Comments on: Open Letter to Congressman Kevin Brady

By: mapgirl

mapgirl — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:01:12 +0000

Andrew S – Interesting proposals! I for one, having lived in VA and MD, might push for absorption into another state if anyone else took that option seriously.

By: Andrew Stevens

Andrew Stevens — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:45:44 +0000

By the way, just in case you’re confused, Congress is not the stumbling block for D.C. statehood. They passed D.C. statehood back in ‘73. Requiring 38 states for ratification, it got 16. There is no chance that D.C. statehood could muster up enough state ratifications, though there’s a good chance it could pass Congress again.

However, a more modest proposal such as a single Representative in the House and the right to vote in Maryland’s Senatorial elections could well receive enough state ratifications.

By: Andrew Stevens

Andrew Stevens — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:36:04 +0000

D.C. statehood is a non-starter. You should instead push for A) a Representative in the House and B) the right to vote in Maryland’s Senate elections (Maryland would probably have to agree to this, but there’s a good chance they would). There’s no chance that D.C. will be allowed statehood – absorption into Maryland or Virginia is a politically viable solution to the problem of lack of Congressional representation though.

By: jaylin

jaylin — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 21:06:30 +0000

vent baby, vent!

By: Danielle

Danielle — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 05:13:32 +0000

I totally agree! My sister forwarded me the article about them protesting the lack of special metro service for their own protest (ridiculous), but I rode the metro and bus on that day and it was not packed. It certainly doesn’t compare to the crush at the Mall metro stops after July 4th, etc. So annoying!

Also (I didn’t realize this until recently) Metro changed the bus to metro and metro to bus transfers – whatever way you go you get 75 cents off the second leg of your trip instead of having a 35 cent bus ride after riding the metro. I guess this makes it more fair for people who take bus to the metro, but I’ve been sticking to using the free bus to bus transfers to save some money (thank goodness for Next Bus)

By: Jen

Jen — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 03:37:04 +0000

The real reason DC will not get statehood is the fact that Marion Barry would almost certainly get elected to the Senate. Nobody wants that.

By: Stephanie PTY

Stephanie PTY — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 20:05:34 +0000

Sorry to get you so riled up with my Twitter post!

I posted the link on Twitter because I rode the Orange Line home from work that day, with all the protesters. I didn’t ride into work on the Metro, because my boyfriend and I saw the long line for the station and decided it was a much better idea to have him drive me in. We hit no unusual traffic on the road in, so it ended up being the best idea.

Going home, I decided to try the Metro. When I arrived at the station, there was barely anyone there, so I figured the march was either still going on, or long over. About two minutes before the train arrived, protesters started pouring into the station. I have no idea why they arrived all at once like that, but it didn’t seem smart to me. If you’re walking to the station with everyone else, wouldn’t you expect that the train is going to be crowded?

The train wasn’t even really that crowded. A DC denizen on the train commented that “These tourists have no idea how to pack it in.” Yep, that was the real problem: they didn’t know how to fit people onto the train. There was a ton of room toward the center of the car, but no one standing near the doors would budge to let people move there.

I don’t see how anyone can blame the Metro for their group not knowing how to ride it. And for not planning ahead of time by, like other groups, paying for more trains.