Remote work has unstated benefits

A sign advertising retail and office space at 1629 K Street NW in downtown D.C. (Heather Long/The Washington Post)

The Jan. 20 editorial regarding office space use in downtown areas, “Office workers aren’t fully coming back. Smart cities are transforming downtown.,” didn’t mention the benefit to the environment of eliminating unnecessary commuting.

Compelling people to drag their bodies back and forth five days a week between two locations on the planet when this isn’t necessary (agreed, sometimes it is) must be near the top of the list of the most irrational and, on several levels, most wasteful things human beings have invented.

Allowing folks whose jobs permit them to work from home to do so and converting near-empty office buildings to residential use sounds like a win-win-win situation for those workers, people who need living space and, more important, our planet.

William C. Evans, Germantown

The editorial on downtowns missed a key component of infrastructure planning essential to attracting young families to a re-envisioned downtown D.C.: child care. Unfortunately, there aren’t many options downtown, so the city will need to cultivate and bring more child-development facilities online to meet the demand. Attempting to bring in more families with young children without adding more capacity simply will not work.

This is a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity for D.C. and other cities around the country to redesign spaces to be more family-friendly that will entertain and educate children of all ages.

The District’s early-learning community is pleased that Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) included child care in her recently unveiled DC’s Comeback Plan. We look forward to working with her to ensure child care and quality early learning are a part of D.C.’s new downtown.

Kimberly Perry, Washington

The writer is executive director, of DC Action and chair of Under 3 DC.