Category: News

RELEASE: CSG and partners launch a pro-transit coalition to counter Maryland’s I-495/I-270 widening

RELEASE: CSG and partners launch a pro-transit coalition to counter Maryland’s I-495/I-270 widening

Posted on by Jane Lyons
Press-ReleaseDownload

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Friday, January 3, 2020

CONTACT:

Jane Lyons, Coalition for Smarter Growth

jane@smartergrowth.net | (202) 675-0016

Lindsey Mendelson, Maryland Sierra Club

lindsey.mendelson@mdsierra.org | (240) 706-7901

Maryland Advocates React to Hogan-Franchot Agreement and 

Launch Coalition to Change Direction of State Transportation Policy

MARYLAND — Following today’s announcement of an agreement between Governor Hogan and Comptroller Franchot and in advance of Wednesday’s Board of Public Works vote, 18 non-profit and community advocacy organizations launched a new coalition to change the direction of state transportation policy. The groups share a concern for protecting the environment and communities, and more effectively addressing the state’s transportation problems — through transit, transit-oriented development, and demand management strategies. 

Formation of Maryland Advocates for Sustainable Transportation (MAST) follows public outcry against Governor Hogan’s and former Secretary Rahn’s ill-conceived and harmful plans to expand the Capital Beltway and I-270. The outcry prompted a delay in the December Board of Public Works vote to approve a hastily revised Public-Private Partnership (P3) proposal for the highways. A premature vote is now scheduled for January 8th. 

The coalition is calling on the Governor and incoming secretary to reverse course on the administration’s misguided highway expansion plan and to steer the state toward better solutions. MAST members sent a letter to Administrator Slater calling on him to change MDOT’s approach to transportation policy if he is confirmed by the Maryland Senate.

Reliable, transit and land use focused solutions — MAST supports transportation solutions that effectively address the climate crisis and our transportation problems, rather than exacerbate them. These integrated solutions include expanding reliable transit, bicycle, and pedestrian infrastructure; using transportation demand management; encouraging more transit-oriented land use with affordable housing; and a maintenance-first approach to road and bridge infrastructure. This approach will allow Maryland to grow without increasing driving, traffic, and greenhouse gas emissions.

MAST will support a bill to increase capital investment in the Maryland Transit Administration, which has a deferred maintenance backlog of $1.5 billion and is facing funding cuts by MDOT, and another bill that addresses the weaknesses in the state’s P3 law.

Flaws in the I-495 and I-270 proposal: MAST joins with state legislators and local elected officials and planners who have identified significant shortcomings in MDOT’s toll lanes proposal, including:

  • Faulty P3 process and lack of transparency — MDOT’s P3 process for I-495 and I-270 has been flawed from the outset, including being rushed ahead of the environmental review process and the lack of objective alternatives analysis. MAST calls on MDOT to release their financial analyses, toll projections, and traffic modeling for independent review.
  • Failure to account for induced demand and increased air pollution — Research and experience shows that adding highway capacity inevitably leads to more vehicles on the road and more pollution from those vehicles, with expanded highways filling-up in as few as five years. MDOT’s study fails to consider an integrated transit-oriented development, transit, and demand management alternative.
  • Financial risks — The early Virginia experience shows that poorly structured P3 deals carry heavy financial risks, with taxpayers shouldering the bill when tolls cannot cover the costs of the project as planned or other problems occur.
  • Environmental harm — The highway expansion proposal would take valued park land, streams, and rivers in a number of locations; exacerbate stormwater runoff; require the loss of a number of homes; and directly affect 1,000 or more private properties.

“It is unlawful to proceed in securing implementation partnerships and contracts without completion and consideration of Environmental Impact Studies and related mitigation,” said Audubon Naturalist Society Executive Director Lisa Alexander.

“Transit and walkable, transit-oriented development are not only more effective in reducing vehicle trips, they attract jobs and residents. Marriott’s move to Bethesda Metro and Amazon’s move to Crystal City/Pentagon City are a testament to the value of transit-oriented development,” said Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director, Coalition for Smarter Growth.

“Maryland has committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, yet toll lanes will fuel more long-distance commuting, which increases driving, emissions, air pollution, water pollution, and traffic,” said Nancy Soreng, League of Women Voters of Maryland.

“Sustainable transportation solutions also spur more economic development and increase opportunities for socioeconomic mobility,” said Kimberly Brandt, Director of Smart Growth Maryland.

“The state must work together with local jurisdictions to find transportation solutions that are good for local residents, good for the environment, and good for Maryland taxpayers” said Brian Ditzler, Chair of Maryland Sierra Club.

Presently, 18 organizations have signed MAST’s principles statement. Follow the coalition by visiting MAST on Facebook and Twitter. A MAST website is now in development.

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Maryland Advocates for Sustainable Transportation (MAST) is a coalition of 18 non-profit and community advocacy organizations pushing for more sustainable alternatives to highway expansion. Signers of the coalition’s principles statement include: 350 Montgomery County, Audubon Naturalist Society, Baltimore Transit Equity Coalition, Bike Maryland, Central Maryland Transportation Alliance, Coalition for Smarter Growth, Corazón Latino, Friends of Sligo Creek, Greater Farmland Civic Association, Greater Greater Washington, Interfaith Power & Light (DC.MD.NoVA), League of Women Voters of Maryland, Maryland Sierra Club, National Parks Conservation Association, Neighbors of the Northwest Branch, Rails to Trails Conservancy, Smart Growth Maryland, and Washington Area Bicyclist Association.

CSG in the News: Reaction to the New American Legion Bridge Announcement

CSG in the News: Reaction to the New American Legion Bridge Announcement

Posted on by Teddy Owusu

‘We are distressed’ | New American Legion Bridge will amplify traffic, experts say

by Pete Muntean, WUSA9, November 12, 2019

WASHINGTON — The Governors of Maryland and Virginia are promising an end to crippling congestion over the American Legion Bridge, but opponents say the idea will make Beltway traffic even worse traffic for years to come.  

“We are distressed,” Stewart Schwartz of the Coalition for Smarter Growth. He criticized Maryland Governor Larry Hogan and Virginia Governor Ralph Northam’s announcement that the traffic-choked Potomac River crossing would be rebuilt and widened. “There’s a natural feeling that adding capacity to roads will make a difference and what we’re seeing is it doesn’t,” Schwartz said.

Read the full story by WUSA9 here.

CSG in the News: “Better Buses, Better Cities” breaks down how transit advocates can win

CSG in the News: “Better Buses, Better Cities” breaks down how transit advocates can win

Posted on by Teddy Owusu

The new book “Better Buses, Better Cities” breaks down how transit advocates can win

by David McAuley, Greater Greater Washington, November 12, 2019

Author Steven Higashide describes his new book Better Buses, Better Cities: How to Plan, Run, and Win the Fight for Effective Transit as “half technical backgrounder, half political field manual” for public transit – especially bus – advocates. 

Local transit activists (and GGWash contributors) Cheryl Cort, Aimee Custis, Kishan Putta, and Dan Malouff all get shout-outs, mostly for pushing forward the 16th Street NW dedicated bus lane, scheduled for next year. 

Read the full story on Greater Greater Washington.

CSG in the News: What’s being done to avoid another infrastructure crisis

CSG in the News: What’s being done to avoid another infrastructure crisis

Posted on by Teddy Owusu

by Al Jones and Steve Burns, 1010 WINS, November 7, 2019

NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Over 60 plus years ago, the dream for America’s highway system was the orderly, rapid movement of shiny sleek vehicles traveling 100 miles an hour on roads that connected population centers. Today, that long ago dream seems like a scene from a cartoon. In reality, our roads are a rough, hot mess.

Bringing transit back to its former glory will of course take more money, and a lot of community buy-in, especially in how those communities are built. In the words of one expert, “office parks are dead.”

“Those separated office parks and shopping centers and homes have meant more traffic than we can handle,” said Stewart Schwartz, from the Coalition for Smarter Growth in Washington, D.C.

View the full story here.

Photo credit: Getty Images

CSG in the News: Study: DC rent is 3rd highest in the country

Posted on by Cheryl Cort

Study: DC rent is 3rd highest in the country; Here’s how much income you need to afford it

by AMANDA HOROWITZ, ABC 7 WJLA, 

WASHINGTON (ABC7) — The D.C. Council unanimously voted on the first step of the city’s Comprehensive Plan for development last week.

A spokesperson for Mayor Bowser’s office said she will likely unveil the remaining elements of the comprehensive plans as well as area housing targets and maps on October 15.

The comprehensive plan includes proposed solutions to the city’s affordable housing shortage – an issue that elected officials and advocates are coming together to try to fix.

The plan will go through review by the National Capital Planning Commission and Congress before it gets to the mayor’s desk for signing, the mayor’s spokesperson said….

Numbers from the National Low Income Housing Coalition estimate that over 50 percent of residents living in the D.C. metro area are renters.

According to NLIHC, the median family income for both renters and buyers is $121,000. This means families can afford to pay $3,000 a month for rent without being cost-burdened.

HUDs estimate of a fair market rent that recent movers paid for a modest two-bedroom apartment in D.C. was $1665, but 60 percent of rents are currently higher according to the NLIHC.

For those in the fortieth percentile, in order to afford $1665 without being “cost-burdened” an individual would have to earn $66,000 a year, or $5500 monthly, the NLIHC estimates.

Assuming a 40-hour workweek, 52 weeks per year, this level of income translates into $32.02 an hour. Working at the minimum wage of $14.00 an hour in D.C. each week an individual would have to work 90 hours weekly at two jobs to afford a modest apartment.

Cheryl Cort, policy director for Coalition for Smarter Growth, an organization dedicated to bettering the district believes lack of affordable housing is one of the greatest challenges D.C. faces.

“Housing insecurity worsens other conditions in a person’s life. Many DC residents face daunting challenges — lack of access to quality education and training, violent neighborhoods, poor health status, low wage jobs and unstable employment. Lack of access to stable, quality housing compounds all these problems, and is also one of the solutions to a number of these problems,” Cort said.

Cort said the CSG stands behind the mayor’s housing strategy. In May, the mayor signed an order directing District agencies to identify new policies, tools, and initiatives that would start moving toward the goal of creating 36,000 new housing units, 12,000 of them affordable, by 2025….

 Regardless of how the numbers add up, whether you’re renting or buying, one thing is clear – officials and advocates think housing in D.C. is too expensive.“Bold action to address housing affordability requires the entire city’s input and energy,” Cort said.

View the full story by WJLA here.

CSG in the News: Phil Mendelson added important affordable housing language to the Comp Plan, but some are trying to undo it

Posted on by Cheryl Cort

Phil Mendelson added important affordable housing language to the Comp Plan, but some are trying to undo it

By David Alpert (Executive Director) October 7, 2019, Greater Greater Washington

…On October 2, Chairman Phil Mendelson’s latest draft of the plan’s Framework Element added language similar to those principles, especially around building and preserving affordable housing and protecting tenants in affordable housing when their properties undergo redevelopment. The chairman’s draft also centers the importance of, as DC grows, building in racial and economic equity, a credit to interventions by Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie (Ward 5) and Councilmember Trayon White (Ward 8).

The final vote on the Framework bill is on Tuesday, October 8, and last week, some opponents emerged to fight this language. We’re pushing for it to remain….

The Comp Plan Framework now borrows much of this language

Chairman Phil Mendelson’s latest draft of the Framework has…a lot of what the Housing Priorities Coalition proposed! (The final version will be released on Monday.)

Notably, it reflects an amendment introduced by Councilmember Brianne Nadeau (Ward 1) at the bill’s first reading. Advocacy by many of affordable housing groups who were part of the original coalition, like, DC Fiscal Policy Center, Housing Association of Nonprofit Developers, Enterprise Community Partners, Coalition for Nonprofit Housing and Economic Development, and Coalition for Smarter Growth emphasized the necessity of this sort of language, so it’s a win that Mendelson added more beyond what he had included in the version voted on at first reading.

Not everyone is happy with the new community benefits language. Attorney David Goldblatt of Goldblatt Martin Pozen LLP, which does lobbying and real estate transactions for large companies, wrote a letter on behalf of the DC Building Industry Association (DCBIA) asking to water down this language. Goldblatt said the changes were in the interests of the DC Housing Authority, though his letter says he’s not speaking for DCHA, just DCBIA.

It’s worth repeating that this language is only about benefits given in exchange for zoning flexibility as part of a PUD, like more density. It doesn’t impose any kind of unfunded requirement on property owners. What it does is say is that in exchange for more affordable housing or anti-displacement measures, you can build taller or bigger in proportion.

Affordable housing is really necessary. It’s also expensive. With more floors or larger buildings, it can become economically feasible to offer one-for-one replacement, “build first,” and other features that the city’s residents deserve when their homes are redeveloped.

Not all developers are supportive of this concept, but a lot are. Many think it’s a great idea to build more affordable housing and avoid displacing anyone, as long as they can design a project which does so and actually works economically. Sure, if people could build higher and didn’t have to build affordable units, that would be even more profitable, but public policy can ensure we get affordable housing, while projects still “pencil out.”

Right now, DC’s acute limits on new buildings directly prevent developers from paying for more affordable housing to avoid displacement. Some people from the development community, at least, would like to be part of the solution, and the proposed rule would let them.

The proposed Framework language takes a big step toward achieving what the Housing Priorities Coalition recommended. It’s not everything, because this language just applies to PUD benefits. There will be other opportunities to enact these and the rest of the coalition’s 10 principles in the rest of the Comp Plan. The Office of Planning will release its amendments to the rest of the document October 15, along with housing targets and map changes.

Read the full post here.

RELEASE: Affordable Housing Groups Praise Council Chairman’s Comprehensive Plan Bill

Posted on by Cheryl Cort

Press Release

DC HOUSING PRIORITIES COALITION

CONTACT
Cheryl Cort, Coalition for Smarter Growth: 202-251-7516; cheryl@smartergrowth.net
Courtney Battle, HAND: 202-384-3764; cbattle@handhousing.org 

Affordable Housing Groups Praise Council Chairman’s Comprehensive Plan Bill

Washington, D.C. – October 3, 2019 –  Today a coalition of affordable housing stakeholders applaud critical revisions to the draft Comprehensive Plan released by DC Council Chairman Phil Mendelson. This transformative update incorporates three of the coalition’s priorities: ensuring the creation of affordable housing, preventing displacement, and addressing racial equity. The bill will get its final votes by the full Council next Tuesday, October 8. 

“We are gratified that the Comprehensive Plan bill offers the guidance our city needs to make affordable housing and preventing displacement top priorities. The bill also provides clarity to the development approval process, clearing the way for increasing affordable housing and other public benefits, along with community input as part of the negotiated process,” said Cheryl Cort, Coalition for Smarter Growth, a member of the DC Housing Priorities Coalition. 

The group pressed for the DC Council to amend its bill after the first vote on July 10, urging the body to adopt stronger language on how affordable housing would be prioritized in land use decisions. It appealed to zoning experts and the DC Office of Planning to work with the DC Council to ensure the development approval process (i.e. Planned Unit Developments), would achieve greater levels of housing affordability, tenant protections, and increased certainty. The group’s goal was to achieve more affordable housing and prevent displacement of existing residents, while reestablishing a more fruitful development review process. 

“We talk about the Framework elements as a “bill of rights” for District residents and communities,” said Melissa Bondi, Mid-Atlantic State & Local Policy Director for Enterprise Community Partners. “It is important that the current language reflects our values, including prioritizing resident protections, emphasizing greater housing affordability, and evolving our approaches to achieve a truly inclusive, equitable city.” 

“We thank Chairman Mendelson for amending the Comprehensive Plan bill to prioritize the creation of affordable housing and prevention of displacement, while also providing needed clarity to the development review process.  We particularly appreciate that the administration, the Council, and advocates were able to find common ground to facilitate a more equitable development process for the District,” said Steve Glaude, President and CEO of the Coalition for Nonprofit Housing and Economic Development (CNHED).

“The revised language provided by Chairman Mendelson will accomplish the goals we set – to elevate affordable housing and racial equity, and fix the broken project review process, said Heather Raspberry, Executive Director of the Housing Association of Nonprofit Developers (HAND). “Creating and preserving more affordable housing throughout the District is the cornerstone to building an inclusive city where all of our neighbors have an opportunity to thrive. We appreciate the Chairman and Council’s thoughtful review of the Plan which will serve the city and surrounding region well.”

“Prioritizing affordable housing and the prevention of displacement in the Comprehensive Plan are two necessary steps our city must take in charting a path toward a more equitable future,” said Adam Kent, Senior Program Officer at the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC). “We look forward to working with the DC Council on the remaining elements of the Comprehensive Plan to ensure these priorities are maintained throughout.”

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DC Housing Priorities Coalition

Who We Are

The DC Housing Priorities Coalition includes: Enterprise Community Partners, DC Fiscal Policy Institute, Coalition for Nonprofit Housing and Economic Development (CNHED), Somerset Development Company, Coalition for Smarter Growth, Greater Greater Washington, United Planning Organization (UPO), Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) and the Housing Association of Nonprofit Developers (HAND).

Why We Formed

The Housing Priorities Coalition formed three years ago to help update the DC Comprehensive Plan, the land use policy that guides development decisions in the District. (Learn more from DC Office of Planning on the DC Comprehensive Plan amendment process here). See the full Housing Priorities Coalition amendment package here. The Housing Priorities Coalition’s guiding principles for amending the DC Comprehensive Plan are: 

    • Meet the housing demand
    • Equitably distribute housing
    • Best utilize areas near transit
    • Include families: ensure homes for people of all income levels and of all household sizes, including families. 
    • Prioritize affordable housing as a community benefit
    • Preserve existing affordable housing
    • Protect tenants
    • Support neighborhood commercial corridors
    • Clarify zoning authority
    • Improve data collection and transparency

Why These Priorities:

Lack of affordable housing and risk of displacement are among the greatest challenges DC faces to achieving racial equity, quality of life for residents, and economic sustainability for all.

Low-income District residents, particularly residents of color, do not currently enjoy equal access to affordable housing connected to communities of opportunity, perpetuating a gaping racial equity gap.

The Planned Unit Development (PUD) process, which is an important way to produce new housing with substantial affordability, is now held up in constant court challenges resulting in thousands of stalled homes, including hundreds of affordable homes. Court challenges and rulings have relied heavily on narrow interpretations of the Comp Plan, so the proposed amendments help to clarify how the Zoning Commission should judge and prioritize PUDs. Such clarification is critical, because even the risk of lawsuits has dramatically reduced the use of PUDs for affordable and market-rate housing (ex: Park Morton public housing blocked due to Bruce Monroe PUD lawsuit). View the list of stalled projects published by Washington Business Journal here.

 

CSG in the News: D.C. Council advances key comp plan changes in bid to ease activists’ concerns

Posted on by Cheryl Cort

D.C. Council advances key comp plan changes in bid to ease activists’ concerns

By   – Staff Reporter, Washington Business Journal, 10/3/2019

Final changes to the first section of the D.C. comprehensive plan are taking shape, and it seems District lawmakers have acquiesced to the demands of activists and some city leaders who worried a previous draft was seriously flawed.

D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson is circulating a draft of amendments to the plan’s “framework element.” Crucially, Mendelson and his staffers have rewritten a section of the bill that a coalition of housing advocates and developers feared would open the door to a flood of new legal challenges to large new developments.

The chairman had hoped to pass this legislation by now, as changes to this section of the comp plan are broadly seen by the development community as being essential to beating back future lawsuits seeking to hold up planned-unit developments. But he chose to delay consideration while this debate over the language played out.

With issue seemingly resolved, it should set the table for the council to, at last, finalize the amendments to the framework element by Oct. 8.

“We think the language in the revised bill addresses our concerns about fixing the broken PUD process and elevating affordable housing,” said Cheryl Cort, policy director for the Coalition for Smarter Growth and a lead organizer of a campaign to raise awareness about potential problems with the old language. “The chairman really listened carefully and considered all the issues here.”

Cort and many of her colleagues in the housing advocacy world worried that changes to one section of the framework could “generate a tremendous amount of uncertainty in the PUD approval process or would open up PUD approvals to litigation in a brand new way.” A member of the D.C. Zoning Commission voiced similar concerns, as did Planning Director Andrew Trueblood.

View the full story in the Washington Business Journal here.

CSG in the News: DC Circulator to end free rides, charge $1 fare again

Posted on by Cheryl Cort

DC Circulator to end free rides, charge $1 fare again

By Sophie Kaplan, The Washington Times – Monday, September 30, 2019

Starting Tuesday, it will cost a dollar again to ride the DC Circulator, but some city officials are looking at ways to reinstate the free ride.

“We have seen tremendous benefits from the free circulator I am hopeful that the [D.C.] Council will act to keep it free,” said Jeff Marootian, director of the District Department of Transportation (DDOT).

Mr. Marootian said the free downtown bus service made transit more affordable and reduced single-occupancy car trips, adding that he has seen an increase in circulator ridership.

But council member Mary Cheh, chair of the Transportation Committee, questioned Mayor Muriel Bowser’s decision in February to make the DC Circulator free without a thorough consideration of how it would affect businesses, Metro and bikeshare, or whether it was an equitable way to spend city funds since the bus’ routes mostly lie downtown and serve tourists.

“And there was no evidence that a free circulator would lead to decreasing cars on the road, it is illogical to think that would happen,” Mrs. Cheh said, adding that a dollar fare wasn’t deterring people from driving in the first place….

Cheryl Cort, policy director for the Coalition for Smarter Growth, said that bus services are “critical to extremely low-income residents in our region,” noting that almost half of bus riders have a yearly income of about $30,000.

The DC Circulator serves about 16,000 people daily, while Metrobus transports about 400,000 a day, according to a study by the Bus Transformation Project, an ongoing regional effort to improve bus service.

“Increasing the price differential between Circulator and Metrobus, rather than lowering fares across the board, distorts how riders use the system, and can create a sense of inequity,” the Coalition for Smarter Growth’s report card on the D.C. bus system.

Ms. Court said free rides for all public transit is ideal, but she encourages lawmakers to consider at least offsetting the cost for low-income riders.

Miss Bowser announced in February that the DC Circulator would be free for that month, and she then made it a permanent change in her budget proposal. The circulator, along with the DC Streetcar and Capital Bike Share, are the only transit options over which the District has sole control.

However, the D.C. Council rejected her proposal to allocate $1.3 million for the free ride citing a lack of analysis for the decision, which Mrs. Cheh called a “thoughtless giveaway.”

Read the full Washington Times story here.