Posts about District of Columbia
-
Afternoon links: What are we paying for?
VDOT leases cheap spaces, builds expensive ones; Police search bags while mob attacks riders; Senators ask for Florida HSR money; Philanthropy in all the wrong places?; Community garden plots in demand and disrepair; DC’s arena might have gone to the suburbs; Driver mows down Critical Mass riders; “War” rhetoric over half a percent; And…. Keep reading…
-
The National Pasture: Bring sheep back to the Mall
These days, lawmakers are talking a lot about cutting budgets but not much about cutting carbon emissions. With spring around the corner, soon it will be time for cutting grass. President Obama could address all three concerns by bringing sheep to the grounds of the White House and National Mall. Unlike conventional groundskeepers, sheep don’t require salaries… Keep reading…
-
Wells pushes DDOT to perform better on parking
At yesterday’s DDOT performance hearing, Tommy Wells pushed DDOT and interim director Terry Bellamy to be more active in managing DC’s two performance parking pilot zones, now over two years old. In the performance parking zones, the price of on-street meters should reflect the demand for parking in an area. By adjusting the price per hour, DDOT can ensure there’s… Keep reading…
-
DC cycling concentrated in Northwest and Capitol Hill
An analysis of American Community Survey (ACS) data shows that bicycling rates are not evenly distributed across the District. Keep reading…
-
Breakfast links: Thinking about tomorrow
Avoid a DC shutdown; Why not Walmart; Burke wants calmer parkway; Express buses begin on ICC; College Park considering CaBi; Complaints do not equal failure; Biddle challenges opponents’ candidacies; Gray calls for deeper SUV investigation; And…. Keep reading…
-
Should DC limit sidewalk cycling in commercial areas?
At this morning’s oversight hearing for the bicycle and pedestrian advisory councils, Councilmember Jack Evans chastised cyclists who speed on jogging trails, and Tommy Wells expressed interest in exploring restrictions on sidewalk cycling in commercial areas of DC. At the start of the meeting, Evans said that he jogs regularly, and cyclists have almost hit him 3 or… Keep reading…
-
Is there really a problem with the 15th Street bike lane?
DC Councilmember Jack Evans (Ward 2) claimed this morning that the 15th Street bike lane is “not working” because of the impact on drivers from the new left turn signals. Evans generally emphasized that he supports bike lanes and committed to keeping the lane in place, but criticized the new, two-way version of the 15th Street lane. He said that the turn restrictions… Keep reading…
-
Wells’ lightning-fast SUV investigation finds violations
DPW improperly purchased and leased a number of SUVs, including the ones for Council Chairman Kwame Brown, in violation of laws restricting their use, according to a preliminary report from Councilmember Tommy Wells and his staff. Wells requested information from the Department of Public Works last week. His staff must have been working late nights to analyze the data, since… Keep reading…
-
Breakfast links: Cuts have an impact
911 drops calls during furlough; High school closures a possiblity; VA pols fight WMATA cut; DC cuts solar energy help; Are neighbors an obstacle to great higher ed?; WABA plans Ward 8 outreach; Why don’t grocery stores have congestion pricing?; Reducing zoning increases parking rules; And…. Keep reading…
-
Expanding downtown: Infrastructure matters
Washington, DC is a lucky city. Its downtown has been filled up with new construction over the past few decades to such an extent that it has virtually no space for new office buildings. Some, like Matt Yglesias, have suggested that one way to resolve this problem would be to increase densities by ridding the city of its height limit, which in essence makes it impossible to build structures… Keep reading…