Breakfast links: The word from the top

Baker has the right priorities

New Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker wants to work more closely with the District and sees Metro stations like New Carrollton, Branch Avenue and Naylor Road as key to bringing in businesses. Finally, a County Executive who thinks the part of the county inside the Beltway is important! (Informer)

Good news in Gray personnel

Gabe Klein won’t be sticking around, but fellow Fenty official and future City Administrator Allen Lew looks to be pretty great, having a “constructive level of impatience,” being “driven by results,” and liking “thin bureaucracies,” in Lew’s words. (Examiner)

Gabe not so radical?

Dr. Gridlock thinks Gabe Klein will “wind up being remembered as an administrator who pushed the District toward the mainstream of urban transportation policy. … What looked to us here like cutting-edge programs would seem like catch-up to people in other big cities.” (Post) … Klein himself made similar comments to WAMU in an excellent exit interview. … Meanwhile, Elevating Chicago encourages Klein to consider running that city’s DOT … once they know who the mayor will be.

On tenterhooks over committee assignments

There a lot of speculation about whom Kwame Brown will pick for committees, including whether Jim Graham or Tommy Wells will control transportation. Loose Lips quotes Ken Archer, and gets a new Marion Barry classic quote: “What the shit is this?” (City Paper)

Harassment on the metro

A group of female teens harassed a female passenger on Metro, then broke the phone of a journalist trying to record them. The reporter got off at the next station and asked the manager to call Metro police. Police arrived 30 minutes later, saying the woman was “no longer in danger.”  (WUSA9)

Bay cleanup could prevent smart growth

Planners and developers in Maryland are expressing concerns about unintended consequences of an EPA Chesapeake Bay protection plan, saying it could actually make infill more difficult. (New Urban Network)

Affordable housing and 2 projects

A development in Gaithersburg will be able to skip affordable housing and make a payment to the city’s housing fund instead, while another developer says affordable housing zoning works in Tysons Corner. (Gazette, Sun Gazette)

More pedestrians hit in PG

3 pedestrians were struck by drivers in separate incidents in Prince George’s county. At Walker Mill Road and County Road, a man and a woman were critically injured in a hit-and-run and the woman later died. In the Michelville Plaza parking lot, a 70 year old man was struck by a driver in an SUV, though according to WUSA, the vehicle had “gone out of control.” (Post)

New signage at Federal Triangle?

The GSA wants to update its building signage in the Federal Triangle. While they’re at it they could add better wayfinding directions to the signs, helping people find their way from building to building and better pointing the way to the otherwise hidden Metro entrance. (City Paper)

And…

A man struck by a BMX bike rider in a hit-and-run has died from his injuries. Police are still seeking the rider. (WUSA) … Amtrak set a Thanksgiving ridership record this year, with more than 700,000 passenger during the holiday week. (Dr. Gridlock) … The Maryland MTA thinks some bus operators are turning off their fareboxes in order to improve their on-time records. (Baltimore Sun)