Breakfast links: McDuffie refiles reparations bill
Black couple overlooks Capital One Arena from the rooftop of the Martin Luther King, Jr Library near Gallery Place by Emma K Alexandra licensed under Creative Commons.
McDuffie reintroduces DC reparations fund bill
DC At-Large Councilmember Kenyon McDuffie has reintroduced a bill to establish a task force to design a system for reparations for Black DC residents, citing residential redlining among other injustices that Black DC residents have suffered under legal and illegal circumstances over decades and centuries. (Colleen Grablick / DCist)
Arlington offers buy-outs to homeowners in frequently flooded Spout Run neighborhoods
Arlington County has offered dozens of homeowners buyouts in the Cherrydale and Waverly Hills neighborhoods. If the homeowners accept, the county would remove the buildings and infrastructure, plant trees or other vegetation to reduce erosion, and preserve the land as open space. (Joe DeVoe / ARLNow)
MoCo Council bill aims to improve road and school safety
The bill would, among other things, require no turn on red signs and give pedestrians a head start crossing the street by installing “leading pedestrian intervals” in urban parts of the county. Advocates are concerned that these changes will not be sufficient to reduce the 19 deaths and over 500 injuries that walkers and cyclists suffered in the county last year. (Steve Bohnel / MoCo360)
School rooftops floated as alternative to Maryland agricultural land for solar arrays
Maryland’s commitment to generate more renewable energy is running into opposition from people concerned about large solar farms replacing agricultural land. Several organizations are eyeing school roofs as an alternative, pointing out they are large, flat, usually not blocked by large trees, and can serve double-duty as a teaching tool. While Maryland is ranked relatively high with 188 schools having some sort of solar generation already, zero-emission targets in Prince George’s County, and net-zero schools in Howard County and Baltimore City, local advocates believe there could be significantly more solar on school roofs. (Josh Kurtz / Maryland Matters)
Vice President Harris visits Bowie State to announce plan to make FHA home loans more affordable
The announcement in Maryland was intended to showcase the Department of Housing and Urban Development plan to reduce mortgage insurance rates for new FHA loan recipients by almost 40%. This change is expected to make buying a first-time home more affordable for lower-and middle-income homebuyers, a priority for many in the Washington region, and help address the large gap in homeownership between Black and White families in the US. (Deborah Bailey / Afro)
A new road in Loudoun County aims to fill in a ‘missing link’
Loudoun County, which has added over 100,000 people since 2010, is building a number of roads through undeveloped areas to link up existing developments. The one that broke ground last week, Northstar Boulevard, will run north-south between Evergreen Mills Rd. and Rt. 50. In addition to four lanes of traffic, it will include 10-foot wide trails on either side for walkers and cyclists. (Jordan Pascale / DCist)
9-unit building to come of Columbia Heights rooming house renovation
The redevelopment, at 1448 Fairmont Street NW, will consist of a collection of nine studio and one-bedroom apartments ranging from 400 to 600 square feet. The developer is seeking to remove the required parking space on a lot of the building, which has been a rooming house since 1948. (UrbanTurf)
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