Breakfast links: Unwanted developments

Wage bill threatens more developments

DC’s living wage bill could dissuade other large retailers from locating at Walter Reed and Fort Lincoln, besides imperiling 3 Walmarts, says Deputy Mayor Victor Hoskins. Observers think Mayor Gray will probably veto the bill. (Post, City Paper)

Mixed-use Safeway causes mixed feelings

Plans to convert the Palisades Safeway into a mixed-used development with 100 condos stirs familiar concerns about traffic and “neighborhood character.” (ABC7)

Farm-to-table, literally

A Woodley Park restaurant will turn some tables into farmstands. Meanwhile, Arlington and Montgomery residents hope to bring chickens closer to the city. (Post)

Enough money for Purple & Red?

Maryland’s new Transportation Secretary, James T. Smith, will actually have money to spend thanks to the new gas tax. But will there be enough to go around to fund both the Purple Line and Baltimore’s Red Line? (Post)

ConNeb? Comet Corner?

Politics and Prose thinks the area around Connecticut and Nebraska Avenues, NW needs a (new?) name. SoChe? NeConn? Confess? Literary Alley? Tobago? (City Paper)

Can merger save Detroit?

To save Detroit from shrinking population and budgets, it might need to merge with surrounding suburban counties, as Toronto and Miami have done. That might be politically possible now that the state has taken over. (Salon)

Same story, different places

Boston-area cities try to reduce parking minimums, while Los Angeles developers try to build mixed-use. As in DC, protests follow. (Globe, LAT)

And…

The Arlington Board will take its final vote on the Columbia Pike streetcar. (WTOP) … Maryland wants to expand international gates at BWI. (Baltimore Sun) … Construction for more HOT lanes in Virginia will cause full-closings and detours along I-95. (Post)