Good morning, Washington. It’s back to to work after a long weekend (though we know of, among others, certain embassy employees and corporate drones who had to go into the office yesterday). Though we’re pretty sure we didn’t need a survey to tell us this, a quality-of-life survey shows affordable housing and traffic are main concerns for District residents. Here is a run-down of other D.C. headlines this morning:
Possible D.C. Parking Fee Price Hikes: As if there weren’t enough parking problems in the District, it looks like D.C. Mayor Williams is proposing a bill to increase residential parking permit fees, as well as limit the number of zoned stickers to three per household. The Post is reporting that parking fees would be $25 for the first car, $50 for the second car and $100 for the third. This proposed hike is in comparison to a mere $5 increase in the parking fee since 1991. Bill Starrels, an advisory neighborhood commissioner in Georgetown was quoted in the Post article as saying, “Why send the message out that we don’t want to encourage you to live in the city if you have two cars?” We wonder how this might play out in regards to group house logistics.
More Money for D.C. Schools: WTOP is reporting that a D.C. Council committee has approved a proposal for $100 million a year from sales tax revenue to go towards modernizing the District’s schools over a period of 15 years. The article states that the council could vote on the proposal as soon as next month. Various financial woes in the system include a reliance on increases in commercial real estate taxes.
And More Money for Metro: As funding for Metrorail has always been somewhat hit-or-miss, Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) has introduced legislation to secure a permanent funding stream for Metrorail. To match federal funds, the proposal includes a .25 percent increase on Virginia’s 5 percent sales tax, with 0.50 percent of revenue from the District’s 5.75 percent sales tax going towards metrorail funding. The percentage to come from Maryland is still being negotiated. Considering a large part of DC regards having metro take us places, securing a good amount of funding seems like a grand idea.
Briefly Noted: Reaction time to be looked at in death of journalist … Though shutting down, Walter Reed to get new center … Blogging, facebook banned by area schools … In VA, bill sets a November referendum on adding VA’s gay marriage ban to state constitution … D.C. officials promise stadium.
Picture snapped by IntangibleArts.
