Person using MacBook Air by Andrea Piacquadio used with permission.

GGWash wants to hear from you! Our periodic Emails to the Editor column is your chance to sound off about stories you’ve seen in GGWash. Learn more about how to submit an Email to the Editor for possible publication.

In response to 440 housing units coming to the Takoma Metro station

Thank you, GGWash, for your hard work covering the DC area! I wanted to offer a response on one issue briefly touched on in the article “440 residences next to Takoma Metro station in DC near final approval” (July 11, 2023): a comment from former ANC Commissioner Sara Green that the new development’s green space would be privately owned and should instead be owned by the public. I’m facing this same issue with EYA developments in my neighborhood. While I support EYA’s developments and want both more housing and green space in my neighborhood and throughout the region, I do fear that leaving public spaces in the hands of HOAs is not an optimal long-term option of providing parks in the city, as I explain below.

I live near two other EYA developments in Michigan Park/Brookland: the Josephite Seminary (near completion) and the redevelopment of Providence Hospital (early planning stages). EYA is building a mix of market and affordable units, and part of the benefits being offered to the community are publicly available green spaces. They’ve built a playground at the Josephite Seminary, and they are proposing a large park with walking trails/exercise equipment/public spaces at the Providence site. While EYA has promised the green spaces will be available to all, they will be owned and maintained by the HOAs of these new developments. I fear that this situation will eventually result in conflict, as I could see the homeowners resenting that they are having to bear all costs for maintaining spaces being used by others in the surrounding community.

I have asked EYA officials why these spaces could not be made into DC parks, and EYA’s response was that DC Parks and Rec does not want to take ownership of more land that they would be responsible for. I have not heard anything from a DC Parks and Rec representative to know if this is true, but that seems an extraordinary position for the agency to take when DC leaders often promise to increase the green space in poorer parts of the city.

I would be curious if there are other examples in DC where this model has been successful, whether it’s true that DC Parks and Rec does not want to obtain more land for parks, and whether DC Park’s position is driving this trend to HOAs owning/maintaining public green space.

Brian Soiset, Washington, DC

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I have lived in Takoma Park, Maryland, for over 20 years and I am an enthusiastic supporter of transit-oriented development at the Takoma Metro station. I was active in opposing the proposed townhouse proposal years ago because it was neither transit nor community oriented. Two changes to the current EYA plan will greatly improve its community value.

First, reduce the parking: Less parking will bring more transit-oriented, pedestrian-oriented, bike-oriented, and accessibility-needing residents. The more parking provided, the more vehicles on our streets. Bike and stroller rooms would be a better choice. We should also be wheelchair and walker friendly for those with disabilities and those who are older adults.

Second, I favor keeping the remaining green space as a public – meaning publicly-owned – park. Lots of people use the green space to sit, to eat, or to walk their dogs. While the space has never been improved, it is used and appreciated. We had a very successful postcard campaign in 2009 about the importance to station users of retaining the green space. This space, whether just green or as a park, even reduced in size, should not be at risk due to the whim of a private owner. The public space should remain public.

We Takoma Park, Maryland, residents have seen vast increases in the value of our homes partly due to the new businesses and apartment buildings on the DC side of our neighborhood. These businesses and neighbors have brought street life, have enabled a thriving farmers market, and have given us a more diverse – in every way – community. The new Metro-site development will continue this trajectory and benefit all of us on both sides of our historic boundary stone (on Maple Ave, just off of Carroll Ave.).

Sheryl Gross-Glaser, Takoma Park, Maryland

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On DCHA’s rent reasonable guidance

It’s important for GGWash readers to know that the argument made in the opinion piece “DC’s housing voucher program undermines rent control, but it doesn’t have to” (June 22, 2023) has been made moot by DC Housing Authority’s (DCHA) recent policy changes. DCHA released its new rent reasonableness guidance on June 20, finalizing a process for determining rent reasonableness on a unit-by-unit basis for the Housing Choice Voucher program. Doing so was part of the list of actions required of DCHA by the U.S. Department of Housing and Community Development (HUD) in their October 2022 report, which found that DCHA wasn’t conducting this process at all. The new policy guidance also limits maximum rent increases for existing voucher contracts to CPI + 2% to mirror the permanent policy for rent-controlled units.

These two actions in tandem render Councilmember Matt Frumin’s Rent Stabilization Protection Amendment Act of 2023 unnecessary. DCHA has been forced to address a specific problem and has done so. The Council must now focus more on continued oversight of DCHA to ensure they follow through with these policy changes, and not waste valuable taxpayer resources creating duplicative requirements.

Alex Rossello, Director of Policy Communications, AOBA, Washington, DC

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On traffic safety accountability

Thank you for raising this important issues in “DC’s traffic safety policies have broken down. Here’s how” (June 21, 2023). Nevertheless, the article was confusing on several points.

It did not explain why “demerit points” (reports to insurers?) cannot be assessed from infractions detected by traffic cameras.
It did not mention reporting unpaid fines to credit rating agencies.
It did not explain why booting is only done for vehicles parked on public streets; much parking, especially by out of state vehicles, occurs on private property.
It did not mention asking and rewarding citizens to report the whereabouts of cars with unpaid fines so that they can be booted.
It did not explain the rationale of MPD not stopping cars with significant unpaid fines.
It did not mention using the full range of administrative agencies – DMV, Tax and Revenue, etc. — to condition city services on payment of fines.

Without a better explanation of the problem, citizens cannot know whom to hold responsible, Mayor or Council.

Thomas Hutcheson, Ward 3, Washington, DC

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The future of downtown DC: it’s about people

I just read your piece, “Downtown DC’s recovery hinges on one word” (May 18, 2023) about the future of DC.

As a working parent who pays great attention to the built environment for walkers, cyclists, and kids, much of what you wrote spoke to me and how I also often feel whenever I take my kids into the city to do something fun.

DC politicians have proposed these amazing plans to make it safer for people other than those driving in hunks of steel, but they really falter when it’s time to put money and policy behind the plans. Your piece tells that story so well and I was very glad to read it.

Here’s to making a difference, one opinion piece at a time …

Tony Camilli, Takoma Park, Maryland

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Readers respond to the Northeast commuter rail map

Here are a few of the reactions on social media to David Edmondson’s map and analysis of the commuter rail connections of the Northeast Corridor (July 5, 2023):

It’s really simple. Extend MARC to Wilmington, Delaware (not just Newark), and coordinate schedules with SEPTA, which does terminate in Newark. Metro North should go to Providence, Rhode Island, and meet MBTA there. That way, you would have continuous heavy commuter rail from northern VA to northern MA. Bill Stephens

This could put Megabus out of business. Stuart Zimmerman

The DC Metro and Baltimore Light Rail should be extended and share a cross platform transfer. David Parker

As a Newark, Delaware, resident, this sounds terrific! Anne Elmlinger