March 6, 2008
Adams Morgan to Get a Taxi Stand
In the department of hey, that's a really friggin' good idea, Ward 1 Council member Jim Graham put up an announcement late yesterday that the D.C. Council unanimously passed an emergency bill Tuesday to create a pilot taxi zone in Adams Morgan.
The pilot taxi zone will require taxis to report to a central location to pick up riders rather than drive through the streets to find their fares. Hack inspectors will be involved in enforcing this program.You mean no more drunk pedestrians racing out into traffic on 18th Street to flag down taxis all over the place? People can just head to the taxi stand and wait in line? How fast can they get this thing up and running?
The same bill also created a pilot visitor parking program in Mount Pleasant, which will allow residents to apply for visitor passes that will be valid on restricted residential parking blocks, and measures to protect residential parking in Columbia Heights around the new DCUSA development, and around the new Nationals stadium. The Department of Transportation will increase the amount of parking reserved for residents in Columbia Heights and in the Southeast neighborhood near the ballpark.
Head over here to see announcements for all three programs included in the emergency legislation.
Photo by drewsaunders
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Why do I feel that having a taxi stand will be yet another location on 18th street where drunkards will fight ala Jumbo Slice style?
Because drunkards will fight anywhere, anytime.
Great idea but I don't know if more creating crowds is gonna turn out so well. People are going to jump the queue and pizza is gonna end up places other than mouths.
I think it's an interesting idea, but where are they going to put the taxi stand? And what about people that live in Adams Morgan that don't want to stand around in line with drunk people to wait for a cab.
Why would need a cab in Adams Morgan if you live in Adams Morgan?
I hate this idea. I live there and I love that I can walk out of my door and hail a taxi, anytime. Now I have to battle with drunk idiots to get a cab while they're grabbing my ass and calling me names? This is ridiculous!
Yeah... drunk people always obey all rules and regulations... Great idea!
this is a bad idea if anywhere close to 18th street
at least put the taxi stand across the bridge by the woodley park metro or where the buses do that little turn-in at the duke ellington bridge
keep it slightly away from 18th. that's the only way i can see this being a potentially decent concept
registeringsucks - sometimes people in Adams Morgan need a cab to leave Adams Morgan. Think midtown, airport, VA booty call, etc.
Christ what a terrible idea. As a resident of the neighborhood, my choices are a) fight with drunks for a cab or b) call Yellow Cab and pay an extra $1.50 for a cab that may or may not show up. Brilliant.
At least it's a pilot program.
This will just lead to more fights but there's a bigger issue here. Jim Graham goes out of his way to shut down or complain about certain clubs but here he is fostering the dangerous drunk scene that is Adams Morgan. I can't stand hypocrisy.
Will those who drink to forget be able to remember where the taxi stand is? Oh no matter .. but i wonder if this idea will create a larger problem with passed out drunks on 18th?
The real question is why would anyone actually choose to live in Adams Morgan?
"registeringsucks - sometimes people in Adams Morgan need a cab to leave Adams Morgan. Think midtown, airport, VA booty call, etc."
If you live in Adams Morgan, the only time you really have to fight drunks in line is late on a fri. or sat. night. If you live in Adams Morgan how often are you leaving it to go someplace else at that time? And if you are, will you need a taxi everytime?
ahh trebek26, you forget Kickball season starts in just a few months....so its drunks everyday of the week!
maybe they'll be forced to pickup black people now. I can't wait to see the riots that break out when they try to herd thousands of drunk fucks into a taxi line. They better have some cattle prods ready.
this is just a brilliant scheme by the city government to get the weekend rowdies gathered into one location so we can cull their numbers quickly, safely, and humanely.
picking off a frat boy when they're walking alone will draw attention...
getting rid of two or three out of a crowd of 50 won't be noticed, giving us time to get their herd down to a manageable size.
it's simply a wildlife management issue.
Bob - as trebek26 said, this will only be fri/sat at peak hours - I'm guessing after midnight or 1am. How often do Adams Morgan residents need to leave their own neighborhood between 1am and 3am on the weekend. And if you do, use public transportation. That's why we live in a city and not Arlandria.
why so much anger at people getting drunk and fighting? or throwing pizza?
I thought that was part of the charm of adams morgan on the weekend. I take my out of town friends there to watch.
This should only be done on weekend nights, and only in conjunction with closing down 18th street to all vehicular traffic.
Just in time to deal with the hail of green vomit that is St. Patrick's Day. Erin go blaaaaaaargh! [splash]
They passed this bill without specifying where the cab stand would be?
I've used cab stands in Scottish cities. Worked wonderfully.
And then there's Union Station's cab stand. A slow motion abortion. Literally one cab at a time inching forward to serve sometimes a hundred or more people in line.
Stunningly stupid design.
Actually, I think this is brilliant. My only surprise is that the City did not commission a multi-million dollar study to reach a conclusion that could be reached by simply going to Union Station after the Marc or Amtrak has arrived and a huge line of people has amassed.
You see, folks, this has little or nothing to do with actually getting drunken, fully enfranchised Eddie Bauer types home and into their beds (or home and into the beds of others). This is a brilliant form of mind control at its best.
The status quo: Cabs actually come to 18th street at closing time looking for fares. A shortage of fares multiplied by the surplus of inebriated riders results in a quick reversion to Hobbes’s State of Nature.
The future: The first week a huge line forms at the cab stand (perhaps located near that strange bus turn around near the Louis Armstrong Bridge). A heavy police presence at the cab stand ensures anyone wishing to get home plays nice and the problem of sorting out cabs is handled in an orderly manner. If nothing else, the problem of fights breaking out over cabs will be concentrated in one spot, where truncheons, tear gas and German shepherds can be positioned ahead of time—preferably out of earshot of the Adams Morganites who have already endured countless hours of libertine and debauchery outside their windows and doors. Now, why they moved to the nuisance and then have the gall to complain now is a mystery, but I digress.
But, after the first week, the partiers know that the line will be longer than if they just disperse to any location other than the cab stand, much like anyone who could have waited in the Union Station post-Marc or Post-Amtrak line, but instead chose to walk a few blocks away to G-Town Law or Kelly’s Irish Times and just hail a cab in the street. The only difference is that in this case, a drunken, violent crowd has dispersed without any police intervention.
Whether it’s south to Dupont, East to 16th St., north to Mt. Pleasant or west to Kalorama, the cab-a-getting’ is a better prospect; And the only thing you have to do to increase your chances of getting a cab is walk 20 yards farther than the other people you see. Brilliant!
I seem to recall, the proposal was behind the Suntrust Bank, that alley way would be the Cab through-way, and they would line up going down Columbia towards Havana Village etc.
I agree with G Lover's theory. Why stand in line waiting for a cab when you can walk down up to Columbia or down to Kalorama to pick up a cab? Surely cabbies will also catch on to this and rather than waiting on a line of cabs, will prowl Columbia and Kalorama looking for fares.
They already prowl Columbia and Kalorama looking for fares. Heck, they're perpetually parked in front of the 7-Eleven. I get honked at at least once a week on my walk home from work by a cabbie looking for a fare.
Wait a sec...there are "hack inspectors" who are going to enforce this?
Case closed, there will be no taxi stand.
Taxi stands typically have a long line of pissed off people waiting their turn to get in a cab that has been waiting just as long to pick them up. They are a waste of my time and the cab's fuel.
I'm for anything to thin the herd of frat boys! Maybe a catch and release (release in Turkmenistan)program?