Mon 6 Dec 2004
Fellow EphBlogger Mike Needham ‘04 has a funny letter in today’s Washington Post.
It is altogether unsurprising that none of the 12 members of the board of directors of Metro is a regular rider of the system the board oversees ["Metro's Board Rarely on Board," front page, Dec. 2]. Nonetheless, it is a particular slap in the face to Metro customers that board member Gladys Mack justified not using the system by saying that her schedule is too busy for her to rely on public transportation — as if the rest of us have nothing better to do than sit in a dark tunnel all morning waiting for the latest Red Line glitch to work itself out.
Ms. Mack might be interested to know that New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has kept his campaign pledge to regularly ride his city’s fantastically reliable subway to work.
Like Ms. Mack I have a busy schedule; unlike Mr. Bloomberg I do not have a reliable rail system available to transport me to work. As such I will abandon Metro in favor of biking to work.
Despite my frustrations with Metro, I’d be happy to volunteer to fill the next vacancy on the board. Now that I am no longer riding Metro to work, I would fit right in with the rest of this group.
Although it must be said that “fantastically reliable” are not the first words out of my Mom’s mouth when she describes the NYC subway . . .
By the way, having Metro Board members who don’t ride the subway is sort of like having Commencement speakers that don’t really care about Williams, don’t you think?


December 6th, 2004 at 4:49 pm
For those not offended by profanity, this guy is far funnier than I:
http://whyihatedc.blogspot.com/2004_11_28_whyihatedc_archive.html
#110200929088847883
JFK was absolutely correct to describe DC as “a city of Southern efficiency and Northern charm.”
Worse tax rates than Taxachusetts as well.
December 6th, 2004 at 4:50 pm
As someone who tried to ride a bike to work in DC, let me give Mike some free advice: don’t bother.
The sheer number of potholes in the city will reduce your ride to rubble within a few days.
Your best bet is to simply walk. The great thing about DC is that most parts of the city are within a half hour walk of any other part. So long as you stay within one quadrant, that is.
December 7th, 2004 at 8:36 am
Reed: Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately, it would be a 6 mile walk from Cleveland Park to Capitol Hill which is not really appealing.