Breakfast links: Honing housing
Can’t afford Congress Heights?
A redevelopment near Congress Heights Metro will demolish four apartment buildings and tenants likely won’t be able to afford to live in the new buildings. But the city has control over a fifth building, which could be an opportunity for more affordable housing, (Post)
Bathroom debate
DC will soon build several small homeless shelters to replace DC General, but the design is up in the air. Private rooms with shared bathrooms are more cost effective, but advocates for the homeless argue that apartment style housing is better for families. (WAMU)
Shoplifting surveillance
An app lets Georgetown shop owners share information and alert police about suspicious shoppers. But in some cases, shop owners instead used the app for racial profiling. (Post)
Spooky streets
Throughout the region there are “ghost roads,” roads that have been abandoned and forgotten. Whether their demise was intentional or not, they’re pretty eerie looking. (WTOP)
Whooo goes there?
A territorial owl is attacking runners on the Capital Crescent Trail. Trail users are advised to avoid running at dusk during prime hunting time. The owl may follow you on the trail, but you can follow it on Twitter. (Bethesda Beat)
Celebrity cyclists
Celebrities are just like us; they like riding bikes too. Usher spent his birthday on Bikeshare riding through DC and Washington football star Alfred Morris rides a trail in Ashburn to get to practice. (Borderstan, PeopleForBikes)
Penn Ave bike lane mistake?
In his book, Gabe Klein defends the decision to scrap the original design for Pennsylvania Avenue’s bike lanes and move them into the median. But David Cranor still thinks that in this case, Gabe was wrong. (TheWashCycle)
And…
WMATA will get its first zero-emission all-electric bus next year. (Mass Transit) … China blows DC traffic out of the water with its incredible 50-lane traffic jam. (CityLab) … Fairfax Connector is making changes to several of its bus routes in December. (Post)