Re: Streetcar to Silver Spring

This is one of the reasons why I think all the various streetcar / light rail projects being proposed or build in the Washington should agree on common rolling stock type. Platform height, car width / height, current collection methods, traction voltage.

by Sand Box John on Nov 18, 2011 8:29 am • link • report

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/arts-and-lifestyle/2011/11/jane-jacobs-and-power-women-planners/502/

Maybe this was already in the links. I don't know. But in testerone fueled culture of GGW, maybe a useful reminder.

by charlie on Nov 18, 2011 8:32 am • link • report

Agreed on the Streetcar, including the Columbia Pike system. Sometime in the future, that line may need to be extended over the 14th Street bridge.

Similarly, the region should be looking to extensions of streetcar lines out the major radial roads to places like Bethesda and Rockville, Kensington and Wheaton, Silver Spring and White Oak, Hyattsville and College Park etc. A strong and redundant system will benefit all involved, despite the investment it will take to realize.

by William on Nov 18, 2011 8:49 am • link • report

A streetcar or dedicated bus lanes (maybe BRT) for Georgia Avenue would be great. It's so clogged with cars and buses and no one goes anywhere on Georgia Ave. This would actually allow for movement on that historical road.

by dc denizen on Nov 18, 2011 9:23 am • link • report

The Mt. Rainier MUTC plan has provisions for a streetcar in it, but as far as I know no city or county leaders have been pushing for it. Many residents along Rt. 1 think the Phase II streetcar line should link all the way to College Park. In the meantime, let's get BRT rolling on Rt. 1/RI Ave. There is no need what-so-ever for RIA to be 3 lanes once inside DC. Make it a dedicated bus/bike lane all the way to (at least) Logan Circle.

I've brought up the Prostitution issue @ MR city council meetings. Within the last year a sign went up @ RIA and Eastern stating something to the effect of "Prostitution is not tolerated and will be prosecuted" as if a sign is something that stops prostitution or that John's and prostitutes didn't already know that it was illegal. It's the 2nd sign people coming from DC see and it's absolutely the wrong way to go about discouraging the behavior.

by thump on Nov 18, 2011 9:29 am • link • report

That person needs to take a chill pill with regard to the meters. I started to read it, but couldn't finish. I don't think his arguments hold much water.

by RiverCrossing on Nov 18, 2011 9:40 am • link • report

+1 Sand Box John

Current collection methods may be a bit of a sticky issue, but my understanding is that the voltage/frequency is the more important issue, and that every vehicle will likely still have a pantograph, even if a secondary current collection system is also installed.

But, yes. The agencies should coordinate. It wouldn't be a horrible idea for WMATA to get involved at a minimal level, to establish regional interoperability standards. Even if WMATA doesn't operate the lines, their involvement could be useful to establish synergies between the separate systems.

by andrew on Nov 18, 2011 9:41 am • link • report

The NIMBY-ism regarding White Flint is kindof funny. It is by no means a particularly residential area. It's more complex than necessary to walk around there and the mall has been struggling for over a decade. Would they rather have a largely dead mall dragging down the area? I'm actually surprised that L&T and Bloomies want to stay. Neither store seems all that busy and the other upscale retail has been slowly fading away for a long time.

by Rich on Nov 18, 2011 9:50 am • link • report

LOL "testerone fueled culture of GGW"

by mike on Nov 18, 2011 9:56 am • link • report

Prince George's County will create "prostitution-free zones" along the DC border.

Traveling to a country of legal prostitution today, I was surprised to read this. I thought that by law, the entire US with the exception of North Las Vegas was a prostitution free zone....

by Jasper on Nov 18, 2011 10:00 am • link • report

@Sand Box John, From a few months ago:

http://www.wmata.com/about_metro/news/PressReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=4836

Metro is studying ways to integrate the various light rail systems planned for the region to make it easier for people to use and more cost-effective for the entities building and running the systems.

Metro is leading the regional coordination effort to ensure that riders can readily use the light rail and streetcar projects when they open, easily move from one system to another, or connect with existing Metrorail and regional bus service. The transit agency is working with project sponsors, including the District of Columbia, Arlington County, Fairfax County, Maryland and other jurisdictional partners on the LRT and Streetcar Interoperability Study.

http://www.wmata.com/about_metro/board_of_directors/board_docs/020411_LRTInterop.pdf

by MDE on Nov 18, 2011 10:07 am • link • report

re: streetcar interoperability...

Personally, I think the feds should refuse to fund any DC area's streetcar projects unless they're part of an integrated regional network. Federal vision and oversight is what got us Metro and we've revered back to our parochial ways since that round of funding came to an end. We need another carrot dangled in front of the three jurisdictions to ensure that we all march in lockstep in the same direction when it comes to a regional transit vision. That, or strong regional governance funding transit protects via a dedicated (sales tax? fuel tax?) funding stream.

by MDE on Nov 18, 2011 10:12 am • link • report

@MDE RE:Funding - Congestion-pricing.

by dc denizen on Nov 18, 2011 10:16 am • link • report

This streetcar interoperability thing is why we need WMATA to do regional transit planning; piecemeal jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction planning is just too likely to lead to bad choices.

http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/12531/wmata-should-be-a-leader-in-transit-planning/

by David Alpert on Nov 18, 2011 10:16 am • link • report

So now all Parking Meters must be created equal? What a waste of time and energy. This is what an entitlement trained society leads to: Trivia over Substance and Argument over Imagination.

by Pelham1861 on Nov 18, 2011 10:21 am • link • report

Whatever minimal credibility the parking meter poster had went out the window after this little gem:

Forget trying to get improved services, we are just trying to get the standard level of things that the rest of the city enjoys - like cupcakes and parking meters.

Yes, the lack of cupcakes is tragic.

by dcd on Nov 18, 2011 10:29 am • link • report

Interesting to see that White Flint might "de-mall". Going the way of Landover Mall and Landmark Mall? While not a "dead mall" it always seemed to be struggling compared to Montgomery Mall or Wheaton Plaza. Quite a bit smaller than the other two, and the loss of Borders certainly doesn't help.

Anyone who lived here in the 1970s may remember that Mazza Gallerie was built at roughly the same time as White Flint. IIRC, it took Mazza Gallerie three years to be completed, and struggled quite a bit for its first decade or two. White Flint on the other hand seemed to spring up overnight and thrived in its first decade. But it looks like Mazza Gallerie has the last laugh.

by Frank IBC on Nov 18, 2011 10:31 am • link • report

If the existing Bloomingdales and Lord & Taylor structures are saved while the rest of the mall is demolished, I wonder how any new street grids will accommodate their seemingly random angles to Rockville Pike and any east-west streets.

by Frank IBC on Nov 18, 2011 10:44 am • link • report

For observers of dead and dying malls, DeadMalls.com is a great read.

http://deadmalls.com/features.html

Among the malls listed for the DC area:

Dead and buried: Capital Plaza, Landover Mall, Rockville Mall

Dying: Allentown Outlet Mall, Laurel Mall, Landmark Mall, Manassas Mall, Seven Corners Shopping Center

by Frank IBC on Nov 18, 2011 10:58 am • link • report

The shift may signal the displacement of poverty from DC to the suburbs.

I think it would be more accurate to say displacement of "poor people." We're talking about actual people being displaced, not some abstract concept of poverty.

by Falls Church on Nov 18, 2011 11:01 am • link • report

except displacement of poverty and displacement of poor people are not precisely the same thing. If someone already living in the suburbs becomes poor, or if someone poor from outside the metro area (or from outside the country) moves to the suburbs, you've got poverty moving to the suburbs, without actual movement of poor people from the city. In PG it may be mostly movement of former DC residents - but in Fairfax I suspect most of the people on food stamps have never lived in an urban jurisdiction in this region.

by AWalkerInTheCity on Nov 18, 2011 11:20 am • link • report

Some more "dead malls" not listed on that website:

Virginia: Springfield Mall

Maryland: City Place (Silver Spring)

DC: Georgetown Park, The Shops at National Place, Old Post Office Pavilion.

by Frank IBC on Nov 18, 2011 11:30 am • link • report

Who in DC government thought that installing the old parking meters wasn't going to result in this kind of blowback? This is exactly the kind of issue that grows legs and becomes a symbol and has the potential to get people very upset. If the city didn't have the money for whatever the current standard of meter is, then they should have held off installing meters. The bad will they are greating is not insignificant.

These kind of symbolic issues catch on partly because they aren't very deep. I can't really imagine any explanation that is going to have people who found this upsetting changing their minds because the situation is more complicated than they thought.

I also was not impressed by the cupcake thing. City services should be provided in an equitable manner across the city. The city should also help promote thriving business districts that meet the needs of residents in the community. But cupcakes? I'm not really concerned about equitable distribution of whatever the latest over hyped trend in the market place is.

by Kate W on Nov 18, 2011 11:49 am • link • report

except displacement of poverty and displacement of poor people are not precisely the same thing

That's correct. That's why I said it would be more accurate to say displacement of "poor people" as that's what was said in the link:

Analysts attributed the decline to an exodus of low-income D.C. residents to the Washington suburbs, particularly Prince George's County, as many were unable to afford the skyrocketing cost of living in the District. "We're seeing more gentrification," said Daraius Irani, an economist at Towson University. "The population has shifted. There's been an outward migration.

In Fairfax, it doesn't seem likely that the increase in food stamps is caused by people who already live there becoming poor. At 4.5%, Fairfax's unemployment rate is exceedingly low and the economy remains one of the strongest in the country.

by Falls Church on Nov 18, 2011 11:59 am • link • report

strongest in the country is relative - even at 4.5% thats higher than FFX's rate was during boom times. Anyway, its one thing to explain the decline in the districts rate, with the increase in Md and Vas rates.

since these are statewide, maybe there has been no increase in food stamps in NoVa - maybe thats all in other parts of Va. If not, it could be migrants from other regions, or immigrants. That may be completely independent of anything happening in DC - or it could be that central american immigrants who otherwise might have moved to DC are now moving in even larger numbers to NoVa, because of rising housing prices in parts of DC that have been heavily hispanic in the past. That would represent a shift in poverty,but not actual displacement of existing poor residents. Anyway, without county by county data, this is all speculation.

by AWalkerInTheCity on Nov 18, 2011 12:11 pm • link • report

"...Four new office buildings, ranging from 200 to 300 feet tall, would be built, along with a 300-room hotel, 1 million square feet of shopping and restaurant space, and more than a dozen apartment complexes totaling 2,500 new bedrooms that would be built along a new grid of streets..."

Buildings with HEIGHT instead of the usual boring 10-story stumps we always get in this region.

I like this project already.

by ceefer66 on Nov 18, 2011 12:12 pm • link • report

While the idea of a regional train system that could run from downtown all the way through the suburbs is a great idea, we already have a system that does that. It's called Metro.

DC predicts a 1/3 increase in trips within the District by 2030. The point of the streetcar system is to connect DC neighborhoods, primarily to fill those gaps in the Metro map. The streetcar plan is just as much about economic development as it is about transportation. In some instances, extending the proposed DC Streetcar over into Silver Spring and possibly Hyattsville would make a lot of sense. However, creating a regional trolley network would be a backwards step. If we really do need improvements to our regional transit network (and we do) then we should focus on larger solutions than using neighborhood streetcars.

by Adam L on Nov 18, 2011 12:12 pm • link • report

@Falls Church,

The suburbanization of poverty in the DC region is a good thing, whether you're an urban advocate, or a poverty advocate. Pretty much every dysfunction you see in DC is a result of massive concentrated poverty in DC. Until DC's poverty rate comes down, it will remain hugely dysfunctional.

By having a growing share of poor people living in MD and VA, it forces those comparatively wealthy states to actually pay their fair share, and it establishes the poor as a more powerful constituency in those states.

by oboe on Nov 18, 2011 12:13 pm • link • report

@oboe - to the extent that they move to MoCo, FFX, or Loudoun the poor will benefit from more functional communities, and especially better k-12 education. To the extent they move to PG, maybe not. PWC, well you could start a long debate on that I suspect.

as for state wide politics - there are already considerable poor constituencies in both states. In virginia notably folks who live in Richmond, hampton roads, and in rural areas (there are poor folks in Arlington and Alexandria, but AFAICT their numbers are declining due to the same trends impacting the distric) In maryland of course there is baltimore, as well as rural areas.

The key limits on the political influence of the poor in those states has to do with low voter turnout, more than sheer numbers, IMO.

by AWalkerInTheCity on Nov 18, 2011 12:20 pm • link • report

RE: Meters

I for one am glad theyre reusing old meters and not wasting money on more news ones while the old ones rot.

And it's perfectly equitable. To get a new meter, you must use an old one for at least 10 years, just like everyone else.

Fair is fair.

by JJJJJ on Nov 18, 2011 12:42 pm • link • report

The problem with poor people moving to the suburbs is that they where designed for people who can afford cars. All the more reason to move forward right away with a regional street car system. The sooner we move forward with a plan the brighter this region's outlook will be in in both immediate jobs and long term economic viability. You can't pave your way through the population increases that are coming our way.

by Thayer-D on Nov 18, 2011 12:55 pm • link • report

@RiverCrossing and @dcd, I am happy to learn you are too busy to read to the end of the Congress Heights on the Rise (CHotR) post about how things tend to go for residents EotR. Here are three things you missed:

1. Parking meters installed without any notification or discussion with neighbors and retailers. Notify the ANC? Ha! It appears they did not even notify the CM, much less hold a community meeting where a bunch of EotR riff raff might show up.

2. Technology is in place in other neighborhoods that accept both coins (like these dinosaurs) and credit cards on these parking meter stems, but that technology is not extended to this neighborhood. It's a fair question to ask, "Why not?"

3. The cupcakes objection you found so objectionable is actually right on target--the complaint was that when a mobile cupcake truck comes EotR, it parks behind the fence at St. E's, and the residents are banned by security from walking 20 feet from the sidewalk to where the truck was parked because, well, do you think residents living nearby would be comfortable mingling with the kind of people who drive in to work on the old St. E's campus and pay $4 for a cupcake off a truck? The cupcake purveyor thought the complaint was well-founded, but obviously had not checked with you first. You'd have informed her, "Let them eat moonpies!"

And a bunch of other stuff, but I know you are too busy to follow along....

Your fact-free snap judgments are right on target. These old parking meters are more than good enough for Anacostia. Tell those EotR bloggers to kwitcher bitchin'.

by Trulee Pist on Nov 18, 2011 1:07 pm • link • report

Oh, and one more thing. It looks like it's possible DDOT decided Capitol Heights on the Rise was right, and your too-easy dismissal of her complaint was wrong, too.

@TheAdvoc8teThe Advoc8te

The parking heads are gone from #AnacostiaDC ! http://pic.twitter.com/FAnq4mQH

by Trulee Pist on Nov 18, 2011 1:42 pm • link • report

I'm sure part of the rationale for using the old meters which are coin only was because its only 75 cents an hour. That's much easier than in other areas where the rates are much higher.

by H Street Landlord on Nov 18, 2011 1:53 pm • link • report

@Adam L:

The issue I am concerned with is equipment compatibility. If all of the various streetcar/light rail systems are built to a common standard, they can used those connections to share equipment. The connections would not necessarily be used for operating lines that have terminals deep within adjacent jurisdiction.

by Sand Box John on Nov 18, 2011 2:19 pm • link • report

I would certainly like to hear an explanation because I don't understand why we didn't get new meters w/the credit card swipe.

And no, there is nothing remotely "great" about using old broke down-looking (yes looking) meters. They should've just left parking free until they were able to install better ones. We do have credit cards EOTR

by HogWash on Nov 18, 2011 2:30 pm • link • report

@H Street Landlord, you might be right, but it might be there was no "rationale" for this screw-up...I say that, because 48 hours after CHotR called DDOT on this, the meters were removed.

I think the lesson learned is some people get things done (CHotR), others stand on the sidelines and say, "I would not have gone about it that way. Cupcakes, ha!" And at least in this one instance, The Advoc8te at CHotR won, the naysayers can get lost.

As Loose Lips characterized it over at WCP, this is an excellent example of citizen journalism.

by Trulee Pist on Nov 18, 2011 2:32 pm • link • report

BTW, why in the WORLD is there paid parking in Anacostia on a Saturday?

by HogWash on Nov 18, 2011 2:33 pm • link • report

Perhaps TruleeP & C.H.O.T.R. would feel Anacostia was more included and more like Tenley Town if the rates remained at 7.5 minutes/25 cents - the exact current rate for COIN ONLY operated meters on 40th sT NW and Fort Dr. NW in Tenley.

by Tina on Nov 18, 2011 2:39 pm • link • report

@Tina, (1.) As you can see in CHotR's photos, these new Anacostia meters WERE set for 7.5 minute/25 cents, and (2.) The meters are GONE now, so maybe DDOT recognized the error of their ways, thanks to CHotR, and (3.) You know who DOES pay 75 cents an hour for parking? Visitors to 8th St SE/Barracks Row, where the under-the-overpass parking is CHEAP at 75 cents an hour (but those CHEAP parking rates did not require 8th St SE/Barracks Row to put up with these hoopdy old parking meters).

Oh, and (4.) Who in the world would ever want their neighborhood to be more like Tenley Town? Eeeek.

by Trulee Pist on Nov 18, 2011 3:20 pm • link • report

@TruleeP -1)CHOTR complained Anacostia was being marginalized and not treated like other places in DC* b/c coin operated meters were going in.

*Tenley is a neighborhood in upper NW, an area oft complained about as having better services and better treatment compared to other areas.

2) CHOTR updated the post to include the information that the meters set to go in Anacostia were to have the rate of 75cents/hr., not $8/hr** as the labels indicated.

**the rate for the coin only meters in Tenely I gave as an example to show that Anacostia is not being marginalized compared to other areas with regards to parking meters.

3) No one has given reliable information as to why the meters were removed. Its just as likely as any other speculation that they're getting updated stickers to reflect the rate of 75cents/hr and will be returned.

4) If you and CHOTR complains about Anacostia being marginalized and treated worse than the rest of the city b/c of parking meters then be prepared to be given examples of other neighborhoods who are recieving the same or worse -one might consider a coin only operated meter with a rate of $8/hr to be 10.67 times worse then a 75 cents/hr coin op meter.

It just comes across as whining.

by Tina on Nov 18, 2011 4:04 pm • link • report

^ $2/hr, not 8. (8 quaters instead of 3; a 2.67 times more inconvient parking meter compared to 75cents/hr)

by Tina on Nov 18, 2011 4:19 pm • link • report

1. Parking meters installed without any notification or discussion with neighbors and retailers. Notify the ANC? Ha! It appears they did not even notify the CM, much less hold a community meeting where a bunch of EotR riff raff might show up.

Perhaps it's you who didn't read carefully. The CHotR post was whining about the quality of the meters, nto the fact of them. Yes, some passing reference was made to the fact of the meters, but the real complaint was, "Why can't we have new stuff, like the other kids?!" (There's an easy answer to that question, by the way.)

2. Technology is in place in other neighborhoods that accept both coins (like these dinosaurs) and credit cards on these parking meter stems, but that technology is not extended to this neighborhood. It's a fair question to ask, "Why not?"

Fair enough. Perhaps, if the complaint wasn't so whiny and overwrought, I'd have taken it more seriously. But once again, there's a pretty easy answer for that.

3. The cupcakes objection you found so objectionable is actually right on target--the complaint was that when a mobile cupcake truck comes EotR, it parks behind the fence at St. E's, and the residents are banned by security from walking 20 feet from the sidewalk to where the truck was parked because, well, do you think residents living nearby would be comfortable mingling with the kind of people who drive in to work on the old St. E's campus and pay $4 for a cupcake off a truck? The cupcake purveyor thought the complaint was well-founded, but obviously had not checked with you first. You'd have informed her, "Let them eat moonpies!"

What's so absurd about the cupcake complaint is that in a complaint about unfair allocation of city resources, the point the blogger makes to buttress bus arguments is that in accition, they don't have fair access to handheld, delicious pastries. We'll convene a special prosecutor to investigate immediately.

As you can see in CHotR's photos, these new Anacostia meters WERE set for 7.5 minute/25 cents, and (2.) The meters are GONE now, so maybe DDOT recognized the error of their ways, thanks to CHotR,

Since you're such an avid reader of CHotRm I'm surprised you missed the update:

"Update 11/18: According to @DDOTDC they will be coming out today to fix the meters because either the signage is wrong or the heads were installed improperly. Currently the posted meter rates are 25 cents per every 7 1/2 minutes. The correct rate is 75cents per hour."

So, it doesn't appear that the meters are going to be removed permanently - in fact, they'll be changed to reflect the $.75/hr. fee. Can I assume you are outraged that once again, CHotR is being treated differently than the other kids, and will march on the Wilson Building to demand that the rates be $.25 for 7.5 minutes? That's what others get, after all. Fair's fair.

by dcd on Nov 18, 2011 4:32 pm • link • report

Actually, my apologies - it does appear that the meters will be removed permanently.

http://ddotdish.com/t2011/11/18/parking-meters-in-anacostia

by dcd on Nov 18, 2011 4:40 pm • link • report

"Tenley is...an area oft complained about as having better services and better treatment compared to other areas."

I guess that's what you would call a "left-handed complaint". ;)

by Frank IBC on Nov 18, 2011 4:46 pm • link • report

@dcd, that press release by d. states that when the street upgrades are complete and its time to install meters -"funding will be sought to acquire the new high tech ones" (paraphrase)- i guess the funding for the high tech meters to service low parking rates in Anancostia will come from low-tech meters with high rates in other neighborhoods-unequitable indeed.

by Tina on Nov 18, 2011 5:16 pm • link • report

@dcd, take one minute to read the linked article. The complaint about cupcakes was that when the Lobstah truck and the mobile cupcakery finally came to Ward 8 (after a lot of agitating by CHotR for them to do so, BTW), they did not stop at the Big Chair or at curb outside St. E's, but rather parked in the parking lot at St E's, about 8 or 10 steps inside the gate. So far, no harm, no foul.

Then when CHotR tried to walk from the sidewalk to the trucks, she was stopped by a security guard, told that her DC License was "not good enough" ID to get her over to the trucks, and generally treated like any sidewalk stroller in W8 is treated by officious DC employees. W8 pedestrian = prima facie a security risk, unworthy of purchasing lobstah or other delectables.

http://bit.ly/vUFCtc

Get it? Not about cupcakes at all, see? It's about the way a DC agency's security guard blocking access to public property treats residents of W8. Oh, and I do so believe that when and if US Dept of Homeland Security moves in, that will be a big boon and welcoming new neighbor in W8.

by Trulee Pist on Nov 18, 2011 6:30 pm • link • report

@ dcd. Perhaps your reading comprehension falls below that of your random DDOT PR official.

You helpfully corrected my reading of CHotR by saying, Perhaps it's you who didn't read carefully. The CHotR post was whining about the quality of the meters, nto [sic] the fact of them.

But DDOT's very first "sorry about that" in the DDOT post you linked to yourself states: They were installed without notice to the community, an oversight I apologize for on behalf of DDOT. So DDOT got it, you did not.

Look, do you really, truly want to argue that DC government officials mostly accord the same respect to some Joe Schmoe resident in Anacostia that they routinely show a resident walking the sidewalk and entering public property in, let's say, Tenley Town? Do you think the Tenley Town ANC is notified before street parking changes are made? That's what this is all about. Not cupcakes, sweetie.

One City, brother.

by Trulee Pist on Nov 18, 2011 6:44 pm • link • report

@dcd, a couple of times you mention "there's an easy answer" to why W8 is treated so shabbily. But you forgot to provide that "easy answer." I am waiting breathlessly. Please elucidate: What's that "easy answer."

by Trulee Pist on Nov 18, 2011 6:50 pm • link • report

@TruleeP- so, do you want Tenley to be used as a standard of treatment or not? Your message is contradictory:

Who in the world would ever want their neighborhood to be more like Tenley Town? Eeeek.

Followed by:

...want to argue that DC government officials mostly accord the same respect to...resident[s] in Anacostia that they routinely show a resident... in, let's say, Tenley Town?

Sounds like you think quality of life would improve for Anaostia rez's if Anacostia were more like Tenely.

Look, Tenley has the coin only op meters for 7.5 mins/25cents. If Tenley is your standard, as your last comment indicates, of how

DC government officials...accord...respect to...a resident and then you opine that residents in Anacostia are marginalized it would behoove you to chose something other then coin op parking meters as a starting point for that complaint, which is what the CHOTR article did.

The cupcake scandal is separate and not related. Why? Because of the fact that coin only op meters are found all over the city including Tenley, (the apparent standard chosen by you as indicated in your comment above) many at rates much higher than those planned for Anacostia.

To claim Anacostia was singled out as a neighborhood for these type of meters as evidence of systemic marginalization is inaccurate and comes off as petty and whiny. Any conflation of the issue with the cupcakes and the parking meters weakens and muddies the message of the cupcake complaint.

DC gov has made mistakes in notifying ANCs at some point in every ward.

The fact that DC gov responded immediately and with an apology to the error of prematurely installing meters on MLK Ave is evidence that Anacostia is NOT systemically marginalized. It's evidence that the DC gov listens to and responds immediately when notified by residents of Anacostia that something went wrong.Its not evidence that d. was "trying to get away with something". Its evidence that d. made a mistake and corrected it when it was pointed out. The mistake being that the meters will go in later after street work is done and meetings w/ ANCs take place. That is, the mistake is not the installation of the meters, just the timing of their installation.

If its true that Anacostia is systemically marginalized by DC gov and not given the same respect as is found in say Tenley, this meter thing is not evidence for it.

by Tina on Nov 19, 2011 3:25 pm • link • report

@Tina, whatevs. You are right. Tenley Town is the 99%.

by Trulee Pist on Nov 19, 2011 10:23 pm • link • report

De-construct White Flint. Sounds like a great idea on the surface, but isn't the mall historic at this point? Seriously ... there's a reason why it's called the White Flint sector plan AND why the development in that area HAS been successful and why there's now a need for more housing and other amenities around there. I remember going to see the mall when it first opened ... and driving by cows grazing in the fields between the beltway and the new mall ... which seemed so far in the middle of nowhere. Development around it needs to be encouraged and embraced, but we need to think long and hard before we allow the destruction of the very place which made all the rest possible. Even in suburban Maryland, historic and historic resources are important. You might even argue that being so few there, they are even more important than in a place like Washington which is brimming over with historic resources. Also, economically, if anyone thinks White Flint isn't thriving ... just try driving into its parking lot this coming holiday season ...

by Lance on Nov 26, 2011 9:52 pm • link • report