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Recently, everyone in DC has been hopping on the bandwagon to bash an extensive redevelopment of a 2-story rowhouse into a 5-story condominium. Headlines make liberal use of middle finger references, with photo angles to match the description. In the comments of one PoPville post on the house, a representative from DC’s Continue reading Perspective on pop-ups
Brookland Metro Station – photo by author. While in the midst of repacing the old terra cotta tiles at the Brookland station (the most colorful of all Metro stations) with the newer concrete tiles for outdoor stations, Metro was kind enough to build some temporary wood benches for customers. Mush on my windowsill. I’m sitting in DC, looking out a window at a mushy, mostly liquid ‘snow’ storm named after an obscure federal budgetary procedure. There’s a joke in there somewhere about failing to meet the hype. But instead, I’ll offer some links to articles of interest over the past few weeks. Regulatory challenges. Slate blogger Continue reading ‘Snow’ links: finding the right level of regulation Old Avis ad in Australia – CC image from Bidgee Last week’s big transportation news: Avis purchased Zipcar for a cool $500 million. Reaction to the sale is all over the map, with some analysts praising the move and some hating it. On the ‘pro’ side of the ledger – Felix Salmon: The acquisition solves a number Continue reading Avis, Zipcar, and the spectrum of car-sharing services Acela – CC image from wiki Last month, the New York Times Magazine featured a story on the “Empire of the in-between,” the places along the tracks traveled by Amtrak’s Acela Express. Decaying post-industrial landscapes, battered and half-abandoned residential neighborhoods, and so on. The train serves as a metaphor for the changing nature of the Continue reading The Acela and economic geography London Skyline. CC image from Elliot Brown. One dynamic that comes up in DC’s height limit debates is the tension between gains and losses, impacts on the city and benefits to it. New development can clearly add value, but the question is if that value is a mere ‘give-away to developers’ or if citizens (the Continue reading More on height limit trade-offs – listening skeptically, reaching resolution CC image from Atomic Taco Let’s take a trip up and down the Northeast Corridor and look at recent parking news. All three show some misunderstandings about parking, cities, and markets. Time for some Shoup reading assignments! New York: Looking to discuss changes to the zoning code parking requirements in downtown Brooklyn, the New York Times comes Continue reading Parking, misunderstood DC skyline. CC image from James Calder Continuing on the discussion of DC’s height limit (and potential changes to it), I wanted to take note of a few more articles on the subject. George Mason law professor David Schleicher (he of land-use law and procedure fame) asks height limit proponents six basic questions, all of which Continue reading DC height limit trade-offs, part 2 The Cairo. CC image from NCinDC. Following up on some of the trade-offs mentioned at the end of the previous post on DC’s height act. In the discussion of Kaid Benfield’s piece supporting DC’s height limit, several comments are worth highlighting. First, Payton Chung notes the need to discuss more than just supply, but to also Continue reading Height limit trade-offs DC Skyline. CC image from Ed Uthman. DC’s lack of tall buildings is certainly one of it’s defining characteristics. Given our human tendencies to be loss averse, to embrace the status quo, it shouldn’t be a surprise that changing such a characteristic can be shocking to some. I’ve written on the height limit before, as have Continue reading Bad reasons to support DC’s Height Act |
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