Inside the DC Bubble

Almost gone. Metro received an unsolicited offer for property in Shaw, so it issued an RFP. We not sure if this is related to the proposed Broadcast One center.

The three parcels are situated two blocks northwest of the Shaw Metro station on the south side of Florida Avenue, NW btwn 7th and 9 streets. The largest is parcel three, which contains about 16K square feet and has 124 feet of frontage on Florida Avenue, NW and 177 feet of frontage on 8 Street, NW.

In the RFP Metro notes "This area is considered one of the most attractive real estate markets in the Washington metropolitan area." One has to wonder why then did Metro wait for an unsolicited offer to solicit bids. Metro has a revenue shortfall and developing the site would boost ridership.

The deadline for making a proposal is May 31.

BUSTED MYTH: GEORGETOWN METRO KILLED BY SWELLS

Imagine if all the shops, restaurants, bars and taverns in Georgetown DC were surrounded by a Metrorail station. Alas, it was never to be. But the station was not killed by powerful, well-connected and well-heeled Georgetown residents who did not want to be overrun by riff-raff.

The station was never built because it cost too much relative to its benefit it would have provided, says Zachary Schrag, Assistant Professor at George Mason University who recently appeared on WAMU.

As articulated in his book, A Great Society Subway, Schrag said Metro designers concluded a Georgetown stop would have:
-- cost too much:
1. Proximity to the Potomac River gave the engineers nightmares, and
2. Building such a massive project in historic Georgetown would have been worse;
-- and provided only limited benefit:
1. Georgetown is not a big employment center, and
2. The extra stop would slowed the commute from Virginia.

In fact, the only station killed by local opposition was the Oklahoma Ave. station in Northeast. The largely African-American neighborhood wanted to remain quiet. The residents convinced the powers that be that the station was a bad idea.

So much for the masterplan. I guess there is no conspiracy afterall. Or is there?

The Metro planning committee will continue discussion on extending the Yellow line to the U Street, Columbia Heights and Petworth stations. DC propsoed to pay for the extension and is ready to launch a $2.5 million, six-month pilot program that would begin in January 2007. Councilman Jim Graham says the Washington Post got it wrong when it said the panel held off on a vote because the discussion was only for information purposes.

Suburban jurisdictions want to know if the Yellow line can be extended into Maryland as well. On an average weekday, 53,400 people ride the Green Line from the Shaw/Howard U. Station, the stop after Mount Vernon, to Fort Totten.

Other Metro board members used the Yellow line extension to raise other issues, such as extending all Red line trains to Shady Grove and ways to speed service on the Blue line.