Breakfast links: Keeping people from getting hit

Marlene is making Conn. Ave safer

The Examiner interviews Marlene Berlin, who leads IONA Senior Services’ pedestrian advocacy initiative and is kicking off a study of ped safety on Connecticut Avenue.

Live in Ward 6? Walk?

Apply for DC’s Pedestrian Advisory Council, which will soon be created. Councilmember Tommy Wells is requesting applications for the Ward 6 representative. I’ll follow up when other Councilmembers start considering their appointments.

Seattleites, panhandler rescue woman on tracks

When a woman’s wheelchair malfunctioned and she fell off the platform at Union Station onto the Metro tracks last week, two tourists and a panhandler notified the station manager, climbed down to help the woman up, and retrieved her chair. (Post)

That’s some delay

A MetroAccess driver stranded three people, including a 90-year-old woman, on a vehicle for five hours. WMATA officials won’t yet talk about what happened. (Examiner)

Spelunking below Dupont

Community leaders and reporters including Katherine Shaver got to tour the old trolley tunnels under Dupont Circle. Arts groups are still interested in bidding for the space. (Post)

Also in the DC Council

Council committees discussed simplifying DC’s corporate tax laws to make the District more friendly to small businesses, while students and civil liberties advocates disagreed about “safety zones” that would increase penalties for crimes committed near schools or transit stops. (WBJ, Examiner)

Poverty becoming a suburban problem

A new Brookings Institution report finds that poverty is growing at a faster rate in suburbs than in central city cores. (WBJ)