Contributor Opinion by Ruth Hanessian: Of Mixed Use And Mice
Aug 1, 2008 7:05 - 8 Comments
>The following contributor opinion is by Rockville Central friend Ruth Hanessian:
The proposal that is being pushed by the new zoning ordinance currently being reviewed by the council seems a backward step to me. Mixed use, as it is called, takes me back to my days as a child in the Bronx when one of my friends lived over the candy store. It looked like a great idea until I visited and realized that I had a much cleaner apartment in a Met life development. Sure there were lots of apartments, but very little commercial and consequently, no mice and other visitors that were drawn to the store trash.
Rockville’s new downtown seems to not be filling the apartments very fast. That may be price but I am already hearing of folks moving out because of late night entertainment below them that interferes with their sleep. There is also concern about the restaurant dumpsters odors and what they attract. I was pleased to see rat bait boxes in the garage adjacent to CVS but what self respecting rat would not head for the gourmet food adjacent.
Urban living does have it’s plus side, but I for one am glad that I live in an area that benefits from the old wedges and corridors concept. Mixed use is a nice name but it does not reflect the reality of the outcome.I only hope that those property owners blessed with this new designation will think twice about their civic responsibility and not just the bottom line.
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There’s nothing like a nice, positive opinion piece on Rockville’s Town Center. I too grew up in NYC and no one was exempt from unwanted “guests”. Remember the Park Avenue expose, Ruth? The dumpster issue has been reported to the city and they are taking appropriate action. At a time when Town Center could use all the positive press it can get, your highlighting perceived negative issues that every urban area has doesn’t benefit anyone.>
If you don’t like the mixed use concept, complain to the City Council and Planning Commission. As to your last point, developers are being held to higher standards by our City, helping them realize they have a civic responsibility and must build in accordance with that.
“Mixed use is a nice name but it does not reflect the reality of the outcome.”>
I’m not sure what you mean by this, Ruth. Are the possibility of rodents in restaurants enough of a reason to not build a mixed-use community? We have the tools to correct that – not just rat boxes, of course, but separating the mechanical systems of each use so that fumes, rodents, etc. don’t get cross-contaminated.
The “wedges and corridors” plan isn’t a substitute or alternative for mixing uses, especially in an age when gas prices (and waistlines) are increasing. While a development on the scale of Rockville Town Square would be inappropriate in many communities, throwing some more uses in the mix of predominantly suburban, residential neighborhoods might be beneficial and even desirable for many residents.
You’re right: we need to hold property owners accountable for keeping their developments clean, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be built at all.
I can’t see how anyone can live there. It’s constant concerts every night. Businesses walking around with their huge trash containers on their way to dumpsters. Rat traps everywhere.
Glad this article has elicited some give-and-take, but I do have to take exception with one comment Joseph made up above. If anyone has a problem with a particular article, they ought to take it up with me. It was my decision to run Ruth’s piece. She is not saying anything that I have not heard others say too, and she obviously struck a nerve.>
This is just as valid a forum to air complaints and views as is an “official” channel. It is no different than a letter to the editor in the Gazette.
I am a Town Square and Town Center booster. I believe it can withstand some criticism. It is not all that fragile and constructive criticism will only make it better.
–Brad Rourke
Publisher, Rockville Central
“>I am a Town Square and Town Center booster.“
Glad to see you come out with that Brad. I kinda thought you were a fan of the project but it seemed like you were always trying to come across as neutral, or open-minded, on the issue of it’s being a success or failure.
A few months ago I was very close to pronouncing it the latest in a string of white elephants in Rockville’s continuing effort to remake itself. The warm weather and the heavy schedule of promotions the city sponsors look like they are really bringing out the crowds lately. I always get a kick out of watching the youngsters play in the fountain. But there is still a fairly high level of vacant retail space, and an even higher level of vacancies in the residential portions. Businesses that were here before Town Center are struggling, with some closing, just like when a WalMart opens in a small town. Currently, any rational person would have to say the jury is still out. Time will tell.
But, in the mean time, there is absolutely no reason for the city to be charging headlong into another potential mistake on the Pike. The present status of Town Center ought to serve to at least slow down that project. Perhaps those who want to move it along as fast as possible fear that Town Center will eventually prove to be the disaster that it’s harshest detractors have been saying it is from it’s inception.
To joseph — please share your opinion with us but at the same time refrain from trying to negate the right of others who don’t agree with your feelings to do the same. As Brad has alluded, the project should be able to withstand the voicing of all views. If people are discouraged from posting their true feelings we may wind up with a naked emperor riding on our newest white elephant.
I’ve lived in a brownstone in Manhattan and in several houses in bedroom communities in California and can tell you that pests are a problem wherever humans live. I’ll never forget the rat I saw in my back yard in Sunnyvale; I think he was there to get some of the myer lemons that grew on my three lemon trees, but maybe he was just passing through. That home was on a cul-de-sac in an all-ranch home block.>
Another cul-de-sac home in Mountain View was occasionally graced by a large raccoon. It would wake me up in the middle of the night sometimes.
Then there are my friends who live in Rockville’s Washington Grove. They learned that the previous owners of their house had to put on a new roof because the attic was infested with snakes. What fun!
As for Ruth, I’m sure her trash cans have “No Pests Allowed” signs on them that are big enough for any rat to read.
I am glad Brad prints opinion pieces like these because this is the future of how news and opinion will be shared in our communities. The news industry is in trouble. The Post has a story today about its economic troubles and The Gazette laid off employees this week and announced it is changing its format from a tabloid to a broadsheet next year. Let’s support sites like these as much as we can.>
http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlDC/newspapers/gazette_layoffs_90678.asp
mixed use in no panacea, but I see it as an important ingredient to further increasing the quality of life in the area.>
Different people prefer to live with different amounts of density and homogeneity, so just because you wouldn’t want to live there, doesn’t mean others wouldn’t or that you still can’t benefit from having this sort of usage nearby.
ultimately the details of how it is carried out will determine success or failure, but I don’t think mixed use is a negative.