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From YouTube: Columbia Pike
Description
For years, residents living on or near Columbia Pike, a major east-west artery in south Arlington, have worked with County government on a comprehensive plan to build a more walkable, bikeable, transit-oriented Main Street. So, what does revitalization look like on the Pike? When will the Streetcar arrive? Who is making the decisions? Mary Curtius went to find out the answers to these questions and more...
A
For
years
residents
living
on
or
near
Columbia
Pike,
a
major
east-west
artery
in
South
Arlington
have
worked
with
the
county
government
on
a
comprehensive
plan
to
build
a
more
walkable
bikable
transit
oriented,
Main
Street.
So
how
are
we
doing?
What
does
revitalization
look
like
on
the
pike
and
who's
making
the
decisions?
Mary
Kurtis
went
to
find
out
the
answers
to
these
questions
and
more.
B
C
B
D
Of
the
things
that
we
realized
was
that,
in
order
to
be
a
walkable
friendly,
pedestrian
oriented
community,
the
traffic
that
was
coming
through
here
was
going
much
too
fast
and
there
was
no
protection
for
for
pedestrians,
and
so
community
members
sat
around
and
talked
about
what
they
would
like
to
see.
How
wide
should
a
sidewalks
be?
Should
there
be
street
trees?
You
know
parking
that
was
very
important,
because
that
forms
a
buffer
between
pedestrians
and
traffic.
D
C
D
Have
a
brand
new
development
at
Penrose
Square
that
not
only
has
a
brand
new
closure
store,
it
has
it's
going
to
have
a
park
right
in
front
of
it,
a
town
square.
It's
going
to
have
places
where
people
can
sit
outdoors
cafes.
It
will
have
new
restaurants
and
have
new
shops.
So
the
idea
of
you
know
living
where
you
work,
where
you
shop,
where
you
play,
is
actually
being
realized
as.
C
B
C
In
the
Columbia,
Pike
will
run
in
traffic
just
the
way
the
buses
do
and
but
will
carry
more.
People
will
run
more
quietly
because
it's
electric,
so
what
it
means
is
more
people
riding
transit
and
less
depending
on
cars.
It's
a
way
to
to
keep
down
the
you
know
the
excessive
vehicular
traffic
that
we
don't
want
to
be
subject
to
the.
C
Will
replace
some
buses?
Yes,
there
still
will
be
a
bus
service
part
of
the
way
you
have
to
make
a
transit
system
work.
If
you
really
want
people
to
be
able
to
live
a
transparent
lifestyle,
you
have
to
have
overlaying
networks,
you
have
to
be
able
to
make
connections
and
get
different
places
and
in
the
form
of
our
streetcar,
for
instance,
it
will
run
Columbia
Pike
to
Pentagon,
City
and
you'll,
be
able
to
connect
there
it'll
be
able
to
get
you
out
to
a
note
of
density
in
in
the
skyline
area.
C
In
the
other
direction,
we
have
Metro
bus,
which
serves
a
regional
bus
purpose.
We
have
art
bus
which
serves
Arlington.
Another
thing
we've
introduced
here,
increase
the
connectivity,
you
know
and
you'll
have
the
streetcar
and
with
those
interconnections
you'll
be
able
to
get
around
without
having
a
car
seven
days
a
week
and
when.
B
C
B
C
Streetcar
is
running
roughly
twenty
five
to
fifty
million
dollars
a
mile
in
projects
around
the
country,
and
of
course
you
know
to
you
and
me
that's
obviously
a
lot
of
money,
but
in
terms
of
transportation
infrastructure,
that's
actually
not
a
lot
of
money.
Transportation
infrastructure
is
enormous,
ly
expensive.
The
things
we
do
for
cars,
like
you,
know,
intersection
on
the
highway,
an
interchange
or
even
changing
a
ramp
cost.
Tens
of
millions
of
dollars
routinely.
There's.
C
One
of
the
most
cost-effective
investments
that
you
can
make
in
transportation.
It
will
add
to
the
value
of
the
real
estate
right
along
the
corridor,
and
that
means
that
it
will
yield
higher
tax
return,
and
so
it
won't
take
very
long
for
investment
like
this
to
pay
for
itself
and
in
the
very
narrow
terms,
government
revenues.
Of
course
there
are
benefits
that
don't
go
beyond
that.
B
D
Our
goal
and
it's
a
very
ambitious
goal,
and
we
hope
that
we
can
achieve
it-
is
that
we
maintain
the
same
level
of
affordability
on
Columbia
Pike
that
we
have
today
into
the
future.
So
how
do
we
preserve
affordable
housing?
How
do
we
preserve
historic
resources?
How
do
we
create
new
housing
for
new
neighbors
to
come
here,
and
the
thing
is
that
it's
not
easy,
we're
looking
for
new
tools
that
will
help
us
finance
either
the
preservation
of
affordable
housing
or
the
preservation
of
historic
properties.
C
Development,
for
instance,
supports
affordable
housing
because
a
portion
of
what
you
know
what
comes
out
of
a
new
development
as
developers
are
granted
the
right
to
build
at
higher
densities
is
a
contribution
to
housing
which
they
can
make
either
directly
in
a
building
or
by
providing
funds
that
we
then
use
for
through
our
program.
Our
affordable
housing
investment
fund,
and
we
put
in
our
own
money
every
year
in
the
budget.
D
We
are
at
a
point
in
the
study
now
where
we
know
a
lot
about
the
housing
about
the
economics
of
redevelopment
on
Columbia
Pike.
So
we
have
all
the
pieces.
We've
looked
at
tools
and
now
it's
the
time
that
all
these
peoples
are
going
to
come
together
and
we'll
see
if
we
have
all
the
pieces
that
we
need
to
make
this
happen,
whether
we
have
to
adjust
our
goals
or
whether
we
can
stand
firm,
our
goals
and
just
make
sure
that
we
have
the
right
tools
in
place.
If.