CSG In The News

CSG in the News: How Washington region leaders can score a transit touchdown for the ages (Hint: it’s not funding a stadium)

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We haven’t heard proposals from our elected officials yet on how they will close the Metro funding gap, but we have heard a lot from them about the Commanders. Which public investment should our leaders prioritize? The Coalition for Smarter Growth (CSG) crunched the numbers and found that saving the Metro system (rail, bus, and paratransit) would cost less than one-tenth per user compared to the public subsidies proposed for a new Commanders stadium.

CSG in the News: Letter: Use resources to upgrade transit, not subsidize team owners

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The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA/Metro) is facing a $750 million annual operating budget shortfall in fiscal 2025, which starts July 1, 2024 – just 10 months away. If our state and local governments in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia don’t step up to address the ongoing funding need, our region’s transit would suffer catastrophic cuts. At the same time, we’ve seen a lot of attention to potential public subsidies for a new football stadium for the Washington Commanders. So, the Coalition for Smarter Growth (CSG) compared the cost of closing the WMATA budget gap to recent Maryland and Virginia stadium-subsidy proposals.

CSG in the News: News roundup: A pitch to save Metro

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The Coalition for Smarter Growth is urging leaders from Maryland, D.C. and Virginia to invest in D.C.-area transit as Metro faces a possible $750 million operating budget shortfall by July 1, which is the beginning of the agency’s next fiscal year. “Our analysis shows that there should be as much and certainly more enthusiasm in Richmond, Annapolis and D.C. for maintaining and enhancing our critical Metro system as there is for subsidizing an already lucrative professional sports franchise,” said Stewart Schwartz, executive director of the coalition, in a statement. “Sports fans, tourists, workers, families, businesses and our regional and state economy all depend on frequent and reliable Metro service.”

CSG in the News: Supporters and opponents make their case on county’s off-street parking overhaul

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Sonya Breehey, Northern Virginia advocacy manager for the Coalition for Smarter Growth, said the proposal will benefit housing and climate. “The proposed zoning amendment offers to better balance future parking demand with other communities like equity, affordability, environmental sustainability and effective land use,” she said.

CSG in the News: Parking reimagined as a fix for housing, climate woes in Fairfax County

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Now, “there are vast acres upon acres of paved-over surfaces that are wholly underutilized,” Breehey said. “This is an opportunity to sort of fix the wrongs of the past as we try to create a different future for the county.”