Do Something: The week of November 6, 2023
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Weekly, Regional Policy Director Dan Reed and DC Policy Director Alex Baca will be sharing with you an action you can take in the immediate future that has the potential, sometimes great and sometimes small, to increase the number of homes in our region, decrease the trips people take by car, make all of it safer, and not screw people over in the process. This week: 1617 U Street; a land value tax proposal; Rockville, Gaithersburg, Arlington, and Fairfax elections; Metrobus lanes; and Langston Boulevard.
If you have any questions, email dreed@ggwash.org about Maryland and Virginia Do Somethings, and abaca@ggwash.org about Washington, DC, Do Somethings—or, about whatever you want to talk about.
The District’s Tax Revision Commission’s (TRC) last public meeting is at 7 pm Monday at MLK Library. The TRC meets once a decade to review tax-policy proposals and ultimately submit a report, with recommendations, to the DC Council. The TRC’s recommendations are not always heeded by the council and the executive, but sometimes they are. Sometimes, too, what the TRC has, or hasn’t, recommended can be used to stifle (or, I guess, encourage) discussion about tax adjustments in the decades in between its convenings.
It’s too late to sign up to testify in person tonight (Monday)—though, if you want to watch, there will be a livestream. The deadline for public comment is the end of the day on Tuesday, November 7. You can submit a statement, a general comment, and/or comments on specific proposals.
One of those proposals, Proposal P-6, is to tax land and buildings separately. That is, yes, land value tax. Right now is the window in which it is remotely possible that the District of Columbia might seriously, actually, legitimately change its real-property taxation system to one that, correctly, separately values and improvements to it…but only if such a proposal makes it out of the TRC’s purview. And that will only happen if the TRC recommends it in its final report—which you have, like, 24-ish hours to tell it to do.
You can see my statement here, in which I link land value taxation to the potential to fund the District’s obligation to WMATA’s $750 million budget deficit. I have spent about two weekends on it, so I hope you like it. I’m working on my own comments today! —AB
Inspo via r/henrygeorge. Image used with permission.
Also: Fam, I need you to cool it on the proposed upzoning for 1617 U Street, NW, and 1620 V Street, NW. I realize that this is rich, coming from me, because I’m a big part of the reason why you have the luxury of texting your group chat about 1617 U Street in the first place. I know the idea of showing up to “win” more housing in the District is tantalizing and that many of you want to do so, all of the time. I love the energy.
But, as the zoning commission’s November 20, 2023, hearing on whether to upzone 1617 U and 1620 V from MU-4 to MU-10 approaches, those of us who want more housing, and more affordable housing, in the District need to be strategic, and put forth meaningful, honest, well-informed support. If you live close by, I do strongly suggest that you testify at the hearing. By “close by,” I mean: Your house is inside of the below 500-buffer around the parcels. You can sign up here; if you want to talk through how to write compelling testimony, email me at abaca@ggwash.org, and we’ll work on it together.
Do you live inside the gray blob? Sign up to testify verbally. Do you live outside of the gray blob? A written comment may be a better way to show your support. Image by Alex, using the zoning map’s buffer tool. Image used with permission.
If you’re outside of that 500-foot buffer, please submit written comments. I am asking you to take what might seem like a step back because testifying at the zoning commission is a bit of an authenticity war these days. There is considerable risk to a firehose of support that comes off as “more housing good,” unequivocally, even though I agree with the sentiment. Several opponents have filed for party status, meaning that, if they are granted it, they can cross-examine witnesses. The appropriate response to this is not to rustle up a pro-upzoning gaggle to file for its own party status (trust me, I thought about it); it is for proponents of the map amendment to calmly, accurately, and respectfully respond to cross questions in their own words. If we come off as sloppy, glib, rude, dismissive; as outsiders without a meaningful stake in the zoning commission’s decision; or as if we don’t have a grasp on how land use works in the District, the legitimacy of our support will be called into question and possibly discourage the commission from granting this site an MU-10 designation.
As unfair, and as possibly incorrect, as that is—I’ve written to the commission to this effect, saying, “I don’t see whether the commission feels more or less comfortable about the volume of input, or the content of comments, as relevant to its core duty,” which is to prepare, adopt, and subsequently amend “the Zoning Regulations and Zoning Map in a means not inconsistent with the Comprehensive Plan”—it do be like that.
Fortunately, there’s plenty of meaningful, honest, and well-informed support in the case record for this map amendment already; I give my sincere thanks to those of you who have submitted comments that speak to why you’re comfortable with increased density on U and V streets. If you haven’t yet submitted a comment, please do. I wrote detailed instructions on how to do so, and provided some suggestions for how to craft quality testimony, here. You can always email me for help!
Regardless of whether you are testifying verbally or submitting a comment, you must submit written statements to the zoning commission 24 hours in advance of a hearing. Your deadline is Sunday, November 19, 2023, at 4 pm. On the same day, GGWash is hosting a happy hour at Grand Duchess in Adams Morgan from 3 - 5 pm., so if you need some last-minute assistance, you can find me there. —AB
P.S. Do not send in your support for this project via a click-to-send action alert. Don’t send in support for anything before the zoning commission via a click-to-send action alert, actually. It clutters a project’s case record, and it makes support look manufactured, because it is. Opponents of projects will—in my opinion, quite correctly—point to click-to-send letters as participation of a lesser quality showing concerns of less import than their own. Thank you!
If you live in Rockville or Gaithersburg, you can Do Something by voting on Tuesday! Check out our endorsements for Rockville Mayor and City Council, and for Gaithersburg City Council.
Also: Metrobus wants to roll out bus lanes in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, like, now. (Relatively speaking, we’re talking about next year.) They’re planning bus lanes along a portion of Georgia Avenue between 16th Street and Wayne Avenue in Silver Spring, and Silver Hill Road between Suitland Parkway and West Avenue in Suitland. Dubbed the Tactical Bus Lanes Project, it could give thousands of riders along some of Maryland’s busiest bus routes a faster, more reliable ride.
The hardest part of building bus lanes, politically speaking, is showing that there’s support for taking away space from cars. Both Georgia Avenue and Silver Hill Road are Maryland state highways, meaning Metrobus needs buy-in from both county and state transportation officials to make these bus lanes happen, and in turn, they need community members to say they need bus lanes. You can help with that by registering for and tuning into one of two virtual meetings this week, on Wednesday, November 8 for Silver Hill Road and Thursday, November 9 for Georgia Avenue, both at 6:30 pm. —DR
If you’re in Arlington or Fairfax counties, make sure to vote on Tuesday! Four of our endorsees in the Democratic primary are running in this year’s general election, including Maureen Coffey in Arlington and Jimmy Bierman, Andres Jimenez, and Albert Vega in Fairfax.
Also: Last month, we told you about Plan Langston Boulevard, an effort to reimagine a highway in North Arlington as more of a walkable main street. This Saturday, November 11, starting at 9 am, the Arlington County Board will hold an all-day public hearing to hear people’s thoughts about it.
Our thoughts are that this is a great plan, especially its commitment to making Langston Boulevard a safer place to walk and bike, and its recommendations to expand green infrastructure in an area where flooding is common. We’d also like the plan to have stronger language around affordable housing, since this is one of the most expensive and segregated parts of Arlington County. Right now, the plan includes language about providing affordable housing along Langston Boulevard—in an area that has a relatively small amount of Arlington’s income-restricted homes—by 2075, which is not a serious goal by any means.
If you feel the same way, we hope you’ll tell the County Board. Here’s where you can sign up to testify in person or online. Make sure to say you’re signing up for Item #20. —DR
Your support of GGWash enable us, Dan and Alex, to do our jobs, big parts of which are knowing how development and planning works in DC, Maryland, and Virginia, so that if it’s appropriate to take action to advance our goals, which we hope you share, we can let you know what will have the most impact, and how to do it well. You can make a financial contribution to GGWash here.