Pennsylvania Avenue Initiative Launched to Revitalize the Nation's Main Street

A newly launched planning project, known as the Pennsylvania Avenue Initiative would, would extend Pennsylvania Avenue's successes, found under the leadership of Daniel Patrick Moynihan, according to an article by Jonathan O'Connell.

The National Capital Planning Commission, will lead the initiative as the planning agency, "along with the District, the General Services Administration, the National Park Service and private landowners," reports O'Connell.

The current shortcomings of Pennsylvania present unique planning challenges to revitalization, including:

• "Unlike most streets in D.C., the National Park Service — chronically short of funding — is in charge of the sidewalks on Pennsylvania Avenue."
• "The streetlights are deliberately understated in deference to views of the U.S. Capitol, but the effect on the sidewalk is more darkness than streets the District manages nearby."
• "Federal buildings along the southern side of the avenue are bound by security requirements that further dampen opportunities for the retail and sidewalk cafes that have begun populating other parts of the city."