Breakfast links: New apartments in College Park go up in smoke
Five-alarm fire prompts huge response in College Park
A huge fire tore through a construction site in College Park, causing millions of dollars in damage and displacing nearby residents for hours. The building had been slated to open to residents as soon as May. (Justin Wm. Moyer and Clarence Williams / Post)
Developers are tracking employees using barcodes
Developers are hopping on the employee tracking-train using technology from a local company called Eyrus. Using barcodes affixed to hard hats, “data collection systems” keep track of employee comings and goings, and connect it to a host of other information about them. (Rachel Kurzius / DCist)
Twenty years later, a look at Downtown BID in DC
Two decades after its inception, businesses in the Downtown Business Improvement District are flourishing. Although both business and residential vacancy have increased, so has the price per square foot of space. (Nena Perry-Brown / UrbanTurf)
What the peak bloom for cherry blosssoms means for DC sales tax
Pinning down this year's peak bloom was a bit of a roller coaster, thanks to an unexpected cold snap and a little bit of snow. But exactly what effect does peak bloom – and the tourists it draws – have on DC's sales tax collection? There looks to be a strong correlation! (Sharain Ward / District, Measured)
The rental market is all about amenities
Apartment buildings have realized that they can profit from millennials' desire for in-building amenities, and that means smaller living areas and bigger community spaces. (Kathy Orton / Post)
Sometimes, bike lane separators are made to be bumped. Sometimes.
After installing bike lane separators in Seville, Spain, car-on-cyclist collisions decreased, but cyclist-on-stationary-object collisions increased. Is this trade-off worth it? (Michael Andersen / StreetsBlog)
Weed activists were arrested for smoking in front of the Capitol
A reminder that, while smoking pot on private property is legal in DC, it is still illegal federally. Any of the various local law enforcement agencies with federal jurisdiction can give citations for using it. (Perry Stein / Post)