Gateway lacks affordable housing. In the works since the early 2000’s the Langdon Lofts project still hasn’t’ been completed and even if it is, will only bring 36 units for the Langdon and Gateway community to split. A staggering 60% of homes were built before 1960 resulting in crumbling, crackling homes that are in disrepair. Less than 400 building permits were issues in Gateway compared with tens of thousands in the surrounding communities. No investment is being made into this community.
The Red Line is the closest metro and it is over 2 miles away. The transportation situation within the community is lacking. There are no bus stops within the community. Only on the north east and north west perimeters are bus stops that are accessible to the residents of Gateway further isolating them from the surrounding communities. While residents cannot easily get out of the neighborhood, others cannot easily come in. Traffic lanes weren’t painted for a majority of the neighborhood so bike lanes definitely are not present however, I don’t think it would be a problem to bike around the neighborhood. The biggest issue I see is that, the surrounding streets are main thoroughfares with large trucks and busses and heavy car traffic. Once you get to the edge of the neighborhood, I don’t know where you would safely bike to. There is a limited amount of places within the nearby communities to access daily necessities. Mobility is also severely restricted, especially to the south, where walking is not an option due to divided highways and fences. The Gateway neighborhood is not set up to be a safe neighborhood. The lack of commercial activity leads to abandoned, empty streets with no one to monitor them. Dead ends and alley ways further isolate pedestrians from onlookers. Other safety concerns are not crime related but general health and safety hazards. The southern part of the neighborhood is heavy industry. Numerous brown fields surround the neighborhood. This leads to trash and waste that contaminates the water supply. Furthermore, the Virginia Railway lines idles their diesel locomotive engines near these industrial areas adding noise and air contaminants to the neighborhood. The three main roads that surround Gateway are large and dangerous roads. The one and only park, Dakota Playground is the epitome of of poor city planning. It is as if city planners simply said, let’s put a park in this neighborhood, it is all they need. Two sides of the park border busy roads with cars zipping by quickly. Another side looks directly into an industrial lot where the blight is in your face. The park sits on the southeast side of the neighborhood and is not inclusive by any means. It serves as no focal point or climax. It has no complexity or wonder about it. It has no strategic sun orientation or other admirable qualities. The only occupants of the park were about 12 guys, all above 20, playing basketball adjacent to the playground. No one was using the playground. The playground was in disrepair. I was unable to determine whether it was just wear or vandalism but I suspect the later, given that no one was using it. In addition, a stuffed trash can and other various pieces of trash littered the grounds. A single bench accompanied the playground. It is no wonder that no one frequents this park. It is unattractive, poorly located, and unbounded. No one would ever send a child there to play with the dangers that present themselves at the boundaries of the park. Insufficient lighting rounds off the list of undesirable attributes. |