Breakfast links: Safety, please!
Aargh, another one!
Another elderly pedestrian has died, this time in Silver Spring, on 16th near Colesville. That’s three in a week. When are leaders going to speak up? (Post, Pat O) (Tip: Pat O)
Would transit “safety zones” create safety?
Councilmembers Harry Thomas, Jr. and Michael Brown introduced a bill to increase criminal penalties around transit stops. A certainty vs. severity analysis suggests just cranking up penalties doesn’t really help; the crime problem around transit is the failure to actually catch people, not the ability to put them in jail for longer time periods. (Examiner)
You can walk to school, even in Fairfax
Fairfax is considering having more kids walk to school to save money on buses. The article quotes many leaders including Supervisor (and alternate Metro Board member) Jeff McKay on the health and social benefits of walking. But can the Post please fire their Fairfax headline writer? Despite the article balancing pro and anti walking, the headline, “Students may face an uphill climb,” is the most slanted part of the whole piece. (Post, Joshua D)
A great new Metro vision
Yonah Freemark offers his own fantasy system for the DC region. This one combines the separated Blue Line with a variant of Steve Offutt’s Gold Line to create a Route 7-Columbia Pike-Rosslyn-M Street service. He even creates maps overlaying the new stations on population density and income maps, and describes potential development around Bailey’s Crossroads. (Alex B) (Tip: Alex B.)
The right wing and hating bikes
Bill and Hillary Clinton weren’t the only targets of R. Emmett Tyrell, whose Richard Mellon Scaife-funded Arkansas Project tried to dig up dirt on the former President and First Lady. Tyrell also vehemently loathes bicycles, and published an amazing anti-bike screed in 1980. (Salon.com, cminus) (Tip: cminus)
Dog parking and barking
Neighbors around Dupont’s 17th and S dog park have been trying to make the park work. The park is not getting locked at night, as it’s supposed to, and some dog owners are using it very late into the night, and some fights have even broken out between dogs and then their owners. (Borderstan)
Bag fee coming January 1
The 5 cent fee for disposable bags will go into effect January 1. DC has launched an awareness campaign and is distributing free reusable bags at CVSes and to community organizations.
And…
H Street, NE may become a historic district (Voice of the Hill) … Low-power radio is moving ahead in Congress (Prometheus Radio, Lynda) … One Seattle drive-thru-only Starbucks right near light rail refused to serve a pedestrian. (hugeasscity)