Photo by agelakis on Flickr.

Olfactory complaints at an old factory

In Brooklyn, residents of a factory-turned-condo building are raising a stink over the next-door slaughterhouse that’s been there since 1928. (NYT)  

Move over, Navigator

DC Council chair Kwame Brown must now answer a formal complaint for $446,000 in campaign finance irregularities. The Post’s opinion section is doubly disappointed with the city’s ethics saga. (Post)  

Public pays for Jack Johnson’s hagiography

Former P.G. County Exec. Jack Johnson printed glossy booklets extolling his years in office, costing $227,000 of public money, and planned to mail it to all households for a cost of $275,000 more. The booklets did not mention taking $400,000 in bribes as one of his accomplishments. (Post)  

Speed cameras on the Beltway

Maryand will install speed cameras in a construction zone on the Beltway in Montgomery County.  Drivers will be mailed tickets if they exceed the speed limit by 12 mph (WTOP)  

Tracing the highways

Though Pres. Eisenhower gets much of the credit for the Interstate Highway System, a new book shows he was just one of many people who brought the transcontinental network together. (Infrastructurist)  

“Buy America” requirements threaten streetcars

Only one company makes street-embedded rails sufficient for U.S. streetcar projects.  Unfortunately, this company is in Austria and thus runs afoul of protectionist “Buy America” requirements. Will the FTA have to ease its increasing reluctance to grant waivers? (Reconnecting America)  

Philly fixing “broken teeth”

The Philadelphia Housing Authority will sell 1,100 of its vacant properties.  The authority wants to get rid of the “broken tooth” that blights an otherwise decent block. (Philadelphia Inquirer)  

Park properly, officials

Geoff Hatchard takes photos of MPD officers parking on grass (killing it) and WMATA employees parking on the sidewalk (damaging the concrete).  

And…

Arlington and Loudoun are examining the benefits of centralized heating and cooling plants. (TBD) … An NYPD officer threatened to ticket a Dutch tourist for biking in a skirt. (Streetsblog) … A skeptical view of privatization schemes. (Politico)