Some items of note today:

• Matt Johnson (GGW, Track Twenty-Nine) takes a closer look at Metro’s new 7000 series railcars.  The ‘America’s Metro’ logo seems to have disappeared, and there are opportunities for a longitudinal seating arrangement.
• Ed Glaeser looks at the role of historic preservation in limiting development in New York, and looks at the degree to which that’s limited housing supply and increased prices.
• Get rid of the States!  Or something along those lines.
• Building off some of the ideas Aaron Renn presented yesterday for a new Federal urban policy (flexibility!), the DOT released the first round of guidance for TIGER II – more competitive transportation grants, but this time they might be coordinated with HUD and EPA sustainable communities grants – exciting due to the flexibility and the lack of silos to deal with.
• Reconnecting America has more details on sustainable communities (blog post, detailed PDF)
• The New York Times has a sweet interactive map and article on changing subway ridership patterns in NYC.