By Kirk
‘The White House’
courtesy of ‘william couch’
OPM has announced that the Fed is closed for a nearly unprecedented fourth day in a row. The last time the government shut down for more than 2 days was for the blizzard of 1996, when employees were instructed not to report for an entire week (also the record for longest closure). We’ll see if the fed decides to open for business on Friday. I’d like to think that they’ll be able to, but God only knows, at this point.
By Rebecca
‘Lotus #49’
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’
The shops lining M Street and Wisconsin Avenue have had a turbulent year. We’ve lost American Eagle, Commander Salamander, Up Against The Wall, FYE, Smith and Hawken, Nathan’s, etc. However, we have gained North Face, True Religion Jeans, Arisu, etc. A full survey from late January of the closings and openings can be found at Georgetownmetropolitan.com.
Now comes word from Georgetown blogger Carol Joynt that more stores are closed or in peril. According the Joynt, Benneton has already shuttered, Sisley is soon to follow and the Aldo’s “remodeling” is suspect.
By Tom Bridge
‘Cyclists and DC Fire in the Snowmageddon’
courtesy of ‘theqspeaks’
You might remember the name Alex Capece from our He Loves DC series; he’s a DC EMS rookie working with DCFD in the midst of all this crazy snow. He’s updated his fire blog to include thoughts from working inside a blizzard, and it’s sure not glamorous:
I lost count of how many times we had to dig the ambulance out. The engine became stuck a few times, too—and without fail, as soon as we dig ourselves out, here comes a shout from down the street: “Hey, can you guys come give us a hand?”
Read the rest, it’s worth it, and buy any firefighter, policeman, or EM tech some beer if you get the chance. They’ve earned it.
By Samer Farha
‘Smithsonian Metro’
courtesy of ‘brianmka’
DC Fire and EMS is reporting on their twitter feed that a train had to be evacuated at the Smithsonian Metro station because of a possible fire. They later clarified that there was no fire.
Local news stations are reporting that a communication cable which dropped from the ceiling wrapped around a train’s wheels. WTOP reports that train behind the stopped one is being used to evacuate the people on the stuck train.
By Tom Bridge
‘Under the Woodrow Wilson Bridge #48’
courtesy of ‘andertho’
ABC 7 is saying that the Wilson Bridge has been shutdown due to several stuck trucks on the Maryland side of the Bridge, getting stuck in the snow on the hill that comes up off the Bridge and up toward 295 and 210 into the District. With the trucks unable to move, the traffic situation has rapidly deteriorated, and they’re now closing the eastbound spans of the Bridge until they can get things back up and running.
By Tom Bridge
‘Post office is open on Inauguration Day’
courtesy of ‘Wayan Vota’
“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds,” is the unofficial motto of postal carriers. Unfortunately, they didn’t say “Neither snowpocalypse,” and so, there is no postal service today. That means no home delivery or outbound mail today.
By Tom Bridge
‘Snow’
courtesy of ‘Amberture’
14 Metrobus routes in the DMV are now operating only on Snow Emergency routes:
In the District of Columbia, the U5, U8, D2, G2, and H8 are operating on snow emergency routes. In Northern Virginia, the 1 (A,B, E, F, Z), 3A, 3T, 4(A, B), 16 (A,D), 16G, 17H, 28 (A,X), 29 (H,G) are operating on snow emergency routes.
WMATA suggests that you use NextBus to find your nearest bus during the storm.
By Tom Bridge
‘Metro crash aftermath 2’
courtesy of ‘futureatlas.com’
The National Transportation Safety Board is planning a hearing at their offices in Southwest DC on February 23rd through 25th to question witnesses concerning the accident last June that claimed the lives of nine men and women. The hearing will be streamed to the internet, and you bet that we’ll be watching as the NTSB questions Metro about their safety track record, and the Tri-state Oversight Committee about Metro’s oversight roles.
By Tom Bridge
‘squeeze’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99’
OPM has announced a 4-hr early dismissal, and isn’t ruling out that they may move that further up if the storm starts to move faster. They aren’t alone.
DCPS is closing at noon
MoCo Schools are closing 2.5 hrs early
PG County Schools are closing 3 hrs early
American University closing at noon
Howard University closing at noon
Trinity University closing at noon
By Tom Bridge
‘Vanishing point’
courtesy of ‘Pianoman75’
Friend of We Love DC Logan Johnson, Senior Meteorologist for the National Weather Service, was kind enough to provide us with a specially updated forecast for the DC Area:
Snow lovers can rejoice (yet again!) as another winter storm has set its sights on the DC Metro area. This one looks like it may very well rival or even exceed the historic storm of December 19th. Low pressure taking shape over the Gulf of Mexico will visit the southern states with heavy rain, thunderstorms, and windy conditions. As the low takes a northward turn Friday night…it will strengthen off the Georgia coast and send precipitation towards the Mid-Atlantic. A cold area of high pressure will already be in place, and this will allow for the precipitation to fall as snow as the low pressure continues to strengthen and lift north to just off the Delmarva peninsula by early Saturday. Read on for the complete coverage Continue reading
By Kirk
‘damn the snow — full speed ahead!’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99’
After a second snowpocalypse, do we stop getting excited about them? This question is not abstract; I really mean it. It looks like we’re in for yet another snow storm, perhaps larger than any we’ve had so far this year. The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm watch, calling for up to 20 inches for the DC area. Who’s ready to be snowed in for yet another weekend? Not this guy. Still, it seems inevitable. So, make a run on milk and bread and find some sweet board games, or something. I don’t think you’ll be going anywhere this weekend. And stick with WLDC for all of your Snowpocalypse 2.0 coverage.
By Tom Bridge
Good has an incredibly sexy graphic comparing WMATA to other large transit systems including CTA, BART, MBTA and MTA, including length of commute averages and other sweet statistics. This is nothing short of sweet, sweet infoporn. How does Metro compare? Right in the middle of the big five transit systems for average commute length, percent active vehicles, ridership and speed.
Like porn, though, I’m not sure if the graphic is representative of reality: how are there really 1M riders on Metrorail + Metrobus on an average day, when an average day has 1.2M trips (not riders) between the two systems and likely a total passenger total of much less than half that number. But hey, we’re probably still ahead of Boston and SF. That counts for something, right?
By Kirk
‘Goodbye, snowman’
courtesy of ‘erin m’
Despite the hype and my most fervent prayers, the District came out on the winning end of its bout with snow. This was due largely to getting considerably less precipitation than was predicted. Most of the DC area reported less than 3 inches of accumulation, but this was enough to close Montgomery and Fairfax county schools and to put the Fed into unscheduled leave. Still, the roads were little more than wet, this morning, and my commute wasn’t harried in the least. It was kind of a let down, to be honest. We’ll see if mother nature throws something more challenging our way, this weekend. Considering that there won’t be any work to miss, I’m guessing that she will.
By Tom Bridge
‘District Door’
courtesy of ‘M.V. Jantzen’
Starting in 2014, DC voters will elect the attorney general to go along with the Mayor. Currently, the position is appointed, which was the subject of a recent poll by the Post. 55% of those questioned said the AG’s position should be elected and not appointed. The mayor is less than thrilled by the proposition, the Post says, citing the fact that the Mayor would now have to hire his own attorneys going forward. He could veto the bill, which would require 9 council votes to overturn. The initial bill, passing 12-1, heads to his desk and thence to Congress for approval.
Any idea if Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) wants to stick his nose in this? Why not give him a call at (202) 225-7751 and ask?
By Tom Bridge
‘Hollywood Blvd – Day 31/365’
courtesy of ‘JPhilipson’
Congratulation to Arlington-born actress Sandra Bullock, who is up for the Oscar for Best Actress for her role in The Blind Side. Bullock graduated from Washington-Lee High School in North Arlington, before going on to a career full of fame & fortune.
‘Fenty Oops’
courtesy of ‘Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com’
The Washington Examiner reports that Mayor Fenty’s numbers are down. Way down. Fenty’s approval rating is at a mediocre 42 percent. When compared to his 72 percent approval rating in January 2008, his current ratings look quite miserable.
Where does the real problem lie? DC residents feel like Fenty isn’t spending enough time around the wards.
“He hasn’t spent much time in this ward, and the time he’s spent has not been quality time,” Philip Pannell, an active Democrat in Ward 8, told the Examiner. “That’s not the way you cultivate a base of admirers.”
The real answer to Fenty’s problems is that he needs to “polish up his people skills.” Otherwise, he runs the risk of losing to his speculated running mate D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray in the upcoming November election.
By Rebecca
‘Tomix EF66 41 Hauling Hayabusa’
courtesy of ‘foolish adler’
Both Virginia and Maryland will received funds from the federal government’s American Reinvestment and Recovery Act to improve local railway infrastructure and services.
Virginia’s $75 million dollars in funding will build an additional 11 mile track to the current railway service between Woodbridge and Quantico. The new track will allow freight and passenger trains to simultaneously navigate this bottle-necked section and will allow trains to reach speeds up to 100mph. Improving this stretch is only part of a proposed $1.8 billion dollar project to create a Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor.
According to WTOP, the $70million awarded to Maryland will rebuild a highly-traversed Baltimore tunnel and will speed both commuter and freight traffic.
By Tom Bridge
‘familiar places’
courtesy of ‘Pappa91’
That’s the word from the weather folks, is that this southern snowstorm is going to peter out somewhere between Richmond and DC, leaving Richmond up to their ears, and DC with a dusting. The area between Richmond and the North Carolina border may get 8+ inches, according to the Capital Weather Gang, but we’ll largely just dusted with snow.
Whew. I didn’t like the idea of having to shovel out this weekend.
By Tom Bridge
”
courtesy of ‘mollie emm’
The Metro Board voted early this afternoon to use fare hikes, and not rail service cuts, to cover a $40M budget gap for the rest of FY 2010, which ends in June. The fare increase will go into effect on 1 March 2010, raising the minimum fare on Metro to $1.75 during rush, and $1.45 during offpeak. The move is just one of a group of measures that will cover the budget gap, and was said by GM John Catoe to potentially raise $9-11M in extra fares.
Also included the measures adopted by the Metro Board were staff cutbacks at the transit agency (mostly open positions) and other measures, but significantly absent from them was a transfer from the capital budget to operating funds, which could have jeopardized future purchasing for Metro.
In addition to the fare hike, the council also elected Peter Benjamin from Maryland to the chairman’s position, replacing Ward One councilman Jim Graham who is cycling off the chairmanship.
By Tom Bridge
‘DC Chamber of Commerce Gala oct 17 2009’
courtesy of ‘ShashiBellamkonda’
…but it’s not a fault of the offer or the team, it seems. The threat to the peaceful transfer of the Wizards is coming from Washington Sports & Entertainment, who insist they should have the right to accept outside public offers for the Wizards as part of the sale. Negotiations have been (publicly) civil between Leonsis and the Pollin family, who’ve both retained investment banks to assist in the valuation of the Wizards franchise (right now? I’d give ’em a nickel.) and the Verizon Center.
What had previously been released was that Leonsis, and his company Lincoln Holdings, had an exclusive period in which to make an offer for the team and the Verizon Center, after which things could be opened to the public. The President of WS&E, though, believes that not to be the case, and he’s gone public with a memo sent to the Pollin estate and Leonsis.
What had been a peaceful process just got a whole lot of potential to get ugly. Thanks, jackass.
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