I actually really like the height limit in DC aesthetically. After living there and Bethesda for 6 years it's strange to think of anything else but the monuments physically dominating everything in sight.
How D.C. could look if the height restriction changes
11–20 of 62 posts
Re: How D.C. could look if the height restriction changes
#12Oh, so construction companies are running out of places in DC? And they need the location right next to the White House?
Please.
There is space right across Anacostia river in the South East. Metro goes there pretty fast.
Build the buildings there, just make sure to hire more police to make it safer for workers.
Re: How D.C. could look if the height restriction changes
#13Limiting housing supply in desirable locations is the new redlining. I understand liking the character of a place, but it seems morally problematic to use the police power to enforce that character at the expense of those who will no longer be able to afford to live there as demand increases while supply doesn't. Those same people are often the first to support affordable housing mandates without recoiling at the inefficiencies of the Rube Goldberg machine of policy they've constructed.
Re: How D.C. could look if the height restriction changes
#14Oh, so construction companies are running out of places in DC? And they need the location right next to the White House? Please. There is space right across Anacostia river in the South East. Metro goes there pretty fast. Build the buildings there, just make sure to hire more police to make it safer for workers.
Sure, and that's sort of what happened around Navy Yard. But c'mon, it's not that simple and you know it.
Re: How D.C. could look if the height restriction changes
#15D.C. would look much more like a real city without the restrictions. This is a good thing! Cities grow! The choice here is between upward and outward. You can keep buildings unnaturally short, which forces the city to spread out, increasing commute times (and a whole lot more). Or you can let things grow, and let the place be more livable for the people that actually live there.
There's an argument that forcing the city to "spread out" rather than "up" has been partly responsible for the rapid improvement in crime and livability in many parts of the city over the last decade. What would H St NE or Upper 16th St look like if one could just build huge buildings in Dupont and Adams Morgan.
Making it impossible for poor folks to live in a place does tend to reduce crime. Is it moral?
Re: How D.C. could look if the height restriction changes
#16Great images, though I'd imagine in real life it would look a bit different from uniform beige boxes.
Re: How D.C. could look if the height restriction changes
#17Oh, so construction companies are running out of places in DC? And they need the location right next to the White House? Please. There is space right across Anacostia river in the South East. Metro goes there pretty fast. Build the buildings there, just make sure to hire more police to make it safer for workers.
Personifying the companies that create buildings is a cute rhetorical trick, but people are the ones with the desire to live and work in those places. The height limit prevents them from doing so.
Re: How D.C. could look if the height restriction changes
#18D.C. would look much more like a real city without the restrictions. This is a good thing! Cities grow! The choice here is between upward and outward. You can keep buildings unnaturally short, which forces the city to spread out, increasing commute times (and a whole lot more). Or you can let things grow, and let the place be more livable for the people that actually live there.
There's an argument that forcing the city to "spread out" rather than "up" has been partly responsible for the rapid improvement in crime and livability in many parts of the city over the last decade. What would H St NE or Upper 16th St look like if one could just build huge buildings in Dupont and Adams Morgan.
I don't think that dog will hunt. Some of the safest places in Chicago are also the densest (say River North with its towering residential skyscrapers). Same for New York (Manhattan is way denser than the Bronx).
The reason DC has gotten nicer lately isn't the sprawl. It's because it's become a major target for young professionals, which have driven the poor people out of many parts of the city.
Re: How D.C. could look if the height restriction changes
#19I actually really like the height limit in DC aesthetically. After living there and Bethesda for 6 years it's strange to think of anything else but the monuments physically dominating everything in sight.
I don't disagree, but when you look at the Arlington, Virginia neighborhoods of Rosslyn and Ballston, you can readily see how the height limit impacts DC. For those of you not familiar with DC's geography, the District of Columbia was originally a perfectly square diamond. The portion on the south side of the Potomac was given back to Virginia due to congressional lobbying in the early 1800's creating laws which mandated building all Federal buildings on the north side of the Potomac. This left the Arlington/Alexandria portions of the District of Columbia as poor, economic backwaters. No Federal money pouring in, and also no congressional representation. Virginia took them back.
The cities of Arlington and Alexandria now occupy the portion of the original diamond that is west of the Potomac. When standing in Georgetown, you look across the river and see 20 story office buildings. Arlington and Alexandria act as quasi-DC, in the sense that they are dense, are connected via DC's subway system (Metro) and separated from DC only by a relatively narrow river.
Lifting the height limit, I think, would be a great thing for DC. It is an overly suburbanized metro area due to the height restrictions.
Re: How D.C. could look if the height restriction changes
#20Oh, so construction companies are running out of places in DC? And they need the location right next to the White House? Please. There is space right across Anacostia river in the South East. Metro goes there pretty fast. Build the buildings there, just make sure to hire more police to make it safer for workers.
God forbid we create more housing so more people can affordably live in DC. Imagine the sight lines. Oh, the horror.