Posts by Dan Reed — Regional Policy Director
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Did Silver Spring build enough housing to stay affordable? Sort of.
In 2013, I looked at rents in Silver Spring to see if building tons of new homes could help keep our community affordable. Five years and about 1,700 new apartments later, did it work? Sort of. Keep reading…
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Before the Purple Line, Silver Spring will get this train-chameleon mural
The Purple Line won't open for a few years, but it'll arrive a little sooner in Silver Spring in the form of a new mural that turns the train into…an iguana. Work on the mural started last week on a blank wall the intersection of Georgia Avenue and Bonifant Street, where Purple Line trains will run once the light rail opens in 2023. Keep reading…
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“Is he into boys who like transit?” A K Street Transitway love story
The District is planning to move forward with the K Street Transitway, which would rebuild K Street to give buses their own, car-free lanes and drastically reducing trip times between Union Station and Georgetown. It's also the source of a really embarrassing crush I had in high school. Keep reading…
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Here are seven ways Montgomery County is changing
More than 50 years ago, Montgomery County created a grand vision for how it would grow, called On Wedges and Corridors. It laid out the basic structure of Montgomery County, with development clustering around the Red Line and I-270, a big network of parks and open spaces, and a large agricultural reserve beyond that. However, our county looks very different than it did back then. Keep reading…
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Why is Elrich resistant to building homes for millennials?
One-fifth of Montgomery County’s residents are Millennials, or adults between 23 and 38, and the county has been working to attract and retain them so they’ll build lives here. But new County Executive Marc Elrich recently suggested that he’s not that interested in building homes for them. Keep reading…
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Here are 13 reasons why Montgomery County has to make budget cuts this year
Montgomery County will soon start working on its budget for next year, and officials already expect that they'll need to make big cuts. While the county's population is growing, its tax base has been shrinking, which means that we're trying to pay for more services with less money. How did this happen? Here are several reasons. Keep reading…
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Top posts of 2018: Montgomery County says no new homes in Silver Spring because the schools are full
For decades, school planners assumed that families would move out to the suburbs once they had kids, and made projections for where and how to build new schools based on that. But as that trend begins to shift, Montgomery County is finding school enrollment harder to predict, which creates new challenges in and out of the classroom. Keep reading…
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Reed: The urbanist case for Nancy Floreen for Montgomery County Executive
Montgomery County voters have to choose between sitting at-large councilmembers Nancy Floreen and Marc Elrich for county executive on November 6. The Greater Greater Washington community is far from unified in its view on this race. To help readers think about the issues, we're bringing you a pair of opinion pieces by members of our community who are backing different candidates. Keep reading…
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Wheaton’s art parade shows how we can reuse vacant suburban spaces
This Sunday, works of art will take over the streets of downtown Wheaton for the Wheaton Art Parade. Now in its second year, the parade is a sign of how communities in Montgomery County are finding new uses for vacant suburban retail spaces. Keep reading…
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Montgomery County says no new homes in Silver Spring because the schools are full
For decades, school planners assumed that families would move out to the suburbs once they had kids, and made projections for where and how to build new schools based on that. But as that trend begins to shift, Montgomery County is finding school enrollment harder to predict, which creates new challenges in and out of the classroom. Keep reading…