Image by Dan Reed.

Weekly, Regional Policy Director Dan Reed and DC Policy Director Alex Baca will share with you an action you can take in the immediate future that has the potential, sometimes great and sometimes small, to increase the number of homes in our region, decrease the trips people take by car, make all of it safer, and not screw people over in the process. This week: trainings for ANC candidates; speak up on the future of Connecticut Avenue and Columbia Road; teens love zoning reform; and go vote in Northern Virginia already.

If you have any questions, email dreed@ggwash.org about Maryland and Virginia Do Somethings, and abaca@ggwash.org about Washington, DC, Do Somethings—or, about whatever you want to talk about.

DC

Per my previous Do Something, we’ve got trainings for prospective Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner candidates coming up! Join us on Monday, June 1, 2024, at 6:00 pm, for a virtual-only training on how to run for and how to serve as a neighborhood-level representative of about 2,000 people. Then, on Sunday, June 14, 2024, from 3:00–5:00 p.m., we’ll be holding an in-person-only training, followed by a happy hour, at Grand Duchess in Adams Morgan (live only! No recording! You gotta be there!). Sign up for the July 1 virtual training here, and the July 14 in-person training and happy hour here.

GGWash will, once again, endorse in ANC elections, but attending our training is not a prerequisite for our endorsement, and you don’t need to be in total agreement with our positions on housing, transportation, or land use to attend, either. We’re planning to make our ANC candidate questionnaire available by the July 1 virtual training, which is also the first day ANC candidates can pick up petitions from the Board of Elections. (That’s right: You could conceivably pick up a nominating petition, attend our training, and fill out our questionnaire on the same day.) You can expect more information on our ANC endorsement process on the blog in the next month or so, and I’ll keep you updated here, too.

I’m proud of all our endorsements, but endorsing ANCs is tremendously rewarding: I love speaking with those of you who are interested in serving your neighbors, and writing endorsements for over 150 candidates, while crazy-making in the moment, is something I think fondly of once they’re published. ANC commissioners who support more housing, more affordable housing, fewer trips by car, and frequent and reliable transit are one of the most powerful testaments to the fact that GGWash’s issues are, well, pretty normal, and pretty popular. I hope you’ll consider running for an ANC seat if yours is open or if you’re not so hot on our current commissioner. You can see what ANC and what single-member district you live in here.

This week we’ve published two really good posts about DDOT-related foibles: One on the total disaster that is the mayor’s decision to remove a long-planned protected bike lane from the Connecticut Avenue streetscape reconstruction project and do, uh, parking lanes instead (bad DDOT), and another on the Columbia Road bus priority lane, which includes a bike lane, will remove parking, and be under construction in July (good DDOT). You can sign this petition to support DDOT’s work on Columbia Road, and you should politely package your Connecticut-related thoughts into an email to Council Chair Phil Mendelson ASAP at pmendelson@dccouncil.gov and cow@dccouncil.gov—like, today, because the second reading and final vote on the Local Budget Act is today—asking him to restore the bike lane or, if that’s not going to happen, to defund the project entirely. Better still, deliver the same message on the actual phone, using the Washington Area Bicyclist Association’s call tool. —AB

Maryland

This weekend: I’m moderating a panel on housing supply and equity at a fundraiser hosted by Communities United Against Hate, a nonprofit “whose mission is to unite our diverse community to combat bigotry, support victims of hate, and promote inclusiveness in the DMV and elsewhere.” Joining me will be panelists Brian Kramer, an MCPS teacher and former GGWash contributor, Chuck Cook, chief legislative officer for Maryland’s housing department, Montgomery County planning director Jason Sartori (see below), author and researcher Richard Kahlenberg, and state delegate Vaughn Stewart. There will be food! It’s Saturday, June 15 from 2-4 pm in Potomac, but you’ll have to RSVP to get the address.

If you haven’t already, check out today’s post from Jason Sartori and Artie Harris, chair of the Montgomery County Planning Board, about tomorrow’s vote in support of opening up single-family zoning across most of the county, aka Attainable Housing Strategies, which I’ve been breaking down over the past few weeks:

I’m deeply grateful to the chair and planning director for their leadership on this issue–Chair Harris said he’d vote for AHS largely as written in his endorsement questionnaire last year, and he made good on his word. The County Council will have the final say over this big zoning change, and in the coming months you’ll have opportunities to show your support.

Big dork that I am, I’m excited that this summer marks 20 years since I first testified at the Planning Board, at age 16, motivated by my own parents’ struggle to buy a home in Montgomery County. I thought I was weird then, but I probably wasn’t as alone as I thought. Monday I had the pleasure of speaking to the Aaron Price Fellows, a group of high school students from San Diego in town this week, about housing policy. I strongly believe that teens and young adults speak truth because they’re just old enough to see how the world works but not old enough to be jaded by it, and we as adults might be surprised by how willing they are to get into the weeds.

I’ve never been to San Diego, but I googled a zoning map and showed it to them, and we talked about why exclusionary zoning is bad and how their hometown and their state are making history as we speak by getting rid of it. I didn’t expect a group of 16-year-olds to gasp when I said that 87% of their city is zoned for single-family homes, but they live in one of the most expensive places in the nation, and they see how their friends or families struggle to make it work there. After an hour, a room of teenagers concluded that social housing, more affordable housing tax credits, and legalizing apartment buildings everywhere, might help. Sixteen-year-old me would’ve loved to see it.

Finally: If you’ve been to one of our (or CSG’s, or WABA’s, etc) outdoor happy hours in Montgomery County, you’ve probably met Rudder, a very chill black Lab who passed away last week at 14. He was frequently seen riding in a bike trailer behind his human, Richard Hoye, a fixture in the local urbanist community for decades. RIP buddy, you were a good boy and many, many people loved you.–DR

Virginia

Early voting ends this Saturday, June 15 and the actual election day is next Tuesday, June 18. If you haven’t already, please check out our endorsements for Arlington County Board and mayor and City Council in Alexandria, go vote, and tell your friends and loved ones to vote too. By the next Do Something, hopefully we’ll have some good news to celebrate. Fingers crossed!!–DR

Your support of GGWash enables us, Dan and Alex, to do our jobs. Our jobs are knowing how development and planning works in DC, Maryland, and Virginia. If it’s appropriate to take action to advance our goals, which we hope you share, we can let you know what will have the most impact, and how to do it well. You can make a financial contribution to GGWash here. And if you want to see Do Something in your inbox, scroll down and sign up for our daily emails.