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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Parking countdown #2: This is what a neighborhood without minimums looks like
The hearing is tomorrow! Please sign up to testify by calling (202) 727-6311. A brief statement about what you like about your non-overwhelmed-by-parking neighborhood is enough, or feel free to say more. Keep reading…
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Capitol Hill may get a town square
Coming out of the escalator at Eastern Market, a visitor immediately arrives in the middle of a wide, open space filled with pretty much nothing. To get to most of the neighborhood, it’s necessary to cross busy Pennsyvania Avenue to another wide, open mostly-empty plaza before reaching the wonderful neighborhood blocks beyond. Keep reading…
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Breakfast links: conventional wisdom can be wrong edition
Learning traffic from Proust: Wilson Quarterly discusses the legacy of Hans Monderman, the revolutionary traffic engineer who convinced the Dutch town of Drachten to remove all traffic signals and signs. Contrary to decades of standard practice, it made traffic flow better and more safely. (Also, I didn’t know that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was a traffic engineer.)… Keep reading…
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Parking countdown #3: The sky won’t fall
This is the eighth of ten daily posts about why the Zoning Commission should approve the Office of Planning recommendations on off-street parking, leading up to the hearing on Thursday, July 31 at 6:30 pm. Keep reading…
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Evans-Silverman: two worlds, two boxes of tools
Interviewing Jack Evans and Cary Silverman, the candidates for the Ward 2 DC Council seat, one could think the two are running for completely different offices. Evans seems to be running for reelection as the Council version of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, devoting his energy to financing deals that will stimulate development throughout DC. Meanwhile,… Keep reading…
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What’s wrong with 17th Street? The northern end
Dupont’s 17th Street continues to puzzle observers and generate lively debate. On the one hand, businesses keep leaving; the Washington Business Journal just wrote about a gay-focused art gallery moving eastward, following other businesses that have followed gay residents to greater 14th Street. (Unfortunately, the rest of the article is behind a pay wall.)… Keep reading…
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Ask GGW: where should an auto-minimizing family live?
Reader Mark and his family are moving to the Greater Washington area. They are, in many ways, a typical area family: the parents are in their 30s, own dogs, want good schools and a safe area for their kids, and can spend about $500-800,000 for a house. Keep reading…
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Parking countdown #4: Minimums raise housing costs
This is the seventh of ten daily posts about why the Zoning Commission should approve the Office of Planning recommendations on off-street parking, leading up to the hearing on Thursday, July 31 at 6:30 pm. Please attend and testify if you can, or submit comments to the zoning commission in this thread. Keep reading…
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Delay scuttles affordable housing at 14th and U
In 2005, the Zoning Commission adopted, and the DC Council approved, an inclusionary zoning law. It gave developers the right to build just a little higher in exchange for including affordable units in the development. Then-Ward 4 Councilmember Adrian Fenty strongly supported this law, and used it as part of his platform for Mayor. Keep reading…
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Roll Call covers parking reform
Roll Call, one of Capitol Hill’s newspapers, ventured beyond the federal realm to cover DC’s parking reform proposals. The lede: Keep reading…