DC Residents: Keep DDOT and DC Planning Heads in Gray Administration

Cleveland Park Metro photo by Bill Adler
This is the iconic photo of the Cleveland Park Listserv.

While the question, "Would Michelle Rhee stay on a DC School Chancellor in the new Vincent Gray administration?" loomed large, other key figures in DC have yet to have their futures determined. And what happens to these other Adrian Fenty administration employees, including Transportation chief Gabe Klein and Office of Planning Director Harriet Tregoning, may shape the District's future in significant ways. Gabe Klein has been the force behind many of DC's transportation innovations over the past four years, including streetcars, bike share and solar powered parking meters -- not mention keeping DC's aging transportation infrastructure humming. Harriet Tregoning has spent time and energy on revising DC's zoning codes to help preserve and greenify urban neighborhoods.

There's an effort to keep both Gabe Klein and Harriet Tregoning in their current positions in the new Gray administration. Here's a post that appeared on the Cleveland Park Listserv by Herb Caudill on that subject:

The "Committee of 100" has asked mayor-elect Gray to fire Harriet Tregoning and Gabe Klein, who have been at the forefront of DC's recent progress towards smarter growth and transportation policy. You can read their full letter here:

David Alpert of Greater Greater Washington argues that the Committee's leadership is:

"...nostalgic for the days when the Committee of 100, Federation of Citizens' Associations, ward Democratic committees, and other traditional groups had the only a real voice to 'speak for' the residents of DC, even if they never really asked those residents their opinions. Today, residents can speak for themselves, and they are speaking: in favor of OP's and DDOT's work, and in favor of Harriet Tregoning and Gabe Klein."

I hope Gray keeps Tregoning and Klein. They've both done so much to make this city more livable and to make DC government more transparent, responsive, and accountable. If you agree, please sign the petition here.

The Federal Government Wants Your Opinion on Transportation Planning

The National Capital Planning Commission is distributing an email flyer inviting the public to participate in an open forum on transportation policy.  The DC's government's 20-year city planning document, the Comprehensive Plan, is overdue for an update, and one chapter of that plan, dealing with "the Federal Element" and specifically, how federal workers use the regional transportation network to get to their jobs, will be the topic of the forum.

Date: Tuesday, November 16
Time: 5:30 - 7:30 PM
Location: National Capital Planning Commission
401 9th Street, NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC 20004
RSVP: CompPlan (at) NCPC (dot) gov (RSVPs are encouraged but not required)

If you'd like to learn more about the policy questions under consideration before you attend the forum on Tuesday, you can tune into a live online chat earlier that day, hosted by David Alpert, the editor of the urban planning blog Greater Greater Washington and featuring guest David Zaidner, NCPC's Senior Urban Planner. The online chat will be on from noon to 1pm on Tuesday, November 16 at the Greater Greater Washington site.