Posts by Geoff Hatchard — Editorial Board Alum
-
Street tree care: How can it improve?
Washington, DC is nicknamed “City of Trees,” but its appropriateness is at risk along with many of DC’s trees. We must improve the way we care for our city’s trees to make this nickname relevant again, and soon. A few years ago, the city planted trees in the median of North Capitol Street, from Michigan Avenue to Hawaii Avenue, while the street was undergoing… Keep reading…
-
Holes get plugged up on N Street NW
N Street NW, between Connecticut Avenue and North Capitol Street, has horrible pavement. It’s rutted, full of potholes, and patched so poorly that it’s a stretch in places to call it a paved street. But N Street NW has other holes as well. Keep reading…
-
Employee vehicles blocking bike racks at NY Avenue Metro
The bicycle parking at the New York Avenue Metro station is substandard, and WMATA employee cars and motorcycles are parked daily all around the pedestrian areas and blocking the bicycle parking. I take the Red Line to and from work every day, entering the system at the New York Avenue Metro station. I bike there from our house in Trinidad, parking my bicycle at the racks near the… Keep reading…
-
They paved paradise, and put up a parking lot
While parking lots are on the wane in some parts of town, that’s not the case everywhere. Houses in Truxton Circle have been torn down at a notable rate recently, and some of those have simply been turned into expanses of asphalt to house cars instead of people. Parking lots draw the ire of many who live in DC. They’re not the best use for limited city land and they’re… Keep reading…
-
Vince Gray talks IZ, New Communities, and rent control
At the recent blogger roundtable, Mayoral candidate Vince Gray talked about his goal to unite residents in “One City.” He noted that while DC is currently “very divided by geography, age, gender, and race,” ultimately “people have got to feel like there’s a place for them.” While education, economic development, and workforce… Keep reading…
-
That nice map… never mind
In the “security”-obsessed reality we live in, having something as simple as a not-very-high-resolution map of water pipes out there on the Internet is enough to make government-types wet their pants (water related puns—gotta love ‘em!). This morning, I received notice from Alan Heymann, the Public Affairs Director of DC Water, that the EPA contacted… Keep reading…
-
Where does your DC Water come from?
Do you know where your water comes from? If you live in DC, it comes from one of several pumping stations, but the one that serves you might be all the way across town. On Thursday, June 17th, I was invited (along with other local bloggers) to a roundtable with the General Manager of DC Water, George S. Hawkins. Mr. Hawkins spoke about the culture of accountability he is nurturing… Keep reading…
-
Zombie streetcar rails rise from the dead
While a new streetcar network is under construction in DC, relics of the old streetcar network still exist all over the city. This map from the National Capital Trolley Museum shows the routes that were in use in 1958, just a couple years before the end of streetcar service in DC. Many of these rail lines still exist; they were simply paved over when the streetcars were taken out… Keep reading…
-
DDOT reveals more streetcar details in Trinidad
Residents heard about the maintenance yard for the H Street NE streetcar line, how it will tie in to Union Station, and how the streetcars will be powered at Tuesday’s meeting hosted by DDOT in Ward 5’s Trinidad community. DDOT’s Scott Kubly presented illustrations to the packed gymnasium at Wheatley Education Campus showing how the western end of the H Street… Keep reading…
-
Plans envision multimodal “crossroads” at Mt. Vernon Square
DC’s least successful bicycle and transit infrastructure is on 7th and 9th Streets, NW, where drivers constantly occupy the dedicated bus-bike lanes. That’s one of the problems the DC Office of Planning and DDOT hope to address with a new study of the Mount Vernon Square area and 7th and 9th Streets. Planners also looked at ways to improve the area’s parks,… Keep reading…