Transit union to 'protest' by following the 'rules.' File this under confusing public relations strategies. Metro's employee union is urging all bus drivers to operate "by the book," which will result in slower travel times. Buses will travel the speed limit and not pass each other at stops. Also, bus drivers will not be driving buses with broken turn signals and no speedometers. The story seems to get spun as 'a protest'--a way to piss off customers to get management to do something. Management shouldn't be encouraging drivers to speed or drive broken equipment. And so now, after two pedestrians have been struck (in one case it looks likely the bus driver was at fault), the union decides to encourage drivers to follow the rules? I don't know, but maybe that should have been the case, always?
Wild pack of dogs threatened police on horseback in Fort Dupont Park. That was a fun headline to type. A pack of 16 dogs threatened to attack a U.S. Park Police officer who was training a horse in the park in Anacostia. The officer fired his weapon to scare the dogs away, and then chased them back through the woods. He found a woman with more dogs near a car. The woman was taken into custody on an outstanding traffic warrant.
DDOT will have a meeting tonight about the K Street Transitway. This could be big, if it ever gets done. The District will present information about an environmental assessment for two different design options. Public comments are encouraged. The meeting will be tonight at 6PM at the Carnegie Library, 801 K St NW. If we can get the K Street Transitway done, along with streetcar lines in Anacostia and H Street NE within 10 years, I'll be amazed. At that point I'll definitely advocate Gabe Klein to serve a term or two as Secretary of Transportation.
The Real World DC is actually over. The cast has left D.C. Hey, guess what, it wasn't a big deal. It'll be interesting to watch a few the episodes, I'm sure. The show's executive producer told NBC4:
"The neighborhood was great. The people in town were great. We had a wonderful time. We love it here. Washington, D.C., is an amazing, livable city, and I think as an outsider you didn't know that. You knew about the monuments, but you didn't know what a great city it was, and we all discovered that."Maybe the show will do some good for D.C., at least help the rest of apathetic America realize actual people live in the city.
AT&T signal at Judiciary Square? I briefly had full AT&T service (no 3g, though) while my Red Line train was at Judiciary Square today. Was this a fluke? Didn't have enough time to try and make a phone call, and the signal faded as we got into the tunnel.
glad to hear the real world people found the city away from the mall. i hope they'll pitch the show that way, and give the real DC some good face time.
ReplyDeleteWhat's puzzling is that the City Paper would publish something that appears to have actually been written by Fenty's propaganda office.
ReplyDeleteI mean, it's not that hard. A drop in crime in DC does not mean anything in a vacuum. Shocking piece of information that this Lanier Love Fest does not bother mentioning: Crime is down in almost every major city in the U.S.!
I just can't believe that someone as seasoned as Jason Cherkis would basically regurgitate what MPD is saying - crime's down so it must be all the things we're doing. And he backs it up with a few anecdotal observations. Don't even bother doing the most basic analysis which is, how are we doing compared to everywhere else?
Yes: there are factors that contribute to crime other than local policing strategies. Actually, local policing strategies are probably a minor contributor, which is clear because significant crime trends in the last 40 or 50 years have generally been the same in every city.
I really don't know how much impact, if any, Lanier's efforts have made. I'd like to understand what's been happening using the best information available. But if you don't even bother to do the most basic analysis, using information that is available on the internet, then how will we ever know?
Cherkis should know better. There have been dozens of articles in the NY Times, the Washington Times and even the Post about the national crime trend. To give Lanier blanket credit for what's happening in DC without even mentioning the national trend, much less doing any kind of analysis, is just irresponsible and plain bad journalism.
I noticed all of the new antennae and wiring in the Rosslyn station Tuesday evening. I checked my phone and saw that I had a signal from AT&T, but no edge or 3g. It's looking good for Friday, though!
ReplyDeleteAlright, now you can be extra-obliviious to those around you on Metro while you chat needlessly and annoyingly about overpriced cupcakes. Now there is just a little bit more to hate about DC.
ReplyDelete