Pete Tomao, an advocate with the Coalition for Smarter Growth, said the Montgomery BRT line will not only bring badly needed transit enhancements to the corridor, but will serve as a model for the region.
Category: CSG in the News
CSG in the news: Revitalizing a flood plain? In Fairfax County, blighted parcel sparks sharp debate.
Washington Post, Oct. 30, 2018:
Stewart Schwartz, executive director of the Washington-based Coalition for Smarter Growth, cited last year’s flooding in Houston after Hurricane Harvey and a 2004 flood in Richmond as proof of increasing storm risks in metropolitan areas. Those risks, he said, should play a larger role in development decisions.
If the project goes forward, “it would be very difficult for the county to legally deny projects in flood-plain areas in other parts of the county,” he said. “This is in a 100-year flood plain, but we know we’re seeing 500- and even 1,000-year storms hitting the region now.”
Read more here.
CSG in the news: Metro budget proposal includes more service to win back riders
Washington Post, Oct. 29, 2018:
Stewart Schwartz, executive director of the pro-transit Coalition for Smarter Growth, called the budget proposal “an important step in the right direction.” But, he said the budget does not adequately address one of the biggest issues that he says deters would-be riders from taking Metro, particularly on weekends.
“While the reduced weekend fare is welcome, better still for ridership would be an increase in frequency,” he said.
Read more here.
CSG in the news: A more rapid bus service begins construction in Montgomery County
CSG Montgomery Advocacy Manager Pete Tomao in Greater Greater Washington, Oct. 26, 2018:
On Thursday morning, Montgomery County broke ground on the first line of the county’s long-planned 82-mile Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) network. This first segment, running between downtown Silver Spring and Burtonsville, will stretch for 12 miles. When completed, it will be the region’s longest BRT line.
However, to make the system successful, Montgomery County must ensure the system is frequent, reliable, and prioritizes dedicated lanes.
Read more here.
CSG in the news: In D.C., pedestrians must walk at their own risk
Washington Post Express, Oct. 22, 2018
Alex Baca, an activist with the Coalition for Smarter Growth, said her jaw was broken when she was hit by a car while riding her bike. A third of the people in her office have been hit by cars, she said.
Many vented that the city isn’t putting in bike lanes fast enough or taking other measures to make biking or walking safer.
“Frankly, right now no one believes Vision Zero is a serious undertaking,” City Councilman Charles Allen, D-Ward 6, said at the hearing.
Read more here.
CSG in the news: Why won’t Loudoun County’s terrible zombie Potomac Bridge proposal die?
Greater Greater Washington, Oct. 19, 2019
GGWash has covered this proposal before; it’s one that has appeared in one form or another for years. Alex’s organization, the Coalition for Smarter Growth, has fought against such a bridge and a related outer beltway in 1988, 2001, 2004, 2015, 2017, and again on October 10 of this year (see the press release).
Regional transportation studies show that a bridge like this makes little sense from an economic perspective or as a congestion reduction measure. Besides its pure impracticality, the political obstacles are numerous: Maryland ostensibly owns the Potomac, and so has significant say in whatever happens around it; Maryland’s governor, along with the Montgomery County Council, opposes the project; and any road on the Maryland side would pass directly through Montgomery’s well-protected agricultural reserve.
The Potomac Zombie Bridge is a ghost of 20th-century land-use planning that’s still haunting us in 2018. Why won’t it die?
Read more here.
CSG in the news: What now, Metro: Business leaders sound off on how to win back riders
Washington Business Journal, Oct. 19, 2018:
We asked four business leaders what Metro should do to win back riders. Here’s what they had to say.
Read more here.
CSG in the news: Cyclist, pedestrian safety top priority of new D.C. regional transportation plan
Washington Times, Oct. 17, 2018:
Stewart Schwartz, executive director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, spoke in the public comments portion of Wednesday’s meeting to oppose the highway expansion projects.
“The never-ending widening embodied in this plan represents potentially billions of dollars in wasted money,” Mr. Schwartz said.
Visualize 2045 notes that 5.7 million people currently live in national capital area and projects the population to increase to 6.9 million by 2045.
Read more here.
CSG in the news: Will the ‘rethinking’ of the Washington region’s bus network lead anywhere?
Washington Post, Oct. 6, 2018
Some advocates and transportation officials say they expect Metro’s Bus Transformation Project to be a guide for such an overhaul. It will be difficult however, because bus service in the region is provided by as many as a dozen transit agencies, in addition to Metrobus. The multi-jurisdictional nature of the region also complicates any kind of regional approach.
The region needs commitments from the jurisdictions as much as from the service providers, said Stewart Schwartz, executive director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth. The jurisdictions control the roadways and are responsible for accessibility of bus stops, curbsides and traffic operation improvements that can contribute to better performance of buses. They decide whether to give up general traffic lanes for bus lanes and facilitate the implementation of a signal priority system that gives buses the right of way at traffic lights.
Read more here.
CSG in the news: We need to battle “cultural” obstacles to accessory apartments, say Hans Riemer and Tracy Loh
Greater Greater Washington, Oct. 3, 2018
Speaking of affluent, exclusive areas, Ward 3 Vision and the Coalition for Smarter Growth are hosting a forum on ADUs in Cleveland Park on Thursday, October 11. This follows others they have already held in Northeast DC and east of the Anacostia River, where there are a lot of opportunities for homeowners to add income and help meet the city’s housing need.
Read more here.