Posts about Maryland
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Takoma Park considering boulevard for New Hampshire Ave
Just Up the Pike reports that Takoma Park might reduce the number of lanes on New Hampshire Avenue to create a more walkable boulevard. This recommendation came from a charrette and study commissioned by the Council. Keep reading…
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Morning links: Benefits of transit edition
Gridlock Sam still shilling for Chevy Chase: New York’s “Gridlock Sam,” who coined the term “gridlock,” is still working for the town of Chevy Chase and pushing bad logic to stop light rail on the Purple Line. This time, he argues that light rail isn’t much better than BRT, while the buses are cheaper. But Sam neglects to mention that the BRT alignments… Keep reading…
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Yesterday’s suburbia tomorrow
Freakonomics’ latest quorum discusses everyone’s favorite topic in the era of high gas prices: the future of suburbs. After the predictable quotes from Kunstler (“The suburbs have three destinies… as materials salvage, as slums, and as ruins”) comes Freehold, NJ administrator Thomas Antus, who thinks development will make taxes spiral out… Keep reading…
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Breakfast links: it’s breakfast time here edition
I’m in California this week, so I won’t be posting as frequently (and, due to the time change, not so early in the morning). 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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Arbitrary parking ratios at work at UMD
Minimum parking requirements in zoning codes nationwide are almost entirely arbitrary, plucked out of thin air by 1960s planners who were guessing at how much parking they’d want for each kind of development. The result is a crazy patchwork of requirements with little basis in fact. The proposed “Starview” project in College Park shows the folly of slavish adherence… Keep reading…
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Breakfast links: suburban changes edition
The official word on the I-66 deck: Infosnack HQ made some calls and found out the detailed scoop on the parking garage. One of five parking decks is free to the public, and fills up with commuters on weekdays (why can’t they charge, again?) while the others are used by Arlington Public Schools. Keep reading…
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Hyattsville approves sidewalks over objections
Sometimes, even sidewalks are controversial. In Hyattsville, many narrow streets never had sidewalks; as the city has grown, this has become a pedestrian safety problem. Yesterday, the Hyattsville City Council passed a resolution to add sidewalks to a few neighborhood streets around Prince George’s Plaza. Keep reading…
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Takoma: some space is green, garage will be optional
Yesterday, I wrote about the Takoma development proposal, and criticized the characterization of it as replacing “green space.” Commenter DC_Chica pointed out that some of the space is in fact green; from the satellite view, it looks like it’s about half. But much of that will remain green, and become a more usable green space. Keep reading…
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MoCo “transit-oriented” zoning would encourage non-transit-oriented sprawl
The Montgomery County Planning Board reviewed proposed zoning rules yesterday that would create transit-oriented mixed-use (“TMX”) zones. It’s a good idea, but as written, it will also encourage building low-density, auto-oriented development in areas far from transit. Keep reading…