Briefly noted, Thursday;

WMATA Board of Directors "surprised" by station closures. It's interesting to see Metro Board members go on the record talking smack on Catoe's day-to-day operations. Board members are frustrated that Metro waited so long to make public plans to close three stations over Labor Day weekend. People are upset about the closures, so the Board goes on the record saying they are surprised and that they didn't know. PR 101 folks. I wish the Washington Post would interview board members about things that are more important.

Twitter user captures images of a fight on a Red Line train. I ride the Red Line to Shady Grove from Union Station every afternoon, so this hits home a bit. @JMUSwag posts a few pictures of a brawl on a packed rush hour train. She writes that the fight was broken up upon arrival at the Gallery Place station. Around 20 or so high school kids were involved, apparently. At least no weapons were involved.

No love for streetcars in the District. CityDesk has a rundown about the National Capital Planning Commission shooting down streetcar wires for DDOT's 11th Street Bridge Project. I'll also note that JDLand wrote about this earlier in the week. NCPC feels it would obstruct views of the monuments. The whole streetcar planning problem is material for an entire post, but for now I want to point out the following quote from ANC 8A07 Commissioner Lendia Johnson:

“I’m not happy about the streetcars at all, the street is too narrow…I don’t want to see no (sic) wires hanging over no (sic) bridge.”

Touche, madame, touche.

Latinos pushed out of soccer fields by gentrification. The Post takes a look at groups of Latinos who are losing the ability to play pick-up soccer games. It's an interesting piece, if not for the look into the culture of undocumented Latinos, but the demonization of dog parks. Groups of Latinos used to gather for soccer games at 11th and Rhode Island Avenue NW, at a lot referred to as a canchita. The best line in the article: "once condominiums were built across the street from the park, residents organized a campaign to turn the enclosure into a dog park. The canchita was no more." Since the soccer players are often undocumented immigrants, they do not organize themselves in opposition to things such as dog parks. DPR is working on providing space for unorganized, pick-up games of soccer. Yes, there are groups of people who aren't in an organized league that have schedules sent out via email and Facebook.

Snipers coming to Rock Creek Park? As long as they come in white vans. The National Park Service might allow sharpshooters to come in and kill excess deer in Rock Creek Park. Or, if you read WJLA-TV's web site, "dear." I have no opinion on this beyond the fact that "sharpshooters in Rock Creek Park" is a phrase I never imagined writing.