[RP TownTalk] renewed discussion of Cafritz Project garners some analysis

[Chris Currie]

I just posted this comment on the Rethinking College Park blog:

[Quote:] "People gotta live someplace. And we can save more trees if they
live in dense developments, rather than in sprawling suburban castles."

We could save even more trees if Central Park were redeveloped like the rest
of mid-town Manhattan, but does anyone think that would be a good idea?

If you're going to pack people into denser environments, which makes sense
for a number of reasons, it's even more important to provide green oases
that sustain the human spirit.

That's not an argument for putting "sprawling suburban castles" on Cafritz,
but for preserving the green space - perhaps as a park that could do at
least as much for the local quality of life as a yupscale grocery store.

The current trends indicate that there will be more and more shopping
amenities in the Rte. 1 communities in the future, but less and less green
space. Shouldn't we try to preserve some of what's left of the latter?

Do what Hyattsville did and put the commercial yuppie playgrounds on
under-performing and less dense commercial tracts. That makes better
economic as well as environmental sense. And it leaves us with a few places
to breathe.

Chris Currie
Hyattsville


                --- On Mon, 5/30/11, Dwight Holmes <dwightrholmes at gmail.com>
wrote:


                From: Dwight Holmes <dwightrholmes at gmail.com>
                Subject: [RP TownTalk] renewed discussion of Cafritz Project
garners some analysis on the Rethinking College Park blog
                To: "TownTalk" <towntalk at riverdale-park.org>
                Date: Monday, May 30, 2011, 3:55 AM

                http://rethinkcollegepark.net/blog/2011/5527/

                Talks Resume for Whole Foods Just South of College Park

                May 29th, 2011  |  by Colin Phillips  |  Published in
Cafritz
                Property, Speculation  |  5 Comments
                15Share

                There?s nothing like talk of a Whole Foods opening in the
neighborhood
                to get local pulses racing. After a few years of
recession-induced
                torpor, it appears that plans are again underway to develop
the
                Cafritz Property, a 35.8-acre tract of undeveloped land on
Route 1
                immediately to the south of College Park. Whole Foods would
like to be
                the anchor tenant for this development (it is listed among
their
                ?stores in development?. As the lively discussion on the
Riverdale
                Park Patch shows, some locals regard this as the best thing
since
                unsliced organic bread, while others view it as the latest
in a line
                of development and transportation disasters to hit the
area....

                for complete blog article, see
http://rethinkcollegepark.net/blog/2011/5527/
                _______________________________________________