Breakfast links: Suburban moods

by John Muller • October 26, 2011 8:47 am

Photo by eschn3am on Flickr.

Tysons, a transit and walking wasteland: Until the Silver Line opens, Tysons Corner has poses a daunting challenge to workers who want to take transit or just walk somewhere. (Post)

Arlington isn't going anywhere: BRAC and Tysons may draw some business out of Arlington, but with many residents, workers and transit options, Arlington business leaders say they already are the urban village that Tysons aspires to be. (Examiner)

Toll builders pay to play: Toll road builders have been donating large sums to Virginia candidates. These companies are also seeking or have gotten lucrative private road contracts from the state. (Virginia Statehouse News)

Georgetown v. neighbors v. Post: Georgetown neighbors respond to the points in a recent pro-GU Post editorial on the campus plan. (Georgetown Dish) ... Georgetown Metropolitan wonders why GU waited so long to roll out some positive initiatives.

AdMo streetscape not pleasing all: Some Adams Morgan businesses want more aid from the city to mitigate impacts from the streetscape. And others protested cutting down trees (which will be replaced) by dressing up as a tree. (Huffington Post, DCist)

Cost of housing up: Despite nationwide problems in the housing market, DC continues to see prices increase. Leading the nation, Washington area home prices rose 1.6 percent from July to August. (WBJ)

NVTC still waiting for capital money: The Northern Virginia Transportation Commission has gotten most of its money from the state after an agreement last week over board membership. But nearly $8 million in capital funds is still in the mail. (Post)

And...: More students and parents are satisfied with the direction of DC schools. (Examiner) ... Two suspects from a late-night murder on the W4 bus were arrested in Orlando. (Post) ... Former State's Attorney Glen Ivey may challenge Donna Edwards in Maryland's new 4th Congressional District. (Baltimore Sun) ... Snow Saturday? (Post)

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John Muller is a local journalist and historian. His first book, Frederick Douglass in Washington, DC: The Lion of Anacostia, was published by The History Press last year. John is now at work on Mark Twain in Washington, DC.

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Please, please, please don't do this "AdMo" thing. The name "Adams Morgan" carries important local history from a 1950s neighborhood campaign that fought misguided urban renewal and took a staunchly racially inclusive stand by putting the names of the black and white schools (Adams and Morgan) in the campaign name -- important and clear symbolism at the time. I beg you not to blur that history for the benefit of wannabe New Yorkers who think they can get Manhattan cachet by copying that island's fondness for two-letters-per-word neighborhood abbreviations.

by pagodat on Oct 26, 2011 9:14 am • link • report

@pagodat As a 12-year Adams Morgan resident, I have no problem with "AdMo". True, I haven't been there forever, but no one will forget that AdMo is made up of Adams and Morgan. Heck, it's bringing the two even closer together!

@AdMo Streetscape, I say, take all those trees down. Ginko trees make awful street trees, as you can't tell which are male and which are female until they mature, and by that time your streetscape is half littered with bright orange berries that pop under your feet emitting a foul, puke/cheese smelling goo that gets all over your feet. Off With Their Heads! They'll be replacing those trees with non-Ginkos when the streetscape work is done, and placing them in the right location relative to the curb. As the trees stand now, they'll be in the middle of the newly built sidewalk.

Now, I'd abandon AdMo we could all agree to stop calling our region DMV. DMV will always always be "department of motor vehicles."

by MDE on Oct 26, 2011 9:36 am • link • report

As an 8-year resident of Adams Morgan, or AdMo, I whole heartedly concur with MDE.

This project has been public knowledge for at least 4 years. I'm sorry but the latecomers who are compliaining now should have been paying better attention to the plans for their neighborhood.

by Chris on Oct 26, 2011 10:20 am • link • report

Stink bombs!! That tells me fall is really here...

by dc denizen on Oct 26, 2011 10:29 am • link • report

The biggest problem of Tyson's transportation wasteland is that it is an epicenter of the Military Industrial Complex (as Eisenhower called it) that has wrecked the federal budget and shredded the Constitution. It's appropriate that an area so incompatible with democracy is also ugly from an urban planning perspective. The new "Silver Line" is an overpriced boondoggle unlikely to fix any of these problems ... the rise in the military budget since the late 1970s is a primary cause of the tremendous "sprawl" in the DC suburbs.

by Mark on Oct 29, 2011 6:08 pm • link • report