Happy Birthday Metrorail ! ! !

From Metro History (65.4 KB PDF file):

March 27: Six years, three months and 23 days after groundbreaking, Metrorail has its opening day. More than 51,000 persons ride free over the 4.2 miles of Metro’s Phase 1. Five stations open on Red Line from Rhode Island Ave to Farragut North.

March 29: On first day of revenue service, 19,913 passengers ride on 188 train trips. System is open 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays and closed on weekends.

by Sand Box John on Mar 27, 2012 8:47 am • link • report

That Washington Times article about Metro is hot stuff, but I doubt it will cause any changes.

by goldfish on Mar 27, 2012 8:49 am • link • report

DC has always been considered a southern city, not northeastern.

by TGEoA on Mar 27, 2012 8:50 am • link • report

Wow! Hot stuff indeed. I'm not sure, @goldfish, you may be right, but this is the sort of story that Congressional investigations are made on.

by oboe on Mar 27, 2012 8:51 am • link • report

It's always a good idea to cast a critical eye toward every word written by the Washington Times, but that WMATA story: wow. What a hopelessly messed-up organization.

Also, re: cyclist who killed a pedestrian in SF. How on earth can vehicular manslaughter be a misdemeanor?

by Anon on Mar 27, 2012 8:51 am • link • report

@TGEoA Why is D.C. on the Northeast Corridor then?

by WFY on Mar 27, 2012 8:55 am • link • report

@ WaTimes: It tickles me that many of the comments under the article complaining about racism within WMATA are equally racist. One City indeed.

I seriously wonder though how you change a hush hush culture like that though. Are there any organizational experts here?

by Jasper on Mar 27, 2012 8:59 am • link • report

TGEoA,
I think old saying is: “Northern Charm, Southern Efficiency”.

by RJ on Mar 27, 2012 9:03 am • link • report

@Jasper:

@ WaTimes: It tickles me that many of the comments under the article complaining about racism within WMATA are equally racist. One City indeed.

This *is* the Washington Times. Although the comments section over at the Post is no better. I'm not sure there are more than a trivial number of non-racist commenters on either paper's website, black or white.

by oboe on Mar 27, 2012 9:06 am • link • report

That Times article would be a lot better if they concentrated on the bad promotions/mismanagement (which is no doubt rampant) and less on peppering the article with race-baiting language. There is a lot of good information there that exposes what a lot of people suspect about the work culture at WMATA.

Also Jackie Jeter always seems ready and willing to give the dumbest, most inflammatory quote possible.

by MLD on Mar 27, 2012 9:13 am • link • report

@Jasper: actually the racist comments are useful. It is important to know what people are thinking, and there usually is a grain of truth behind them.

by goldfish on Mar 27, 2012 9:13 am • link • report

Also thought it was interesting that the union *votes* to determine whether they'll defend a given employee against disciplinary measures. So, for example, the union voted to defend the bus driver who stopped his bus at a red light and punched a police officer--in fact he's still working at Metro.

The woman who had her wallet stolen? Management decided to fire her for complaining about it, and the union membership voted against defending her. Twice.

There should be a bipartisan effort from Congress to force a housecleaning--from top to the bottom.

by oboe on Mar 27, 2012 9:15 am • link • report

(Interesting because in the past, I've heard a number of GGW commenters assert that the union has a legal obligation to defend all of its members. That's clearly not the case.)

by oboe on Mar 27, 2012 9:17 am • link • report

[This comment has been deleted for violating the comment policy.]

by TGEoA on Mar 27, 2012 9:18 am • link • report

re WMATA: I obviously don't know the legalities so I'll ask/put this out there: Can the jurisdictions in charge (from Congress to the counties) simply dissolve WMATA and form a new organization, thereby requiring everyone to reapply for their jobs, etc.? There's a limited pool of qualified candidates, so you'd end up with many of the same employees; but surely you could get rid of the worst and instill new management.

Am I just crazy?

by rdhd on Mar 27, 2012 9:20 am • link • report

@oboe, congressional housecleaning ain't gonna do squat. The rank and file will circle the wagons until it blows over; they will offer up a token scapegoat or two.

This problem is much deeper. It suggests structural issues: for example does WMATA have an inspector general?

by goldfish on Mar 27, 2012 9:20 am • link • report

The WMATA report has the ring of truth. People--insiders--have been saying these things, albeit in uncoordinated fashion, for years. It's a dysfunctional organization that needs a re-boot, not a shake-up.

And systemic racism of any kind isn't acceptable or legal. It's just not.

by Crickey7 on Mar 27, 2012 9:24 am • link • report

Re: Metro

The first step in organizational change is creating a sense of urgency. In the public sector, that usually comes about from external oversight groups like GAO, Congress, etc. You need not look farther than WMATA itself (or NASA) to see how org change typically happens. There's a very public failure (the 2009 crash; the Challenger disaster), that spawns a federal investigation/hearings, which creates the urgency necessary to drive the subsequent steps of change. In WMATA's (and NASA's) case they've actually made great strides in creating a culture of safety.

What's needed here is for someone like Sen. Mikulski to get involved like she did on the safety issue. There's a great opportunity for her to work with Gov. McDonnell who supposedly is all about WMATA reform and this "reverse discrimination" issue is picture perfect for a Republican governor. Of course, this would require MD/VA to get over their petty regional animosities.

Dozens said white workers, especially women, were openly subject to racist and sexist remarks without repercussion

You can see how this culture bleeds over into the way that employees treat customers.

by Falls Church on Mar 27, 2012 9:27 am • link • report

"“There appears to be an entrenched network of African-American employees at WMATA that is able to steer jobs, promotion, training and other career enhancing benefit to persons of their own racial or ethnic group.”

by charlie on Mar 27, 2012 9:27 am • link • report

Can the jurisdictions in charge (from Congress to the counties) simply dissolve WMATA and form a new organization, thereby requiring everyone to reapply for their jobs, etc.?

That's what Rhee tried to do with teachers but you can't do that with a union workforce.

by Falls Church on Mar 27, 2012 9:30 am • link • report

That Times article would be a lot better if they concentrated on the bad promotions/mismanagement (which is no doubt rampant) and less on peppering the article with race-baiting language.

The article was confusingly organized to begin with, and wasn't improved by random insertion of racial and conservative code words. How are photos of Martin Luther King relevant? What in the world is a "$20 million union"? Revenue? Total salaries? List price including sales tax?

Is it too much to ask for real journalism (from the Post or City Paper) about what appear to be real systemic problems? I'd even be OK with a simple rewrite.

by Matt on Mar 27, 2012 9:51 am • link • report

WOW! That is a pretty damning article about metro.

It is a poorly managed, majority black, sexist and racist organization, has been for years and the union conspires to keep it that way. This is shocking.

by HogWash on Mar 27, 2012 9:53 am • link • report

new condos in McLean, Va. Hmmm. No rail transit and its NOT going to be seriously walkable to Tysons will it? I can see the temptation, cause the nabe already has some density, shops, etc - but for this to work and not just add more auto trips in a congested area, it needs modal alts. At least improved bus service to Tysons - maybe a place to start CaBi in Fairfax?

by AWalkerInTheCity on Mar 27, 2012 9:58 am • link • report

@matt

There has been real journalism about it. The Post and the local TV stations usually just reprint his stuff without attribution.

http://unsuckdcmetro.blogspot.com/

by Ronald on Mar 27, 2012 10:03 am • link • report

Eyeballing tha attached reports, clearly bus/train operators are overwhelming (95%) black.

Looking at the other job categories, not so much.

I've never seen a white circulator driver, and don't see many hispanic ones either. I do see far more racial categories driving ART buses, but that is a very small sample size.

Thinking outloud, would it be possible to outsource driving functions to an outside contractor and key the backend operations inside WMATA? Or do you need that driving expereince to run, say, dispatch?

Also, I tried (and failed) to breakdown this as MetroBus employees vs. MetroRail employees. I have long advocated splitting the two -- Metro doesn't want any synergy anyway -- and let each jurisidction run their own bus service.

by charlie on Mar 27, 2012 10:04 am • link • report

@ goldfish:actually the racist comments are useful. It is important to know what people are thinking, and there usually is a grain of truth behind them.

To be clear, I am not so interested in the racism. It is not news to me that it's there. Racism and xenophobia are deeply entrenched in parts of this country and not going away anytime soon.

What tickles me is the cognitive dissonance of 'fighting' (alleged) black racism with white racism. It shows a disappointing lack of self-awareness. Which shows that people are not thinking (logically) at all. They are living in a world of truthiness and conspiracy, not truth.

by Jasper on Mar 27, 2012 10:10 am • link • report

The cyclist who killed the pedestrian was only facing up to a year in jail?

How fast was the man going to cause head trauma and ultimately death?

by HogWash on Mar 27, 2012 10:13 am • link • report

How are photos of Martin Luther King relevant?

Totally agree. So why was the union head including those photos in her campaign fliers for re-election? Was it because she saw the position she was running for in terms of race? What does MLK symbolize and what does that say about how she sees the job of union head? While promoting racial equality is unequivocally a good thing, it's not a primary job of the union head.

by Falls Church on Mar 27, 2012 10:20 am • link • report

@Matt asks, "What in the world is a "$20 million union"?

Fortunately, this is answered in the Source Documents that are included in the WashTimes article, specifically the Aug/Sept 2008 Union newsletter, which has the union's audited financial statement. The $20M figure refers to the total net assets of the union, of which $2.6M was in the bank, $13.5M was in investments, and $3M was (net) property. This adds up to $19.4M, for which $20M is a reasonable approximation.

by thm on Mar 27, 2012 10:32 am • link • report

Based on what I've experienced as a passenger on WMATA I could believe that there's a culture of racism, sexism, and rewarding incompetence there, but the Times doesn't have the credibility to expose it. I hope a real paper will investigate as well.

by Flora on Mar 27, 2012 10:32 am • link • report

@So why was the union head including those photos in her campaign fliers for re-election? Was it because she saw the position she was running for in terms of race? What does MLK symbolize and what does that say about how she sees the job of union head?

I initially thought skimmed over that part but you peaked my about that again and now I'm confused. The article never states that she used the fliers as part of her campaign. The context in which the flier is used reads, "A flier circulated as Mrs. Jeter was running for election claimed she worried that “too many whites might end up in charge. She also told me she was sick and tired of hearing about the Latino Caucus.”. Note, it never attributes the flier to her but is referring to a flier than was circulated about her.

Also, although the article does mentions union graphics depicting her in her role as union president alongside photos of civil rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, the provided link does not prove that. It only reroutes you to the WTimes. I checked the union website and didn't see the graphics in question and imagine that they must have taken them down. Not sure when this happened though.

So I wouldn't draw too many conclusions..at least about the MLK/racist part.

by HogWash on Mar 27, 2012 10:55 am • link • report

I initially thought skimmed over that part but you peaked my about that again and now I'm confused.

I'm sorry Hog, what are you saying?

by HogWash on Mar 27, 2012 10:57 am • link • report

@HogWash
Now I'm really confused - are you posting to yourself?

by OctaviusIII on Mar 27, 2012 11:01 am • link • report

What a hopelessly messed-up organization.

It is, and yet it's also one of the most heavily-used transit systems in the western hemisphere.

As TGEoA says, when you think of DC as a southern city, it makes a lot of sense. They need to stay just competent enough that no one notices that it's a machine focused on promoting personal patronage and nepotism rather than a professional organization. Had a bunch of people not been killed by the metro in 2009, things would have just kept going like they were going.

by JustMe on Mar 27, 2012 11:08 am • link • report

@anon and maybe @Hogwash

State laws on vehicular "manslaughter" vary, and often there is both a felony and a misdemeanor version. Felony manslaughter almost always involves reckless behavior, that is, behavior with a high probability of killing someone plus the driver realizing that he might kill someone. Convictions are hard to come by unless either there is a passenger in the car who testifies that the driver was warned that she might kill someone, or the driver is drunk or drag racing. (The judges just assume that todau everybody knows that drunk driving and drag racing can kill.)

The misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter, often called negligent homicide, generally require behavior with a significant chance of killing someone--but one need not prove that the driver knew she might kill someone, only that most people would have realized that someone might be killed given what the driver was doing. Riding a bike 20 mph on a sidewalk probably would not be enough for a conviction, but riding at such a speed through a crowd probably would be, or at least a judge would probably allow the jury to decide.

In many states, a misdemeanor is defined as having a jail sentence no more than a year, which often means that it can be decided without a jury trial by a traffic court judge. In MD, it has a three-year sentence and so one gets a jury trail.

In Maryland, only the pilots of vessels, trains and other motor vehicles can be convicted of vehicular manslaugter; so in Maryland a cyclist would not even be charged. Because a sailboard is a vessel, a windsurfer striking a swimmer probably could be charged. I do not know off hand how this applies in DC or VA.

by Jim T on Mar 27, 2012 11:24 am • link • report

@Octavius, ha! Yes, I was pointing out (in silly fashion) how close to illegible that sentence was. :)

@JustMe, what does DC being a "southern" city have to do with that idea that "They need to stay just competent enough that no one notices that it's a machine focused on promoting personal patronage and nepotism rather than a professional organization.?

by HogWash on Mar 27, 2012 11:55 am • link • report

@JimT, ohhhhh, thanks!

by HogWash on Mar 27, 2012 11:56 am • link • report

@JimT

That's probably one of the most informative comments I've read anywhere in weeks.

by OctaviusIII on Mar 27, 2012 11:57 am • link • report

Much as I distrust the Times (and the Examiner, another outlet that seems to have it in for Metro), I have to say it appears that WaPo has largely punted on its oversight responsibilities for Metro. Times and Examiner both like to run lurid headlines that, on further inspection, lead stories that don't quite live up to expectations.

Times's subtle use of racism in the cited story is unfortunate, because the rest of it does have a ring of truth to it. Whether half of it, or 9/10 of it, is accurate, I can't say now. But given the poor safety culture that has become ingrained there, it's becoming obvious Metro needs an auditor or IG to straighten things out.

by Jack Love on Mar 27, 2012 12:04 pm • link • report

No morning link for the County Board election in Arlington? Also, why did GGW endorse in the primary, but not endorse in the general? Perhaps GGW contributor Chris Zimmerman doesn't want Garvey on the myopic board, hopes she loses, then he can handpick for the next election in the Fall?

by Arlington Voter on Mar 27, 2012 12:05 pm • link • report

Can the jurisdictions in charge (from Congress to the counties) simply dissolve WMATA and form a new organization, thereby requiring everyone to reapply for their jobs, etc.?

That's what Rhee tried to do with teachers but you can't do that with a union workforce.

I was under the impression that Congress could do whatever it damn well pleases in this regard. I don't see how completely dissolving WMATA and firing its workforce would be practical or even desirable, but I don't doubt Congress's power to do so.

by Adam L on Mar 27, 2012 12:18 pm • link • report

@goldfish:actually the racist comments are useful. It is important to know what people are thinking, and there usually is a grain of truth behind them.

@Japser: To be clear, I am not so interested in the racism. It is not news to me that it's there. Racism and xenophobia are deeply entrenched in parts of this country and not going away anytime soon.

What tickles me is the cognitive dissonance of 'fighting' (alleged) black racism with white racism. It shows a disappointing lack of self-awareness. Which shows that people are not thinking (logically) at all. They are living in a world of truthiness and conspiracy, not truth.
----

@Jasper and @goldfish:

I don't know how much of a "grain of truth" necessarily exists in most of these comments in the Washington Post and Times. However it DOES reflect the opinions of many who bother to comment on articles like this on "mainstream" news websites whether they be newspapers or large outlets like Yahoo News, especially when those articles are framed a certain way. It's usually an attitude that begins with the presumption of suspecting any predominately African-American organization, community or institution of being innately inferior and therefore having this need to cry white racism at every opportunity ("race card" or "PC"). It's believing Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, the ACLU and the NAACP are behind every organization and/or union and that these organizations could not exist without them.

To Jasper's point, I think the charge of "reverse racism" is just the cover many of these folks need to freely express their own racism. It's the racism of lazy Archie Bunker-style cynicism, of believing you've somehow seen it all and therefore know what those incompetent government people over in "DC" or "PG County" or "Maryland" are up to. In their mind it's a world of those who "deserve" and have "earned" what they have versus those who are unfairly trying to use the "government" to corruptly prop themselves up at the expense of the good hardworking taxpayers such as themselves. It's useful to keep in mind that many of those folks populating, or polluting, those comment boards were people who 15-20 years ago would've been shouting these same opinions at their television or local bar. Talk radio, Fox News and articles such as these give them talking points and fuel that fire.

Ironically, it's that racism that allows for institutional "black racism", or the racial politics of local officials like Marion Barry or now officials at WMATA. Leading officials at WMATA can with some justification point at racist attitudes and the corresponding perceived low expectations of the public and the media outside their organization and band together with THEIR OWN "us versus them" mentality. Regular old cronyism becomes protectionism against an otherwise hostile world. Investigative reporting against them is seen against the lens of politically motivated groups confirming an already inherent bias. It's like both groups need each other to justify their own dysfunctional attitudes. It's a shame because this lens distorts so much of our ability to solve real problems to the benefit of all.

by Mike O on Mar 27, 2012 12:19 pm • link • report

@Arlington Voter: Zimmerman did not have any input into the endorsement process.

by Michael Perkins on Mar 27, 2012 12:27 pm • link • report

@ Mike O:Investigative reporting against them is seen against the lens of politically motivated groups confirming an already inherent bias.

Well, it's not like the WaTimes has no agenda. The problem is that a lot of the allegations (in any direction) are true. What's also true us that especially the press needs those controversies, because that's what sells.

It's like both groups need each other to justify their own dysfunctional attitudes.

Well, the press facilitates this. And they do so, because it sells. Many people forget that the incentive of the press is not truth, but profit. Sensationalism equals profit. This is, for instance, why everything is a 'BREAKING NEWS BREAKING NEWS BREAKING NEWS' on cable news channels.

It's a shame because this lens distorts so much of our ability to solve real problems to the benefit of all.

Yep, but it's not the press' role to solve problems to the benefit of all. It's their role to return profit on the investment of their share-holders.

Supposedly, we have politicians to solve problems. Unfortunately, a lot of them are more interested in playing controversy games than solving problems.

Euhm, but seriously, with all the well-educated nerds here, we have noone who is in organizational management who can give a hint of how you change the culture within an organization like WMATA? It seems this is a textbook example of a rotten culture. But you can't solve it by firing everyone. So how do you solve it?

by Jasper on Mar 27, 2012 1:02 pm • link • report

Hogwash, this is not a city particularly committed to infrastructure or professionalism. Like many parts of the south there is a holdover from ante-bellum economic concepts that things like "industry" or the idea that your livelihood is "earned" by the sale of goods and services are things to be avoided. "The metro" isn't considered some kind of productive industry or something for transit specialists but rather a jobs program for locals whose only obligation is to keep it running just well enough that no one notices that the employees don't actually care about it. Much of the public school back office functions in the same way.

And while that's not how I'd run a city, I do kind of understand that this is the sort of way people want to run things. The metro has money. The people want money for themselves, and the Metro is the system for transferring money from the providers of the money into salaries for local people.

Euhm, but seriously, with all the well-educated nerds here, we have noone who is in organizational management who can give a hint of how you change the culture within an organization like WMATA? It seems this is a textbook example of a rotten culture. But you can't solve it by firing everyone. So how do you solve it?

You don't. The culture was here before you showed up. The culture will be here after you're gone.

by JustMe on Mar 27, 2012 1:11 pm • link • report

@Jasper; welcome back, by the way.

Fix the compensation. Changing the pension plan. Elimate overtime incentives.

Split the workforce. Remove the customer-senstive jobs (bus drivers/station managers) from the rest of the pool.

Fire the police department. Find a lot of spare change in the sofa in the rest lounge.

Stop paying contractors.

Make it much easier to fire people.

Some of this has to come from the board; some has to come from GM, and some has to come from employees.

Sarles seems to have the right ideas, but need a better grant of authority from the board to clean house more. Not sure if he is the man for the job.

Oh, and save some money and fire Dan Stressel.

by charlie on Mar 27, 2012 1:21 pm • link • report

Of course, you need political will to make any of these changes go through. What I find stunning is, in an organization where MD and VA interests make up a majority, there's no serious pushback from Richmond or Annapolis.

DC's government is slowly being transformed from a social program whose main focus is providing jobs to the otherwise unhireable, but you'd think the other stakeholders in WMATA would be demanding some accountability given that it's a regional system.

by oboe on Mar 27, 2012 1:30 pm • link • report

@Mike O, pretty interesting stuff man.

@Justme, as a southerner, I reject your characterization of the south and the implication that it lacks professionalism. The fact that some people might not see "metro" as a productive industry or feel it's simply a jobs program for those pesky "locals" really has nothing to do w/the south.

by HogWash on Mar 27, 2012 2:02 pm • link • report

@JustMe:

You make an excellent point. There's an excellent book released last week called "Why Nations Fail" (an expanded treatment of this paper. Briefly summarized the argument follows:

When Spanish conquistadors showed up in the prosperous areas of Latin America, they stole all the gold they could get their hands on and then set about putting the native populations to work. They set up “extractive institutions” whose purpose was to wring as many natural resources (silver, gold, food) from the land as possible while keeping power in the hands of a narrow elite. These institutions discourage savings and investment, since everyone knows any wealth can and will be arbitrarily expropriated. And while the injustice of it all led to periodic revolutions, the typical pattern was for the new boss to simply seize control of the extractive institutions and run them for his own benefit.The original English settlers of today’s United States had much the same idea in mind. But the problem they ran into was a lack of Indians. There was no great civilization ready to pay its wealth in tribute and then be enslaved. The only way to make the land productive was to induce Englishmen to move there, which required the establishment of relatively fair political institutions. The southern United States wound up with a hybrid system based on both citizen-labor and imported slaves, while the northern U.S. had a pure free labor system. These political institutions led to an economic environment in which work and savings were rewarded, and broadly shared prosperity ensued—not coincidentally with the free area enjoying more prosperity than the slave belt."

There's a reason why the American South is the way it is, and it's the same reason South America is the way it is as well.

by oboe on Mar 27, 2012 2:13 pm • link • report

@JustMe:

I do disagree that the culture is immutable, though. With time, even deep cultural attributes can be changed.

by oboe on Mar 27, 2012 2:15 pm • link • report

Sorry, the exposition on why the American South is more like a banana-republic than the North comes from http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2012/03/the_hunger_games_could_a_real_country_have_an_economy_like_panem_s_.single.html

by oboe on Mar 27, 2012 2:16 pm • link • report

What I find stunning is, in an organization where MD and VA interests make up a majority, there's no serious pushback from Richmond or Annapolis.

That's probably why McDonnell sought (and got) a VA state representative seat on WMATA's board.

by Falls Church on Mar 27, 2012 2:39 pm • link • report

@oboe

Really? Yglesias' blog about the Hunger Games is your authority on the economy of the south? (1) The Hunger Games is literary trash that rips off marginally less inane Japanese and Schwarzenegger movies to get teenage girls excited, and (2) Acemoglu is a hack who also claims that Augustus was responsible for initiating the collapse of the Roman Empire...four centuries later.

@JustMe

"The metro has money. The people want money for themselves, and the Metro is the system for transferring money from the providers of the money into salaries for local people."

That's not a criticism of the South, that's a definition of a local business. To the extent that the Times article is accurate, it's about how a bad union is responsible for much of WMATA employees' shortcomings. That's common in lots of places, including the north (http://gothamist.com/2010/05/24/do_bus_drivers_need_60_days_to_reco.php)

If there's one place that criticism falls flat, it's in the SOUTH, where most states have right-to-work laws undermine unions in the first place.

by Ronald on Mar 27, 2012 2:43 pm • link • report

@charlie
would it be possible to outsource driving functions to an outside contractor and key the backend operations inside WMATA?
and then you write:
Stop paying contractors.

So which do you want? Contract out agency functions or do them in-house?

As for what we should do to improve the culture: start with keeping track of data and then using that data in performance reviews for managers and supervisors. Stuff your techs fix breaks in a week? Make it perform better or you're fired. If managers think their butts are on the line they will either motivate their employees or try to get rid of the ones holding things back.

Heck you could even have performance stuff for the people doing actual repairs.

by MLD on Mar 27, 2012 2:49 pm • link • report

The notion that unfree labor created a stigma on labor free people in the south was widely commented on - in, you know, the 1850s.

The New South movement attempted to transform the south. Whether you credit that movement or not, from the 1880s on the south became a much more capitalist economy, like the north. Since WW2 large parts of the South have attracted northern migrants. So the history of plantation economies doesnt have much relevance in 2012 - even as a cultural overhang, its been gone too long.

Did I miss something?

by AWalkerInTheCity on Mar 27, 2012 3:02 pm • link • report

@Ronald,

Sorry, you must've missed the primary link (which was an href):

http://economics.mit.edu/files/4127

I'll leave aside your implicit ad authoritatum non sequitur about Hunger Games, Yglesias, etc...

by oboe on Mar 27, 2012 3:14 pm • link • report

oboe, agreed. When I read a quote from a confederate senator, a lot of DC made sense:

We have no cities — we don’t want them. . . .We want no manufactures: we desire no trading, no mechanical or manufacturing classes

The idea is that you shouldn't be making money by producing things or earning it but rather figuring out a way to extract money or goods from those who have done the dirty work. We see a lot of this when it comes to hostility to new businesses opening in various DC neighborhoods-- the idea that people engaging in business are performing some kind of nefarious work to take money away from local people (because this is the assumption about how money is made). The Metro is seen as a way of separating money from ourselves not because we are purchasing professional services but because the money provided by the metro is seen as a revenue stream to extract as a source of income. The Metro employees are not "transit professionals" per se, but rather those who control the pathway between the stream of money going into metro and its operation, and their job is to divvy up who gets to receive this stream of money.

As far as southern cities go, DC is pretty well run and has good infrastructure, in the same way that New Orleans is perhaps the most efficient and advanced city in the Caribbean.

by JustMe on Mar 27, 2012 3:19 pm • link • report

Even as a cultural overhang, its been gone too long.

Culture is a notoriously sticky thing. To simply wave your hands and say, "It's been over 100 years!" or if we go by the abolition of Jim Crow, "over 40 years!" is less than convincing.

by oboe on Mar 27, 2012 3:20 pm • link • report

Exactly, and the primary socioeconomic force is not a struggle for market dominance, but rather a struggle for rent-seeking through control of the "extractive institutions".

by oboe on Mar 27, 2012 3:35 pm • link • report

Oboe, slavery was around in the south for only slightly over 200 years, and has been gone for 160 years.

Anyway the south has bent over backwards to attract "productive" jobs for decades, to the point of adopting backward labor laws to attract industry, giving tax breaks, etc, etc. There are few places where the distributive functions of governement are given less respect, and the Randian heroes of production are more worshipped, then the deep south today.

That african americans in DC are interested in a patronage machine, has more to with traditional paths to upward mobility for minorities who are discriminated against the private sector, but have an ability (superior to other poor minorities) to gain patronage in the public sector than with southernness. The parallel between the post war black experience, and the 19th century Irish experience in this regard, has been noted

http://www.laprogressive.com/irish-and-black-americans-have-the-parallel-lines-finally-met/

by AWalkerInTheCity on Mar 27, 2012 3:43 pm • link • report

"Exactly, and the primary socioeconomic force is not a struggle for market dominance, but rather a struggle for rent-seeking through control of the "extractive institutions". "

you draw a sharp line between the market and extractive institutions. I think ultimately thats a socially false distinction. Markets can deliver many different kinds of distributions of rewards, based both on original distributions of assets, on accidents of technology and history, and on (often subtly) different market rules. Marxists were not THAT far wrong in seeing the state as an agent to benefit the dominant classes, using market and "command" tools indifferently. (They WERE wrong in oversimplifying the class relations, and the complexity of late capitalist politics) I am not saying market prices can't be very efficient transmitters of particular types of information, making markets useful tools - I just warn against privileging any particular distribution of income and wealth, and call for some sympathy for those who reject the justice of the distributions of income and wealth generated by the market.

by AWalkerInTheCity on Mar 27, 2012 3:49 pm • link • report

Anyway the south has bent over backwards to attract "productive" jobs for decades, to the point of adopting backward labor laws to attract industry, giving tax breaks, etc, etc.

Especially if you consider manufacturing which has seen a boom in the past decade. Many of the america's recent car manufacturing plants are found w/in the south because of the tax breaks many governors cite.

You must also consider that DC is not the "norm" in that it is one of the few places where blacks make up such a huge number of gov't employees. I don't believe this is replicated in other major cities..at least I don't think.

People often conflate DC gov't with Federal gov't and use the Barry years as a talking point against fed gov't employees..which has nothing to do w/city employees.

Whether or not blacks "patronize" gov't in a fashion dissimilar than how whites do is subjective. Personally, I think it's more a matter of perception than reality. But it is no question that the gov't is responsible for a lot of the black middle class in this area.

by HogWash on Mar 27, 2012 4:03 pm • link • report

Why is the Intelsat building "suburban?" Because it has a front lawn? Since when is a bit of green space a bad idea? The place is still right across from the Metro and the front door is about 100 yards from the sidewalk. Besides, I think a "downtown" style building probably wouldn't work all that well in that neighborhood, it certainly wouldn't fit in.

That type of tenant is not going to be able to have ground level retail due to the nature of its work.

So your choice is you can have the building in DC, but with a "suburban" look, or you can have the building, and its many highly-paid workers, out in Northern Virginia. I think DC will take a "suburban" building every time.

by dcdriver on Mar 27, 2012 4:11 pm • link • report

Sorry, but I can't take that Times article seriously when, a few paragraphs in, you get this:

"The average Metro worker had a $60,000 salary, which rises to $69,000 including overtime. That is more than 71 percent of area residents who had an income in 2010, including 62 percent of whites, census records show."

From a logical perspective, totally irrelevant. This is really obviously a dogwhistle to Times readers - white commuters from Virginia, by and large. "Look! These blacks make more money than you!"

Get some real journalists on the case, then we'll talk. I'm willing to believe that Metro is a patronage machine, just let me hear it without the dogwhistles and other nonsense.

by Corey on Mar 27, 2012 4:35 pm • link • report

@dcdriver, its not exactly a front lawn though is it? It has a fence around much of the open area. Not exactly public space. I would think there would be a decent market for offices and retail in that same space, perhaps maintaining a signicant portion of the grass and converting it to a park, with different tenants in that space (UDC expansion?). Considering its proximity to the metro, I would think there would be a higher use for that space then what is currently there.

by David on Mar 27, 2012 6:28 pm • link • report

@Corey: This is really obviously a dogwhistle to Times readers - white commuters from Virginia, by and large. "Look! These blacks make more money than you!"

Yes there are a lot of problems with the article, but bear in mind that the racial issues make this extremely difficult material to cover.

The redemption is that the main thrust of the article stands: the staffing at metro has for many years been corrupt and unaccountable to normal standards of professionalism. It is therefore a courageous attempt to expose something that needs to be addressed. This has been a problem that many do not have the guts to write about, which is why it has persisted for so long.

by goldfish on Mar 28, 2012 9:35 am • link • report

@goldfish
The redemption is that the main thrust of the article stands: the staffing at metro has for many years been corrupt and unaccountable to normal standards of professionalism.

This is absolutely true, and yet nobody seems to really want to examine and address the root causes of this issue. The usual arguments come out: UNIONS! Lazy workers! Overpaid! Nobody wants to examine the WHY of these things. And on the racial issues the article just throws out stats and punts on reasons. "Only 6 white women out of 3,000 bus drivers!" Great, I would really like to see how many white women are even applying to be bus drivers. DC really has few white working-class people period; it's no surprise given the history of the city.

As for why there's a culture of doing nothing at WMATA? The steps go like this:

1. Build shiny new rail system in 1970s.
2. Under-fund maintenance and under-maintain the system because it's new and nothing is breaking... yet.
3. Wait 20 years (this is how old most of the system was in 2004).
Now it's 2004 and your transit system (management and employees) has gotten used to the idea that maintenance doesn't matter, and taxpayers have gotten used to not paying for maintenance. Except your transit system is now 20 years older and in way crappier condition, and everything starts to break down. Your workforce is understaffed for the amount of work that needs to be done, and doesn't have the necessary skills to do the work. And taxpayers aren't willing to pony up the money for state of good repair because "it's so much more than it was before!" That's where we are now.

It's not like WMATA is in some new territory here. The same thing happened to older transit systems (NY, Boston) in the 70s and 80s.

The problem is that the people willing to expose this kind of mismanagement are often anti-transit (e.g. the Times) and the editors/owners of the publication subscribe to an ideology that wants to defund and dismantle transit. As a result you have few people at the agency or on the board who are willing to really pick this article apart and figure out how to change things before it's too late (though really the Red Line crash was the "too late" moment, but that only resulted in people screaming "fire Catoe!" instead of figuring out who to bring in to really shake the organization up.

by MLD on Mar 28, 2012 10:29 am • link • report

@MLD; good points, one or two things:

1. You can't look at DC as the labor market, clearly WMATA is hiring from a metropolian pool

2. The racial resementment comes along when you have a rail system that has 75% white customers, and a majority black workforce. When said rail system is breaking down all the time....well, this is what you get. What you don't see - even on GGW -- is much noise about buses, because, well.

3. I don't see much complaining on GGW about overpaying. OVERTIME is another issue.

by charlie on Mar 28, 2012 10:40 am • link • report

@charlie

1. I meant "DC" to mean the metro area. The observation still applies.

2. Demographics are more like 45% minority for Rail, 75% for bus. (http://www.wmata.com/about_metro/docs/Title_VI_Equity%20_Evaluation_of_FY2011_Budget.pdf) DC metro area is right around 45% minority households.

3. Maybe the complaints are not on GGW but I'm talking about the complaints in general about bus drivers who make $50K+. The article also uses the term "low skill" to describe bus drivers, train operators, elevator/escalator repair, etc.

by MLD on Mar 28, 2012 11:12 am • link • report

@MLD; yes. This isn't a blue collar area, and I'm not shocked at skiled technicans making 100K. Train drivers are low skilled. Bus drivers obviously are not.

by charlie on Mar 28, 2012 11:26 am • link • report

@MLD, This is absolutely true, and yet nobody seems to really want to examine and address the root causes of this issue...figure out how to change things before it's too late (though really the Red Line crash was the "too late" moment, but that only resulted in people screaming "fire Catoe!" instead of figuring out who to bring in to really shake the organization up.

You've said a mouthful and I agree 100%. Very well done.

@Charlie, The racial resementment comes along when you have a rail system that has 75% white customers, and a majority black workforce. When said rail system is breaking down all the time....well, this is what you get. What you don't see - even on GGW -- is much noise about buses, because, well.

I'm not sure I agree w/that. I don't believe the resentment (if that's what it is) is racial at all. I don't personally believe that people (outside of the Times) most angered by metro inefficiencies see "race" as a factor in its poor performance. But you do have a point about GGW noise - it's something I've never considered.

BTW, 75% white customer base sounds a bit inflated.

by HogWash on Mar 28, 2012 11:49 am • link • report