Category: CSG in the News

CSG in the news: Amazon won transportation perks for its Crystal City HQ2

Posted on by Alex Baca

Streetsblog, Nov. 14, 2018:

In addition, the agreement also calls for the expansion of the Crystal City/Potomac Yard Metroway bus rapid transit, which runs buses on partially dedicated lanes from Crystal City to the Pentagon and northern Alexandria.

Sustainable transportation advocates like Stewart Schwartz, executive director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, said the proposal looks solid.

“Those all look like the investments we need,” Schwartz said.

Read more here.

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CSG in the news: 25,000 new jobs are coming to Northern Virginia. Does that mean more traffic jams?

Posted on by Alex Baca

WAMU, Nov. 14, 2018:

Stewart Schwartz, executive director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, a D.C.-area nonprofit addressing how the region grows, says the region should be excited, not worried.

“This location will have significantly less impact on the region’s transportation network in particular, then would a location 30 miles outside the core for sure,” Schwartz said.

…

Schwartz says housing and transportation in the region aren’t maxed out.

“We have a lot of capacity, not just at Crystal City, but at Potomac Yard, Pentagon City and really a number of other Metro stations in the region,” Schwartz said. “By focusing growth at our Metro stations, we’ll maximize the number of people who aren’t driving, and actually make the Metro system work better as well. It will be used all day in both directions. And so Metro itself will improve its operating funding posture as a result.”

Schwartz said Metro will need to increase train frequency and create more dedicated bus lanes in the region to speed up buses and increase reliability.

“This that was an area where Seattle made a major commitment and the results prove that it works for increasing ridership and reducing the amount of driving,” Schwartz said.

…

Schwartz said building more housing near transit is a key way to decrease single car driving.

“When you provide more housing and more affordable housing close to jobs, and close to high-frequency transit, you are helping reduce long-distance commutes and cars on the road,” Schwartz said.

…

Schwartz says Amazon has picked a good spot for a walkable, mixed-use development with a strong transit presence.

“It’s a testament to the long-time commitment Arlington and neighboring jurisdictions has had to transform development,” Schwartz said. “Arlington was a pioneer in this type of planning, and has a plan in place for Crystal City, one that will continue to transform it into a modern vibrant people-oriented place.”

Read more here.

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CSG in the news: Amazon could be boon or bust for Metro and the region’s transportation infrastructure

Posted on by Alex Baca

Washington Post, Nov. 13, 2018:

“Amazon was looking for an urban and transit-oriented environment, and they certainly have found one in the most pro-transit, pro-smart-growth jurisdiction in the country in Arlington County,” said Stewart Schwartz, executive director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth. “It’s a good thing in that we would be focusing these jobs where we have excellent transit and close to the core of the region so that the jobs are accessible 360 degrees around.”

Schwartz noted an added benefit: Amazon’s selection of Crystal City could lead to a new “reverse commute” in which riders are filling empty trains headed outbound from the District — in the opposite direction of rush-hour travel.

Read more here.

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CSG in the news: Revitalizing a flood plain? In Fairfax County, blighted parcel sparks sharp debate.

Posted on by Alex Baca

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

Posted on by Alex Baca

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

Posted on by Alex Baca

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

Posted on by Alex Baca

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?

Posted on by Alex Baca

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.