Last week, right after D.C.'s Census results came out, Greater Greater Washington's David Alpert—like the Google veteran he is—threw together an application that lets you easily play with council ward boundaries until each one is balanced. Later, he'll aggregate all the maps created and recommendations offered into a report for the D.C. Council, so they [...]

If the word "zoning" makes your eyes glaze over, get yourself some coffee or something and try to focus for a second.
Here's the thing: For a few years now, the Office of Planning has been working on revamping the rules that govern how the city looks and feels. Regulations that dictate how many parking spaces [...]

When the Committee of 100's "Fire Klein/Tregoning" letter dropped into my inbox this morning, I didn't spend too much time parsing its points, figuring that David Alpert would get to it sooner or later. Sure enough, the rebuttal showed up earlier this afternoon, along with a petition you can sign in support of the pair, [...]

A few hours ago, David Alpert did us all a favor by decoding the planning jargon in a National Capital Planning Commission staff report on the Cohen Companies' proposed development at 1333 M Street SE, on the Anacostia waterfront. Go ahead and read the post, but the short version is this: The NCPC is worried [...]

A street, or rather "encounter zone," in Rome.
Well, here's a novel idea (first brought to my attention by Greater, Greater Washington): Mount Pleasant's ANC 1D would like to turn Mount Pleasant Street into a "'pedestrian encounter zone,' sharply reducing traffic speeds, and prohibiting the use of the street for through traffic."
An ANC resolution reads: "European [...]

If you haven't gotten a chance to see D.C.'s first contra-flow bike lane, well it should look a little something like this:

The lane has been installed on 15th Street between U St. and Massachusetts Ave. in Northwest. The southward bike lane is separated from traffic by an 8-foot parking lane.