PICKING A PLACE TO LIVE is hard! Sure, you could think about property value and crime statistics, but wouldn't you rather focus on revolving restaurants and other important things like that when you're thinking about what to look for in your new neighborhood?
1. COLLEGE PARK, MD.
Relive your misspent youth, and your WWII days, just off the Green Line.
You may have gone drinking at the college bars — like the cavernous Town Hall, the dive bar with pinball machines and a colorful, cheap-beer-enjoying clientele — of College Park. The neighborhood combines suburbia with cozy bungalow houses, bikes parked on the porches, all screaming of academia.
You can rent a one-bedroom place starting around $1,050, take the Green Line anywhere you want to go, take in a physics lecture at the University of Maryland, and then play pinball all day and night while swilling affordable suds. Yes, yes, yes — but you can also do something far more exciting in College Park: You can eat at 94th Aero Squadron, a World War II-theme restaurant that sits next to College Park Airport, the country's oldest continuously operated airport. There is weekly hand dancing at the 94th Squadron, too. That's D.C.'s answer to the jitterbug, in case you didn't know.
» 1 br: $1,050-$1,100
» 2 br: $1,300-$1,500
2. DEL RAY, VA.
Serenity off the Yellow and Blue lines
Del Ray is either the calmest or most stressful place on Earth, depending on what you make of the more than of six "relaxation" or "stress-relieving" shops on its small, quaint and entirely charming main street. Massage shops, day spas, a place advertising "authentic" pilates — if you need stress relief, this is your place.
But also, if you need custard, the Dairy Godmother is there to fill that need. Buy cheeses from Cheesetique, local meats (Let's Meat on the Avenue) or hats (try Tops of Old Town). Del Ray also has a number of gift shops, a gallery featuring monthly rotating exhibits of local artists, an upholsterer, a handful of tasty restaurants including the famous St. Elmo's Café and the less famous Al's Steak House ("no cell phones permitted"), a dog bakery and other amenities that make this charming neighborhood a way to live in a great small town right next to a Metro stop.
It also lets you buy comics and exotic plants from one of the greatest shops ever: the Exotic Planterium and Card & Comic Collectorama, a dusty, treasure-filled store whose owner, Dennis E. Webb, grows many of the plants from seed, and collects everything from Sweet Valley High dolls in their original packaging to old Spiderman comics. Webb has operated the shop right on the main drag for 34 years. So, go buy a plant from him. Plants are relaxing, too.
» 1 br: $1,050- $1,350
» 2 BR: $1,500-$2,200
Continue Reading "Renter's Guide: Check Out These Six Hot D.C. 'Hoods" »
IT'S NOT A GOOD MORNING for Red Line riders. A cracked rail near the Takoma station has forced trains to single-track between Silver Spring and Fort Totten at the height of the morning rush.
The transit agency warns of delays of at least 20 minutes. According to a press release, track crews are working to repair the problem.
Ready for that three-day weekend yet?
» UPDATE 8:38 a.m.: The crack has been repaired and single-tracking has ended, Metro says. Read the full press release below.
Continue Reading "Cracked Rail Spawns Delays on Metro's Red Line" »
IF I WERE TO TELL YOU that Metro employees were given free rides on the rail and bus system, you probably wouldn't be that surprised. If I told you that all Metro retirees get free rides for life, you might be a little shocked. But if I told you that every single Metro board member, past and present, were allowed to hop on and off the transit system at the leisure with no cost, what would you think?
According to WTOP's Adam Tuss, all of the above are true. Included on that list of privileged individuals are none other than D.C. Council members Marion Barry (shocking, I know) and Jim Graham. As Tuss reports, this presents a convenient situation for those deciding how much you pay for your commute.
That means the same people, the Metro board members, who voted to raise riders' fares recently — the largest fare increases for rail and parking in Metro's history — will never have to worry how high the cost of a ride is.I probably wouldn't worry about getting anything fixed on time, or dealing with backlash from angry riders over fare hikes either if I wasn't even paying to use the system I was appointed to preside over.
Metro spokesman Steve Taubenkibel did refute one statement of Tuss', which said that Metro employees would use Metrochecks to cover the costs of free rides for employees — if they were forced to pay. Taubenkibel said that Metro employees have SmarTrip technology implanted in their ID cards.
All this of course begs the question: Would you be more likely to ride Metro every day if it were free? Would it still be worth the hassle? Let us know in the comments section below.
» "Thousands Ride for Free on Metro; Some for Life" [WTOP]
Photo by Kevin Clark/The Washington Post
YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT will happen when Metro goes viral. Occasionally, their faux-low-budget ads are oddly intriguing. Sometimes, they offend local religious groups. It's a gamble every time.
This time, Metro uses a little kung-fu to discourage littering. A press release sets the scene:
Legend tells of a devoted kung fu warrior who traveled great distances throughout the Metro transit system in search of a worthy foe. The enemy had many different faces and claimed to have expert knowledge about every subject known to humankind. On a number of occasions, the warrior thought he’d finally found his enemy and banished it from the Metro system for all of eternity. But moments later, dozens of imposters would spring up around him.What enemy could possibly be so cunning?
The common commuter's daily newspaper.
Continue Reading "Metro Gets a Kung-Fu Grip With Littering PSA" »
D.C. STUDENTS and summer youth employment participants could have one less plastic card to carry around thanks to the Metro Board's Finance, Administration and Oversight Committee.
Metro announced Thursday that it has teamed up with the city's One Card initiative to provide identification cards that double as SmarTrip cards.
The students' SmarTrip One Cards will grant them access to their schools and workplaces, and will be good for travel throughout the entire Metro transit system, according to a press release.
In addition, D.C. is looking to expand its OneCard program, which provides District residents with access to specific city government facilities such as libraries, parks and recreation centers. Eventually, officials hope even driver's licenses will feature SmarTrip technology.
The back of the new cards is expected to include a District flag, the OneCard logo, the SmarTrip logo and Metro's trademark "M."
WE STARTED THE DAY with a piece about slowness on the Orange Line, now we'll end the day that way, too. Get ready for some delays, commuters.
A "kink" in the rails — a bend created by high temperatures — was discovered at 3:15 this afternoon between East Falls Church and Ballston, Metro says. Orange Line trains are now sharing a track between Ballston and East Falls Church. Metro is also running shuttle buses between Ballston and Vienna, which are "stopping at Ballston-MU, East Falls Church, West Falls Church-VT/UVA, Dunn Loring-Merrifield and Vienna," according to a press release.
Good luck out there.
Photo by Michael Lutzky/The Washington Post
IT COULD BE THE START of something big for Metro: The U.S. House of Representatives this afternoon passed a measure that would allot $1.5 billion for the transit system over 10 years, as long as the District, Maryland and Virginia pony up funds as well, the Associated Press reports. The funding for Metro was added to an Amtrak bill.
The measure could meet resistance in the Senate, where Tom Coburn of Oklahoma has been blocking a bill on Metro funding, the AP reports.
» "House Approves Bill Giving Fed. Money to Metro" [AP/Fox5]
Photo by The Washington Post
ATTENTION, MEMBERS OF the intelligence community: When your Metro train operator asks you to remember your books and newspapers as you exit the train, just assume he wants you to take your top-secret documents with you, too.
Don't end up like this poor soul. From the BBC:
Police are investigating after top-secret documents containing the latest government intelligence on al-Qaeda were left on a train.The documents belonged to a "very senior" intelligence official working in the Cabinet Office.
A passenger on the train from London Waterloo to Surrey spotted the envelope containing the files abandoned on a seat and handed it to the BBC.
» "Secret terror files left on train" [BBC]
Photo of commuters waiting for shuttle buses at Rosslyn on Monday by Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post
IT HASN'T BEEN a great week for Metro.
Monday, of course, saw the derailment of a Vienna-bound train in the tunnel between Rosslyn and Court House, which left 412 passengers trapped for an hour and a half and snarled the system at the height of evening rush. But last night's ride home wasn't much better — the packed, barely air-conditioned train I traveled on at around 6:30 p.m. crawled from station to station.
And this morning, a switch problem at the Rosslyn station caused backups along the Blue and Orange lines that significantly delayed commutes. At one point, my train sat in a tunnel as it waited on two trains ahead of it to service a platform.
At least it isn't as hot outside anymore. Walking is starting to look better and better.
This week's problems could have been worse. The Post's Lena H. Sun reports this morning that the train that derailed Monday "traveled for more than a half-mile without realizing anything was wrong before being alerted by another Metro employee, a veteran supervisor who happened to be riding the train," according to Metro General Manager John Catoe. If it wasn't for that supervisor's quick thinking, spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein told Sun, "clearly there would have been more damage to the track bed area."
There were no injuries in Monday's incident. Catoe told The Post he thinks he knows what caused the derailment, but wouldn't elaborate. He said a Metro investigation is ongoing and said he had no reason to believe operator error was the cause.
How has your week on Metro been? Sound off in the comments section below.
» "Metro Says Operator Wasn't First to Detect Derailment" [WaPo]
THERE WAS A TIME — say, around 6:45 p.m. or so last night — when I thought I might never leave the Rosslyn Metrorail station.
I thought I had found a clever way to avoid dealing with the aftermath of the Metro derailment that snarled traffic on the Orange Line for the evening. After my workday came to an end, instead of using the Court House station as I typically do, I hoofed it to the Rosslyn station to catch the Blue Line. Problem solved, right?
Wrong. Although plenty of fellow Orange Liners seemed to have the same idea — the sidewalks on Wilson Boulevard in Arlington were more crowded than usual — I realized when I made it down into the belly of Rosslyn that single-tracking on the Orange Line meant that Vienna-bound trains were using the upper level of the station instead of the lower level as usual. Which meant that my bullet Blue Line train had to cool its heels — in record heat, of course — at Arlington Cemetery while discombobulated Orange Line trains cycled through the station.
I was bored. So like any nerdy reporter, I whipped out my notebook. Here's how the trip went down:
» 6:15 p.m.: Left the office.
» 6:37 p.m.: Made it to Rosslyn's upper platform a sweaty mess. The place is packed, but nowhere near as crowded as the lower platform.
» 6:42 p.m.: The first train arrives: An Orange Liner bound for Vienna. It's not terribly crowded.
» 6:44 p.m.: A Blue Line train to Franconia-Springfield chugs up to the lower platform. It's a mob scene, with passengers packing through every open door.
Continue Reading "Derailment Makes for a Hot, Slow Ride on Metro" »
Addison Road