Breakfast links: Purple Line looking for new leadership
Purple Line loses executive director, communications director
The Purple Line, a $9.3 billion and counting rail line linking New Carrollton with Bethesda, has lost both its Executive Director and its Communications Director. The Maryland Transit Administration, which is building the line, did not provide any reason for the two men’s departures, stating simply that the MTA will begin searching for a new executive director “promptly.” (Elia Griffin / MoCo360)
Central Maryland’s latest 25-year transportation plan is open for public comment
The Baltimore Metropolitan Council has released its latest 25-year regional transportation plan with 56 proposed road projects and 36 proposed transit projects totaling close to $70 billion, including a re-envisioned east-west transit connection through Baltimore City similar to the canceled Red Line. Required of metropolitan regions by federal law, the plan for Central Maryland sketches out future transportation ideas based on estimates of where people will live and work. The first public hearing will be held Wednesday in Westminster. (Bryan P. Sears / Maryland Matters)
Pool-sharing in Montgomery County: there are lovers and there are haters
Apps that let homeowners with pools rent them out for a few hours are popular with people who don’t have pools of their own, or who are looking to make a little extra money from their pool. Many neighbors resent the car traffic, strangers parking in their neighborhoods, and the noise. The practice is currently unregulated, and Montgomery County is considering whether to change that. (Katie Shepherd / Washington Post)
Huntington Metro area Riverside Apartments expansion project “paused”
Huntington’s Riverside Apartments will not be expanding in the near future. Elme Communities, who purchased the complex in 2016, cite a less favorable financing environment as the reason for the postponement. The plans call for the development of nearly 800 units of housing to be developed on surface parking lots. Added to the more than 1,200 units currently on the site, this would make the complex one of the largest in the Washington region. (Dan Brendel / Washington Business Journal)
New (smaller) Ikea coming to Fairfax Corner
A “plan-and-order” Ikea will be opening this summer along with several other merchants in a new 36,000 sq. foot building at a site next to Coastal Flats. The building is joining more than 50 other businesses in the Fairfax Corner development near the I-66 and US Route 50 interchange. (Rick Massimo / Northern Virginia Magazine)
DC is joining Bloomberg’s City Data Alliance
The alliance, a $60 million investment by Bloomberg Philanthropies, helps cities use data to improve government services and programs. Recipients get six months of coaching and participate in workshops with government and tech leaders. The District is joining 41 other cities in the alliance, which was started in 2022. (Immanuel John Milton / Bloomberg City Lab)
District head of gun violence prevention and neighborhood engagement dies
Linda Harllee Harper, DC’s director of neighborhood engagement and gun violence prevention, died last week. She had served DC government in a number of capacities over the years, namely around reforming juvenile justice systems to be more community and rehabilitation-based. Harper resided most recently in Ward 4 with her family. (Jenny Gathright / DCist)
Have a tip for the links? Submit it here.