January 26, 2007
Morning Roundup: Fire and Ice Edition
Small Fire in Metro: We're hearing there was a small fire at the Farragut North metro station around 9 a.m. and that trains are unloading at the previous stops. NBC4 has more details. There are no WMATA alerts posted at this time, but we know a few folks who had an extra long walk in the cold this morning. Hope none of you got stuck in the winter chill longer than you needed to, but let us know if you hear what happened or if trains are still being delayed.
What's the Matter With Kids These Days?: The Post has a recap of D.C. Council member Jim Graham's hearing yesterday on D.C. clubs' all-ages policies, a move he made in the wake of the accidental shooting of 17-year-old Taleshia Ford. A few teens at the hearing told stories about how easy it was for them to purchase alcoholic drinks at some clubs, simply by paying $5 or $10 extra. The story does note that most of the bigger clubs, "like H2O, 9:30 Club, the Black Cat, Platinum and Envy," do a great job enforcing strict no-underage-drinking policies. DCist has since heard rumors that Graham is likely to change his proposal to match that of Boston's, where teens younger than 14 are barred from nightclubs that serve alcohol, along with provisions that would require stricter enforcement of underage drinking laws on the part of clubs.
And Then There's the Schools: While the uproar about kids and their nighttime activities continues, some other folks are pounding fists about the schools they have to go to. The Examiner writes today on new school chancellor Robert Bobb and his determination to fix the ever-decaying buildings before Mayor Fenty "neuters" him as part of his plan for the District's schools. Now it's a race, but we don't care who wins so long as someone finally accomplishes something.
This Day in DCist: Last year we saw a local fave extend up to the boroughs, while in 2005 we looked at the new citywide recycling program.
Briefly Noted: Missing teens could still be in D.C. ... Fenty close to picking fire chief ... Maryland pollution bill debate gets heated.
Photo by iceman882
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I was on the train that stopped because of the fire at Farragut North. The operator came on and told those of us on the train to "step back from the doors because of a small fire ahead of the train." Naturally, it was a rush hour train so we had nowhere to step back too. He came on and made the same announcement about three times, then after at least five minutes of having no idea what was going on and the train moving very briefly, we were offloaded and told to head "to the left". It was kind of spooky - a little more information for those of us stuck on that train would have been great. (I feel for all those who had to walk in the cold this morning!)
I was on a train stuck between Woodley Park and Dupont Circle because of the fire. It was around 8:45am. Our train was a 4 car train for some reason, when I boarded at Van Ness. Then we waited between Woodley and Dupont for about 15 minutes, with the train operator announcing "there's a fire ahead at Farragut North, and they're deciding whether to offload people or not, and trying to rectify the situation" about every 3 minutes. Once we started moving again after the "fire situation had been rectified", all of the people at Dupont tried to squish on our already full 4 car train, and then the offloaded people from the 6 car train at Farragut tried to get on our train too! It was a little snug, but at least it was nice and warm! When I got to work, there were WMATA alerts in my email inbox about it, so even if it wasn't on the website, they did send out the email alerts.
Oh, and really people. I mean come on. There was shoving and elbowing and everything, like any of us could 1) move or 2) do anything to fix the situation. One woman was pushing and cutting in front of people saying "she had to catch a train in 20 mins to New York!" like it was life or death, instead of trains to New York leaving every hour or so (okay, I made that stat up, I don't know how often they leave, but still, it seems like they probably have ones leaving pretty often in the morning). And are not the rest of us entitled to get places on time? Nope, only her apparently.
Ugh. I was on that red line train, standing in the first car right behind the operator. He did a great job of telling passengers to stand back, but stand back from what? I wish I could've stood back from that Drakkar Noir dude who pranged me every time the train moved. Sardines indeed.
What made the whole thing doubly suck is that I had to pay a second fare when I walked from Farragut North to catch a Farragut West blue line train. Who at Metro would I talk to about that?
I also was on the train at Farragut North. After the initial 'step back from the doors' which didn't mean much, the station managers did a GREAT job of handling the situation, moving passengers out of harms way, putting out the fire and returning service quickly. I decided to wait on the platform to see what would happen (and I was in no rush to get to work. It couldn't have been more then 10 minutes that the train was delayed. Job well done.
Bobb is not literally the school "chancellor". At least not yet. The article was using the term facetiously because Fenty plans on putting a chancellor in charge of the schools once his takeover is implemented.
The article was making the point that there is already someone in charge, namely the President of the Board of Ed. Calling him the "chancellor" was a sort of "a rose by any other name would still smell the same" jab.
Trains leave for New York much more frequently than once an hour from Union Station, but a lot of them are reserved seating and they won't let you on if they're sold out. The Acela trains also cost a lot more for a better seat and a SLIGHTLY shorter trip, so if she had an Acela ticket she sure didn't want to bump down to a later, more crowded train. Who knows, she may have even had a meeting to get to. Not that it excuses pushing and shoving, but trying to claim that having a train to catch isn't a legitimate reason to be rushing seems sort of ridiculous.
When there are hundreds of people waiting for the train, there is no legitimate excuse for anything, imo. Just wait your turn. Yes, you may have to wait for the next train(s)! We're all using the train to get somewhere.
If it's that serious, take a cab already.
You think that's bad, check this out.
www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21122413-38200,00.html