Happy New Year DC (is it too late to say that already?)

About a month ago I agreed to take a little trip over inauguration weekend rather than stay for the event.  Not that I needed my arm twisted-a few seconds of imagining the traffic nightmare this city would be was enough to convince me that missing the most historic inauguration ever wasn’t the worst thing in the world.

As we get closer though, and reports that there won’t be as many people as originally anticipated surface I’m beginning to rethink the quickness to which I volunteered to jump out of town.  I’m still going to be leaving, don’t get me wrong, but a survey of some web site tend to show that the city looks like it is getting its act together regarding “how to get there.” 

So while I’ll be watching the inauguration from a couch several hundred miles away (and reporting here from said couch) I thought I’d pass along some helpful transport links for those who are staying in town:

Take the Train:  Despite the fact that everyone else will do it too, I’m guessing that Metrorail will be your best bet if you have more than a mile or two to cover. 

The commemorative cards are now available online at the WMATA site and at sale centers.  They look a lot sharper than I was prepared for. 

Strangely-Metro has decided to close some of the metro stations and parking lots for the event.

For Metro’s full coverage of Inauguration Day-click here.

Or…Don’t take the train:  Is Public Trans not green enough for you?  Well then ride your bike!  WAMU had the story this morning about bike racks and valets (Bike valets?) being made available on Inauguration day. 

Stretch those Legs:  How about a nice walk?  Right along the parade route.  The city of DC’s home page has a great Inauguration 09 site, including this “getting there” page which highlights some walking routes.

Roads?  Where we’re going we don’t need…roads:  And neither should you.  Unless you have a flying Delorean (which I would also suggest not taking to DC for the Inauguration) it looks like cars and buses are going to be severely limited in where they can go and what they can do.  Do your best to avoid trying to park in DC or drive anywhere near the mall-the sooner you can get out of a car the better. 

Can we Sail?  Yes We Can!:  Yep-you may have missed booking it already, but at least one group of Obama fans will be sailing to the Inauguration.  No clue where they are going to park it, but even taking a boat here you’ll still be subject to the rules of the road once you land. 

Other tips?

"dc united fans" courtesy of Flickr user jamescalder

Mass transit- it’s transportation for the masses.

The very definition of the word is going to be realized during Inaugural Day weekend when the millions of people that is expected to come out will try out the city’s Metrorail system to get to and from places. It goes without saying that you might experience some delays. I’m not talking about delays that happen when there’s a Nationals game and a Wizards game occurring at the same time- I mean delays that may just may make you dodge the Metro system altogether.

While preparations are being made which includes rush hour service for 17 hours (4 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Inauguration Day) lines are expected to be long. General advice includes spending more time around the city so everyone isn’t rushing the system at once; and if you live within 2 miles- just walk. Doesn’t it sound scary when mass transit advises you not to use mass transit?

Well for those that are planning to take the Metro should prepare for fees- WMATA has announced that they will be charging rush-hour rates while providing extended rush hour service. For those that want to park can expect a $4 fee. Typically fares are reduced and parking is free on Federal holidays- however this is clearly not a typical Federal holiday. WMATA is raising the fees in order to cope with increased costs that will be expected with Inauguration.

In other news my excitement over DC’s decision to extend bar serving hours to 5 AM has waned with the D.C. Council’s decision to roll it back to 4 AM. The amended bill now only extends the alcohol serving hours to match similar hours done during New Years. Also the law does not supersede agreements bars may have with local neighborhoods- so that means not every bar will be able to stay open late if they have a deal to close sooner with the neighbors.

I’m not too too disappointed- I mean who is really going to be out drinking til 5 AM? I think those that are should be able to cope with the extra hour of sleep this bill now gives them. I can see myself going out til 3 AM- then getting out of there before things get too dodgy.

Earlier I wrote about the Newseum being open for Inauguration and noting it’s advantageous location. Well it appears that now word has spread and the Newseum is now sold out of tickets for Inauguration Day. Looks like you going to have to find another museum to haunt before your 12 hours of drinking.

"DC: Lincoln Memorial" courtesy of Flickr user wallyg

Another item I wrote about earlier was the Inaugural Kick-Off which is now revealed to be a concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. There will also be a Children’s concert at the Verizon Center. Both events will be free- check out the Committee website for more information.

With all these events shaping up- where will you go to the bathroom? Well it looks like that there will be over 5,000 Porta-Potties on the mall ready to relieve the masses. While most people would be worried about bathrooms on The Mall- I want to let everyone know that WMATA has also decided to close all their bathrooms during the Inauguration and will also be setting up Porta-Potties where it can outside stations.

I don’t know what will be more chanllenging- finding a way to get there or finding a place to pee?

Recognize this car?  It’s a late model black Ford Escape with North Carolina tags, and it’s been parked on my street for several weeks.  We’ve discussed this with the meter maids parking enforcement personnel who ticketed it on a regular basis, but the car stayed put.  It’s also been blocking the street sweeper every Thursday, which implies these have NOT been issuing warnings since the beginning of August.

So today we called 311.  Turns out the vehicle was reported stolen six weeks ago!  The very helpful officer who arrived with a tow truck speculated that someone parked for an evening out in Adams Morgan, got a little tippers, and couldn’t find it again.  Or perhaps it was a vicious practical joke, or a sudden and incapacitating injury.  Sadly, we’ll never know.

The wackiest part?  The car was unlocked the entire time.

There are lots of good things and bad things about living in DC.  Of the good:  the E Street Cinema.  Cozy, cute, and convenient.  And whee! showing midnight movies for the next coupla months. No Rocky, but it’s a tantalizing list:

Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction • Nov 7 & 8
Johnny Depp in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas • Nov 14 & 15
Christian Bale is an American Psycho • Nov 21 & 22
Harrison Ford in Raiders of the Lost Ark • Nov 28 & 29
Who ya gonna call? Ghostbusters • Dec 5 & 6
David Bowie & Jennifer Connelly in Labyrinth • Dec 12 & 13
Jeff Bridges in the Coen Bros‘ The Big Lebowski • Dec 19 & 20

Of the bad?  Finding a place to get a bite that’s open after a midnight movie. But hey, it’s better than it was, see listings at here and here.

As G. and I drove back into DC late on Sunday night, I commented that “there’s nothing like a weekend in New York City to make you feel like you live in a backwater town.”  The lack of cars! The empty sidewalks!  The open sky!  DC was so… peaceful after the jam-packed-24-hour-ness of NYC.

Okay, so their Chinatown trumps ours.  But a brief comparison between the Union Square Farmer’s Market and the Dupont Circle Farmer’s Market revealed similar pricing for at least the basics we looked over.  And we didn’t see anything there we don’t get here, so perhaps our lower population density isn’t always a disadvantage.

So, DC, do you care about the Olympics?  Are you excited, or do you feel blase?  I’m ambivalent about the Olympics — it seems like they are on all the time ever since the split of winter and summer games.  On the other hand, one of my favorite childhood memories is of watching the torch handoff in my hometown, on its way to the games in Lake Placid.  A relative tried for the Olympics in the seventies, and I wore my Colorado Springs training camp t-shirt with pride.

In the here-and-now, we’ve got quite a few local Olympians this year, which is exciting and a reason to watch at least some of the competitions.  Locals include Freddy Adu (late of DC Uniiiiited, clap-clap, clap-clap, clap!), the thrilling Michael Phelps, and Justin Spring.   Sadly, the news today tells us that local boxer Gary Russell, Jr. has collapsed in Beijing (evidently trying to make weight) and won’t compete.

Via DCist, I discovered NBC’s tool for geographically customized TV listings, so I can find my favorite dressage events on one of the approximately eleventy-million channels owned by NBC (it’s like a return to the dreaded “triplecast”) in between trips to the county fair for Ferris wheel rides.

Will you watch?  What’s your favorite Olympic event?

When DC Metblogs launched in late July 2004, I felt like a fraud. I had moved to DC two years before, and had spent a lot of that time getting lost due to my legendarily poor sense of direction, defining my world based on its relationship to 395 or a Metro station, and coping with the sense that my grand quarterlife crisis plan of moving to DC was not turning out the way I expected, but suddenly I was writing about life here as if I had any idea what I was doing.

Four years later, I’ve grown into DC pretty well, and I think writing for DC Metblogs has been a huge part of that. With my fellow bloggers, I’ve explored corners of the city I would never have thought to see on my own and made friends I wouldn’t have met otherwise.

Thanks, everybody. It’s time for Metblogs and me to part ways, but I’ll still be writing about the city I love at the appropriately named We Love DC.

Goodbye Mr. Sun See You Tomorrow

Originally uploaded by moonjazz

When my parents were here in March we happened to head a little farther west than we normally do, and ended up having a late lunch in Manassas. When we parked there it was hard not to notice the particularly large sign across the street and wonder what its story was. It was notable enough that I took a picture.

So when I saw this story on the front page of the WashingtonPost.com I was curious to read the story behind it. It’s an interesting one - based on the message above I’d wondered if this wasn’t a religious organization, with their message of love and empathy. “The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.” The sign has changed notably since March 9th - the WaPo story has a small shot of the presumably current sign, though it’s small and they provide no transcription.

Unfortunately WaPo writer Nick Miroff decided to do a little editorializing in the WaPo story, which summarizes the sign’s content thusly:

The sign’s text has changed a few times, but its message has essentially remained the same: Latino immigrants have been exploited by ungrateful, racist white residents who took advantage of their labor and now want them to leave.

Anyone see any assertions of racism or ingratitude in the sign above?  This is why you should report facts and not interpret them, Mr Miroff.

Transcriptions of old and new sign after the jump. Read more

If, like our Mr Bridge, you’re a fan of the late Mr Russert, you might be interested in WAMU’s live coverage of his funeral service today at the Kennedy Center. If you’re one of the 8 people in the country with an HD radio you can turn into HD-3 on 88.5 FM. If you’re one of the rest of us, WAMU streams all three stations online and you can find links here. The funeral service will be at 4pm this afternoon.

Tim Russert - PRSA International Conference - Philadelphia, PA, courtesy of hyku

Screen on the Green’s schedule is now out for 2008, featuring one of my favorite Bond flicks, Superman, and Cary Grant will take turns making DC’s hot summer nights a great place to be. Mondays starting in Late July and early August will feature films on a giant screen set up on the Mall between 4th and 7th street. Bring a picnic, catch a free movie, enjoy some outdoors time. Movies start around 8pm or so.

Here’s the schedule:

July 14th - Dr. No

July 21st - The Candidate

July 28th - Arsenic and Old Lace

August 4th - The Apartment

August 11th - Superman