Morning links: Imagine and reinvent

Government

Morning links: Imagine and reinvent

by David Alpert • March 30, 2009 9:53 am

Photo by Wayan Vota.

See, click, fix!: It's like a wiki version of 311. Residents post "fix it" items in their communities on SeeClickFix, like potholes or broken streetlights. Others can see them an comment. And in some cities, like New Haven where it started, the local governments see the issues and get them fixed. (JTS)

Maybe KFC will fix them: KFC is offering to patch potholes in exchange for the right to affix their logo to them. (Chicago Tribune) Even if few cities take them up on the offer, KFC has gotten a lot of free press for this proposal.

Post endorses Anacostia trash-reducing bag fee: The Post editorial board strongly endorsed Councilmember Tommy Wells' bill to reduce trash by creating an incentive to use reusable bags and giving free reusable bags to needy residents. (Post)

Circulator posts routes, starts today: The DC Circulator has posted information on the new routes. They soft launch today, with an official launch Wednesday. Actually, we think they soft launched yesterday: Reader Antonio saw and rode one yesterday morning, making him, according to the driver, the second person ever to ride the Woodley-McPherson line.

Route 7 light rail next?: Gerry Connolly isn't the only Congressman jumping on the "build more transit" bandwagon. Last week, Rep. Jim Moran told the Falls Church City Council he's working to get federal funds for light rail along Route 7 from Baileys Crossroads to Tysons. Can we get the Purple Line, Columbia Pike Streetcar, and this to use compatible technology to one day form part of a complete circumferential line? (Falls Church News-Press, Joey)

Stimulus no help for transit-dependent riders: St. Louis is cutting several bus routes, stranding many transit-dependent, elderly and disabled riders. While the government is spending hundreds of billions to stimulate the economy, the money has to go to capital projects, preventing Missouri from saving jobs and helping these vulnerable residents. (Jaime)

Time to "reinvent America's cities": Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff argues that we need "a bold urban vision" that's "more than just pouring money into shovel-ready projects." (New York Times, JTS and Chris)

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3 comments

Tags: links

David Alpert is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Greater Greater Washington and Greater Greater Education. He worked as a Product Manager for Google for six years and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He loves the area which is, in many ways, greater than those others, and wants to see it become even greater.

Comments

@Reid

WO&D rebuild is a great idea, any reason why it could not happen?

by SA on Mar 30, 2009 1:39 pm • link • report

Rebuilding the W&OD won't happen because the old ROW doesn't connect to anything anymore. Find it in Reston and follow it in. First, you'd have a ton of grade crossings to deal with. Second, part of the ROW was used for I-66, you'd need some serious engineering to get around that. Third, the ROW starts to disappear once you get south of Columbia Pike - there are a ton of places where the ROW's been built on or sold off - including the area where you connect back up to the existing tracks.

The only way you could really make it work, IMO, is to run new tracks up the median of 395.

Any way you slice it, putting rail transit in there would require a lot of work. The idea gets thrown around like all you'd have to do would be lay new tracks - that's not the case at all.

by Alex B. on Mar 30, 2009 1:57 pm • link • report

@Alex B.

which brings up a intersting point, how feasible would a 395 metro line be?

by sa on Mar 30, 2009 2:30 pm • link • report