Breakfast links: 19 closed Metro stations. Half of bus routes eliminated. Zero weekend rail service.
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Image by Matt’ Johnson licensed under Creative Commons.
Without financial help, Metro’s future is a grim, bare-bones system
To close a $500 million budget gap for next fiscal year, which starts in July, Metro is proposing its most drastic cuts yet: Total elimination of weekend rail service, closing 19 stations, slashed bus service, and closing of the system at 9 p.m. Only Congress can provide the relief funds needed to prevent these dire cuts, officials say. (Jordan Pascale / DCist, Justin George / Post)
DC puts $10 million toward affordable housing rent relief
The District is launching a $10 million grant program that will give some landlords of affordable housing, whose tenants have not paid rent, 80% of that rent in return for them forgiving the remaining 20%. (Nena Perry-Brown / UrbanTurf)
What happened to Northern Virginia’s planned “smart city”?
Developers had big plans for Gramercy District, an Ashburn “smart city” development billed as the “future of living” and set to open before Metro’s Silver Line extension. But four years later, those ambitious plans look tenuous. (Alex Koma / Business Journal)
Larry Willis, transportation worker union leader, was killed in a bicycle crash
Larry Willis, of Chevy Chase, Maryland, who led a union federation representing millions of transportation workers, died Sunday. Willis was critically injured on November 21 in a crash with a motorist while riding his bicycle near the entrance to Great Falls Park. (Michael Laris / Post)
A First Amendment space in Maryland’s capital will finally reopen
After two years of repairs, Lawyers Mall in Annapolis is reopening. The plaza by the Maryland State House is an important First Amendment gathering space in the state’s capital. (Pamela Wood / Baltimore Sun)
Arlington and DC rent has plummeted during the pandemic
DC and Arlington are among the ten cities with the fastest declines in rent during the pandemic as demand plummeted. Median prices are down about 10%. (Michele Lerner / Post)
MoCo’s development goals: equity and diversified housing
As Montgomery County rewrites its long-term development framework, Thrive Montgomery 2050, residents are focusing on themes including racial equity and the county’s need for a more diverse array of housing types. (Caitlynn Peetz / Bethesda Beat)
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