Posts about Links

Board sanctions Orange: DC's ethics board "admonished" Vincent Orange for keeping a campaign contributor's food warehouse open when health officials tried to shut it down. Orange will be able to get the violation expunged later this year. (Examiner)

Take a look: The MTA released renderings of what some Purple Line bridges might look like. (Patch) ... TheBus on Route 1 will get a paint tube paint scheme. (Gazette)

Is your commute an idyll?: WTOP is asking for stories of the longest and worst drives, which it calls "Commuter Idle." Streetsblog created a competing contest for the best stories of saving time by not driving: "Commuter Idyll."

Flood-control parkway: One planner wants to replace lanes on a Robert Moses-designed parkway in Queens and with dunes to protect against storms. (Next City)

And...: A reminder to give up your seat on Metro for pregnant women. (Unsuck DC Metro) ... Don't like sprawling mansions? Then check out this one-room house on Capitol Hill. (UrbanTurf) ... Tom Toles takes on food truck rules. (Post)

DC-CANnot give you Internet: DC has built a huge fiber-optic network with federal stimulus, but franchise agreements with Comcast and Verizon prohibit offering Internet access directly to residents. (City Paper)

Government goings-on: Mayor Gray wants to offer driver licenses to undocumented immigrants. (DCist) ... DC now has federal permission to hire an interim CFO. (Examiner) ... There's a lot of finger-pointing around the Silver Spring Transit Center. (Examiner)

Freeloading ends in Ocean City: Ocean City is raising its parking rates and adding meters on some streets where visitors were parking all day for free. (WAMU)

And...: Technology won't entirely replace transit maps. (Human Transit) ... ""If you are going to get arrested, do it in Arlington County." (Colbert) ... Who's on the board that decides Virginia transportation policy? (Tysons Engineer)

McAuliffe backs ethics panel: Virginia Democratic gubernatorial nominee Terry McAuliffe, has called for an independent state ethics panel. The FBI is looking at gifts given to Governor Bob McDonnell. Ken Cuccinelli, the Republican nominee, received gifts from the same donor and opposes an ethics panel or a gift ban. (Post)

Metro morsels: The Verizon Center will pay to keep Metro open late for the NHL playoffs. (Post) ... Please don't open Metro emergency doors; one rider did and it stretched a short delay into a very long one. (WAMU) ... The Red Line was severely delayed this morning due to a cracked rail near Rhode Island Ave. (Post)

Bike bits: The long-awaited M Street NW cycle tracks are coming this August. (WTOP) ... CaBi is coming to Montgomery County by late summer. (Post) ... Watch DC install a CaBi station at Wisconsin and O in Georgetown. (Patch)

Development dollops: 9 developers submitted proposals for Walter Reed, and DC narrowed the list to 5, while Hill East received only 1 proposal. (City Paper) ... The Wonder Bread factory in Shaw is almost done with renovations. (Elevation DC)

Forethought for Foxx: Former transportation secretaries give Anthony Foxx some advice, like listening to good people in the bureaucracy. ... Is there any way President Obama can make a difference on transportation? (Streetsblog)

Less foolish primary date: DC might move its primary date (again), to June. The current April 1, 2014 date invited jokes, would force candidates to collect petitions during the holidays, and would create 8-month lame ducks. (NBC)

Who's running: Robert Bobb, City Administrator under Tony Williams, is considering a run for mayor. (Post) ... Doug Gansler, Maryland Attorney General and likely candidate for governor, criticized the recent transportation funding bill. (Post)

Harder to FOIA Virginia: The Supreme Court unanimously upheld a Virginia law which limits FOIA requests to only come from Virginia residents. Many media organizations argued to overturn the rule. (Ars Technica)

And...: Parts of 3 Smithsonian museums will close due to sequestration. (City Paper) ... A new Tumblr blog chronicles the worst Cleveland Park neighborhood complaints. (DCist) ... Walk the future M Street bike lane with WABA on Monday.

Concrete blame game: Who's to blame for the problems with the Silver Spring Transit Center? While the contractor obviously made mistakes, do Montgomery County or WMATA share some blame for lack of oversight? (Post)

Last stop for gas: The last gas stations on Wisconsin Avenue in Bethesda will soon close, reflecting a trend across the region and nation of stations disappearing in walkable, transit-oriented areas. (Post)

Transportation trends: More people in the area who didn't learn to ride a bike as a kid are doing so now as adults. Many credit Capital Bikeshare and seeing other cyclists as inspiring them to ride. More people are also riding the bus, pushing jurisdictions to add service and consider dedicated lanes. (Post)

Plant a tree: DC and the region has many more trees on the west side of the city than the east. But not all residents of tree-sparser neighborhoods are eager for green; some fear they would attract crime or drive gentrification. (Or both?) (Post)

Out of staters take local spaces: Many residents complain that it's because of out-of-state drivers that there are no parking spaces in their neighborhood. (Post)

Market rate or a market?: Should a warehouse across from Navy Yard Metro be a community market? Neighbors want it, but the GSA, which owns the site, wants to get the maximum value, which likely means a larger private building on the site. (City Paper)

Less intrusive government, only if you behave: John Mica isn't so hot on DC budget autonomy, saying his teenagers also wanted budget autonomy, but "As long as [DC is] minding [its] P's and Q's ... I think the government can back off." That's real small-government conservatism right there. (Fox 5)

TIGER roars: TIGER grants have been a huge success, garnering praise from across the political spectrum and encouraging innovation in transportation. (Streetsblog)

And...: Chicago's bikeshare system Divvy will start in June. (Chicago Tribune) ... Is it White Flint or North Bethesda? (BethesdaNow) ... Hearings on the Wheaton Costco gas station start today. (Patch, Dan. S) ... Hertz On Demand joins ZipCar in Bethesda. (RD@BR)

Walk the long way to VRE: VRE is warning people not to cross the railroad tracks in Burke. The shortcut shaves a several-block detour and Fairfax hopes to build a pedestrian bridge, but that won't happen for years. (WTOP)

More power for ethics?: The new DC Board of Ethics and Government Accountability has recommended several changes to DC's ethics laws including criminalizing conflict-of-interest violations, ethics rules for all city employees, and the power to recommend expulsion of council members. (Examiner)

Small units get big: The micro-unit trend continues as a mixed-use proposal for a plot of land on Florida Avenue NW would include 200 micro apartments. (UrbanTurf)

Safer without stoplights: One English town took out the stoplights and walk signals at one intersection and replaced it with an unusual double roundel design. The result is slower moving car traffic and safer pedestrian traffic. (Kottke, Jared C)

And...: What would DC look like if sea levels rose? (Post) ... Ever wonder how some of the area's more oddly named roads got their name? (WTOP) ... The good news about sequestration? It might be easing congestion. (Examiner) ... Trump's Old Post Office hotel gets initial approval. (Post) ... Stoddert auctions off a parking space. (Hyperlocal GP)

Bag fee for fewer stores?: 4 Montgomery councilmembers want to narrow the year-old bag fee to only affect stores that sell food (like DC's law). Council staff and the Department of Environmental Protection want the law to stay. (Examiner)

Tesla blocked from Virginia: Tesla wanted to open a showroom in Tysons, but Virginia law wouldn't allow it because they weren't going through a dealership. The Virginia Automobile Dealers Association lobbied for the decision. (WTOP)

Every stadium deal has a subsidy: Matt Yglesias is skeptical that a DC United stadium deal would be good for DC. The team may pay for the stadium but the land and infrastructure would be free. All that for 17 games per year. (Slate)

And...: The recently-announced Silver Line bids are just the first of many contracts for Phase 2. (Post) ... Pennsylvania Avenue finally reopens to pedestrians and cyclists. (NBC) ... A Beverly Hills driver mowed down a cyclist and was caught on camera. (Fox LA)

Swing span got stuck: The swing span on the South Capitol Bridge got stuck in the open position during a test this past Sunday morning. (DCist)

Met Branch Trail unstuck: The preservation group that controls the historic Silver Spring station changed its mind and will allow review to go forward for the Metropolitan Branch Trail past the building. It had been using the area for parking. (WABA)

Count people and bikes in Alexandria: The Alexandria Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee needs volunteers to conduct bike and pedestrian counts on May 9 and 11 in 14 locations around the city. Can you help?

We're renting more, driving less: Young people aren't driving more even as the economy rebounds, thanks to higher gas prices, urban living, and services that make it easier to go car-free. (Post) ... Americans are also more likely to be renters and less likely to care about owning a home. (Atlantic Cities)

And...: A bike helmet flashes a cyclist's level of stress. (Wired) ... VDOT wants feedback on its bike map. (FABB) ... The 4th annual "Potholepalooza" is on. (Post)

WMATA board boards Metro: WMATA board members take Metro at varying frequencies. Marcel Acosta and Tom Downs take it daily, some only once a week. Muriel Bowser and the Prince George's members didn't give specifics. (Examiner)

What's Hoover's replacement?: Teams of real estate graduate students imagined what could replace the FBI building. Georgetown's submission included a "Hoover tower," housing microunits, office space, and no parking. (Post)

Older suburbs see teardowns: Smaller houses in desirable neighborhoods in Arlington and Montgomery once owned by older, long-time residents are getting torn down at a rapid pace to build larger, more modern houses. (Post)

Carbon emissions in Fairfax: 37% of carbon emissions in Fairfax County come from transportation. And 70% of the increase in transportation emissions since 2006 come from people just passing through the county. (FABB)

Franklin Park-ing lot?: A 1920s plan to widen K Street included an idea to make all of Franklin Square a parking lot. A Washington Post op-ed condemned the idea and pushed underground garages instead. (Ghosts of DC)