Posts tagged Repost
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Should Baltimore have a regional transit authority?
Out of all the transit systems in the United States, regardless of mode, the vast majority are operated by regional transit authorities (RTAs). These are supervising bodies organized at the local level among neighboring cities, towns, and counties, instead of the state. For almost 50 years, however, Baltimore has been one of the largest cities in the country not to use an RTA for its transit, but is instead controlled by the state of Maryland. Keep reading…
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Danville, Virginia could have the recipe for a resilient transit system
Headlines of doom and gloom have long plagued Danville. For the two thirds of Virginians residing in the state’s “Urban Crescent”—stretching from Northern Virginia through Richmond to Hampton Roads, Southern and Southwest Virginia can seem like irredeemable boondocks. The relatively recent heralding of Danville as the “Comeback City” shows there’s more nuance to the region. Either despite or because of its past hardships, Danville has pioneered a model of resilient transit service other cities across the nation could reproduce. Keep reading…
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Decongestion pricing, explained
New York City is on track to be the first city in the country to implement decongestion pricing. This raises the prospect that other areas, such as the Washington region, might follow in New York’s footsteps. Keep reading…
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An idea whose time has come ... 11 years later! DC implements tiered RPP.
The Washington Post recently reported that as part of his final effort to close the city’s budget gap, Adrian Fenty is considering doubling the fee for residential parking passes. This is not a bad idea, but a better one would be to raise RPP fees for the 2nd and 3rd car. We charge a laughably small fee for street parking: $15 a year. Only in the world of cars is it considered… Keep reading…
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How difficult will it be to make buildings in DC more energy efficient? It depends on the building.
In December of 2018, the DC Council passed a bill setting a challenge for large buildings across the District to meet new energy code standards by 2026. The law prescribes two different paths: one for new construction and existing buildings performing at or above a median level of energy efficiency scores according to the federal government’s program; another for buildings below that median. Keep reading…
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More than a half a century before Metro, the Washington Post proposed building a downtown subway
Talk of a subway in DC first appeared in the Washington Post way back in 1909. At the time, the idea was just to run a small loop between the Capitol building and the White House. Keep reading…
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DC can’t have statehood because… of parking?
On September 19, 2019, the House of Representatives held a historic hearing on a bill to admit DC (except for a core of federal buildings and lands) as the 51st state appropriately numbered HR 51. One of the weirdest arguments against statehood was from Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie (R), who said it would be too hard to park in DC if it became a state. Keep reading…
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DC’s New Communities Initiative, explained
A look into the origins, goals, and limitations of an ambitious program to revitalize several DC communities. Keep reading…
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The Housing Production Trust Fund, explained
The Housing Production Trust Fund (HPTF) is a pot of money used to build affordable housing in DC. Since 2001, money from the fund has helped to produce or preserve nearly 10,000 units of affordable housing. Keep reading…
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The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, explained
The Hodge, a 90-unit housing development in Shaw, offers affordable apartments for seniors in the District. To create these apartments, developers of the Hodge used the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program to partially finance the project. This post explains how the LIHTC works. Keep reading…