Land Use
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Photo by jennifer yin licensed under Creative Commons
Greater Greater Washington writes about where we live, work, and play, why we make the location choices we do, and what forces shape these places.
Many people would like to live in safe, diverse, walkable neighborhoods with access to transit, stores, parks, good schools, and other amenities. While our region has more walkable urban places than most, the demand still exceeds available housing, making these places more expensive (and prices keep rising rapidly).
We must ensure that there are enough housing choices so everyone who wants to live in such a neighborhood can choose to do so. We should ensure that housing in desirable areas is available to people at many points along the income spectrum, and take action to fight segregation. And we can improve the vitality of all neighborhoods by encouraging new retail and amenities to improve the quality of life for all residents.
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Go celebrate car-freedom right now!
[Autoposted while I’m in France] Keep reading…
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More WalkingTown tomorrow
[Autoposted while I’m in France Keep reading…
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WalkingTown tomorrow
This weekend is WalkingTown DC, full of free walking (and biking) tours all across the city. Keep reading…
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“Affordable housing for cars”
I should be finishing packing, but I just noticed that Ken Archer’s op-ed in this week’s Current is online. Archer, a Georgetown resident who told the parking zoning hearing that he and his wife would be bringing their upcoming baby home on the D3 bus, rebuts many arguments made against reducing or eliminating parking minimums. Keep reading…
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Almost like Summer Streets: Bike DC
One of many fun events I’m missing is Bike DC, “a noncompetitive, community bike ride through 17 car-free miles of Washington, DC.” It’s $35, with most of the proceeds going to WABA. Keep reading…
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Scatterplot of density vs. transit ridership
Responding to the Cities in Full chart I posted in “The outlier” yesterday, commenters pointed out that there’s a better way to graph the relationship between two variables than by overlaying two line graphs: a scatterplot. Commenter Ward 1 Guy created just such a graph. Keep reading…
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Breakfast links: Boston to Baltimore to Bloomingdale, oh my! edition
Close a road, reduce delays? We know that reducing lanes for cars can improve pedestrian safety, help a neighborhood, and lead to less traffic in the long run. But even Level of Service-minded traffic engineers can get behind closing certain roads. As the Economist reports, researchers studied Boston’s road network and determined that too many alternatives create more delay… Keep reading…
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The outlier
From Cities in Full by Steve Belmont (page 25): Keep reading…
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U Street biz debate BID
Should the U Street area create a BID? Last night, business leaders from the U Street and 14th Street corridors debated that very question. A BID can clean the streets better and more often than DPW would on their own, add additional police officers, and better coordinate with city agencies. On the other hand, businesses and apartment buildings would pay for those services through… Keep reading…
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DC Council is baaaack!
Today is the first Council legislative session after the recess. Right now Councilmembers just finished introducing bills. Here are a few of particular relevance: Keep reading…