Recent Posts
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Serious fixes for WMATA, part 2: Set goals and policies
Besides appointing members who actually show up to meetings and ride transit, the WMATA Board can start fixing the authority’s problems by spending more time on high-level policies and performance metrics instead of trying to decide every individual small issue. One of the biggest criticisms of the Board has been that they micromanage the agency. Ironically, one of… Keep reading…
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Breakfast links: With an eye to the future
Washington in 2040; Healthy Potomac needs more forests, less sprawl; Bipartisan proposal to raise gas tax; Bike sharing should be revenue neutral; Park Service limits public input; Transit riders save thousands; Behind the bag fee victory; Should we try strict liability?; And…. Keep reading…
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What’s That? #36: The answers
Congratulations to Steve, Alsatian, B, and Collier for getting all three answers to this week’s What’s That? Keep reading…
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Arlington planning changes, 1960s to 1970s
In 1961, Arlington approved its first General Land Use Plan (GLUP). Fourteen years later, the next version of the GLUP reflected a major shift in Arlington planning, removing many planned highways and setting the locations of future Metro stations. No change in Arlington’s history has been more instrumental in setting how the county developed to the combination of grid-pattern… Keep reading…
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Gentrification east of the river, pt. 3: Role of the community
In Part 2 of this series we discussed what happens to the people without boats when the rising tide of economic development comes. Some commenters offered education and job training as the only solution. If people are educated or have training in a skill then they will have access to living wage jobs that will allow them to benefit from the economic tide. My group at… Keep reading…
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Should Mount Vernon Square become circle-like?
Cars and streetcars could flow counterclockwise around a Mount Vernon Square enlivened with retail, seating and events in the park and along the Convention Center’s façade, under draft recommendations the DC Office of Planning unveiled last night. Mount Vernon Square resembles Dupont Circle in many ways. It carries just as much car traffic and sits at… Keep reading…
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How do people cheat on transit fares?
The New York Subway recently announced a fare hike for their unlimited monthly pass, after debating whether to limit the pass to only 90 rides in a month. What’s behind this move? Are there really transit users that ride too much transit? Should Metro consider such a move? Keep reading…
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Breakfast links: All liquored up
Virtual liquor license moratorium; MoCo liquor stores to open Sundays; How not to set a good example; Jefferson High struggles with diversity; Clarendon Trader Joe’s nearing lease; Baltimore codifies bike rights; More escalator problems uncovered; And…. Keep reading…
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Afternoon links: Trouble brewing
Food cart problems in Silver Spring; States in trouble with USDOT; GOP House will revisit HSR and TIGER projects; San Francisco has negative balance; Sherman Avenue to get Complete treatment; Pavement to parks in San Francisco; Are bike lanes really safe?; Free market traffic lights; And…. Keep reading…
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Fallout shelters: Cold War history in your neighborhood
At the height of the Cold War in the 1960s, the District of Columbia prepared hundreds of fallout shelters. However, since the capital was a primary target in the event of nuclear war and most shelters were located downtown, the city’s fallout shelters could not have saved Washingtonians in a direct attack. Had a nuclear bomb detonated over Washington during the early 1960s,… Keep reading…