Potomac Confidential fills the midday lull with discussion of the latest news and a rigorous slicing and dicing of the issues that define who we are and where we live.
This Week's Columns:
Marc Fisher
(The Washington Post)
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A Developer Strikes Back at Hill Neighbors (July 1)
A Highway Whose Time May Have Gone (June 29)
A transcript follows.
Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.
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Marc Fisher: Welcome aboard, all. Tractor Man is going to walk, Saddam's raving, the Fairfax police chief is a regular hero, and suddenly, we're looking ever more like a major league baseball city. Plenty to chew over today....
Today's column looks at a strange tangle on Capitol Hill, where neighbors of a new townhouse development raised questions about its size and how it's being built, only to find themselves on the wrong end of a lawsuit seemingly designed to shut them up.
The Tuesday column delved into the eternal battle over Maryland's Intercounty Connector highway, a fight that's about to reach a boiling point.
And now--drumroll please--the Yay and Nay of the Day:
Yay to Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley for having the courage to stand up to Orioles owner Peter Angelos and endorse a baseball team for Washington. O'Malley knows what every study of the situation has found: A team in Washington poses no threat to the Orioles; in fact, it could very well help that storied franchise thrive despite its sorry owner. Of course, Angelos slammed O'Malley for daring to speak the truth, but that's par for the course.
Nay to U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson for appointing himself defense attorney and appeals court in the case of the Tractor Man. After initially sentencing Tractor Man to six years in prison, Jackson now looks at last week's US Supreme Court ruling on the division of labor between judges and juries in sentencing decisions and decides that he made an oops and so he's going to spring Tractor Man. Message: Hey, wackos and terrorists, y'all come! Sure, Jackson's original sentence might eventually have to be revised or tossed as a result of the Supremes' decision, but you don't exactly see other judges rushing to throw their own sentences into the circular file. Jackson should be ashamed of himself.
Your turn starts right now....
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Clifton, Va.:
Still don't understand why bottle rockets, fire crackers and other types of fireworks are illegal in Va., D.C. and Md. for adults to possess. They are easy to obtain in either Pa., Md. or W. Va. if you are an out-of-state resident. These retailers will sell to you without a problem. I have never been injured by firecracker or bottle rocket. Yeah, I have had a black cat go off in my hand and still have all my fingers. Maybe Michael Moore should do a movie on this basic denial of rights to Americans!
Marc Fisher: Fireworks are indeed legal in the District--that's why vendors have fireworks stands set up at every major entrance into the city. But Maryland is fairly strict in its no-fireworks law. Those laws date from about a century ago, when the Safe and Sane movement led a campaign for anti-fireworks laws across the country.
It's nice to see that those places that still allow fireworks haven't yet used homeland security as an excuse to steal away another small pleasure in life. But I bet that will happen soon enough.
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College Park, Md.:
I want to know if Metro Chairman Robert J. Smith has ever actually taken a Metro train to/from work everyday? The complete and utter disrespect that he has shown riders in implementing his recent cost-saving measures suggest that he has not. It is time for Metro riders to show their power by refusing to stand for higher fares, higher parking fees, and diminished service (especially the absurd 2-car trains at night -- they are absolutely packed, even the last train of the night).
Marc Fisher: Lyndsey Layton's story about Metro's latest boneheaded move is on Page One of today's paper--imagine raising fares and cutting trains to infuriatingly short two-car lengths in the same week! Clearly the pols who came up with this idea must go to sleep at 10 p.m. and have no idea that the trains are jammed at night--and now people are being stranded because of Metro's frenzied efforts to alienate its own riders.
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Fairfax, Va.:
Marc -- recently we've learned that an engineering contract has been signed that moves us further toward Metro out to Dulles ... despite the advantages of buses. Then last week, suddenly, we hear Dulles being pushed as the next great location for a stadium ... despite being waaaay outside the city and difficult to reach. Do the same people stand to profit on these two initiatives? Just seems like too much of a coincidence that we hear of both actions in the space of a couple of weeks. Thanks
Marc Fisher: Well, yes, many of the same businesses that have been pushing for rail to Dulles are also big boosters of the Dulles baseball stadium proposal. But it's also true that there's a significant chunk of the business sector in the Dulles area that opposes rail to Dulles as too expensive and prefers a stepped up bus system known as bus rapid transit, which is just a fancy way of saying "more buses."
Baseball or not, rail to Dulles is still iffy, and in any event, it is many years off. Major League Baseball would be foolish to predicate any award of the team based on the idea that transit to Dulles would be a reality within the first half of the lifetime of a new ballpark.
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Alexandria, Va.:
In 2006 Jim Moran will be 61 and qualify for a full congressional pension.
Have you heard the rumor that Moran has told supporters that 2004 is his last race?
If he did say it, would you trust Moran to keep his promise and go away in two years?
Marc Fisher: That rumor's been kicking around for a while, and when I talked to Congressman Moran about it before the election, he said that he wouldn't be in Congress very much longer and that he wouldn't have even run this time had a strong successor come along. That last part doesn't come close to ringing true, especially since the strong successor is already obvious--Moran's very talented brother, Brian Moran, a state delegate from Alexandria.
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Washington, D.C.:
For the sake of argument, assuming that the slot machine initiative does end up on the November ballot, and assuming that D.C. voters approve the initiative, does that necessarily mean that we can expect slots on New York Avenue? I imagine Congress and the D.C. Council would have something to say about this, and I seem to recall that D.C. voters also approved term limits once upon a time ...
Marc Fisher: I'd give slots in the District about a 7 percent chance of happening. Let's say these carpetbaggers from the land of gambling manage to buy enough signatures to get on the ballot--highly doubtful, but let's just say. And let's say they win the referendum in the fall, which is actually quite possible. Congress would dance all over their back, flip them over and do it again on their big old tummies. Slots would go the way of medical marijuana and other stuff that D.C. voters wanted, but Congress stomped to death.
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washingtonpost.com: Short Trains At Night Irk Metro Riders (Post, July 1)
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Baltimore, Md.:
I saw Peter Angelos granted a rare interview to The Sun today. No surprise there -- for years he's been selectively granting access to The Post to punish The Sun for displeasing him, or vice versa, and so I guess this is his way at getting back at The Post for its devastating three-part series about Angelos, Selig and D.C. Baseball. Can't we just make this hideous man go away? (And put "Baltimore" back on the O's road jerseys).
Marc Fisher: Angelos talks when it's convenient and advantageous for him to do so. I had a very pleasant, long interview with him for a profile I wrote a few years ago--I'll ask Rocci to post a link to it--and at that time, he was eager to show how much he loved Washington.
Today, he had to talk to try to counter Mayor O'Malley's admission that a Washington baseball team would not injure the Orioles in the least. From what I can glean, there's actually a lot of support in Baltimore for Washington to have its own team. That way, Baltimoreans can get their own team back--they'd like to have the players' jerseys say "Baltimore" again, something that Angelos removed so as to try to appeal to Washingtonians.
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Springfield, Va.:
Great series in the Post this week on MLB and Bud Selig. While Angelos may win the battle and keep baseball out of D.C., MLB will lose the war. I have no desire to fight traffic to see the O's, and my kids don't even think about watching baseball on TV. MLB is losing generations of fans.
Marc Fisher: The reports now making their way into papers across the country are contradictory, as you'd expect in a story where the truth is so closely held. Only Selig really knows what's going to happen, so you have owners telling reporters in Texas that D.C. is not going to happen, and you have USA Today reporting that the Washington area is pretty much a done deal and it's only a question of whether it'll be Washington or Dulles. But the important thing to remember is that Peter Angelos wins big no matter what happens: If no team comes, he can rest easy, without any need to invest in the Orioles. If D.C. gets a team, Angelos will be paid a huge indemnification fee, plus he'll probably get a piece of the expanded cable TV deal, and the O's attendance will likely increase from the increased profile of baseball throughout the region.
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Washington, D.C.:
In a previous Post on-line chat, Mark Plotkin stated he would fight hard to prevent the "Senators" from being the name of a District baseball team. He sees it as a voting rights issue, until we get some senators ourselves.
What are your thoughts on the name of a team should we get one? Have you heard anything about how people are leaning on this?
Marc Fisher: Mark has many great ideas and a few pet causes for which he fights ferociously. That's what makes him such a fine figure to have around town. But he's dead wrong on the team name. Despite the attempts of naysayers to disparage the name Senators, it's a name with a grand and rich history and it would be an honor to all of us to restore it to a Washington team.
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Arlington, Va.:
Why does a local developer need a California congresscritter to run interference for him? What's wrong with Eleanor Holmes Norton or any of the local Virginia or Maryland members of the House of Representatives? Of course, following the rules is a good first step, and being nice to your abutters is crucial as well.
Marc Fisher: All I could get from the developer was that this congressman from California was "a friend" who agreed to help out on this townhouse deal on the Hill. It'd be nice to know why Rep. Cunningham agreed to intercede in a purely local matter, but his office did not return my call.
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No question here ...:
Thank you for your beautiful piece on Nap Turner.
Marc Fisher: Thanks very much--sadly, we are seeing the end of that generation of jazz and blues musicians who are the last link to the music that flourished before the corporatization of the industry. When they go, the only music we'll know, aside from what's left behind digitally, is that which has been synthesized through multiple layers of market testing, focus grouping and other such filters that tear the heart out of music.
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Hyattsville, Md.:
I think you'll see the two-car trains go away pretty quick, if when people are trying to jam themselves in and block the doors so they have to shut the train down. Kind of like the passenger revolt a couple of years ago when a train broke down and passengers refused to get off. Imagine if that happened several times a night. I think passengers are going to get that angry.
Marc Fisher: Absolutely right--I'd be quite amazed if this dumb move isn't reversed soon, perhaps even before this weekend, when not only the idiocy of short trains, but also the downright danger they pose, would become terribly clear.
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Arlington, Va.:
Congressman Randy Cunningham, mentioned in your column this morning, was the man who got into a fist fight with my beloved Congressman, Jim Moran. I wonder if I can develop a conspiracy theory about this.
Marc Fisher: Oh, yes, absolutely--let's try!
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washingtonpost.com: For Angelos, It's Owner and Duty (washingtonpost.com, March 2, 1997
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Arlington, Va.:
My suggestions for Metro and how to control costs:
1. Top to bottom audit with a mandate that the recommendations must be followed.
2. Outsource all jobs.
3. Get rid of all union jobs. See #2. It not like the contractor employees could be any, ruder, incompetent, nasty, inept and incompetent than the current crop of union employees.
Just instituting #3 would cut costs dramatically. And who knows service might improve.
Marc Fisher: I appreciate the motive, but I don't know about those solutions--look at the agencies that most extensively outsource. They tend to be among the least efficient and most bloated of all. (Speaking of outsourcing, I reached one of our Pakistani friends this morning when I called Citibank and I had to spend 10 minutes trying to explain to him the difference between a deposit and a withdrawal before I finally got him to transfer me to someone in the United States. Wouldn't it be cheaper for these companies to have no operators whatsoever than to hire these offshore folks? No service would be more useful than the ninnys who man the phones at these outsourced, overseas companies.)
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Explosives Central:
Just a counterpoint to your response on fireworks. Why is it legal to shoot off what are merely balls of flame in a high-density city? Maybe in the burbs where there's plenty of open space, but leave upper NW and you'll see that they are predominately used in dense residential areas where they are a significant fire hazard!
Marc Fisher: There's no doubt that fireworks are dangerous, and anyone driving or walking home from the Mall on the Fourth will see all too many little kids out on the streets, attempting to blow up their friends and neighbors. So I'm no fan of home demolition kits. But please remember: we live in a country in which GUNS are legal! So an annual orgy of smalltime fireworks use is not exactly high on our list of dangers we need to quash.
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Near Northeast, D.C.:
Firecrackers--small pleasures? Not for those of us stuck with hearing them go off throughout the summer. Even caps are unnerving in neighborhoods where gunfire isn't unknown. And the ones that are obvious to human ears teffify the neighborhoods dogs.
That's just the legal ones. This year and last, the folks in this neighborhood have gotten hold of fireworks that rival some of the smaller offerings of the show on the mall -- shooting 70 feet or so in the air, with ash coming down on our roofs. My neighbors and I would love to see D.C. go the way of Montgomery County, and ban firecrackers across the board.
Marc Fisher: And who would enforce this ban? Those same D.C. police who ignore the curfew for children and teens at night? Those same police who allow red-light running to be epidemic? Those same police who are now supposed to be stopping and fining folks who use cell phones in cars?
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Washington, D.C.:
Does The Washington Post accept advertising dollars from gun show ads?
Marc Fisher: I don't know. I don't recall seeing such ads, but I may have missed them. Has anyone seen them? The paper runs ads for "massage parlors" and other sleazoid stuff, so I doubt there'd be a prohibition against ads for a legal product, but I don't know the policy.
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Washington, D.C.:
About the tractor judge, you're right, Marc: I absolutely HATE judges who apply the law. Who do they think they are? Commie pinkos.
Marc Fisher: So you think it's ok for the judge to change a sentence even if the defense lawyers had not (yet) asked him to do so? Even if no appeals court had ordered him to do so? Maybe the Supreme Court ruling would have eventually vacated Tractor Man's sentence, but maybe not. Maybe Congress would have fixed the uncertainty in the law before Tractor Man's case ever got reconsidered. Why is it this judge's business to single out this one case in which to spring a guy who belongs in prison?
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Washington, D.C.:
Outsourcing -- it's been my experience that the Indians that answer the phone for so many U.S. companies now may not fully understand our lingo, but at least they are friendly and try to help. I'll take them over any of our local Comcast phone representatives, whose only goal is to get rid of you.
Marc Fisher: Absolutely! Extremely polite and friendly. A pleasure to talk to--if they had the slightest idea what you were calling about. Whether it's Citibank or American Express or Dell Computers or the cable company, I find myself having to explain every little twist in excruciating detail to that very polite and friendly person. And have you noticed that they are no longer allowed to tell you where they are? For the first months after this outsourcing craze came along, you could get the operators to tell you what country they're in and sometimes even how much they're being paid. But now they say they are under orders not to reveal their location. So there is a smidgeon of shame left in these companies.
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Fairfax, Va.:
I just read your comment about bank outsourcing. It always worries me about that, because all my personal financial information is now sitting in some other country, and who knows what kind of information protection laws they have over there. Wal-Mart does not outsource their IT and support, they consider it a competitive advantage. OK, no question, just a small rant.
Marc Fisher: That may be the only aspect of Wal-Mart's operations that are not wholly dependent on cheap foreign labor.
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Washington, D.C.:
Judge Jackson had no choice in reducing the sentence. The Supreme Court ruled that judges cannot impose a sentence longer than guidelines suggest, only juries can. He had done so and HAD to reverse himself (or he would have had himself reversed on appeal.)
NAY of the DAY to you for implying differently.
Marc Fisher: No, I checked with a slew of lawyers and they all agreed that he had no such obligation to reverse himself. He could have done as virtually every other judge in the land is doing and waited for the dust to settle rather than hysterically jumping in to spring a dangerous guy and send a frightening message to all who would seek to disrupt our city.
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Washington, D.C.:
Marc -- You're right that the Senators have a grand tradition in Washington, but so do the Homestead Grays from the Negro National League. The Grays tradition also contains more winning than the Senators. Would the Grays be just as great of a team name as the Senators? Of course, the greatest part would be for us in the District to have a team to hold this discussion on in the first place!
Marc Fisher: That's another excellent proposal for a team name, and in fact, there's a nascent movement to get baseball to do just that. Check out www.rememberthegrays.org for more info and some great tales from the heyday of the Homestead Grays.
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Ballston, Va.:
I have a suggestion for MLB. Peter take your team to Puerto Rico if think the deal is so good for the Expos. Your mismanaged franchise wont be missed in CONUS and especially in the D.C. area.
Marc Fisher: Even the Expos and MLB have finally soured on that ludicrous idea of putting professional sports in Puerto Rico. Nobody goes to the games, in part because it's 246 degrees and soggy with nightly monsoons throughout the season.
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Re: Pinfield Jackson:
Is Judge Pinfield Jackson the same judge who in essence made underage drinking punishable only by a fine in the District?
Marc Fisher: No, that was Judge Zoe Bush, but thanks for asking. You can ask Police Chief Charles Ramsey about the impact of that ruling, and about Tractor Man, when he joins us here at Live Online right after this show, at 1 p.m.
Earlier today on WTOP, the chief was downright eloquent in one of his occasional appeals to parents to get their kids off the streets in the middle of the night--the same pitch for personal responsibility that Ramsey made some weeks ago, inspiring Bill Cosby's remarks along the same lines.
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15th and L, Washington, D.C.:
Maybe Thomas Penfield Jackson is just a bad judge. He screwed the Microsoft case beyond all recognition, and now screwed up this case. Maybe he should have sentenced Tractor Man to riding nothing but 2-car Metro trains.
Marc Fisher: Tractor Man would know how to squeeze onto one of those short trains. "I've got a photoorgansmic orbitron explosive device," he'd say, and the car would clear out.
(Hold on, buddy, joking about explosive devices is no longer permitted. Where the heck have you been?)
My mistake. Carry on.
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A tractor man - terrorist comparison:
What if a gentleman of Arab decent drove his car onto the Ellipse, facing the White House, and claimed he was going to blow up the city. You think he would be getting out in 16 YEARS let alone months?
Marc Fisher: Well, a week ago, I would have agreed, but with the latest Supreme Court ruling on detainees, I have to wonder now. Not that I disagree with the supremes--I thought those decisions were a hugely hopeful sign, and a reminder that most of our society knows what's right and what's really the American way. It's just Congress and the executive branch that would rather fight silly partisan battles than face the challenges the rest of us stand ready to take on.
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Washington, D.C.:
A comment. I had a problem/question with my mortgage from Chase Manhattan Bank. I called the customer service number and spoke with Shameer. I asked him where he was. He told me India. Not only was he friendly and polite ... a rare change from hometown customer service persons whose called are "monitored" ... but extremely helpful in answering my questions, which were complex.
Marc Fisher: Glad to hear it. And if you can get those outsource folks talking, they often have very refreshing and wonderfully naive questions about American life. The computer help guys are the easiest to get talking, because there are long dead periods while you're waiting for machines to boot up and the like.
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Baltimore, Md.:
Re outsourcing: Every time I get a telemarketing call selling me AT&T Wireless, it's always some guy or gal with an appreciable Indian accent. And they always say their names are Sean or Joanne, which I find a little amusing.
Marc Fisher: Oh, I love that. And you know that some of them will then go ahead and give their kids real American names, and that's how the world gets a little bit smaller.
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Outsourced India:
Here's a little interesting "shame" issue from Dell Computers. Did you know that they originally outsourced their government support lines ... until people complained and it became a political issue. Now, if you're one of the few non-outsourced gubmint IT folks left, if you call up Dell for help, you usually get someone with a wonderful twangy Texas accent. Just because they were threatened with losing loads of gubmint purchasing contracts.
Marc Fisher: That's fabulous. That would make a good story for some enterprising news reporter.
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Dupont Circle, Washington, D.C.:
Looks like the peaches are finally out at the Farmers Market! Do you have any good peach crisp recipes that you would like to share with the chatters? Also, do you have any idea where I can get some nice fresh rhubarb?
Marc Fisher: I stand before you recipe-less. However, I am happy to test your creation. As for rhubarb, I've seen it at that very same farmers market, and at Eastern Market on the Hill, but if you're having trouble finding it, head over to the main produce market off Florida Avenue NE and you'll be sure to find it.
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Montgomery County:
I can sympathize with the Metro riders described in today's story. What is it like even later, such as after midnight? It seemed to me that Metro expanded its hours when it didn't have the resources -- financial and otherwise -- to maintain its trains, tracks, etc., for the hours it already had. Plus, I wonder about the costs per rider the later it gets each night (e.g., 1 a.m. versus rush hour). Breakdowns and delays ("Metro thanks you for your patience") seem to be happening with more frequency throughout the day. If Metro ever goes 24 hours a day, I expect that breakdowns will be the rule rather than the exception.
Marc Fisher: The numbers of riders do indeed drop off after midnight, though there's always a big rush near to closing time. But Metro already addressed that issue by hiking fares for its night owl trains, which seems fair enough. Metro tried to make the argument a couple of years ago that it needed the overnight hours to do maintenance, but I thought it was rather conclusively shown that the extra night service, which is primarily on weekends, did not impinge on the main track work times. In any event, the system is there to be used, and other systems have figured out how to do track work even when open 24 hours. No one expects frequent service in the middle of the night, but the trains should be able to handle the crowds in a safe manner.
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Clarification:
I believe previous ownership removed "Baltimore" from the O's jerseys. The "serve Washington" strategy has been pretty explicit since the EB Williams days.
Marc Fisher: Thanks for that--yes, the O's began aggressively seeking Washington area fans many years ago. But Angelos has considerably stepped up that effort of late, even telling the team's broadcasters not to talk about Baltimore, as reported in the Post's baseball series earlier this week.
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Washington, D.C.:
Not a question, but my M & Ms are totally melting in my hand right now.
Marc Fisher: And that's why they shouldn't have added the blues. The yellows and browns can be rubbed right into your skin, but the blue just sticks and stays, as blue is wont to do.
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Washington, D.C.:
Marc-
There is a ton of difference between today and when the last incarnation of the Senators was around (for example, I now exist).
A D.C. team should reflect a unique, local flavor, not look to the past for inspiration -- personally, I think there are so many things wrong with the name Senators (no tradition for anyone under 30, no D.C. Senators to speak of, etc.), that to rename the team "The Senators" would do more harm than good.
Marc Fisher: Then how about the Nats or the Grays? There's plenty of tradition to reach back to, and much of it also reflects our local flavor.
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Capitol Hill:
With regard to your piece about the Folger Park situation, is there any evidence whatsoever that any potential purchaser balked because of the zoning and building permit problems the developer brought on himself, or is it simply that $2 million is an obscene price for a 16 foot wide house with no parking or yard.
Marc Fisher: The evidence is that the townhouses didn't sell when they were on the market, plus the developer says that realtors and potential buyers frequently mentioned the dispute as a reason not to buy the place. Does that mean that the properties won't sell for a very nice price? I doubt it, but it's nonetheless important to report the developer's experience and fears.
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Washington, D.C.:
Why does Metro operate their cars in even numbers? Why must it be -- 2 cars, 4 cars, 6 cars, or 8 cars? Does Metro have something against odd numbers? It seems like perhaps a way to get around some of the problems with overshooting the station with 8 car trains would be to have 7-car trains and perhaps 3 car trains instead of 2 at night. Any insight you can provide would be nice!
Marc Fisher: I have no idea, but it's a good question. Anyone?
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Another Metro question -- please help!:
The Yellow Line into the city in the morning now has some lunatic drivers on board who only keep the doors open for 15 seconds. On a fully packed train it usually takes at least that time for people to clear the doorways so passengers can exit -- let alone get on the train. I would say this was a one-time thing, but it's been 4 out of 4 days now. At L'Enfant Plaza this morning, typically where the largest number of people exit, the operator gave 14 seconds between Doors Opening and Doors Closing, I used my stopwatch. Tuesday morning a gentleman in his wheelchair got pinched by the doors getting off the train. Metro is going to get someone killed if they continue to act like this.
Marc Fisher: The conductors are instructed to keep the train moving so as not to fall behind schedule. Folks need to learn to move faster. I applaud Metro for scooting in and out of stations with all deliberate speed. Passengers have to do our part and get on and off double time.
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Baseball Mascot Idea:
Snakeheads!
Marc Fisher: Yes!
Or--we could devote a whole hour to this next time, should you all wish--Pork Barrels.
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Arlington, Va.:
I never thought I'd utter these words but, "I can't afford public transportation."
I've driven to work this whole week, because it is significantly cheaper than taking Metro.
Marc Fisher: I'm hearing this more and more. So what's the answer? Hike parking fees dramatically or roll back Metro fares? Or--better yet--make parking more expensive, put tolls on the bridges, keep Metro fares where they are, get Metro a dedicated source of revenue (from those bridge tolls), and BUY MORE RAIL CARS.
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Burke, Va.:
Firecrackers are illegal in all local jurisdictions. 9/11 destroyed the Interent sale of fireworks. Bummer! But as a result more places that sell to out of state residents have cropped up closeby in Md., W. Va. and Pa. You can even buy cherry bombs and ash cans. Sometimes 1/4 sticks of dynamite!
Marc Fisher: Except the District, where they are still quite legal. I was at a legal stand this very morning and they were doing a brisk business, almost exclusively to folks with Maryland tags!
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Washington, D.C.:
Marc, picking up on a topic from last week (the idiotic idea of putting the Expos out by Dulles) -- what about airplane noise? Won't that be annoying, and has anyone asked the folks at Virginia baseball about it?
Marc Fisher: Might be annoying, but there are any number of stadiums with heavy flight noise--Shea in New York and the old Candlestick in San Francisco come to mind--and that doesn't seem to effect attendance at all.
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Falls Church, Va.:
Marc, interesting column today. I almost never side with the NIMBY folks, and maybe the developer is right here too, but a lawsuit seems like a terribly bad precedent. Then again, just because you're fighting a project doesn't mean you have the right to injure someone's reputation. Who's right?
Marc Fisher: I'm sure there's some merit on both sides of the original dispute between the neighbors and the developer, but on the question of the lawsuit, it seems quite clear that the developer has only one intention: To punish the neighbors for speaking their minds, and that kind of suit is something the courts and lawmakers need to crack down on with heavy force.
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Washington, D.C.:
Either you are wrong, Marc, or the Post reporter who reported on Judge Jackson's reduction in the sentence of the tractor guy is:
"U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson went beyond the 16-month term set by the guidelines in Watson's case, saying that his menacing conduct and the havoc he caused called for a much longer sentence. Yesterday, acting on a motion filed by the defense, Jackson said he had no choice but to reduce Watson's punishment."
The defense DID have a motion in front of him, so he wasn't doing this on his own initiative. I guess your position is that he should have just sat on this motion. Great.
Marc Fisher: Yes, absolutely he should have sat on it. If judges weren't so deathly afraid of being overturned, if they had something known as a spine, they might be able to accomplish one of their primary functions: Sending society a message about what kinds of behavior are not acceptable.
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Won't go to baseball at Dulles:
If I won't drive from Old Town to Baltimore to see a game because of traffic why on earth would I drive to Dulles at 5 p.m? More importantly, HOW would I drive to Dulles at 5 p.m? All the roads like Route 7 are overflowing as it is. The planners said it would most likely add 2-4 MINUTES to everyone's commute. These guys are really crazy, I hope like hell Virginia doesn't get a team, and I've lived here 27 years.
Marc Fisher: Old Town is, on the maps of the Dulles stadium developers, in the zone of folks for whom it would take 80 minutes or more to get to the ballpark on a weekday evening. Another reason why the Dulles ballpark is a nonstarter.
More next week, folks. Thanks for coming along, and have a wild Fourth.
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