Posts tagged Government
-
Give residents a “menu” for DC budget closing
Like all governments and public authorities of late, DC faces a large budget hole, which it needs to fill through cuts to services and/or revenue increases. DC should create a “menu” of possible fixes that exceed the gap and let residents choose among them, like WMATA did for the FY2011 budget. To address the last few gaps, the Mayor created a proposed budget, which… Keep reading…
-
Breakfast links: Only in Fairfax
Ped killed where crosswalk unmarked; Why not Fairfax County Avenue?; Fairfax looking to add bike lockers; Write-in results still weeks away; Teacher arrest highlights problems in and out of school; Why are bus fares lower?; WMATA will inspect all escalators; And…. Keep reading…
-
Weekend links: Smart moves
CaBi stands for Cammunity Binefit?; Buy SmarTrips, American students; Express lane for peds; DDOT replaces more meters; Food truck debate continues; Divided we authorize transportation spending; Tech start-ups eschew Valley for city; And…. Keep reading…
-
Petula Dvorak puts a few minutes’ convenience over Montgomery residents’ lives
How many people worry about strangers kidnapping their children and lament the loss of life in Iraq, but then put other people and their children in danger the moment they get on the road by speeding, and become apoplectic if the government tries to get them to stop? Washington Post columnist Petula Dvorak demonstrated this “windshield perspective,” which we sometimes… Keep reading…
-
Breakfast links: Streetcars and Circulators and Metro, oh my!
Hybrid streetcar model could get DC debut; Circulator gets more riders, cool widget; Catoe back, as an advisor; Another runaway escalator?; Virginia Avenue park still in danger; VRE station has a Spot(sylvania); Wisconsin halts HSR construction; What could “Chairman Mica” mean?. Keep reading…
-
Gray transition: bold innovators or a return to Barry?
Which would you rather have running Mayor-elect Vincent Gray’s transportation transition team? A former City Administrator under Marion Barry, who was running the city during the famous episode where Barry flippantly dismissed snow plowing failures while he was at the Super Bowl? Or a former CEO of Amtrak, head of UMD’s smart growth center, and occasional… Keep reading…
-
Breakfast links: Going underground
Chicago asks residents for suggestions; More cell service coming to Metro; Can the new Dupont Underground succeed?; Metro aims to reduce ridership, costs of MetroAccess; Hispanics thrive in DC region; White Flint runs into issues; With Oberstar gone, who will be top Dem on House T&I?; Why salmon create trouble for cyclists and planners; And…. Keep reading…
-
ANCs just got better
While DC’s ANC races garnered relatively little press coverage compared to Congress and local governors or councilmembers, voters in DC make important decisions when they cast their ballots yesterday in these local races. Overall, our ANCs are going to get better, thanks to involvement by the voters of DC. For example, we’re very excited that David Garber decisively… Keep reading…
-
Spanish speaker faced obstacles to voting
My friend Lester Feder relayed a story about about voting problems for non-English speakers in Mt. Pleasant: When I went to vote at Bell Multicultural High School, the polling place for Mt. Pleasant, there was a woman in front of me who did not speak English. Instead of offering her Spanish translation as required by law in a neighborhood with such a large number of Spanish speakers,… Keep reading…
-
SmarTrip prices? Fare principles? Bomb jammers?
While the projected $90 million budget gap will likely generate the most debate at Thursday’s WMATA Board meeting, the finance committee will also consider the ongoing discussion of dropping SmarTrip prices, adopting general fare principles, buying bomb jamming equipment and more. WMATA’s finance staff have done even more analysis of three of the SmarTrip… Keep reading…