The cities planning an international design competition this summer to overhaul Capitol Mall in an attempt to draw more activates to the area. The city already has about $1 million set aside to begin preliminary work on the mall. Once city officials say they have chose a design they'll go after more money from state and federal grants…as well as private money.
It's my hope that any changes made to Capitol Mall will not include structures or trees that will grow and block the view of the Capitol when seen from the west after crossing the Tower Bridge. This is the only line of site where the entire building can be seen from a distance and makes an awesome visual impact for those visiting our city for the first time. It would be a shame to block the only unobstructed view of the Capitol from this distance where you don’t need to be on a bridge or high-rise to see the Capitol.
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A few years back, one of the Bee's columnists advocated a Champs Elysees realingment of Capitol Mall, where the traffic lanes are in the middle and the wasted grass median is turned into traffic lanes, and the sidewalks are widened a like amount, so ground floor retail can be put in front of existing buildings, along with street-level dining and walking. This wouldn't impact the view of the Capitol at all, and could completely change the character of those blocks. I think it's a genius idea and would be all for it.
And then of course there's the idea of running streetcars on the outside lanes of Capitol Avenue from over the Tower Bridge, kind of like the ones that used to run down M Street until 1941. Some have commented that the wires would block the view, but somehow the wires of the Market Street streetcar line don't block the view of the Ferry Building.
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