Breakfast links: Short on safety
The NTSB on Metro safety
The NTSB will release a report today that outlines Metro’s ongoing safety failures since NTSB’s first review in 1982, and will reveal the likely cause of last January’s fatal smoke incident. Problems include failed emergency communications, nonfunctioning ventilation fans, and faulty power cables. (Post)
Slumlord in Congress Heights
Low-income tenants of a building in Congress Heights say they’re being intentionally pushed out by the conditions in their building. One man had to use his heart pills to kill rats. (City Paper)
Taxi tricks
The DC Taxicab Commission has shut down six cab companies for driving vehicles that had way more miles on them than their odometers showed. (WAMU)
Full time fire liasion
Metro will now staff a fire department liasion 24/7 at its rail operations center, instead of just on weekdays. The position, created after last year’s fatal smoke incident, supports Metro’s emergency response and training. (DCist)
Motivate moves production to Detroit
The bike share operator and supplier responsible for Capital Bikeshare and Citi Bike has moved bike manufacturing to Detroit, to produce higher quality bikes more quickly. (FastCo)
Rack up art
A public art initiative is looking for designs for new bike racks in Reston with an aim to build more bike parking and to integrate art into infrastructure. (Reston Now)
Parking meter mythos
In 1996, DC lost over 3,000 parking meters to vandalism. A gang was smashing the parking meter heads to retrieve quarters. Arrests and more robust, multi-space meters have curbed the problem. (Post)
Not in my restaurant
Local chef José Andrés pulled out of a restaurant at the Old Post Office building last year after Donald Trump, the building’s renovator, made several negative remarks about Mexican immigrants. It doesn’t look like the subsequent lawsuits will be resolved any time soon. (Post)
Subsidized housing can invigorate poorer areas
Data suggests property values rise and crime rates actually fall when subsidized housing is allowed to be built in poor neighborhoods. (Vox)
Housing recovery by race
In Atlanta, suburban neighborhoods that were mostly white recovered quickly from the recession, with housing prices now climbing above pre-bust highs. In similar black neighborhoods prices are still below 2004 levels. (Post)