Jaybird's Jottings

Media Coverage of Metro Accident

"The power of images to drive risk perception is particularly important in light of the media’s proven bias in covering causes of death."  -  David Gardner, The Science of Fear 

Every single person in Washington can agree that the Metro accident in June was a terrible tragedy that deeply affected our area.    We felt a lot of pain, worried about safety, all rightfully so.

I believe many of us here in the nation’s capital can also agree that in the weeks that followed, the local TV news just could not get enough of showing the pictures of the crashed cars.   On and on it went, way past its usefulness to the public. 

Lost in all this was how much safer rail is than driving.   I never saw any comparisons until Greater Greater Washington, who do a great job of identifying the excesses and faulty ways of the media, wrote about it this week.   

Some of the info they provided included the following: 

According to the Coalition for Smarter Growth: 

Nationwide, from 2004 to 2006, there were 94,101 vehicle (Passenger car, vans, SUVs and light truck) deaths.  In the same time frame, 34 were killed on heavy rail.

And according to the Metro Washington Council of Governments:

From 2003 to 2007, there were 2,057 vehicle fatalities in Washington.   From 2003 to 2007 there were none on Metro before the 9 deaths from the June accident on the Red Line. 

H Street

I didn’t think it would happen this fast, but blue skies put Roberta and I on H Street on Sunday.   Once ravaged by the ’68 riots, this five-block corridor is a re-emerging part of the city east of Union Station.     With time short, paid a rather short visit, taking pictures and eating at Taylor’s Deli.   Philly fans will love this small spot, as their menu is tailored to that city’s hoagies and sandwiches.     We enjoyed eating there and it’s good to see urban pioneers David Mazza and Casey Patten doing well.    They’ve expanded to a second location in Chinatown. 

The street is partly a mess, but the work will pay off when the Streetcars arrive.    They will be a throwback to the early 1900s when one of the original streetcars ran through this busy commercial corridor that still has an edge, but is on its way back.   

SABR Convention in Atlanta

SABR’s 40^th annual convention will be held in Atlanta on August 5 to 8.   Giants fans going will like those dates, as the Braves host San Francisco all four days.

 

Fort Circle Parks

Back in May, Washingtonian magazine listed "26 Reasons To Love Living in Washington."  Number one was – You Can See the Sky.   Earlier this month, this low-cityscape benefit hit home in a full way when Roberta and I participated in the Tree Walk at Frederick Douglass Home.   Standing on the front yard, and looking out at the city below, Melanie pointed out a lesser-known feature of the area.    Mentioning nearby Fort Stanton and Fort Dupont, she asked us to observe the forested ridge line that forms a circle around the city. 

Roberta and I paid a return visit to Anacostia today, choosing to see Fort Stanton.   Nearby, there's an even better view of the city and the area, and unlike yesterday’s gray and rainy day, we were fortunate to have blue skies.   

Fort Stanton was one of the circle of forts that were officially known as Civil War Defenses of Washington.   Their commanding positions were a geological gift as Washington lies between the Piedmont Plateau and the Atlantic Coast plain.   These forces created the high ridges that almost fully surround the city and provided the high ground needed to protect it during the Civil War.   Slaves escaped to this area.  In turn, some joined ranks and served the Union cause.  

By way of coincidence, the news came out last week about some plans to improve these green areas.   A new initiative, Capitol Space, establishes "Six Big Ideas."   One is to construct a continuous greenway along the Fort Circle Parks, and enhance the connections to and from metro, schools and other parks.    

On our visit today, we could see that the challenges ahead – better signage, parking and access - but also great potential.  So perhaps one day we’ll see Fort Circle Parks listed as a reason to love living in Washington.

Columbia Heights

I’m not much of a 50 Things I Must Do kind of person, but there is one list I’ve had my eye on lately.   Cultural Tourism DC’s website features 18 Historic Neighborhoods in the District.   So far, I’ve visited six.   Make it seven now with my checking out Columbia Heights earlier today.   The catalyst was the unveiling of the Columbia Heights Heritage Trail, and the fact that I had only driven through the area.    Also, I had read about this neighborhood’s comeback, and remembered that Christopher Leinberger identified it as an emerging walkable neighborhood. 

Taking Metro, I got off at the Columbia Heights stop, a new one built in 1999 in what seemed to me to be the heart of the neighborhood (compare this to Old Town whose station lies on the outer most portion).     Looking around, the re-development was in full sight.   Walking around, there’s still some character left too. 

I actually missed the unveiling, but had a very rewarding look see.  Walked through Meridian Hill (aka Malcolm X) Park for the first time and saw the activists setting up for the 350 rally.   I then walked down 16th Street to U Street/New Hampshire.    Amazing to see people turning eastward to walk along U Street instead of the other direction on New Hampshire towards DuPont Circle.    I stopped and had a coffee at an indie on U, a cozy little spot great for people watching.    

Using 1968 as the starting point, it’s an amazing comeback for DC.    Honey, how about H Street? 

DC Streetcars

Get ready baseball and streetcar fans, the romantic link between the two is returning to Washington DC.   Both Greater Greater Washington and JD have write-ups on the latest on the streetcars planned for DC.    District Department of Transportation officials have released their initial plans for a 37-mile system.   Phase One and Three have routes that will pass by Nationals Park.  

Additional Reading 

Baseball and Streetcars by Robert G. Cullen

Transportation Options

One of my favorite places to walk is along the Potomac.    As I was doing so the other day, an idea popped in my head.   I noticed the various means of transportation in front of me, the walkers, joggers and bikers on the Mount Vernon Trail and the boats in the river.   Expanding the thoughts, I realized that north of National Airport, you could find these, as well as the landing planes, the Metro crossing, as well as the VRE trains.  Wouldn't it be great to try and get a photo of all these? 

Headed over yesterday and my twenty minute wait produced some good results.  The down side is I had to get a wide sweep so the focus is not that great.   I'm not a very good photographer and a better camera would also help.  Anyway, I will keep trying.  Here are the photos so far, and if you know if anyone has taken such pictures, here or elsewhere, let me know.   

October 17, 1989

This article is a reprint of the one I wrote when my writing was at The Giants Journal.    I’ve shortened it a bit and made some changes.  A tip of the hat to Giants Win, whose post reminded me about the anniversary. 

October 17, 1989. 

If you’re a baseball fan, you might remember what happened on that date. If you were in the Bay Area, you will never forget what happened.  Right before the start of Game Three of the World Series at Candlestick Park, the ground shook with an awful violence.    A major earthquake with an epicenter some eighty miles to the south rocked San Francisco, Oakland and the Bay Area with a magnitude of 7.1.

I wasn’t in the Bay Area that day, but I will never forget where I was when it happened.  I turned 33 on the 17th.  A bachelor at the time, life didn’t get any better.   I was stationed at Pope Air Force Base in North Carolina.   My beloved Giants, for the first time since 1962, were in the Fall Classic.   Some remembered that great season, but for me, '62 was nothing but a flickering light.

The wait was long but now I was ready.  I had just bought a new 26 inch console TV.   Distractions?   None.    This was the age before telemarketers. 

At 8 pm EST, I parked my butt in my recliner.   It fit just fine and so did the beer in my right hand.  This is really happening, I told myself.   The Giants are in the World Series.   The weather in the Bay Area is gorgeous.    Candlestick Park will look beautiful with all that patriotic bunting.   And I don’t have to be anywhere else. 

The coverage came on and Al Michaels began his preview of the game.   Giants – A’s.  Battle of the Bay.   Will Clark and Kevin Mitchell versus Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco.   Yes.  I won’t miss a thing.  I’ll go to the bathroom during the commercials.

A few minutes into the pre-game show, Al abruptly disappeared.   I remember seeing swirls of gray and white in my TV screen (did I say new TV??) and a loud hiss penetrated the air.    Some accounts say that before he went off the air, Michaels could be heard saying – “I think we are having an earthquake.” But I don’t remember it that way.  I thought the problem had to do with the cable or network.   If thunderstorms were in our area, I would have guessed lightning was the culprit.   But our weather was just fine. 

Seconds slowly passed and still no picture.   I checked the cable connection again.   Maybe I should call a buddy. 

History has recorded that ABC went to back up programming.  I distinctly remember waiting about 10 minutes before anything was restored.    In that situation, a long 10 minutes.  When the feed came back on, baseball, of course, took a backseat.   After talk of postponing the series, the games resumed nine days later.  

Some 60 people lost their lives on October 17, 1989.   Thousands were injured.  Here’s hoping the people who were affected by the events of that day have healed their wounds.   

John Brown's Raid

The 150th anniversary of the Civil War is approaching.    Fort Sumter is still a year and a half away, but key events that led to that moment are being remembered.    This weekend at Harpers Ferry, John Brown’s Raid, which began on October 16, 1859, was commemorated.   Brown and 21 others killed seven men, injured about a dozen others and seized weapons at the Federal Arsenal.  On December 2, the Abolitionist was found guilty of murder, treason and inciting a slave insurrection.   He and nine others were hung in nearby Charles Town, Virginia.  

The John Brown 150th Anniversary Quad-State Committee hosted commemoration events that included re-enactments, art exhibits, book signings, academic lectures and special tours.  Through an off and on pouring rain, Roberta and I drove up (an hour and a half from Alexandria). Would have been great to have blue skies as a backdrop to the changing leaves, but we haven’t seen the sun in these parts since Wednesday.   The cold and rainy conditions put a damper on things and kept attendance, at least yesterday, down, but according to historian Dennis Frye, the chief historian at Harpers Ferry Historical National Park, the sloppy conditions matched with those of the night Brown snuck into this gateway mountain town.   "It adds a sense of reality and also a sense of misery to the event — and a sense of foreboding of the unknown," Frye said.

Harpers Ferry is a remarkable place.   With a population of just 300 and some, it lies sleepily at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers.  Walking up and down its main street is a quiet walk back in time.   I imagine visitors turn their cell phones off just out of respect.

After checking out the book tent, and eating lunch at a new restaurant associated with Stone Feather Farm, (great homemade salsa and friendly service), we attended the John Brown Address by Frederick Douglass.   Actor and historian Fred Morsell portrayed Douglass, the great orator.   Douglass did not agree with Brown’s plan, but he certainly supported the greater cause. 

It’s not easy to reconcile what John Brown (when I was a kid, I thought he was black) did 150 years ago, and some historians have said had his raid not occurred, the Civil War would have happened anyway.   But these words by historian David Reynolds, don’t seem an exaggeration:   (From Smithsonian magazine, article by Fergus Bordewich).

John Brown was in effect, a hammer that shattered Lincoln’s opponents into fragments.  Because Brown helped to disrupt the party system, Lincoln was carried to victory, which in turn led 11 states to secede from the Union.  This in turn led to the Civil War.

Long Bridge Park

One of the better attributes of life in Washington is the abundance of parkland.    Almost one-fifth of the city’s land is such, second most percentage-wise in the United States.   

Area residents will soon enjoy the benefits of even more green space.   As reported by DC Mud and other blogs, Arlington County will break ground early next year on Long Bridge Park.    This is a 30-acre backwater patch between I-395 and National Airport.   The land is not actually in the District, but by way of comparison, the distance to it from the Penn Quarter, Clarendon and Del Ray are all about the same.  

Plans include walking and biking trails, picnic areas, a rain garden, aquatic center, lighted athletic fields, Esplande, public art and an overlook.   Construction work will take about 18 months. 

This spot has some interesting history, including use by Native Americans.   In 1808, the Long Bridge was built to link Alexandria and the District.   At the start of the Civil War, Fort Jackson and Fort Runyon were built as part of the ring of forts around the city.   In 1939, when the Pentagon was being built, the land was a staging area for construction.  In 1993, Arlington County purchased the tract for recreational and park use.  

I swung by the area on my lunch hour yesterday.    Most of it is fenced in so you can’t see what things will look like, but you can certainly feel the potential.  The Crystal City, Pentagon City and Pentagon Metro stops are in proximity. 

The bikers will enjoy seeing something new and perhaps this comment at WashCycle sums up some of their sentiment.

"thank goodness for some happy news. this will take 10 minutes off my commute, and no more biking past the Gravelly Point portapotties."