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.

Continue reading “CSG in the news: Amazon could be boon or bust for Metro and the region’s transportation infrastructure” →

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 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.

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.

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.