Good morning to those of you who are working today, on a day that many set aside to honor American Presidents with HUGE SAVINGS! and ONEOFAKIND DEALS! We trust that you made the best of your unjustly short weekend, and managed to stay on your feet on the skating rink sidewalks of our fair city. We applaud our neighbors who did their best to keep their portion of sidewalks clear and dry. Unfortunately, we have several others who thought it would be a good idea to ignore the snow, let it melt and refreeze, pack it down, and then drive a Zamboni over it to give it that hockey rink shine. To them we say, “booooo!!”
And we hope they have to work today, too.
Is the Convention Center a Disappointment?: The Post today questions if the Convention Center is living up to its goals, especially as bookings are slowing down. Many blame the lack of bookings on hotels that refuse to discount rates for conventioneers because of the always-reliable supply of tourists, and support building a new hotel that would improve the economic impact of the Center. The Post also claims that the Convention Center has failed to significantly increase the pace of the promised revitalization of the Ninth Street corridor.
Metro Opens Doors to Safety Scrutiny: A Metrobus participated in another deadly accident when a W2 bus struck and killed a 21-year-old mother in Congress Heights on Saturday night. The Post reports that this is the fourth time in the past eight months that a pedestrian has been killed by a Metrobus. While the details and the blame for this incident are still in question, it’s clear that it was both tragic and completely preventable. What’s Metro to do? New General Manager John Catoe has already announced mandatory safety training for Metro employees. For its part, DDOT is ramping up its effort to identify and neutralize the danger at troublesome District intersections. Knowing, however, that neither drivers nor pedestrians have a monopoly on unsafe behavior, what else can be done? Are deadly accidents like these inevitable?
Is This Heaven? No, Its Ballston!: On Sunday, the Post examined the strategy of Tysons planners who see Arlington’s section of Orange Line as the paradigm for mixed use, pedestrian-friendly development. While the booming success of the corridor is impressive, critics of the plan find comparisons unconvincing, noting the extreme imbalance of offices and housing in Tysons and relative distance from the regional hub in D.C. The Post does not detail the alternate proposal backed by many growth opponents of sticking your head in the sand and hoping the congestion just goes away.
Briefly Noted: Region’s blood supplies are desperately low, with less than a day’s supply of some blood types… NAACP delays plan to move headquarters to SE D.C. … Off duty District cop has car stolen and shoots one of the assailants.
This Day in DCist: A year ago, an Opinionist voiced some serious concerns about the troubles with MetroAccess.
Photo by Flickr user SpecialEd98.
