Photo by Alan Cordova on Flickr.

Cornhusker calming in Chevy Chase: Residents are concerned about speeding drivers on Nebraska Avenue just west of Rock Creek Park, reports the Current. DDOT is reconstructing that segment of road, but residents argue the agency didn’t adequately communicate plans while they were in development (a common problem across the city).

The article isn’t clear about what exactly residents want. It quotes DDOT’s Karen LeBlanc explaaining why they can’t install speed bumps (which aren’t really a good way to slow traffic, anyway), but speed bumps aren’t the only kind of traffic calming. The road will have new sidewalks and bulb-outs at intersections, all good steps.

Farragut transfer moving forward: WMATA’s Chief of Staff Shiva Pant answered Chuck Coleman’s question about the out-of-system Farragut transfer idea at Friday’s lunchtime chat. According to Pant, “It is something that is part of our next fare software upgrade. Once that is in place, we should be able to move forward with that idea.”

One more step for Falkland Chase: The Montgomery County Planning Board approved plans to demolish one-third of the mid-century garden apartment complex near downtown Silver Spring to build a “luxury high rise”, preserving the other two-thirds as historic while also enabling new and partly affordable housing. (Washington Post via Just Up the Pike). Both JUTP and I have criticized the proposed new tower for its very poor urbanism; it’ll be up to the Planning Board to push something better.

Physically attracted to their cars: Wired relays a study which measured hormone levels in men and women after hearing the sounds of various cars. High-end sports cars generated the most arousal, particularly in women. Nature or nurture? How about playing background sounds of a Lamborghini in the subway? If subways were privately run, I suspect the operators would do just that, just like stores pipe in odors to draw out greater spending behavior.

More wards? Better ANCs? Richard Layman wonders if we need more, smaller wards, which triggers an interesting discussion about at-large Councilmembers (more? fewer?), improving ANCs (more professional staff?) and other government reform ideas.