Breakfast links: Federal damage
The racist feds
From 1934 to 1968 the Federal Housing Administration explicitly refused to lend money to black people or people in areas that were facing “infiltration of a lower-grade population” and were “lacking homogeneity.” (CityLab)
The feds won’t build
With the major federal office construction project at St. Elizabeths dead, our region can’t depend on federal spending. But economic growth outside the government has been slow thus far. (Post)
Transit still suffers
The Senate will probably keep underfunding transit; agency heads from around the nation say that under a proposed transportation bill, their maintenance backlog will just grow and grow. (Streetsblog)
Flintbrook?
Pike Corridor? Slate District? NoBeSoRo? BethRock? What should we call the area along Rockville Pike from White Flint to Twinbrook, which is undergoing a transformation? Or is White Flint or North Bethesda fine? (Post)
Stop the Idaho Stop?
Would the Idaho Stop (letting cyclists go through a red light after stopping) be bad for pedestrians? Or not, because pedestrians still have the right of way even with an Idaho Stop law? (Grist, TheWashCycle)
See the kid behind you
By 2018, new motor vehicles will have to have technology helping the driver see the area right behind the vehicle, to cut down on people backing over children. Official statistics likely undercount this danger. (NHTSA, TheWashCycle)
Reckless bus drivers
DC school bus drivers sped and ran red lights 16 times as often as Metrobus drivers, according to traffic camera records. The District does not appear to be taking any steps to stop bad bus drivers. (Post)
The chameleonic condo
A proposed condo for the Key Bridge Exxon has another set of new designs. This time, the building has stone in front and a green roof on top to blend in to the background from any direction. (UrbanTurf)
Stops will get screens
Metro will install real-time arrival screens at 93 bus stops, and eventually hopes to bring the screens to 800 stops. They are at least a year overdue, partly because it’s hard to get power to the bus shelters. (Post)
And…
Nobody has died on a bicycle in the region in over a year. (TheWashCycle) … Will H Street lose economic development money? (Frozen Tropics) … The French bought trains that are too big for their stations. (Post) … A deer jumped over a group of people at a bus stop and hit a woman getting off the bus. (WJLA)