Opinion Posts
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Walk more in your city. It could open up new horizons.
An urban writer proposes walking as a means of connecting with our cities and our souls. DC, thanks to its partially symbolic design, might be a particularly good proving-ground for the practice. Keep reading…
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What I talk about when I talk about “luxury housing”
Is a home “luxurious” if it’s described that way in marketing materials, or if it’s more expensive to live in? If you’re looking at cost, those “luxury apartments” are quite a bit less luxurious than the single family homes that represent the status quo in many neighborhoods. Keep reading…
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How do we have a national conversation about zoning reform?
YIMBY wins keep racking up across the United States. Yet any national conversation about the movement has to acknowledge some critical dilemmas that make it hard to offer a universal “solution” to how to run or win a pro-housing campaign. Keep reading…
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Low-cost, short-term strategies for boosting Metrorail ridership
Boost Metrorail ridership with these three (not easy, but powerful) tricks. Keep reading…
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Arenas don’t revitalize neighborhoods. People do
As the District prepares to subsidize Monumental’s staying-put in Chinatown, it’s worth contemplating whether developments like the Capital One arena revitalize neighborhoods, or make them more fragile. Keep reading…
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DC struggles to build affordable housing in wealthy neighborhoods. Here’s one reason why.
Building a new building is often a slow process, and affordable housing developers navigate it with an additional twist: when working through a competitive government funding process, it takes an especially long time to close on financing. Keep reading…
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How single-stair apartments can improve fire safety
A common objection to requiring only one staircase in new residential buildings is that it would roll back safety regulations to cut costs. But in fact, single-stair reforms have the potential to get more people into safer buildings. Keep reading…
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Run MARC commuter trains into Virginia. It could draw thousands more riders
With through-running service, trains from Maryland and Virginia would continue through Washington to the other jurisdiction. Just as Metro allows riders to travel from Northern Virginia to the Maryland suburbs and vice versa in a one-seat ride, commuters from further out in Virginia could commute to Baltimore, for instance. Keep reading…
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Chevy Chase historic district applicants admit what it’s actually about
The applicants who filed the nomination have made it clear that it mostly isn’t about history at all. A historic district nomination, at this time, is simply their latest entree in a long-running fight to limit new housing in Chevy Chase. Keep reading…
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In memory of Chris Laskowski
Chris was effective, thoughtful, and result-focused in his role working for the DC Council. He touched many lives and made DC a better place to live, work, go to school, and play. He passed away in January of this year. We’ll miss him. Keep reading…