Breakfast links: Pay to move

by Thaddeus Bell • September 19, 2012 8:25 am

Photo by wallyg on Flickr.

Ride past 9 innings: Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans promises that the Metro will stay open during any Nationals playoff home games which might come. Evans, however, did not indicate where the funds would come from. (Post)

Parking displaces Wheaton market: Westfield Wheaton is closing a flea market to make room for more parking for the coming Costco. The market hasn't been able to find another spot, and got turned down to use a county parking lot. (Patch)

Eisenhower Memorial delayed: The NCPC postponed their decision on the proposed Eisenhower Memorial. Controversy over Frank Gehry's design and the large metal tapestries has led Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to intervene. (DCist)

How rural is rural?: Prince George's will create a new, more rural zoning designation, which which limits subdivisions to 4 lots. Some property owners want a transfer of development rights program, to allow larger subdivisions. (Gazette)

Bikes on BART: Fridays this August, BART allowed bicyclists onto trains during rush hour. BART aims to double the riders arriving by bike, but bringing on more bikes reduces space when BART is also breaking total ridership records. (Next American City)

Los Angeles, transit city: Los Angeles is embracing smart growth, transit and bicycling, thanks to Mayor Villaraigosa, enough public support for new growth, good weather, and long, straight boulevards. (Slate)

Safer at any speed: A chart shows changes in the highway death rate and in the amount Americans drive. Deaths dropped significantly after mandatory seatbelts or airbags, and also during recessions when people drive less. (NYT)

And...: Ralph Nader wants a presidential debate in DC, about DC issues. (DCist) ... G2 bus service won't return to Georgetown's O and P streets until December. (Patch) ... Money is now available for a 3rd railroad track in Stafford and Prince William for VRE, Amtrak, and CSX. (Railway Age) ... Do construction sites attract prostitution? (Post)

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It would be nice if WMATA would start figuring out a way that metro could mesh better with bikes. There are plenty of morning rush riders (and, more importantly, potential morning rush riders) who would benefit from having this as an option.

by aaa on Sep 19, 2012 8:58 am • link • report

Surprised it's not on this one, but the APTA second Q report is out:

http://www.apta.com/resources/statistics/Documents/Ridership/2012-q2-ridership-APTA.pdf

Metro heavy rail ridership up slightly, several agencies have large increases overall (N.O., BART, Baltimore heavy rail, etc etc). Some hurting decreases too - MARTA, Detroit. Interesting stuff.

by H Street LL on Sep 19, 2012 9:07 am • link • report

Evans' statement would certainly seem to lessen the city's leverage in trying to get the Lerners to pony up.

by Thaps on Sep 19, 2012 10:03 am • link • report

The Slate pieces misses the point--much of LA and its inner ring suburbs was built on a streetcar footprint and it's not that difficult to redevelop that for modern transit densities. Even the Metro recreates a lot of that old footprint. The commuter rail also follows an old footprint. Many of the outlying centers began as commuter rail stops and railroad depot market towns and often have still vital residential and reatil cores near rail stations. LA is actually a lousy exemplar for sunbelt cities because of all that old infrastructure and footprint. There are places which once had substantial streetcar networks like Atlanta that have become irrevoocably carbbound and much more difficult to re-engineer. MARTA itself is pedestrian unfriendsly in many of its stations and is really designed for car commuters.

by Rich on Sep 19, 2012 10:23 am • link • report

@Rich

Right on. Still good that LA is making better use of its existing urban layout.

by Adam L on Sep 19, 2012 10:30 am • link • report

@aaa

Wmata is making it easier for bikes. They just eliminated the requirement that folding bikes be in bags during rush hour. Considering you can buy a schwinn folding bike for $150, there's not much preventing people who want to bring a bike on metro during peak times.

by Falls Church on Sep 19, 2012 11:42 am • link • report

Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans promises that the Metro will stay open during any Nationals playoff home games which might come. Evans, however, did not indicate where the funds would come from.

That's okay. We'll just use my kid's school librarian's salary.

by oboe on Sep 19, 2012 1:09 pm • link • report