Posts by Rob Pitingolo — Guest Contributor
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Clarendon Whole Foods pays customers to drive
Earlier this month, the Clarendon Whole Foods kicked off a new weekly food and wine event. If you drive and park in the Pottery Barn garage across the street, you get a $1 discount on the $5 cost. Anyone else, including those who walk, bike or take transit to the store, pays full price. At first, I thought the discount was designed to offset customers’ cost of parking in the Pottery… Keep reading…
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We are the… 50%? stories misinterpret median incomes
The 5-month old news that the Washington region has 10 of the 15 “wealthiest” US counties got another round of press, DCist notes, after a MainStreet.com article subtitled, “Where the 1% lives.” But juxtaposing “the 1%” and any statistic of median income flunks basic statistics. The median household income is the income for the… Keep reading…
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In fringe suburbs, has economics trumped the appeal of new?
The recession and the burst of the housing bubble have stopped development in many fringe suburbs. With many urban neighborhoods on the rise, some suggest that fringe suburbs are on the decline. Has simple economics surpassed the appeal of “new” in the hinterlands? There’s been a lot of chatter around the blogosphere about Christopher Leinberger’s… Keep reading…
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Is “the rent too damn high” for some DC businesses?
In the coming weeks and months, a handful of businesses along 14th Street NW will close their doors. The retail corridor appears to be booming, but high commercial rents make it difficult for low margin businesses to compete. This Saturday, Mid City Caffe on 14th Street will serve its last latte. Citing insufficient sales and a less-than-ideal second floor location above Miss… Keep reading…
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Housing is more than supply and demand
In his Kindle book The Gated City, Ryan Avent argues that the limitations governments place on cities through zoning and other policies are holding back the nation’s economic growth. Avent is a very smart writer on urban economics, who I interviewed in 2009. The book is very good, and I recommend it to anyone reading this post. There are two points that I wish would have… Keep reading…
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Adding places to station names creates unnecessary transfers
Several neighborhoods and organizations have proposed renaming Metro stations to make a single destination easy to find. But each of these can bring the unintended consequence of making the whole system more confusing to navigate. At first glance, renaming “Navy Yard” to “Navy Yard-Ballpark” seems like a fine idea, since it is the station that most… Keep reading…
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Competition won’t drastically alter the car-sharing market
Recent news that Zipcar is losing some of its coveted on-street spaces in DC has sparked discussion about how new competition might impact the region’s car-sharing network. Economic theory suggests that the impact on prices and service might not be as large as some hope. Zipcar currently enjoys monopoly status in DC. Since acquiring Flexcar in 2007, Zipcar has been the… Keep reading…
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Auto-free car renters juggle complicated insurance options
Urbanites in DC and elsewhere frequently utilize rental cars as an alternative to owning their own vehicles. However, without an auto insurance policy, some renters may be putting themselves at more risk than they realize. In Washington, roughly a third of households don’t have access to a vehicle, but plenty of these people still drive, if only occasionally. Car sharing… Keep reading…
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DC cycling concentrated in Northwest and Capitol Hill
An analysis of American Community Survey (ACS) data shows that bicycling rates are not evenly distributed across the District. Keep reading…
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Downtown posts big gains in housing units
Recent American Community Survey data reveal strong growth in the number of housing units in downtown Washington and adjacent neighborhoods. Of the 10 census tracts that saw the greatest net increase in units, 9 are located within the area covered by the L’Enfant Plan. After comparing the housing unit numbers from the 2000 census and the recent ACS averages… Keep reading…