BWN Investigates Urban Planning: Getting Us Where We Live
Ever wonder why the area around Woodmont Avenue, Elm Street, and Bethesda Avenue has been developed to attract upscale shops and dining, while the east side of Wisconsin Avenue reflects nostalgia for the shopping areas of yesteryear, with its lamp store, flea market, mediocre Chinese restaurant, and office buildings at half-occupancy?
Ever ask yourself why there are two parking garages exiting onto the same block on Elm Street?
The editors of BWN wondered about these and other quaint features of our area, so we asked. In the following interview, an urban planner answers our questions, providing a critical window into the decision-making process.
The urban planner, who wished to remain anonymous, is identified as “UP.”
BWN: Why is the pedestrian alley that connects Bethesda Avenue and Elm Street called “Bethesda Lane?” Was that all the best minds of our generation could come up with?
UP: I agree it seems like a missed opportunity. We were going to have a sponsor. You know, Long & Foster Lane? Then we were going to honor a local hero, and developers suggested “Nancy Floreen Way.” We were really close to calling it “That place with even more expensive stuff” or “Less snotty than the strip with Tiffany in Friendship Heights.” And the Bethesda Chamber of Secrets wanted “Another way to make sure people from Silver Spring don’t come here.” So you see there had to be a compromise.
BWN: Let’s talk about parking. On a recent Saturday night, police were forced to direct traffic on Elm Street between Woodmont Ave. and Arlington Rd., because garages were full by 7pm, and cars entering and exiting the two parking garages had nowhere to go.
UP: I know what night you’re talking about, because I was there. It was a scene. What happened was, there was actually one family to blame. I’m sure you can understand why I can’t tell you it was the Lamptons of 1451 Bradmont Circle. Their twin toddlers, Eli and Ellen, were taking too long to eat in Café Deluxe, and their parents didn’t vacate the public parking lot in time for the start of the adults-only dining shift. This caused a chain reaction of backed up restaurant seating and backed up parking garages. But the family has been fined, and it won’t happen again.
BWN: That’s all well and good, but isn’t it true that you knew putting two garages on that block would lock up traffic? And isn’t true you did it anyway?
UP: If I thought I’d be talking to Chris Wallace, I’d have brought my lawyer. [jovial laugh; BWN editor lights UP’s cigar].
BWN: You know we have to ask the tough questions Jo— I mean UP.
UP: Of course we did it on purpose. Do you think anything is left to chance in Bethesda-World? The beauty of the arrangement is this— The blocked traffic, the two garages, it’s all designed to result in an impromptu public gathering place. A community-building feature of the redevelopment of our district. People will stop and get out of their cars, stand around on the street and the sidewalk, and they’ll talk to each other. They’ll get to know each other. They’re all in it together.
BWN: I see what you mean.
Based on our talk with UP, it’s clear that the most mysterious decisions have a firm basis in logic and foresight, as is typical of urban planning in general, and a particular feature of where we live.
