All Opinions Are Local: March 6, 2011 - March 12, 2011

A sad day for Maryland

A bill to legalize same-sex marriage in Maryland died today in the House of Delegates. According to the Post, the bill died as the result of opposition by Democrats in Southern Maryland (my home territory) and African-American Democrats from...

By Todd Eberly  | March 11, 2011; 5:50 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (2)
Categories:  HotTopic, Local blog network, Maryland, same-sex marriage  
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In Maryland, a time to lead

Maryland's House of Delegates will likely vote today on whether to legalize same-sex marriage in the state. By most counts, the legislation lacks the 71 votes needed to pass the bill. I have already written extensively about this issue...

By Todd Eberly  | March 11, 2011; 12:24 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (2)
Categories:  HotTopic, Local blog network, Maryland, same-sex marriage  
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Google Transit still 'very close'

WMATA CEO Richard Sarles said a launch of trip planning on Google Maps is "very close" but declined to give a specific timeline. This project has frustratingly remained "very close" for more than a year. A December e-mail from...

By David Alpert  | March 10, 2011; 2:51 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (0)
Categories:  HotTopic, Local blog network, Metro, traffic, transportation  
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Department stores for Georgetown

Georgetown Park Mall may be redeveloped to house Bloomingdale’s and Target department stores. This is great news, because frankly it’s offensive that there’s a suburban-style enclosed mall in an urban neighborhood like Georgetown. The idea made some sense when...

By Dan Malouff  | March 10, 2011; 1:45 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (0)
Categories:  D.C., Georgetown, HotTopic, Local blog network, development  
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No union rights? Virginians are used to it

Wisconsin Republicans have scored a big victory in their fight against collective bargaining for public employees. In Virginia, however, teachers, police, firemen and other public service workers have long done without the right that public workers in 47 other...

By Peter Galuszka  | March 10, 2011; 6:42 AM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (6)
Categories:  Va. Politics, Virginia, arts, child services, day care, economy, education, history, schools, taxes  
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The problem of BRT creep

Can the U.S. make Bus Rapid Transit work as well as Latin America? Tanya Snyder asks that question in a post on GGW and Streetsblog. BRT systems in places like Bogota and Curitiba have narrowed the gap between bus...

By Dan Malouff  | March 9, 2011; 6:16 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (1)
Categories:  HotTopic, Local blog network, traffic, transportation  
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Gray's testy press conference

It was, as even Mayor Vince Gray admitted, the worst-kept secret in town -- Interim D.C. Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson would be taking on the gig on a permanent basis. Gray made the official announcement today during a testy...

By Martin Austermuhle  | March 9, 2011; 2:07 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (1)
Categories:  D.C., D.C. politics, HotTopic, Local blog network, Vincent Gray, education, schools  
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Crunching the numbers at Hyde and Hardy

Update: GM wrote this article looking at last year’s budgets. He’s now updated the article with the right numbers. Late last week, DCPS released proposed budgets for each school, including Georgetown’s Hyde-Addison Elementary and Hardy Middle School. For Hyde,...

By Topher Mathews  | March 9, 2011; 11:36 AM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (0)
Categories:  Georgetown, HotTopic, Local blog network, education  
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How happy is D.C.?

I've been spending some time this morning playing with this infographic, released by the New York Times over the weekend, which shows the results of a Gallup poll in which 1,000 randomly selected American adults were called every day...

By Aaron Morrissey  | March 8, 2011; 5:24 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (0)
Categories:  D.C., HotTopic, Local blog network  
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When a good scandal turns bad

Washingtonians are rightly dismayed and upset by recent scandals, including Lincoln Navigators and Sulaimon Brown. We should demand the highest standards from leaders. However, we should also beware that righteous indignation can quickly transform into unstoppable pressure for very...

By David Alpert  | March 8, 2011; 1:01 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (0)
Categories:  D.C., D.C. politics, HotTopic, Local blog network, Vincent Gray  
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Maryland's clash of the bag-tax proposals

On the surface, Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett's proposal to institute a tax on single-use shopping bags sounds a whole lot like the one that we've grown so accustomed to inside the ol' D. of C. It's the same...

By Aaron Morrissey  | March 7, 2011; 5:40 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (3)
Categories:  HotTopic, Maryland, Montgomery County, environment  
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The Tea Party vs. smart growth

The Tea Party movement in Virginia has a new whipping boy: smart growth. One focus is Chesterfield County, the largest suburban area in the Richmond region, which has been beset with the woes of overbuilding and lax oversight for...

By Peter Galuszka  | March 7, 2011; 2:48 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (4)
Categories:  HotTopic, Local blog network, Prince William County, Va. Politics, Virginia, development, economy, education, energy, environment, guns, housing, police, real estate, schools, transportation  
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Dotted lines on Metro's changing map

Orange Line riders from West Falls Church to Rosslyn will get more trains, and Blue Line riders at Franconia-Springfield and Van Dorn Street will get more direct service into D.C. around June 2012, based on Metro's latest plans for...

By David Alpert  | March 7, 2011; 12:02 PM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (0)
Categories:  HotTopic, Local blog network, Metro, traffic, transportation  
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A civics lesson for Maryland's leaders

As a professor of political science, I admit that I tend to view political issues through a slightly different lens than many voters and certainly many elected leaders. Few things frustrate me more than when people fundamentally fail to...

By Todd Eberly  | March 7, 2011; 9:43 AM ET  |  Permalink  |  Comments (4)
Categories:  HotTopic, Local blog network, Maryland, same-sex marriage  
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