic is not

really a large concern of theirs, in

fact if anything I would guess that

90% of Tysons residents want the

road widenings to STOP completely

and view the far greater problem as

being the massive asphalt canyons

that are completely impassible in

this town. I am a Tysons resident

who can not walk farther than 1/2

mile before coming to an impassible

barrier in which my life is at risk

because of the prioritization of

commuters, 35% of which don’t even

live in Fairfax County and therefore

don’t even contribute to our tax

base.

Seriously. Sit down for a second here

VDOT (and FCDOT), stop trying to

get more projects to design so that

you can retain your bloated

department and actually start

thinking. The Dulles Toll Road

corridor is the one region of Tysons

Corner that will directly be

impacted by the presence of the

Silver Line. I know I know, you guys

don’t get it, mass transit is for

liberal hippies not corporate types

and only 30,000 people will be using

it. Hey genius, at least 50% of the

demand on the silver line is going to

be from people who currently use

the Dulles Toll Road. While you think

only 30,000 people will use it, most

people who aren’t VDOT believe

that closer to 50,000 riders (100,000

total trips) will utilize this corridor

over the next 5 years. So what

15,000 commuters off of roads out

of 150,000 is only 10%. Yes but

specifically 15,000 users off of the

Dulles Toll Road exit to Tysons

(40,000 total) is close to 40%

reduction of flow on this corridor. So

in other words, you all are lying to

Fairfax County and it’s residents.

Maybe I am an idiot, and shouldn’t

question state and local DOTs. I

mean these guys have had such

amazing conceptual designs like the

Mixing Bowl, which has made

downtown Springfield the economic

engine of the east coast based on its

676 million dollar price tag right, it

was the Big Dig of Virginia wasn’t it?

I mean that project at a minimum

secured more military positions

being able to be located in NOVA

right? A lot of high end commercial

users saw that beautifully flowing

interchange and said, I want to build

next to that! CONCRETE!!!

PAGE 20 THETYSONSCORNER.COM

Let’s get back on topic, the Boone Boulevard on ramp.

Anyone with any bit of logic can see this is just more

commuter prioritized design. Fairfax’s response when

it is correctly accused of this prioritization? We have to

consider the needs of all of our residents. Ok, that’s

fine and all but you have been doing that for the past

25 years. That is why we have the completely out of

whack priorities in the money making center of our

County. You are saying, lets build a bunch of

residential units in Tysons Corner and people will

choose to live there because of the ease of access.

Imagine people instead of cars. Well it’s just not that

simple. If you create an environment that in EVERY

WAY makes it difficult to have a comfortable life then

why would anyone buy into your words. Put some

actions behind your trend words.

Step 1? Say NO to more road “solutions”. If people hate

the traffic coming off of the toll road they will make a

decision in their life to use the metro or metro buses

instead, or heaven forbid choose to live in Tysons

Corner. Isn’t that what your biggest goal should be,

changing the ridiculously on its head ratio of 10:1

commuters to residents? If people live in Tysons Corner

they won’t give a crap whether traffic on the Dulles

Toll Road takes an extra 5 minutes.

A note to my fellow residents. I understand your

frustration and you are all correct this project directly

worsens your land value and level of comfort in your

life. With the anticipated 35,000 new vehicles you will

no longer be able to let your children play outside

without them being tethered or otherwise chained.

Heck even if you weren’t worried about that, this plan

destroys the only piece of land that would be

acceptable for them to play on. However, the

developers are not the ones who are doing this to you.

It is difficult to separate the players here, but look at

the words of Jay Klug who on my interview with him

echoed these sentiments. This project is antithetical

to the desires of the mixed use developers.

They want people walking and moving around their

retail and residential developments. They don’t

want to continue the exodus of the

commuters. Residents and developers need to come

together to create proper ideas that create growth

without letting VDOT and Fairfax DOT ruin those

concepts with status quo requirements.

Why why why is there parallel parking being allowed on

BOTH sides of the new Boone Boulevard? Seriously. We

are taking a bikeable safe road, a rarity in this city,

and turning it into a 82′ wide asphalt canyon. Can’t you

see that you are ruining your own plans with really bad

implementation? Lets fix the cross section of the road

(as well as remove the on ramp all together). Boone

Boulevard was not supposed to be another International

Drive or Route 7, based on your own comprehensive

plans. Remove the parallel street parking. Tysons

Corner already has 8 times more surface parking than is

found in ALL of the city of Arlington. Who the hell are

these commuters who can’t find a parking space?

Boom the cross section is now 66′ wide. What else?

These roads are 11′ wide, for what purpose? We are

trying to slow people down, there are children and

families living here after all. Reduce these widths to 10′

wide. Okay, so that’s only 2′, but you’ve made this road

just feel less dangerous by simply forcing people to slow

down. Lastly? Separated out bike lanes are great, what

is greater is avoiding dangerous through traffic flying

through the city because they are late for a 9 o’clock

meeting and striking a bicyclist. Avoid the through

traffic by reducing the road section to (2)-vehicle lanes

and (2)-calmed traffic lanes suitable for bike traffic.

Use materials like rumble strips in the right lanes and

alternative striping to alert vehicle users to the

preferred through lane. If you create a natural slower

lane you will create a more inherent bike friendly path.

Now we have a road section that doesn’t feel

cavernous, it is only 54′ wide and 12′ of that is a nice

landscape median.

We need to do MORE with what we have, and we have

to start designing to help our residents not hurt them.

Instead of creating a 30 million dollar road project to

bloat VDOT and create a 120′ Right Of Way which wastes

land valued at $6 million per acre lets create a project

that costs 5% of that, with far less right of way

acquisition and that directly improves the traffic flow

and transportation options of local residents.

We have to stand up against these roadway planners

and tell them that enough is enough and that it is time

for CHANGE.

PAGE 21

Tysons

Development

Updates

Tysons West Construction of Tysons West, which

includes retail and residential

components is progressing along side the

Metro Rail Construction. No update on

the current rezoning which will bring

much of the high density residential and

street modifications with the rest of the

project. What was an existing parking

garage is being retrofitted to provide a

more urban façade and reutilized for

building components.

PAGE 22 THETYSONSCORNER.COM

When we first announced that

Tysons Tower had begun

construction, an exclusive story only

provided on The Tysons Corner, we

thought that Macerich had a lot of

catching up to do in order to attain

their lofty goal of construction

delivery in 2014. We had no idea

what kind of construction effort the

first month would entail.

It appears, from this humble civil

engineer, that about 50% of the

earthwork necessary for the site

development has been completed.

Soldier piles appear to be complete

along the entire length of the

existing mall access road along the

AMC garage which will allow for the

remaining 50% of the earthwork

operations to continue. That means

if you are a resident in Tysons

Corner you should likely avoid the

Westpark Bridge in the mornings for

the next couple of weeks as it has

become more congested with dump

trucks hauling off soil

stockpiles. Next door to Tysons

Tower you might be seeing some

new steel supports rising. We

believe these are the first elements

of the pedestrian bridge proposed

across Route 123 from the new

Tysons Metro stop.

PAGE 23

We have had a love hate relationship with

this project from its inception. While the

project does achieve a significant upgrade

to the existing VDOT embankment and 1

story strip mall that was previously

adjacent to the mall, it misses a huge

opportunity for a private public

partnership with Fairfax County. In a

previous article we discussed the

possibility of VDOT air rights over Route

123 being used to create decking and

additional urban developments, all the

while providing a vehicular tunnel through

central Tysons and a truly walkable and

crossable connection between Western

Tysons and Eastern Tysons. The Macerich

development will not necessarily make

that future concept unrealistic but it will

make the decking project slightly less

fruitful by not matching the most

efficient layout. In fact the completion of

Tysons Tower likely forces the removal of

an entire block from our original concept

layout.

We also believe Fairfax County missed an

opportunity to bring Macerich, and Lerner,

back to the rezoning table where each

party could barter for concessions that

would help the greater good of the city.

Macerich and Lerner have both argued

that paying for infrastructure in Tysons is

not a requirement for them, and cited the

fact that they are paying for the metro

through the special tax district already.

Other land owners have stated their

willingness to come to an agreement if

these two big members of the community

would also assist on the projected billion

dollar Tysons specific infrastructure (2.1

billion including overall Fairfax projects).

The County could have played as mediator

if they had anything to offer such as

parking or density concessions.

Overall Tysons Tower is progressing

quickly and will be a huge improvement

to a Route 123 corridor which currently

looks more like a rural freeway than an

urban haven. We don’t expect this project

alone to draw many people out of their

cars and onto sidewalks, but we do think

that it is a first step in creating a better

arterial region through improved land use.

For a video of the future of Tysons Tower

see this IFM rendering of Cassidy &

Pinkard Colliers future skyscraper.

PAGE 24 THETYSONSCORNER.COM

This morning the much awaited Cityline project

Arbor Row began demolishing the 2 story bank

building that constitutes their southeastern

property line. We don’t believe that the

project has attained full approval but it is a

good sign that they are preparing for

construction once they attain it by preparing

the site now. The project will entail 8 total

buildings along Westpark Drive which includes

residential, office, retail and hotel uses.

The project has been tight lipped on discussing

where they are in the process but the recent

agreements and consensus attained between

the developers on infrastructure funding,

paralleled by the planning commissions

agreement on funding, will likely mean projects

that have been delayed will suddenly begin

moving again. Demolition, rough grading, and

utility site work are all important first steps in

preparing a site for building construction. We

have been noticing some spot improvements to

utilities along the frontage of Arbor Row for a

few months, so we hope that once the cranes

start being placed the construction can be

expedited.

Many employees of the Greensboro Drive

corridor will likely be thinking that the work

being performed this morning was a fire by the

looks of it, but the hoses and tarps are laid

down for dust control and sediment capture in

order to protect local water bodies and air

quality.

The 2.5 million square foot project is important

to the future of TOD along Westpark and will

transform the abandoned and aged eyesore

structures into a busy residential core with new

high rise and mid rise towers. This development

will also create a better connection between

the pedestrian region along Westpark and

buildings by removing all frontage parking,

replaced by structural parking garages and rear

parking. This will improve the walkability of

one of the more pedestrian friendly

neighborhoods of Tysons Corner. We will try to

attain more information on when building

construction is expected but at this time

project approval is anticipated for this fall or

early winter based on Fairfax County’s review

status.

PAGE 25

Better Solutions Needed Seven Corners was one of the

earliest success stories of Fairfax

development in the 1950s and its

very existence is owed to the

construction of Route 50 through

the central County which spurred

new commercial development. The

rise of Bailey’s Crossroads showed a

promise of a true urban center to

the growing county, but in 1973 the

collapse of the partially

constructed Skyline Towers added a

city stigma to a region that was

polarizing towards suburban

planning. In the past 25 years

several regions of Fairfax County

have received attention towards

creating sustainable and attractive

settings for urban families including

the planned Reston Town Center

and the new Tysons Corner

comprehensive plan, but the region

with the most assets and longest

history of urban sustainability,

Baileys Cross Roads and East Falls

Church, has remained largely out of

the picture.

The return of commercial viability

at Seven Corners has been a grass

roots story with much of the

heritage attributed to a large influx

of immigrants that have created a

cultural diverse corridor of

restaurants and shops. Anyone who

has been to Eden Center on a

Saturday can attest to the success

of the region to attract customers

and retail leasers, but the past 5

years has seen a dramatic increase

in congestion traffic through the

corridor which is beginning to worry

shop owners and residents.

Enter the Seven Corners Visioning

Workshop hosted by Fairfax County

Office of Community Revitalization,

where residents and business

owners voiced their concerns over

the lack of walkability, diverse land

use, and beautification projects.

For years the priority has been how

to transfer people from Arlington

and Baileys Crossroads to Route 50

west and 495. This prioritization

has come at the expense of

residents who could leave the car

behind if a safe walk path was

available to metro, grocery stores,

shops, and offices. At the heart of

the congestion and safety concerns

is Seven Corners intersection itself,

where the intricate dance of signal

timing means a 3 second delay from

someone not paying attention can

incite a full on traffic jam. For

anyone who has ever tried to walk

across the web that is weaved over

Route 50, it is nearly impossible to

tell when it is safe to actually

cross… frankly it might never be an

appropriate time to cross. The

detriment from this gash is of

course the populated region is

segregated from the economic

region forcing more people on

roads.

PAGE 26 THETYSONSCORNER.COM

One might think I would

make my typical high

density pitch, saying some

massive project is needed

to turn Route 50 into a

decked tunnel… not a bad

idea actually, but no in the

case of Seven Corners the

history of the region

demands a unique

solution. A condo canyon is

simply not an acceptable

answer to this particular

areas needs. The good

news is the answer is far

simpler. Make the area

safer to walk. This is

simple because for the

most part the expensive

portions are done, the

intersection is nearly

completely decked over

Route 50 where most of

the traffic exists and the

roads come to a near

perfect radius. If this

doesn’t scream

roundabout, then I don’t

know what ever will (this

dictates the need for one

far more than Gilberts

Corner ever did atleast).

The traffic circle will not

solve load times onto

Route 50 from Route 7,

those are issues that are

due to the general

congestion on Route 50

and outside of the solution

process of Seven Corners.

However what creating a

traffic circle will do is

fairly distribute traffic

between through users and

local vehicular users and

more importantly create a

central pedestrian gateway

between the current

separation of land uses.

This creates a clear and

orderly path from one side

of Route 50 to the other

side of Route 50 for

pedestrians.

What it also does is take a

wastefully spaced random

assortment of road lanes

and creates more order

from them, giving more

space for new

developments which do

not have to be massive

high rises. Why don’t they

have to be? Because the

cost to create a round

about at this intersection

will be far less than in

most cases. With the

structural decking already

in place over Route 50, the

key will be finishing the

gaps and including minor

realignments of the

entering road ways.

Therefore the developers

won’t have to provide

massive infrastructure

contributions which would

need to be mitigated with

density concessions. What

the developers can instead

provide is a central town

design by focusing on the

pedestrian instead of

vehicles. Parking can be

situated in a central

structural location thereby

relieving developers of

parking minimums and

allowing buildings to be

located adjacent to

walkways. The cost of the

facility would be shared by

the properties which would

not have retail parking,

but provided on an

independent proffered

parcel owned by the

County. Revenues attained

from the parking garage

would go towards

beautification projects

including landscaping and

streetscape for the new

Seven Corners, and parking

prices would be

determined by a newly

founded Seven Corners

Chamber of Commerce to

ensure a price structure

which is not prohibitively

expensive towards

customers.

PAGE 27

The intersection could be transformed

from a mess of interweaving vehicular

pathways, to a unified central point for

the next steps in the history of this

important region. Most importantly the

mixing of land uses will remove the

separation between the resident side of

Seven Corner’s and the business side of

the Seven Corner’s, providing easier

access to residents. The developments

would be sensitive to the height and

architecture of the adjacent and

existing region in order to retain the

cultural and historical importance for

long time residents but will be inviting

to younger or prospective residents who

want the urban amenities and central

location that Seven Corner’s can

provide. The proper location of a few

mid-rise mixed use developments could

turn the 5,000 resident region into a

10,000 resident region within a decade

and more importantly provide

affordable housing by addressing the

demand that is tolling the relatively

small supply of units without the need

for subsidization.

Much of Seven Corner’s is within 1 to 2

miles of the existing East Falls Church

metro which makes it an excellent

candidate for improving pedestrian and

bike access to the existing metro asset.

For once Fairfax can be the initiator of

an urban improvement project by

proposing new bike lanes TOWARDS

Arlington along Wilson Boulevard to help

residents reach the commercial business

district of Ballston, 2 miles east of the

Corner. The new Seven Corners transit

center has also added to the regions

ability to encourage multiple modes of

transportation. All of this will begin to

de-prioritize the vehicle and encourage

human scale development that spurs

retail growth and residential value. With

10,000 residents by 2020 this 1-mile

radius will have an inherent customer

base to support new and existing retail.

These smaller modifications can

strengthen the community identity and

economic viability of Seven Corners,

create a revenue source for community

projects, and be developed without new

infrastructure investments from public

funding.

PAGE 28 THETYSONSCORNER.COM

Let’s examine the largest argument

against a pedestrian friendly

revitalization project. Those who

don’t live in that vicinity don’t want

their commute or errands taking an

extra 5 minutes and they don’t want

to pay for parking. Let’s examine

the point of view of people who live

in Annandale and East Falls Church.

They don’t want their children or

themselves run over because

someone has to get to Target. They

want to be able to travel 2000′

without having to cross a dangerous

intersection network. They never

wanted a pedestrian bridge across

Route 50 in the first place, as at

night it becomes a funnel for illegal

activity and is situated in a location

that causes people to walk an extra

half mile out of their way. They

demanded safer streets and better

focus from the County on their

neighborhoods and were ignored for

nearly a decade, or atleast pacified

with a half way solution.

Which side do you think has a better

case to be made? I don’t live in East

Falls Church or Annandale but I can

empathize with what the people

who do live there go through.

Decision after decision has been

cast against them by majority rule

from the rest of the region, forcing

wider roads, stagnant land use and

zoning which has left scars of strip

malls, and the continued funneling

of public funds to locations outside

of this corridor. Instead the County

has been pumping funding towards

the social programs that must be

created in order to support a region

which has been left without basic

function and assurances from

Fairfax, causing deflation in land

values and in too many cases

economic hardship. Let’s step back

here for a second. What should be

the goals for the future of Seven

Corners?

PAGE 29

Housing is essentially unaffordable

in the rest of the county for many

of the residents of this part of the

county, therefore not a single

residential unit should be removed

with any revitalization project. The

region needs more inventory not a

different inventory of units.

Just because the residents live on a

tighter budget doesn’t mean they

don’t enjoy a good walk, window

shopping, restaurant options, and a

variety of groceries. The Eden

Center shows that retail locations

can exist and be vibrant in an area

which has to pay attention to its

pocket books. The model is not to

bring in outside retail corporations,

but instead continue to garner local

businesses with more retail space

provided efficiently, ie better

density.

Less parking lots more walkability.

Why is this important? Consolidating

parking requirements off of retail

strip malls (currently required by

Fairfax County code to have

MINIMUM parking numbers based on

square footage) clears up nearly 50%

of the land on these properties to

be available for development. It

reduces the impervious area and

allows for beautification by

plantings and green space. These

are the benefits of locating parking

off of individual properties and into

a central facility well connected

with walkways and transit.

In this exhibit we have realigned

the mess of roads that encompass

Seven Corners to create a focal

point at a round about. Route 50

remains untouched… and still

completely over congested, needing

better solutions than a simple road

widening, but that’s neither here

nor there.

Light blue structures are low rise

retail single use. These have been

selected in the shown locations to

reduce the urban impact on the

pedestrian, to create a sense of

human scale and to avoid over

powering the properties that will

remain.

The bright orange structure is the

proposed parking garage which

would be built on shared developer

costs, whose revenue would go

towards funding beautification and

landscape projects as shown.

The light orange structures are mid-

rise mixed uses which incorporate

ground level retail with commercial

and/or residential uses above.

The beige structures are mid-rise to

a maximum 10 story residential

single land use which will help

provide new but affordable

residential units.

PAGE 30 THETYSONSCORNER.COM

How will the residential units be

affordable? Subsidies? Not really, they

will be affordable by creating different

types of units. One reason why land

prices are so expensive in this region is

that there really are few variations on

what you can buy. By creating new

options like studio apartments, 1br, 2br,

and even 3br units the area receives an

organic mix to help alleviate the old

house/new house options that many

face. Best of all, this removes absolutely

NO residential units from the market,

and instead only consolidates lands

which are being underused for parking

currently.

At the center of the plan is the traffic

round about which tightens up an area

that is a mess of wasted pavement. The

circle can over time, or at construction,

incorporate a new small urban park with

walk path and a performance stage

which can help continue the sense of

community by allowing a venue for small

outdoor events.

The circle can be enclosed in an open

but secure iron fence and landscaping

that creates a separation from traffic.

Walkway crossings will be controlled with

the only two lights within the circle

which will ensure safe passage for

pedestrians to the central green. These

two lights will continue to provide a

slight priority to vehicles in the timing

scheme, in order to encourage

pedestrians to walk around the circle

instead of through it, with the exception

being for those who want to venture to

the circle itself. Much of the remaining

landscape will be inherently introduced

by the developers themselves in order to

beautify their own investments, but can

be made part of the agreements in order

to develop.

I have no financial interest in Seven

Corners. What I have is empathy for

people who just want to be able to make

the sustainable choice and take a walk

instead of drive, and for business owners

who find it ever more difficult to get

people out of cars and into their stores. I

think pedestrian fatalities are tragic

mistakes in our own priorities as planners

and designers. While in many cases it is

the pedestrians fault for not crossing at

designated zones, large blocks and few

passable points create a systematic issue

which can cultivate these incidents.

Seven Corners doesn’t have to be like

Arlington in order to be successful, but it

does need to be given an opportunity to

be affordable and attractive through

proper land use instead of forgotten or

left behind as our region continues to

grow.

In 2009 Merrifield opened Merrifield Park, its first

tangible step towards creating a community from

the disorder of the Gallows Road/29 corridor. At

less than a quarter acre, it’s hardly a monument

of accomplishment, but its very restrained style

shows that planners understand the end goal of

urbanization. Northern Virginia has become

enthralled with one-ups-man style design, where

a previous project is used as precedent to be

surpassed. This is unhealthy and leads to false

metrics in measuring what “improvement” really

is. Should a 13,000 sqft civic plaza which is

popular with residents be viewed as less

successful than a 2-acre field that goes unused

most of the day? Of course not.

When it comes to urban parks, if they get too big

its like cramming a country house couch into a

small studio apartment. The couch might be

great, but it overwhelms the room. The same

thing happens when we take valuable real estate

in the heart of a city and proclaim bigger is

better, using up functional space in

a reckless fashion. In this way, smaller, but still

functional parks should remain the design basis

for most urban settings. Providing shade and

recreational space more often to more residents

that don’t necessarily want to walk all the way

to one centralized behemoth park.

In this way Merrifield has got their act together.

They understand that the only important metric

is the happiness of residents and economic well

being of the region. The Merrifield Streetscape

Design Guidelines recently published

incorporates this principal in its discussion of

pocket parks which should be evenly dispersed.

On the other end of the spectrum we find Tysons

Corner development plans indicating a need for

20 ball fields based on the Park Authority report.

20 ball fields for 100,000 residents? This doesn’t

even include the inherent fields that will be

incorporated with schools and private

recreational facilities for resident neighborhoods.

Recently there has also been discussion on

whether the standard 2-acre model for

recreational open space should be increased to

4-acres in certain locations. We need to figure

out how to do more with less, that is real

urbanism.

PAGE 31

Merrifield Parks a Good Example of Design Excellence

PAGE 32 THETYSONSCORNER.COM

One of the largest problems with

densifying suburban edge cities and

urbanization is the inherent sudden

unaffordability. This rise of

retail/office/residential rates

creates corporate atmospheres as

these are the only entities capable

of paying the “new car smell” fees.

Why do prices go up? When you just

completed a $350 million dollar

construction project your financing

company generally wants to see

their money back… or else.

Managing companies must make this

back at the highest possible rate

that the market will bear, which

often means selling their soul to the

highest bidder. Often outrage at

this systematic and cyclical conflict

is focused on the residential side of

development, but it is the retail

space which really sets the pace of

what a growing city will become.

Unfortunately rates of $55 to $65

for retail spaces and above $100 per

square foot per year becomes a

cumbersome overhead price that all

but removes the competitiveness of

small businesses. Instead expansive

spaces become absorbed by retail

franchises which lack community

identity and entrepreneurial

possibilities. While these companies

provide employment for many, their

profits often are shipped off to

headquarters and removed from the

local circulation. It becomes a

double impact to local commerce

where start ups and residents are

both priced out of the market and

the community is rendered sterile.

When confronted with this

inevitable alteration to an area

residents often become

obstructionist to any new

development. While this method

temporarily works in maintaining

the local fabric, it eventually trades

one form of unaffordability for

another. Inventory remains stagnant

causing demand to outpace supply

and raising rates. Additionally

outside investment is sent

elsewhere which after a couple of

decades of mismanagement creates

the situations that many brick and

mortars now face, most notably

Springfield Mall.

The solution isn’t to put ourselves in

a time capsule, but to find solutions

to these problems through

innovation. An unresponsive and

lack of willingness to evolve is what

will create a corporate

vegas/disneyland fake city. We

must find ways of retaining local

businesses and franchises in a

healthy balance. The flexibility of

how retail space is arrange is an

important architectural design style

that often falls out of priority in

order to provide an aesthetic

spacing for doors along a facade.

Instead of designing a building at

street level to be monotone and

repetitive, we should encourage a

variance of retail spaces in size and

manner which provides a mix of

pop-up sized, small, med, and large

(franchise) spaces. The space price

per square foot is unaltered by this

arrangement. A small business that

wants a presence in high traffic

pedestrian zones could accomplish

this with a 400sf space and maintain

a price per month of $2000 and

provide a small show case

supplemented by support space

outside of this very expensive zone

or electronic displays of

merchandise.

PAGE 33

Small business owners are not in control of

this ability often, therefore management

companies guided by the plan process should

consider these arrangements as in the long

run it helps all parties. We can do more with

less in all facets and technology is helping

lead the way. Land use itself can also be a

tool to encourage small business. Stringent

and dated requirements that separate retail

and residential uses are anti-productive. The

genesis of these standards is to reduce noise

and nuisance to residents who in suburban

regions can be disturbed by heavy foot

traffic and business operations. This isn’t

necessarily an issue when residential units

have high rise structural walls, sound

proofed windows, etc.

Fairfax County in many ways has already

conceded that both uses can co-habitate

with allowances for street level retail in

residential towers, but what about provided

duel use units that allow a shop front to a

residential rear space. One of the best ways

to reduce the cost to run a business could be

to merge it with the cost of living and

renting an apartment. A 200-400sf front

which can help a new artist or 1 person shop

could include a 500sf studio residence behind

the separated wall. The rates would be a mix

of residential and retail, in the range of $45

per sqft, and therefore range between $2600

and $3000 per month. If this was just a retail

space then it would simply be too much for

many small businesses, but renting a studio

in Arlington and NOVA can often run a cost of

$1500 as well. Therefore the effective retail

rate is reduced to $1100 to $1500 per month,

a figure that is much easier to overcome.

If we continue the current policies we will

convert all of our prime retail spaces into

corporate yuppie zones that make money for

a select few but kill the American dream.

There are entrepreneurs in this country still,

but they are being pushed further and

further from places that could sustain their

business models, and being forced to strip

malls that see less than 1% of the traffic

conversion rates of walkable areas. The

only impediments to returning small business

to main street is our own unwillingness to

adapt to the times.