[WardFive] Re: [ward5] D.C. Legislators Want to Ease Regulations on Pop-Up Businesses, Promote Creative Use of Industrial Land (dcist.com)

Good Evening Ward 5,

 

So, a few days ago when the announcement came forth that Kenyan had put forth this idea for industrial task force, I was wondering about the hook.  Along comes Wells and puts forth this.  Why don't folks just come forth and say what it is.  Are we always going to have to go through this kind of plotting.  Folks need to just come forth and inform us about the discussions so we could be working on the same time schedule. 

 

Whether is a move in the positive direction or not is to be determined by the residents.  Being forthright would be nice.  So whoever the "intelligent" voice was that made the statement about Ward 5 residents being more "proactive", can go downtown to the wilson bldg and have that conversation.  Tell them we want to know the conversations that they are having. 

 

Tell them that it would be decent to give us the list of potential "Temporary Urbanizers" are that they have so far and what buildings they have their eyes on. Who knows, we might be lucky and get another "Bus" Barn. 

 

Rob

 

 

On Mon, Oct 22, 2012 at 10:06 AM, KPW <WKPW3@aol.com> wrote:

 

http://dcist.com/2012/10/temporary_biz_license.php

D.C. Legislators Want to Ease Regulations on Pop-Up Businesses, Promote Creative Use of Industrial Land

This store in Mt. Pleasant was used for a "temporium" in mid-2011. Photo by Pat Padua.

D.C. can be a daunting place to start a business, what with the regulatory hurdles and high costs. But two bills introduced this week seek to change that.

On Tuesday Councilmember Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) introduced legislation that would help small-time entrepreneurs who are testing out new ideas by offering them temporary business licenses, allows for fast-track permits for the temporary use of space and pushes D.C. to find ways better encourage the use of vacant and blighted spaces throughout the city.

The idea, according to Wells, is to make D.C. more flexible and welcoming of pop-up retailers, temporary galleries and entertainment venues.

"While the District government is doing some things right, entrepreneurship and urban creativity is occurring despite significant barriers and substantial inaction from the District government," said Wells in a press release. "Many would-be entrepreneurs have trouble trying out their business ideas because they can't find the right space at the right price, or because it's just not worth navigating the complex licensing and permitting requirements try something out for a few months."

Wells' bill would be an extension of the D.C. Office of Planning's Temporary Urbanism Initiative, which gave out grants to groups that wanted to use vacant retail spaces for short periods of time. The office helped establish "temporiums" on H Street NE and in Mt. Pleasant.

In a separate bill, Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie (D-Ward 5) seeks to create a task force to identify how to better use something that his ward has in excess: industrial land. According to McDuffie's office, the task force would explore new uses for the industrial land—two-thirds of D.C.'s industrially zoned land is in Ward 5—including "recreation, vocational training, sustainable urban agriculture, art studios, business incubation, and temporary urbanism initiatives."

"Imagine if Ward 5's industrial land housed a film studio or an industrial food preparation training center, instead of serving as a parking lot for dozens of dump trucks. We should repurpose warehouses and brownfields—putting residents to work and infusing our neighborhoods with industrial and commercial neighbors that they can embrace and be proud of," said McDuffie.

Ward 5 residents have often complained that their neighborhoods have become a dumping ground for all the things that the rest of the city doesn't want—including medical marijuana cultivation centers—but in recent years two of the city's breweries and its first distillery took advantage of the industrial opportunities.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@dcist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Martin Austermuhle in News on October 18, 2012 1:30 PM

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