Comments on Weekend links: WMATA on the move - Greater Greater Washington

Comment by kk

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 22:10:25 EDT

@ oboe

Another reason for the poor possibly not having a job is transportation, there are many places in the suburbs that could be hiring but they can not reach them.

Comment by Doug

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 05:33:54 EDT

We really need to get some of those futurama style suicide booths in this city.

Comment by Sand Box John

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 14:20:09 EDT

@ Lucre
Yes. The dcist.com blog post linked to in the quick links is titled: Take a Poorly Spelled Tour of Metro's New 7000-Series Rail Cars

Comment by oboe

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 13:20:34 EDT

"And with the city's competitive job market, Lazere says, it can be tough for those without advanced degrees to find work: 'The city is prospering but it's prospering in a way where a lot of people are being left behind.'"

Ok, at the risk of sounding insensitive here, when you have a group of very poor people living--many of them poor for generations--in a city, and then you add tens of thousands of wealthier middle-class people to that city, the people who have been living in poverty for generations have not been "left behind". They are, in fact, much better off than they were beforehand.

I can't imagine anyone is surprised that DC has one of the greatest income disparities in the country. But I hate the way the problem is framed. It's kind of fatuous to type up the 1 millionth story observing that there are a ton of very poor people in DC, that there are a lot of very rich people in DC, then include a photo of a sad guy with an empty wallet, a quote by the ubiquitous Ed Lazere to the effect that "It's bad there are wealthy people living in DC because there are poor people living in DC", then call it a day...

As though the lawyers, doctors, and knowledge-workers who are moving into newly built housing in DC are somehow crowding the poor and chronically unemployed out of entry-level service jobs in the city. One can make a case that there's some long-term displacement that affects renters as middle-class residents pour into DC, but the effects at the low-end of the labor market are unambiguously good.

The two main problems that drive unemployment among poor folks who live in the city, and are looking for work in the city are a) there are few such jobs compared with the suburbs; and b) many job-seekers lack soft skills because they grew up without any neighbors to model such skills.

If you want to create entry-level jobs in the city for poor people who live in the city, you need to erect as much middle-class housing as you can, as fast as you can.

The answer is not, as Lazere seems to imply, to put a moratorium on the number of non-poor people allowed to move into the city, and build as many public housing projects as possible.

Comment by OctaviusIII

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 02:18:46 EDT

Why not use a variant of San Francisco's "wave" shelters? Solar-powered with built-in real-time arrival displays, the wave shelters are expensive but pay for themselves.

Comment by Lucre

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 18:58:44 EDT

Anyone else notice that the video tour of the 7000 series car includes a digital display listing destinations including "Farrabut North" and "Woodlley Park"?

Comment by ontarioroader

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 13:18:56 EDT

I agree with Falls Church, above. If the bus shelter display boards are just based off Nextbus data then why bother. Improve Nextbus first - make it reliable then work on displaying that data publicly at bus shelters.

Comment by VA Commuter

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 12:17:58 EDT

And when they put the Express Bus in service, suicidal people will just jump in front of that instead of the Metro. Easy!

Comment by Sand Box John

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 10:50:42 EDT

All three of the 7k series video clips:

24 second tease, "Are you as curious as we are?"

7000 Series Railcar Toured By GM Richard Sarles

7000 Series Railcar Tour B Roll (No sound)

A thank you goes out to Benjamin R. Freed for providing the link the still pictures WMATA has posted at their flicker photostream.

Comment by Crikey7

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 19:06:54 EDT

I believe a certain PG County council person has demonstrated her credentials for driving a 155 mp bus.

Comment by Falls Church

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 16:48:31 EDT

Are the bus signs going to be based on Nextbus? If so, it seems like wmata would be better off improving the accuracy of nextbus than building signs that will display "ghost buses" and widely inaccurate times. In falls church, it's often more accurate to rely on the published schedule than nextbus at offpeak times.