Breakfast links: Looking to history

Historic Walter Reed

Walter Reed Army Medical Center could become a historic district, which would give the Historic Preservation Review Board a voice in future redevelopment. HPRB could inject a needed level of design review into ODMPED’s general tendency to approve any project no matter how lousy, though would it also stymie efforts to add enough housing to revitalize the Georgia Avenue corridor? (WBJ)

Independence from B Street

Why is the small street between A and C in Capitol Hill called Independence Avenue? It was renamed in 1950 as a prelude to a never-implemented NCPC plan to extend the Mall eastward and put federal buildings there. (The Hill Is Home)

Do you know?

Which monument did Frank Lloyd Wright describe as a “gangrene of sentimentality”? You probably like it (I do). Try to guess that and more in John Kelly’s trivia quiz (answers and explanations here). (Post)

Year of Sustainability

New Arlington Board Chairman Jay Fisette wants to make sustainability the cornerstone of his tenure, including expanding bicycling and energy sustainability. Fisette wants more bike lanes, signs and bike parking. (CommuterPageBlog)

5 mph less, 40% fewer deaths

Reducing speeds on residential streets to 20 mph in London reduced traffic casualties by 42%, especially for children. That might be what Gabe Klein had in mind when he recently suggested lowering DC local road speeds to 20 from the current 25. London’s success involved not just signs but “self-enforcing roads.” (How We Drive)

And…

Renew Shaw suggests an alternative design for the planned Carter G. Woodson triangular park at 9th, Q, and Rhode Island. … The DC Council will likely vote today to make the Attorney General an elected position, which would require Congressional action as well (Post) … If you’re not sick of 5-cent bag debates, here’s one irate resident whose principled protests don’t stand up so well to math.

Thanks, Stephen!

Stephen Miller did a great job covering the Breakfast Links last week. Please give him a virtual round of applause! (This was supposed to be in yesterday’s links, but a glitch left it out until now.)