WASHINGTON DC — Coalition for Smarter Growth Policy Director Cheryl Cort issued the following statement today in response to the Gray Administration’s release of the DC inclusionary zoning annual report and the administration’s proposed revisions to the program:
Author: Elena Sorokina
How Transit, Walking, and Biking Can Save the World
- Presentation by Michael Replogle, Founder and Managing Director for Policy, Institute for Transportation & Development Policy
- Presentation by Rachel Healy, Principal Sustainability Advisor, WMATA
- Presentation by Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director, Coalition for Smarter Growth
Editorial: Enter Hogan
The organization supports the county’s signature big-money transportation project, the Purple Line. “If Larry Hogan is worried about Maryland losing jobs to Virginia then I can think of no better project to move forward than the Purple Line. We have faith when he says economic development is his number one focus,” said Alex Posorske, managing director of the coalition.
Was reelection of Vihstadt in Arlington a referendum on streetcar?
Coalition for Smarter Growth executive director Stewart Schwartz acknowledges that if Howze had won, advocates for the streetcar would have interpreted it as a win for the project.
“It would have a been a positive for the streetcar for sure,” Schwartz says. But he also says that supporters of the streetcar do not view Vihstadt’s victory last week as a sign that voters are rejecting the streetcar.
Letter to the Editor: Inclusionary zoning is working for renters
While the program needs to be strengthened, inclusionary zoning is showing benefits. Moderately priced housing units are being integrated into nearly every new residential development. That means desirable neighborhoods such as Chevy Chase, Dupont Circle, 14th and U, and NoMa will be affordable for more people.
Inclusionary zoning is a work in progress, but it’s already delivering on its promise to make exclusive and rapidly changing neighborhoods more accessible for working-class and middle-class residents.
Columbia Pike streetcar project, Baileys Crossroads revitalization could be in peril
In the days following Vihstadt’s re-election victory, the Coalition for Smarter Growth – which supports the streetcar – said the election shouldn’t be taken as a de-facto referendum on the project. “We are confident that the streetcar will continue to stand up to scrutiny,” the organization said. Its executive director, Stewart Schwartz, said he couldn’t get into the politics of the matter because he worked for a non-profit that isn’t allowed to take political stances. But he said the organization would “join with Arlingtonians in making a substantive case for this as a critical long-term economic-development and transportation investment.”
Analysis: Demise of Columbia Pike streetcar now possible, but not imminent
In the days following Vihstadt’s re-election victory, the Coalition for Smarter Growth – which supports the streetcar – said the election shouldn’t be taken as a de-facto referendum on the project.
“We are confident that the streetcar will continue to stand up to scrutiny,” the organization said.
Its executive director, Stewart Schwartz, said he couldn’t get into the politics of the matter because he worked for a non-profit that isn’t allowed to take political stances. But he said the organization would “join with Arlingtonians in making a substantive case for this as a critical long-term economic-development and transportation investment.”
Arlington election shouldn’t stop streetcar
But a hard look at the streetcar and the record of transit and transit-oriented development in the region demonstrates that new transit investments are a critical economic development tool for Northern Virginia, according to the coalition. A 2013 study for the U.S. calculated that the economic value of transit for a jurisdiction could be up to $1.5 to $1.8 billion.
Public meeting on high speed rail held in Richmond
Stewart Schwartz, who lives on Church Hill and works in Washington, believes that what’s important to businesspeople is not necessarily speed but reliability. “If you can know that you’re going to be 90, 100 percent reliable, then you can make your meetings in Washington or vice versa,” he said. “But you won’t take the train if the train is routinely late. We know now that (Interstate) 95 is completely unreliable from Fredericksburg north in terms of on-time performance. What would make the train competitive is reliable on-time performance.” Schwartz is executive director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth and commutes to Washington three times a week.
Purple Line advocates try to put a happy face on Hogan’s victory
The Coalition for Smarter Growth press release said that might not be the case, citing a Hogan radio interview in October in which he said he was “not really opposed to either project,” and that both the Purple Line and Red Line are “worth considering.”
At a press conference on Wednesday, Hogan deflected questions about the fate of the Purple Line.
“No one would deny that Hogan is more skeptical about the project than Brown and has expressed that skepticism forcefully at times,” read the release. “But to declare the project terminated before the day-after-the-election is even over is, to say the least, wildly premature. It is important to remember that there is a big difference between campaigning and governing.”