Photo by anitasarkeesian on Flickr.

911 drops calls during furlough

The DC government furlough over Presidents’ Day led to 200 calls to 911 being ignored; the police union, which represents the call-takers, said it warned Mayor Gray but no action was taken. (Examiner)  

High school closures a possiblity

As DC looks to close a budget gap, interim Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson says the city may close some high schools, since small high schools require more subsidies. (WAMU) … Valerie Strauss says our propensity to cut school spending first is pure hypocrisy. (Post)  

VA pols fight WMATA cut

Northern Virginia leaders are still fighting Congress’ proposed elimination of Metro’s annual $150 million federal payment. The governor remains silent, though his press secretary says McDonnell believes cutting WMATA’s funds “was the wrong choice.” (Kingstowne Patch)  

DC cuts solar energy help

The DC Council reallocated $700,000 from a program to reimburse partial costs of installing solar panels. 51 homeowners will have to forgo the money that was promised them for at least another year. (Post)  

Are neighbors an obstacle to great higher ed?

Many great US universities took over parts of surrounding neighborhoods at one time or another. Are the Georgetown ANC’s demands that Georgetown University shrink its enrollment the kind of thing that’s holding American higher education back? (Georgetown Metropolitan, Yglesias)  

WABA plans Ward 8 outreach

WABA wants to reach out more to Ward 8, running bike classes, group rides, and giving away some bikes and CaBi memberships. You can help by donating to this effort.  

Why don’t grocery stores have congestion pricing?

Tim Lee thinks congestion pricing advocates are misunderstanding human nature, given that private supermarkets don’t provide express lanes for a fee. Ryan Avent argues it’s a mistaken analogy.  

Reducing zoning increases parking rules

New York downzoned an area of the Bronx to create a “neighborhood preservation area,” but as a side effect, it imposed a much stricter parking minimum requirement, forcing a HUD-funded project to build less affordable housing than it previously could have. (Streetsblog)  

And…

Turning the Key Bridge gas station into condos may be only the first of many such conversions. (Housing Complex) … A police officer was struck on the Key Bridge while directing traffic around another crash. (TBD) … How can you easily compare city blocks within a city or even from city to city? String up each block in a row. (Big Think)