Breakfast links: Bad people
Kornheiser disciple?
A driver on First St NW suddenly approached a cyclist with its horn continuously honking, hit the cyclist, got out of the car, yelled at the cyclist, then drove off. (TheWashCycle)
Not top employee
A group of guys harassed a young woman at Union Station Metro… including a Metro employee. (Holla Back DC)
Not really “mixed use”
Prince William County has rezoned some agricultural land for “suburban residential” development. The WBJ headline says “mixed-use development” and the lede calls it a “pedestrian friendly community,” but the only mixed-ness seems to be a school. It’s nice if people can walk to school, but sorry, a bunch of suburban houses is not a “walkable, mixed-use development.” (WBJ)
Traffic tests like a hydra
Montgomery Council staff tried to stop White Flint again by re-imposing a traffic test, where if White Flint slowed any traffic down outside White Flint, it couldn’t proceed. But the Council deleted it from its agenda following strong opposition. (FLOG)
No I-80 tolls, no money
USDOT has refused to let Pennsylvania toll I-80 to raise money to repair roads and maintain transit. Robert Puentes says we need to change the outmoded laws. Ryan Avent says we can’t afford to keep ignoring tolls as a solution to transportation financing. (TNR, The Bellows)
MD cuts repair, rejects transit “poison pill”
The Maryland legislature has reached a deal on the budget, including major cuts to road repair funds for counties (Post) … The conference committee rejected the provision to force restudy of the Purple Line and Baltimore Red Line as heavy rail, which would have likely killed both projects. (Baltimore Sun, Ben Ross) (Tip: Ben Ross)
No cuts, more from jurisdictions, peak of the peak
According to WMATA’s report on the public hearings, large majorities of riders oppose service cuts and want jurisdictions to contribute more. There was also strong support in the online survey for the “peak of the peak” fare, which is probably technically feasible in time, but it’s not absolutely clear. (WMATA, Examiner, Post)
Bronrott going federal
Delegate Bill Bronrott (D-Bethesda) is leaving his seat to join the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Bronrott was a big safety advocate, pushing fro more money for pedestrian safety for kids to and from schools, renaming “accidents” to “crashes”, and much more. (Getting There)