Photo by oso on Flickr.

Nostalgic for Snowmageddon

Yesterday’s dew point of 81 nearly matched the area’s record of 82 set in 1962.  Today’s heat index may set a 15-year record at 118°. (Post) … Today’s air quality will be terrible; vehicle emissions make it worse. (MWCOG)  

Cycletracks cut the gender gap

Research in New York suggests that cycletracks and other infrastructure separating bikes from cars reduce the gender gap. More cyclists used these facilities overall, and women did in greater proportions. (Streetsblog)  

New Metro features coming soon

WMATA CEO Richard Sarles announced that online SmarTrip refills will go live by the end of the year.  Sarles also expects the trans-Farragut “virtual tunnel” to operate by October. Furthermore, the agency is reviving its “secret shoppers” to measure customer service. (Post)  

Is gentrification all about displacement?

Some papers like to cast gentrification as a story of white migration into the city forcing black migration out.  But just because it’s a common line doesn’t make it true. (Atlantic)  

Flash mob protests Walmart

The anti-Walmart group Respect DC assembled a brass band to invade a Walmart in Laurel.  The group wants Walmart to voluntarily sign a community benefits agreement before opening in DC. (TBD)  

DC’s techies selective with neighborhoods

Northern Virginia is the area’s default locale for tech companies. DC has tech start-ups, but they are selective about neighborhoods in which they’re willing to locate. (Housing Complex)  

Virginia has a bastion of traditional family

Northern Virginia leads the state in the percentage of households that are nuclear families. The area also showed the most opposition to the state’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage in 2006. (Post)  

Population mapped to the block

Cody Rice has mapped each DC block’s population.  Block populations matter when drawing ANC boundaries. (via Geoff)  

And…

A federal judge has deemed DC’s lamppost sign rules to be unconstitutional. (Post) … VRE has a serial seat slasher. (Examiner) … DC police look to tame Adams Morgan. (Examiner)