In the department of hey, that’s a really friggin’ good idea, Ward 1 Council member Jim Graham put up an announcement late yesterday that the D.C. Council unanimously passed an emergency bill Tuesday to create a pilot taxi zone in Adams Morgan.

The pilot taxi zone will require taxis to report to a central location to pick up riders rather than drive through the streets to find their fares. Hack inspectors will be involved in enforcing this program.

You mean no more drunk pedestrians racing out into traffic on 18th Street to flag down taxis all over the place? People can just head to the taxi stand and wait in line? How fast can they get this thing up and running?

The same bill also created a pilot visitor parking program in Mount Pleasant, which will allow residents to apply for visitor passes that will be valid on restricted residential parking blocks, and measures to protect residential parking in Columbia Heights around the new DCUSA development, and around the new Nationals stadium. The Department of Transportation will increase the amount of parking reserved for residents in Columbia Heights and in the Southeast neighborhood near the ballpark.

Head over here to see announcements for all three programs included in the emergency legislation.

Photo by drewsaunders