By Alex Holt (Maryland Correspondent) • October 22, 2019
This past August, the Maryland Transit Administration announced a plan to cut back all but two of the six trains which stop at the MARC Brunswick Line’s three West Virginia stations each day. The new schedule was slated to take effect on November 4 unless West Virginia pays the $3.4 million Maryland wants to continue the line’s current level of service. Now that deadline has been pushed back to the end of the month.
Virginians will go to the polls on November 5 to select a new General Assembly and representatives for many local offices in our region and around the state. The high-stakes state legislative races will determine partisan control. Meanwhile, in Fairfax County in particular, at least half of the seats on the Board of Supervisors will have new members, and possibly more depending on what happens November 5. Here are our endorsements in contested races.
By Nick Sementelli (Advocacy Committee) • October 22, 2019
DC’s Historic Preservation Review Board’s (HPRB) recently forbade a DC resident from adding solar panels to the front roof of his house. This decision created quite a stir in GGWash’s comment section and on Twitter.
In 2018 36,600 people died on American roads, a decrease of 2.4% from 2017, and drunk driving deaths and speeding deaths also fell. However, the number of pedestrians killed rose by 3.4% and the number of people on bikes killed rose by 6.3%, with those deaths concentrated in urban areas where people bike and walk more often. (Luz Lazo / Post)
Five landscape architecture firms have formed a group called the Ideas Lab that will work with the federal government to try and combat the erosion wearing away the land and threatening cherry blossom tree roots that surround the Tidal Basin. (Andrew Giambrone / Curbed)
A flood risk study in the Comp Plan amendments shows that neighborhoods like Deanwood, Eastland Gardens, Northeast Boundary, Mayfair, and River Terrace that border the Watts Branch tributary of the Anacostia could experience increased flooding by 2020. (Nena Perry-Brown / Urban Turf)
The city council told the Virginia Paving Company it would have to move from its current location in seven years. The site is part of the plan to redevelop Eisenhower West and the Van Dorn Corridor from heavy industry to mixed use residential. (Michael Neibauer / WBJ)
After the state board of elections ordered the county to pick a possible new site for early voting, the county board will instead send two options. One site, in North Potomac, is favored by the Republican-appointed members on the county board, while the other, in White Oak, has support from Democratic legislators and local activists. (Kate Masters / Bethesda Beat)
Budget cuts at the Arlington Department of Environmental Services means that the county will sweep streets and bike lanes in residential neighborhoods four times a year, down from seven. Commercial areas of the county will still be swept 26 times a year. (Airey / ARL Now)
Metro’s general manager, board chair, and the head of the Safety Commission testified to a House of Representatives subcommittee on the ridership increase, while the representatives pushed regaining rider’s trust through transparency with ethics after the Jack Evans scandal. (Justin George / Post)
Enrollment in the DCPS in the system broke the 50,000 student mark for the first time in 13 years. The city’s public charter school enrollment dropped by about 400 students this year, but still totals just over 43,500 kids. (Natalie Delgadillo / DCist)
Scooter company Lime is on track to lose $300 million this year, while competitor Bird lost $100 million in the first quarter of 2019. Both companies are promising profitability with new scooters and in the case of Lime, overseas expansion, but their losses raise questions about the future of the scooter market. (Tom McKay / Gizmodo)
