Posts about Maryland
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Accessory dwelling debate comes to MoCo
Montgomery County allows accessory dwellings, but homeowners must first obtain a “special exception” from zoning authorities. That’s a time-consuming and burdensome process. It’s no surprise, therefore, that in a county of about a million people, there are only 162 accessory apartments, most in Takoma Park and Silver Spring. Keep reading…
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Breakfast links: Simple solutions edition
Farragut’s “invisible tunnel”: CommuterPageBlog asks why Metro can’t easily allow free out-of-system transfers between Farragut North and West, allowing people to exit at one and re-enter the other on a single fare instead of riding around to the crowded Metro Center. NYC has two of these. Keep reading…
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A field guide to NIMBYism
I sometimes refer to those opposing any change as NIMBYs, though that’s not precisely accurate. The term NIMBY originally referred to those who wanted projects like highways, airports, or waste disposal facilities (LULUs) but wanted them to just be built elsewhere. That still describes many opponents of local projects, like the “save the environment somewhere else”… Keep reading…
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COG climate change report briefing tomorrow
Climate experts from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) are briefing the DC Council tomorrow about COG’s Climate Change Report. Produced by a steering committee co-chaired by Councilmember Mary Cheh, MoCoCo’s Nancy Floreen and Fairfax’s Gerry Connolly (likely the next Congressman from NoVa), the report gives 78 recommendations… Keep reading…
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Lunch links: Sprawl advocacy pro and con edition
Safety for their schools, not others: The Town of Chevy Chase is slowing traffic around one of its schools while, as ACT points out, advocating for a Purple Line bus alignment that would send rapid buses right past another school outside their limits. Keep reading…
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Morning links: Politics in the press edition
National pols ignorant of DC politics: No surprise here: they’re DC superdelegates, but many don’t know the name of their City Council member. (I can forgive them for not knowing all the shadow Senators.) The Post popped them with a pop quiz and got many failing grades. Keep reading…
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PG building edge cities, neglecting Metro stations
Prince George’s County leaders are very proud that Konterra Town Center is moving forward. It’s a huge development at I-95 and the future Intercounty Connector in Laurel. It’s even bigger and just as auto-dependent as their other totally transit-inaccessible edge city, National Harbor, which, after building itself far from transit, started complaining… Keep reading…
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Takoma Park considering boulevard for New Hampshire Ave
Just Up the Pike reports that Takoma Park might reduce the number of lanes on New Hampshire Avenue to create a more walkable boulevard. This recommendation came from a charrette and study commissioned by the Council. Keep reading…
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Morning links: Benefits of transit edition
Gridlock Sam still shilling for Chevy Chase: New York’s “Gridlock Sam,” who coined the term “gridlock,” is still working for the town of Chevy Chase and pushing bad logic to stop light rail on the Purple Line. This time, he argues that light rail isn’t much better than BRT, while the buses are cheaper. But Sam neglects to mention that the BRT alignments… Keep reading…
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Yesterday’s suburbia tomorrow
Freakonomics’ latest quorum discusses everyone’s favorite topic in the era of high gas prices: the future of suburbs. After the predictable quotes from Kunstler (“The suburbs have three destinies… as materials salvage, as slums, and as ruins”) comes Freehold, NJ administrator Thomas Antus, who thinks development will make taxes spiral out… Keep reading…