Some of the comments at Friday's hearing were priceless. Sadly, the politicos like Phil Mendelson aren't savvy enough to split hairs and understand the nuances of the arguments. Let's hope the members of the Zoning Commission get it.

by William on Oct 8, 2012 9:33 am • link • report

At the zoning update a resident testified "Every time I park and get out of my car I look back and someone driving my car has parked in the parking space I was using!"

by Bossi on Oct 8, 2012 9:45 am • link • report

William: I was out of town, but from the writeup, it actually seems like Mendelson was very savvy and pointed out the holes in a lot of arguments.

by David Alpert on Oct 8, 2012 9:50 am • link • report

He did, early on, but later in the testimony, he was very harsh to some individuals who I would consider to be sympathetic to this blog.

by William on Oct 8, 2012 9:59 am • link • report

William: Want to share more details? I'd be interested to hear more.

by David Alpert on Oct 8, 2012 10:06 am • link • report

Re 18% increase in homelessness:

I'd be somewhat wary of these numbers. I haven't looked into the specifics of this study, but my experience with most studies that quantify homelessness include things like spending a single night with family, or in a motel, between permanent housing arrangements.

by Michael Hamilton on Oct 8, 2012 10:12 am • link • report

Historic Streetcars:

Why? I've ridden the F-Market line in SF, which uses heritage cars. It's cool to see them in service, but it's an inferior transit experience. We don't use old cars for a reason. With a standing room only load, there were no stop announcements I could hear, and the location of the windows made it impossible for a standee to see outside and determine what stop you were at.

They have fewer doors, leading to slower loading and unloading, etc.

If the reason is to minimize impact to the streetscape, then why don't we require all private cars to be rehabbed Model Ts?

by Alex B. on Oct 8, 2012 10:40 am • link • report

Historic Streetcars

What about ADA laws fit into these historic streetcars; pretty sure that a wheelchair lift wont fit in one.

by kk` on Oct 8, 2012 10:42 am • link • report

I think the reason DC wants to buy historic streetcars and use them is that there's no way in hell United Streetcar is going to be able to deliver even one car before the H Street line is ready to open. The prototype they built for Portland has had all kinds of problems. It's too bad we are going back to the problems of the 70's, demanding "buy America" everything in transit, even if the products are horribly inferior.

by MLD on Oct 8, 2012 10:55 am • link • report

As to the historic streetcar question:

The F-Market line in SF was not meant to be a transit line, since BART and Muni run in tunnels underneath most of it, it was meant to be a tourist line, mainly to relieve some of the crush loads on the cable cars. I believe that because of the fact that Market St. had tracks and service for such a long time, that they got a grandfather exemption from the ADA, like the St. Charles line in N.O. (but not the 'new' Canal St. line).

The 'new' cars in N.O., and the rehabbed PCCs in Philly have wheelchair lifts built in to comply with the ADA. They both also have AC and PA systems. The N.O. cars are new, built to look like the old Perley Thomas cars, and the Philly cars are 60 year old cars that have been completely rebuilt. So either way DC might go, they could have a 'modern' car.

In any event, I wouldn't expect these to run everyday in revenue service. I imagine that they would run weekends only, or summer only, or summer weekends only, and also for special events/charters.

by kinverson on Oct 8, 2012 11:02 am • link • report

Updated:

If you're interested in looking at the study behind the WaPo story on homelessness, go here: http://www.mwcog.org/uploads/pub-documents/ol5dXlY20120710133934.pdf

Chronically homeless people (what most people tend to think of when they hear the term 'homeless person') declined by 11%.

by Michael Hamilton on Oct 8, 2012 11:08 am • link • report

DDOT is considering buying some historic streetcars

Yeah! Let's buy old junk to go along with our decade-old "new" streetcars.

Germans use mass transit at 5 times the rate of Americans.

It's because transit works in Germany. It's clean, efficient (German efficiency), and convenient. Finally, many old Germany cities simply have mo space for cars. And then, there are the stupid environmental zones in old towns, that simply ban old polluting cars. If they did that in DC, half of metro's buses would be banned, as well as most over-sized governmental vehicles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-emission_zone#Germany

by Jasper on Oct 8, 2012 11:57 am • link • report

So I hope you post something about Metro's epic fail today. It single-tracked the Red Line this morning which made commuting for the many of us who don't get Columbus Day off a total nightmare. Another example of Metro management incompetence. What were they thinking? I'm sure it was true for the Orange Line as well since those are the two busiest.

by lou on Oct 8, 2012 12:51 pm • link • report

@ michael hamilton--the study defines homeless as "people who
reside in some form of emergency or transitional shelters, domestic violence shelters, runaway youth shelters, and places not meant for human habitation." So definitely not folks with a day in a hotel between leases, and I think what people think of when they think of homelessness. Homelessness was down 0.4% throughout the region but family homelessness and homelessness in the District were both up.

The study defines "continuously homeless" as homeless for a year or more or with at least four episodes of homelessness in the past 3 years. So that's a pretty high bar to reach. The study shows 133 chronically homeless families, all but 2 in the District. However, that was during hypothermia season, when the District has to provide shelter--not like the past couple months, as the Post article pointed out. Given the definition of homelessness, I also think the study may have skipped the folks the District was putting up in hotels when DC General's family shelter was full last winter.

by sbc on Oct 8, 2012 12:52 pm • link • report

@SBC, I think you should do a search for the word "motel" in the document.

It also includes:

• Living in transitional housing where
they receive supportive services
designed to help them move into some
form of permanent housing; and

• Formerly homeless people
now living in permanent supportive
housing and are receiving supportive
social services.

Say what you will about the problem of homelessness, but saying "homelessness is up 18%" probably isn't accurate.

by Michael Hamilton on Oct 8, 2012 1:38 pm • link • report

What does buying old rebuilt streetcars achieve when DC has not has any streetcars for many decades? Are old streetcars going to attract additional tourist business on weekends? Isn't the goal to have a modern and productive streetcar system, not a nostalgia tourist line?

What will the cost impact on maintenance and spare part inventory if DC DOT has 3 street cars from 1 vendor, 2 or more from another vendor and then throw in a couple of old rebuilt streetcars? The streetcar service should have started out with one order of identically equipped streetcars to start with a single type for lower maintenance costs.

On the Red Line single tracking for the track work on an extended 3 day weekend, Columbus day is one of the federal holidays that many businesses do not observe or take the day off for. What are the ridership levels on the Metro on Mondays of 3 day weekends for Columbus and MLK day; those being the 2 federal holidays that many office business stay open on.

by AlanF on Oct 8, 2012 1:42 pm • link • report

re: 7000 series cars
Enough of this constant tinkering with last-century's 1st WMATA car design. Can we please finally have a clean-sheet design?

by spookiness on Oct 8, 2012 3:18 pm • link • report

Spookiness:

The 7000 series is pretty much a clean-sheet design. What, specifically, are you looking for?

by Alex B. on Oct 8, 2012 3:27 pm • link • report

Mixed rolling stock of varying ages, manufacturers, etc. are for legacy systems.

Why on earth would DDOT want to start a new streetcar system with a variety of rolling stock?

by ceefer on Oct 8, 2012 5:35 pm • link • report

In re to residences on the Mall, who would actually be able to afford to live in such a place. All this talk about a bunch of new places being built will bring down the rent in my opinion is not playing out. I could only imagine what places right near the mall would be, minus out the units reserved for low income/ section 8/etc. that would have to be held.

I can think of probably at least five brand new places that have been opened in the district within the past few months, probably bringing online close to 2,000 units. With starting prices in some of $2,400 for a one bedroom, or $2,000 for a studio, that doesn't seem to me like an increased supply is moderating prices. And I'm an economist doing this stuff for a living, so I don't need a lecture in supply and demand. All the extra units are doing is relieving the top end of the pent up demand because the rental market is so tight. Now maybe if they don't get filled right away, they will come down in price or the buildings will start giving deals. I know for me, $2,400 for a one bedroom in a mid-rise, thin as paper building, like all of them around here, is too much.

It would be nice to live that close to the mall, but for most people, I doubt it would even be a possibility.

by Nickyp on Oct 8, 2012 10:55 pm • link • report

The F-Market line in San Francisco has a wheelchair option at a number of stops. The streetcar stops at the raised end of the platform, the door opens, the operator pulls out a folding bridge plate and bridges the gap between the platform and the streetcar's aisle. I've seen this done and it only takes a few minutes.

The surface portion of the LRV network has high platforms (T-Third line, Stonestown, SF State Univ.), ADA islands (e.g. Balboa Park Stn. entry, ), and lifts (e.g. M-Ocean View stop #1 near Geneva+San Jose). SFMuni does NOT provide ADA compliance at every stop. Instead, they do it at nodal points like 24th + Church. For more information see the link below.

http://www.sfmta.com/cms/mcust/access.htm

P.S. Yes, I'm a long-time rider of SF's Muni.

by Ted K. on Oct 14, 2012 8:16 pm • link • report