Breakfast links: Tenant v landlord
Landlords get around rent control
DC landlords skirt rent control laws by offering discounts, like a month of free rent, and then raising rents in the following year based on what the rent would have been without the discount. (CityPaper)
TOPA gone too far?
A renter in Capitol Hill is using DC’s Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA) to auction off her rights to purchase the house she rents, rather than purchasing it herself. Is this an abuse of TOPA? (UrbanTurf)
The sky is falling
The Rhode Island Avenue Metro station will remain closed for inspection through Friday after debris fell from the station ceiling twice in two days. (Post)
Realtime tracking for Loudoun’s commuter buses
A new realtime bus prediction service will track Loudoun County’s commuter buses that serve Arlington, DC, and the West Falls Church and Wiehle-Reston East Metro stations. (WTOP)
Fewer Metro riders in Virginia
Metro ridership in Virginia is down 6.7% from last year, though ridership actually increased at Silver Line stations around Tysons. The end of the Orange Line saw the biggest drop. (WTOP)
No teens alone at the mall
Towson Town Center is the latest of several Maryland malls to bar unaccompanied teens on Friday and Saturday nights. Residents have complained about large groups of teens congregating in the mall. (Baltimore Sun)
Billboard bullies?
A number of LED billboards popping up around downtown DC don’t have the right permits. Attorney General Karl Racine filed a lawsuit to get the media company responsible for installing the signs to remove them. (DCist)
More carpool competition
Google is rolling out its own carpool service, Waze Carpool, with a pilot in San Francisco. The service aims to match up commuters, and will reimburse drivers only for the cost of gas and wear-and-tear. (CityLab)