Breakfast links: Go at Metro
Faster Metro development
Following the debate over bills to streamline the development process around Prince George’s Metro stations, there’s a new bill which would keep public review but reduce the number of hearings and combine stages. (Gazette)
Sarles to 2016?
The WMATA board wants to extend General Manager Richard Sarles’s contract two more years to 2016. The Board is pleased with Sarles’s commitment to safety and leadership since coming on soon after the Red Line crash. (Examiner)
Transportation bill constitutional?
Under the Virginia Constitution, all taxes levied must be equal in all areas, so could that mean the recently passed Virginia transportation bill is unconstitutional? (Post, caps fan, JimT) (Tip: caps fan)
I’d hammer out a new waterfront plan
The Alexandria Waterfront redevelopment took a strange turn when famed folk singer and songwriter Pete Seeger wrote to residents requesting that they do not modernize the waterfront. (Patch, Thad)
No victory for three feet
Maryland’s three-foot passing law died in committee. The bill may have failed because it was confusing and cycling advocates were more focused on defeating the mandatory helmet bill. (WashCycle)
Watch out for expensive cars
Psychologists observed car traffic near San Francisco and found that drivers of cheap cars stopped for pedestrians most often, while those in the most expensive cars ignored the pedestrians 45% of the time. (Guardian)
People actually fed
DC achieves relatively good marks when compared to other localities when it comes to feeding people who can’t afford food thanks to a strong, government-backed safety net. (City Paper)
A new standard
The US Department of Transportation is going to create its own bike and pedestrian safety standardspredestination
So close, yet so far
Thanks to poor road connectivity, you have to drive at least 7 miles between 2 Orlando-area houses, even though they share a backyard. (Streetsblog)
And…
More pictures of DC taken from the International Space Station. (DCist) … Some more detailed renderings of the proposed park for the McMillan site. (UrbanTurf) … Here’s a map that illustrates where bike crashes were in Arlington Country. (Mystery Inc.)