Breakfast links: Shiny new things

Developments at Dunbar

After removing the operator of Dunbar High School, interim DCPS Chancellor Kaya Henderson revealed how poorly the school has been doing. Meanwhile, Mayor Fenty announced the winning design for a new $100 million building on the campus, which Phillip Kennicott says is an improvement, but could be better, and chides the city for not releasing the losing proposals. (Post, Informer)

Screens lighting up with data

DDOT is working on display screens that can go into bus shelters, bars, or other places to provide real-time arrival predictions for transit, locations of bike and car sharing, weather and more. (TBD On Foot)

Is BRAC a priority for McDonnell?

Virginia’s Congressional Democrats say that if Governor McDonnell proceeds to borrow billions for transportation improvements, he should at least spend it on BRAC accessibility. A McDonnell spokesperson blames Congress instead of addressing priorities. (Post)

How Moscow handles its escalators

The Russian capital keeps its Metro escalators operating, vital to clearing rush-hour platforms in very deep stations before another full train comes 90 seconds later. However, they do have the money to keep 3,000 mechanics on staff and post dedicated escalator watchers at every station to intervene the moment a problem arises. (Post)

Post: Keep up Klein’s work

A Post editorial urges Vince Gray to continue what Gabe Klein started and expresses optimism that he kept the funding for the streetcar and appointed Allen Lew as City Administrator.

Wells talks bikes

Tommy Wells sits down with a local bike shop to talk about bike riding in DC. People moving to District are making a lifestyle choice, he says, recognizing that they will have more money to spend on housing, or anything else if they forgo car ownership. (BicycleSPACE)

Bad privatization hits New Jersey

New Jersey Transit plans to privatize its parking lots and garages to raise money. Making parking lots pay for themselves is worthy, but like Chicago’s meters and LA’s garages, this plan will give NJ Transit a chunk of cash up front while making it extremely expensive to redevelop the lots in the future into, say, a vibrant transit-oriented community. Why not just sell them instead? (NJ.com, TNAC, Yglesias)

More on the federal transit benefit

Most people think the transit benefit is only a subsidy for federal employees, but there’s much more to it, and good reason to keep it at the $230 level. (Marketplace From American Public Media)

And…

Capital Bikeshare continues to grow, despite some bitter cold temperatures. (Dr. Gridlock) … A legislative study found VDOT could make better project choices if it listened more to the state’s MPOs. (WUSA) … A good sign for the CityCenter project, the Washington Kastles, whose stadium has popped up on the downtown lot for the last few summers, is looking for a new spot. (TBD)