Posts by Cavan Wilk — Guest Contributor
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DC United and the University of Maryland: a perfect match
DC United might leave Washington entirely due to lack of a suitable and sustainable stadium. Embedded in the UMD campus plan could be the key: A new stadium which serves both DC United and Maryland soccer. DC United has been playing at 50-year old RFK stadium since 1996 and the facility is literally crumbling. After numerous agreements with local governments that fell apart… Keep reading…
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Zombie road rises from the dead in upcounty Montgomery
Montgomery County DOT has resurrected an expensive and environmentally destructive extension of Mid-County Highway in Gaithersburg from a dotted line on a 1960’s map. Codenamed M-83, the highway would waste scarce money from the county’s Capital Improvement Program (CIP), destroy valuable parkland and wetlands, take people’s property, and… Keep reading…
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The Purple and Red Lines will benefit all of Maryland
Maryland state senator E.J. Pipkin of Cecil County is drafting legislation to require counties to pay for constructing mass transit projects by themselves without state help. They would still be required to contribute to the state’s transportation trust fund as they do now. While there is something to be said for paying one’s own way, the legislation being… Keep reading…
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Wheaton development a good example of urban infill
Infill development is fundamental to any region’s sustainable growth and evolution. The Leesborough townhouse and condominium development in Wheaton exhibits excellent urban planning and creates a sense of place on the human scale. In the long run, the region needs more urban-formatted infill housing in order to address its affordable housing problem. In… Keep reading…
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A DC United stadium is likely to be truly urban
Last week, Erik posted that DC United is in discussions about small sites in the District for a 20-25,000 seat soccer stadium. The constraints of both Buzzard Point and the Florida Market sites guarantee that the stadium would be a celebrated urban stadium rather than a mini-FedEx Field. In February 2009, I outlined characteristics of a successful urban stadium. Either… Keep reading…
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MDOT improving pedestrian safety in the wake of tragedy
After a recent tragedy where two young men were killed crossing Rockville Pike by the White Flint Metro, a friend of one of the families reached out to Maryland Delegate Jeff Waldstreicher (D-18) to create something positive come out of the terrible circumstances. The tragedy is a profound argument in favor of properly funding the smart growth-oriented White Flint Sector Plan. … Keep reading…
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Time to fast-track the southern Bethesda Metro entrance
Conditions have recently improved in the Bethesda Metro station. Now that escalator renovations are done, the station has much less of a bottleneck. But this busy station desperately needs even more capacity. It’s time to build a southern entrance to the station. Plans have long called for a second entrance toward the southern end of the platform. … Keep reading…
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Defunding Pike conversion threatens Montgomery’s growth
Recently, the Montgomery County Executive submitted a funding plan for White Flint that omits converting Rockville Pike into an urban boulevard. Such a plan would cripple the new White Flint town and its potential to create economic growth for Montgomery County. Rockville Pike is currently hostile and dangerous to pedestrians, with too few crosswalks, too-fast automobile… Keep reading…
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Martin O’Malley for Maryland Governor
Because of his firm stances on major issues that will shape Maryland’s future, Greater Greater Washington is happy to endorse Governor Martin O’Malley for a second term. The 2010 Maryland gubernatorial election is different from most elections where an incumbent with a voting record is opposing a challenger who only has promises and ideas. Bob Ehrlich,… Keep reading…
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“The Polluters” reveals the history of industrial pollution
When I was a teenager, my mother worked at a chemical plant in Wilmington, Delaware. When she told me about her work, she emphasized the safety procedures that the plant followed. Many of the procedures were due to the ongoing environmental cleanup in and around the site. Before 1970, there was little in the way of environmental standards for industrial sites in… Keep reading…