Metro funding

Since BeyondDC is busy in Mexico, we thought it proper to post about Metro passing the Senate, now it will probably be signed into law. Ha Ha, BeyondDC didn't post first!

We don't express any particular political stance here except to say all politicians suck, man, woman, R or D. But, we though this should say something.

Sitting in traffic has benifits.

Can you imagine a world where there's no traffic, perhaps you sit in a Metro car zipping down the tracks at 40 mph? Can you imagine a world without the excitement of bumper-to-bumper traffic? BeyondBeyondDC can't.


What? you may ask. It's simple, simple things such as this on the Key Bridge today would have been missed.

The numbers don't add up

According to Fairfax County's Anticipating the Future study, Gerald Connolly states "We have taken the ideal of the American melting pot and made it real".

Most Cultural Anthropologists agree that the melting pot idea was one that envisioned stripping the cultural diversity from a person, and assimilating them into the mainstream "American way". It is more tossed salad characteristic that makes us great.

It is this outdated form of thought, from these old school leaders that keeps us in the current state of economic and social repression leading to recession and depression.

So in looking deeper at this study, some conclusions can be drawn.

1. The County is more populated than the entire state of Montana, yet Missoula has topped the rankings of walkable towns for years. If you don't believe me check here: http://www.walkable.org/article2.htm

We are not trying hard enough folks.

2. The County is supposed to be entering post-suburbanization. Ok, we admit that the era of large farm parcels that sold out to developers in the 1960's-1980's has pretty much ended, but the entire County is a suburb. Until it realizes that people outside of the County come here, it will never shake this mentality. There needs to be a more efficient way to move these people other than adding lanes to I-66, building overpasses, and more and more strip malls catering to the driver.

3. The study states that job growth will outpace housing. Duh. There is a general jobs:housing ratio issue throughout all of NOVA, far too many jobs per available houses = sprawl and enhances the suburb.


TELECOMMUTING, I'm telling you it is a simple solution. Another simple solution, send Connolly to Congress so he can keep practicing 40 year old cultural, political, and planning practices somewhere else, and perhaps Metro extension will be his pet project and Dulles Rail may happen.

We like this

We're probably late in the game to finding this, but good old Webster's site allows us to type in bad words and the narrator will say them back. We urge you to be creative, it's quite funny!

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary

1000 lbs flying squirrel

BeyondBeyondDC wishes to point out that the Tyson's Corner land use plan looks like a flying squirrel. There's not much more to say, except that the County could emphasize development around the suburbs, providing work options around affordable family housing, and filling in the gaps between places such as Manassas, Centreville, and Sterling/Ashburn. People form these locations travel to Tysons on a daily basis; no real transit options for them, and sparce employment opportunities. They could deconstruct the flying squirrel and spread the wealth throughout the county. Afterall, who wants to live near their jobs, they would just work more hours, resulting in a larger American unhappiness.

Feel like take out?

CommuterPageBlog asserts that the average Washingtonian can save $10,593 a year by going car free. Well, that could buy quite a bit of take out, saving an average of an hour's time of cooking and doing dishes. http://www.commuterpageblog.com/2008/09/could-you-use-a.html

Well, it doesn't work quite so well in Fairfax. At an average of $3.85 per gallon, BeyondBeyondDC only saves about $0.60 a day by taking the bus, and loses about 45 minutes in transit time. It actually takes longer to ride the bus and costs virtually the same. I suppose I could car pool, cut traffic and save money, but having a chatty person in the car early in the morning doesn't work too well. So, factoring in car payments, wear, and insurance, I suppose I could save $4,000 a year, but I would not have a car for the weekends and buying large items from the store, or going on trips.

TELECOMMUTING! I would save $1,200 in real money I spend in gas just getting to work.

Darned Hackers!!!!

BeyondDC is temporarily offline
BeyondDC was hacked over the weekend. We are working with our host to bring the site back online and improve security.
While we're offline, get your DC urbanist blogging fix at Greater Greater Washington, Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space, CommuterPageBlog, and The Bellows.
Actually, you should go to those sites all the time. But don't forget to come back here too.

Get out your foil hats. Could it be? Oil lovin' left wingers . . . did they. . . did they sabotage BeyondDC.com at such a crucial time in the elections just because it promotes mass transit? BeyondBeyondDC thinks it was probably Obama, as he promotes change, and since Metro has big glass windows, he cannot change on his way to work without being seen by passers by, and perhaps it's strategy to blame the Maverick for trying to put an end to oil consumption. After all, we need to cut our dependence on foreign mass transit.

In any event, we hope that our good friend BeyondDC can get his site back up and running, it's very hard to keep writing about error messages.

Hackers, are they really underground ideal citizens?

WTF? -BeyondDC.com appears to have succumbed to a hack or something. I suppose hackers should get credit for sitting in their mom's basements using computers, as this technically constitutes telecommuting. Most don't have drivers licenses, thus they mainly ride bikes or take public transit.

Loose Change - jingle jingle

Driving home from work today really was a challenge. The normal intersection that I take to turn onto the arterial was severely over capacity, so I tried an alternate route, only to find it was worse. Then it was a game of back tracking, cutting through subdivisions, stopping for coffee, and cussing at Toyota Prius drivers for sitting in the middle of intersections because they was through on red. . .

Then it dawned on me, a good 1/3 of these people could be sitting at home working on laptops. The 1.5 hours I spent in the car could have went into FREE work for my employer. I would happily work extra hours for free if telecommuting were an actual option.

Instead, our creative governments come up with multi-billion dollar "fixes" to help with congestion, talk about losing loose change. My simple and free solution takes pressure off of the road networks, reduces gas consumption, helps the environment, provides extra free labor, and best of all, I'd be more than happy to spend $100 a month on commodities instead of gas. I'd only imagine the economy would benefit from something like this. So how about it the Maverick and Mr. Change, why don't I see either of you promoting this in your campaign ads?

Very nice bikes

http://www.pashley.co.uk/

We're going to depart from our usual rehash of BeyondDC's posts to have a look at a very nice line of handmade bicycles that we stumbled across. Pashley Cycles are hand built in England, and are a very posh and elegant take on the classic years of bicycles. Styled after those great roadster mounts from the 1940's - 60's, they offer a great way to tool around on a lazy Sunday afternoon wearing a Harris Tweed jacket, and old school pants. They're pricey, but so is a Smartcar.

BeyondBeyondDC thinks that Fairfax County should enhance the off street bike trail network it has so that we can travel from home to work on a bike path, and not have to take three major highways.

Tunnel vision

WMATA charges to switch between Metro Center and Gallery Place. That sucks. Riding on a stinky old train with hobos is bad enough, but charging double just isn't right. BeyondBeyondDC urges people to protest riding Metro, along with protesting driving, protesting riding buses, bicycles, horses, and walking. Basically, we all need to slow down and stay at home for a few weeks and not really do anything. Let's sock it to our elected officials and the oil corporations by just doing nothing. After a few weeks, they'll get the picture.

If this isn't an option, catching a ride in a shopping cart is one of the better ways to get around.

"Triple Dog Dare Ya"

Here is a mission for the Maverick and Mr. Change:

Want to end dependence on foreign oil, get rid of wasteful energy consumption, and help rid traffic sprawl? Of course you do, and the simplest way to start is with TELECOMMUTING!!!

Why wait on mass people movers and one seater cars that run on farts, when there is such a simple solution right there for the taking? All we need is a change in the American psyche, to rid ourselves of the 1950's white collar work mentality. We need a gentle prod to convince businesses and local governments to promote home telecommuting, which could result in a reduction of 40% of all traffic at least three days a week.

http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/telework/

BeyondBeyondDC

Oh!

Does anybody see anything wrong with this picture? Why waste all of that great asphalt for a bike lane that nobody uses? They should have a third traffic lane. Sidewalk? You have gotta' be kidding. Who walks down a sidewalk on the side of a freeway, except Ted Bundy?

naaaa naaaa naaaa naaaa

Yes, Chevy Chase, MD, Chevy Chase Bank, and Chevy Chase the actor share names, but there is really only one Chevy Chase - "Just be the ball, be the ball, be the ball. You're not being the ball Danny."

Backwards progress in the Dulles corridor

Backwards, because who in their right mind wants to drive to a parking garage just to take a train to the airport, where one then has to stand in line for hours only to get frisked by strange looking men and women? Well, women maybe, strange looking men - less so.

BeyondBeyondDC has to say enough's enough with this antiquated idea. Mass transit, and especially rail travel, is totally a thing of the past. The future lies in teleporting, ala Star Trek or Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. The Federal Government is going to spend nearly $1 billion and I can't be teleported from my couch to Hono freakin' lulu?

What, are they trying to relieve traffic or something?

The Old Roslyn

Rosslyn Arlington has nothing on the small town charm of Roslyn, Wa. Once the shooting set for Northern Exposure, Roslyn is a quaint hometown. A 390-foot skyscraper has nothing on this cool painting.

Then there's the annual Moose Fest, which celebrates the town and Northern Exposure.

http://www.moosefest.com/index.htm

Be sure to stop by The Brick and have a cold one.

Drivers, busers and babes, oh my!

Three recent stories not to miss:

* Looks like a bus won't drive itself. I suppose that technology hasn't come far enough
yet. http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=25&sid=1464786

* Looks like local schools aren't working with planning staff, and are in a pinch again.
http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=598&sid=1464638

* This has nothing to do with anything, but BeyondBeyondDC really likes it some Olympic
women's beach volleyball.

The news feeds us broken news

The news media feeds us news that is broken. Most of the time they only have half of the story, and only half of that is correct, the other half is made up, so that's really only 25% news. BeyondBeyondDC would like to point out that in any single day, there are billions and billions of events that take place, none of which are reported. Apologies?

We are a fan of NBC 4's Pat Collins though. Pat, with his cargo pants and beet red face, always delivers the news with that out of breath monotone voice. He has the be the most entertaining newsman in the DC area. As for hottest anchor, that award goes to NBC 4's Lindsay Czarniak. But Lindsay, please do us a favor, go back that to that short spunky hairdo. We believe 100% of what she has to say.

BeyondDC, consider yourself Spoofed!

The answer is yes, it does, but don't let it go to your head.

Share a bike, get the crabs.

Ahhh, a brisk fall morning, coffee in hand, scarf wrapped around your neck, and a nice cold bike to sit on. Making your way through the bustling city is bound to come with more options, thanks to SmartBike DC https://www.smartbikedc.com/ who will offer bikes for rent.

BeyondBeyondDC wants to relate the ugly side of bike rental in general- CRABS! That's right, the not so brisk autumn morning is actually a late afternoon in August, with riders wearing shorts, sweat pouring out, and you're about to sit down on a seat that some shady looking guy that smells like Wild Turkey just got off of. The risk of picking up these pesky critters is ever present. Please carry anti-bacterial wipes with you.

Besides, BeyondBeyondDC would like to point out that people like Paul Rubens could have just used the bike to ride down to check out the local peep show.

Life's a bee-otch,

Sometimes we get busy, sometimes there's just some better things to do. Expect a new post tomorrow, maybe. If you don't like it... too bad.

Where to place our Nuclear Plants?

Both candidates are looking at increasing the country's number of nuclear [or nucular] power plants by as many as 45 by 2010. In an effort to curb rolling brown-outs from an outdated power grid, and to curb dependence on oil, nuclear power is being touted as the savior. BeyondBeyondDC asks "would you like to have a nuclear plant next door to you?"

These plants will need to be in close proximity to major urban populations for them to provide full effect, and they will need a water source for cooling. One logical location could be next door to the National Harbor.

Then there's the outdated, antiquated, and biased local zoning regulations which would be used as mechanisms to prevent these facilities. BeyondBeyondDC supposes that the plants will be OK, as long as they provide 2 parking spaces per each kilowatt of power generated, along with a 15-foot landscape buffer.

-BeyondBeyondDC

National Park Service,

Don't you realize that the National Mall used to be a boggy wetland, who's demise was the official start to the death of the Chesapeake Bay?

BeyondBeyondDC believes that it should be restored to a wetland. The Mall is currently a symbol of hippieness, and we believe that the enviro-freaks should know the real history of the plot of grass upon which they plop their backsides to watch fireworks and Peter, Paul, and Mary.

Besides this, we would save countless man hours and resources by not having to mow the grass. Grass is the most widely grown crop in the US, on which people spend the most money. It would be great to restore the original habitat of such an integral part of the Chesapeake Bay.

BeyondBeyondDC

Car for the physically fit

That's right, only skinny people can drive this car. It looks about as dumb as those freaks that would actually drive it. If you need something this ridiculous, which should only be used in the city setting, you should just take transit.

On the bright side, zoning officials could rewrite the outdated codes that riddle society with seas of useless parking, as 3-4 of these fit the normal 9x18' parking space.

The next step - cars that the driver stands up to drive, maybe a covered Segway.