Do Something: The week of December 11, 2023

Weekly, Regional Policy Director Dan Reed and DC Policy Director Alex Baca share with you an action you can take in the immediate future that has the potential, sometimes great and sometimes small, to increase the number of homes in our region, decrease the trips people take by car, make all of it safer, and not screw people over in the process. This week: think about restrictive covenants in Chevy Chase DC, a bunch of bills could make Maryland roads safer, and help us do more in Virginia.

If you have any questions, email dreed@ggwash.org about Maryland and Virginia Do Somethings, and abaca@ggwash.org about Washington, DC, Do Somethings—or, about whatever you want to talk about.

DC

Dan’s Maryland Do Somethings are ramping up, while mine are a little more “read something” or “watch something” or “think about something.” That’s because Maryland’s legislative session will begin in January, and lawmakers there only meet for three months; meanwhile, in the District, we’re powering through the last few hearings of the year, but we don’t have the same sort of abrupt start in the new year—or the time pressure of, you know, settling matters of an entire state in a single quarter—that our neighboring legislative bodies do. Enjoy it.

So, watch last Friday’s Committee of the Whole hearing on Ward 3 Councilmember Matt Frumin’s trio of bills linked to the removal of covenants preventing apartments on the Chevy Chase rec center lot, the Addressing Legacies of Housing Segregation in Chevy Chase Amendment Act of 2023, the Releasing Restrictive Covenants in Deeds Act of 2023, and Addressing Legacies of Housing Segregation in Rock Creek West Amendment Act of 2023.

You should also read an op-ed we ran by congregation leaders in the Washington Interfaith Network, about the bills and about affordable housing in Chevy Chase more broadly. You can read what I said here, but my favorite testimony came from Jim Feldman, a retired appellate attorney and Chevy Chase resident, who explained something that many witnesses missed: that the covenants in question are use covenants, not racial covenants—and are therefore more broadly insidious:

One covenant required that any house must have a minimum cost of $5000 (or somewhat less on the side streets). That minimum house cost guaranteed that only people with a certain degree of wealth could buy houses in Chevy Chase. But couldn’t poorer people move into apartments? The second covenant eliminated that possibility by simply prohibiting apartments. Together, the two covenants – minimum-house-cost and no-apartment — guaranteed that only people with a certain degree of wealth could live in Chevy Chase, and that people with less wealth would be excluded.

To be sure, excluding people who couldn’t afford to buy a house at the minimum cost also had the effect of keeping most Black people out of the neighborhood. Francis Newlands, the leader of the Land Co., was an avowed racist and no doubt was pleased with that effect. But the Land Co. had other ways to ensure that the neighborhood remained closed to Black people These covenants had a broader purpose – to keep people of all kinds who had less wealth from living in Chevy Chase. They accomplished that purpose, and we are still living with the consequences of the exclusive neighborhood they fashioned.

Go here, and click “download” next to “Jim Feldman” to read the whole thing (the council’s new hearing management system is a marvel, but it doesn’t provide links to hosted PDFs, so download them you must). If you’d like to submit testimony on any of the bills yourself, preferably in support of all three!, you can do so until 5 p.m. on Friday, December. 22, 2023. Upload it here.

Oh, and, lastly, it’s a good thing I got my nails done last week, because I’ve got reason to tap them loudly in impatience on any nearby surface: The Tax Revision Commission (TRC) has still not yet released its draft report, and I think it’s fair to assume that it won’t until 2024. There is nothing to do about this but join me in being annoyed with the powers that be, who, I think, are slow-walking a proposal that they know will generate fuss from progressives (raise revenue, fund services) and moderates(don’t scare the businesses or they might leave, tax abatements please) regardless of what it says. But squaring the District’s two ideological poles is the whole ballgame not just for the TRC but for anyone working in government and politics. The longer the commission deliberates, the nastier the FY25 budget tradeoffs will be, and the more brutish and short the fight over them. —AB

Maryland

Over the past two weeks I’ve talked about state bills in Maryland, including two I’m excited about and one I’m not. Here are four more bills focused specifically on Montgomery County and how to make it safer for walking and biking. As of October this year, 36 people were killed on Montgomery County streets, and state delegates and senators that represent the county are looking for solutions.

MC 6-24 and MC 15-24 take money raised from automatic traffic enforcement (think cameras) and use it to improve safety on Montgomery County’s most dangerous roads. 6-24, sponsored by delegates David Moon, Lorig Charkoudian, and Jheanelle Wilkins, applies to cameras that catch people passing a stopped school bus (which is illegal in Maryland) and directs the fees to pedestrian safety projects, like sidewalks and crosswalks. They sponsored a similar bill last year, which died in the Senate. 15-24, sponsored by 15 Montgomery County delegates and senators (of 26 total), applies to speed cameras, and directs revenue to fixing dangerous roads identified in the county’s Vision Zero plan. Traffic cameras are meant to discourage drivers’ bad behavior, but can only do so much when streets are still designed to encourage speeding. Fixing dangerous roads can make those cameras more effective. Here’s our testimony for 6-24 and 15-24.

MC 7-24, sponsored by eight Montgomery County delegates, would ban right turns on red at intersections with state roads in Montgomery County’s downtowns and town centers—think places like Silver Spring and Bethesda, as well as downtown Wheaton and Germantown Town Center. Right turn on red restrictions are shown to reduce pedestrian, bicycle, and vehicle crashes, and this year Montgomery County passed a similar law for county-owned streets. Here’s our testimony.

MC 10-24, also sponsored by Moon, Charkoudian, and Wilkins, would allow the county to lower speed limits without performing a study first. This one’s personal to me, as I live one street over from Piney Branch Road, a state highway, where a year ago a young man lost control driving and crashed into my neighbor’s brick retaining wall, killing himself and injuring his passengers. That wall remains demolished, and I walk by it at least once a day with my dog. It’s a reminder of how dangerous that intersection is.

Requiring a study just to reduce speed limits makes it much harder for transportation officials to respond to a dangerous situation. About a mile down Piney Branch Road in DC, you can see what happens when transportation officials can act quickly. After a driver hit and killed a young man in 2020, DDOT rolled out several traffic-calming measures, including closing off some intersections, making some blocks one-way, and installing protected bike lanes, which have the added effect of calming car traffic and giving pedestrians a shorter crossing at intersections. This is what Maryland should strive towards, and lower speed limits are a first but important step. Here’s our testimony.

These four bills all deserve your support, and you can let the Montgomery County delegation know by sending them an email at MontgomeryCounty [dot] HouseDelegation [at] mlis.state.md.us. Make sure to write the number of the bill you’re talking about in the top right-hand corner.—DR

Virginia

Both Maryland’s and Virginia’s state legislatures start their 2024 session January 10, and I’ll be honest: I just haven’t been following Richmond as closely. That can and should change, especially because there could be some really interesting bills in Virginia this year! We need your help to do more in Virginia, but in the meantime, keep an eye out for this space as opportunities to Do Something arise.—DR

Your support of GGWash enables us, Dan and Alex, to do our jobs. Our jobs are knowing how development and planning works in DC, Maryland, and Virginia. If it’s appropriate to take action to advance our goals, which we hope you share, we can let you know what will have the most impact, and how to do it well. You can make a financial contribution to GGWash here.