By Kate Jentoft-Herr (Program and Community Coordinator) • March 24, 2021
Today is the final day in our 2021 Member Drive and we only need 16 more Neighbors or $1,799 to make our goal! If you aren’t already a member of our Neighborhood we hope you’ll join today, or make a one-time gift to help us get all the way.
By Ron Thompson (Transportation Equity Organizer) • March 30, 2021
Two years ago, Mayor Bowser nominated her Deputy Mayor for Operations and Infrastructure, Lucinda Babers, to fill an open seat on the WMATA Board of Directors. But the Council didn’t take action until last month. So, what took so long?
By Wyatt Gordon (The Virginia Mercury ) • March 30, 2021
The booming demand for housing coupled with a wave of storefront closures has left suburban shopping centers in a slump and local leaders grasping for ways to retrofit forgotten malls for urban living. But can the plan to urbanize Virginia’s suburbs pay off?
Virginia has finalized a $3.7 billion agreement between CSX, Amtrak, and Virginia Railway Express to improve rail service by building new tracks, adding passenger rail service to some existing freight tracks, and building a new bridge over the Potomac to relieve the Long Bridge bottleneck.  (Luz Lazo / Post. Tip: Azan)
The DC Department of Transportation and the National Park Service will begin work this week to repair and widen the Rock Creek Park Trail, build some connecting segments, and add more storm drains and retaining walls to prevent erosion.  (Ken Duffy / WTOP)
Comptroller and gubernatorial candidate Peter Franchot, a possible highway widening swing vote, indicated he will approve Gov. Larry Hogan’s plan to rebuild the American Legion Bridge and add HOT lanes to the Beltway and I-270, but he may not approve the larger plan to add more privately funded toll lanes to the highway.  (Bruce DePuyt / Maryland Matters)
DC’s Superior Court will begin to hold jury trials again after suspending them in March last year, with either virtual or socially distanced juries. Defendants waiting for trial have been held in DC’s jail during the pandemic and might wait for years for their day in court.  (Christian Zapata / DCist)
Leaders from Montgomery, Prince George’s and Anne Arundel counties called upon Gov. Larry Hogan to extend Maryland’s eviction moratorium to September. It is currently set to expire in May, and the federal moratorum ends in June.  (Briana Adhikusuma / Bethesda Beat)
Some local leaders including Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson and Loudoun County Supervisor Mike Turner are proposing some free transit in order to get riders back onto local bus and rail systems after pandemic restrictions are eased.  (Adam Tuss / NBC Washington. Tip: Chester B.)
Opponents of the McMillan Sand Filtration Site redevelopment at Michigan Avenue and First Street NW are appealing a March court decision that dismissed their attempts to get demolition permits rescinded. The mixed-use project has faced a litany of challenges.  (Alex Koma / Business Journal. Tip: Chester B.)
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam proposed an amendment to the state’s marijuana legalization bill that would make possession and home cultivation legal on July 1 instead of waiting until 2024, and would make it faster to expunge marijuana convictions from a criminal record.  (Gregory Schneider / Post)
