Brunch links: The quality of local coverage

by David Alpert • February 28, 2010 9:55 am

Photo by tvancort.

Dr. Anti Anti-Car: On Twitter, @postmetro calls Gabe Klein the "anti-car czar." @ddotdc says that's "catchy but not accurate." Dr. Gridlock agrees: "Wanting city residents to have more choices for getting around ... and wanting to make the streets safer isn't anti-car." Tell that to Lon Anderson. (Get There)

Not enough war on drivers?: Someone abandoned a car during the snowstorm, and a week later, it was still blocking a lane of 15th Street NW near M Street now having been towed. (Crime Scene) ... Erik Wemple wonders why the Post headline sensationalized this as "near White House" when it's, well, not really.

Dr. Understanding Parking: Before answering a reader's question about which Metro station parking lots don't fill up early in the morning, Dr. Gridlock points out that I'd like WMATA to set prices so that this letter writer could potentially park at any lot.

Oh, snap, but no: Too bad the Examiner's reporting is so good, because their editorials aren't. The latest outrage is their "latest outrage," picking on a NJ-PA bike path as not stimulating enough "unless ... we're using rickshaws for shipping." Oh, so witty, yet so ignorant! (TheWashCycle, Bike League)

Now really not street-facing: Remember the mixed-use retail complex in Baltimore that had lousy urban design? Well, now it will have a Wal-Mart as well, while the developers have not addressed neighborhood requests to reduce street-facing blank walls. (The Daily Record)

And...: The housing and studios for artists in Brookland, Brookland Artspace Lofts, will soon break ground (Post, Pat O) ... Virginia's bill to ban non-hands-free cell phone usage is dead for this year (VA Bike) ... Arlington will launch a "Green Office Challenge" to recognize office buildings that best reduce their energy usage and waste. (City Renewed, Gavin Baker)

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3 comments

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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

I would just like to update the information I posted on an entry Feb 26 about the recycling hearing on March 10.*

The March 10th hearing will be on oversight of the Department Public Works and the Environment. The committee chairman has stated that snow issues specific to DPW will be handled at the March 10th hearing. It is believed that a large bulk of the public testimony will be around snow.

This oversight hearing will include all aspects of DPW and not just recycling.

It is still important to attend and make our voices heard about our city's failures around recycling .... But this is NOT going to be just recycling specific.

__________________
*I am putting this here because I emailed it to David a week or so ago, but it's not up on the calendar, and I have not seen it any other place.

March 10, 2010 is the final chance to testify on recycling. According to my communication with Graham's office, the chairman of the public works committee, Jim Graham, likes the law just fine the way it is now. If you would like to weigh in, your final chance to do so is at the combined commercial and residential recycling hearing on March 10. Please call the committee to sign up to testify
202.724.8195.

Personally, I think the recycling law is bad, and even worse because there is no enforcement.

Also, in the DC register, the comments are open for the bag tax. Please do weigh in there - positively I hope!

David, can you please add the recycling hearing to the calendar?

Thank you.

by Virginia on Feb 26, 2010 6:56 pm

by Virginia on Feb 28, 2010 1:05 pm • link • report

Ugh...as someone who lives in Baltimore (works in DC) near that proposed hideous development (about a mile away from my house) it's the epitome of everything that's wrong with a top-down focus on "big" development projects.

And that area, halfway between Penn Station and JHU and right off I-83, is brimming with potential for some terrific walkable human-scaled development and isn't in one of those parts of the city where they'd honestly have to take whatever development they can get.

by Answer Guy on Feb 28, 2010 2:07 pm • link • report

Baltimore should ditch Wal-Mart and focus on attracting green, local businesses that will complement, rather than harm existing local businesses. If Wal-Mart undermines the customer base for existing retail and services establishments, that will result in a net loss of jobs and tax revenue for the city. I find it interesting that they quote a Wal-Mart lobbyist about how "green" the store will be just because of a planted roof (never mind their manufacturing practices) and refer to the developer's disaster on RI Ave as though it's a success story. The city needs a development that will create a lively streetscape, not another desolate canyon. Where is a pertinent quote from Alex Hoffman when you need one?

by Matthias on Mar 1, 2010 11:47 am • link • report