Height of Folly: Why Housing in Washington, D.C., Is So Awful
The nation's capital is a swamp of dumb rules and jumbled zoning
laws. Let's fix them.   This engraving from the pages of a 1870s
Harper's magazine shows Washington, D.C., with nearly the same
height restrictions we have today; WIKIMEDIA COMMONS  If D.C.
Mayor Vincent Gray and Rep. Darrell Issa get their way, Congress
may finally relax the 102-year-old law that limits most building
heights in Washington D.C. to no more than 130 feet. This would
be a victory for good urban planning in the District, though a
small one: Gray and Issa are saying that in most cases only
about one additional story of development would be allowed.  But
the real crisis of land use in Washington goes way beyond the
height limit. It's that the District's planning and zoning
apparatus is overall hostile to new development, usually
allowing far less building that would be permitted by the
Heights of Buildings Act of 1910. And while D.C.'s planning
rules are restrictive, they