A high-rise in NOMA area of DC by Ryan McKnight licensed under Creative Commons.

Developers convert vacant office space into apartments

Since 2008, almost eight million square feet of office space in the Washington region has been converted or is being converted into residential dwellings, including 21 buildings in DC, 21 in Northern Virginia, and 11 in Maryland.  (Kathy Orton / Post)  

St. Elizabeths is still admitting patients, despite a lack of clean water

Since September 26, the 270 patients and 700 staff at St. Elizabeths, DC’s only public psychiatric hospital, have been unable to wash their hands in the sink or drink tap water despite ongoing attempts to remediate legionella and pseudomonas bacteria in the water supply.  (Natalie Delgadillo / DCist)  

Virginia is studying a deadly stretch of Arlington Boulevard

The Virginia Department of Transportation is seeking public input for a safety review of US Route 50 in Falls Church as part of a $280,000 study of the area between Wilson Boulevard to Jaguar Trail. It includes the intersection where a Fairfax County police officer fatally hit Carlos Romeo Montoya with his car early on Sunday morning.  (Dick Uliano / WTOP)  

A zoning change impacts eight Arlington childcare providers

The Arlington County Board approved requests from eight childcare providers this past weekend to expand the number of children they can care for. Previously they faced caps on the number of children allowed, in part, due to zoning regulations requiring more parking.  (Airey / ARLnow)  

Local nonprofits win a grant to combat gentrification

JPMorgan Chase awarded a $5 million grant to three nonprofits to combat gentrification along the 16-mile Purple Line route aimed at preserving or creating 1,000 affordable homes, backing small-business loans totaling $900,000, and paying for bilingual technical assistance.  (Robert McCartney / Post)  

A school defends its access to a public field

The DC Council heard testimony from parents and students from the private Maret School defending a no-bid arrangement that gives the school near-exclusive access through 2029 to a public field and limits access to public school students at nearby Hardy Middle School.  (Fenit Nirappil / Post)  

What’s behind DC’s high maternal and infant mortality rates

The story of a 32-week pregnant Congress Heights woman who waited 31 minutes for an ambulance to take her to the hospital before giving birth to her stillborn son highlights how dangerous childbirth is for women of color to in a city where 75% of DC mothers who died of pregnancy or childbirth complications were black.  (Amanda Michelle Gomez / City Paper)  

The removal of a Syracuse highway sparks a reparations conversation

Following the proposed removal of an elevated highway that damaged a predominately black neighborhood in Syracuse, some residents are advocating for reinvestment as a form of reparation for the half-century of damage it wrought.  (Robert Samuels / Post)  

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Tom Neeley is a Californian who came to DC in 2009 to study public policy and stayed for the food scene. He enjoys urban gardening, architecture, and National Parks.