Newsroom

Feb 27, 2014

In 2013 the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors appointed Richard R. Bowers Jr. as the county’s fire chief. A 35-year veteran of the Montgomery County Md. Fire and Rescue Service Bowers served as MCFRS fire chief from 2008 to 2013. A Pentagon and Hurricane Katrina New Orleans Citation Award recipient he was Montgomery County’s Firefighter of the Year in 1985 and received the Marvin Gibbons Award for Excellence in Firefighter I – Recruit Class 35-1977. Bowers attended the University of Marylan​

Feb 25, 2014

After a period of flat job growth the National Capital Region’s economy is expected to rebound and area leaders are looking at ways to work together to support and sustain this expected growth. Officials gathered on February 11 at George Mason University’s Arlington campus to hear a presentation by Dr. Stephen Fuller on the region’s economy .

Feb 21, 2014

Since the Great Recession it is about forty percent more difficult to find a job in our region. This probably sounds both accurate and a little surprising because yes the recession was bad but there has been so much reporting the booming economy during the recovery.

Jan 31, 2014

Region Forward Coalition Vice-Chair & District of Columbia Planning Director Harriet Tregoning and Transportation Planning Board Member & Bowie City Councilman Todd Turner appeared with COG Executive Director Chuck Bean on NBC4’s public affairs talkshow Viewpoint this past Sunday. They discussed our newest planning reports Place + Opportunity and the Regional Transportation Priorities Plan . These reports work together to plan land use activities alongside transportation infrastructure. Watch their discussion below.

Jan 29, 2014

Who does not like a shorter commute? Communities throughout Metropolitan Washington have worked diligently to create a network of Activity Centers that dexterously increase livability –including less time spent on congested roads and packed Metro cars- while enabling our economy to grow. Activity Centers are places that concentrate jobs housing retail and amenities. This approach helps each community get more benefit out of major investments like roads transit service development incentives​

Jan 28, 2014

One approach to ensuring a healthier environment in the District of Columbia and our local waters involves constructing enormous tunnels to collect stormwater and sewage from select portions of the city so that it can be treated at the Blue Plains Wastewater Treatment Plant rather than overflowing into our waterways. This approach is described in DC Water’s Clean Rivers Project .

Jan 28, 2014

Last Friday the Region Forward Coalition met for the first time in 2014 to celebrate the completion of the Place + Opportunity report and to identify the areas of focus for the new year. Greenbelt Mayor Emmett Jordan and District of Columbia Planning Director Harriet Tregoning – Co Chairs of the Coalition – started the conversation by discussing how new investments in infrastructure can be leveraged to support our shared regional goals.

Jan 16, 2014

“For many people this is a neighborhood where you can live you can work you can shop you can have lots of cultural and recreational choices all in the same place” explains Harriet Tregoning Director of the District of Columbia Office of Planning in describing NoMA in a new video from COG and Mobility Lab. She notes that these qualities were created in NoMA a neighborhood in Northeast DC within less than a decade through transit land use and zoning decisions.

Jan 14, 2014

Atlanta has Livable Centers. San Francisco has Priority Development Areas. And here in D.C. we have Activity Centers. Different terms similar concepts: places or hubs in large metropolitan areas where future growth is designated encouraged and concentrated.

Jan 13, 2014

Melissa S. Peacor is the County Executive of Prince William County Virginia. She has worked for Prince William County since 1985 following jobs with the Seattle Wash. Economic Development Office and the City of Glendale Ariz. Strategic Planning Office. Peacor is also currently Chair of COG’s Chief Administrative Officers (CAO) Committee of city and county managers.