By Douglas Stewart (Contributor) • February 9, 2021
Fairfax County has an opportunity to transform one of its largest shopping malls and the area around it into a walkable community with access to regional transit. Success depends in large part on whether the county changes how it designs its streets.
By Wyatt Gordon (The Virginia Mercury ) • February 9, 2021
Freight crew size requirements may not seem especially relevant to the present; however, the dogged, state-by-state fight over their adoption says a lot more about the future of American rail, the economy, and the climate.
Metro’s entire Blue Line will close for platform repairs starting on Saturday and won’t reopen again until May 23. The Yellow line will run to Franconia-Springfield, and shuttle buses will operate at the Blue Line stations that do not share tracks with another line. (Matt Blitz / ARLnow)
Prince George’s County’s planning board and others oppose a proposal to build 1,400 multifamily units plus senior living, a hotel, and a police station just north of National Harbor, saying the site density is too high for an area with no transit access. (Alex Koma / Business Journal)
DC gave out fewer parking tickets and moving violations in 2020 due to changed commutes and enforcement during the pandemic, cuttinig the revenue from those infractions almost in half, from $138 million in 2019 to $70 million last year. (Martin Austermuhle / DCist. Tip: Chester B.)
The Montgomery County Council voted to let restaurants reopen indoor dining rooms at 25% capacity, with a 90 minute limit on each meal. Montgomery was the last county in the region with an indoor dining ban in place. (Jack Moore / WTOP)
Helen White, a teacher at Ballou STAY High School in DC, died of COVID-19 after contracting it in one of the city’s early in-person classroom reopenings. Now the teachers union is asking whether current safety protocols are enough. (Sam Collins / Washington Informer)
By March 2 young elementary school students and those in special education programs are set to return to classrooms in Arlington Public Schools, and by March 16 all students who signed up for in person learning will be back two days a week. (Jo DeVoe / ARLnow)
The Washington Teachers Union voted against a strike or work stoppage after a dispute with DC over safety protocols in reopening public schools. The result of the vote prompted DC to withdraw a request for a restraining order on the union. (Perry Stein / Post)
On March 1 a small number of students in career and special education programs will return to in person learning in Montgomery County, with more elementary students returning March 15. High schools students won’t return to classrooms until late April. (Caitlynn Peetz / Bethesda Beat)
The Virginia legislature is considering proposals to restore the voting rights of people convicted of felonies, but they are struggling to agree on a process for reenfranchisement. (Daniella Cheslow / DCist)
Underground stations in major cities including DC contain unsafe levels of air pollutants from small particles given off by train brakes and the friction of the car against the rails, according to researchers at NYU’s Grossman School of Medicine. (The Guardian)
