Posts by David Edmondson

Pedicab detante solidifies: NPS and pedicab operators had a surprisingly productive talk over proposed regulations. Though first met with skepticism, by meeting's end it seemed that insurance requirements were the only major sticking point. (TBD)

Williams on top: Former mayor Anthony Williams wil lead the Federal City Council, a business-led group that's promoted some valuable improvements in the past, but whose transportation focus often centers on suburban CEOs driving into the city. (Post)

CSI: Blog: TV investigators identify objects using magic databases that flash each item on the screen. In real life, they can use blog commenters. Jalopnik readers helped Waynesboro, VA police identify a car part, leading to an arrest in a fatal hit-and-run.

Build a bridge: Thanks to new techniques, bridges can be replaced in a matter of days or weeks, rather than the months to years construction projects used to take. (NYT)

And...: A tiny, 130-square-foot house is making the rounds in DC as a home of the future. (DCMud) ... College Park Metro station just opened an experimental enclosed and locked bike garage. (Patch) ... Metro is inspecting all of its defibrillators after one failed to perform during an emergency, allowing the passenger to die. (Examiner)

We have half of the top 3: New York's Janette Sadik-Khan, Chicago's and formerly DC's Gabe Klein, and Maryland Secretary of Planning Richard Hall are the top 3 "transporta­tion officials who are changing the game" in a Streetsblog top-11 list. (Is PlanMaryland a transportation project? Either way, congrats!)

A taste of things to come: At least on first read, Saturday's launch of Lumen8Anacostia was a great success, attracting a diverse mix of people to Ward 8's signature neighborhood. Might it be a new tomorrow for the neighborhood? (City Paper)

Space nerds, go outside: This morning between 10 and 11 am, see the Discovery space shuttle being delivered to Dulles. The shuttle's plane will make a number of passes along the Potomac at 1,500 feet. (Patch)

Another kind of neighborhood: A neighborhood isn't just geography; it's the collection of shops and parks where the same people spend time. Using Foursquare check-ins, reserachers mapped these "Livehoods" in a handful of cities. (Atlantic Cities)

Streetcars and bikes don't mix: As DC builds its streetcar system, it must be mindful of bike safety, since streetcar tracks can pose a threat. Even in Portland, 67% of cyclists have had a crash on the tracks. (TBD)

Existential transformations: The major changes along the H Street Corridor are causing residents and business owners to ponder race, culture, and what it means to be a neighbor when you're new to a place, and what it means to be one when you've never lived anywhere else. (Frozen Tropics)

Rail demand just keeps rising: Amtrak ridership is way up over last year, and Virginia ridership is far above even that. Ridership between DC and Lynchburg is up 27%, and is up 16% between DC and Newport News. (Railway Age)

Bikes rule Mexico City Sundays: Every Sunday morning, Mexico City closes down its major thoroughfares to cars and opens them to cyclists and pedestrians, improving the city's quality of life while building support for more bike lanes. (Post)

And...: Walkability and better food choice can dramatically reduce childhood obesity. (Walkonomics) ... Prince George's developers would freeze property taxes and abolish rent control. (Gazette) ... DC is probably lucky it has no official mayoral residence. (DCist)

Forest Glen zoned for failure: A large plot of vacant land near Forest Glen Metro will get a few single-family houses. Why nothing larger? The zoning only allows single-family homes, even though there's a Metro station right there. (The Orbital)

Easy as 3-1-1: A new app for iPhone and Android lets you report 311 maintenance requests, and also see requests that have come from neighbors. (DCist)

Back to the land in the city: No city is a stranger to vacant lots, but no city knows vacancy as well as Detroit. To combat the problem, citizens are planting gardens and taking over neighboring lots, largely without the city's approval. (Free Press)

And...: Shaw's Tavern has a liquor license at last. (DCist) ... DC's arts commission weirds up the town with a stainless steel... box? (Post) ... Prince William County gets away from federal oversight of its voting practices. (Washington Times)

This boom ain't a bubble: Despite fears of an impending apartment bubble, preference and census data indicates that perhaps the national boom in apartment construction is not only justifiable, but too small to keep up with demand. (Forbes)

The exurbs are toast: Census data show that exurban areas have taken a steep slide since 2010, and growth in central cities were largely to blame. (Streetsblog)

And...: The Howard Theatre, closed for 32 years, is open for business once again. (DCist) ... Rosslyn Metro's second entrance is now a hole in the ground. (DC Metrocentric) ... Metro's Rush+ service needs new signage, which will look like this. (TBD)

Capitol Hemp alleges injustice: Under a deal with prosecutors, Capitol Hemp will close its stores despite insisting their innocence to selling drug paraphanelia. The reason? They think they'd go bankrupt challenging the case even if they won. (Washingtonian)

Push the primary: Councilmembers and local politicos were dissatisfied with this year's primary date, and many want to see it changed to a later date. Holding the primary in April brings problems of long lame-duck periods for losing incumbents, as well as lower exposure for potential challengers through the holidays. (DCist)

The biker blame game: The cycle of blame and recrimination between cyclists and drivers hides from all parties the mutual benefits of bike lanes, forcing cyclists and drivers into unsafe, and avoidable, situations. (NPR)

The slow attrition of car use: Jane Jacobs addressed transportation in her seminal work, arguing that a city can accommodate as much or as little traffic as it wants; the rest will disappear. (Human Transit)

And...: This week 44 years ago, DC burned, and it was captured on video. (Left for LeDroit) ... H Street's retailers close up with big roll-down security, deadening the streetscape for nightlife patrons, but perhaps not for much longer. (Post)

Youngsters ditch car for bike: The car is no longer an attractive option for America's young people. Driving is down 23%, and bicycling is up 24% over 11 years ago - an incredibly rapid shift. Transit use, too, is increasing. (Streetsblog)

Smart growth LA: The Los Angeles region approved a major 25-year plan to improve transit and walkability across Southern California. Half the $524 billion in funds will go to transit projects, and bike/ped funding will triple to $6.7 billion. (CP&DR)

Animated history of the T: We have our animated history of Metrorail. Vanshnooken­raggen has created a similar animation showing Boston's T growing (and sometimes shrinking) over time.

And...: See Google Maps OpenStreetMap in watercolor. (Stamen Design) ... Arlington and Alexandria insist they are getting along just fine on Route 1 transit. ... Newport News Shipbuilding has 6,000 bikes. (Virginia Business via FABB)

Metro police aren't so great: Metro Transit Police aren't held responsible for incompetence on the job or for crimes committed by off-duty officers. When on-duty they don't do much law enforcement, either. (Washington Times)

Chicago pushes ahead without feds: Chicago Mayor Emanuel announced a $7 billion infrastructure investment, revamping the city's utilities and public transportation on a scale not seen in a generation—all without federal help. (Transport Politic)

A real frequency map: Vancouver, BC, has an extensive frequent bus network, and at last TransLink has released a frequent bus map to match. Though DC has experimented with frequency maps before, nothing has come of it. (Human Transit)

And...: Bikeshare stations on the Mall are now consistently among the top 10 busiest. (Examiner) ... Virginia's counties don't want to be on the hook for roadwork. (Post) ... Bill Clinton led a large and international Lincoln Heights community clean-up effort. (DCist) ... California's High Speed Rail cuts costs by $30 billion under a new business plan. (NARP)

Where do new DC residents come from?: New residents of DC most likely last lived in Montgomery or Prince George's, followed by Europe, Arlington, Asia, New York, Fairfax, Chicago, Central America and LA. DCentric has the data for several area jurisdictions.

Get on the bus: There is very little sexy about the bus, at least to American eyes, but the key to transit access outside of the most urban areas lies with changing that perception and getting people on board the bus. (NPR)

The pedestrian death double standard: San Francisco's cycling population is booming, and with it has come some high-profile cyclist-on-pedestrian crashes. Yet while the media hypes every bike crash, the far more common drivers hitting pedestrians remain traffic report footnotes. (Streetsblog)

Drivers outraged about driving speed limit: A news crew drove around Staten Island at the speed limit and encountered substantial road rage from impatient drivers. That led to an editorial opposing a "culture of aggression" on the streets. (SILive)

Bar owners back their best interest: Mayor Gray's proposal to keep bars open an hour longer won praise from bar owners who said it would improve their business and the city's economy, safety, and nightlife. Councilmember Graham, though, is concerned the later hours would bring more crime and noise late at night. (Post, DCist)

DoD choice worsens traffic: The Department of Defense is setting up a sprawling campus near the Beltway and Route 50 in Fairfax. Since it's not new construction, it doesn't have the same rules for reducing single-passenger vehicle use. (WTOP)

Bike sharing a ripoff? Expand it!: A London mayoral candidate calls its bike sharing system "an under-used, elitist rip-off." So what does he want to do? Expand the program to more and poorer neighborhoods. All 4 candidates are competing to see who can have the most aggressively pro-bicycle policy. (The Times)

Formalize the informal street: New York City has an informal, 6-block "avenue" connecting lobbies and plazas that gets heavy use. Now the city will add crosswalks and stop signs to make "6½ Avenue" legal to walk from end to end. (NYT, Ben Ross)

And...: The H Street area gets its first bike shop. (Post, Falls Church) ... DDOT wants to close a block of 10th Street NW to cars in front of Ford's Theater. (City Paper, Bossi) ... DC's largest private solar array is under construction in Tenleytown. (DCmud) ... Mayor Gray will propose tax breaks for high-tech businesses and their investors. (Post)