Author: chogan@directresearch.com

What do the citizens of Vienna want, 2/8/2019

The Town is, in theory, in the process of revising the guidelines for the look of MAC buildings.  It’s not clear what this is supposed to accomplish, because, first and foremost, these are guidelines.  They aren’t zoning law.  They are voluntary.

But the Town did its visual preference survey, and now they are going interpret the resulting chicken entrails as if they have found out something about what the citizens of Vienna want.  As I have noted, it’s tough to get any information whatsoever out of a visual preference survey.  Doubly so when your survey uses pictures of cute little buildings that have nothing to do with the reality of these large MAC housing projects. Continue reading What do the citizens of Vienna want, 2/8/2019

Chick-fil-A — you still ain’t seen nothing yet, 2/8/2018

I just wanted to bump this to the top of my menu for a couple of days.  I have a much earlier post about the Chick-fil-A/Flagship Car Wash building.  This post is just here to remind you that, as that building seems to get bigger, and the towers get taller — you still ain’t seen nothing yet. Continue reading Chick-fil-A — you still ain’t seen nothing yet, 2/8/2018

Meeting? No meeting? Schedule? No Schedule? My tax dollars at work, 2/8/2019 PM edit to correct newspaper info.

You can read my recent post about plans to attend and record this morning’s 2/8/2019 Board of Architectural Review (BAR) meeting. But that meeting didn’t happen.  Instead, I got yet another lesson in how little the Town cares about letting the peasantry citizens know what it’s doing. Continue reading Meeting? No meeting? Schedule? No Schedule? My tax dollars at work, 2/8/2019 PM edit to correct newspaper info.

My endorsements for Town Council and the problem of splitting the vote, 2-7-2019

My small random-sample survey of Town residents suggested that many Vienna residents are ready to vote pro-MAC Town Council members out of office.  (“Suggested”, not “showed”, due to the poor response rate for my survey.) In that survey, a plurality of residents opposed MAC zoning in general.  But people strongly objected to buildings the size of 444 Maple West/Tequila Grande.   Almost two-thirds of survey respondents said they’d vote against any Town Council member who approved buildings that size on Maple. Continue reading My endorsements for Town Council and the problem of splitting the vote, 2-7-2019

BAR meeting 8 AM this Friday, 2/8/2019, posted 2/5/2019.

This is just a brief notice.

The abovementioned Vienna Board of Architectural Review meeting will discussion guidelines for MAC buildings.  So I guess the Department of Planning and Zoning has read the tea leaves regarding their visual preference survey, and is now prepared to tell us what they say it all means.  (You can see my other postings for my doubts about this visual preference survey, and my subsequent criticism of it.) Continue reading BAR meeting 8 AM this Friday, 2/8/2019, posted 2/5/2019.

Wawa versus 380 Maple West: No contest. 2/5/2019

This post is not yet finished.  I hope to finish it tonight. eventually.

Thank goodness for Wawa. 

I’m sure the folks directly behind Wawa don’t share that sentiment.  But just consider this:  If Wawa hadn’t taken that space, we might have gotten another 380 Maple West.  And I would bet that, given the choice, the neighbors would rather have Wawa than 380 Maple West in their back yard. Continue reading Wawa versus 380 Maple West: No contest. 2/5/2019