Friday, March 14, 2008
WP: Sidamo
The Post on Sidamo's coffee ceremony. Check out the end of the article. This may be the first time I've seen a place that is 2.5 blocks from the Metro [if you use the rear parking garage exit that spits you out halfway across the Hop Scotch bridge] described as not Metro accessible. Umm...do you think the Post would also describe the Landmark Lofts, which are adjacent to the metro, and 1.5 blocks from Sidamo, as not accessible by Metro?
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36 comments:
not metro accessible only if you're 400 pounds and can't walk more than a block without getting winded.
i think it might have something to do with lazy suburbanites working at the post....just a thought.
"drive to the National Postal Museum nearby."
that hurts my head.
2.5 blocks? Maybe as the crow flies, and even that's a stretch. To walk there from Union Station, it's 5 blocks at a minimum.
I grant you, as far as I'm concerned that's quite accessible. Inconvenient perhaps, but accessible. The Post may have erred on the semantics, but that doesn't excuse you for playing it fast and loose with the math.
Outside the Gallery Place metro, there's a map with circles that show you how far away things (by walking time) are from that location. We need one at union station. I'd say Sidamo is a 10 minute walk from Union Station- very metro accessible- if you need a "hip" cup of coffee.
Eli, it's 2.5 blocks through the rear entrance that leads through the parking garage. Maybe you are unfamiliar with that exit. It puts you out halfway down the Hop Scotch bridge [which would be 2nd Street NE]. Here are the numbers from 3rd [no address for 2nd on the bridge]
300 H St NE, Washington, DC 20002
Hide/Show Route Directions from A to B:
1:
Start out going EAST on H ST NE toward 4TH ST NE.
0.1 mi
* Map
2:
End at 417 H St NE Washington, DC 20002-4335
* Map
Estimated Time: 0.30 minutes Estimated Distance: 0.1 miles
417 H St NE, Washington, DC 20002-4335
Looks like about 2.5 blocks to me.
Next time please check your facts before making accusations.
inked is right.
if you take the rear exit, it's about 2.5 blocks, with about a third of that DOWNHILL.
Not to downplay Sidamo, (I just got a pound of coffee from them straight out the roaster this week) but how many non-local people use the parking garage exit to the hopscotch bridge to get to our side of town? If you are not local, wouldn't you use the main entrance, get fed up with the walk, and stop at Ebeneezer's?
8th and El, I'm sure it is mostly used by locals. Many non-locals may be sketched out by the parking garage [even on a Sunday afternoon, I guess]. But saying Sidamo is not accessible by Metro is just plain inaccurate.
inked, you laid the smack down.
In any case, for those who look at metro accessibility as a state of mind, anywhere on H is far from accessible. I'll stick with those who take a decidedly more facty approach.
I've actually timed this, it takes me 10 minutes to walk as I step out of the metro train to 5th and H. I am a brisk walker.
This is going out the front. Are you saying there is another Metro exit that takes you directly to the rear end of the parking garage? From the rear parking garage exit to the actual Metro platform is quite a ways, from what I understood. You're basically going the length of the entire parking garage and much of Union Station, right?
My 2.5 is from the moment I hit the bridge. I've found it to be faster than coming from the front.
I agree with you Kerry that most refer Metro assesability as a state of mind. It could only be 2.5 blocks to Sidamo from Union Station, but 2.5 blocks in Goergetown, The Mall, Adams Morgan, or even U Street is a heck of a lot different than walking across the Hopscotch bridge and past a bunch of abandoned store fronts. I guess walking past the stores in Union Station makes up for it a little...
How sad. no wonder we americans are getting fatter by the day ...
Let me also add that I take the Metro home almost everyday, and walk from the New York Ave Station Metro, a good 15 min stroll. I'm not complaining about the distance personally, just the attraction factor for people not local.
what is this 'non-local' idiocy about? inked is correcting a LOCAL MEDIA SOURCE. if they didn't know, they should do RESEARCH. you don't make a claim in a MEDIA SOURCE without RESEARCHING the veracity of that claim. An ounce of research would have uncovered that the rear parking garage exit to Union Station is a few blocks from Sidamo. When will people stop apologizing for the Post's continuous failures when it comes to accurately describing anything outside NW?
Couldn't be stated better(re: Soul Searcher).
I still don't understand how to get to the hopscotch bridge from inside union station. Can someone please explain?
The Zipcars, some tour buses, and even the Circulator stop are now located at the H Street exit. The way out to there is on the plazzanine above Gates A and B.
ugh, 8th and el has a point.
if you don't know about the rear exit to a fairly ugly bridge, you're going to leave through the front of union station.
in that case, it's a bit more than 2.5 blocks.
but hell, the experience is worth the trek, and worth seeing a part of DC that you wouldn't normally see.
what the post should have is an 'insider's shortcuts for locals that don't normally get out of their hood' link. that would solve some of the probs.
the streetcars might solve a whole bunch of other probs.
fact is, if you're from out of the hood, and want to go the ceremony, there's plenty of parking at that time of day.
and when you're done, hey, just hop in your car and go back to .... wherever.
Directions to Hopscotch Bridge Exit from Union Station: From the Starbucks coffee shop in Union Station you will see two escalators, one going down and one up. Right next to the shoe shine stand you take the up escalator, make a right and exit into parking area. Take next escalator up to garage level with rent a car companies and walk directly to the rear. You will walk right out onto Hopscotch Bridge. Much shorter than exiting in front and walking all way round. I live right by 3rd and H and I enter the station this way saving at least 8 minutes...
I don't understand the aggression, SoulSearcher. You've mentioned in another posting that the WP caters to suburban life. Wouldn't it fall into a chain of thinking that suburbans, who don't really like the Metro in the first place, would rather drive to Sidamo on a Sunday afternoon than "do some research" on what exit to come out of Union Station to make their trip shorter? And please don't be facetious. You very well knew that when I said "local", I meant those living in the region, as in NoMa, or Near Northeast, or whatever the F you want to call it. Those people within walking distance to Union Station anyway, who know the damn exit. There are people who read this blog and live in the area who didn't know what we were talking about. Should we blame them too for being so ignorant of their surroundings?
> 8th and El's comments are denoted by side >brackets
>I don't understand the aggression, SoulSearcher.
^ ^
don't read the caps as aggression, read them as frustration towards people criticizing Inked for criticizing something the Post got blatantly wrong. How do you defend a newspaper for failing to do basic research? You say "how could non-locals know about the Hopscotch Bridge exit?" but Inked was criticizing a REPORTER who should do research to find out about the rear exit before making a claim that an area is not Metro-accessible. This is not an ordinary non-resident commenting, this is a reporter with a responsibility to investigate claims before making them. You're apologizing for 'non-locals', but Inked was addressing a journalistic error...a journalist cannot use the excuse of being non-local to excuse an error, hence I was uncertain of why you brought up the 'non-local' defense for the journalist being criticized by Inked (I do apologize for using the term 'idiocy', which was inflammatory)
>You've mentioned in another posting that the WP >caters to suburban life. Wouldn't it fall into a >chain of thinking that suburbans, who don't really >like the Metro in the first place, would rather >drive to Sidamo on a Sunday afternoon than "do >some research" on what exit to come out of Union >Station to make their trip shorter?
^ ^ ^
I expect Post reporters to do research no matter where they live. They're journalists, for God's sake. I think you're missing the crux of my response. Inked was criticizing the Post, not people who might come visit Sidamo, for describing Sidamo as not Metro accessible". The Post writer should have done research to determine whether or not Sidamo was Metro accessible before making that erroneous claim. You are taking this personally or assuming my comment was directed at suburbanites instead of at the faulty local reporting at the Post when it comes to covering areas in DC outside NW. Read my post again, please.
>And please don't be facetious. You very well knew >that when I said "local", I meant those living in the >region, as in NoMa, or Near Northeast, or >whatever the F you want to call it.
^ ^
now "whatever the F" IS aggressive. You can use that language with someone you know better. Let's keep this civil. Again, I apologize for using "idiocy" in my initial post. That was inflammatory.
>Those people within walking distance to Union >Station anyway, who know the damn exit. There >are people who read this blog and live in the area >who didn't know what we were talking about. >Should we blame them too for being so ignorant >of their surroundings?
^ ^
If you read my post to which you're responding again, you'll see I was CLEARLY referring to the Post writer, not potential visitors. Please re-read.
I think it is possible that we are somehow reading past one another. You seem to be talking about non-locals that do not know the area, while Inked and I are criticizing the Post reporter who has a duty to get the facts right (here, the fact about Metro accessibility), non-local reporter or local reporter.
8th and El,
I see my error now. I thought you were defending the reporter for making the mistake of describing Sidamo as non-Metro-accessible because the reporter was a 'non-local'. That was not what you were saying at all. I apologize. I mis-read the intent of your comment. I replied a bit more acidic than necessary because I thought 'Why would a journalist get a pass on a factual error because of where they live?'. I misread what you were trying to say, I believe. You were talking about what a generic non-local person would think, not the journalist being criticized in Inked's original post.
No worries man. If I posted on this thing to be right...
You're right, I was too aggresive in my post too, and for that, I apologize. Tell you what, if we ever meet at the Pug, I'll buy you a drink?
i'll buy both of you drinks, if we all ever meet up.
Off-topic, but I saw that XII now has their awning out and was looking like it might be open last night. Any word on when their doors will open or if they have alread?
XII does indeed have its awning up. It looks nice. To the best of my knowledge it is not yet open, but they have had the lights on at night sometimes. I think they are planning to open soon.
Nouveau Fleur has a new awning too. Looks really nice.
Sidamo is metro accessible but it is not 2.5 blocks from Union Station. I live between G and H on 4th and there is a sign at 4th and G that says Union Station Metro- 5 blocks and that sign is 1 block closer to Union Station than Sidamo. Yes it is 2.5 blocks from the garage exit, but that exit is between 1st and 2nd on H. The metro is at 1st and F or 2 blocks (inside the station and garage) from the exit so Sidamo is at least 4.5 blocks from the metro. You save half a block by going out the garage and down the bridge.
Soul Searcher seems like a grade-A douchebacg.
It might be helpful if we could all pretend to be adults and refrain from just outright name calling. Seriously people, it really isn't that hard to be constructive, mature, and respectful.
Wylie
I wrote Moira and here is her response.
"
Thanks for reading and thanks for the note. You have
definitely made me
wonder what exactly is "metro-accesible." I figured
that Sidamo was fairly
far from Union Sation for the average cofffee shop
go-er. I see now,
however, that I should be more careful about what
metro accessible really
means in the future...
Thanks again for reading and for the note!
Moira
"
Please don't call SIDAMO (An Ethiopian Blend of Java
and Tradition) not
Metro Accessible. Sidama is 2.5 blocks from Union
station if you use the
garage exit, which you can WALK through and drops you
right on Hopscotch
Bridge, right on H street NE.
If you want to walk circularly around from the front
of Union Station, then
it's about 5-6 blocks, similar to 18 and U NW from
either the U street
Metro or the Dupont Metro.
Also, former Mayor Williams and Billionaire sic "Sheila Joshson" just bought into the Senate
Square/Landmark Lofts complex, which is just 1.5
blocks from Sidamo. Don't
tell them they're not metro-accessible.
8th and El,
Meeting at The Pug sounds cool. I am woefully behind on following March Madness. Perhaps we should have a Frozen Tropics meet-up over a game?
Anon @ 12:22, sorry you have formed a negative impression of me based on blog replies. Feel free to come to The Pug and actually get a human being to gauge your first impression on.
ps: These are the most actual non-anonymous replies I've seen in a while. This is a good trend.
I checked on a google map. Coming out of Union Station toward E street and 2nd to Sidamo is just over .6 miles. Going out the rear of Union Station is roughly .5.
In any case, living in DC it's easy to forget that most people don't walk.
"In any case, living in DC it's easy to forget that most people don't walk."
Shame on you! Haven't you heard, DC's the most walkable city in the country:)
I wouldn't mind a beer and college basketball. Maybe we should make a night of it. Inked?
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