Ft. Totten Square: Back to Square One

Fort Totten Square...what was supposed to be the first of the major redevelopment projects completed in ANC 5A, now looks to be in a permanent holding pattern.  The proposed redevelopment project was planned for the10+ acre site at the intersection of Riggs and South Dakota, at the former location of the Tiger Market Shopping Center.  The once promising, and grand, plan was going to convert the quite community into a new metro centered hot spot.  In fact, the current traffic pattern redesign for the Riggs Rd. and South Dakota Ave. intersection was conceived in response to the needs of the potential development. 
  In summer of 2007 the property was vacated, fences went up and the new advertisements proclaiming the arrival of the monstrous mixed-use facility were up and running.  Throughout 2009, several local news outlets reported on the acquisition of several city owned parcels adjacent to the lot, an old apartment complex was demolished...things were moving along quickly.  However, just as fast as the project seemed to be moving forward it suddenly came to a screeching halt.  As the economic state of the country became more uncertain, so did the economic future of the Ft. Totten Square project.
  Enter today, almost a full year since planned ground breaking and the massive lot sits vacant...ignored.  After speaking with Ward 5 Neighborhood Planner Deborah Kemp regarding the construction near the site, it was revealed that "The developers (Lowe Enterprises) have had difficulty getting financing during this challenging economic times.  The equipment and activity that you see is related to the reconfiguration of the intersection at Riggs Road and South Dakota Avenue."  Further evidence was recently made available online through real estate broker Cassidy Turley's website, where the following is stated:

"Cassidy & Pinkard Colliers is seeking an equity recapitalization for the Fort Totten Square project located at the intersection of Riggs Road and South Dakota Avenue in Northeast Washington. The Fort Totten Square project represents a unique and rare opportunity to develop a successful large scale residential and retail development at a strategic Metro station location in Washington, DC. The 10-acre urban mixed-use development will include 850 residential units and 100,000sf of service retail, including a full-size grocery store. The much needed grocery and other service retail which will accompany the residential project will also serve new and pending developments by Clark, Cafritz, K. Hovnanian, and others in the immediate neighborhood. As the largest mixed-use development in the area, Fort Totten Square is a landmark project in a high-growth market that is quickly attracting large scale residential and retail development due to the significant paths of development progressing along the Red, Yellow, and Green Metro lines as well as North Capitol Street."

  So as the investment group seeks to find new sources of capitol, the site sits ignored...decaying...becoming an eyesore.  Rather then being the centerpiece of the new community, it is a blight that reflects poorly on the hard working and proud residents of this neighborhood.

Riding on the Metro: WMATA Swimming Through Apologies

The Washington Metro Area Transit Authority, an organization in the throws of utter failure. The last year and a half has not been kind to WMATA...especially to it's most infamous and eldest branch, the Red Line. Most of the country is well aware of the June 22, 2009 accident just past the Ft. Totten Metro Station. This horrible crash that claimed 9 lives, however, was hardly the initiating incident for the Metro's woes. Poor management, even poorer maintenance practices and an aging/ignored system are the real culprits for the current state of WMATA.
Coming into 2010 looking to revitalize their tarnished image, WMATA had identified a significant $40M budget gap. As appaling as that initial estimate seemed, WMATA had a plan...a 10 cent fair hike across the board from Feb to June of 2010. However, only a few weeks after the first gap announcement, WMATA finally settled on an almost unfathomable number...$189M. A $189,000,000 dollar kick in the stomach to an organization already laying still and motionless on the ground. This forced a shift in focus from the system wide fixed and rolling stock issues to simply balancing their horribly off0kilter budget. Metro has come up with a new plan to balance their budget...Service Cuts, Fare Hikes (another $.10), Subsidy Increases and Staff Reductions. What this means to the everyday commuter is WMATA will make the metro more expensive, less accessible, lower staffed and demand it's partner states to use more of their taxpayer money. All this plan does is attempt to close the GAP in the budget, but does not provide any money for the capital improvements needed to fix and/or upgrade it's system. The second most used commuter system in the country outside of New York City.
Closing the budget gap is important, but it doesn't address any of the issues that arise from utilizing an aging system (WMATA Capital Needs Assessment). All rail transportation systems have two components, Rolling Stock (equipment that moves or "rolls" on the rails like passenger cars, locomotives and power units) and Fixed Stock (stationary equipment like switches, the actual rails and signals). The metro has been gradually phasing out older rolling stock, or reducing their service time. This combined with potential new maintenance practices could be addressed over time without a major investment outside the budget. The larger and more pressing issue is the age or the Fixed Stock assets. Much of the system, inparticular the Red Line, has been in place since 1976 (CNI Prioritization Slide 3) Now this is not particularly old or overused for a transit system. The bigger concern is the number of switch, signal or rail failures in the past few years. The need for a significant capital investment seems to be necessary, but unlikely to happen with significant budget gaps and state partners unwilling to foot the bill. In fact WMATA has published its Capital Needs Inventory (CNI), detailing more than $11 billion of capital improvements that are necessary over the next 10 years to maintain the transit system’s safety and reliability.
With a revolving door of General managers and Chairmen for the past few years, it seems to be a case of the right hand no knowing what the left hand is doing. A world class commuter rail system is a difficult animal to reign in, however, cities and countries all over the world manage to do it every day. Is there a case to possibly privatize the system or bring in an outside operator (similar to Cal Trans has done for it's commuter system in San Fran or Seattle has done for it's Sounder line) to run the system? Commuter rail was, is and never has been a for profit business. It is a service provided by a government to it's citizens, so raising money is always a challenge and a burden on the same people who pay to use it. This however does not excuse poor management and safety, putting the financial and physical security of the very people responsible for funding the system at risk.