Posts about Maryland
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Get involved this week in PG Co., Arlington, DC
It’s the first week of the month and that means lots and lots of great opportunities to speak up in local government! Keep reading…
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Gaithersburg could get a downtown
BeyondDC reports that the Montgomery County Fairgrounds, “right where downtown Gaithersburg should be, if only it existed,” will move, creating a perfect opportunity for real urbanism in what is now “an incoherent conglomeration of strip malls and fast food shacks.” Keep reading…
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Kojo on density
On today’s Kojo Nnamdi Show on WAMU, Post architecture critic Roger Lewis discusses good and bad design for density, analogies of Washington to Paris, transit-oriented development, Smart Growth controversy in Tenleytown and Annapolis, and the architectural and political sides of density. Keep reading…
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DC & Rockville residents: get involved in local planning!
There are a lot of good meetings happening this week in DC and Rockville around local planning, from encouraging the arts and retail through DC’s zoning to improving Rockville Pike. I highly encourage all of you, readers, to attend these meetings in your city or neighborhood. Many of them, especially the DC Zoning Update and the Pike planning, are significant opportunities… Keep reading…
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NoMA Public Radio, not New Parking-Lot Radio. Nice for Pedestrians Radio?
NPR is moving its headquarters to NoMA, the area north of Union Station that is experiencing major revitalization. I just hope their new building is better than their old one in terms of engaging the streetscape, and that the old one can be turned into something that, unlike many of the newer buildings around Mt. Vernon Square, presents something other than a blank wall to passing pedestrians. Keep reading…
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Rockville Central reports on Pike meeting
It looks like Cindy CG of Rockville Central was at another Parking and Loading table at Wednesday’s Rockville Pike meeting. Keep reading…
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Skybridges don’t make the connection
It sounds simple and appealing. Your city has a major road with a lot of traffic, but city planners and citizens want to make it more pedestrian-friendly, encouraging more walkable stores in place of purely big box strip development. How about pedestrian overpasses? With a walkway, people can cross in complete safety and not interfere with the existing traffic. You can even build… Keep reading…
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Consensus and controversy in Rockville’s Pike
Last night I attended a community meeting in Rockville about “envisioning a great place” for Rockville Pike, specifically the segment from Twinbrook Parkway to Richard Montgomery Drive (just north of Wootton Parkway). This section is almost entirely filled with strip malls behind large parking lots—the cookie-cutter suburban retail that makes Rockville’s… Keep reading…
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Greater Baltimore & Washington Transit Future version 2
This map shows what the transportation system of the Baltimore-Washington area would look like if most of the proposed improvements are built. In particular, it includes the Silver Line to Dulles; several new infill Metro stations; turning MARC and VRE into transit-like service with frequent trains that run through from Maryland to Virginia so all commuters can reach Union Station,… Keep reading…
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Greater Washington Transit Future: a multimodal fantasy map
Update: Version 2 is now available. Dan at BeyondDC was one of several people to comment that Metrorail is not the most cost-effective way to provide transit. In fact, it’s pretty darn cost-ineffective. So while it’s fun to dream about Metro lines everywhere, what’s a more achievable transit vision? There are two areas officials want to improve transit,… Keep reading…