Breakfast links: Follow the rules

by Erik Weber • March 31, 2011 8:37 am

Photo by Litandmore on Flickr.

MetroAccess drivers ignore rules, pay rider fares: Since the fare was raised, some MetroAccess drivers have been ignoring a new rule which requires riders to pay before boarding. Many are even paying customers' fares out of their own pocket. (Examiner)

Respect the train of command: WMATA's culture worships the "chain of command." If there's a problem, tell your boss. If they tell their boss and nothing happens, tough; talk to others and you might get slapped. (Metro From the Inside Out)

School news: The Fairfax County School Superintendent is proposing discipline policy changes after a rash of decidedly draconian punishments. ... A DC woman is claiming her son's teacher encouraged him to change his test answers. The WTU is saying any misdeeds likely happened in administrative offices, not classrooms. (WUSA)

Bentonville's Chili Bowl: Harry Thomas, Jr. wants to see Ben's Chili Bowl in every Walmart—across the nation. But since Ben's chili is made by hand each morning, how would that work, exactly? (DCist)

Bike & ped crashes up over decade: With the most recent Street Smart campaign come new data about rising bicycle and pedestrian crashes in the region. Last year there were more than 400 crashes, while in 1999 there were just over 200. (TheWashCycle)

Mobile market to take on food deserts: Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food & Agriculture is converting a school bus into a mobile farmers' market that can serve the region's food deserts. They have a happy hour and fundraiser tonight. (We Love DC)

Keolis can bid on MARC after releasing Nazi information: Keolis America will be allowed to bid on the MARC Brunswick and Camden Lines, after its parent, SNCF, agreed to speed the online digitization of company archives addressing the company's role in transporting people to Nazi death camps. (Baltimore Sun)

Pedestrian guide to the USA: An new infographic gives tips to pedestrians in various cities, including DC, in the form of traffic warning signs. Some are informative, some funny, and some just reinforce harmful stereotypes. (We Love DC)

And...: Metro released its sizable track work schedule for April yesterday, with only one weekend-long closing (TBD) ... The National Women's History Museum may get dibs on a parcel of land just south of the Mall at 12th Street SW (Housing Complex) ... Marion Barry has been driving a car with expired license plates for months, and likely never registered the car or paid the taxes on it. (Post)

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17 comments

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Erik Weber has been living car-free in the District since 2009. Hailing from the home of the nation's first Urban Growth Boundary, Erik has been interested in transit since spending summers in Germany as a kid where he rode as many buses, trains and streetcars as he could find. Views expressed here are Erik's alone.

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While ped/bike crash numbers may be up; how do the rates compare?

by Bossi on Mar 31, 2011 9:21 am • link • report

Although the allegations of a teacher instructing a student to change test answers are suggestive, it was interesting the allegations weren't related to the DC CAS but instead to a preperatory test.
It would be interesting to know if DC CAS scores decline at some of the schools with high erasure rates after the stricter test security protocols Henderson initiated are put into place. Either way, it is troubling DCPS didn't look into the erasures matter more thoroughly in response to the OSSE recommendations three years ago.

by DCster on Mar 31, 2011 9:56 am • link • report

Marion Barry has been driving a car with expired license plates for months, and likely never registered the car or paid the taxes on it.

More evidence (if any were needed) that Barry's essentially a protest vote by folks who feel completely disenfranchised by the system. Of course, not many of his constituents will will care because this is why they elect him. It's the equivalent of electing Zaphod Beeblebrox or Flava Flav.

by oboe on Mar 31, 2011 10:34 am • link • report

Those Metro Access drivers are heros.

by TGEoA on Mar 31, 2011 10:38 am • link • report

@Oboe, there you go again.

Blacks do NOT have to support candidates simply in PROTEST to who/what others don't like.

It is the equivalent of electing a former mayor as your ward rep, a responsibility Flava Flav has never had.

Based on my experience living in the area you only comment about, most vote for him because he's the only name (of note) on the damn ballot.

by HogWash on Mar 31, 2011 10:43 am • link • report

Beyond that, Barry should be ashamed of himself for doing the "extended" temp tag thing. But I'm sure he's not.

by HogWash on Mar 31, 2011 10:44 am • link • report

I'd guess that a small percentage vote for Barry as a protest, but the big majority see him as a master politician who can get things done.

by Jazzy on Mar 31, 2011 11:03 am • link • report

Bossi, the only data I have is trips by bike. In 1994 in DC they were 1.3% and in 2007 they were 1.5%. The problem with this "increase" in crashes is that it may be the result of a greater emphasis on reporting. So crashes may or may not be up, but reporting is.

by David C on Mar 31, 2011 11:13 am • link • report

That Keolis thing is really, really odd, and doesn't smell right at all.

Of course, SNCF (the French national railway) cooperated with the Nazis after France was overrun. They quite literally had guns pointed at their heads.

by andrew on Mar 31, 2011 11:22 am • link • report

Which one of those pedestrian street signs was "informative?"

by Josh S on Mar 31, 2011 11:35 am • link • report

Fabulous idea, by the way, to add pictures of the writers. I think it will be harder to bash them when they're looking right at you.....

by Josh S on Mar 31, 2011 11:36 am • link • report

@Josh S

...unless we want to mock their puny Class 2 vests. Class 3 is mightier in all it's lime green Sprite-flavored awesome.

by Bossi on Mar 31, 2011 11:40 am • link • report

Fabulous idea, by the way, to add pictures of the writers. I think it will be harder to bash them when they're looking right at you.....

At the very least, people might stop calling Dan Reed(!) an out-of-touch white guy...

by andrew on Mar 31, 2011 12:44 pm • link • report

Anyone willing to bet whether Barry paid actual fair market value for the car or got a "reduced rate" special from the dealer?

by Fritz on Mar 31, 2011 1:03 pm • link • report

@Hogwash-Seems to me..looking from the outside, that involved people like yourself ought to start getting together to find a new candidate. It doesn't seem like you're all that impressed with Barry. Start pounding the pavement, talk to neighbors. Find/become a candidate willing to knock on every single door and ask for support. There has got to be a better option for your ward!

by thump on Mar 31, 2011 3:34 pm • link • report

I suggest watching "The Nine Lives of Marion Barry." I'm not a Marion Barry fan, by any remote stretch of the imagination, but it helped me understand why some people do support him. Late 1960s/early 1970s Marion Barry is a guy I might have been able to get behind. That guy got a lot of DC residents at least limited self-governance.

by Kate on Mar 31, 2011 6:11 pm • link • report

Shame on Fairfax county public schools. Just read and heard about this story, and it's absolutely absurd that they punish students that harshly. All that does is ruin a kid's life.

by Andrew on Mar 31, 2011 6:22 pm • link • report