By Kate Jentoft-Herr (Program and Community Coordinator) • September 15, 2020
Greater Greater Washington is committed to helping residents in the region and beyond draw out connections between urbanism, public policy, and the central issues of our time. If you’ve valued our efforts to highlight these intersections this year, please consider joining the Neighborhood in order to ensure we are able to continue and deepen our coverage of these important issues.
By Alison Gillespie (Advocacy Committee) • September 15, 2020
To help local businesses survive the economic hardship of COVID-19, Montgomery County has started an initiative to promote restaurant delivery to local parks. As of right now the program is focused on food but may soon also allow limited consumption of alcoholic beverages in some park locations.
The Long Bridge expansion passed its environmental impact study, and Virginia transit officials are optimistic about moving to next steps, but possible pandemic-related budget cuts in Virginia and a lack of federal aid to Amtrak could slow project funding. (Wyatt Gordon / Virginia Mercury)
Kevin Quinn and Matt Pollack of the Maryland Transit Administration told the Montgomery County Council that they will need four to six months to develop a new plan to build the Purple Line after the original private contractors left the project this month. (Josh Kurtz / Maryland Matters)
A hit and run driver sped up 18th street in Mt. Pleasant before driving onto the sidewalk where they struck two adults and two children, all of whom were sent to the hospital with serious injuries. (Dick Uliano / WTOP, Peter Hermann / Post. Tip: Chester B.)
DASH buses are now operating at 80% of their pre-pandemic service levels with eight routes returning to normal service. Ridership is only about 35% of pre-pandemic levels, but DASH trips are free during the public health emergency. (James Cullum / ALX Now)
The Arlington County Board changed its zoning code to allow owners of nonconforming duplex homes to make external updates without needing approval from the Board of Zoning Appeals, which was never required for single family homes in the same zones. (ARL Now)
A report from Disability Rights DC found that during 2020 so far, nurses at St. Elizabeth’s restrained patients 149 times and placed them in seclusion 55 times, despite laws that regulate patient care and the fact that the hospital promised to make changes after a 2019 report found similarly high instances of patient restraint and seclusion. (Amanda Michelle Gomez / City Paper)
After the DC Attorney General sued the city’s public housing administrators for failing to respond to crime, DC has committed to spend $3 million on security cameras, better lighting, security guards and violence interruptors at 10 complexes around the city. (Fenit Nirappil / Post)
