November 1, 2008
The Saturday Morning Post
Happy All Saints' Day, Washington. Hopefully, you made it through the night with more treats than tricks. We were fairly encouraged by the amount of creative costumes that we saw - in spite of our assumption that we'd see far too many Jokers and Palins. What can we say? We're proud of you, D.C. SoberRide also seemed like it was quite popular last night, as predicted - trying to hail a cab in Columbia Heights was quite trying.
Unfortunately, some of the news this morning is much more ghastly than waiting for cabs or an overload of "lipstick on a pig" costumes.
> The Post reports that three District employees have been let go after a mentally retarded man - who had been living in squalor for years after being physically disabled in a bus accident - had numerous pleas for help ignored by the Department of Disability Services. "Mr. Johnson," who had an IQ of 45, is believed to have been trying to get help from DDS since 2001. Even with the help of a social worker since 2006, Johnson was unable to receive even one visit from DDS before he slipped into a diabetic coma and died in February 2007. More DDS workers could be fired, depending on further investigation.
> Local media outlets have begun to pick up on The Sexist's post about the vandalization of an openly gay MPD officer's locker.
> For something a little more pleasant: DDOT's planned streetcar line in Southeast will be slightly extended to include a downtown Anacostia stop.
Photo by m hoek.
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For anyone thinking of doing early voting in Arlington this morning, think again - I went right as the polling place at Courthouse opened this morning, and the line was absurdly long, with a wait estimated at 3-4 hours.
Perhaps this means the crowds will actually be light on election day proper?
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That Examiner article on the Anacostia streetcar is a little backwards. The extension plans have been public for a couple weeks. The news is that Graham is complaining about DDOT's lack of disclosure about the extension.
Graham says he's for the streetcar network, and just wants a more proper accounting of the plans. I just hope he's being honest about that and isn't looking for a reason to cut it back or push more BRT.
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I'm officially calling the Anacostia line "the streetcar to nowhere." I mean, what's it supposed to accomplish?
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graham is the worst advocate for transit i can think of. the man drives everywhere. there really should be someone who is more in tune with the transit-riding public pushing for these things.
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The demonstration streetcar line linking Bolling Air Force Base, the Navy Annex, Barry Farm and Anacostia will now end after 2 miles at the intersection of Good Hope Road and MLK Avenue, rather than the Anacostia Metro Station. The change balloons the project’s $45 million budget to about $65 million.
Good thing it doesn't actually go to a Metro stop. People might actually use it to go somewhere.
I still don't see what this demonstration project is supposed to demonstrate, apart from how NOT to set up a light rail line. I would have given anything to listen in on the planning sessions for this albatross.
"How doing the H Street line first? People there actually WANT this."
"Are you kidding? They'd go ape$h!t over the construction taking away their precious parking spaces. Not to mention the noise. We need to put this where NOBODY will complain about it. How about Anacostia?"
"Anacostia wants a light rail line?"
"Well, no. But it'll be near the Air Force base, and since they've got a huge honking wall around their perimeter, they won't complain about the noise."
"So this will connect the Anacostia Metro station with..."
"Whoa! We can't put this near a Metro station! You know how much real estate costs around Metro! We can't afford that! This has to go down a deserted highway in an isolated part of town, connecting nowhere to nothing. That's the only way we can get these numbers to work. $45 mil doesn't buy what it used to."