More commuters are moving from roads to rails, according to new census data that show public transportation use up across the region. About 37.5 percent of D.C. residents use public transportation to get to work, compared with 42 percent who drive, according to the 2007-2011 average released by the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. In 1999, 33.2 percent took public transit and 49.4 percent drove. Montgomery and Arlington counties experienced similar jumps. The percentage of Montgomery residents taking public transit to work rose from 12.6 in 1999 to 15.2 in the latest census data, while Arlington residents went from 23.3 percent to 27.7 percent over the same time period. The largest percentage-point increase, however, was in Prince George’s County. While commuters there still largely favor the car — 76.7 percent drive to work — public transit rose to 17.6 percent from 11.9 percent in 1999.
Category: News
Virginia Governor Promises Action on State’s Transportation Funding Woes
Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell offered no specifics in his “comprehensive transportation funding and reform” plan to raise an additional $500 million per year to prevent the state from running out of money to build roads by 2017. Speaking in Fairfax County at his annual transportation conference, Governor McDonnell called on lawmakers to stay in session next year until they find a solution to Virginia’s long-term funding woes, which are exacerbated by the transfer of money from the state’s construction fund to required highway maintenance projects. “I don’t think we can wait any longer,” McDonnell said. “I don’t think I can continue to recruit businesses to Virginia and see the unemployment rate go down unless we are able to get a handle on and provide some long-term solutions this session to that problem.”
Fairfax Co. names best workplaces for commuters
What makes a good place to work? How about helping employees with an easier commute? Fairfax County, in partnership with theUniversity of South Florida’s Center for Urban Transportation Research, recognized seven businesses and two business sites as the “Best Workplaces for Commuters” for 2012. The businesses encourage or support ridesharing, biking, teleworking, alternative work schedules. The businesses even give their employees transit benefits. With traffic congestion the norm across the region, Coalition for Smarter Growth Executive Director Stewart Schwartz says those types of benefits need to be offered by businesses across the region.
Box Boom
Vince Gray beamed as he strode down the aisle, trailed by a cluster of aides and constituents hoping for a photo with the mayor, clutching a fork in one hand and a plate of appetizers in the other. “Imagine how many jobs this will create!” he said. The scene last Wednesday was a preview reception at D.C.’s first Costco, the evening before the 154,000-square-foot store officially opened. Giddy Washingtonians, Marylanders, and local politicos availed themselves of the copious free food and gazed admiringly at the megajugs of liquor and electrical appliances stacked five feet high. Arriving almost exclusively by car, visitors put a solid dent in the Shops at Dakota Crossing’s 2,000-spot parking lot, near the heavily trafficked intersection of New York and South Dakota avenues NE.
Smart Growthers Campaigning For Market Urbanism in DC Zoning Reform
The Coalition for Smarter Growth is the main group trying to organize people in support of the D.C. zoning update proposal in the face of paranoid opposition.
In Tysons Corner speech, McDonnell discusses MWAA changes, more transportation funding
Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell (R) stressed the importance of transportation and infrastructure in an address at a transportation conference Wednesday. But that’s not enough.
Virginia Transportation Program is Off-Track as Virginia Governor’s Transportation Conference Convenes This Week in Tysons
The Virginia “Governor’s Transportation Conference” convenes in Tysons on December 5th, but we don’t expect this conference to address the very real problems with this administration’s transportation program.
Talking D.C. Parking on NewsTalk with Bruce DePuyt
CSG Policy Director Cheryl Cort, along with Greater Greater Washington’s David Alpert and Alex Block of the Downtown BID talked D.C. parking policy with NewsTalk’s Bruce DePuyt on December 3.
D.C. zoning revamp stokes residents’ fears about changing city
District planning officials are rewriting the city’s zoning rules for the first time in 54 years, a process that has hastened anxieties about growth and at times has erupted into a pitched debate about the future of the city. The proposed changes are small — allowing a corner store here, fewer parking spaces there — but the debate has grown in recent months, pitting some longtime residents and civic activists against city officials and advocates of denser transit- and pedestrian-oriented development.
CSG Garners Two Prestigious Awards
Executive Director Stewart Schwartz Selected to WBJ’s Power 100
CSG Selected for Third Time as One of the Region’s Best Small Charities
The Washington Business Journal (WBJ) just announced its first-ever Power 100 list of the most powerful business leaders in the Washington D.C. region. The list includes Coalition for Smarter Growth Executive Director Stewart Schwartz. In addition, the Coalition for Smarter Growth has been selected as one of the region’s best small charities by the Catalogue for Philanthropy – CSG’s third such annual honor since the Catalogue was established.
“I am very honored, but it’s important to note that the Power 100 selection is equally an achievement of CSG’s staff and interns, donors and foundations, volunteers and activists, and range of business and non-profit partners,” Schwartz said of his selection by WBJ. “Together we have changed the debate about the best way for the region to grow, winning wide support for a more sustainable and equitable, walkable and transit-focused future.”
In making its selections, WBJ stated, “To be influential and powerful, you have to be respected, get things done, either quietly or with plenty of fanfare, and know the right people.” According to the paper’s editors:
“In the Washington area, no one person and no one organization is more influential on smart growth issues than Stewart Schwartz and his D.C. nonprofit, Coalition for Smarter Growth. As executive director and founder, Schwartz, an enemy of suburban-defining sprawl, is regularly called upon as the voice of, and advocate for, transit- and pedestrian-oriented development. A retired Navy captain, Schwartz began leading the charge for smart growth well before it formed the basis for every regional jurisdiction’ s long-term growth plans. Still, his job hasn’t gotten any easier as he challenges well-worn proposals for outer beltways and new Potomac River bridges and the constant call by powerbrokers for more and more roads.”
The Catalogue for Philanthropy will honor the Coalition for Smarter Growth and its other 2012/2013 recognized charities at a gala event on Monday, December 3rd at the Sidney Harman Hall. According to the Catalogue, a review board selects each of its 70 featured charities from among some 250 applications each year, evaluating them for distinction, merit, and impact, and scrutinizing the finalists for cost-effectiveness, sustainability, and financial transparency.
“Selection by the Catalogue is a big boost for our hard-working team at CSG and a stamp of approval that gives donors the security of knowing that their contributions will be used efficiently and effectively,” said Alex Posorske, Managing Director and lead development officer for the Coalition for Smarter Growth. “Contributions to CSG have made a real difference in our work to create a more sustainable region.”
About the Coalition for Smarter Growth
The Coalition for Smarter Growth is the leading organization in the Washington D.C. region dedicated to making the case for smart growth. Our mission is to promote walkable, inclusive, and transit-oriented communities, and the land use and transportation policies needed to make those communities flourish. To learn more, visit the Coalition’s website at www.smartergrowth.net.
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