Breakfast links: DC has thousands of vacant properties, but only 189 are being taxed at the higher blighted rate
Street art on a vacant DC building in 2012 by Daniel Lobo licensed under Creative Commons.
DC struggles with vacant and blighted properties
DC has lost millions of dollars because it isn’t charging many owners of vacant or blighted properties higher tax rates. The DC Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs has flagged thousands of those properties, but only 189 are taxed at the higher blighted rate. (Stephanie Lai / Post)
Silver Spring poised to get its own Business Improvement District
The Montgomery County Council approved a plan to create a Silver Spring Business Improvement District, which will allow downtown Silver Spring businesses to have more control over their marketing. (Steve Bohnel / Bethesda Beat. Tip: Chester B.)
The real estate you’ll get in Northern Virginia for $1 million
Real estate past the $1 million mark used to indicate gilded mansions, but these days that’s no guarantee. ARLnow lists some of the (all single-family) homes on the market that sold for around $1 million in Northern Virginia. (ARLnow)
A look at the residential development in the pipeline in NoMa
A lot of development activity is happening in NoMA’s D-5 zoned sites, which allow for high-density mixed-use development without inclusionary zoning requirements. UrbanTurf lists 20 projects currently in the works. (Nena Perry-Brown / Urban Turf)
Gaithersburg place limits on cremation operations
After rejecting an application to convert a single-family home into a crematorium, the Gaithersburg City County has decided on new restrictions on where crematoriums can be built in the city. (Dan Schere / Bethesda Beat)
DoD considers allowing higher helicopter altitudes for noise abatement
In light of longstanding local complaints about the racket caused by helicopters flying over DC, the Department of Defense will study the possibility of allowing military helicopters to fly at a higher altitude to decrease noise. (Luke Mullins / Washingtonian)
Undoing the racist transportation policies that shaped American cities
Racist federal transportation policies led to highways that cut off or cut apart historically Black neighborhoods in American cities, and those policies still shape the landscape of urban spaces. Now from land bridges to boulevards, people are envisioning solutions to repair some of the damage. (CityLab)
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