CUA Brookland Corridor Chock Continued ...

new demolition specials upon the northbound un-built D.C. B&O Route I-95 right of way,
with more being planned

see:  http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2015/01/choking-dc-b-grand-arci-95-corridor.html

looking northwest from corner of Kearney and 9th Street - 2 projects:

 in foreground- Townhouses at 3300-3314

and

in background - Office building at 3350 - currently under construction

New buildings now being constructed and planned along the east side of the B&O corridor and west of 9th Street NE, northward from Kearney to Lawrence Streets - directly in the path of D.C. B&O I-95 that had been canceled as the result of the 1960s era political planning manipulations.

http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2012/03/1971-deleuw-cather-weese-hi-low-level-b.html

Previously posted at this blog about this misguided development thrust:

http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2013/12/cua-chock-continued.html


http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2015/06/wmata-to-continue-to-push-corridor-chock.html

The lots had been property of the Washington Metropolitan Transit Administration (WMATA), which after decades of letting the land sit, has embarked upon a development frenzy, offering such parcels for sale for sale for development.  This is despite the intrinsic utility of these lots for future improvements to this vital transportation corridor which is the sole northern radial grade separated transport corridor within the northern portion of Washington, D.C.

http://www.wmata.com/business/joint_development_opportunities/Brookland%20Vacant%20Parcels%20Invitation%20for%20Bids%20%285-12-2015%29.pdf

This map from a May 2015 WMATA offering indicates a parcel just north of Lawrence Street, plus one to the south centered upon Kearney Street.  The WMATA offering describes these lots as follows:

Lawrence Property: Square 3829W, lots 817, 818, 819 totaling approximately 21,094 square feet on 9th Street, NE between Monroe and Lawrence streets in Northeast Washington. The three Lawrence Property lots are being offered as one sale. Offers for individual lots will not be accepted. [asking price: $500,000]

Kearney Property: PAR 01330157 containing approximately 16,239 square feet on 9th Street, NE between Lawrence and Jackson streets in Northeast Washington. [asking price: $375,000]

The red outlining on the map above is actually incorrect as that lot does not extend north of Kearney Street.  These two lots are currently empty and WMATA is offering them for sale as sites for new buildings along the western side of 9th Street NE to accompany the following two immediate projects already under construction.

The northern one is an office building - just south of Lawrence Street upon what is shown as the lot between the two lots marked in red; the southern one is a row of 8 residential townhouses, each with two separate dwelling units - extending to just north of Kearney Street.  The addresses respectively are 3350 and 3300-3314 9th Street NE

The office building: 3350 9th Street NE eastern face

 3350 9th Street northern face

 3350 9th Street northwestern side off street parking

The office building is a project of Inle Developers LLC.

http://www.loopnet.com/Listing/18982933/3350-9th-St-NE-Washington-DC/

http://x.lnimg.com/attachments/AD8DF4B8-F581-46BA-B378-AD03692B5178.pdf

The residential townhouses are a project of Getinet Bantayehu, who purchased the lot for $1.6 million from the initial developer Oxbridge, who had paid $500,000 for that lot in 2013.

http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2013/12/cua-chock-continued.html

This is land that had been long planned for D.C. I-95 throughout the 1960s and into the 1970s via the B&O Route.

While the initial 1960 engineering study had placed this area's I-95 segment to the east along 12th Street NE, as part of a planning with three separate northern radial freeways within Washington, D.C., the subsequent planning, starting with the November 1, 1962 Kennedy Administration report, had routed both directions of the highway in the area just east of the B&O railroad, with the 1966 and 1971 planning documents suggesting that this segment be placed beneath a lid with new buildings atop.

1966 B&O I-95

1971 B&O I-95

Political support for the freeway would be subverted by the planning manipulations around and in the years following the assassination of the U.S. President whose administration had adopted the B&O Route for D.C. I-95.

http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2012/01/crafted-controversy-scuttling-of-jfks-b.html

"Significance of Using B&O Route. Use of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad corridor to bring Routes 70-S and 95 into the city is the key to meeting the need for additional highway capacity in northern Washington, Montgomery County and northwestern Prince Georges Counties and at the same time avoiding the substantial relocation of persons, loss of taxable property and disruption of neighborhoods that would result from construction of the Northeast, North Central and Northwest Freeway proposed in the 1959 plan. Further savings are realized by placing the rapid transit line to Silver Spring and Queen’s Chapel in the same railroad corridor."

Though the November 1, 1962 transportation plan was quite explicit about a tight alignment along the railroad, the planning embodied by the engineering report publicly released on October 1964 blatantly disregarded that, with 37 alternative routes, many nowhere near the railroad, and with a recommended route option largely along the railroad but with severe deviations to the north of Monroe Street in Brookland and further north in Takoma Park on what was not only a far more destructive route - some 471 houses versus about 25 - but one longer.  Though the authorities would follow up in 1966 with a far more acceptable plan, the then new US Federal Highway Authority would waste little time with re-invigorating the opposition by announcing that they were not necessarily going to follow the 1966 plan but rather open the process up again to include the options from the extremely unpopular 1964 planning- ostensibly to save $22 million on retaining walls.

http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2015/02/june-1-1967-duncan-wall-letter-to-spiro.html

"...The reduced, re-routed proposal was made public last year with endorsement of D.C. And Maryland highway authorities. The D.C. Portion was forced through the National Capital Planning Commission by votes of representatives of the D.C. Highway Department and of the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads. From this we concluded, reasonably enough, that the highway authorities of the two jurisdictions (Maryland and D.C.) had reached a firm understanding with the Bureau of Public Roads.

Many of us were therefore astonished and aroused to preparations for renewed protests when Washington newspapers recently reported that the Bureau has acted to open it all up again. We have not found the Bureau forthcoming with candid information, but the press articles intimate an intention to force Maryland to accept modifications of route or design ostensibly “cheaper.”

The result is that the whole controversy, which had been somewhat quiescent, is beginning to agitate the communities again. I can assure you this is so, for although I recently resigned chairmanship of the Metropolitan Citizens Council for Rapid Transit and write this simply as an individual citizen who wishes your administration well, I do remain in close touch with neighborhood sentiment on transportation-related issues..."

Such manipulations would be instrumental in prodding the various planning decision bodies, namely the U.S. National Capital Planning Commission, and the D.C. City Council to reverse their long-standing support for the B&O I-95 North Central Freeway, amidst waves of emotion that would conveniently overlook the planning manipulations as to why the explicit recommendation of the Kennedy Administration report had been disobeyed.

http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2007/05/b-route-north-central-ne-freeway.html

http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2007/01/and-so-does-us-national-capital.html

This has left the region with no grade separated highway leading into Washington D.C. in the vast arc from the George Washington Parkway along the Virginia shore of the Potomac River to the Baltimore Washington Parkway, and none such roads for trucks in the even larger arc from I-395 to the southwest from Virginia, to Route 50 in Maryland.

The popularized late 1960s rallying cry against constructing the I-95 North Central Freeway would be "no white mans roads through black mens' homes", with such resentment predicated upon the conveniently overlooked planning manipulations subverting the B&O North Central Freeway following the cancellations of any freeways in the wealthier areas to the west of Rock Creek Park.  Yet all of that would actually increase the disproportionate amount of the traffic burden upon poorer areas, as with those to the east of the Anacostia River where an antiquated surface Anacostia Freeway restricts local access there to the waterfront.

http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2014/09/getting-over.html

The Washington, D.C. area would clearly benefit from having a well designed I-95 northern radial freeway, which is best routed by the B&O corridor, and could and should follow design initiatives elsewhere for its construction as a linear park covered cut and cover facility that would likewise cover and expand the existing railroad.

Nevertheless, the region suffers under the stranglehold of the various powers that be including a WMATA so focused upon its short term profits that it would sell out the region's long term comprehensive transportation planning.

http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2015/01/i-95-should-go-through-washington-dc.html

Of course Constitutional power remains to ultimately correct such planning errors, and this blog can serve as a warning beacon to anyone contemplating buying into such mis-placed real estate development projects.

http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2013/01/constitutional-power-can-free-us.html

An overview of real estate development threats to the D.C. I-95 Corridor:

http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2015/01/choking-dc-b-grand-arci-95-corridor.html

Modify WMATA Farragut Connector Tunnel To Accomodate K Street Tunnel For Crosstown I-66

Years ago, during the 1960s, the idea of a vehicular tunnel beneath K Street was advocated as the best way for achieving the crosstown D.C. link for I-66.  It was promoted by opponents to the previous plan from the 1955 Inner Loop study for a new right of way swath freeway along the southern edge of Florida Avenues and U Street, requiring removing hundreds of buildings; the K Street tunnel meanwhile would have removed only a relative handful at its eastern connection, largely to clear the Carnegie Library at Franklin Square.

As such, the I-66 K Street Tunnel and had the support of US NCPC's Elizabeth Rowe, who was also connected with the private organization, the Committee of 100 on the Federal City that had been founded by Delano during the 1920s..

Planning for the WMATA rail subway system had accommodated that with space above the southern end of the Farragut North subway station platform.  The need for this connection was initially created by a decision to provide two separate stations for Farragut North and West, rather than a consolidated facility accommodating both station-stops, to avoid excavating beneath the Farragut Square park just south of K Street that would have required removing a number of trees.

During the mid 1970s, the I-66 K Street Tunnel would be 'de-mapped' to scavenge its funds for speeding construction of the WMATA rail subway system, with such reasoning that the world was going to run out of petro by the 1990s hence somehow rendering private automobiles obsolete, and that Virginia was not going to build their connecting inside the Beltway segment of I-66- both which proved to be false.

Subsequent planning following the 1970s 'de-mapping' of the I-66 K Street Tunnel now fails to respect its underground right of way space, and thus needs modification for such.

A recent article in Greater Greater Washington details the two main design options now/recently under formal consideration, with an estimated total monetary construction cost of $130 million.  See official report.

Option One places a staircase from the proposed connector tunnel to the platform below in the way.

Option Two places a new connecting section from the proposed connector tunnel to the existing mezzanine platform.

As it is the area of the southern platform of the Farragut North station that would be connected to the new pedestrian tunnel at the area beneath K Street, this existing area would need an extension to just south of K Street in order to provide the space for this connect that would avoid the space beneath K Street and hence accommodate both this new underground pedestrian connection and the K Street tunnel.   This would have to be a variant of Option One, as a continuous mezzanine level platform conflicts with the space for the K Street tunnel.

A google map photo shows three trees along the Farragut Square park's northern edge, which extends northward past the customary southern edge of the K Street right of way.

Washingtonian Freudian Slip

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freudian_slip

"Rendering of the Three Sisters Bridge, which would have linked with interstates and erased three well-known areas of DC. Photograph courtesy of DDOT."

hyperbole article "The Insane Highway Plan That Would Have Bulldozed DC’s Most Charming Neighborhoods" by Harry Jaffe | October 21, 2015

see: http://www.washingtonian.com/blogs/capitalcomment/history/the-insane-highway-plan-that-would-have-bulldozed-washington-dcs-most-charming-neighborhoods.php

The Three Sisters Bridge would have "erased" zero neighborhoods.

The outright 'de-mappings' of the Washington, D.C. freeways system was not about saving neighborhoods. 

The plans underwent serious revisions, most notably with the cross town I-66 North Leg, replacing the 1955 plan for a new swath along U Street, with a tunnel under K Street that was promoted by opponents to the earlier plans.

http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2006/12/1950-62-plans.html

http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2007/03/i-66-north-leg-west-k-street-tunnel.html

The outright 'de-mappings' were based upon specious 'reasoning'.

http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2009/04/doctrinaire-anti-new-highways-position.html

http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2007/02/doctrinaire-anti-new-highways-position.html

Rather it was about keeping freeways further away from major religious institution properties, to wit, Jesuit Georgetown University with the Three Sisters Bridge, as well as Catholic University of America, with the indisputably needed North Central Freeway.

http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2012/01/crafted-controversy-scuttling-of-jfks-b.html

New Urbanists Place Profits Over People at Large

Richard Layman presents some good ideas of tunnelfication,
yet seems incapable of protecting such regarding real word examples.

January 8, 2008

http://urbanplacesandspaces.blogspot.com/2008/01/2008-transittransportation-planning.html

 . Tunnelize the Metropolitan Branch railroad line. This is a stretch. It would cost billions and would involve creating tunnels for both the railroad and the subway. But it would allow for adding capacity to that line, which is quickly moving to capacity, and given that the subway line is bracketed by CSX railroad tracks, it can't expand except by having double stacked trains, which we can't do because of the way the tunnels and bridges exist.... (Note that a railroad, maybe CSX, maybe Norfolk Southern, is making their line from Chicago to Richmond capable of carry double stacked containers the whole route. This means adjusting tunnels and bridges...)

Note that this isn't a priority for me, but I think it should be listed nonetheless.

Feb 25 2009

http://urbanplacesandspaces.blogspot.com/2009/02/brookland-planning.html

. Therefore, if you create a "deck" in Brookland you create another obstruction, one that creates another problem.

And the whole point of putting the Brookland station and tracks in that vicinity underground had to do with trying to knit the east and west parts of the neighborhood together (oddly, this is somewhat problematic because for the most part, the west parts of the neighborhood are made up of institutional campuses and don't lend themselves very well to connection).

Nov 15, 2011

http://urbanplacesandspaces.blogspot.com/2011/11/tunnelized-road-projects-for-dc-and.html

The proposal for the North Central Freeway was supposed to follow the Metropolitan Branch Railroad line--north on the east side of the tracks and south on the west side of the tracks--but this would have destroyed the quality of life in the area (a very short portion of the route under Rhode Island Avenue was proposed to be tunneled).

Doug Willinger (various websites) has always said that a completely tunnelized freeway should have been considered.

While for many reasons, I don't favor big freeways, above- or below- ground, I am starting to think that the only way to address the Blair Road-Takoma conundrum would be to create a tunnel "freeway" for the through traffic focused mostly on getting from Montgomery County to DC's Central Business District.

2. New York Avenue/Route 50 tunnel

As I mentioned over the weekend, the New York Avenue Transportation Plan recognized that the big problem with traffic on New York Avenue is that because the road functions as a through freeway link from I-95 and the Baltimore-Washington Parkway to I-395 in DC, connecting to Virginia, much of the traffic on the road is "through traffic" not intended to stop in DC.

This through traffic makes much of the road--from the DC-Maryland line to Downtown DC--traffic engorged, unsightly, and uncomfortable, with negative contributions to quality of life for residents.

They didn't go for broke and recommend a complete tunnelized solution from the DC-Maryland line to the I-395/New York Avenue junction, not because they didn't see the need, but because of the cost.

After all, the Central Artery Project ("Big Dig") in Boston cost over $14 billion for 3.5 miles. This length would be about 5 miles.

Still, one way to make it happen would be to charge tolls, just like the Carmel Tunnels project in Haifa.

3. Add a subway line on New York Avenue?

To make a New York Avenue tunnel project even more expensive, they could put a heavy rail subway line into it as well, from Bladensburg Road to Mount Vernon Triangle, although it could be conceived of, in part as a leg of the proposed separated blue line, which would continue west to Georgetown and then into Virginia.

4. General discussion on tolls

Since these tunnels would mostly be focused on serving nonresidents, except in how they would mitigate the negative impact of use of these roads on quality of life, tolling is a logical response, as a way to impose fees on the users for the costs that they normally impose on others without paying.

June 10, 2013
http://urbanplacesandspaces.blogspot.com/2013/06/takomas-brookland-moment-some.html

Condominiums abut Spring Place NW, on the west side of the railroad tracks on the Blair Road side of the Takoma DC neighborhood.

In Takoma, in the past few years three apartment or condo developments have been built abutting the Metro station.  Another development is under construction--a Busboys and Poets will be locating there (see "Busboys and Poets coming to Takoma, and may head to Brookland" from the Washington Post), another on Spring Place is working through the approval process, and another development is in the pipeline. 

With a couple of exceptions these developments will absorb most of the build out capacity of the neighborhood, and going forward beyond these developments there will be limited impact on the extant residential sections of the neighborhood. (The Walter Reed campus abuts part of Takoma and will be redeveloped over the next 20 years.  But this won't impact Takoma per se all that much, other than providing access to additional retail.)

The primary reason I favor denser development at Metro stations is that it allows, for the most part, preservation of the bulk of a neighborhood's residential character with minimal changes.  This is true for both Brookland and Takoma--although the community's unwillingness to make some hard choices in Brookland likely means that Brookland's traditional retail core, currently strung along 12th Street, will  re-center to Monroe Street by the transit station (functioning similarly to the Shoppes at ArtDistrict development in Hyattsville that I wrote about earlier).

The Foolish Surrender of the South Capitol Street Underpass

Every single design for the Douglass bridges messes up the issue. You can still have limited highway like bridge and make it pedestrian friendly.

Underground tunnels- continue the underpass right up to the beginning of the bridge in the left lanes while the right lanes would lead to street level; with that you could keep the park or use the land for something else while still allowing pedestrians a way to cross with little traffic.

Pretty much have a underpass that is decked over for 85% of the time from M Street to southeastern cross walks which would be moved an a entrance to the underpass would be there.

by kk on Dec 24, 2014 8:35 pm • link • report

Entirely eliminating the underpass is likely being pushed by the property owner of the only building surviving from prior to the recent planning of the south Capitol Street corridor that of St. Vincent De Paul Roman Catholic Church.

RX-  RETAIN the South Capitol Street underpass and extend it, widened with outside shoulders into a true cut and cover tunnel.

Consider extending it north, perhaps just past I Street.

Extend it south to the foot of the new South Capitol Street Bridge.

Consider a southbound underground off ramp to Potomac Avenue.

Design it to ultimately fit with a direct connection into the I-395 Center Leg that would accommodate a set of parallel deeper tunnelways extending beneath the Anacostia River to and from I-295.

Best Vista Along Grand Arc/I-95 Corridor Threatened By Misplaced Development Proposal

What would be the arguably best through the windshield vista anywhere along the U.S. interstate Highway System - on the unbuilt D.C. I-95 corridor where the topography descends -- threatened to be infringed upon by the latest horribly misguided developer's project within Washington, D.C.

The eastern portion of this developer project - by MRP Realty -- needs to be cut back.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/breaking_ground/2015/07/mrp-proposes-massive-development-for-rhode-island.html#g5


See the various tags below to become better acquainted with this matter.

Note that the Grand Arc plan would place the southbound lanes along the railroad's western side, emerging from a tunnel portal just south of Franklin Street.

Grand Arc I-95 at Franklin Street and Rhode Island Avenue area

 MRP Realty Plan- eastern portion infringes upon Grand Arc

In contrast, the dominant 1960s planning placed both directions of I-95 to the east of the railroad, denying this southbound vista to the public, for the sake of placing the highway further away from Catholic University of America.

Ron Linton Dies At 86

- described as a fan of rules

- had a long career of government-bureaucratic service, from the police force to the taxi commission appointed by DC Mayor Vincent Grey

- became a particularly controversial figure with his legally questionable heavy-handed campaign against Uber

- guided NY Avenue corridor planning, particularly with a 1996 proposal for a road tunnel connecting directly with the still truncated northern end of I-395, with curved transition failing to meet FHWA standards for geometry

Ron Linton - 2014

1996 'Ron Linton' NY Avenue Tunnel Proposal

This is the Ron Linton mentioned elsewhere in this blog A Trip Within The Beltway for his 1996 proposal for a tunneled connection to the northern end of I-395, designed together with ha new WMATA subway line

Was cited by The Washingtonian as a man who "thrived on tinkering with the way cities work..."

http://www.washingtonian.com/blogs/capitalcomment/transportation/former-dc-taxi-commissioner-ron-linton-dies-at-86.php

(excerpts)

Ron Linton, whose nearly four-year term overseeing the District’s taxi industry made him possibly the city’s most unfairly reviled public servant, died Monday at age 86. But Linton, who spent six decades in Washington working on nearly every part of DC’s infrastructure, thrived on tinkering with the way cities work, even if it earned him enmity from both the providers and customers of the industry he tried to improve.

The final, but most visible chapter of Linton’s long career was to oversee a massive, and usually contentious, overhaul of DC’s taxi industry from an analog, cash-only business to something worthy of the early 21st century. And while it wasn’t in the job description when he was tapped, Linton had to balance all that with the arrival of companies like Uber and Lyft, which upended the entire notion of hired vehicles. ...

After taking office in January 2011, DC Mayor Vince Gray decided he wanted to spiff up the taxi fleet, sometimes joking that cabs had common color of rust, said City Administrator Allen Lew. Gray fired the incumbent Taxicab Commission chairman, a former cop named Leon Swain, and put it to Lew to find a replacement.

Lew and Linton went back to the early 1990s, when Lew was running the old convention center and Linton was overseeing the economic redevelopment of New York Ave., Northeast, where he fostered the construction of the Metro station at the intersection with Florida Ave. and enticed the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms to build its fortress-like headquarters in what was then an empty, blighted neighborhood. Their paths crossed over the years as Linton had also stints chairing the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority and the DC Water and Sewer Authority.

According to dcist, Linton dies at Suburban Hospital.

According to the Washingtonian, Linton was "by nature, a fan of rules."

But Linton, by nature, was a fan of rules, befitting the 27 years he spent as a member the Metropolitan Police Department’s reserve unit. Linton, who spent most of his private-sector career running a lobbying firm focused on federal infrastructure contracts, signed on to do volunteer police work—traffic management, crowd control at football games—in 1971 and rose through the unpaid ranks until 1994, when then-MPD Chief Fred Thomas put him in charge of the entire reserve corps. (It required Linton, who by then had merged his lobbying firm with another company and was only part-time, to become a fully sworn officer with a badge and a gun when he was 65 years old.) Linton, who continued to go unpaid by MPD, was put in charge with overhauling the reserve units, which now range from administrative clerks at police stations to armed patrols.

He got his start at Michigan State.

Linton’s conversational style was easygoing and avuncular, and he was always quick to go on a tangent about one of his many past jobs, going all the way back to his time running the student newspaper at Michigan State University, where his editorials railing against the Korean War earned calls for his expulsion. Following a stint in the 1950s as a cub reporter for United Press, Linton got to Washington as a deputy to Pierre Salinger during John F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign. That led to a job as an aide in Robert McNamara’s Defense Department. (Linton once had to yank Ed Muskie back into line during Kennedy’s funeral procession when the senator from Maine tried to step out to snap photographs of Charles DeGaulle.)

His Linked In resume gives the following:

visiting professor

Rennsaeler Polytechnic Institute

January 1969 – January 1970 (1 year 1 month)

In 1971 as an avocation, he joined the Metropolitan Police Department as a reserve officer. In his 26 years with the MPD he rose to the position of Assistant Chief in charge of Volunteer Services, spending his last four years in a full time capacity as a fully sworn officer. During his police service he was involved in several initiatives including the development of community policing in the first district and the roll out of the Patrol Service Area (PSA) program

Mr. Linton initiated his practice of representing clients with federal agencies in 1968 after eight years with the federal government, mostly in high staff positions in the Congress.

He had come to Washington in November, 1959, as a fellow of the American Political Science Association to participate in its Congressional Fellowship Program, on leave from his position as Labor Editor of The Courier Journal; Instead of returning to Louisville after the fellowship he joined the campaign staff of Sen. John F. Kennedy first as an assistant press secretary and the as a senior advance man.

After the election, he served in the Defense Department between 1962 and 1963 as Director of Economic Utilization Policy where he was responsible for policy development relating to economically depressed areas. In 1963 he returned to Capitol Hill as Staff Director of the United States Senate Committee on Public Works and was instrumental in developing legislative programs for transportation, pollution control, and economic development. After leaving his Senate post, he became one of the founders of the National Urban Coalition working from 1966 through 1968 as the Coalition*s national coordinator.

He then served as chairman of a federal government task force on the environment whose landmark report in 1970 led to a number of new initiatives to improve the environment.

as President and Chief Executive Officer of Linton

Mields, Reisler & Cottone, Ltd

January 1968 – January 1994 (26 years 1 month) 

Ron M. Linton is a public policy planner whose primary fields are, transportation, water resources, environment and public safety. He has 50 years of experience in intergovernmental relations, planning, and communications. He was the founder, and; the firm merged with the Carmen Group. He retired in 1997 and now consults on government relations , law enforcement and economic planning.

Currently he is the Airports Authority liaison to the District government and business community. He also is affiliated with the DC PEP Joint Venture assigned to the Office of Public Education Facilities Modernization developing the comprehensive maintenance program.

He recently was president of his own development firm, Linton Properties, LLC, engaged in building senior citizen housing on Maryland*s eastern shore. The venture failed in the housing crises. He continues consulting on a variety of local and national issues.

Board Chair

MWAA

September 1992 – January 1994 (1 year 5 months) 

He was among the initial directors appointed to the Airports Authority when it was created in 1986. For six years he chaired the Operations Committee and was Vice Chairman when he was elected by the board as Chairman for his final two years in office.

After leaving the MWAA board, he was elected to the board of TAMS CONSULTANTS,Inc. a world wide engineering firm, and participated in several projects including three years of the planning effort for the third Chicago airport. He had previously served on the board of directors of the engineering firm of Metcalf & Eddy.

Linton served a four year term on the board of the District of Columbia Water & Sewer Authority, the last two years of which he served as chairman. In the first two years he chaired the board*s finance committee and was principal architect of the Authority*s financial plan that resulted in a $280 million bond issue. The Authority provides water and sewer services not only to the District of Columbia but to its suburban counties in Maryland and Virginia.

In 2002, he stepped down after four years as Chairman of the New York Avenue Development Corporation, a non profit citizens effort leading in the revitalizing New York Avenue,the capital*s gateway from the east. For the next several years he was a senior consultant on the planning for the third Chicago airport.

Mr. Linton initiated his practice of representing clients with federal agencies in 1968 after eight years with the federal government, mostly in high staff positions in the Congress

He served in the Defense Department between 1962 and 1963 as Director of Economic Utilization Policy where he was responsible for policy development relating to economically depressed areas. In 1963 he returned to Capitol Hill as Staff Director of the United States Senate Committee on Public Works.

Assistant Chief

Metropolitan Police Department, Washington D.C.

September 1971 – January 1998 (26 years 5 months)

Joined as a reserve, served the last four years as fully sworn Deputy Chief then Assistant Chief

former Chairman

DC Taxicab Commission

July 2011 – January 2015 (3 years 7 months)

Regulates cab fares and rules and regulations and enforces compliance,resolves customer-driver disputes and licenses taxi drivers and for hire drivers.

According to DCist:

http://dcist.com/2015/06/former_dc_taxicab_commissioner_ron.php

Aside from the D.C. Taxicab Commission, Linton has a long record of public service in the D.C. area. He was Chairman of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Board of Directors from 1992 to 1994. From 1996 to 2000 he served a four-year term on the board of the D.C. Water & Sewer Authority, two of which he was the chairman. At one point, Linton even served as an ANC Commissioner in his neighborhood.

One of Linton's last big accomplishments before he retired was giving residents with disabilities and no means of transportation an alternative to MetroAccess rides. Working with WMATA, the CAPS-DC program, which Linton worked diligently on, introduced handicap-accessible cabs acquired from WMATA to the fleet.

Even after he stepped down in January, Linton's commitment to the District's taxi business was still strong. Loose Lips reports that, in March, he "asked the Board of Ethics and Government Accountability if he could help taxi cab companies create an app-based co-op without the District's breaking conflict of interest rules.

Linton's initial involvement was pushing for taxis to install more modern electronic equipment, such as credit card readers.  According to The Washingtonian:

Linton had two orders: drag the taxis into modernity, and clean up an agency with a poor reputation for protecting customers and enforcing the rules.

“The mayor’s policy was to change things,” Linton said. “He laid out where he would like this thing taken. I knew we were in agreement.”

The DC Council introduced a bill in December 2011 that promised the biggest rewrite of taxi regulations—already more than 1,000 pages long—since the commission was created in 1985. Cabs would be required to install large, visible dome lights and adopt a uniform paint scheme. More importantly, all taxis would upgrade their meters to interact with GPS devices and transmit trip data back to the commission.

Drivers balked, saying all the upgrades would cost as much as $2,000 to implement (far more if they needed to replace their cars), a hefty chunk of the $31,060 annual salary the average DC-area cabbie earns in a year, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The modernization bill was never in doubt. It took six months’ worth of DC Council hearings at which Linton defended the effort, and Taxicab Commission meetings over which Linton presided, but it was guaranteed to pass, which it did in July 2012.

Linton faced opposition from cab drivers not wanting to make the equipment investments.

One he achieved this goal, Linton made himself extra controversial his actions against Uber.

http://dcist.com/2015/06/former_dc_taxicab_commissioner_ron.php

it wasn't until October of 2013 that all D.C. taxicabs had credit card readers installed, and that in and of itself was quite a tenuous process to complete, with a majority of District cabs missing their deadline to install readers on more than one occasion.
In the wake of ride-hailing apps like Uber, Lyft, and Sidecar, Linton led a much-publicized, often heated charge against the companies, who threatened to make District cabs and the DCTC obsolete.

http://techcrunch.com/2012/01/14/ubercommissioner/

Private car service Uber entered Washington, DC a month ago and has loaded up lots of local support. But now it has hit a regulatory traffic jam. Taxi Commissioner Ron Linton personally led a sting yesterday to bust one of its drivers for trying to transport him within the district, following up on his declaration earlier this week that Uber is “illegal.”

Whether or not Uber is actually breaking any rules is still unclear. He hasn’t told the company anything directly, and he hasn’t responded to its requests for more information. He’s just talking to the media about the issue. That includes inviting The Washington Post and local blog DCist to personally witness his sting outside the Mayflower Hotel.

The sting involved Linton personally using Uber’s mobile application to order a sedan (from his DC office, apparently). It arrived as scheduled, and took him to the Mayflower Hotel. Then, Linton’s Taxi Commissioner officers surrounded the car, handed the driver a variety of fines, and impounded the driver’s vehicle. “We did it,” Linton told a local ABC station later that day, “to send a message to drivers who are signing up with Uber that we are going to enforce our laws.” ....

Linton, who doesn’t normally lead stings in person, told a local NBC outlet yesterday that “the primary issue is that they are trying to operate as a limousine company, using taxi rules, and it can’t be done.” Limos in DC decide on rates with passengers before the start of the trip, whereas the taxis charge based on distance (and a few other fees), based on Commission-set rates — at least according to him. So Uber would need to install meters like taxis in order to operate within district limits, or else change from its GPS-derived mileage charge to one-off negotiations with passengers?

Hold on, chapter 12.99 of the DC taxi regulations includes a section that defines sedans differently than regular limos:

Sedan – a for-hire vehicle designed to carry fewer than six (6) passengers, excluding the driver, which charges for service on the basis of time and mileage (effective May 1, 2008).

This line specifically says that sedans are able to charge taxi-style for their services, and indeed many of the non-Uber ones in operation already do this. How is Uber breaking the law in the way that Linton is describing above? Oh, and also, contrary to what you might think from Linton’s description, Uber doesn’t actually employee the drivers, it partners with existing, licensed drivers and companies.

IMHO impounding the vehicle sounds like depriving a person of their liberty and property without due process.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dr-gridlock/wp/2015/06/29/ron-linton-former-chairman-of-d-c-taxicab-commission-has-died/

dccruise

6/29/2015 6:11 PM EST [Edited]

It's not nice to speak ill of the dead but let's be honest: 

1. For years, the required taxi-drivers course was not offered, limiting the supply of drivers.
2. I understand that the signs on the tops of DC taxis cost $500 to install. But they only face forward, so someone approaching a taxi from the side (say, from a hotel) or rear (for example, if the taxi is stopped up ahead) cannot see the sign.
3. The city forced taxi drivers to spend hundreds of dollars to repaint decades-old, re-purposed police cars with a quarter million miles on the odometer. Yet Uber's and Lyft's success proves that a car's paint job has nothing to do with customers' acceptance.
4. Linton and the city forced taxis to install a needlessly elaborate credit-card acceptance device (do riders REALLY need to be able to watch TV?) that drivers hate and riders cannot rely upon. Whether to accept credit cards should have been left to owners as a business decision. After all, taxis have to compete with Uber and Lyft which both accept electronic payment.
5. Linton strove to kill off Uber and Lyft (which users love) in favor of DCtaxis (which users despise).
6. Hailo (hailo.com) provided a taxi app in DC for awhile and failed. Hopefully the city didn't and won't spend any money trying to create one itself.
7. The MWAA STILL grants a monopoly to a taxi company at Dulles and prevents other taxis from picking up airport passengers. Forcing taxis to drive empty is an incredible waste of fuel and needlessly contributes to air pollution. Why didn't Linton work to eliminate that restriction?
8. Now MWAA wants to regulate and tax Uber and Lyft even though they provide customers to the airports at no cost.