Photo by CraigOppy on Flickr.

Rate the TOD

ITDP created a LEED-style scoring system for transit-oriented development. It seems generally sensible; the greatly scaled-back proposal for Vienna MetroWest, for instance, scores very low, as you’d expect. (The Transport Politic)  

Growth of a deaf-friendly neighborhood

H Street N.E.‘s growth has been fueled in part by its status as a deaf-friendly neighborhood, providing jobs to deaf students of nearby Gallaudet and creating an environment where deaf culture can thrive. (Post)  

Georgetown students for classical style

Hundreds of Georgetown students petition the university to replace proposed “uninspired, Eastern Bloc-like” design for dormitories with a more classical-style design to match Georgetown’s architectural heritage. (Patch)  

It’s style, not size, at McMillan

The Historic Preservation Review Board had a lot of architectural quibbles with plans for the McMillan site, but generally supports the scale and layout of proposed development. (UrbanTurf)  

Development details

DC Water moving out of the Capitol Riverfront makes room for a development including a movie theater. (WBJ) … Pentagon City will get a mixed-use, 22-story development with a Whole Foods. (ArlNow)  

“End of Autopia”

Tom Sherwood muses about national and local trends that our “love affair with cars is ending.” That’s the reason behind many of the proposals in DC’s zoning update. (NBC4)  

Where the groceries are

Nathan Yau mapped each large US grocery chain, showing show how some are national and some very regional. Safeway is almost all western with one odd blob right around DC. (FlowingData)  

Parking minimums in NYC

Even scaled back, DC’s proposal to reduce parking minimums is way more progressive than anything NYC ever considered. (Streetsblog) … But mayoral candidate Anthony Wiener, who might remove some bike lanes if elected, actually supports removing parking minimums. (Observer)  

Sprawl and suicide?

New research suggests a link between low density areas and youth suicide rates. Researchers point to mental health care, access to weapons, and lack of strong social networks in low density areas as possible reasons. (Atlantic Cities)  

And…

Is the DC dialect more Northern or Southern? (WAMU) … Anti-living wage flyers come from a Walmart-backed group, but don’t mention Walmart. (DCist) … New or repainted DC taxis will have to be red with a gray swoosh starting in October. (WBJ)