A look at what's going on in Trinidad, on H Street, and in the larger area north of Capitol Hill.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Roll Call Hits H
The exterior of the Atlas during the renovation. One story on the theaters on H, and one on the streetcar. For photos taken during the renovation check out the photo set in the sidebar.
6 comments:
Sam
said...
Now that the H Street shuttle's been around for a while, can we have a talk about it at some point? Do people find it useful? I've taken it a few times, but I've never seen many people on it. The Roll Call article cites a ridership of 1700 in March, but I'm wondering how many of those riders were return travelers, a factor which would reduce the number of people who used the shuttle during March.
Also, I suspect many of the people use the shuttle in the same way I do: I get on it whenever the X2 isn't in sight. I live right near H St, so the only times I use the shuttle is when I'm going out somewhere, like Chinatown or beyond, or when I'm coming back from said places. And whenever I've been on it, the same could be said of my fellow passengers, some of whom didn't even know what the shuttle was, but the driver convinced them to get on anyway (they were waiting for the X2). In other words, I bet a lot of the "1700" riders are not using the shuttle for its theoretical use, which is to bring new people to the area (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong about that).
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the shuttle if people actually use it, but I've never really understood its purpose since it just duplicates the X2's route and is so infrequent. I'm curious to hear what other people think about the shuttle, though.
Too bad they didn't wait to make the purchase. Very poor planning. Since someone in the District arranged for the purchase of the street cars prior to having an approved plan in place someone should check into the incentives received from the Czech company for the purchase. Also I bet our tax dollars are going to the costs of storage costs for these street cars that will not see the light of day on H Street for a number of years.
I'm with Charles and anon 7:08: The Williams administration should have forseen the current economic crisis, the fact that the Big Three Automakers would "sh!t the bed", and held off on any decision on whether to install streetcars until the stimulus bill of 2009 was passed...
Really? It was a smart decision to purchase these street cars without an approved plan in place? Did you get the publicly funded vacation to Czech Republic to make the purchase? Someone likely did. There is not enough accountability in this city which is why we see the same tired councilmen and woman year after year. Like I said, poor planning.
6 comments:
Now that the H Street shuttle's been around for a while, can we have a talk about it at some point? Do people find it useful? I've taken it a few times, but I've never seen many people on it. The Roll Call article cites a ridership of 1700 in March, but I'm wondering how many of those riders were return travelers, a factor which would reduce the number of people who used the shuttle during March.
Also, I suspect many of the people use the shuttle in the same way I do: I get on it whenever the X2 isn't in sight. I live right near H St, so the only times I use the shuttle is when I'm going out somewhere, like Chinatown or beyond, or when I'm coming back from said places. And whenever I've been on it, the same could be said of my fellow passengers, some of whom didn't even know what the shuttle was, but the driver convinced them to get on anyway (they were waiting for the X2). In other words, I bet a lot of the "1700" riders are not using the shuttle for its theoretical use, which is to bring new people to the area (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong about that).
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the shuttle if people actually use it, but I've never really understood its purpose since it just duplicates the X2's route and is so infrequent. I'm curious to hear what other people think about the shuttle, though.
It's too bad that DC has to purchase streetcars from the Czech Republic. Some of our ailing auto factories need to re-tool to make rolling stock.
Too bad they didn't wait to make the purchase. Very poor planning. Since someone in the District arranged for the purchase of the street cars prior to having an approved plan in place someone should check into the incentives received from the Czech company for the purchase. Also I bet our tax dollars are going to the costs of storage costs for these street cars that will not see the light of day on H Street for a number of years.
Can we please get DC to use stimulus bill money to take the streetcar all the way across town to K street?
Come on, Tommy Wells, let's do this.
(and yes I already suggested this through DC's recovery act website)
Frankly, DC's list of current stimulus projects is somewhat lacking in vision.
I'm with Charles and anon 7:08: The Williams administration should have forseen the current economic crisis, the fact that the Big Three Automakers would "sh!t the bed", and held off on any decision on whether to install streetcars until the stimulus bill of 2009 was passed...
Now *that's* leadership we can believe in.
Oboe,
Really? It was a smart decision to purchase these street cars without an approved plan in place? Did you get the publicly funded vacation to Czech Republic to make the purchase? Someone likely did. There is not enough accountability in this city which is why we see the same tired councilmen and woman year after year. Like I said, poor planning.
Anon. 7:08
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