TAKE ACTION

On Monday, February 24th, Richmond's City Council will consider ORD. 2020-030. This Special Use Permit would allow developers to build a 12-story, 168-unit apartment on the northwest corner of Broad and Lombardy Streets, replacing an existing gas station and surface-level parking lot. This is exactly the kind of dense, urban, transit-oriented development that the Pulse was meant to encourage—and now we're seeing it up and down the Pulse Corridor. While the area is currently zoned M-1 Light Industrial (hence the need for a Special User Permit), the proposal fits perfectly with the recommendations made for that area by the Pulse Corridor Plan (PDF). If you live, work, or play along the Pulse Corridor, please consider asking City Council to support this ordinance. You can either drop them an email or show up on Monday night to give a statement of support during the public comment period.

Reminder! GRTC has plans to change the City's West End routes (#75, #76, #77, #79, and #50). If you've got thoughts and feelings, please fill out this online survey as soon as you've got a minute.

AROUND THE REGION

This piece in the Washington Post illustrates a phenomenon that's happening all around the country: As more people move into cities, the lack of housing options forces folks with lower incomes to move further out into the suburbs which forces them into owning a car and increasing—perhaps unsustainably—their transportaiton costs. Part of the solution is to both increase public transportation options in the suburbs (which we're seeing to an extent in Richmond) and to build more homes (see above).

ELSEWHERE

Does Chicago need an expensive and unproven technology like hyperloop? Probably not. Does it need to increase its use of proven, old-school technologies like expanded train service, better bike lanes, and more bus lanes? Most definitely! In Richmond, it's important not to get distracted by "innovation" when the solutions to a lot of the problems facing our region's streets are time-tested and fairly inexpensive.

—Ross Catrow