Washington DC
I took the Acela (high-speed) train down to DC for some meetings yesterday. The trip took roughly 2 1/2 hours, and I spent it sitting in a plush chair pulled up to a sturdy table, laptop, blackberry and cellphone at my fingertips. It was very productive (the trip itself and the DC meetings), and very 21st century.
DC is a beautiful town - very clean, calm and civilized. The sidewalks aren't packed to the gills with people hurrying along at 60mph. There's no trash strewn across the gutters. People smile. You can see the sky.
Why do I live in NYC, again?
DC is a beautiful town - very clean, calm and civilized. The sidewalks aren't packed to the gills with people hurrying along at 60mph. There's no trash strewn across the gutters. People smile. You can see the sky.
Why do I live in NYC, again?
posted by isaacjosephson at 9:21 AM
4 Comments:
Isaac, I also love DC. Clean public transit does wonders for a city (take note chicago and NYC). But I will say that the crazy cab fair calculation system makes me want to throttle the taxi driver union (or whoever decides these things).
Funny it takes 2.5 hours from Williamsburg, VA but only because we still have the old-school hobo amtrak.
... because you don't want your car broken into? because you want to be able to take the subway after midnight? because you don't work on Capitol Hill?
I actually have very little knowledge of DC beyond the Mall, and I have enjoyed time there in the past. I have no idea if I'd want to live there, though.
Oh Isaac -
I have done that exact trip for work many times and had the same thoughts. But you know what - I always get a bit of a rush when the train pulls back into Penn Station and ultimately the big white Romanesque feel of much of DC is just too staid. Also, the public schools suck.
Blend roughly equal parts snobby hacks and frustrated, pitiable tourists. Toss liberally with dilapidation and depredation. Serve with a garnish of bad roads and bad planning.
Its only reason for existence is that it's a government town, and it shows. Its mandated low profile is directly responsible for its unmanagable sprawl. I like to think the only reason a city would squash itself to the ground that way is if was ashamed of its own existence -- a shame that DC clearly deserves.
As for the clean portion of its public transit, that's in part because only the super-wealthy can afford to ride it daily without employer subsidy. Buses, while more affordable, are crime-saturated -- the blotter periodically documents people robbed, assaulted, etc. on buses. The best thing to say about DC public transit is that it at least precludes the otherwise likely donation of your personal vehicle and its contents to the cocaine economy.
When I want to go somewhere, I go to Baltimore. Sure, it's a little edgy in places, but it's an honest town that doesn't try to pretend it's better than its neighbors and more sophisticated than the rest of the country. If DC were any more pretentious, it'd have to move to Europe.
I have a friend who likes to quote Kennedy on DC -- says it combines Northern charm with Southern efficiency. I prefer to say that DC is a pit.
DCM
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