Breakfast links: Cutting, stopping and slowing

by David Alpert • January 21, 2010 9:09 am

Photo by Jeremy Brooks.

Board members talk Catoe, budget: Jim Graham, Chris Zimmerman, and Peter Benjamin discussed John Catoe and the budget crisis on WTOP. Dr. Gridlock transcribed a few key answers as well.

Where to cut instead of Ride On: ACT outlines specific suggestions for finding the $2 million to stave off cuts to Ride On: move buses faster by adjusting bottleneck intersections, downsize the large new planned garage in Bethesda, and use some of the $4 million proposed for a Wheaton Costco.

Stop in Burke, stop on the highway: The new Northeast Regional extension to Lynchburg will now stop at Burke Centre (DRPT) ... Gov. Bob McDonnell is reopening the state's rest areas with $3 million in emergency funds, but it's unclear how to pay for them long term. Any progress on gas stations and fast food? (Virginian-Pilot via DCist)

Smart rhetoric, dumb behavior: Bill Myers notices that many Montgomery County officials' rhetoric around Smart Growth doesn't match their actual conduct in creating obstacles to developments like White Flint. (Examiner)

Barnesville no longer speedsville: Speed cameras in Barnesville, a town in Montgomery County's Agricultural Reserve, are already reducing speeding. Many drivers cut through the town to bypass I-270 and about 60% used to speed by over 11 mph. (Gazette)

Sulu on the subway: Star Trek's George Takei is also a transit advocate, and served on the Board of the predecessor agency to LA's LACMTA. He recently discussed his transit fandom and LA's transit plans on Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!. (Track Twenty-Nine)

Factors that drive not driving: What makes a city likely to have low rates of car ownership? (DC is fourth behind 3 cities of the NYC metro area.) Basically: be an old city, have poor residents, and/or have lots of students. (Human Transit, Michael P)

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7 comments

Tags: Amtrak, Barnesville, Bob McDonnell, bus priority, buses, car dependence, Chris Zimmerman, demographics, economic development, excessive parking, Fairfax, Jim Graham, links, Los Angeles, Maryland, Montgomery, Peter Benjamin, rest stops, Ride On, service cuts, Smart Growth, traffic cameras, transit, Virginia, Wheaton, White Flint, WMATA

David Alpert is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Greater Greater Washington. He has had a lifelong interest in great cities and great communities. 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.

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So DC is second behind NY Metro cities and you guys are still complaining? Jeez.

On a serious note, I am surprised that SF is so low in the list.

by beatbox on Jan 21, 2010 10:14 am

Who's complaining?

by Alex B. on Jan 21, 2010 10:16 am

so you have to be poor or a student to not own a car?

This is news to me.

I have not owned a car since 1989 and I have no need for one.

Bicycles and Metro are just fine.

Im not destitute and Im not a student either.

by w on Jan 21, 2010 11:45 am

Correlation is not causation, w. I don't think that link asserted anything of the sort.

However, it is clear that large, car-free populations include poor people and college students. The other main factor Mr. Walker identified was age of the city, which is more or less a proxy for dense development.

It's descriptive, not proscriptive.

by Alex B. on Jan 21, 2010 11:58 am

Alex B

yes - what you say is correct.

However- this is the kind of information that some will use to discredit efforts to further car- free lifestyles.

In other words- it is not for those people who are "up and coming" or those that strive for more.

I wonder what the ratios /numbers are for a city like Vancouver BC- while in Canada- it is relevent- and it is a new city as compared to many others and yet it is very walk able and transit oriented.

by w on Jan 21, 2010 12:31 pm

Cool, I live within walking distance of the burke centre train station. I should make a point to use the amtrak on there.

by Canaan on Jan 21, 2010 1:55 pm

ACT is supposedly, according to Cavan, not merged with the anti-growth movement in Montgomery County, but here it is calling for using funds to promote economic growth on adding more money to RideOn. This is economic development money that should be repurposed for economic development. If it was free money, there are a ton of better things to spend it on like parks, schools, etc. But we all know that ACT advocates for much more than just transit, it is the most significant anti-growth organization in Montgomery follwing the breakup of Neighbors for a Better Montgomery.

by Cyrus on Jan 22, 2010 1:58 pm