Breakfast links: Yuuuge wall

“Trump’s [Purple] wall”

Riverdale Park residents and businesses are upset that cost-cutting changed their Purple Line station to be on top of a concrete wall, which could reduce visibility, harm businesses, and increase the risk of crime. (Post)  (Tip: DW Rowlands)

Make buses great again

Bus ridership is down in DC and many other cities.  A New York campaign thinks it can buck the trend by rethinking routes, offering well-spaced stops, and improving urban design with dedicated bus lanes. (Slate)

SafeTrack’s challenge

The scope and magnitude of SafeTrack couldn’t be more complicated, with workers enduring 12-hour hour shifts, trains running on adjacent tracks, and especially this past weekend, extreme heat. (Post)

When Metro was cool

During heat waves in the 1980s, people would ride Metro around for hours just to take advantage of the air conditioning. Now the AC (and the trains themselves) is much less reliable. (Post)

Bethesdensity

Bethesda has a new downtown plan. It doesn’t add density, but developers (except near the neighborhoods at the edges) can get bonus density by paying to help create parks and adding affordable housing. (Bethesda Beat)

Protesting a bad offer

Residents of a Congress Heights apartment complex protested in front of a developer’s house on Saturday after they received overvalued TOPA offers. They’d have to come up with $12 million to buy the ailing buildings. (City Paper)

Solution for vacant office space?

While the number of office jobs in the region is up, the demand for office space is flat.  Conrad Cafrtiz is testing a solution: flexible units that can be configured as home or work space, depending on the tenant’s wishes. (Post)

Uneven job growth

Although it’s true the DC area is adding more jobs than anywhere else in the country, most of these jobs are low-wage positions in the retail and hospitality industries that tend to be located in the suburbs. (Post)

And…

Volunteer cartographers are using apps to track changes in DC neighborhoods. (Post) … Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker runs for more than office. (The Undefeated) … Manassas tries its first road diet. (Active PW)