The Downside of Density and Development

As a counterpoint to our celebrations about density, we can look to the astonishingly bad development that is taking place on Capitol Hill's Pike-Pine corridor, as chronicled by Erica Barnett in this week's The Stranger. Read it. She observes all the factors of neighborhood slumming documented by the great urbanist Jane Jacobs. Neighborhoods suffer without the cross-uses and diversity fostered by old buildings (cheap rents for local, independent businesses) and small storefronts (local, independent businesses again). Here's hoping we see responsibility and better designs from the folks (Pryde + Johnson and Weber + Thompson) responsible for the redevelopment of the block where the Cha Cha Lounge, Bimbo's Bitchin' Burrito Kitchen, and others currently operate.